cob, the water is much warmer than the air, and in consequence,
the ice under the water melts away much faster; so that if the iceberg
has been some time afloat, at last the part that is below is not so
heavy as that which is above; then it turns, that is, it upsets and
floats in another position."

"I understand you, sir."

"Well, we were close to an iceberg, which was to windward of us, a very
tall one, indeed, and we reckoned that we should get clear of it, for we
were carrying a press of sail to effect it. Still, all hands were
eagerly watching the iceberg, as it came down very fast before the
storm. All of a sudden it blew twice as hard as before, and then one of
the men shouted out--`_Turning, turning_!'--and sure enough it was.
There was its towering summit gradually bowing towards us, until it
almost appeared as if the peak was over our heads. Our fate appeared
inevitable, as the whole mountain of ice was descending on the vessel,
and would, of course, have crushed us into atoms. We all fell on our
knees, praying mentally, and watching its awful descent; even the man at
the helm did the same, although he did not let go the spokes of the
wheel. It had nearly half turned over, right for us, when the ice
below, being heavier on one side than on the other, gave it a more
slanting impetus, and shifting the direction of its fall, it plunged
into the sea about a cable's length astern of us, throwing up the water
to the heavens in foam, and blinding us all with the violence with which
it dashed into our faces. For a minute the run of the waves was
checked, and the sea appeared to boil and dance, throwing up peaked,
pointed masses of water in all directions, one sinking, another rising,
the ship rocked and reeled as if she were drunk; even the current of the
gale was checked for a moment, and the heavy sails flapped and cleared
themselves of their icy varnishing--then all was over. There was an
iceberg of another shape astern of us, the gale recommenced, the waves
pressed each other on as before, and we felt the return of the gale,
awful as it was, as a reprieve. That was a dreadful voyage, Jacob, and
turned one-third of my hair grey; and what made it worse was, that we
had only three fish on board on our return. However, we had reason to
be thankful, for eighteen of our vessels were lost altogether, and it
was the mercy of God that we were not among the number."

"Well, I suppose you told me that story to pre