When my voice was heard hailing, and their voices were heard
answering, I was aware, through all the noises of the ship and sea, and
all the crying of the passengers below, that there was a pause. "Are you
ready, Rames?"--"Ay, ay, sir!"--"Then light up, for God's sake!" In a
moment he and another were burning blue-lights, and the ship and all on
board seemed to be enclosed in a mist of light, under a great black dome.
The light shone up so high that I could see the huge Iceberg upon which
we had struck, cloven at the top and down the middle, exactly like
Penrith Church in my dream. At the same moment I could see the watch
last relieved, crowding up and down on deck; I could see Mrs. Atherfield
and Miss Coleshaw thrown about on the top of the companion as they
struggled to bring the child up from below; I could see that the masts
were going with the shock and the beating of the ship; I could see the
frightful breach stove in on the starboard side, half the length of the
vessel, and the sheathing and timbers spirting up; I could see that the
Cutter was disabled, in a wreck of broken fragments; and I could see
every eye turned upon me.
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