Here they found themselves beset by a new peril. Icebergs, great,
towering, fearsome masses, lay all about them, and to make matters
worse a thick gray fog settled over the ocean, obscuring everything
ten fathoms distant. They brought the vessel about and lay to in the
wind, but even then drifted dangerously near one towering ice mass,
and once a berg that could not have been half a mile away turned over
with a terrifying roar. It seemed as though a collision was
inevitable before daylight, but the night passed without mishap, and
when the morning sun lifted the fog the ship was still unharmed.
There was no land anywhere to be seen. What position they were in Bob
did not know, and had no way of finding out. He did know, however,
that somewhere to the westward lay the Labrador coast, and this they
must try to reach.
Fortunately he could read the compass, and by its aid took as nearly
as possible a due westerly course.
Alutook and Netseksoak, expert as they were in the handling of kayaks,
had no knowledge of the management of larger craft like the _Maid of
the North_, and without question accepted Bob as commander and
followed his directions implicitly and faithfully; and he handled the
vessel well, for he was a good sailor, as all lads of the Labrador
are.
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