of tea leaped
away from him and flooded the centre of the table. The doctor's cup was
empty; he seized the table with both hands and remained steady; but
Dicey's cup happened to be at his lips at the moment, and was quite
full. The effect on him was unfortunate. He was thrown violently on
his back, and the tea poured over his face and drenched his hair as he
lay sprawling on the floor. The steward saved himself by dropping the
bread-tray and grasping the handle of the cabin door. So violent was
the shock that the ship's bell was set a-ringing.

"Beg pardon, gentlemen," cried the first mate, looking down the
skylight. "I forgot to warn you. The ice is getting rather thick
around us, and I had to charge a lump of it."

"It's all very well to beg pardon," said the captain, "but that won't
mend my crockery!"

"Or dry my head," growled Mr Dicey; "it's as bad as if I'd been dipped
overboard, it is."

Before Mr Dicey's grumbling remarks were finished all three of them had
reached the deck. The wind had freshened considerably, and the brig was
rushing in a somewhat alarming manner among the floes. It required the
most careful attention to prevent her striking heavily.

"If it goes on like this, we shall have to reduce sail," observed the
captain. "See, there is a neck of ice ahead that will stop us."

This seemed to be probable, for the lane of water along which they were
steering was, just ahead of them, stopped by a neck of ice that
connected two floe-pieces. The water beyond was pretty free from ice,
but this neck or mass seemed so thick that it became a question whether
they should venture to charge it or shorten sail.

"Stand by the fore- and main-topsail braces!" shouted the captain.

"Aye, aye, sir!"

"Now, Mr Mansell," said he, with a smile, "we have come to our first
real difficulty. What do you advise; shall we back the topsails, or try
what our little _Hope_ is made of, and charge the enemy?"

"Charge!" answered the mate.

"Just so," said the captain, hastening to the bow to direct the
steersman. "Port your helm."

"Steady."

The brig was now about fifty yards from the neck of ice, tearing through
the water like a race-horse. In another moment she was up to it and
struck it fair in the middle. The stout little vessel quivered to her
keel under the shock, but she did not recoil. She split the mass into
fragments, and, bearing down all before her, sailed like a conqueror
into the clear