e, which at short
intervals penetrated above on deck. They wept and wailed and shrieked to
heaven for help. They were like men driven mad by fear, fury and physical
pain.

Yet, as if nothing had happened, the call for dinner was trumpeted at the
regular time through the gangways of the drifting vessel, through that
majestic, helpless ark, lighted by electricity, which, shining through
the port-holes, turned the _Roland_ with its crust of ice into a fairy
palace, a mournful plaything of the waves.

Frederick wondered who would have the phlegm or the courage or the desire
to go to dinner. But Wilhelm cried, "Come, gentlemen," and since Rosa
appeared, wet and courageous, to attend to the children, it was out of
place for him to remain in the cabin, and there was nothing for him to do
but join Doctor Wilhelm and Hahlstroem. The cockatoo was screeching and
Ella was crying. The child was refractory. Ingigerd was trying to console
her, while Rosa reprimanded her rather energetically.

"Would you like me to stay near here?" Frederick asked before leaving.
"It would mean a great deal to me if you would let me be entirely at your
disposal, Miss Ingigerd."

"Thank you, Doctor von Kammacher, you will be coming again."

Frederick marvelled at the naturalness with which he had made the offer
and she had accepted.

Now an unexpected change set in, which allayed everybody's excitement and
went through Frederick's muscles and nerves like a soothing stream. The
walls and floors of the _Roland_ began to quiver faintly, a sign that her
heart and pulse were beating again. It was the rhythm of its strength,
the rhythm of its race to its goal. Ingigerd shouted with joy, like a
child, and Frederick set his teeth. Renewed life, renewed prospects and
hopes, the reassumption of system, the relaxation of his nerves made him
so weak that the tears almost started to his eyes. Choking down his
emotion, he stepped out on deck.

Here the scene had changed. Blithely, in all its might, the _Roland_ was
leaping forward again into the roaring darkness. That monstrous, seething
witch's cauldron of the boiling waters was now welcome to him. Again the
_Roland_ was tearing breaches in dark mountains, was rising to mountain
heights, and madly plunging into deep valleys; during which, for many
seconds at a time, the screw would whirl wildly in the turbulent air.

Mr. Rinck was sitting on the threshold of his cabin, which was brightly
lighted, smoking an