The Argosy, Volume XLIV — page 132: what you’re looking at

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

128 As it was growing colder outside, he propped up the door and then looked about the apartment. It was not a large place, and had evidently been devoted to the uses of the commander of the bark. He doubt- less slept on that bench at the side; he ate at this table. His followers proba- bly slept on the open deck or in some cubby-hole for’ard or aft. Feltnar began to sound the walls through the hangings to see if there’ was anything beyond; but all he found were the beams and the solid oak panels. The curtains were still well preserved, despite mold. Evidently, as he had told Eirik, the dampness had penetrated to this place very recently. While he pottered about, he now and then felt a jar, as though there was some movement of the ice, and occa- sionally a reverberating crack disturbed the general silence. But as these sounds and shocks were nothing new, he paid no attention to them. Had he been outside, however, there was still light enough for him to have observed the danger which menaced the old ship. / The cracks in the heights above were widening. A great piece of the berg was gradually leaning forward above the ravine. Suddenly there came a deafening, splitting crash! I*eltnar started to his feet from another contemplation of the treasure in the chest. He would have rushed to the door, but his fright prevented that movement for a moment—fortunately for him. Had he sprung upon the deck he must have ‘been instantly killed, for down upon it rained thousands of tons of ice from the overhanging crag. The cabin door was driven in and the place was half filled with the broken blocks. The table was again overturned, and he was left in darkness. He could see nothing but the wall of ice before him. He crouched in the rear of the cabin, panting for breath, unable even to think connectedly for a few moments. Then his first thought was that, like Guthmund of the Mighty Arm, he had heen buried in a tomb of ice with no (500 gle ~ THE ARGOSY. possible escape from an awful death. lt would take an army of men to move that avalanche in time to save his life! CHAPTER XIII. AN UNEXPECTED LAUNCHING. SINCE being cast adrift from the Goodcheer by the mutinous crew of that old tub, John Feltnar had cer- tainly suffered much and experienced perils of which he had never dreamed in all his life before. But his present situation was beyond all the most seri- ous in which he had been placed. Hie was packed away in cold storage with @ vengeance! The chill of the ice which had fallen into the ravine had already stricken him to the marrow. And the chill of fear was in his heart, too. What possible hope was there of his digging his way out of the place? The gigantic battle-ax lay on the floor, for he had brought it back to the cabin with him. But although he might cut away the ice which blocked the en- - trance, where could he put the débris ? This was an unanswerable query, and Feltnar knew it. The ancient ship was buried under yards and yards of the broken ice. As fast as he removed that at the bottom more would fall in. It was useless to think of even trying to perform such a task. The noise outside continued—the groaning and crashing of the treach- erous ice—but it sounded as from a great distance. This fact assured the imprisoned man of the depth of the avalanche. “Tm certainly trapped,” he mut- tered, as he sat down upon the low seat which the dead Viking had occupied. But his mind was so disturbed by the present danger that he lost all his su- perstitious fears. “Tf irik returns in four hours (and he cannot possibly do it in less) he will know, of course, when he doesn’t find me, that | am somewhere under the ice. “Now, he may not think of my hav- ing returned to the cabin. He will probably suppose me dead. Therefore, of what use will it be for him to trv to GORMIGOOO (COL