en them and the floe-ice," exclaimed Bolton
in a hopeful tone of voice, seizing an ice-pole and leaping on the
gunwale.

"Look alive, men, with your poles," cried the captain, "and shove with a
will."

The "Ay, ay, sir!" of the men was uttered with a heartiness that showed
how powerfully this gleam of hope acted on their spirits; but a new damp
was cast over them when, on gaining the open passage, they discovered
that the bergs were not at rest, but were bearing down on the floe-ice
with slow but awful momentum, and threatened to crush the ship between
the two. Just then a low berg came driving up from the southward,
dashing the spray over its sides, and with its fore-head ploughing up
the smaller ice as if in scorn. A happy thought flashed across the
captain's mind. "Down the quarter boat," he cried.

In an instant it struck the water, and four men were on the thwarts.

"Cast an ice-anchor on that berg."

Peter Grim obeyed the order, and, with a swing that Hercules would have
envied, planted it securely. In another moment the ship was following
in the wake of this novel tug! It was a moment of great danger, for the
bergs encroached on their narrow canal as they advanced, obliging them
to brace the yards to clear the impending ice-walls, and they shaved the
large berg so closely that the port-quarter boat would have been crushed
if it had not been taken from the davits. Five minutes of such
travelling brought them abreast of a grounded berg, to which they
resolved to make fast; the order was given to cast off the rope; away
went their white tug on his race to the far north, and the ship swung
round in safety under the lee of the berg, where the crew acknowledged
with gratitude their merciful deliverance from imminent danger.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

NEW CHARACTERS INTRODUCED--AN OLD GAME UNDER NOVEL CIRCUMSTANCES--
REMARKABLE APPEARANCES IN THE SKY--O'RILEY MEETS WITH A MISHAP.

Dumps was a remarkably grave and sly character, and Poker was a wag--an
incorrigible wag--in every sense of the term. Moreover, although they
had an occasional fight, Dumps and Poker were excellent friends, and
great favourites with the crew.

We have not yet introduced these individuals to our reader; but as they
will act a conspicuous part in the history of the _Dolphin's_
adventurous career in the Arctic regions, we think it right now to
present them.

While at Uppernavik, Captain Guy had purchased a team of six good, tough
Es