342 Chapter VI. 



hears the roar the whole way. It is coming nearer just 

 now ; the ship is getting violent shocks ; it is like waves 

 in the ice. They come on us from behind, and move 

 forward. We stare out into the night, but can see 

 nothing, for it is pitch-dark. Now I hear cracking and 

 shifting in the hummock on the starboard quarter ; it 

 gets louder and stronger, and extends steadily. At last 

 the waterfall roar abates a little. It becomes more 

 unequal ; there is a longer interval between each shock. 

 I am so cold that I creep below. 



" But no sooner have I seated myself to write, 

 than the ship begins to heave and tremble again, and I 

 hear through her sides the roar of the packing. As the 

 bear-trap may be in danger, three men go off to see to 

 it, but they find that there is a distance of 50 paces 

 between the new pressure-ridge and the wire by which the 

 trap is secured, so they leave it as it is. The pressure- 

 riclge was an ugly sight, they say, but they could 

 distinguish nothing well in the dark. 



" Most violent pressure is beginning again. I must go 

 on deck and look at it. The loud roar meets one as one 

 opens the door. It is coming from the bow now, as well 

 as from the stern. It is clear that pressure-ridges are 

 being thrown up in both openings, so if they reach us 

 we shall be taken by both ends and lifted lightly and 

 gently out of the water. There is pressure near us 

 on all sides. Creaking has begun in the old hummock 

 on the port quarter ; it is getting louder, and, so far 



