one side, now to the other--a round thing like the top of a drum?”

“Yes,” said Diamond.

“Below that is where they keep their spare sails, and some stores of

that sort. I am going to blow that cover off. The same moment I will

drop you on deck, and you must tumble in. Don't be afraid, it is of no

depth, and you will fall on sail-cloth. You will find it nice and warm

and dry-only dark; and you will know I am near you by every roll and

pitch of the vessel. Coil yourself up and go to sleep. The yacht shall

be my cradle and you shall be my baby.”

“Thank you, dear North Wind. I am not a bit afraid,” said Diamond.

In a moment they were on a level with the bulwarks, and North Wind sent

the hatch of the after-store rattling away over the deck to leeward. The

next, Diamond found himself in the dark, for he had tumbled through the

hole as North Wind had told him, and the cover was replaced over his

head. Away he went rolling to leeward, for the wind began all at once to

blow hard. He heard the call of the captain, and the loud trampling of

the men over his head, as they hauled at the main sheet to get the boom

on board that they might take in a reef in the mainsail. Diamond felt

about until he had found what seemed the most comfortable place, and

there he snuggled down and lay.

Hours after hours, a great many of them, went by; and still Diamond

lay there. He never felt in the least tired or impatient, for a strange

pleasure filled his heart. The straining of the masts, the creaking of

the boom, the singing of the ropes, the banging of the blocks as they

put the vessel about, all fell in with the roaring of the wind above,

the surge of the waves past her sides, and the thud with which every now

and then one would strike her; while through it all Diamond could hear

the gurgling, rippling, talking flow of the water against her planks,

as she slipped through it, lying now on this side, now on that--like a

subdued air running through the grand music his North Wind was making

about him to keep him from tiring as they sped on towards the country at

the back of her doorstep.

How long this lasted Diamond had no idea. He seemed to fall asleep

sometimes, only through the sleep he heard the sounds going on. At

length the weather seemed to get worse. The confusion and trampling of

feet grew more frequent over his head; the vessel lay over more and

more on her side, and went roaring through the waves, which banged and

thumped at her as if in anger. All at once arose a terrible uproar. The

hatch was blown off; a cold fierce wind swept in upon him; and a long

arm came with it which laid hold of him and lifted him out. The same

moment he saw the little vessel far below him righting herself. She had

taken in all her sails and lay now tossing on the waves like a sea-bird

with folded wings. A short distance to the south lay a much larger

vessel, with two or three sails set, and towards it North Wind was

carrying Diamond. It was a German ship, on its way to the North Pole.

“That vessel down there will give us a lift now,” said North Wind; “and

after that I must do the best I can.”

She managed to hide him amongst the flags of the big ship, which were

all snugly stowed away, and on and on they sped towards the north. At

length one night she whispered in his ear, “Come on deck, Diamond;” and

he got up at once and crept on deck. Everything looked very strange.

Here and there on all sides were huge masses of floating ice, looking

like cathedrals, and castles, and crags, while away beyond was a blue

sea.

“Is the sun rising or setting?” asked Diamond.

“Neither or both, which you please. I can hardly tell which myself. If

he is setting now, he will be rising the next moment.”

“What a strange light it is!” said Diamond. “I have heard that the sun

doesn't go to bed all the summer in these parts. Miss Coleman told me

that. I suppose he feels very sleepy, and that is why the light he sends

out looks so like a dream.”

“That will account for it well enough for all practical purposes,” said

North Wind.

Some of the icebergs were drifting northwards; one was passing very near

the ship. North Wind seized Diamond, and with a single bound lighted on

one of them--a huge thing, with sharp pinnacles and great clefts. The

same instant a wind began to blow from the south. North Wind hurried

Diamond down the north side of the iceberg, stepping by its jags and

splintering; for this berg had never got far enough south to be melted

and smoothed by the summer sun. She brought him to a cave near the

water, where she entered, and, letting Diamond go, sat down as if weary

on a ledge of ice.

Diamond seated himself on the other side, and for a while was enraptured

with the colour of the air inside the cave. It was a deep, dazzling,

lovely blue, deeper than the deepest blue of the sky. The blue seemed to

be in constant motion, like the blackness when you press your eyeballs

with your fingers, boiling and sparkling. But when he looked across to

North Wind he was frightened; her face was worn and livid.

“What is the matter with you, dear North Wind?” he said.

“Nothing much. I feel very faint. But you mustn't mind it, for I can

bear it quite well. South Wind always blows me faint. If it were not for

the cool of the thick ice between me and her, I should faint altogether.

Indeed, as it is, I fear I must vanish.”

Diamond stared at her in terror, for he saw that her form and face were

growing, not small, but transparent, like something dissolving, not in

water, but in light. He could see the side of the blue cave through her

very heart. And she melted away till all that was left was a pale face,

like the moon in the morning, with two great lucid eyes in it.

“I am going, Diamond,” she said.

“Does it hurt you?” asked Diamond.

“It's very uncomfortable,” she answered; “but I don't mind it, for I

shall come all right again before long. I thought I should be able to go

with you all the way, but I cannot. You must not be frightened though.

Just go straight on, and you will come all right. You'll find me on the

doorstep.”

As she spoke, her face too faded quite away, only Diamond thought he

could still see her eyes shining through the blue. When he went closer,

however, he found that what he thought her eyes were only two hollows in

the ice. North Wind was quite gone; and Diamond would have cried, if he

had not trusted her so thoroughly. So he sat still in the blue air of

the cavern listening to the wash and ripple of the water all about the

base of the iceberg, as it sped on and on into the open sea northwards.

It was an excellent craft to go with the current, for there was twice as

much of it below water as above. But a light south wind was blowing too,

and so it went fast.

After a little while Diamond went out and sat on the edge of his

floating island, and looked down into the ocean beneath him. The white

sides of the berg reflected so much light below the water, that he could

see far down into the green abyss. Sometimes he fancied he saw the eyes

of North Wind looking up at him from below, but the fancy never lasted

beyond the moment of its birth. And the time passed he did not know how,

for he felt as if he were in a dream. When he got tired of the green

water, he went into the blue cave; and when he got tired of the blue

cave he went out and gazed all about him on the blue sea, ever sparkling