me refusing to bite, but it caught at last in a crevice, and
immediately on the vessel touching, the grip-anchors were extended and
the ship secured.

No sooner was the _Flying Fish_ fairly settled on the ice than Mildmay,
who knew exactly what ought to be done, descended to the lower recesses
of the ship, and, opening the trap-door in her bottom, made his way out
on the ice, dragging with him a ladder which was always kept in the
diving-room. He soon reached the stern of the vessel, and, rearing the
ladder in a suitable position against the propeller, nimbly ran aloft
and began to throw off the convolutions of the entangled hawser. Twenty
minutes sufficed, not only to complete the work, but also to assure him
that no damage had been done to the hull of the vessel; and, his three
companions having followed him and removed the hawser to the interior of
the vessel, he re-entered the hull, secured the trap-door after him, and
ascended to the deck. He here found Sir Reginald and the colonel busily
engaged in adjusting a new hawser ready for use, and, with his
assistance, this task was completed in another five minutes, and the
ship was once more ready for service.

As the _Flying Fish_ was in the act of rising from off the ice, Sir
Reginald asked:

"Should we not make better speed by taking at once to the water,
professor?"

"Undoubtedly we should," was the answer. "Such a course would also have
the additional advantage of enabling us to immerse the hull to the
proper depth as we go along, thus giving us that hold upon the water
necessary to cope successfully with the weight of a large ship like the
one of which we are going in search. We _might_, whilst floating in the
air, be able to tow her out of danger, but I am a little doubtful on the
point; and, as this is a case in which it will not do to incur any risk
by trying experiments, we will take to the water as soon as we can
discover a suitable channel. It appears to me that there is something
of the kind about six miles ahead and a little to our right."

There certainly was a channel through the ice at the point indicated by
the professor, but whether it was a true channel, or merely a _cul de
sac_, they were for the moment unable to decide. On nearing it to
within a mile, however, they found it to be the latter; but about a
couple of miles beyond it another streak of water was seen extending,
unbroken, as far as the eye could reach. For this they steered,