214 THE VOYAGE OF THE JE ANNETTE. 



At 9.15 p. M. the quartermaster came in to report 

 heavy grinding and movement ahead of the ship to the 

 S. S. W. Seizing a lantern I rushed out upon the floe, 

 accompanied bv Alexey, and from the horrid din and 

 screeching of the ice I thought the commotion could 

 not be fifty feet from us. Alternate the howling of a 

 gale around the rigging of a ship with the beat of the 

 paddle-wheels of a hundred steamers, and you will have 

 a good idea of what this noise sounded like. Not feel- 

 ing any trembling to our floe, I concluded to look fur- 

 ther for the disturbance, and so went on. After going 

 about one thousand yards and crossing two cracks my 



A Quarrel Over a Meat-Can. 



lantern went out. We were not up to the disturbance 

 yet, and the noise was quite as great. After floundering 

 and stumbling around for a while, I decided to return 

 and await events nearer home. Alexey and myseU, 

 after rolling over and over a dozen times or more in 

 the darkness, made our way back, and finding no dis- 

 turbance at the ship, we dismissed the subject contempt- 

 uously as " plenty noise, small move." At eleven the 

 noise and movement had passed off to the eastward, 



