58 THE FUR COUNTRY. resolved to tack about for the south, dangerous as it would be to have the boat before the wind, pursued by waves advancing at double its speed. Yes, to tack, although this course would probably bring them all to the southern shores of the lake, far away from their destination. The Lieutenant and his brave companion were well aware of the danger which threatened them. The frail boat could not long resist the blows of the waves, it would either be crushed or capsized; the lives of those within it were in the hands of God. But neither yielded to despair; clinging to the sides of the boat, wet to the skin, chilled to the bone by the cutting blast, they strove to gaze through the thick mist and fog. All trace of the land had dis- appeared, and so great was the obscurity that at a cable's length from the boat clouds and waves could not be distinguished from each other. Now and then the two travellers looked inquiringly into old Norman's face, who, with teeth set and hands clutching the tiller, tried to keep his boat as much as possible under wind. But the violence of the squall became such that the boat could not long maintain this course. The waves which struck its bow would soon have inevitably crushed it ; the front planks were already beginning to separate, and when its whole weight was flung into the hollows of the waves it seemed as if it could rise no more.
- ' We must tack, we must tack, whatever happens ! " murmured
the old sailor. And pushing the tiller and paying out sail, he turned the head of the boat to the south. The sail, stretched to the utmost, brought the boat round with giddy rapidity, and the immense waves, chased by the wind, threatened to engulf the little bark. This was the great danger of shifting with the wind right aft. The billows hurled themselves in rapid succession upon the boat, which could not evade them. It filled rapidly, and the water had to be baled out without a moment's pause, or it must have foundered. As they got nearer and nearer to the middle of the lake the waves became rougher. Nothing there broke the fury of the wind ; no clumps of trees, no hills, checked for a moment the headlong course of the hur- ricane. Now and then momentary glimpses were obtained through the fog of icebergs dancing like buoys upon the waves, and driven towards the south of the lake. It was half past five. Neither Norman nor the Lieutenant had
