el.

Mr. Gibbs's instrument gave him an approximate idea of the vessel's
depth in the water, and the dial connected with the sounding apparatus
told him hour by hour that the distance from the bottom, as the vessel
kept forward on the same plane, was becoming less and less. Consequently
he determined, so long as he was able to proceed, to keep the Dipsey as
near as possible at a median distance between the ice and the bottom.

This was an anxious time. So long as they had felt that they had plenty
of sea-room the little party of adventurers had not yet recognized
any danger which they thought sufficient to deter them from farther
progress; but if the ice and the bottom were coming together, what
could they do? It was possible, by means of explosives they carried,
to shatter the ice above them; but action of this kind had not been
contemplated unless they should find themselves at the pole and still
shut in by ice. They did not wish to get out into the open air at the
point where they found themselves; and, moreover, it would not have been
safe to explode their great bombs in such shallow water. A consultation
was held, and it was agreed that the best thing to do was to diverge
from the course they had steadily maintained, and try to find a deeper
channel leading to the north. Accordingly they steered eastward.

It was not long before they found that they had judged wisely; the
bottom descended far out of the reach of their electric lead, and they
were enabled to keep a safe distance below the overhanging ice.

"I feel sure," said Mr. Gibbs, "that we came near running against some
outreaching portion of the main Western Continent, and now we have got
to look out for the foundations of Greenland's icy mountains." He spoke
cheerily, for he wished to encourage his companions, but there was a
very anxious look upon his face when he was not speaking to any one.

The next day every one was anxious, whether he spoke or was silent. The
bottom was rising again, and the Dipsey was obliged to sail nearer and
nearer to the ice above. Between two dangers, constricted and trammelled
as they were, none of them could help feeling the terrors of their
position, and if it had not been for the encouraging messages which
continually came to them from Sardis, they might not have been able to
keep up brave hearts.

After two days of most cautious progress, during which the water became
steadily shallower and shallower, it was discovered