ut the warps and ice-anchors, there," cried the captain.

In a moment the men were in the boats, and busy heaving and planting
ice-anchors, but it was not until several hours had been spent in this
tedious process that they succeeded in making fast to the berg. They
had barely accomplished this when the berg gave indications of breaking
up, so they cast off again in great haste, and, not long afterwards, a
mass of ice, many tons in weight, fell from the edge of the berg close
to where they had been moored.

The captain now beat up for the land in the hope of finding
anchoring-ground. At first the ice presented an impenetrable barrier,
but at length a lead of open water was found, through which they passed
to within a few hundred yards of the shore, which, at this spot, showed
a front of high precipitous cliffs.

"Stand by to let go the anchor," shouted the captain.

"Ay, ay, sir!"

"Down your helm! Let go!"

Down went the anchor to the music of the rattling chain-cable, a sound
which had not been heard since the good ship left the shores of Old
England.

"If we were only a few yards farther in, sir," remarked the first mate,
"we should be better. I'm afraid of the stream of ice coming round
yonder point."

"So am I," replied the captain; "but we can scarcely manage it, I fear,
on account of the shore ice. Get out a boat, Mr Saunders, and try to
fix an anchor. We may warp in a few yards."

The anchor was fixed, and the men strained at the capstan with a will,
but, notwithstanding their utmost efforts, they could not penetrate the
shore ice. Meanwhile the wind increased, and snow began to fall in
large flakes. The tide, too, as it receded, brought a stream of ice
round the point ahead of them, which bore right down on their bows. At
first the concussions were slight, and the bow of the ship turned the
floes aside, but heavier masses soon came down, and at last one fixed
itself on the cable, and caused the anchor to drag with a harsh, grating
sound.

Fred Ellice, who stood beside the second mate, near the companion hatch,
looked enquiringly at him.

"Ah! that's bad," said Saunders, shaking his head slowly, "I dinna like
that sound. If we're carried out into the pack there, dear knows where
we'll turn up in the long run."

"Perhaps we'll turn bottom up, sir," suggested the fat cook, as he
passed, at the moment with a tray of meat. Mizzle could not resist a
joke--no matter how unsuitable the time o