San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-04-02

Rodney9 Shall l venture into the openr'
"Why notF' said /. "You can move
briskly. You have as much life as ever you
had"
Let's go, thenn he exclaimed, and climb
ing the ladder he pushed open the companion
door and stepped on to the deck. l followed
with but little solicitude, as you NAV SUD-
pose, as to what might attend his exposure.
The blast of the gale, though it was broken
into downward, eddying dartings by the
rocks, made him bawl out with the sting of
it, and for some moments he could think of
nothing but the cold, stamping the deck in
his boots and beating his hands.
''Haw cried he, grinning to the smart of
his cheeks, "this is not the cook room, eh,
Great thunder! you will not have it that this
ice has been drifting north: Why, man, It's
icier by 20 dogs than when we were first
locked up"
81 hope not" said I, "and I think not.
Your blood doesn't course strong yet and
you are fresh from the furnace. Besides it
is blowing bitter cold gale. Look at that
sky, and listen to the thunder of the seam
The commotion was indeed terribly I'D
roarious. The rending noises of the ice in all
directions were distinct and fearful. The
Frenchman looked about him with conster-
nation, and to my surprise crossed himself.
MAY the blessed Virgin preserve us!" he
said. "Do you say we have drifted north!
If this is not the very heart of the South
Pole, you shall persuade me we are on the
equator"
sit cannot storm too terribly for us, as
you just now said," replied II want this
island to go to pieces"
As l said this solid pillar of ice Just be-
yond the brow of the hill on the starboard
side was dislodged or blown down; it fell
with mighty crash and filed the air with
crystal splinters. TasSard started back with
faint cry of bon Dieu!"
Judge for yourself how the ship lies"
said I; ''this is freezing work"
He went aft and looked over the stern.
then walked to the larboard rail and peered
over the side.
SIS there ice beyond that openingm he
asked, pointing over the taffrail
"No," answered; "that goes to the sea.
There is low cliff beyond. Mark that cloud
of white; it is the spray hurled athwart the
mouth of this hollow"
"Good," he mumbled, with his teeth chat
tering. ''The change is marvellous. There
was ice for quarter of a mile where that
slope ends IT'S too cold to converse here"
There are your companions" said I,
pointing to the two bodies lying a little dis
lance before the mainmaSt.
He marched up to them and exclaimed,
Eyes, this is Trentanove and that is Barros.
Both were blind, but they are binder now.
Would they thank you to arouse them out
of their comfortable sleep, and force them to
feel as do-this cold, to which they are now
as insensible as was: By heaven, for my
part l can stand it no longerm and with that
he ran briskly to the hatch.
| followed him to the cook room, and he
crept so close to the furnace that l thought
he had a mind to roast himself
The heat cOnlforted him presently, and he
put lump of wine into the oven to melt,
and this cOmfOrted him also
II can converse now" said he ''Perhaps
after all the danger lies more in the imagina-
ton than in the fact. But it is hideous
naked scene, and needs no such coloring as the
roaring of wind, the rushing of seas, and the
crashing falls of masses of ice to render it
frightful."
you tell me-" said l, "that when you fell
asleep would sometimes express his frozen
state thus-'there was quarter of a mile of
ice beyond the schoOners stern"
CAT least a quarter of mile" he answered
"Day after day it would be built uu till il
came to face of that extent"
thought to myself if it had taken forty.
eight years of the wear and tear of storm and
surge to extinguish quarter of mile, how
long a time must elapse before this island
splits up! But then reflected that, during
the greater part of these years, this seat of
ice had been stuck very low south, where
the cold was so extreme as to make it defy
dissolution; that since then it was come away
from the main and stealing north, so that
what might have taken thirty years to ac-
complish in 20 dogs. of south latitude might
be performed in a day on the parallel Of 20
degs. in the summer season in these seas
Tassard continued speaking with the pam
nikin in his hand, and his eyes shut as if to
get the picture of the SchoOner'S position fair
before his minds vision: There was a
quarter of a mile Of ice beyond the ship, l
have it very plain in my sight; it was a great
muddle of hillocks, for the ice pressed thick
and hard and raised us, and vomited up
peaks. and rocks to the squeeze Suppose 1
have been asleep week." Here he opened
his eyes and yazed at me.
'WelF said l.
81 say" he continued, in the tone of one
easily excited into passion, "a week. 1t
will not have been more 1t is impossible
Never mind about your 1901" showing his
fangs in sarcastic grin; "a week is long
enough, friend. Then this is what mean to
say: that the breaking away of quarter OF
a mile of ice in a week is fine work, full Of
grand promise; the next wrench-which
might come now as l speak, or tomorrow,
or in a week-the next wrench may bring
away the rock on which we are lodged, and