62 AN ANXIOUS NIGHT. 



whether we should contmue on m our course, or heave 

 to and wait for better weather. In either case we 

 were exposed to much risk. By heaving to, the ves- 

 sel would not be under command ; and, drifting 

 through the gloom, we stood a fair chance of settling 

 ujDou a stray berg or upon the ice-fields which we had 

 every reason to suppose would, sooner or later, ob- 

 struct our progress ; besides, and it was not an unim- 

 portant consideration, we lost a fine wind. On the 

 other hand, by holding on, although we had the ves- 

 sel under control, there was an even chance that, in 

 the event of ice lying in our course, we would not be 

 able to see it through the thick atmosphere in time to 

 avoid it. The question was, however, quickly decided. 

 Preferring that danger which had some energy in it, 

 I reefed every thing down, pointed the schooner's 

 head for Cape York, and went at it. 



I paced the deck in much anxiety of mind. We 

 were traversing a sea which no keel had ever plowed 

 before without meeting ice, and why should better for- 

 tune be in store for our little craft. The air was so 

 thick that I could sometimes barely see the lookout 

 on the forecastle ; then again it would lighten up, and, 

 underneath the broad canopy of dark vapors, which 

 seemed to be supported by the icebergs that here and 

 there appeared, I could see a distance of several miles. 

 Then again the air became thick with the falling snow 

 and rattling hail ; the wind whistled through the rig- 

 ging, and all the while the heavy waves were rolling 

 up behind us, deluging the decks, and threatening to 

 swallow us up. I shall not soon forget our first ten 

 hours in Melville Bay. 



At length, after a few hours of this wild running, 

 my ear, which was keenly alive to every impression, 



