as he lent a willing hand to haul out the
sledge. "Mos' boosiful. But he's rader a strong rem'dy, massa, don'
you tink? Not bery easy to git up a gleefoo' shout when one's down in
de mout' bery bad, eh!"

Alf's reply was checked by the necessity for remounting the sledge and
resuming the journey. Those in rear avoided the pond by going round it.

"The weather's warm, anyhow, and that's a comfort," remarked Benjy, as
he settled down in his wet garments. "We can't freeze in summer, you
know, and--"

He stopped abruptly, for it became apparent just then that the opening
close ahead of them was too narrow for the sledge to pass. It was
narrowed by a buttress, or projection, of the cathedral-berg, which
jutted up close to a vast obelisk of ice about forty feet high, if not
higher.

"Nothing for it, boys, but to cut through," said the Captain, jumping
out, and seizing an axe, as the sledge was jammed between the masses.
The dogs lay down to rest and pant while the men were at work.

"It's cut an' come again in dem regins," muttered the negro steward,
also seizing an axe, and attacking the base of the obelisk.

A sudden cry of alarm from the whole party caused him to desist and look
up. He echoed the cry and sprang back swiftly, for the huge mass of ice
having been just on the balance, one slash at its base had destroyed the
equilibrium, and it was leaning slowly over with a deep grinding sound.
A moment later the motion was swift, and it fell with a terrible crash,
bursting into a thousand fragments, scattering lumps and glittering
morsels far and wide, and causing the whole ice-field to tremble. The
concussion overturned several other masses, which had been in the same
nicely-balanced condition, some near at hand, others out of sight,
though within earshot, and, for a moment, the travellers felt as if the
surrounding pack were disrupting everywhere and falling into utter ruin,
but in a few seconds the sounds ceased, and again all was quiet.

Fortunately, the obelisk which had been overturned fell towards the
north--away from the party; but although it thus narrowly missed
crushing them all in one icy tomb, it blocked up their path so
completely that the remainder of that day had to be spent in cutting a
passage through it.

Need we say that, after this, they were careful how they used their axes
and ice-chisels?

Soon after the occurrence of this incident, the labyrinths among the ice
became more broken,