The Argosy, Christmas 1912 — page 36: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

22 where the drift-ice had been piled up. The two parts were separating again. The next day we were sitting in the grotto eating. The cracking continued. It grew louder. Suddenly that same loud roar was thundering through the air with the artillery of an army. Then there was a trembling. Next a peculiar movement I did not under- stand. Ordway leaped from his chair. The next instant I saw him go flying against the back of the grotto. I followed and crashed on the ice. The stove, the chairs, the bedding, all seemed sudden- ly endowed with life, and followed, resting against the side, high above the floor. I lay on my back and looked straight up at a clear, cold, blue sky. Then I knew what had happened. The berg had split again. A small por- tion, that containing our grotto, had broken off, and the heavy end had gone down. What had been the side of the berg was now the top, and we were ina basin surrounded by slippery walls. Ordway sat up and we looked square- ly into each other’s eyes. “If there is anything more on the programm,” he said, “let it come now. There is nothing like a surfeit of pleas- ure to sober one down to the realities of life. Do you know what will happen next?” “Yes,” I said, in my desperation, not exhibiting any emotion. ‘“ We are going to melt through the bottom of this thing and say good-by.” CHAPTER XI. A VISITOR. OvrR icy world had gone completely topsy-turvy. What had been the back wall of the grotto was now the bottom of a deep basin. What had been the wall to the north of us was now the floor. What had been the floor was now a wall on the south, shutting off the warmth of the sun. THE ARGOSY. All that belonged to us, including our bodies, lay huddled in irregular heaps at the bottom of the basin. The stove was overturned, which made no difference because it contained no fuel. It required some little time for us to adjust ourselves to these new con- ditions. I knew that it was no unusual thing for an iceberg to turn turtle. Some- times, when the portion above the sea- level is high and heavy, and the berg is within the grasp of a warm current, the melting of the bottom will make it top- heavy, and the overturning results. But I had never heard of a change such as ours. What might happen next was a problem. Our first work was to gather up our belongings and “set our house to rights.” We began with the guns’and ammu- nition, because they were now the most important articles we had. As a matter of fact, we had only these, our clothes, and our chairs that were of any service. Our fishing out- fits we still possessed, but there seemed to be few fish for us to catch. When we had once more made the place as comfortable as possible, we looked at the steep, slippery sides of the basin. “I'd like tg take a peep at the out- side world,’ said Ordway, “and see what really happened. Although we know, of course.” “Yes, we know, but it would be interesting to look at,” I replied. ‘“‘ The thing is to climb out there. These walls are twenty feet high.” “And smooth as—as ice. But we cant stay here doing nothing. Let’s get to work and cut steps.” “There! That’s more like the old Ordway. I like to hear you speak like that.” “Oh, well, there’s no blubber com- ing from you. You got as strong on the bug-box as I did. Where are those fire-axes?”’ The Northbird had been supplied with two fire-axes, which we had car- CoOMmicbook CO