A VOYAGE IN THE NORTH SEAS. 



Clearer than that without, and its wide hue 

 Wax'd broad and waving like a banner free ; 

 Then changed like to a bow that's bent, and then 

 Forsook the dim eyes of those shipwreck'd men." 



Like the wrecked crew of the " most holy Trinidada," our 

 voyagers considered this a happy omen ; and, as the atmosphere 

 became presently almost brilliantly clear, they determined on making 

 for an immense iceberg, down whose glittering sides a cataract was 

 streaming in the sun, and which floated at a little distance, in order 

 to see if, from its summit, they could discover any likely means of 

 escape. The boat was shoved into a small bay in the ice, and Bill, 

 after he had reached the top, raised the joyful cry of "land to 

 leeward." 



Arundel having moored the boat safely, and thrown a gun over 

 his arm, assisted Flora up the steep and rugged ascent, in order that 

 they might feast their eyes with the delicious prospect. Meantime, 

 the smuggler had disappeared over the top of the iceberg, and, in a 

 short time, a cry of utter horror came in the direction he had taken. 

 Leaving Flora on a broad platform of ice, Arundel sprang up the 

 frozen crags, and presently arriving at the summit, saw the cause 

 of the seaman's terror. He was flying along the edge of the iceberg, 

 pursued, at a few yards distance, by a white bear of enormous size, 

 his Jong shaggy coat of hair glittering, as he threw forward his 

 uncouth carcase in immense leaps, with innumerable icicles, which, 

 in the gloomy gelid caverns of the berg, had not felt the sun's 

 influence. The chance of the unhappy fugitive's escape was cut 

 short, by his stumbling against a loose piece of ice ; and the next 

 moment the bear had plunged his teeth into his body, and seemed 

 to drink up, in long draughts, the blood of his victim. Arundel, 

 though filled with consternation and horror at the sight, still pressed 

 forward, and when he had arrived within a score of paces, fired with 

 such perfect precision, that the small glittering eye of the monster 

 was struck out, and a stream of blood trickled from the wound. He 

 then retired, loading his piece with all expedition, while the bear 

 advanced upon him, still holding in his mouth the mangled body of 

 the smuggler. He succeeded in charging his gun, and again struck 

 the bear somewhere in the neck. The ferocious animal instantly 

 quitted his first victim, and with a dreadful roar springing upon 

 Frank, before he could escape, threw him down, and stood for a 

 moment, with both paws upon his breast, displaying two rows of 

 tremendous teeth crimsoned with gore. This proved, however, to be 

 his dying effort ; the next instant his jaws relaxed, his roar died away 

 in the recesses of his chest he staggered and fell, scattering from 

 his lips, the very death foam, mixed with blood, upon the features of 

 his prostrate foe. Arundel's first care, after he had disencumbered 

 himself of the body of the slaughtered monster, was to look after 

 the unfortunate seaman. His corpse, mangled and bloody, presented 

 a spectacle, too hidious to contemplate. He dragged it to a cleft in 

 the ice, wherein, with a prayer for the spirit which had been so 

 unseasonably called to its account, he deposited the mangled limbs. 

 Thus, having briefly performed these duties, which he did not wish 



