TUE COMMENCEMENT OF AN ADVENTURE. 
ui i> 
and destruction. It is upon one of these “prominent 
adventures*' that I am now looking hack and wondering 
how myself and some seventy others passed through it 
without the loss of that readiness of action and self-pos- 
session so essential in moments of unexpected peril to 
the safety of lives or the success of an undertaking. 
Our old tubj as I have already remarked, was running 
away from her night's anchorage under a full head of 
steam. The rugged and snow-patched coast of Siberia 
was on our right, distant some mile or more ; several 
clustering islands dotted the smooth surface of the 
Okotsk Sea on our left; while ahead we could just see 
■what might be a ship or towering rock, so distorted were 
all objects in that direction by the great refraction com- 
mon to high latitudes. We were not long in doubt, 
however, as to the nature of this distorted oliject. It 
seemed to be rising bodily out of the confused horizon, 
and to be rushing upon us instead of our slowly approach- 
ing iL Could this be also refraction ? Hardly. Suddenly 
we guessed the mystery : we had been anchored during 
the night in the eddy formed by a projecting headland, 
but had now steamed out into one of the fearful currents 
against which we had been so often warned by old (but. 
as we then thought, marvel-loving) whaling-captains. It 
was the same current with which we had measured speed 
during the previous day ; only it was now running in an 
opposite direction and with evidently greater strength. 
What was to be done now? To attempt to sun^ey in 
such a mill-race would have been absurd. Nevertheless, 
we kept well in with the mainland, intending to run be- 
tween it and the distorted object, which had at length 
