Our sailing-masterdid not miss a chance of getting near Dirk Peters, who always tried his best to escape from him, for reasons well known to me.

And whenever I thought of the secret of the fate of the so-called Parker, Martin Holt's brother, which had been entrusted to me, that dreadful scene of the _Grampus_ filled me with horror.

I was certain that if this secret were made known the half-breed would become an object of terror.

He would no longer be looked upon as the rescuerof the sailingmaster; and the latter, learning that his brother--Luckily, Dirk Peters and myself were the only two acquainted with the fact.
While the _Halbrane_ was being unloaded, Captain Len Guy and the mate were considering how the vessel might be launched.

They had to allow for a drop of one hundred feet between the cavity in which the ship lay and the sea; this to be effected by means of an inclined bed hollowed in an oblique line along the west side of the iceberg, and to measure two or three hundred perches in length.