“Yes; not forgetting the doctor and Steve. That was very brave of you, my lad. A sailor of twenty years’ experience could not have done better.”
“What, in getting astride of that yard to bear it down? Why, it seemed just the thing to do!”
“Exactly; but it was the doing it speedily, before it did any mischief.”
“Perhaps we shall ride on before the storm now, and not be much affected by it,” said the doctor tentatively; but the captain shook his head.
“We shall have it directly. Look how the water is beginning to foam away yonder! What I fear is that it may not keep on from the north, but veer about and change. We want more sea room.”
“But we have come miles away from the ice already.”
“Yes; but I should like to be another fifty. Hark!” The command was not needed, for those he addressed listened awe-stricken to a deep, crashing roar which now came from astern.
“Thunder?” asked Steve.
“Wind, and breaking up of the ice,” said the captain quietly. “If we had stopped in one of the bays of Spitzbergen, we should have had shelter, found the way open after the gale is over, and been able to get round the north of the great island.”
“Here it comes!” cried Steve, as there was another of the fierce rushes of wind, this time so heavy that the air smote him in the face, and he had to turn away, panting, to breathe.