28o FARTHEST NORTH 



timid souls may be overawed and feel as if nothing 

 could stand before it. For when the packing begins in 

 earnest it seems as though there could be no spot on 

 the earth's surface left unshaken. First you hear a sound 

 like the thundering rumbling of an earthquake far away 

 on the great waste; then you hear it in several places, al- 

 ways coming nearer and nearer. The silent ice w^orld re- 

 echoes with thunders ; nature's giants are awakening to 

 the battle. The ice cracks on every side of you, and be- 

 gins to pile itself up ; and all of a sudden you too find 

 yourself in the midst of the struggle. There are bowlings 

 and thunderings round you ; you feel the ice trembling, 

 and hear it rumbling under your feet; there is no peace 

 anywhere. In the semi-darkness you can see it piling and 

 tossing itself up into high ridges nearer and nearer you 

 — floes lo, 12, 15 feet thick, broken, and flung on the top 

 of each other as if they were feather-weights. They are 

 quite near you now, and you jump away to save your life. 

 But the ice splits in front of you, a black gulf opens, and 

 water streams up. You turn in another direction, but 

 there through the dark you can just see a new ridge of 

 moving ice-blocks coming towards you. You try another 

 direction, but there it is the same. All round there is 

 thundering and roaring, as of some enormous waterfall, 

 with explosions like cannon salvoes. Still nearer you it 

 comes. The floe you are standing on gets smaller and 

 smaller ; water pours over it ; there can be no escape 

 except by scrambling over the rolling ice-blocks to get to 



