110 



THE OPAL SEA 



Beauty of 



fog effects. 



Icebergs. 



will not try to discover anything but discom- 

 fort in a fog. The drive of the steamer 

 through the vapor pall, with the siren shrieking 

 every few moments, is counted one of the hor- 

 rors of the North Atlantic voyage. And, true 

 enough, it is not always a pleasant or agreeable 

 happening ; but the fog is an ocean beauty none 

 the less. Standing beside the lookout at the 

 bow as the steamer plunges forward into the un- 

 known, each new scrap of sea is eagerly scanned 

 as it rushes aft along the ship, the waters flash 

 and disappear, the fog-bank cleaves in twain, 

 we speed on and away through changing clouds 

 of blue and silver. There is an exhilaration 

 about it to which the warning note of the siren 

 perhaps adds the spice of danger. 



The danger is the more real on the New- 

 foundland Banks when the water and the air 

 suddenly grow cold. That is the first indica- 

 tion of icebergs; and ice is perhaps more fatal 

 in collision than a sister ship or a water-logged 

 derelict. It is some time perhaps before the 

 bergs appear on the horizon. When they finally 

 lift into view we are perhaps surprised by their 

 modest dimensions, and wonder that such 

 small scraps of ice could cause so great a chill 

 upon the waters. But doubtless we fail to con- 

 sider that more than four-fifths of the white 



