On we stood into the darkness, with a knowledge that danger was ahead of us. "Ice! ice ahead!" was again the cry. We wore about, but just in time to escape contact with it. We could not tell all the time whether the ice-fields might not be closing on us. Every tack we made was shorter and shorter. Still, our only hope was to beat out of the narrow passage into which the ship had run. Many tacks were made. A huge iceberg, dimly glimmering through the obscurity, towered up before us; yet, though dim, not the less terrific. The helm was put down. There might be space between it and the field-ice to the southward of it. The southern field hove in sight; we tacked, but just in time. Then on we rushed towards the iceberg, beating closely into the wind. Again it appeared on our lee-bow; the ship heeled over to the breeze. On we rushed--a flaw of wind heading us would send us to destruction. The wind held steady. On, on we rushed, the foam flying over our bows and freezing as it fell. A towering cliff of ice appeared over our mast-heads--still we hurried on. There was a loud thundering clash. The stoutest held their breath for fear. Our deck was deluged with spray. Several quickly-following seas struck our stern, lifting the ship before them. The summit of the vast iceberg had fallen--perhaps by the concussion of the air as we moved under it. A moment later, and we should have been crushed to atoms--driven far, far down into the depths of the ocean! The iceberg was passed. It seemed to be guarding the portals of that narrow inlet. As the dawn came on, we could discover the ice trending away to leeward. All day we stood on, gradually increasing our distance from icebergs and fields of ice, till we had, to our no little satisfaction, left them far astern. CHAPTER NINETEEN. A VISIT TO JAVA.