hung motionless and shrivelled along the
masts. Although not a breath reached us, and the surface of the
ocean was unruffled, the schooner was rocked from side to side by
the long oscillations of the swell coming from the west.

"The sea feels something," said Captain Len Guy to me, "and
there must be rough weather on that side," he added, pointing
westward.

"The horizon is misty," I replied; "but perhaps the sun
towards noon--"

"The sun has no strength in this latitude, Mr. Jeorling, not even
in summer. Jem!"

West came up to us.

"What do you think of the sky?"

"I do not think well of it. We must be ready for anything and
everything, captain."

"Has not the look-out given warning of the first drifting ice?"
I asked.

"Yes," replied Captain Len Guy, "and if we get near the
icebergs the damage will not be to them. Therefore, if prudence
demands that we should go either to the east or to the west, we
shall resign ourselves, but only in case of absolute necessity."

The watch had made no mistake. In the afternoon we sighted masses,
islets they might be called, of ice, drifting slowly southward, but
these were not yet of considerable extent or altitude. These packs
were easy to avoid; they could not interfere with the sailing of the
_Halbrane_. But, although the wind had hitherto permitted her to keep
on her course, she was not advancing, and it was exceedingly
disagreeable to be rolling about in a rough and hollow sea which
struck our ship's sides most unpleasantly.

About two o'clock it was blowing a hurricane from all the points
of the compass. The schooner was terribly knocked about, and the
boatswain had the deck cleared of everything that was movable by her
rolling and pitching.

Fortunately, the cargo could not be displaced, the stowage having
been effected with perfect forecast of nautical eventualities. We
had not to dread the fate of the _Grampus_, which was lost owing to
negligence in her lading. It will be remembered that the brig turned
bottom upwards, and that Arthur Pym and Dirk Peters remained for
several days crouching on its keel.

Besides, the schooner's pumps did not give a drop of water; the
ship was perfectly sound in every part, owing to the efficient
repairs that had been done during our stay at the Falklands. The
temperature had fallen rapidly, and hail, rain, and snow thickened
and darkened the air. At ten o'clock in the evening--I must use
this word, although the sun remaine