d just come below. He was taking off his wet
outer clothing preparatory to throwing himself on his bed.

"You go on deck now, Walter; but don't remain long, or you will be
well-nigh frozen," he said. "I am to be called should any change in the
weather take place."

Walter sprang on deck, but he had need of all his courage to stand the
keen cutting south-westerly wind, which seemed sufficient to blow his
teeth down his throat. The ship looked as if made of glass, for every
rope and spar was coated over with ice. The men were beating their
hands to keep them warm; and when they moved about the deck they had to
keep close to the bulwarks, and catch hold of belaying-pins, ropes, or
stanchions, to prevent themselves from slipping away to leeward. The
sea, as it broke on board, froze on the deck, till it became one mass of
ice. Walter, who had thought only of smooth seas and summer gales, was
little prepared for this sort of weather.

"Cheer up, my lad, never mind it; we shall be in summer again, and find
it pretty hot too, when we round the Horn," observed the first mate.

"I don't mind it," answered Walter, his teeth chattering. "Do you think
it will last long?"

"That depends on the way the wind blows," answered the first mate.

Dark seas rose up on every side, higher than he had ever seen them
before; the foam driven aft in white sheets, their combing crests
shining brilliantly as the sun burst forth from the driving clouds.

"Now you have seen enough of it; you had better go below," said the
mate. "One of those seas might break aboard and sweep you off the deck.
As you can do nothing now, it is useless to expose your life to
danger."

Walter, who would have wished to remain had the wind been less cutting,
thought the mate right, and obeyed him. He had been for some time in
the cabin when the fourth mate came down.

"Come on deck, Walter," he said, "and see something you have never
before set eyes on." Walter followed the mate up the companion-ladder.

As far as the eye could reach, the sea was of a dark-blue tint; the
waves still high and foam-crested, sparkling in the rays of the sun,
while at some distance on the larboard bow rose a vast mountain-island,
its numerous pinnacles glittering in the sun like the finest alabaster,
and its deep valleys thrown into the darkest shade. The summit of the
mighty mass was covered with snow, and its centre of a deep indigo tint.

"What island is that?" asked W