ed the sailors.

"Well," said Bolton, "let's go find the commander; I'll undertake to
tell him."

The sailors in a dense group made their way to the quarter-deck.

[Illustration]

The _Forward_ was then advancing into a large arena, which had a
diameter of about eight hundred feet; it was completely closed, with
the exception of one place through which the ship entered.

Shandon saw that he was locking himself in. But what was to be done?
How could he retreat? He felt all the responsibility, and his hand
nervously grasped his glass.

The doctor looked on in silence, with folded arms; he gazed at the
walls of ice, the average height of which was about three hundred
feet. A cloud of fog lay like a dome above the gulf.

Then it was that Bolton spoke to the commander.

"Commander," said he in a broken voice, "we can't go any farther."

"What's that you are saying?" said Shandon, who felt enraged at the
slight given to his authority.

"We have come to say, Commander," resumed Bolton, "that we have done
enough for this invisible captain, and that we have made up our minds
not to go on any farther."

"Made up your minds?" cried Shandon. "Is that the way you talk to me,
Bolton? Take care."

"You need not threaten," retorted Pen, brutally, "we are not going any
farther."

Shandon stepped towards the mutinous sailors, when the boatswain said
to him in a low voice,--

"Commander, if we want to get out of this place, we have not a moment
to lose. There's an iceberg crowding towards the entrance; it may
prevent our getting out and imprison us here."

Shandon returned to look at the state of affairs.

"You will account for this afterwards," he said to the mutineers.
"Now, go about!"

The sailors hastened to their places. The _Forward_ went about
rapidly; coal was heaped on the fires; it was necessary to beat the
iceberg. There was a race between them; the brig stood towards the
south, the berg was drifting northward, threatening to bar the way.

"Put on all the steam, Brunton, do you hear?" said Shandon.

The _Forward_ glided like a bird through the broken ice, which her
prow cut through easily; the ship shook with the motion of the screw,
and the gauge indicated a full pressure of steam, the deafening roar
of which resounded above everything.

"Load the safety-valve!" cried Shandon.

The engineer obeyed at the risk of bursting the boilers.

But these desperate efforts were vain; the iceberg, driven by a