THE WATER BABIES
that they set me adrift in an open boat, and I never was heard of more. So now I'm the king of all mollys till I've worked out my time."
And now they came to the edge of the pack, and beyond it they could see Shiny Wall looming through mist and snow and storm. But the pack rolled horribly upon the swell, and the ice giants fought and roared, and leapt upon each other's backs, and ground each other to powder, so that Tom was afraid to venture among them, lest he should be ground to powder, too. And he was the more afraid when he saw lying among the ice-pack the wrecks of many a gallant ship; some with masts and yards all standing, some with the seamen frozen fast on board. Alas, alas, for them! They were all true English hearts; and they came to their end like good knights-errant, in searching for the white gate that never was opened yet.
But the good mollys took Tom and his dog up, and flew with them safe over the pack and the roaring ice giants, and set them down at the foot of Shiny Wall.
"And where is the gate?" asked Tom.
"There is no gate," said the mollys.
"No gate?" cried Tom, aghast.
"None; never a crack of one, and that's the whole of the secret, as better fellows, lad, than you have found to their cost; and if there had been, they'd have killed by now every right whale that swims the sea."
"What am I to do, then?"
"Dive under the floe, to be sure, if you have pluck."
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