THE SHIP IMPRISONED 83 



again and again to reach the boat by leaping from one 

 floe to another only to lind that the ice at the edges, still 

 soft from the warmth of summer, would not support their 

 weight. Then Macy drove his boat's bow into the edge 

 of the ice and one of his men with some difficulty landed on 

 a floe that fringed the pool and with all the weight of the 

 wind to help him cast a line to the nearest of the two men 

 who was soon safely in the boat. Only one man remained 

 and it was not until then that Jonathan recognised the 

 distant figure as that of Sykes. 



Again a blanket of snow covered the scene from the five 

 men and the boy watching anxiously on the deck of the 

 Pilgrim. When it lifted a little they saw to seaward an 

 endless barrier of white ice lying low upon the sea. 



'Larboard thy helm!' the captain ordered. 



'Ease her!' 



'Steady!' 



With her nose to the southward the little ship sailed 

 through an ever-narrowing channel formed on the one 

 hand by the ice that had packed against the shore and on 

 the other by that which was advancing from the westward. 

 To the problem of getting the whaleboat safely back to the 

 ship was now added that of finding a passage through or 

 around the approaching ice to the open sea that could be 

 seen beyond. 



As the ship reached southward the whaleboat was once 

 more hidden from their view by the driving snow. 



The lane of water narrowed until the ice on either side 

 joined to form a cul-de-sac; The Pilgrim wore round and 

 bore away to the northward and her tall captain bade his 

 men come to the poop-deck where he knelt with them and 

 prayed for God's guidance and protection in that difficult 

 hour. As they listened with bowed heads to the words of 

 their captain the boy stole glances at the men around him. 

 His eyes roamed from the erect figure of the helmsman 

 tensely gripping the tiller and peering ahead, to the two 



