But we took but one look at what lay inside, for our captain, with a loud cry to God, bade the helmsman steer nor'ards away fra' th' mouth o' Hell.

We all saw wi' our own eyes, inside that fearsome wall o' ice--seventy miles long, as we could swear to--inside that gray, cold ice, came leaping flames, all red and yellow wi' heat o' some unearthly kind out o' th' very waters o' the sea; making our eyes dazzle wi' their scarlet blaze, that shot up as high, nay, higher than th' ice around, yet never so much as a shred on 't was melted.
They did say that some beside our captain saw the black devils dart hither and thither, quicker than the very flames themselves; anyhow, he saw them.

And as he knew it were his own daring as had led him to have that peep at terrors forbidden to any on us afore our time, he just dwined away, and we hadn't taken but one whale afore our captain died, and first mate took th' command.

It were a prosperous voyage; but, for all that, I'll never sail those seas again, nor ever take wage aboard an American again.' 'Eh, dear! but it's awful t' think o' sitting wi' a man that has seen th' doorway into hell,' said Bell, aghast.
Sylvia had dropped her work, and sat gazing at Kinraid with fascinated wonder.
Daniel was just a little annoyed at the admiration which his own wife and daughter were bestowing on the specksioneer's wonderful stories, and he said-- 'Ay, ay.

If a'd been a talker, ye'd ha' thought a deal more on me nor ye've iver done yet.