e same
moment he saw the little vessel far below him righting herself. She had
taken in all her sails and lay now tossing on the waves like a sea-bird
with folded wings. A short distance to the south lay a much larger
vessel, with two or three sails set, and towards it North Wind was
carrying Diamond. It was a German ship, on its way to the North Pole.

"That vessel down there will give us a lift now," said North Wind; "and
after that I must do the best I can."

She managed to hide him amongst the flags of the big ship, which were
all snugly stowed away, and on and on they sped towards the north. At
length one night she whispered in his ear, "Come on deck, Diamond;" and
he got up at once and crept on deck. Everything looked very strange.
Here and there on all sides were huge masses of floating ice, looking
like cathedrals, and castles, and crags, while away beyond was a blue
sea.

"Is the sun rising or setting?" asked Diamond.

"Neither or both, which you please. I can hardly tell which myself. If
he is setting now, he will be rising the next moment."

"What a strange light it is!" said Diamond. "I have heard that the sun
doesn't go to bed all the summer in these parts. Miss Coleman told me
that. I suppose he feels very sleepy, and that is why the light he sends
out looks so like a dream."

"That will account for it well enough for all practical purposes," said
North Wind.

Some of the icebergs were drifting northwards; one was passing very near
the ship. North Wind seized Diamond, and with a single bound lighted on
one of them--a huge thing, with sharp pinnacles and great clefts. The
same instant a wind began to blow from the south. North Wind hurried
Diamond down the north side of the iceberg, stepping by its jags and
splintering; for this berg had never got far enough south to be melted
and smoothed by the summer sun. She brought him to a cave near the
water, where she entered, and, letting Diamond go, sat down as if weary
on a ledge of ice.

Diamond seated himself on the other side, and for a while was enraptured
with the colour of the air inside the cave. It was a deep, dazzling,
lovely blue, deeper than the deepest blue of the sky. The blue seemed to
be in constant motion, like the blackness when you press your eyeballs
with your fingers, boiling and sparkling. But when he looked across to
North Wind he was frightened; her face was worn and livid.

"What is the matter with you, dear North Wind?" he said