ry again. There, straight away where the sea shines in the sunlight."

"N-no," said Steve; "I can see the waves breaking and sparkling miles
away."

"No, sir; you couldn't see the waves breaking and sparkling miles away
on a day like this. What you see is ice."

"What, an iceberg? I thought that would be like an island."

"No, sir; a bit or two of floe ice going to the south'ard."

"Yes, I see now; but how big are these pieces?"

"Ten or a dozen feet out of the water, and perhaps a hundred feet long."

"But what do you mean by floe ice?"

"The ice of the sea frozen."

"Well, of course!" cried Steve; "so are icebergs."

"Are they, sir?" said the man, smiling. "Have you ever seen one?"

"No; but I've often read of them."

"Wait till you see one, then, sir, and you won't say they're part of the
frozen sea; they're bits of the great ice rivers that run down into the
sea, and then break off. Icebergs are fresh water when they're melted--
land ice. Me and my mate have heard them split off with a noise like
thunder, and then they float away."

"Ahoy, there aloft! Up she comes."

The little wheel in the block overhead began to chirrup and squeak as
the men hauled upon the line, and the tub with its iron ring and rail
began to ascend rapidly higher and higher, till it reached where the
three clung, and was then guided to where it was to be secured, with its
bottom resting on the place where the tops of the shrouds passed round
the mast.

"Hold on!" was shouted. "Make fast!" and the cask became stationary.
Then the second of the two sailors stood on the newly-made ladder, and
held the cask while the first passed a rope round it and secured it to
the slight mast; after which there was a little lashing above to steady
it, and the crow's-nest hung there high above the deck, ready for use.

"There you are, sir," said Johannes. "As you've been helping you ought
to have first try. Up with you."

"Think it's safe?" said Steve, hesitating; and a curious sensation of
shrinking came over him.

"Shouldn't ask you to try her if she warn't fast, sir," replied the man
bluntly; and without further ado the lad loosened his grasp of the
shrouds, and stepped on to the wooden ladder, looking up at the bottom
of the cask.

"Now, sir, just one word of warning," said the second Norseman. "That
ladder's to step on from the shrouds, not to go down on deck."

"Of course not," replied Steve; "I know that."

"Yes, sir,