“I can’t tell ye just all about what followed. The captain’s boat was lowered and swamped. The longboat cleared with fourteen aboard, but was caught between the rollers and capsized. All hands went down.
“There were over twenty of us left on the ship’s deck, and a regular fight was made for the remaining boats. They were put out and two of ’em got clear and made off. But whatever became of ’em nobody ever knew. Six of us were left behind, and we had given ourselves up for lost.
“But the ship water-logged and did not sink as soon as it was thought that she would. That gave us time to make a raft. We put some stores on it, and set out in a calmer sea. For six weeks we floated in those icy seas.
“Luckily for us, it was the Antarctic summer, and we managed to get along with our thin clothing until we suddenly hailed land. Yes, it was actually land, away beyond the icebergs.
“There were mountains and a smoking volcano. At once our boys were decided to pay it a visit.
“The raft drifted on into the edge of the ice floe. Then we left her and cut out across the icefield.
“It would lake a long time for me to tell ye all that happened us on that long walk. One of our men slid into an air-hole and we never saw him again.
“Another died of exhaustion. But we kept on, though the cold was something awful to bear, until at last we came to a cut in the shore line. It was the mouth of a big river, and was jammed full of ice.
“It looked like a clear country beyond. We saw fir forests and evidences of a game country. So we pushed on over the ice-packs in the river.
“For fifty miles we followed the course of that icy river between fearful mountains and through deep gorges. At length we noticed a peculiar warmth in the atmosphere, and one of our boys, sniffing the air, declared: