ENCOUNTER WITH AN ICEBERG. 63 



caught the sound of breakers. The lookout gave the 

 alarm a moment afterward. 



" Where away ? " 



" I can't make out, sir." 



The sound came from an object which was evidently 

 near at hand, but no one could tell where. A few mo- 

 ments more, and the loom of an iceberg appeared in 

 our course. There was no time for reflection, and it 

 was too late for action. To haul the schooner by the 

 wind was to insure our plunging broadside upon it ; 

 and so indistinct was the object that we knew not 

 which way to steer. We could not see either end of 

 it or its top, — nothing but a white shimmer and a 

 line of angry surf. 



I have always found inaction to be a safe course 

 when one does not know what to do ; and in the pres- 

 ent case that course saved us. Had I obeyed my first 

 impulse, and put the helm up, we should have gone 

 straight to ruin ; as it was, we slipped past the ugly 

 monster, barely escaping a collision which, had it oc- 

 curred, would have been instantly fatal to the vessel, 

 and of course to every one on board. The fore-yard 

 actually grazed its side, and the surf was thrown back 

 upon us from the white wall. In a few moments the 

 berg was swallowed up in the gloom from which it 

 had so suddenly emerged. 



"A close shave, that ! " said cool-headed Dodge. 



"Ver — very close," answered Starr, much as if 

 he had just received the first shock of a shower- 

 bath. 



The old cook was called out of his galley to lend a 

 hand, and in the midst of the excitement he was heard 

 to growl out, " I don't see how I 's to get de gentle- 

 mens' dinner ready if I 's to be called out of my galley 



