diverge from the course they had steadily maintained, and try to
find a deeper channel leading to the north. Accordingly they
steered eastward.

It was not long before they found that they had judged wisely;
the bottom descended far out of the reach of their electric lead,
and they were enabled to keep a safe distance below the
overhanging ice.

"I feel sure," said Mr. Gibbs, "that we came near running against
some outreaching portion of the main Western Continent, and now
we have got to look out for the foundations of Greenland's icy
mountains." He spoke cheerily, for he wished to encourage his
companions, but there was a very anxious look upon his face when
he was not speaking to any one.

The next day every one was anxious, whether he spoke or was
silent. The bottom was rising again, and the Dipsey was obliged
to sail nearer and nearer to the ice above. Between two dangers,
constricted and trammelled as they were, none of them could help
feeling the terrors of their position, and if it had not been for
the encouraging messages which continually came to them from
Sardis, they might not have been able to keep up brave hearts.

After two days of most cautious progress, during which the water
became steadily shallower and shallower, it was discovered that
the ice above, which they were now obliged to approach much more
closely than they had ever done before, was comparatively thin,
and broken in many places. Great cracks could be seen in it here
and there, and movements could be discerned indicating that it