land far astern; it was dark and
irregular, in some places high; he fancied that it might be only an
appearance of clouds. When I returned from a walk, about 1 o'clock,
I went up to look, but saw only piled-up ice. Perhaps this was the
same as he saw, or possibly I was too late. (It turned out next day
to be only an optical illusion.) Severe pressure has been going on
this evening. It began at 7.30 astern in the opening, and went on
steadily for two hours. It sounded as if a roaring waterfall were
rushing down upon us with a force that nothing could resist. One
heard the big floes crashing and breaking against each other. They
were flung and pressed up into high walls, which must now stretch
along the whole opening east and west, for one hears the roar the
whole way. It is coming nearer just now; the ship is getting violent
shocks; it is like waves in the ice. They come on us from behind,
and move forward. We stare out into the night, but can see nothing,
for it is pitch-dark. Now I hear cracking and shifting in the hummock
on the starboard quarter; it gets louder and stronger, and extends
steadily. At last the waterfall roar abates a little. It becomes more
unequal; there is a longer interval between each shock. I am so cold
that I creep below.

"But no sooner have I seated myself to write than the ship begins to
heave and tremble again, and I hear through her sides the roar of the
packing. As the bear-trap may be in danger, three men go off to see
to it, but they find that there is a distance of 50 paces between
the new pressure-ridge and the wire by which the trap is secured,
so they leave it as it is. The pressure-ridge was an ugly sight,
they say, but they could distinguish nothing well in the dark.

"Most violent pressure is beginning again. I must go on deck and
look at it. The loud roar meets one as one opens the door. It is
coming from the bow now, as well as from the stern. It is clear that
pressure-ridges are being thrown up in both openings, so if they reach
us we shall be taken by both ends and lifted lightly and gently out of
the water. There is pressure near us on all sides. Creaking has begun
in the old hummock on the port quarter; it is getting louder, and,
so far as I can see, the hummock is slowly rising. A lane has opened
right across the large floe on the port side; you can see the water,
dark as it is. Now both pressure and noise get worse and worse; the
ship shakes, and I feel as if I myself wer