As this conviction penetrated the minds of the two boys, their hearts sank for a moment. They were under no delusions as to the dreadful danger they were in. They had already seen too much of the possibilities of icebergs to underestimate their deadly peril.
Their lives and the lives of all on board were simply hanging by a thread. At any instant the summit of one of those bergs might break off and smash the ship into splinters. Or, if this did not happen, the shifting currents might bring the two bergs at the sides together, catching the Meteor between them, grinding her to bits.
Just then Ensign Porter passed them.
“Any water in the hold?” asked Joe.
“No more than we can handle,” replied the ensign, without relaxing his pace.
“That’s some comfort, anyway,” commented Joe.
The two boys made their way again to the port side of the vessel. Their progress was made difficult by the splinters of ice that strewed the deck and made it slippery.
“What are those things over there on the berg?” asked Jimmy. “There, on that level space? They seem to be moving.”
Joe strained his eyes in the direction indicated.
“It does look that way,” he said. “Maybe they’re some of the Meteor’s men who have been sent there for something.”