For an instant, he ran to the side of the ship and hailed the deck. "Mr Todd," he said, "it will be as well to get some casks of provisions, the men's clothes, and a few spare sails for tents, and such-like things, you know, ready on deck, in case the nip should come before we can get into dock." "Ay, ay, sir," answered the mate, not a bit disconcerted; and with the few hands remaining on board he set about obeying our commander's somewhat ominous directions. I ought to have said that the rudder had at the first been unshipped and slung across the stern, as it stands to reason that when pressed against by the ice it should be the first thing injured. Still we worked away. We had begun to saw the loose pieces at the head of the dock. "Hurra, my lads! knock off, and bear a hand to haul her in," shouted out the captain; "no time to be lost." With a right good will we laid hold of the warps, and towing and fending off the ship's bows from the outer edge of the ice, we got her safely into the dock. We then set to work to cut up the pieces. We completed our labours not a moment too soon; for before we had got on board again, the tumult, which had been long raging in the distance, came with increased fury around us, and we had reason to be grateful to Heaven that we were placed in a situation of comparative safety. CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN. We were safe--so the old hands said; but it required some time before one could fully persuade one's self of the fact. Not only were the neighbouring floes in motion, but even the one in which we were fixed. Rushing together with irresistible force, they were crushing and grinding in every direction, with a noise far more terrific than that of thunder. The ship meantime, notwithstanding all our precautions, was driven back before the force opposed to her; and had it not been for the loose pieces under her stern, she might have been nipped in the most dangerous manner. One might fancy that the floes were pitted to try their strength against each other, though it would have been difficult to decide which was the victor. I had read descriptions of earthquakes, and the commotion reminded me of them. Those who have crossed a large frozen pond or lake will remember the peculiar noise which even stout ice makes when trod on for the first time. Fancy this noise increased a thousand-fold, thundering under one's feet, and then booming away till the sound is lost in the almost interminable distance! Then the field began to tremble, and slowly rise, and then to rend and rift with a sullen roar, and mighty blocks were hove up, one upon another, till a rampart, bristling with huge fragments, was formed close around the ship, threatening her with destruction.