"We could hollow out sheltering-places in the ice, so as to be able to bear the extreme cold of the pole, and so long as we had sufficient to appease our hunger--" At this moment the horrid recollection of the _Grampus_ came to my mind--the scenes in which Dirk Peters killed Ned Holt, the brother of our sailing-master.

Should we ever be in such extremity?
Would it not, before we proceed to set up winter quarters for seven or eight months, be better to leave the iceberg altogether, if such a thing were possible?
I called the attention of Captain Len Guy and West to this point.
This was a difficult question to answer, and a long silence preceded the reply.
At last the captain said,-- "Yes, that would be the best resolution to come to; and if our boat could hold us all, with the provisions necessary for a voyage that might last three or four weeks, I would not hesitate to put to sea now and return towards the north." But I made them observe that we should be obliged to direct our course contrary to wind and current; our schooner herself could hardly have succeeded in doing this.

Whilst to continue towards the south-- "Towards the south ?" repeated the captain, who looked at me as though he sought to read my thoughts.
"Why not ?" I answered.

"If the iceberg had not been stopped in its passage, perhaps it would have drifted to some land in that direction, and might not our boat accomplish what it would have done ?" The captain, shaking his head, answered nothing.

West also was silent.
"Eh! our iceberg will end by raising its anchor," replied Hurliguerly.