“Look at old Skeny,” said Steve. “Any one would think he was the master of the ship. Why, there’s a walrus!”
He was quite right, for there in the black water, staring hard at the excited dog, was a peculiar round head with great soft eyes, a bristling moustache, and a pair of long white tusks sweeping down from its upper jaw in graceful curves. There was nothing visible but the head, and that only for about a minute; for the sight of the vessel gliding swiftly along startled the huge beast, so that it made a plunge and disappeared.
A sharp look-out was kept for others, and several were seen, but always at a distance; and they were forgotten directly in the excitement of the navigation which followed as they neared the land.
All had gone on well so far. The Hvalross had had to turn and double to avoid huge masses of the ice-floe; but there had always been plenty of open water, and this had grown wider as they neared a vast pile of rocks forming a promontory, to the north of which lay the fiord which the captain had marked down, becoming more and more satisfied with his choice as they drew nearer, till they were about a mile away; for it offered complete protection from the ice, which would be turned aside by the rocky buttress till such time as a change of wind and the subsidence of the heavy rocking swell should come.
All at once, with marvellous rapidity, there was a change. Beyond a little grinding and scraping they had suffered no harm from the ice, which had been floating with or following them; but now, as if the crowd of blocks and fields in motion possessed a feeling that the vessel was about to escape them and take refuge where it would be safe, there was an increase of speed in their movements; they were more agitated, rising and falling and crashing together, and appearing as if they were crowding along to crush the vessel before the refuge was reached.
This had not been noticed from the bridge, and in an excited tone Johannes hailed the deck.
“We’re just entering a swift current, sir, which is caused by the great point ahead. The ice is crowding up into it, and goes north with a heavy rush.”
“Yes, I see!” cried Captain Marsham; and he issued a few clear, sharp orders, which were as promptly obeyed.
“Stay aloft there, both of you,” he cried next, “and mark the other water ahead!”
There was a dead silence for a minute on deck, but all around a condensation of the grinding, cracking, and rending of the ice which they had heard more or less all day.