264 A VOYAGE IN THE NORTH SEAS. 



who, with a tin flask of brandy in one hand, and a sort of leathern cup 

 in the other, sat kicking his legs upon a thoft; "and mayhap the 

 young gentlewoman will join you in that too, as you both seem to take 

 it easy. Now, for my part I take this same racing between two bergs 

 for a man's life to be d d hard work, and worse than the worse cross- 

 fire I ever stood between ; and him as has served under Howe and 

 Duncan, and seen the glorious first of June, seventeen-ninety.four, 

 and the eleventh of October, seventeen-ninety- seven, may say he knows 

 what a cross-fire is, and tell no lie. So here's your health, doctor, 

 and the poor fellows that found a bloody grave in these scrimmages ; 

 not forgetting the young gentlewoman's, which would be lubberly ;"* 

 and thereupon, suiting the action to the word, Bill took another 

 vigorous draught. Arundel, who foresaw the evil consequences of 

 Bill's thoughtlessness, secured the spirit, and after taking his advice 

 with respect to Flora and himself, deposited the flask in the pocket 

 of one of the pea-jackets, which, for further security, he put upon his 

 own person. Bill was by no means pleased with this manoeuvre, and 

 muttered something about " having another tot before he went to h 1 

 at any rate. " Arundel, however, succeeded in pacifying the half 

 intoxicated savage, by promising that he should have twice the 

 quantity which both the young lady and himself used. 



By this time, as the current which had carried them at first con- 

 siderably to leeward of the ice, was gone, the berg itself had drifted 

 within a short distance of the boat. For a time they tried, by means 

 of the oars, to keep themselves before the floating mass, but finding 

 this at length impracticable, they were obliged to jam the boat into a 

 little cleft, and thus suffer themselves to be carried before it by its 

 own impetus. In this way they were compelled to submit to the 

 risk of being bulged by the calves ; a name given by the sailors to 

 those pieces which breaking off from the bottom of an iceberg, rise up 

 to the surface with a force sufficient at times to drive in the timbers of 

 a Greenland ship. They now bailed out the water, and having made 

 every thing as dry and snug as possible, waited for the clearing away 

 of the fog, and calm weather. Black Bill, after a vain request for 

 another tot of brandy, rolled himself up like a hedgehog in the forepart 

 of the boat, and by and bye, the regular snoring to which his muttered 

 curses and grumbling gave place, proved that he was asleep. Flora, 

 too, worn out by bodily and mental suffering, slumbered in ArundeFs 

 arms. 



We shall not attempt to describe his thoughts and feelings as, with 

 that lovely girl in his bosom, the rugged ice-cliffs above, and the fa- 

 thomless sea beneath, he looked back during his lonely watch on the 

 blighted past, and forward to the well nigh hopeless future. In a few 

 hours he felt unable to resist sleep, so rousing Bill, and recommend- 

 ing him to keep a good watch, as he tossed off his dram, Frank 

 adjusted the pea-jackets round Flora and himself, and was presently 

 fast asleep. 



He was roused by some one fumbling about his clothes, and look- 

 ing up saw Black Bill in the act of drawing forth the flask from his 

 pocket. Arundel snatched it from him, and springing up, demanded 

 the cause of his dastardly conduct. 



