alling the hands.

"Tumble up, men, tumble up!" cried Mr McCarthy; "don't stop for your
clothes. All hands wear ship."

Frank Harness and Mr Adams had already darted towards the braces; and,
the men soon joining them, the yards were braced round, the mizzen and
mainsail being again dropped and sheeted home to enable her to pay off
from the shore, which the vessel soon did on the other tack, although
the canvas made her bury her bows in the sea and almost heel over till
the mainyard dipped.

"Let her carry on, she'll bear it," said the captain. "We cannot do too
much to get away from those confounded breakers; I'd sooner hear
anything than them!"

"So would I," responded Mr Meldrum, still looking pale, for the _Nancy
Bell_ had had a narrow squeak of going to the bottom when wearing; "but
we are rushing into almost as terrible a danger as the lee-shore. If we
come in contact with one of these icebergs, going at the speed we now
do, the shock will sink us to a certainty."

"Well," said the captain, "of the two dangers that is the least. By
keeping a good look-out we may avoid the ice, which we could never do
with the lee-shore, save by getting away from it, as we are doing now.
By Jove, isn't she walking along--the beauty, crippled as she is--just
as if she knew the peril she was in!"

"Better not holler till yer out of the wood," observed Mr McCarthy; "as
for myself, I wish it was mornin' agin, sure!"

He'd no sooner uttered the words, however, than the look-out man forward
suddenly gave vent to a frightened exclamation, drawn from him by the
sight of something unexpected and terrible.

"Ice on the lee bow!" shouted he. "Port your helm hard!"

But the warning came too late.

Almost at the same instant as the cry reached the ears of those aft, the
_Nancy Bell_ struck full butt against a dark object that loomed up out
of the fog right ahead of the ship, and which had been unperceived a
moment before.

There was a grinding rending crash and sound of breaking timbers, the
vessel quivering from stem to stern; and then, the main and mizzen
masts, with all their yards and the sails which had so lately been
urging the ship on to her destruction toppled over the sides, whilst a
wave, washing back from the base of the iceberg and coming in over the
bows, swept the decks fore and aft.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

MAKING THE BEST OF IT.

All hands were on deck at the time of the collision; and, with one
concentrated