that southern latitudes is colder than northern, and that July is the
middle o' winter here? Go below, you son of a scullion, or I'll break
your bones!"

"Oh! very well," I replied; "I'm not going to stay on deck and listen to
such low language as that, I warn you. Have it your own way."

The words had no sooner left my lips, than a piercing cold wind caused
me to cast my eye upon the thermometer. In the new régime of science the
mercury was descending rapidly; but in a moment the instrument was
obscured by a blinding fall of snow. Towering icebergs rose from the
water on every side, hanging their jagged masses hundreds of feet above
the masthead, and shutting us completely in. The ship twisted and
writhed; her decks bulged upward, and every timber groaned and cracked
like the report of a pistol. The _Camel_ was frozen fast. The jerk of
her sudden stopping snapped the bullock's chain, and sent both that
animal and the Dutchman over the bows, to accomplish their warfare on
the ice.

Elbowing my way forward to go below, as I had threatened, I saw the crew
tumble to the deck on either hand like ten-pins. They were frozen stiff.
Passing the captain, I asked him sneeringly how he liked the weather
under the new régime. He replied with a vacant stare. The chill had
penetrated to the brain, and affected his mind. He murmured:

"In this delightful spot, happy in the world's esteem, and surrounded by
all that makes existence dear, they passed the remainder of their lives.
The End."

His jaw dropped. The captain of the _Camel_ was dead.