eed, who was in charge of the boat.

The following day was the 31st of January. I pushed back the canvas
of the tent, which I shared with Captain Len Guy and West
respectively, as each succeeded the other on release from the
alternate "watch," very early, and experienced a severe
disappointment.

Mist, everywhere! Nay, more than mist, a thick yellow,
mouldy-smelling fog. And more than this again; the temperature had
fallen sensibly: this was probably a forewarning of the austral
winter. The summit of our ice-mountain was lost in vapour, in a fog
which would not resolve itself into rain, but would continue to
muffle up the horizon.

"Bad luck!" said the boatswain, "for now if we were to pass by
land we should not perceive it."

"And our drift?"

"More considerable than yesterday, Mr. Jeorling. The captain has
sounded, and he makes the speed no less than between three and four
miles."

"And what do you conclude from this?"

"I conclude that we must be within a narrower sea, since the
current is so strong. I should not be surprised if we had land on
both sides of us within ten or fifteen miles."

"This, then, would be a wide strait that cuts the antarctic
continent?"

"Yes. Our captain is of that opinion."

"And, holding that opinion, is he not going to make an attempt to
reach one or other of the coasts of this strait?"

"And how?"

"With the boat."

"Risk the boat in the midst of this fog!" exclaimed the
boatswain, as he crossed his arms. "What are you thinking of, Mr.
Jeorling? Can we cast anchor to wait for it? And all the chances
would be that we should never see it again. Ah! if we only had the
_Halbrane_!"

But there was no longer a _Halbrane_!

In spite of the difficulty of the ascent through the half-condensed
vapour, I climbed up to the top of the iceberg, but when I had
gained that eminence I strove in vain to pierce the impenetrable
grey mantle in which the waters were wrapped.

I remained there, hustled by the north-east wind, which was
beginning to blow freshly and might perhaps rend the fog asunder.
But no, fresh vapours accumulated around our floating refuge, driven
up by the immense ventilation of the open sea. Under the double
action of the atmospheric and antarctic currents, we drifted more
and more rapidly, and I perceived a sort of shudder pass throughout
the vast bulk of the iceberg.

Then it was that I felt myself under the dominion of a sort of
hallucination, one of those