84 THE WHALE HUNTERS 



older whalemen and to old Pierre who knelt beside him 

 muttering in French; and then on his other side to the 

 captain whom he had thought nothing could ever humble. 

 He closed his own eyes and the deep chanting tones of the 

 voice beside him became only a background for his own 

 personal prayer. 



Suddenly and sharply the helmsman's voice rang out, 

 'Captain, sir, look!' 



They all rose to their feet. In the direction of the 

 helmsman's pointing finger they saw in the distance a 

 great fissure opening in the ice on the landward side and 

 heard the roar of floe crushing against floe. 



An area of the vast white desert that reached out from 

 the Greenland shore was swinging independently of the 

 rest, pivoting at some point in the greater distance, and 

 propelled by an unseen natural power of wind or current. 

 On one edge of the ever widening V-shaped gap stood the 

 lone figure of Sykes; on the other, twisting and turning 

 among the tormented floes, the whaleboat was fighting to 

 get into more open water. Then as they watched, the 

 ice on which Sykes stood detached itself quite suddenly 

 from the main mass and bore him slowly towards the 

 centre of the gap. Around him on the same floe three 

 seals lay apparently quite unconcerned. 



Captain Slocum pointed his ship in the direction of the 

 stranded man. Macy and his men still strove to free 

 their boat. Even Chimoo, in the bows, was fiercely 

 thrusting at the floes with his oar in helping to get clear. 

 The better qualities of men were rising above their hates 

 and enmities to meet the challenge of the greater forces of 

 nature. 



Then, at the edge of the floe on which Sykes stood, a 

 large, black and white shape appeared ; it rested there for 

 an instant and its weight tilted the floe at an angle that 

 sent the man sprawling and two of the seals sliding into 

 the sea. 



