In the Later Days 411 



down toward the lee of the big cake of ice. When 

 she arrived at the corner the captain waved his 

 hand toward the man at the wheel as a signal 

 to put the helm down and bring the vessel to her 

 course again. The man did as ordered, but the 

 captain was a bit vexed because he had been 

 obliged to veer off, and it seemed to him that she 

 was not coming to the wind as rapidly as she should 

 have done. Turning around he said to the man: 



"Consarn it, put that wheel down." 



The man put the wheel hard down immedi- 

 ately, and before any one realized what was doing 

 the bark was shaving along within a boat's length 

 of the huge cake. 



"Ease her off a little!" shouted the captain, 

 and the man was obeying this order when she 

 struck on a point of ice projecting under water 

 like the ram of a man-of-war, and with a force 

 that almost threw her on her beam ends. 



"By thunder!" said Mr. Davis; "if she gets 

 many more blows like that, we'll be in the boats." 



As the vessel righted and continued on her 

 way with speed unimpaired, no one gave the 

 matter any more thought. That night, however, 



