ted about the course we were to steer.
With his pumpkin for a chart, his instinct for an observation, and his
nose for a compass, the sturdy sealer stood boldly to the southward; or,
at least, he ran dead before a stiff gale, which, as he more than once
affirmed, was as true a norther as if bred and born in the Canadas.

After coursing over the billows at a tremendous rate for a day and a
night, the captain appeared on deck, with a face of unusual meaning,
and a mind loaded with its own reflections, as was proved by his winking
knowingly whenever he delivered himself of a sentiment; a habit that
he had most probably contracted, in early youth, at Stunin'tun, for it
seemed to be quite as inveterate as it was thoroughbred.

"We shall soon know, Sir John," he observed, hitching the sea-lion skin
into symmetry, "whether it is sink or swim!"

"Pray explain yourself, Mr. Poke," cried I, in a little alarm. "If
anything serious is to happen, you are bound to give timely notice."

"Death is always untimely to some critturs, Sir John."

"Am I to understand, sir, that you mean to cast away the ship?"

"Not if I can help it, Sir John; but a craft that is foreordained to be
a wrack, will be a wrack, in spite of reefing and bracing. Look ahead,
you Dick Lion--ay, there you have it!"

There we had it, sure enough! I can only compare the scene which now met
my eyes, to a sudden view of the range of the Oberland Alps, when the
spectator is unexpectedly placed on the verge of the precipice of the
Weissenstein. There he would see before him a boundless barrier
of glittering ice, broken into the glorious and fantastic forms of
pinnacles, walls, and valleys; while here, we saw all that was sublime
in such a view heightened by the fearful action of the boisterous ocean,
which beat upon the impassable boundary in ceaseless violence.

"Good God! Captain Poke," I exclaimed, the instant I caught a glimpse
of the formidable danger that menaced us, "you surely do not mean to
continue madly on, with such a warning of the consequences in plain
view?"

"What would you have, Sir John? Leaphigh lies on the t'other side of
these ice-islands!"

"But you need not run the ship against them--why not go round them?"

"Because they go round the 'arth, in this latitude. Now is the time
to speak, Sir John. If we are bound to Leaphigh, we have the choice of
three pretty desperate chances; to go through, to go under, or to go
over that there ice. If w