he cabin, as if
I should be safe there. As I landed, I felt the great iceberg tremble;
then came a sharp, quick, terrible crash, as if forty thunders had
broken all together right over my head, and the great hill of ice sank
grandly and slowly into the ocean below. For a minute or two, I could
hear the roar of the waters as they opened to receive the huge mass, and
the berg rocked as if in a great storm; then all was still again. I
rushed back to my cabin, laid the spirit-level on the floor, and the
little bubble stopped right in the middle of the tube. The danger was
over.

Another week passed; and there was no longer any room to doubt that I
_was_ moving, and in the right direction. At the pole, there was never a
breath of wind; but now it blew quite strong. The compass began to show
signs of vitality; and, at midnight, I could see some of the brightest
of the stars. The sun dropped nearer and nearer the horizon every
evening, and it was growing uncomfortably warm at mid-day. As I was now
getting some information from the sun as to the points of the compass,
I set up a vane on the deck, in order to find out, from day to day, the
direction of the wind. This put another idea into my head. Couldn't I do
something to help the old berg along? Why couldn't the spare masts and
sails, that lay along the sides of the deck, be put to some use? The
foremast of the ship was broken off about fifteen feet from the level of
the deck, and I went to work to splice on a jury-mast. It was slow and
pretty hard work. I had to arrange the blocks and tackles in the most
scientific manner, in order to lift the heavy timber to its place; and
it required a great deal of strength to bring the ropes around the fore
and jury-mast, so as to bind them securely together. I then managed to
rig a yard to the mast, and, in the course of another day, had quite a
respectable sail set. The day after, I got up a jib, and then crowned
the whole by hoisting the American flag to the top of the mast. I did
not keep this flying all the time, but reserved it for great occasions.

Here then, was a novel sight,--a great iceberg _under sail_, and
protected by the stars and stripes. Whether it helped us along or not, I
am unable to say: but it was a satisfaction for me to feel that I had
done what I could; and it gave me pleasure to go off a little distance,
and look at the extraordinary spectacle. I could not help laughing to
think what the old salts would say, wh