Page:The open Polar Sea- a narrative of a voyage of discovery towards the North pole, in the schooner "United States" (IA openpolarseanarr1867haye).pdf/295

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sharply against this line of whiteness, and the dark, gloomy walls of Cape Alexander rose squarely from the sea. Upon the crests of the silent hills, and over the white-capped cape, light clouds lazily floated, and through these the sun was pouring a stream of golden fire, and the whole southern heavens were ablaze with the splendor of the coming day.

The point of Cape Alexander lay directly south of us, and the sun would appear from behind it at exactly the meridian hour,—rolling along the horizon, with only half its disk above the line of waters. We awaited the approaching moment with much eagerness. Presently a ray of light burst through the soft mist-clouds which lay off to the right of us opposite the cape, blending them into a purple sea and glistening upon the silvery summits of the tall icebergs, which pierced the vapory cloak as if to catch the coming warmth. The ray approached us nearer and nearer, the purple sea widened, the glittering spires multiplied, as one after another they burst in quick succession into the blaze of day; and as this marvelous change came over the face of the sea, we felt that the shadow of the cape was the shadow of the night, and that the night was passing away. Soon the dark-red cliffs behind us glowed with a warm coloring, the hills and the mountains stood forth in their new robes of resplendent brightness, and the tumbling waves melted away from their angry harshness, and laughed in the sunshine. And now the line of the shadow was in sight. "There it is upon the point," cried Jensen. "There it is upon the ice-foot," answered Dodge,—there at our feet lay a sheet of sparkling gems, and the sun burst broadly in our faces. Off went our caps with a simultaneous impulse, and we hailed this