rned out to be an enormous iceberg, fortunately far
away to leeward out of the course of the ship. It was an immense
irregular mass several miles long and of great height, appearing to
reach up into the clouds above as it heaved up and down on the heavy
rolling sea; and its top and points, covered with snow, stood out
distinctly against the dark horizon.

"Ah, we are well away from that fellow!" said Mr Meldrum rubbing his
hands; but his congratulations were cut short in a moment by the look-
out man forward--the Norwegian sailor, who as an old whaler was
accustomed to Antarctic sights and sounds--shouting out that there was
field-ice ahead, and that from the crashing of the floes he thought the
ship must be near the pack.

"Take in sail at once," said Mr Meldrum, "and keep a sharper look-out
than ever. If the vessel runs against the ice woe betide us all!"

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

"LAND HO!"

"Let go the mizzentop-sail halliards, and man the fore staysail down-
haul!" shouted out Captain Dinks the moment Mr Meldrum had spoken; and,
the helm being put down at the same time, the ship was again brought
head to wind, almost sooner than it has taken to describe the operation.
However, as it was observed after a little while that the vessel
drifted so rapidly to leeward, through the mere force of the wind on her
exposed hull and remaining spars, not to speak of the wash of the sea,
and thus ran in quite as great danger of colliding with the ice as if
she had been going ahead, the fore staysail, reefed into the most
attenuated proportions, was set again--so that the ship might be under
steerage way and be able to avoid, under judicious control, the numerous
small bergs that now hove in sight like miniature islands in every
direction, making the navigation perilous in the extreme.

As night came on, too, the dangers surrounding the _Nancy Bell_
increased tenfold; for, the wind not only blew with greater strength,
but it was accompanied by blinding showers of hail and snow, while a
thick fog rose from the freezing water, more like steam than anything
else, obscuring everything and preventing the floating ice from being
seen until it was immediately under the bows.

It was just about the beginning of the second dog-watch at four bells--
six o'clock in the evening--that the mist came; so, after a brief
consultation with Mr Meldrum, Captain Dinks told the chief mate to call
the hands aft.

"We are in as tight a hole, Mc