We fell in wi' it south, an'
worked up nothe along: but we did n' see swiles for two or three days
yet; on'y we was workun along; pokun the cakes of ice away, an' haulun
through wi' main strength sometimes, holdun on wi' bights o' ropes out
o' the bow; an' more times, agen, in clear water: sometimes mist all
round us, 'ee could n' see the ship's len'th, sca'ce; an' more times
snow, jes' so thick; an' then a gale o' wind, mubbe, would a'most blow
all the spars out of her, seemunly.
[Footnote 4: A dull glare on the horizon, from the immense masses of
ice.]
"We kep' sight o' th' other schooner, most-partly; an' when we did n'
keep it, we'd get it agen. So one night 't was a beautiful moonlight
night: I think I never sid a moon so bright as that moon was; an' such
lovely sights a body 'ould n' think could be! Little islands, an'
bigger, agen, there was, on every hand, shinun so bright, wi' great,
awful-lookun shadows! an' then the sea all black, between! They did
look so beautiful as ef a body could go an' bide on 'em, in a manner;
an' the sky was jes' so blue, an' the stars all shinun out, an' the
moon all so bright! I never looked upon the like.
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