I have always found inaction to be a safe course when one does not know what to do; and in the present case that course saved us. Had I obeyed my first impulse, and put the helm up, we should have gone straight to ruin; as it was, we slipped past the ugly monster, barely escaping a collision which, had it occurred, would have been instantly fatal to the vessel, and of course to every one on board. The fore-yard actually grazed its side, and the surf was thrown back upon us from the white wall. In a few moments the berg was swallowed up in the gloom from which it had so suddenly emerged.
"A close shave, that!" said cool-headed Dodge.
"Ver--very close," answered Starr, much as if he had just received the first shock of a shower-bath.
The old cook was called out of his galley to lend a hand, and in the midst of the excitement he was heard to growl out, "I don't see how I's to get de gentlemens' dinner ready if I's to be called out of my galley in dis way to pull and haul on de ropes." He did not seem to have a thought that there was, a moment before, very little expectation on the part of "de gentlemens" that any of them would have further occasion for his services.
This adventure inspired the crew with greater confidence. I suppose they thought that, as two cannon-balls never strike in the same spot, another iceberg would not very likely lay in our course; and so it fell out. The cry of "breakers" was often heard from the forecastle-deck, but in the end the sound proved to come from off the bow, and we passed on unharmed.
At length the wind blew itself out, the snow ceased falling, the clouds broke, the sun shone out brightly, and we lay becalmed not far from the centre of Melville Bay. The snow and ice were shovelled from the deck and beaten from the rigging. I went aloft again with my glass. There were no ice-fields in sight, but the reflection of them was still visible in the sky to the westward.
The sea was dotted over with icebergs, and it seemed wonderful that we should have passed safely between them. One near by particularly excited my admiration. It was a perfect "triumphal arch," through which the schooner might have passed with perfect ease.
The schooner lay motionless during the night, but early in the morning a fair wind sent us again upon our course, and this wind held steadily through the day. Icebergs rose before us and set behind us in solemn procession. My journal designates them as "mile-stones of the ocean." The lofty, snow-crowned highlands behind Cape York rose at length above the horizon, and the bold, dark-sided cape itself was, after a while, seen "advancing in the bosom of the sea."