hundreds of tons weight, was tearing down towards the bow. There was no
hope of resisting it. Time was not even afforded to attach a buoy or log
to the cable, so it was let slip, and thus the _Dolphin's_ best bower
was lost for ever.

But there was no time to think of or regret this, for the ship was now
driving down with the gale, scraping against a lee of ice which was
seldom less than thirty feet thick. Almost at the same moment the
strange vessel was whirled close to them, not more than fifty yards
distant, between two driving masses of thick ice.

"What if it should be my father's brig?" whispered Fred Ellice, as he
grasped Singleton's arm and turned to him a face of ashy paleness.

"No fear of that, lad," said Buzzby, who stood near the larboard gangway
and had overheard the remark. "I'd know your father's brig among a
thousand--"

As he spoke, the two masses of ice closed, and the brig was nipped
between them. For a few seconds she seemed to tremble like a living
creature, and every timber creaked. Then she was turned slowly on one
side, until the crew of the _Dolphin_ could see down into her hold,
where the beams were giving way and cracking up as matches might be
crushed in the grasp of a strong hand. Then the larboard bow was
observed to yield as if it were made of soft clay, the starboard bow was
pressed out, and the ice was forced into the forecastle. Scarcely three
minutes had passed since the nip commenced; in one minute more the brig
went down, and the ice was rolling wildly, as if in triumph, over the
spot where she had disappeared.