Corny, what saves us now?"

"We are on an island, and cannot be in much danger from the river while we
stay here."

"Not so, my dear friend, not at all so. But, come with me and look for
yourself."

I followed Guert, and did look for myself. We sprang upon the cakes of ice,
which were piled quite thirty feet in height, on the head of the island,
extending right and left, as far as our eyes could see, by that misty
light. It was by no means difficult moving about on this massive pile, the
movement in the cakes being slow, and frequently interrupted; but there was
no concealing the true character of the danger. Had not the island, and the
adjacent main interposed their obstacles, the ice would have continued to
move bodily down the stream, cake shoving over cake, until the whole found
vent in the wider space below, and floated off towards the ocean. Not only
was our island there; however, but other islands lay near us, straitening
the different channels or passages in such a way, as to compel the
formation of an icy dam; and, on the strength of this dam rested all our
security. Were it to be ruptured anywhere near us, we should inevitably be
swept off in a body. Guert thought, however, as has been said already, that
the waters had found narrow issues under the main land, both east and west
of us; and should this prove to be true, there was a hope that the great
calamity might be averted. In other words, if these floodgates sufficed, we
_might_ escape; otherwise the catastrophe was certain.

"I cannot excuse it to myself to remain here, without endeavouring to see
what is the state of things nearer to the shore," said Guert, after we had
viewed the fast accumulating mass of broken ice above us, as well as the