ow-ice, its base had melted much more on one
of its sides than on the other. When the precise moment arrived that would
have carried a perpendicular line from the centre of gravity without this
base, the monster turned leisurely in its lair, producing some such effect
as would have been wrought by the falling of a portion of a Swiss mountain
into a lake; a sort of accident of which there have been many and
remarkable instances.

Stimson's explanation, while it raised the curtain from all that was
mysterious, did not serve very much to quiet apprehensions. If one berg
had performed such an evolution, it was reasonable to suppose that others
might do the same thing; and the commotion made by this, which was at a
distance, gave some insight into what might be expected from a similar
change in another nearer by. Both Daggett and Gardiner were of opinion
that the fall of a berg of equal size within a cable's length of the
schooners might seriously endanger the vessels by dashing them against
some wall of ice, if in no other manner. It was too late, however, to
retreat, and the vessels stood on gallantly.

The passage between the bergs now became quite straight, reasonably broad,
and was so situated as regarded the gale, as to receive a full current of
its force. It was computed that the schooners ran quite three marine
leagues in the hour that succeeded the overturning of the berg There were
moments when the wind blew furiously; and, taking all the accessories of
that remarkable view into the account, the scene resembled one that the
imagination might present to the mind in its highest flights, but which
few could ever hope to see with their proper eyes. The moon-light, the
crowd of ice-bergs of all shapes and dimensions, seeming to flit past by
the rapid movements of the vessels; the variety of hues, from spectral
white to tints of orange and emerald, pale at that hour yet distinct;
streets and lanes that were scarce opened ere they were passed; together
with all the fantastic images that such objects conjured to the thoughts;
contributed to make that hour much the most wonderful that Roswell
Gardiner had ever passed. To add to the excitement, a couple of whales
came blowing up the passage, coming within a hundred yards of the
schooners. They were fin-backs, which are rarely if ever taken, and were
suffered to pass unharmed. To capture a whale, however, amid so many
bergs, would be next to impossible, unless the animal were