he may do with practice."

Satisfied that there was no outlet for a sailing craft in this
direction, they pulled towards the opposite side of the basin, but not
until they were within a few rods of its cliffs did they discover an
opening which was so black with shadow that it had heretofore escaped
their notice.

"Here it is," cried Cabot, "though----"

His speech was cut suddenly short, and for a moment he stared in silent
amazement. The farther end of the passage was completely filled by
what appeared a gigantic mass of white rock.

"An iceberg!" exclaimed the young skipper, who was the first to
recognise the true nature of the obstacle. "An iceberg driven in by
the gale and jammed. Now we are in a fix."

"I should say as much," responded Cabot, "for there isn't space enough
to let a rowboat out, much less a schooner. No wonder this water is as
still as that in a corked bottle. What shall we do now?"

"Wait until it melts, I suppose," replied White gloomily, "or until the
outside seas batter it away."

So our lads had waited unhappily and impatiently for more than a month,
and still the ice barrier was as immovable as ever. Also, as the
weather was growing steadily cooler, its melting became less and less
with each succeeding day.

During this period of enforced imprisonment they had made several
exploring trips into the interior, but had failed to find trace of
human life; nor were they able to go far either north or south on
account of impassable waterways. Neither could they discover any
timber from which to obtain firewood, and as the supply on the schooner
was nearly exhausted their outlook for the future grew daily more and
more gloomy.

For a while they had hoped to signal some passing vessel, and one or
the other of them made daily trips to the most prominent headland of
the vicinity, where he kept a lookout for hours. But this also proved
fruitless, for but two vessels had been sighted, and neither of these
paid any attention to their signals.

Thus the open season passed, and with the near approach of an Arctic
winter the situation of our imprisoned lads grew so desperate that they
were filled with the gloomiest forebodings.

CHAPTER XVIII.

FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH THE NATIVES.

Only once during their tedious imprisonment had our lads received
evidence that human beings existed in that desolate country, and after
they gained this information they hardly knew whether to rejoice or