Le Maitre, at the prow, in the violent upsetting, was seen to fall headlong between two bits of ice into the sea.
"By----! Did you ever see anything like that ?" The skipper of the schooner had run to the nearest point, which was beside Caius.
Then followed instantly a volley of commands, some of which related to throwing ropes to the small boat, some concerning the movement of the schooner, for at this moment her whole side pressed against all the bits of ice, pushing them closer and closer together.
The boat had not sunk; she had partially filled with water that had flowed over the ice on which she had upset; but when the weight of Le Maitre was removed and O'Shea had regained his balance, the ice rose again, righting the boat and almost instantly tipping her toward the other side, for the schooner had by this time caused a jam.

It was not such a jam as must of necessity injure the boat, which was heavily built; but the fact that she was now half full of water and that there was only one man to manage her, made his situation precarious.

The danger of O'Shea, however, was hardly noticed by the men on the schooner, because of the horrible fact that the closing of the bits of ice together made it improbable that Le Maitre could rise again.
For a moment there was an eager looking at every space of blue water that was left.

If the drowning man could swim, he would surely make for such an aperture.
"Put your pole down to him where he went in!" The men on the schooner shouted this to O'Shea.
"Put the rope round your waist!" This last was yelled by the skipper, perceiving that O'Shea himself was by no means safe.
A rope that had been thrown had a noose, through which O'Shea dashed his arms; then, seizing the pole, he struck the butt-end between the blocks of ice where Le Maitre had fallen.
It seemed to Caius that the pole swayed in his hands, as if he were wrenching it from a hand that had gripped it strongly below; but it might have been only the grinding of the ice.
O'Shea thrust the pole with sudden vehemence further down, as if in a frantic effort to bring it better within reach of Le Maitre if he were there; or, as Caius thought, it might have been that, feeling where the man was, he stunned him with the blow.
Standing in a boat that was tipping and grinding among the ice, O'Shea appeared to be exercising marvellous force and dexterity in thus using the pole at all.
The wind was now propelling the schooner forward, and her pressure on the ice ceased.

O'Shea threw off the noose of the rope wildly, and looked to the men on the vessel, as if quite uncertain what to do next.
It was a difficult matter for anyone to decide.