Part 35 (1/2)
”I a your duty as a non-co ”Nonsense! You didout of my way”
In a short time the sailor who acted the part of steward appeared, to show that the routine of the shi+p, interrupted by that fearful storoing; for a good breakfast was spread upon the table, after which Steve hurried out on deck, leaving the captain to have an hour or two's rest
He gazed about hiht; for the sun was shi+ning brightly, and flashi+ng and sparkling fro in every direction and in motion in the water, which appeared by contrast absolutely black
The _Hvalross_ was under steam, for the ropes and sails were thickly coated with ice and snow; but the airess soin contact with the masses and fields of ice which from time to time threatened to close in around and crush her like a shell For there were ht up to detached fields that were hundreds of yards across; and feeling as if they had escaped a horrible danger, and in perfect ignorance of the fact that their position was as perilous as ever, Steve feasted his eyes on the glorious spread of fantastic beauty before him, and felt as if he had just awakened in a world where everything was silver, even to the vessel in which he sailed
There were no towering icebergs such as are encountered floating in the Atlantic, for the ice here consisted of the broken-up surface of the frozen sea, the largest pieces not being twenty feet in height, and looking, froularity, as if one field had been forced over another by the rushi+ng waters, which ripped and tore and broke up the ice barrier at whose edge they had so often sailed But these pieces exhibited every shade of lovely blue, side by side with the glittering as of crystallised silver, for their inequalities were in places covered with soft powdery snow such as three of thefrom the deck and tops of the deckhouses where it lay piled
Forward the sturdy Norse armed with hitchers and poles, which they held ready to try and ease off the floatinghard on to the shi+p's boith the result that generally the _Hvalross_ was spared a heavy concussion, and the blocks went scraping along the sides Every now and then there was a loud crushi+ng up of the s shi+vered to atoms, while others were forced upward one above another, explaining the noises heard in the cabin; and soon after Steve had another startling experience in the splitting across of a great field of ice, which, consequent upon the undulating iven by the sea, snapped with a noise like thunder; and this was followed by crashi+ng and splitting of a nature that gave appalling evidence of the power of nature under circumstances like these
”Well, Mr Steve,” said the e beside him ”Mind; it's very slippery here”
”I've found that out,” said the boythe icy steps of the ladder
”Yes, it is aard Well, what do you think of this?”
”Wonderful! Grand!” cried the boy ”Never saw anything so beautiful before”
”Oh yes, very beautiful,” said the ard and weary he looked ”But I could do with a little less beauty and more open water, st all this”
”Very,” said the reat floating piece of ice, which the strong prow of the _Hvalross_, cased with iron to encies, cut in two as if it had been snow
”You like it, then?” said theI can ih to crush up the _Hvalross_ like an eggshell,”
muttered the mate
”Yes; but you'll take care it does not!” cried Steve, so to pieces on rocks, but you and the captain will rihtened into a sloved hands on Steve's shoulder
”Bravo, boy!” he said ”It's a fine thing to be your age, full of hope and confidence Yes, we'll do our best not to get crushed; but it's a very aard position to be in”
”Why?” said Steve ”The storm's over”
”Yes, the stor north with all this Suppose we coreat floes behind us?”
”Well, what then?”
”What then?” said the h at this questioner's innocence