The ice-belt here was about twenty feet broad.

On the left the cliffs referred to rose sheer up several hundred feet; on the right the ice-belt descended only about three feet to the floes.

Here our three adventurous travellers were unexpectedly caught in a trap.

The tide rose so high that it raised the sea-ice to a level with the ice-belt, and, welling up between the two, completely overflowed the latter.
The travellers pushed on as quickly as possible, for the precipices on their left forbade all hope of escape in that direction, while the gap between the ice-belt and the floes, which was filled with a gurgling mixture of ice and water, equally hemmed them in on the right.

Worse than all, the tide continued to rise, and when it reached half-way to their knees, they found it dangerous to advance for fear of stepping into rents and fissures which were no longer visible.
"What's to be done noo ?" inquired Saunders, coming to a full stop, and turning to Buzzby with a look of blank despair.
"Dun'no'," replied Buzzby, with an equally blank look of despair; as he stood with his legs apart and his arms hanging down by his side--the very personification of imbecility.