We first
skinned it carefully, as Andrew showed us that by stretching out the
skin it would afford us some little shelter at night. Having collected
a supply of food to last us for many days, we dragged the remainder of
the carcase out of the reach of the waves, and carried the meat to the
upper ledge.

"Now, my lads," said Andrew, who took the lead in everything, we
willingly obeying him, "it is very right to secure some food for
ourselves in the first place; but as we shall none of us have a fancy
for spending the rest of our days here, we'll look out to see if there's
a ship in the offing, and if so, to make some signal to attract her
notice."

We all agreed; and before attempting to eat some of the seal, for which,
indeed, we had little fancy, we set to work to climb to one of the
highest pinnacles of the berg. We found it impossible to reach the
highest, but we got some way up; and not a sail was to be seen as far as
the eye could reach on the part of the horizon visible to us. Our climb
had shown us, however, a considerable portion of the lower part of the
berg, and we observed several things lying about, evidently cast there
by the waves. We immediately descended to secure them.

There was a hen-coop with some chickens in it, and though they were
drowned, they were very acceptable; there were two boarding-pikes, a
boat-sail, and several spars and bits of rope, which had been lying in
the boats or on the booms. These were all treasures, and, collecting
them, we carried them up to our ledge. There were also fragments of
wood and chips washed from the cook's galley, and bits of quarter-boat
which had gone to pieces with the first sea. These latter we dried in
the sun, and afterwards kindled with them a small fire, over which we
cooked two of our fowls, and dried the seal's flesh for future use. We
without difficulty ate the fowls, but had not yet got up an appetite for
seal-flesh.

"We might be worse off, there's no doubt about it," observed Terence;
"and it strikes me, Andrew, that what with the hen-coop and the spars,
we might build a sort of a raft which would keep us afloat a short time,
should the berg take to making a somerset?"

"I was thinking of the same thing," was Andrew's reply. "They will form
but a small raft; but if the berg drives anywhere near shore, it will,
at least, enable us to reach it. The sooner we set about making it the
better. It will keep us off the cold ice in the meant