inly have screamed had I not been so full of water that I could
not utter a single word. But I managed, after a while, to get all the
water spit out, and then, after drawing into my lungs a few good long
breaths of air, I felt greatly refreshed. I could still, however, hardly
stand, and was shivering with the cold. But I found that I had strength
enough to stagger back to the ship, where I was greeted in a manner far
from pleasant.

"The sailors looked upon my adventure as a great joke, never once
seeming to think how near I was to death's door, and the mate simply
cried out 'Overboard, eh? Pity the sharks didn't catch him!' It was
clear enough that this red-faced tyrant would show me no mercy; and
when, pale and cold and panting for breath, I asked him for leave to go
below for a while, he cried out, 'Yes, for just five minutes. Be lively,
or I'll warm your back for you with a rope's end.'

"The prospect of a 'back warming' of this description had the effect to
make me lively, sure enough, although I was shivering as if I would
shake all my teeth out, and tumble all my bones down into a heap. As
soon as I reached the deck, the mate cried out again for me to 'be
lively,' and when he set after me with an uplifted rope's end, his face
glaring at me all the while like a red-hot furnace, you may be sure I
was quite as lively as it was possible for me to be, and was over the
ship's side in next to no time at all, and off after seals again. After
a while I got warmed up with exercise, and this time, being more
cautious, I met with no similar misadventure, and soon came in dragging
three seals after me. The mate now complimented me by exclaiming, 'Why,
look at the lubber!'

"We continued at this seal-hunting for a good many days, during which we
shifted our position frequently, and made what the sealers called a good
'catch.' But still the barrels in the hold of the ship were not much
more than half of them filled with oil, when a great storm set in, and,
the ice threatening to close in upon us, we were forced to get
everything aboard, to cast loose from the ice-field, and work our way
south into clear water again, which we were fortunate enough to do
without accident. But some other vessels which had come up while we were
fishing, and were very near to us, were not so lucky. Two of them were
caught by the moving ice-fields before they could make their escape, and
were crushed all to pieces. The crews, however, saved themsel