he whole
width of the channel, and the brig could not heave-to.

"Do you feel the tiller?" asked Cornbutte of Penellan.

"No, captain. The ship does not answer the helm any longer."

"_Ohe_, boys!" cried the captain to the crew; "don't be afraid,
and buttress your hooks against the gunwale."

The block was nearly sixty feet high, and if it threw itself upon
the brig she would be crushed. There was an undefinable moment of
suspense, and the crew retreated backward, abandoning their posts
despite the captain's orders.

But at the instant when the block was not more than half a
cable's length from the "Jeune-Hardie," a dull sound was heard,
and a veritable waterspout fell upon the bow of the vessel, which
then rose on the back of an enormous billow.

The sailors uttered a cry of terror; but when they looked before
them the block had disappeared, the passage was free, and beyond
an immense plain of water, illumined by the rays of the declining
sun, assured them of an easy navigation.

"All's well!" cried Penellan. "Let's trim our topsails and
mizzen!"

An incident very common in those parts had just occurred. When
these masses are detached from one another in the thawing season,
they float in a perfect equilibrium; but on reaching the ocean,
where the water is relatively warmer, they are speedily
undermined at the base, which melts little by little, and which
is also shaken by the shock of other ice-masses. A moment comes
when the centre of gravity of these masses is displaced, and then
they are completely overturned. Only, if this block had turned
over two minutes later, it would have fallen on the brig and
carried her down in its fall.

CHAPTER V.

LIVERPOOL ISLAND.

The brig now sailed in a sea which was almost entirely open. At
the horizon only, a whitish light, this time motionless,
indicated the presence of fixed plains of ice.

Jean Cornbutte now directed the "Jeune-Hardie" towards Cape
Brewster. They were already approaching the regions where the
temperature is excessively cold, for the sun's rays, owing to
their obliquity when they reach them, are very feeble.

On the 3rd of August the brig confronted immoveable and united
ice-masses. The passages were seldom more than a cable's length
in width, and the ship was forced to make many turnings, which
sometimes placed her heading the wind.

Penellan watched over Marie with paternal care, and, despite the
cold, prevailed upon her to spend tw