ship's eyes, as we say. My first notion was to turn tail, but if I hadn't found out what it was I should have gone crazy, so in I made direct for the spot.

Fancy my fright when I heard first a scrape like a knife sharpening, next it went seemingly "swish" into something, then "Gurgle, gurgle," and "Drop, drop, drop!" as if a bottle were pouring out, or

worse.

I tell you, my very heart stood still, till I heard a kind of a cough-like my own from a little cold I had caught the last day or two-next a sort of a bark as if it had been one of the dogs, lastly out it came in a twitter like a bird.

"Yap-bowf!" said Tweed, who was behind me; and Kanyok, who came after, broke out in a "Gurr, gurr-r-r!" though he took care to back off. The other sprang forward with a yelp and a snap, and caught at the thing, shaking the clothes in her mouth.

"Squau-awk! squauk!" went something that tumbled out and went up in a flutter; then it scuttled along to me, snuggling in about my legs as it were. "Why, it's the bird, I declare!" said I. "Down, Tweed, down!" with a kick to the Greenlander as he dashed at it. It was the bird we had picked up at the island.

I had quite forgotten the poor creature, but it had got wonderful tame, what with the gale and what with starvation, where it had got to; I now brought it aft again, fed it with soaked biscuit, and brought

it round. Then I put it in an old cage I had aboard, keeping it by me, and giving it the weevils it was so fond of. Soon it would come out of the cage to me, perch on the table at food time, latterly on my shoulder, chirping and imitating of different sounds any of us made. It was wonderfully clever at this. From what I could make out, it must have been of the American mocking-bird species, though I took it then to be somewhat of the nature of a starling. I tried to learn it to speak-though that was after-but the most it ever got to in that way was something like "Tweet, tweet," or, perhaps, as far as "Here, boy!"

I called it Pippin, after a tale I had once heard or read. The Greenlander took a most uncommon spite to the poor thing, for fooling at him as it did, but I liked it none the less. I must tell you, lads, it was sweet to hear aught approaching to the voice of a fellow-creature. This was not the end of it, though, as you will see.

After the sou'-wester had blown itself out, it took a while for the swell to go down. I went aloft to loose sail, and got everything ready to slip at the first chance. There was a clear channel south to open water, but no end of ice had come out west and south of me, as if it had risen from nowhere. It slanted away up in that quarter out of sight, blinking and twinkling, bergs and pack, and all sorts; by which I could judge well enough whereabouts I was. This was no other than the Hud

son's Straits' pack cutting of me off to suth'ard. Right nor'ard, again, there was open water, but nearer at hand from east'ard, there was ice that had driven in upon the main-fields where I was. Some of it appeared to be working round in a way to catch the ship, if I was not beforehand with it. With regard to my doing it by sheering off, as yet it was out of the question with that swell, and the little wind, so I had to look out otherwise.

The gale had made no difference on the floe, except apparently to widen a crack that ran infield, a little along from where we were moored. I had seen too much of cracks to like 'em; however there was nothing for it then but to warp in on account of the drift-ice that was afloat on the swell, tearing about, ready for the ebb to send it in on us. The crack kept her safe meantime, as the washing-pieces and loose-drift were all of them too big to enter. Still I did not like it. Evidently I had been taken further north than I counted on, and after the sou'-wester was spent, the air got sharp again. Besides, cracks do have queer notions now and then.

This crack was why I call it a floe that I was on, and not the main ice. It ran zig-zag right in toward the field into a sort of a wide blot of snow and hummocks, then from that out again the other way to open water. Right in the crack, a little beyond the hummocks, was a small berg frozen