THE WHITE WORLD 



confusion. I was pitched in a heap upon the floor of the 

 cabin, and, as I arose, my English friend who was in the 

 act of dressing himself drawled out " Oh, I beg your par- 

 don, Walsh, I've got your breeches on, you know!" I 

 could not help laughing though I thought my last hour had 

 come. I donned whatever came to hand and hastily we 

 climbed on deck. The ship jarred and grated and bumped, 

 but finally aided by the high sea got clear of the reefs. 

 Whether it was about to sink or not nobody knew. 



On deck there was a scene of wild confusion. Many 

 were rushing about with life preservers, some were work- 

 ing at the boats to get them lowered, and others were 

 bringing their .most valuable possessions up from their 

 cabins. Our German photographer appeared with his 

 hands full of pipes and bags of tobacco, and called out: 



" Save your tobacco, boys, the ship's sinking." In the 

 excitement of the moment all sorts of odd things were 

 seized. I saw one man in a night shirt with a gun in one 

 hand and a life preserver in the other; another had the 

 ship's cat pressed against his bosom. A member with 

 very white gills rushed up to a distinguished professor, 

 "Are we going down, Professor," he asked, "Are we going 

 down?" 



" Well, if you do go down," philosophically remarked 

 the professor, " you will go down in exceedingly good 

 company." 



Our whistles were kept blowing continually, and the 

 solitary cannon was fired off at rapid intervals as we turned 

 back and made for Sukkertoppen. It was discovered that 

 the aft ballast tank was full of water, but as our pumps 

 appeared able to keep the leakage from gaining on us 

 rapidly, there was apparently no immediate danger. Es- 

 kimo pilots reached us and by eleven o'clock we were 

 safely anchored in the harbor of Sukkertoppen, and the 

 Miranda was tied with cables to ring-bolts in the rocks. 

 Here a careful examination as to the damage was made, 

 and though this could not be fully ascertained, it was dis- 

 covered that whatever hole the rocks had made was just 

 beneath the ballast-tank. This tank extended the whole 

 width of the ship, and lay beneath the engine room and 

 stoke-hole. It had filled with water and the pumps could 



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