I fully realized what a sucking maelstrom it would produce amid the worlds of water on every side.

They would rush into the depression in all their fury, like white-fanged wolves eager for human prey.
In this supreme moment of mental anguish, I remember glancing at our boat, which was lying on its side, and wondering if it could possibly right itself, and if my father could escape.

Was this the end of our struggles and adventures?
Was this death?
All these questions flashed through my mind in the fraction of a second, and a moment later I was engaged in a life and death struggle.

The ponderous monolith of ice sank below the surface, and the frigid waters gurgled around me in frenzied anger.

I was in a saucer, with the waters pouring in on every side.