Part 17 (2/2)

It was perilous work, but they did not falter.

At length they reached the level summit and glanced down.

The yacht looked beautiful as she lay to, with her topsails backed, and every movement of the figures on deck could be distinctly seen.

Crossing some rough, porous ice, they came to the pinnacle.

This was rougher than it had looked from below, and they found not much difficulty in mounting.

Soon they reached the summit, or, rather, within a few yards of it, where there was a tolerably safe and level spot.

With anxious speed, Bob extended the telescope, which he had carried slung over his shoulder.

For some time he swept the ocean in vain, but at length, far to the westward, just on the edge of the horizon, he caught sight of a white speck, which could be nothing but a sail.

”Look, Jack, and tell me what you think!” he exclaimed.

”I can see it!” cried the latter, after a lengthened search. ”I agree with you--it must be a boat-sail; anyway, it's too distant to be a bird's wing. It must be many miles off.”

”Let's make haste and descend!” cried our hero. ”My chest, where the fellow struck me, is getting stiff up here in this rare air.”

Most haste less speed.

They had reached within twenty feet of the level portion of the berg when our hero slipped.

His arm could not bear his weight, and he half fell, half slid rapidly to the bottom of the peak.

”Are you much hurt, old fellow?” exclaimed Jack, as soon as he could reach his friend's side.

”Only bruised, I think. Just help me up.”

When a.s.sisted to his feet it was evident that Bob had twisted his ankle, or slightly strained it.

”Misfortunes never come alone,” he said, with a laugh. ”We must get on.

If I find the descent difficult, you must help me.”

A stream of water from the melting of the ice on the peak ran along in a little channel it had worn, to where it came to the ravine.

Here it fell over in a cascade, and divided, one part, now joined by other trickling streams, descended the gorge into the sea, the other flowing into the mouth of an ice cavern.

The friends had crossed about half the summit of the berg when a sudden gust of wind, forming an eddy, blew up a cloud of ice dust.

These tiny particles stung like needle points when carried by the breeze against the faces of the two boys.

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