THE WINTER NIGHT 383 



hummock on the starboard quarter ; it gets louder and 

 stronger, and extends steadily. At last the waterfall roar 

 abates a little. It becomes more unequal ; there is a 

 longer interval between each shock. I am so cold that I 

 creep below. 



" But no sooner have I seated myself to write than 

 the ship begins to heave and tremble again, and I hear 

 through her sides the roar of the packing. As the bear- 

 trap may be in danger, three men go off to see to it, but 

 they find that there is a distance of 50 paces between 

 the new pressure-ridge and the wire by which the trap 

 is secured, so they leave it as it is. The pressure-ridge 

 was an ugly sight, they say, but they could distinguish 

 nothing well in the dark. 



" Most violent pressure is beginning again. I must go 

 on deck and look at it. The loud roar meets one as one 

 opens the door. It is coming from the bow now, as well 

 as from the stern. It is clear that pressure-ridges are 

 being thrown up in both openings, so if they reach us 

 we shall be taken by both ends and lifted lightly and 

 gently out of the water. There is pressure near us 

 on all sides. Creakino: has beo-un in the old hummock 

 on the port quarter; it is getting louder, and, so far 

 as I can see, the hummock is slowly rising. A lane has 

 opened right across the large floe on the port side ; you 

 can see the water, dark as it is. Now both pressure and 

 noise get worse and worse ; the ship shakes, and I feel 

 as if I myself were being gently lifted with the stern-rail, 



