On the third day, a large fleet of icebergs was sighted, and the boys were kept on the jump in reporting their position to vessels in the steamer lanes. They had to keep a vigilant eye and responsive ear also on the iceberg alarm, which again and again warned them of the dangerous proximity of bergs.
In the afternoon their work was more than doubled, for a gray, heavy fog settled down over the sea. It grew denser as the hours went by, until the ship’s bow could not be seen from the stern.
A feeling of intense anxiety pervaded the ship. All of the officers wore grave faces, as they paced the decks and gazed out into the dank fog that had a grisly resemblance to a winding sheet. All the crew had been summoned to duty, even the shift below having had to tumble from their berths.
The powerful searchlights had been turned on, and swept the sea in all directions. But even their dazzling brilliance could not carry far in a fog like that. Occasionally, through a momentary rift, the great spectral shape of a berg could be seen drifting by.
The engines had been slowed down, and the Meteor, with barely enough motion for steerageway, crept along like a blind man, groping for the right path. She was in danger, and every soul on board knew it. Even Hector, with that strange instinct given to animals, felt that some peril impended, and sat in a corner of the wireless room, whimpering.
It was the shift of Bob and Jimmy, but Joe and Herb were with them, as they felt too uneasy to go to their berths, and wanted to be on hand in case of emergency.
The faces of the Radio Boys were tense with anxiety, as they noted the signals given by the iceberg alarm. For now it was giving warnings from all sides. Had the echoes come from one direction, the problem would have been simple, as the Meteor could have sheered off on an opposite course. But how to sheer off, when there was equal danger in front and astern, on the port and starboard sides?
The moment came when there was no use blinking the fact. Despite the most clever seamanship, the most adroit dodging and shifting, the most instant compliance with the reports from the wireless room, the gallant ship was in the very midst of the iceberg fleet. The giant hand of the ice king was closing upon her.
Then, suddenly, there came a tremendous crash, and the ship shivered from stem to stern.