"My dear boy," he answered, "if we could blow these blocks up, we might try our skill on the rock of Gibraltar next."
Although the autumn was already far advanced and dreary winter on ahead, still Talbot did not despair of getting clear before it came on.
This forenoon all hands were set at work to clear the ice from under the bows.
Hard work indeed, but it was finished eventually with the aid of good gunpowder. Small cases of this were placed under the packs of pancake by means of a long pole, and fired with waterproof fuses. The smashed-up pieces were thrust in under the main pack, and so in time the Flora M'Vayne found herself on an even keel.
The officers and crew could breathe more freely now, and sat down to dinner with that hearty appetite which hard work, if interesting, never fails to call up.
A whole month passed away.
There was no change, and seldom even a breath of wind, but the nights were now very long indeed, and soon, very soon, it would be all night.
Another month went slowly by.
It was now far on in May, and June in these latitudes means the dead depth of winter.
"There isn't the ghost of a chance, Morgan," said Talbot one morning while breakfasting by lamp-light; "there isn't the slightest chance of our getting clear away from here, till spring winds break up the ice and carry us north and away."