The rest of the crew tried to dissuade the boys from such a foolhardy undertaking, “especially,” as one of them said, “when the man doesn’t show up, and is probably gone long before this.” When they found them determined to go, however, they lent them every assistance in their power. Before starting, both the boys drank a cup of hot coffee and ate a hasty luncheon. Into dory No. 6 they put a box of provisions, two pairs of blankets, a coil of rope, and a hatchet. Their water-keg was already full. The skipper promised to remain within sight of that iceberg until they returned, or until he knew what had become of them, and as they started the crew gave them a hearty cheer. They found it hard and tedious work to get their dory over the first barrier of ice, which was about a hundred yards wide. After that was passed they progressed more rapidly, and discovered so many little lanes of open water that they reached the berg much more easily than they had expected to. As they rowed alongside of it they discovered a small level place, close to the water’s edge, upon which a landing could be made. The ends of the berg rose into points fifty or sixty feet high, but above this point was a depression that did not rise more than twenty feet above the water. When they reached this place Breeze said, “Let me land here, Wolfe, and climb up to the top, where I can look over, while you stay in the dory.” So saying, and taking the hatchet with him, he stepped out on the ice, and began slowly to make his way up the gentle but slippery incline. As he reached the top he stood there for a moment looking around, and then turned as though about to call out to his friend. Suddenly he seemed to slip, and to Wolfe’s dismay he threw up his arms, uttered a loud cry, and disappeared. CHAPTER XII. AN ICE CAVE AND ITS PRISONERS. At first Wolfe hoped that Breeze had merely slipped and fallen, and for a minute waited anxiously for him to reappear. Then it occurred to him that his companion might have slid into the water, and that possibly he was even now drowning, or struggling in vain to regain a footing upon the treacherous surface. Thus thinking, he sprang to his oars, and pulling furiously, soon carried the dory to the other side of the iceberg, which was not a very large one. To his dismay he could discover no trace of his friend even here, and he now began to be seriously alarmed. He could see the whole side of the ice island as it rose, glittering and sparkling above him, in the light of the setting sun. It shone with all the colors of the rainbow, and was coldly, awfully beautiful to look upon, but nowhere did it offer to his view the faintest trace of a human presence.