Page:Twenty Thousand Verne Frith 1876.pdf/402



CHAPTER XIII.

THE ICEBERG.

Nautilus still continued her southerly course. Was it Captain Nemo’s wish to reach the Pole? I diddid not [sic] think so, for hitherto all such attempts had signally failed. Besides, the season was too far advanced, as the 13th of March, in those latitudes, corresponds to the 13th of September in northern climates, when the equinoctial period commences.

Upon the 14th of March, I perceived ice floating in latitude 55°, merely field ice, in patches twenty to twenty-five feet long, upon which the waves broke. The Nautilus remained at the surface. Ned Land, having fished in Arctic seas, was familiar with icebergs. Conseil and I admired them for the first time.

Towards the southern horizon, in the air, lay extended a white band of dazzling appearance. This is what English whalers have called the “ice-blink.” No matter how thick the clouds, they cannot obscure its rays. It betokens the near approach to a pack or floe of ice.

And, sure enough, blocks of considerable size soon began to make their appearance, whose brilliancy was modified by the caprice of the fogs. Upon some of these masses we