An incident very common in those parts had just occurred. When
these masses are detached from one another in the thawing season,
they float in a perfect equilibrium; but on reaching the ocean,
where the water is relatively warmer, they are speedily
undermined at the base, which melts little by little, and which
is also shaken by the shock of other ice-masses. A moment comes
when the centre of gravity of these masses is displaced, and then
they are completely overturned. Only, if this block had turned
over two minutes later, it would have fallen on the brig and
carried her down in its fall.
CHAPTER V.
LIVERPOOL ISLAND.
The brig now sailed in a sea which was almost entirely open. At
the horizon only, a whitish light, this time motionless,
indicated the presence of fixed plains of ice.
Jean Cornbutte now directed the "Jeune-Hardie" towards Cape
Brewster. They were already approaching the regions where the
temperature is excessively cold, for the sun's rays, owing to
their obliquity when they reach them, are very feeble.
On the 3rd of August the brig confronted immoveable and united
ice-masses. The passages were seldom more than a cable's length
in width, and the ship was forced to make many turnings, which
sometimes placed her heading the wind.
Penellan watched over Marie with paternal care, and, despite the
cold, prevailed upon her to spend two or three hours every day on
deck, for exercise had become one of the indispensable conditions
of health.
Marie's courage did not falter. She even comforted the sailors
with her cheerful talk, and all of them became warmly attached to
her. André Vasling showed himself more attentive than ever, and
seized every occasion to be in her company; but the young girl,
with a sort of presentiment, accepted his services with some
coldness. It may be easily conjectured that André's conversation
referred more to the future than to the present, and that he did
not conceal the slight probability there was of saving the
castaways. He was convinced that they were lost, and the young
girl ought thenceforth to confide her existence to some one else.
[Illustration: André Vasling showed himself more attentive than
ever.]
Marie had not as yet comprehended André's designs, for, to his
great disgust, he could never find an opportunity to talk long
with her alone. Penellan had always an excuse for interfering,
and destroying the effect of Andre's words by the hopeful
opinions he expressed.
Marie, meanwhile, did not remain idle. Acting on the helmsman's
advice, she set to work on her winter garments; for it was
necessary that she should completely change her clothing. The cut
of her dresses was not suitable for these cold latitudes. She
made, therefore, a sort of furred pantaloons, the ends of which
were lined with seal-skin; and her narrow skirts came only to her
knees, so as not to be in contact with the layers of snow with
which the winter would cover the ice-fields. A fur mantle,
fitting closely to the figure and supplied with a hood, protected
the upper part of her body.
In the intervals of their work, the sailors, too, prepared
clothing with which to shelter themselves from the cold. They
made a quantity of high seal-skin boots, with which to cross the
snow during their explorations. They worked thus all the time
that the navigation in the straits lasted.
André Vasling, who was an excellent shot, several times brought
down aquatic birds with his gun; innumerable flocks of these were
always careering about the ship. A kind of eider-duck provided
the crew with very palatable food, which relieved the monotony of
the salt meat.
At last the brig, after many turnings, came in sight of Cape
Brewster. A long-boat was put to sea. Jean Cornbutte and Penellan
reached the coast, which was entirely deserted.
The ship at once directed its course towards Liverpool Island,
discovered in 1821 by Captain Scoresby, and the crew gave a
hearty cheer when they saw the natives running along the shore.
Communication was speedily established with them, thanks to
Penellan's knowledge of a few words of their language, and some
phrases which the natives themselves had learnt of the whalers who
frequented those parts.
These Greenlanders were small and squat; they were not more than
four feet ten inches high; they had red, round faces, and low
foreheads; their hair, flat and black, fell over their shoulders;
their teeth were decayed, and they seemed to be affected by the
sort of leprosy which is peculiar to ichthyophagous tribes.
In exchange for pieces of iron and brass, of which they are
extremely covetous, these poor creatures brought bear furs, the
skins of sea-calves, sea-dogs, sea-wolves, and all the animals
generally known as seals. Jean Cornbutte obtained these at a low
price, and they were certain to become most useful.
The captain then made the natives understand that he was in
search of a shipwrecked vessel, and asked them if they had heard
of it. One of them immediately drew something like a ship on the
snow, and indicated that a vessel of that sort had been carried
northward three months before: he also managed to make it
understood that the thaw and breaking up of the ice-fields had
prevented the Greenlanders from going in search of it; and,
indeed, their very light canoes, which they managed with paddles,
could not go to sea at that time.
This news, though meagre, restored hope to the hearts of the
sailors, and Jean Cornbutte had no difficulty in persuading them
to advance farther in the polar seas.
Before quitting Liverpool Island, the captain purchased a pack of
six Esquimaux dogs, which were soon acclimatised on board. The
ship weighed anchor on the morning of the 10th of August, and
entered the northern straits under a brisk wind.
The longest days of the year had now arrived; that is, the sun,
in these high latitudes, did not set, and reached the highest
point of the spirals which it described above the horizon.
This total absence of night was not, however, very apparent, for
the fog, rain, and snow sometimes enveloped the ship in real
darkness.
Jean Cornbutte, who was resolved to advance as far as possible,
began to take measures of health. The space between decks was
securely enclosed, and every morning care was taken to ventilate
it with fresh air. The stoves were installed, and the pipes so
disposed as to yield as much heat as possible. The sailors were
advised to wear only one woollen shirt over their cotton shirts,
and to hermetically close their seal cloaks. The fires were not
yet lighted, for it was important to reserve the wood and
charcoal for the most intense cold.
Warm beverages, such as coffee and tea, were regularly
distributed to the sailors morning and evening; and as it was
important to live on meat, they shot ducks and teal, which
abounded in these parts.
Jean Cornbutte also placed at the summit of the mainmast a
"crow's nest," a sort of cask staved in at one end, in which a
look-out remained constantly, to observe the icefields.
Two days after the brig had lost sight of Liverpool Island the
temperature became suddenly colder under the influence of a dry
wind. Some indications of winter were perceived. The ship had not
a moment to lose, for soon the way would be entirely closed to
her. She advanced across the straits, among which lay ice-plains
thirty feet thick.
On the morning of the 3rd of September the "Jeune-Hardie" reached
the head of Gaël-Hamkes Bay. Land was then thirty miles to the
leeward. It was the first time that the brig had stopped before a
mass of ice which offered no outlet, and which was at least a
mile wide. The saws must now be used to cut the ice. Penellan,
Aupic, Gradlin, and Turquiette were chosen to work the saws,
which had been carried outside the ship. The direction of the
cutting was so determined that the current might carry off the
pieces detached from the mass. The whole crew worked at this task
for nearly twenty hours. They found it very painful to remain on
the ice, and were often obliged to plunge into the water up to
their middle; their seal-skin garments protected them but
imperfectly from the damp.
Moreover all excessive toil in those high latitudes is soon
followed by an overwhelming weariness; for the breath soon fails,
and the strongest are forced to rest at frequent intervals.
At last the navigation became free, and the brig was towed beyond
the mass which had so long obstructed her course.
CHAPTER VI.
THE QUAKING OF THE ICE.
For several days the "Jeune-Hardie" struggled against formidable
obstacles. The crew were almost all the time at work with the
saws, and often powder had to be used to blow up the enormous
blocks of ice which closed the way.
On the 12th of September the sea consisted of one solid plain,
without outlet or passage, surrounding the vessel on all sides,
so that she could neither advance nor retreat. The temperature
remained at an average of sixteen degrees below zero. The winter
season had come on, with its sufferings and dangers.
[Illustration: On the 12th of September the sea consisted of one
solid plain.]
The "Jeune-Hardie" was then near the 21st degree of longitude
west and the 76th degree of latitude north, at the entrance of
Gaël-Hamkes Bay.
Jean Cornbutte made his preliminary preparations for wintering.
He first searched for a creek whose position would shelter the
ship from the wind and breaking up of the ice. Land, which was
probably thirty miles west, could alone offer him secure shelter,
and he resolved to attempt to reach it.
He set out on the 12th of September, accompanied by André
Vasling, Penellan, and the two sailors Gradlin and Turquiette.
Each man carried provisions for two days, for it was not likely
that their expedition would occupy a longer time, and they were
supplied with skins on which to sleep.
Snow had fallen in great abundance and was not yet frozen over;
and this delayed them seriously. They often sank to their waists,
and could only advance very cautiously, for fear of falling into
crevices. Penellan, who walked in front, carefully sounded each
depression with his iron-pointed staff.
About five in the evening the fog began to thicken, and the
little band were forced to stop. Penellan looked about for an
iceberg which might shelter them from the wind, and after
refreshing themselves, with regrets that they had no warm drink,
they spread their skins on the snow, wrapped themselves up, lay
close to each other, and soon dropped asleep from sheer fatigue.
The next morning Jean Cornbutte and his companions were buried
beneath a bed of snow more than a foot deep. Happily their skins,
perfectly impermeable, had preserved them, and the snow itself
had aided in retaining their heat, which it prevented from
escaping.
The captain gave the signal of departure, and about noon they at
last descried the coast, which at first they could scarcely
distinguish. High ledges of ice, cut perpendicularly, rose on the
shore; their variegated summits, of all forms and shapes,
reproduced on a large scale the phenomena of crystallization.
Myriads of aquatic fowl flew about at the approach of the party,
and the seals, lazily lying on the ice, plunged hurriedly into
the depths.
"I' faith!" said Penellan, "we shall not want for either furs or
game!"
"Those animals," returned Cornbutte, "give every evidence of
having been already visited by men; for in places totally
uninhabited they would not be so wild."
"None but Greenlanders frequent these parts," said André Vasling.
"I see no trace of their passage, however; neither any encampment
nor the smallest hut," said Penellan, who had climbed up a high
peak. "O captain!" he continued, "come here! I see a point of
land which will shelter us splendidly from the north-east wind."
"Come along, boys!" said Jean Cornbutte.
His companions followed him, and they soon rejoined Penellan. The
sailor had said what was true. An elevated point of land jutted
out like a promontory, and curving towards the coast, formed a
little inlet of a mile in width at most. Some moving ice-blocks,
broken by this point, floated in the midst, and the sea,
sheltered from the colder winds, was not yet entirely frozen
over.
This was an excellent spot for wintering, and it only remained to
get the ship thither. Jean Cornbutte remarked that the neighbouring
ice-field was very thick, and it seemed very difficult to cut a canal
to bring the brig to its destination. Some other creek, then, must be
found; it was in vain that he explored northward. The coast remained
steep and abrupt for a long distance, and beyond the point it was
directly exposed to the attacks of the east-wind. The circumstance
disconcerted the captain all the more because André Vasling used
strong arguments to show how bad the situation was. Penellan, in
this dilemma, found it difficult to convince himself that all was
for the best.
But one chance remained--to seek a shelter on the southern side
of the coast. This was to return on their path, but hesitation
was useless. The little band returned rapidly in the direction of
the ship, as their provisions had begun to run short. Jean
Cornbutte searched for some practicable passage, or at least some
fissure by which a canal might be cut across the ice-fields, all
along the route, but in vain.
Towards evening the sailors came to the same place where they had
encamped over night. There had been no snow during the day, and
they could recognize the imprint of their bodies on the ice. They
again disposed themselves to sleep with their furs.
Penellan, much disturbed by the bad success of the expedition,
was sleeping restlessly, when, at a waking moment, his attention
was attracted by a dull rumbling. He listened attentively, and
the rumbling seemed so strange that he nudged Jean Cornbutte with
his elbow.
"What is that?" said the latter, whose mind, according to a
sailor's habit, was awake as soon as his body.
"Listen, captain."
The noise increased, with perceptible violence.
"It cannot be thunder, in so high a latitude," said Cornbutte,
rising.
"I think we have come across some white bears," replied Penellan.
"The devil! We have not seen any yet."
"Sooner or later, we must have expected a visit from them. Let us
give them a good reception."
Penellan, armed with a gun, lightly crossed the ledge which
sheltered them. The darkness was very dense; he could discover
nothing; but a new incident soon showed him that the cause of the
noise did not proceed from around them.
Jean Cornbutte rejoined him, and they observed with terror that
this rumbling, which awakened their companions, came from beneath
them.
A new kind of peril menaced them. To the noise, which resembled
peals of thunder, was added a distinct undulating motion of the
ice-field. Several of the party lost their balance and fell.
"Attention!" cried Penellan.
"Yes!" some one responded.
"Turquiette! Gradlin! where are you?"
"Here I am!" responded Turquiette, shaking off the snow with
which he was covered.
"This way, Vasling," cried Cornbutte to the mate. "And Gradlin?"
"Present, captain. But we are lost!" shouted Gradlin, in fright.
"No!" said Penellan. "Perhaps we are saved!"
Hardly had he uttered these words when a frightful cracking noise
was heard. The ice-field broke clear through, and the sailors
were forced to cling to the block which was quivering just by
them. Despite the helmsman's words, they found themselves in a
most perilous position, for an ice-quake had occurred. The ice
masses had just "weighed anchor," as the sailors say. The
movement lasted nearly two minutes, and it was to be feared that
the crevice would yawn at the very feet of the unhappy sailors.
They anxiously awaited daylight in the midst of continuous
shocks, for they could not, without risk of death, move a step,
and had to remain stretched out at full length to avoid being
engulfed.
[Illustration: they found themselves in a most perilous position,
for an ice-quake had occurred.]
As soon as it was daylight a very different aspect presented
itself to their eyes. The vast plain, a compact mass the evening
before, was now separated in a thousand places, and the waves,
raised by some submarine commotion, had broken the thick layer
which sheltered them.
The thought of his ship occurred to Jean Cornbutte's mind.
"My poor brig!" he cried. "It must have perished!"
The deepest despair began to overcast the faces of his
companions. The loss of the ship inevitably preceded their own
deaths.
"Courage, friends," said Penellan. "Reflect that this night's
disaster has opened us a path across the ice, which will enable
us to bring our ship to the bay for wintering! And, stop! I am
not mistaken. There is the 'Jeune-Hardie,' a mile nearer to us!"
All hurried forward, and so imprudently, that Turquiette slipped
into a fissure, and would have certainly perished, had not Jean
Cornbutte seized him by his hood. He got off with a rather cold
bath.
The brig was indeed floating two miles away. After infinite
trouble, the little band reached her. She was in good condition;
but her rudder, which they had neglected to lift, had been broken
by the ice.
CHAPTER VII.
SETTLING FOR THE WINTER.
Penellan was once more right; all was for the best, and this ice-quake
had opened a practicable channel for the ship to the bay.
The sailors had only to make skilful use of the currents to
conduct her thither.
On the 19th of September the brig was at last moored in her bay
for wintering, two cables' lengths from the shore, securely
anchored on a good bottom. The ice began the next day to form
around her hull; it soon became strong enough to bear a man's
weight, and they could establish a communication with land.
The rigging, as is customary in arctic navigation, remained as it
was; the sails were carefully furled on the yards and covered
with their casings, and the "crow's-nest" remained in place, as
much to enable them to make distant observations as to attract
attention to the ship.
The sun now scarcely rose above the horizon. Since the June
solstice, the spirals which it had described descended lower and
lower; and it would soon disappear altogether.
The crew hastened to make the necessary preparations. Penellan
supervised the whole. The ice was soon thick around the ship, and
it was to be feared that its pressure might become dangerous; but
Penellan waited until, by reason of the going and coming of the
floating ice-masses and their adherence, it had reached a
thickness of twenty feet; he then had it cut around the hull, so
that it united under the ship, the form of which it assumed;
thus enclosed in a mould, the brig had no longer to fear the
pressure of the ice, which could make no movement.
The sailors then elevated along the wales, to the height of the
nettings, a snow wall five or six feet thick, which soon froze as
hard as a rock. This envelope did not allow the interior heat to
escape outside. A canvas tent, covered with skins and hermetically
closed, was stretched aver the whole length of the deck, and formed
a sort of walk for the sailors.
They also constructed on the ice a storehouse of snow, in which
articles which embarrassed the ship were stowed away. The
partitions of the cabins were taken down, so as to form a single
vast apartment forward, as well as aft. This single room,
besides, was more easy to warm, as the ice and damp found fewer
corners in which to take refuge. It was also less difficult to
ventilate it, by means of canvas funnels which opened without.
Each sailor exerted great energy in these preparations, and about
the 25th of September they were completed. André Vasling had not
shown himself the least active in this task. He devoted himself
with especial zeal to the young girl's comfort, and if she,
absorbed in thoughts of her poor Louis, did not perceive this,
Jean Cornbutte did not fail soon to remark it. He spoke of it to
Penellan; he recalled several incidents which completely
enlightened him regarding his mate's intentions; André Vasling
loved Marie, and reckoned on asking her uncle for her hand, as
soon as it was proved beyond doubt that the castaways were
irrevocably lost; they would return then to Dunkirk, and André
Vasling would be well satisfied to wed a rich and pretty girl,
who would then be the sole heiress of Jean Cornbutte.
But André, in his impatience, was often imprudent. He had several
times declared that the search for the castaways was useless,
when some new trace contradicted him, and enabled Penellan to
exult over him. The mate, therefore, cordially detested the
helmsman, who returned his dislike heartily. Penellan only feared
that André might sow seeds of dissension among the crew, and
persuaded Jean Cornbutte to answer him evasively on the first
occasion.
When the preparations for the winter were completed, the captain
took measures to preserve the health of the crew. Every morning
the men were ordered to air their berths, and carefully clean the
interior walls, to get rid of the night's dampness. They received
boiling tea or coffee, which are excellent cordials to use
against the cold, morning and evening; then they were divided
into hunting-parties, who should procure as much fresh nourishment
as possible for every day.
Each one also took healthy exercise every day, so as not to
expose himself without motion to the cold; for in a temperature
thirty degrees below zero, some part of the body might suddenly
become frozen. In such cases friction of the snow was used, which
alone could heal the affected part.
Penellan also strongly advised cold ablutions every morning. It
required some courage to plunge the hands and face in the snow,
which had to be melted within. But Penellan bravely set the
example, and Marie was not the last to imitate him.
Jean Cornbutte did not forget to have readings and prayers, for
it was needful that the hearts of his comrades should not give
way to despair or weariness. Nothing is more dangerous in these
desolate latitudes.
The sky, always gloomy, filled the soul with sadness. A thick
snow, lashed by violent winds, added to the horrors of their
situation. The sun would soon altogether disappear. Had the
clouds not gathered in masses above their heads, they might have
enjoyed the moonlight, which was about to become really their sun
during the long polar night; but, with the west winds, the snow
did not cease to fall. Every morning it was necessary to clear
off the sides of the ship, and to cut a new stairway in the ice
to enable them to reach the ice-field. They easily succeeded in
doing this with snow-knives; the steps once cut, a little water
was thrown over them, and they at once hardened.
Penellan had a hole cut in the ice, not far from the ship. Every
day the new crust which formed over its top was broken, and the
water which was drawn thence, from a certain depth, was less cold
than that at the surface.
All these preparations occupied about three weeks. It was then
time to go forward with the search. The ship was imprisoned for
six or seven months, and only the next thaw could open a new
route across the ice. It was wise, then, to profit by this delay,
and extend their explorations northward.
CHAPTER VIII.
PLAN OF THE EXPLORATIONS.
On the 9th of October, Jean Cornbutte held a council to settle
the plan of his operations, to which, that there might be union,
zeal, and courage on the part of every one, he admitted the whole
crew. Map in hand, he clearly explained their situation.
[Illustration: Map in hand, he clearly explained their
situation.]
The eastern coast of Greenland advances perpendicularly
northward. The discoveries of the navigators have given the exact
boundaries of those parts. In the extent of five hundred leagues,
which separates Greenland from Spitzbergen, no land has been
found. An island (Shannon Island) lay a hundred miles north of
Gaël-Hamkes Bay, where the "Jeune-Hardie" was wintering.
If the Norwegian schooner, as was most probable, had been driven
in this direction, supposing that she could not reach Shannon
Island, it was here that Louis Cornbutte and his comrades must
have sought for a winter asylum.
This opinion prevailed, despite André Vasling's opposition; and
it was decided to direct the explorations on the side towards
Shannon Island.
Arrangements for this were at once begun. A sledge like that used
by the Esquimaux had been procured on the Norwegian coast. This
was constructed of planks curved before and behind, and was made
to slide over the snow and ice. It was twelve feet long and four
wide, and could therefore carry provisions, if need were, for
several weeks. Fidèle Misonne soon put it in order, working upon
it in the snow storehouse, whither his tools had been carried.
For the first time a coal-stove was set up in this storehouse,
without which all labour there would have been impossible. The
pipe was carried out through one of the lateral walls, by a hole
pierced in the snow; but a grave inconvenience resulted from
this,--for the heat of the stove, little by little, melted the
snow where it came in contact with it; and the opening visibly
increased. Jean Cornbutte contrived to surround this part of the
pipe with some metallic canvas, which is impermeable by heat.
This succeeded completely.
While Misonne was at work upon the sledge, Penellan, aided by
Marie, was preparing the clothing necessary for the expedition.
Seal-skin boots they had, fortunately, in plenty. Jean Cornbutte
and André Vasling occupied themselves with the provisions. They
chose a small barrel of spirits-of-wine for heating a portable
chafing-dish; reserves of coffee and tea in ample quantity were
packed; a small box of biscuits, two hundred pounds of pemmican,
and some gourds of brandy completed the stock of viands. The guns
would bring down some fresh game every day. A quantity of powder
was divided between several bags; the compass, sextant, and spy-glass
were put carefully out of the way of injury.
On the 11th of October the sun no longer appeared above the
horizon. They were obliged to keep a lighted lamp in the lodgings
of the crew all the time. There was no time to lose; the
explorations must be begun. For this reason: in the month of
January it would become so cold that it would be impossible to
venture out without peril of life. For two months at least the
crew would be condemned to the most complete imprisonment; then
the thaw would begin, and continue till the time when the ship
should quit the ice. This thaw would, of course, prevent any
explorations. On the other hand, if Louis Cornbutte and his
comrades were still in existence, it was not probable that they
would be able to resist the severities of the arctic winter. They
must therefore be saved beforehand, or all hope would be lost.
André Vasling knew all this better than any one. He therefore
resolved to put every possible obstacle in the way of the
expedition.
The preparations for the journey were completed about the 20th of
October. It remained to select the men who should compose the
party. The young girl could not be deprived of the protection of
Jean Cornbutte or of Penellan; neither of these could, on the
other hand, be spared from the expedition.
The question, then, was whether Marie could bear the fatigues of
such a journey. She had already passed through rough experiences
without seeming to suffer from them, for she was a sailor's
daughter, used from infancy to the fatigues of the sea, and even
Penellan was not dismayed to see her struggling in the midst of
this severe climate, against the dangers of the polar seas.
It was decided, therefore, after a long discussion, that she
should go with them, and that a place should be reserved for her,
at need, on the sledge, on which a little wooden hut was
constructed, closed in hermetically. As for Marie, she was
delighted, for she dreaded to be left alone without her two
protectors.
The expedition was thus formed: Marie, Jean Cornbutte, Penellan,
André Vasling, Aupic, and Fidèle Misonne were to go. Alaine
Turquiette remained in charge of the brig, and Gervique and
Gradlin stayed behind with him. New provisions of all kinds were
carried; for Jean Cornbutte, in order to carry the exploration as
far as possible, had resolved to establish depôts along the
route, at each seven or eight days' march. When the sledge was
ready it was at once fitted up, and covered with a skin tent. The
whole weighed some seven hundred pounds, which a pack of five
dogs might easily carry over the ice.
On the 22nd of October, as the captain had foretold, a sudden
change took place in the temperature. The sky cleared, the stars
emitted an extraordinary light, and the moon shone above the
horizon, no longer to leave the heavens for a fortnight. The
thermometer descended to twenty-five degrees below zero.
The departure was fixed for the following day.
CHAPTER IX.
THE HOUSE OF SNOW.
On the 23rd of October, at eleven in the morning, in a fine
moonlight, the caravan set out. Precautions were this time taken
that the journey might be a long one, if necessary. Jean
Cornbutte followed the coast, and ascended northward. The steps
of the travellers made no impression on the hard ice. Jean was
forced to guide himself by points which he selected at a
distance; sometimes he fixed upon a hill bristling with peaks;
sometimes on a vast iceberg which pressure had raised above the
plain.
[Illustration: The caravan set out]
At the first halt, after going fifteen miles, Penellan prepared
to encamp. The tent was erected against an ice-block. Marie had
not suffered seriously with the extreme cold, for luckily the
breeze had subsided, and was much more bearable; but the young
girl had several times been obliged to descend from her sledge to
avert numbness from impeding the circulation of her blood.
Otherwise, her little hut, hung with skins, afforded her all the
comfort possible under the circumstances.
When night, or rather sleeping-time, came, the little hut was
carried under the tent, where it served as a bed-room for Marie.
The evening repast was composed of fresh meat, pemmican, and hot
tea. Jean Cornbutte, to avert danger of the scurvy, distributed
to each of the party a few drops of lemon-juice. Then all slept
under God's protection.
After eight hours of repose, they got ready to resume their
march. A substantial breakfast was provided to the men and the
dogs; then they set out. The ice, exceedingly compact, enabled
these animals to draw the sledge easily. The party sometimes
found it difficult to keep up with them.
But the sailors soon began to suffer one discomfort--that of
being dazzled. Ophthalmia betrayed itself in Aupic and Misonne.
The moon's light, striking on these vast white plains, burnt the
eyesight, and gave the eyes insupportable pain.
There was thus produced a very singular effect of refraction. As
they walked, when they thought they were about to put foot on a
hillock, they stepped down lower, which often occasioned falls,
happily so little serious that Penellan made them occasions for
bantering. Still, he told them never to take a step without
sounding the ground with the ferruled staff with which each was
equipped.
About the 1st of November, ten days after they had set out, the
caravan had gone fifty leagues to the northward. Weariness
pressed heavily on all. Jean Cornbutte was painfully dazzled, and
his sight sensibly changed. Aupic and Misonne had to feel their
way: for their eyes, rimmed with red, seemed burnt by the white
reflection. Marie had been preserved from this misfortune by
remaining within her hut, to which she confined herself as much
as possible. Penellan, sustained by an indomitable courage,
resisted all fatigue. But it was André Vasling who bore himself
best, and upon whom the cold and dazzling seemed to produce no
effect. His iron frame was equal to every hardship; and he was
secretly pleased to see the most robust of his companions
becoming discouraged, and already foresaw the moment when they
would be forced to retreat to the ship again.
On the 1st of November it became absolutely necessary to halt for
a day or two. As soon as the place for the encampment had been
selected, they proceeded to arrange it. It was determined to
erect a house of snow, which should be supported against one of
the rocks of the promontory. Misonne at once marked out the
foundations, which measured fifteen feet long by five wide.
Penellan, Aupic, and Misonne, by aid of their knives, cut out
great blocks of ice, which they carried to the chosen spot and
set up, as masons would have built stone walls. The sides of the
foundation were soon raised to a height and thickness of about
five feet; for the materials were abundant, and the structure was
intended to be sufficiently solid to last several days. The four
walls were completed in eight hours; an opening had been left on
the southern side, and the canvas of the tent, placed on these
four walls, fell over the opening and sheltered it. It only
remained to cover the whole with large blocks, to form the roof
of this temporary structure.
After three more hours of hard work, the house was done; and they
all went into it, overcome with weariness and discouragement.
Jean Cornbutte suffered so much that he could not walk, and André
Vasling so skilfully aggravated his gloomy feelings, that he
forced from him a promise not to pursue his search farther in
those frightful solitudes. Penellan did not know which saint to
invoke. He thought it unworthy and craven to give up his
companions for reasons which had little weight, and tried to
upset them; but in vain.
Meanwhile, though it had been decided to return, rest had become
so necessary that for three days no preparations for departure
were made.
On the 4th of November, Jean Cornbutte began to bury on a point
of the coast the provisions for which there was no use. A stake
indicated the place of the deposit, in the improbable event that
new explorations should be made in that direction. Every day
since they had set out similar deposits had been made, so that
they were assured of ample sustenance on the return, without the
trouble of carrying them on the sledge.
The departure was fixed for ten in the morning, on the 5th. The
most profound sadness filled the little band. Marie with
difficulty restrained her tears, when she saw her uncle so
completely discouraged. So many useless sufferings! so much
labour lost! Penellan himself became ferocious in his ill-humour;
he consigned everybody to the nether regions, and did not cease
to wax angry at the weakness and cowardice of his comrades, who
were more timid and tired, he said, than Marie, who would have
gone to the end of the world without complaint.
André Vasling could not disguise the pleasure which this decision
gave him. He showed himself more attentive than ever to the young
girl, to whom he even held out hopes that a new search should be
made when the winter was over; knowing well that it would then be
too late!
CHAPTER X.
BURIED ALIVE.
The evening before the departure, just as they were about to take
supper, Penellan was breaking up some empty casks for firewood,
when he was suddenly suffocated by a thick smoke. At the same
instant the snow-house was shaken as if by an earthquake. The
party uttered a cry of terror, and Penellan hurried outside.
It was entirely dark. A frightful tempest--for it was not a
thaw--was raging, whirlwinds of snow careered around, and it was
so exceedingly cold that the helmsman felt his hands rapidly
freezing. He was obliged to go in again, after rubbing himself
violently with snow.
"It is a tempest," said he. "May heaven grant that our house may
withstand it, for, if the storm should destroy it, we should be
lost!"
At the same time with the gusts of wind a noise was heard beneath
the frozen soil; icebergs, broken from the promontory, dashed
away noisily, and fell upon one another; the wind blew with such
violence that it seemed sometimes as if the whole house moved
from its foundation; phosphorescent lights, inexplicable in that
latitude, flashed across the whirlwinds of the snow.
"Marie! Marie!" cried Penellan, seizing the young girl's hands.
"We are in a bad case!" said Misonne.
"And I know not whether we shall escape," replied Aupic.
"Let us quit this snow-house!" said André Vasling.
"Impossible!" returned Penellan. "The cold outside is terrible;
perhaps we can bear it by staying here."
"Give me the thermometer," demanded Vasling.
Aupic handed it to him. It showed ten degrees below zero inside
the house, though the fire was lighted. Vasling raised the canvas
which covered the opening, and pushed it aside hastily; for he
would have been lacerated by the fall of ice which the wind
hurled around, and which fell in a perfect hail-storm.
"Well, Vasling," said Penellan, "will you go out, then? You see
that we are more safe here."
"Yes," said Jean Cornbutte; "and we must use every effort to
strengthen the house in the interior."
"But a still more terrible danger menaces us," said Vasling.
"What?" asked Jean.
"The wind is breaking the ice against which we are propped, just
as it has that of the promontory, and we shall be either driven
out or buried!"
"That seems doubtful," said Penellan, "for it is freezing hard
enough to ice over all liquid surfaces. Let us see what the
temperature is."
He raised the canvas so as to pass out his arm, and with
difficulty found the thermometer again, in the midst of the snow;
but he at last succeeded in seizing it, and, holding the lamp to
it, said,--
"Thirty-two degrees below zero! It is the coldest we have seen
here yet!"
[Illustration: "Thirty-two degrees below zero!"]
"Ten degrees more," said Vasling, "and the mercury will freeze!"
A mournful silence followed this remark.
About eight in the morning Penellan essayed a second time to go
out to judge of their situation. It was necessary to give an
escape to the smoke, which the wind had several times repelled
into the hut. The sailor wrapped his cloak tightly about him,
made sure of his hood by fastening it to his head with a
handkerchief, and raised the canvas.
The opening was entirely obstructed by a resisting snow. Penellan
took his staff, and succeeded in plunging it into the compact
mass; but terror froze his blood when he perceived that the end
of the staff was not free, and was checked by a hard body!
"Cornbutte," said he to the captain, who had come up to him, "we
are buried under this snow!"
"What say you?" cried Jean Cornbutte.
"I say that the snow is massed and frozen around us and over us,
and that we are buried alive!"
"Let us try to clear this mass of snow away," replied the
captain.
The two friends buttressed themselves against the obstacle which
obstructed the opening, but they could not move it. The snow
formed an iceberg more than five feet thick, and had become
literally a part of the house. Jean could not suppress a cry,
which awoke Misonne and Vasling. An oath burst from the latter,
whose features contracted. At this moment the smoke, thicker than
ever, poured into the house, for it could not find an issue.
"Malediction!" cried Misonne. "The pipe of the stove is sealed up
by the ice!"
Penellan resumed his staff, and took down the pipe, after
throwing snow on the embers to extinguish them, which produced
such a smoke that the light of the lamp could scarcely be seen;
then he tried with his staff to clear out the orifice, but he
only encountered a rock of ice! A frightful end, preceded by a
terrible agony, seemed to be their doom! The smoke, penetrating
the throats of the unfortunate party, caused an insufferable
pain, and air would soon fail them altogether!
Marie here rose, and her presence, which inspired Cornbutte with
despair, imparted some courage to Penellan. He said to himself
that it could not be that the poor girl was destined to so
horrible a death.
"Ah!" said she, "you have made too much fire. The room is full of
smoke!"
"Yes, yes," stammered Penellan.
"It is evident," resumed Marie, "for it is not cold, and it is
long since we have felt too much heat."
No one dared to tell her the truth.
"See, Marie," said Penellan bluntly, "help us get breakfast
ready. It is too cold to go out. Here is the chafing-dish, the
spirit, and the coffee. Come, you others, a little pemmican
first, as this wretched storm forbids us from hunting."
These words stirred up his comrades.
"Let us first eat," added Penellan, "and then we shall see about
getting off."
Penellan set the example and devoured his share of the breakfast.
His comrades imitated him, and then drank a cup of boiling
coffee, which somewhat restored their spirits. Then Jean
Cornbutte decided energetically that they should at once set
about devising means of safety.
André Vasling now said,--
"If the storm is still raging, which is probable, we must be
buried ten feet under the ice, for we can hear no noise outside."
Penellan looked at Marie, who now understood the truth, and did
not tremble. The helmsman first heated, by the flame of the
spirit, the iron point of his staff, and successfully introduced
it into the four walls of ice, but he could find no issue in
either. Cornbutte then resolved to cut out an opening in the door
itself. The ice was so hard that it was difficult for the knives
to make the least impression on it. The pieces which were cut off
soon encumbered the hut. After working hard for two hours, they
had only hollowed out a space three feet deep.
Some more rapid method, and one which was less likely to demolish
the house, must be thought of; for the farther they advanced the
more violent became the effort to break off the compact ice. It
occurred to Penellan to make use of the chafing-dish to melt the
ice in the direction they wanted. It was a hazardous method, for,
if their imprisonment lasted long, the spirit, of which they had
but little, would be wanting when needed to prepare the meals.
Nevertheless, the idea was welcomed on all hands, and was put in
execution. They first cut a hole three feet deep by one in
diameter, to receive the water which would result from the
melting of the ice; and it was well that they took this
precaution, for the water soon dripped under the action of the
flames, which Penellan moved about under the mass of ice. The
opening widened little by little, but this kind of work could not
be continued long, for the water, covering their clothes,
penetrated to their bodies here and there. Penellan was obliged
to pause in a quarter of an hour, and to withdraw the chafing-dish
in order to dry himself. Misonne then took his place, and worked
sturdily at the task.
In two hours, though the opening was five feet deep, the points
of the staffs could not yet find an issue without.
"It is not possible," said Jean Cornbutte, "that snow could have
fallen in such abundance. It must have been gathered on this
point by the wind. Perhaps we had better think of escaping in
some other direction."
"I don't know," replied Penellan; "but if it were only for the
sake of not discouraging our comrades, we ought to continue to
pierce the wall where we have begun. We must find an issue ere
long."
"Will not the spirit fail us?" asked the captain.
"I hope not. But let us, if necessary, dispense with coffee and
hot drinks. Besides, that is not what most alarms me."
"What is it, then, Penellan?"
"Our lamp is going out, for want of oil, and we are fast
exhausting our provisions.--At last, thank God!"
Penellan went to replace André Vasling, who was vigorously
working for the common deliverance.
"Monsieur Vasling," said he, "I am going to take your place; but
look out well, I beg of you, for every tendency of the house to
fall, so that we may have time to prevent it."
The time for rest had come, and when Penellan had added one more
foot to the opening, he lay down beside his comrades.
CHAPTER XI.
A CLOUD OF SMOKE.
The next day, when the sailors awoke, they were surrounded by
complete darkness. The lamp had gone out. Jean Cornbutte roused
Penellan to ask him for the tinder-box, which was passed to him.
Penellan rose to light the fire, but in getting up, his head
struck against the ice ceiling. He was horrified, for on the
evening before he could still stand upright. The chafing-dish
being lighted up by the dim rays of the spirit, he perceived that
the ceiling was a foot lower than before.
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