144 SPINKS' LUCKY ESCAPE. 



began his descent by seating himself and dig- 

 ging his heels into the snow, the surface of 

 which had been glazed and rendered hard by 

 the process before mentioned. He got on 

 very well at first, but presently his foot slip- 

 ped, or the snow was too hard for his heel to 

 make any impression, and he began to descend 

 at a rapid pace, keeping his balance, however, 

 by means of his hands. His speed becoming 

 accelerated, in a very short time his descent 

 was fearfully quick ; the fine snow flew about 

 him like dust, and there seemed to be but 

 little chance of his reaching the bottom in 

 safety, especially as his descent now appeared 

 to take the direction of the iceberg. We ran 

 with all our strength to render him the earliest 

 assistance, and for a moment having lost sight 

 of him behind a crag of the mountain, we ex- 

 pected nothing less than that his lifeless body 

 would be found at the foot of this icy pre- 

 cipice ; but Spinks, with great presence of 

 mind and dexterity, to use his own expression, 

 " by holding water first with one hand, and 

 then the other," contrived to escape the dan- 

 ger, and, like a skilful pilot, to steer his vessel 

 into a place of refuge, amidst a bed of soft 

 snow which had recently been drifted against 

 the hill. As soon as he could extricate him- 



