been looking out as eagerly as any of
us; "I've sailed these seas man and boy, thirty years and more, and so
I've a right to have my say. Now I've often seen just such a sight as
we saw yester-even; sometimes we fell in with the ship we saw up in the
clouds like, and other times we looked for her and she never appeared,
so we supposed that it must have been an iceberg in the figure of a ship
which we had seen. Therefore what I say is, that what we saw may be a
ship. But if she was a ship, then she ought to have been off here by
this time; but if it was an iceberg, then there's no use troubling our
heads about it."

David having thus authoritatively delivered his opinion, walked into the
hut and threw himself on his bed, thereby proving that he considered the
appearance we had seen merely the reflection of an iceberg.

I, however, still held to my first opinion, that a real ship alone could
have created a figure so perfect in the clouds. Then it must be
remembered that I had seen it first, and that the appearance may have
somewhat altered before the attention of the rest was called to it. I,
however, was so far biassed by David's opinions, that I went and threw
myself on my bed. I slept, but it was very lightly; and all the time I
fancied that ships were gliding before me, and that their crews were
beckoning me to come on board.

At last, so strong was the impression on my mind, than I got up and went
to our look-out place on the top of the nearest hill. Great, alas! was
my disappointment, when the same dreary expanse of ice and water met my
eye, without a sail anywhere to be seen.

One thing struck me, that the whole surface of the sea was as calm and
unruffled as the intervening ice, and that no breath of air was stirring
in the heavens. The sun rose as I watched, gilding the pinnacles of the
icebergs, which still remained fixed in the bay, casting a silvery hue
over the masses of snow yet unmelted on the hills, and making stronger
than ever the contrast between the pure white of the snow-covered ice,
and the deep blue of the tranquil ocean.

"At all events," I thought, "no ship can approach us from any quarter
unless a breeze should spring up, and till then I may rest in peace."
So I again turned in, and slept as soundly as I had ever done in my
life.

I was aroused by my companions, who summoned me to come and assist them
in launching our vessel. We all set to work again with a will, and
after infini