While the captain retained his place at the helm, his assistant by my side never removed his eyes from me.

At the first movement, I should be seized and locked within my room.

For the present, my fate was evidently bound up with that of the "Terror." The distance which separated us from the two destroyers was now growing rapidly less.

Soon they were but a few cable-lengths away.
Could the motor of the "Terror," since the accident, no longer hold its speeds?
Yet the captain showed not the least anxiety, and made no effort to reach land! We could hear the hissing of the steam which escaped from the valves of the destroyers, to mingle with the streamers of black smoke.

But we heard, even more plainly, the roar of the cataract, now less than three miles away.
The "Terror" took the left branch of the river in passing Navy Island.