For millions of years the fracturcd icecap

tested its weight against the unyielding

mountains that reared within its mass,

aud the mountains held, stemming the

march of the ice to the sea. But then,

inevitably, the nrountains gave way, and

eight thousand cubic miles of the Autarc-

tie ieecap, weighing millions upon mil-

lions of tons, slipped over the contincntal

shelf into dcep water to begin a slow but

inexorable journey northward.

For the first nine months of its life, the

indestructible mcnace moved unseen and

undetected beneath the desolate wastes

of the South Atlantic. Then, suddenly, it

triggered a succcssion of appalling dis-

asters that raised, until the last moment,

the terrifying specter of World War

Three.

For the two scientists who first sus-

pected the titanic iceberg s existence, Glen

Sherwood and Julia Hammond, it brought

personal tragedy and a Bitter figbt for