The icebergs thawed into waterfalls, and the snow melted from under their feet, and in a very short while they were floating helplessly in a vast sea, where the field of ice had been.
“Cheer up!” said the familiar voice of Mr. Atom. “Things are seldom as bad as they seem. Keep up your hearts and your heels, and you’ll never drown.”
“I don’t believe I care much if I do!” sighed Coppertop. “Things are so awfully disappointing—just when I thought I had it, too! If I don’t get it soon, Mummie and Daddy will arrive on no day at all, and I shan’t be there either. They’ll be terrifikly upset—I know they will. And I’m just dying to see them.”
“You’ll die without seeing them, my dear, if you don’t do as I tell you. Keep your heart and your heels up.”
“Cheer up, old girl!” said Tibbs, who was swimming close by.
“’Es, cheer up, Cece!” echoed Kiddiwee, as he floated past.
“But I did think I had it at last!” sobbed Coppertop.
The Albatross and the Sea-Maidens (p. 58).