But his gaze could not go beyond a distance of twenty feet.
It seemed like a circular shaft, which extended in a crooked course down into the heart of the berg.
The top of this orifice must have been covered with a thin coating of ice and snow.
Barney’s weight had been just enough to break this in.
A thousand terrible reflections coursed through Frank’s mind.
He knew that Barney had fallen through this terrible shaft.
But whether he had gone to his death or not, of course he could not say.
Already in his terrified fancy he saw the Celt in the waters of the Arctic under the berg.
This, of course, if the shaft really extended down through the berg. Of course there was a possibility that it did not. What was to be done?
It was of no use to go for help, for that was not to be obtained.