CHAPTER XIX. BEHRINQ SEA, HE island, driven by the ice-wall, had then drifted at a great speed into Behring Sea, after crossing the strait with- out running aground on its shores ! It was still hurrying on before the icy barrier, which was in the grasp of a powerful sub- marine current, hastening onwards on to its inevitable dissolution in the warmer waters of the Pacific, and the boat on which all had depended was useless ! As soon as Mrs Barnett had entirely recovered consciousness, she related in a few words the history of the seventy-four hours spent in the house now in the water. Thomas Black, Madge, and Kalumah had been aroused by the crash of the avalanche, and had rushed to the doors or windows. There was no longer any possibility of getting out, the mass of earth and sand, which was but a moment before Cape Bathurst, completely covered the house, and almost immediately afterwards the prisoners heard the crash of the huge ice- masses which were flung upon the factory. In another quarter of an hour all felt that the house, whilst resisting the enormous pressure, was sinking through the soil of the island. They knew that the crust of the ice must have given way, and that the house would fill with water ! To seize a few' provisions remaining in the pantry, and to take refuge in the loft, was the work of a moment. This the poor crea- tures did from a dim instinct of self-preservation, but what hope could they really have of being saved ! However, the loft seemed likely to resist, and two blocks of ice abutting from the roof saved it from being immediately crushed. Whilst thus imprisoned the poor creatures could hear the constant falls from the icebergs, whilst the sea was gradually rising through the lower rooms. They must either be crushed or drowned ! But by little short of a miracle, the roof of the house, with its
