"If she breaks, jump for your lives!" cried Captain Williamson. He was more anxious than words can describe, yet he managed to keep cool, and directed the work as well as he was able. By night the ice had been chopped away to the depth of a foot and a half the entire length of the vessel. Then the wind, which had been blowing strongly from one direction, shifted to another, and the pressure on the vessel let up a little. "I think we are safe for the present," said the captain. "All hands can rest for a few hours. But come in a hurry if I blow the whistle." Utterly exhausted by their labors, the boys went to their stateroom and threw themselves down to rest. Both fell asleep instantly, and it seemed to Andy that he had not slept more than five minutes when Chet shook him. "On deck!" cried the former. "The whistle is blowing!" They had been asleep five hours, and the rest had refreshed them greatly. They hurried again to the deck, and as they did so they felt the _Ice King_ tremble from stem to stern. "I'd rather be outside than in--if she is going to be crushed," said Andy, in a voice he tried in vain to steady. He well knew what it would mean to be cast away in the Arctic regions without a ship. Again everybody was set to work to cut away the ice at the side and the bow of the _Ice King_. Small holes were drilled, and cartridges exploded in them to help the work along. In the meantime the crashing of the ice pack continued, as the wind, having changed to its former course, drove the great white mass tighter and tighter against the vessel. "I am afraid the ship is doomed!" cried Professor Jeffer. He was laboring as well as his years permitted. "A little deeper!" cried Captain Williamson. "And throw all the coal on deck overboard!" The coal added considerable to the weight of the ship, and when this was deposited on the ice, the vessel's draught was lessened by several inches. With a straining and cracking she came up, and then the work of cutting the ice at her side continued. By noon, the prospect of clearing the _Ice King_ was almost hopeless. The interior timbers were cracking, and one had snapped in twain. To prevent a conflagration, the fires were put out, and the lamps also extinguished. "Another hour will tell the tale," said Barwell Dawson, almost sadly. "A little more pressure, and if she doesn't come up she will be smashed as flat as a pancake!" Captain Williamson was now trying to raise the vessel by means of steel cables slipped under the bow and stern. The cable ends on the ice pack side were fastened down by crowbars set in deep holes, and the other ends were hauled as near taut as possible by means of temporary windlasses. "I believe we'll make it!" cried the captain, presently. "Now then, one more turn on the cables!"