og whined, and seemed disposed to
struggle to get free; but at a word from his master he made a scrambling
effort, received a good thrust from Johannes, and the next instant was
in the boat barking at them as he stood on the thwart and looked over
the side, as if asking them to come there as well.

"Is it quite hopeless?" whispered the doctor.

"Who can say, sir?" replied the Norseman. "It is very hard now that we
are so near a safe harbour. If the ice does join we must be crushed,
for it is too high above us to lift us up."

"And if the ship is crushed," whispered Steve, "will it sink?"

"The minute the ice loosens its grip, sir, she must go down."

The walls were not forty yards apart now, and the unfortunate crew could
pretty well pick out the rugged prominences on their right which would
just touch and drive them against the smooth, cliff-like mass on their
left. More awe-inspiring still, they could see that as soon as the
shock came vast pieces of piled-up ice must lose their equilibrium and
topple down on the deck, crushing everything they touched; and onward
still the terrible line came till it was not twenty yards away.

"The ice cliff is not moving," said Johannes, "and the crash will be the
greater. Be ready, gentlemen; in another minute the blow must come.
Great heavens! what is that?"

He looked astern, as a terrible rushing noise was heard; and as all
followed his example, struck by the sound, there, about a hundred yards
behind them, the water was foaming and rushing toward them in a wave
laden with fragments of ice.

It was plain enough: the pressure of the ice behind was driving the
water compressed between those narrow walls forward, like some cataract,
which looked as if it would sweep the deck before the two cliffs joined.

"Ready!" shouted the captain. "But don't stir till the crash begins.
The vessel will be at its closest to the cliff on this side."

"But ta watter will sweep us awa', captain!" yelled Hamish.

"Silence; the wave will pass under us!" roared the captain, his voice
being hardly heard. "Wait till I give the word."

And in those brief moments the space between the walls had grown
narrower, till the yards nearly touched on either side, and the loose
fragments that fell from the rugged masses on the right kept on
splashing the water up on to the deck.

Just then Skene uttered a fierce bark at the coming wall, Johannes gave
Steve a sharp look, and laid his hand upon the