this gullet. An enormous block, caught in the channel, was driving
rapidly on to the -Forward-! It seemed impossible to avoid it, and
equally impossible to back out along a road already obstructed.
Shandon and Johnson, standing on the prow, were contemplating the
position. Shandon was pointing with his right hand at the direction
the helmsman was to take, and with his left was conveying to James
Wall, posted near the engineer, his orders for the working of the
machine.
"How will this end?" asked the doctor of Johnson.
"As it may please God," replied the boatswain.
The block of ice, at least a hundred feet high, was only about a cable's
length from the -Forward-, and threatened to pound her under it.
"Cursed luck!" exclaimed Pen, swearing frightfully.
"Silence!" exclaimed a voice which it was impossible to recognise
in the midst of the storm.
The block seemed to be precipitating itself upon the brig; there was
a moment of undefinable anguish; the men forsook their poles and
flocked to the stern in spite of Shandon's orders.
Suddenly a frightful sound was heard; a genuine waterspout fell upon
deck, heaved up by an enormous wave. A cry of terror rang out from
the crew whilst Garry, at the helm, held the -Forward- in a straight
line in spite of the frightful incumbrance. When their frightened
looks were drawn towards the mountain of ice it had disappeared; the
pass was free, and further on a long channel, illuminated by the
oblique rays of the sun, allowed the brig to pursue her track.
"Well, Mr. Clawbonny," said Johnson, "can you explain to me the cause
of that phenomenon?"
"It is a very simple one," answered the doctor, "and happens very
often. When those floating bodies are disengaged from each other by
the thaw, they sail away separately, maintaining their balance; but
by degrees, as they near the south, where the water is relatively
warmer, their base, shaken by the collision with other icebergs,
begins to melt and weaken; it then happens that their centre of gravity
is displaced, and, naturally, they overturn. Only, if that one had
turned over two minutes later, it would have crushed our vessel to
pieces."
CHAPTER IX
NEWS
The Polar circle was cleared at last. On the 30th of April, at midday,
the -Forward- passed abreast of Holsteinborg; picturesque mountains
rose up on the eastern horizon. The sea appeared almost free from
icebergs, and the few there were could easily be avoided. The wind
veered round to the south-east, and the brig, under her mizensail,
brigantine, topsails, and her topgallant sail, sailed up Baffin's
Sea. It had been a particularly calm day, and the crew were able to
take a little rest. Numerous birds were swimming and fluttering about
round the vessel; amongst others, the doctor observed some
-alca-alla-, very much like the teal, with black neck, wings and back,
and white breast; they plunged with vivacity, and their immersion
often lasted forty seconds.
The day would not have been remarkable if the following fact, however
extraordinary it may appear, had not occurred on board. At six o'clock
in the morning Richard Shandon, re-entering his cabin after having
been relieved, found upon the table a letter with this address:
"To the Commander,
"RICHARD SHANDON,
"On board the 'FORWARD,'
"Baffin's Sea."
Shandon could not believe his own eyes, and before reading such a
strange epistle he caused the doctor, James Wall and Johnson to be
called, and showed them the letter.
"That grows very strange," said Johnson.
"It's delightful!" thought the doctor.
"At last," cried Shandon, "we shall know the secret."
With a quick hand he tore the envelope and read as follows:
"COMMANDER,--The captain of the -Forward- is pleased with the
coolness, skill, and courage that your men, your officers, and
yourself have shown on the late occasions, and begs you to give
evidence of his gratitude to the crew.
"Have the goodness to take a northerly direction towards Melville
Bay, and from thence try and penetrate into Smith's Straits.
"THE CAPTAIN OF THE -Forward-,
"K. Z.
"Monday, April 30th,
"Abreast of Cape Walsingham."
"Is that all?" cried the doctor.
"That's all," replied Shandon, and the letter fell from his hands.
"Well," said Wall, "this chimerical captain doesn't even mention
coming on board, so I conclude that he never will come."
"But how did this letter get here?" said Johnson.
Shandon was silent.
"Mr. Wall is right," replied the doctor, after picking up the letter
and turning it over in every direction; "the captain won't come on
board for an excellent reason----"
"And what's that?" asked Shandon quickly.
"Because he is here already," replied the doctor simply.
"Already!" said Shandon. "What do you mean?"
"How do you explain the arrival of this letter if such is not the
case?"
Johnson nodded his head in sign of approbation.
"It is not possible!" said Shandon energetically. "I know every man
of the crew. We should have to believe, in that case, that the captain
has been with us ever since we set sail. It is not possible, I tell
you. There isn't one of them that I haven't seen for more than two
years in Liverpool; doctor, your supposition is inadmissible."
"Then what do you admit, Shandon?"
"Everything but that! I admit that the captain, or one of his men,
has profited by the darkness, the fog, or anything you like, in order
to slip on board; we are not very far from land; there are Esquimaux
kayaks that pass unperceived between the icebergs; someone may have
come on board and left the letter; the fog was intense enough to favour
their design."
"And to hinder them from seeing the brig," replied the doctor; "if
we were not able to perceive an intruder slip on board, how could
-he- have discovered the -Forward- in the midst of a fog?"
"That is evident," exclaimed Johnson.
"I come back, then," said the doctor, "to my first hypothesis. What
do you think about it, Shandon?"
"I think what you please," replied Shandon fiercely, "with the
exception of supposing that this man is on board my vessel."
"Perhaps," added Wall, "there may be amongst the crew a man of his
who has received instructions from him."
"That's very likely," added the doctor.
"But which man?" asked Shandon. "I tell you I have known all my men
a long time."
"Anyhow," replied Johnson, "if this captain shows himself, let him
be man or devil, we'll receive him; but we have another piece of
information to draw from this letter."
"What's that?" asked Shandon.
"Why, that we are to direct our path not only towards Melville Bay,
but again into Smith's Straits."
"You are right," answered the doctor.
"Smith's Straits?" echoed Shandon mechanically.
"It is evident," replied Johnson, "that the destination of the
-Forward- is not to seek a North-West passage, as we shall leave to
our left the only track that leads to it--that is to say, Lancaster
Straits; that's what forebodes us difficult navigation in unknown
seas."
"Yes, Smith's Straits," replied Shandon, "that's the route the
American Kane followed in 1853, and at the price of what dangers!
For a long time he was thought to be lost in those dreadful latitudes!
However, as we must go, go we must. But where? how far? To the Pole?"
"And why not?" cried the doctor.
The idea of such an insane attempt made the boatswain shrug his
shoulders.
"After all," resumed James Wall, "to come back to the captain, if
he exists, I see nowhere on the coast of Greenland except Disko or
Uppernawik where he can be waiting for us; in a few days we shall
know what we may depend upon."
"But," asked the doctor of Shandon, "aren't you going to make known
the contents of that letter to the crew?"
"With the commander's permission," replied Johnson, "I should do
nothing of the kind."
"And why so?" asked Shandon.
"Because all that mystery tends to discourage the men: they are
already very anxious about the fate of our expedition, and if the
supernatural side of it is increased it may produce very serious
results, and in a critical moment we could not rely upon them. What
do you say about it, commander?"
"And you, doctor--what do you think?" asked Shandon.
"I think Johnson's reasoning is just."
"And you, Wall?"
"Unless there's better advice forthcoming, I shall stick to the
opinion of these gentlemen."
Shandon reflected seriously during a few minutes, and read the letter
over again carefully.
"Gentlemen," said he, "your opinion on this subject is certainly
excellent, but I cannot adopt it."
"Why not, Shandon?" asked the doctor.
"Because the instructions of this letter are formal: they command
me to give the captain's congratulations to the crew, and up till
to-day I have always blindly obeyed his orders in whatever manner
they have been transmitted to me, and I cannot----"
"But----" said Johnson, who rightly dreaded the effect of such a
communication upon the minds of the sailors.
"My dear Johnson," answered Shandon, "your reasons are excellent,
but read--'he begs you to give evidence of his gratitude to the crew.'"
"Act as you think best," replied Johnson, who was besides a very strict
observer of discipline. "Are we to muster the crew on deck?"
"Do so," replied Shandon.
The news of a communication having been received from the captain
spread like wildfire on deck; the sailors quickly arrived at their
post, and the commander read out the contents of the mysterious letter.
The reading of it was received in a dead silence; the crew dispersed,
a prey to a thousand suppositions. Clifton had heard enough to give
himself up to all the wanderings of his superstitious imagination;
he attributed a considerable share in this incident to the dog-captain,
and when by chance he met him in his passage he never failed to salute
him. "I told you the animal could write," he used to say to the sailors.
No one said anything in answer to this observation, and even Bell,
the carpenter himself, would not have known what to answer.
Nevertheless it was certain to all that, in default of the captain,
his spirit or his shadow watched on board; and henceforward the wisest
of the crew abstained from exchanging their opinions about him.
On the 1st of May, at noon, they were in 68 degrees latitude and 56
degrees 32 minutes longitude. The temperature was higher and the
thermometer marked twenty-five degrees above zero. The doctor was
amusing himself with watching the antics of a white bear and two cubs
on the brink of a pack that lengthened out the land. Accompanied by
Wall and Simpson, he tried to give chase to them by means of the canoe;
but the animal, of a rather warlike disposition, rapidly led away
its offspring, and consequently the doctor was compelled to renounce
following them up.
Chilly Cape was doubled during the night under the influence of a
favourable wind, and soon the high mountains of Disko rose in the
horizon. Godhavn Bay, the residence of the Governor-General of the
Danish Settlements, was left to the right. Shandon did not consider
it worth while to stop, and soon outran the Esquimaux pirogues who
were endeavouring to reach his ship.
The Island of Disko is also called Whale Island. It was from this
point that on the 12th of July, 1845, Sir John Franklin wrote to the
Admiralty for the last time. It was also on that island on the 27th
of August, 1859, that Captain McClintock set foot on his return,
bringing back, alas! proofs too complete of the loss of the expedition.
The coincidence of these two facts were noted by the doctor; that
melancholy conjunction was prolific in memories, but soon the heights
of Disko disappeared from his view.
There were, at that time, numerous icebergs on the coasts, some of
those which the strongest thaws are unable to detach; the continual
series of ridges showed themselves under the strangest forms.
The next day, towards three o'clock, they were bearing on to Sanderson
Hope to the north-east. Land was left on the starboard at a distance
of about fifteen miles; the mountains seemed tinged with a
red-coloured bistre. During the evening, several whales of the
finners species, which have fins on their backs, came playing about
in the midst of the ice-trails, throwing out air and water from their
blow-holes. It was during the night between the 3rd and 4th of May
that the doctor saw for the first time the sun graze the horizon
without dipping his luminous disc into it. Since the 31st of January
the days had been getting longer and longer till the sun went down
no more. To strangers not accustomed to the persistence of this
perpetual light it was a constant subject of astonishment, and even
of fatigue; it is almost impossible to understand to what extent
obscurity is requisite for the well-being of our eyes. The doctor
experienced real pain in getting accustomed to this light, rendered
still more acute by the reflection of the sun's rays upon the plains
of ice.
On May 5th the -Forward- headed the seventy-second parallel; two
months later they would have met with numerous whalers under these
high latitudes, but at present the straits were not sufficiently open
to allow them to penetrate into Baffin's Bay. The following day the
brig, after having headed Woman's Island, came in sight of Uppernawik,
the most northerly settlement that Denmark possesses on these coasts.
CHAPTER X
DANGEROUS NAVIGATION
Shandon, Dr. Clawbonny, Johnson, Foker, and Strong, the cook, went
on shore in the small boat. The governor, his wife, and five children,
all of the Esquimaux race, came politely to meet the visitors. The
doctor knew enough Danish to enable him to establish a very agreeable
acquaintance with them; besides, Foker, who was interpreter of the
expedition, as well as ice-master, knew about twenty words of the
Greenland language, and if not ambitious, twenty words will carry
you far. The governor was born on the island, and had never left his
native country. He did the honours of the town, which is composed
of three wooden huts, for himself and the Lutheran minister, of a
school, and magazines stored with the produce of wrecks. The remainder
consists of snow-huts, the entrance to which is attained by creeping
through a hole.
The greater part of the population came down to greet the -Forward-,
and more than one native advanced as far as the middle of the bay
in his kayak, fifteen feet long and scarcely two wide. The doctor
knew that the word Esquimaux signified raw-fish-eater, and he
likewise knew that the name was considered an insult in the country,
for which reason he did not fail to address them by the title of
Greenlanders, and nevertheless only by the look of their oily sealskin
clothing, their boots of the same material, and all their greasy
tainted appearance, it was easy to discover their accustomed food.
Like all Ichthyophagans, they were half-eaten up with leprosy; and
yet, for all that, were in no worse health.
The Lutheran minister and his wife, with whom the doctor promised
himself a private chat, were on a journey towards Proven on the south
of Uppernawik; he was therefore reduced to getting information out
of the governor. This chief magistrate did not seem to be very learned;
a little less and he would have been an ass, a little more and he
would have known how to read. The doctor, however, questioned him
upon the commercial affairs, the customs and manners of the Esquimaux,
and learnt by signs that seals were worth about 40 pounds delivered
in Copenhagen, a bearskin forty Danish dollars, a blue foxskin four,
and a white one two or three dollars. The doctor also wished, with
an eye to completing his personal education, to visit one of the
Esquimaux huts; it is almost impossible to imagine of what a learned
man who is desirous of knowledge is capable. Happily the opening of
those hovels was too narrow, and the enthusiastic fellow was not able
to crawl in; it was very lucky for him, for there is nothing more
repulsive than that accumulation of things living and dead, seal flesh
or Esquimaux flesh, rotten fish and infectious wearing apparel, which
constitute a Greenland hovel; no window to revive the unbreathable
air, only a hole at the top of the hut, which gives free passage to
the smoke, but does not allow the stench to go out.
Foker gave these details to the doctor, who did not curse his
corpulence the less for that. He wished to judge for himself about
these emanations, -sui generis-.
"I am sure," said he, "one gets used to it in the long run."
-In the long run- depicts Dr. Clawbonny in a single phrase. During
the ethnographical studies of the worthy doctor, Shandon, according
to his instructions, was occupied in procuring means of transport
to cross the ice. He had to pay 4 pounds for a sledge and six dogs,
and even then he had great difficulty in persuading the natives to
part with them. Shandon wanted also to engage Hans Christian, the
clever dog-driver, who made one of the party of Captain McClintock's
expedition; but, unfortunately, Hans was at that time in Southern
Greenland. Then came the grand question, the topic of the day, was
there in Uppernawik a European waiting for the passage of the
-Forward-? Did the governor know if any foreigner, an Englishman
probably, had settled in those countries? To what epoch could he trace
his last relations with whale or other ships? To these questions the
governor replied that not one single foreigner had landed on that
side of the coast for more than ten months.
Shandon asked for the names of the last whalers seen there; he knew
none of them. He was in despair.
"You must acknowledge, doctor, that all this is quite inconceivable.
Nothing at Cape Farewell, nothing at Disko Island, nothing at
Uppernawik."
"If when we get there you repeat 'Nothing in Melville Bay,' I shall
greet you as the only captain of the -Forward-."
The small boat came back to the brig towards evening, bringing back
the visitors. Strong, in order to change the food a little, had
procured several dozens of eider-duck eggs, twice as big as hens'
eggs, and of greenish colour. It was not much, but the change was
refreshing to a crew fed on salted meat. The wind became favourable
the next day, but, however, Shandon did not command them to get under
sail; he still wished to stay another day, and for conscience' sake
to give any human being time to join the -Forward-. He even caused
the 16-pounder to be fired from hour to hour; it thundered out with
a great crash amidst the icebergs, but the noise only frightened the
swarms of molly-mokes and rotches. During the night several rockets
were sent up, but in vain. And thus they were obliged to set sail.
On the 8th of May, at six o'clock in the morning, the -Forward- under
her topsails, foresails, and topgallant, lost sight of the Uppernawik
settlement, and the hideous stakes to which were hung seal-guts and
deer-paunches. The wind was blowing from the south-east, and the
temperature went up to thirty-two degrees. The sun pierced through
the fog, and the ice was getting a little loosened under its dissolving
action. But the reflection of the white rays produced a sad effect
on the eyesight of several of the crew. Wolsten, the gunsmith, Gripper,
Clifton, and Bell were struck with snow blindness, a kind of weakness
in the eyes very frequent in spring, and which determines, amongst
the Esquimaux, numerous cases of blindness. The doctor advised those
who were so afflicted and their companions in general to cover their
faces with green gauze, and he was the first to put his own
prescription into execution.
The dogs bought by Shandon at Uppernawik were of a rather savage nature,
but in the end they became accustomed to the ship; the captain did
not take the arrival of these new comrades too much to heart, and
he seemed to know their habits. Clifton was not the last to remark
the fact that the captain must already have been in communication
with his Greenland brethren, as on land they were always famished
and reduced by incomplete nourishment; they only thought of
recruiting themselves by the diet on board.
On the 9th of May the -Forward- touched within a few cables' length
the most westerly of the Baffin Isles. The doctor noticed several
rocks in the bay between the islands and the continent, those called
Crimson Cliffs; they were covered over with snow as red as carmine,
to which Dr. Kane gives a purely vegetable origin. Clawbonny wanted
to consider this phenomenon nearer, but the ice prevented them
approaching the coast; although the temperature had a tendency to
rise, it was easy enough to see that the icebergs and ice-streams
were accumulating to the north of Baffin's Sea. The land offered a
very different aspect from that of Uppernawik; immense glaciers were
outlined on the horizon against a greyish sky. On the 10th the
-Forward- left Hingston Bay on the right, near to the seventy-fourth
degree of latitude. Several hundred miles westward the Lancaster
Channel opened out into the sea.
But afterwards that immense extent of water disappeared under
enormous fields of ice, upon which hummocks rose up as regularly as
a crystallisation of the same substance. Shandon had the steam put
on, and up to the 11th of May the -Forward- wound amongst the sinuous
rocks, leaving the print of a track on the sky, caused by the black
smoke from her funnels. But new obstacles were soon encountered; the
paths were getting closed up in consequence of the incessant
displacement of the floating masses; at every minute a failure of
water in front of the -Forward's- prow became imminent, and if she
had been nipped it would have been difficult to extricate her. They
all knew it, and thought about it.
On board this vessel, without aim or known destination, foolishly
seeking to advance towards the north, some symptoms of hesitation
were manifested amongst those men, accustomed to an existence of
danger; many, forgetting the advantages offered, regretted having
ventured so far, and already a certain demoralisation prevailed in
their minds, still more increased by Clifton's fears, and the idle
talk of two or three of the leaders, such as Pen, Gripper, Warren,
and Wolston.
To the uneasiness of the crew were joined overwhelming fatigues, for
on the 12th of May the brig was closed in on every side; her steam
was powerless, and it was necessary to force a road through the
ice-fields. The working of the saws was very difficult in the floes,
which measured from six to seven feet in thickness. When two parallel
grooves divided the ice for the length of a hundred feet, they had
to break the interior part with hatchets or handspikes; then took
place the elongation of the anchors, fixed in a hole by means of a
thick auger; afterwards the working of the capstan began, and in this
way the vessel was hauled over. The greatest difficulty consisted
in driving the smashed pieces under the floes in order to open up
a free passage for the ship, and to thrust them away they were
compelled to use long iron-spiked poles.
At last, what with the working of the saws, the hauling, the capstan
and poles, incessant, dangerous, and forced work, in the midst of
fogs or thick snow, the temperature relatively low, ophthalmic
suffering and moral uneasiness, all contributed to discourage the
crew, and react on the men's imagination. When sailors have an
energetic, audacious, and convinced man to do with, who knows what
he wants, where he is bound for, and what end he has in view, confidence
sustains them in spite of everything. They make one with their chief,
feeling strong in his strength, and quiet in his tranquillity; but
on the brig it was felt that the commander was not sure of himself,
that he hesitated before his unknown end and destination. In spite
of his energetic nature, his weakness showed itself in his changing
orders, incomplete manoeuvres, stormy reflections, and a thousand
details which could not escape the notice of the crew.
Besides, Shandon was not captain of the ship, a sufficient reason
for argument about his orders; from argument to a refusal to obey
the step is easy. The discontented soon added to their number the
first engineer, who up to now had remained a slave to his duty.
On May 16th, six days after the -Forward's- arrival at the icebergs,
Shandon had not gained two miles northward, and the ice threatened
to freeze in the brig till the following season. This was becoming
dangerous. Towards eight in the evening Shandon and the doctor,
accompanied by Garry, went on a voyage of discovery in the midst of
the immense plains; they took care not to go too far away from the
vessel, as it was difficult to fix any landmarks in those white
solitudes, the aspects of which changed constantly.
The refraction produced strange effects; they still astonished the
doctor; where he thought he had only one foot to leap he found it
was five or six, or the contrary; and in both cases the result was
a fall, if not dangerous, at least painful, on the frozen ice as hard
as glass.
Shandon and his two companions went in search of a practicable passage.
Three miles from the ship they succeeded, not without trouble, in
climbing the iceberg, which was perhaps three hundred feet high.
From this point their view extended over that desolated mass which
looked like the ruins of a gigantic town with its beaten-down obelisks,
its overthrown steeples and palaces turned upside down all in a
lump--in fact, a genuine chaos. The sun threw long oblique rays of
a light without warmth, as if heat-absorbing substances were placed
between it and that gloomy country. The sea seemed to be frozen to
the remotest limits of view.
"How shall we get through?" exclaimed the doctor.
"I have not the least idea," replied Shandon; "but we will get through,
even if we are obliged to employ powder to blow up those mountains,
for I certainly won't let that ice shut me up till next spring."
"Nevertheless, such was the fate of the -Fox-, almost in these same
quarters. Never mind," continued the doctor, "we shall get through
with a little philosophy. Believe me, that is worth all the engines
in the world."
"You must acknowledge," replied Shandon, "that the year doesn't begin
under very favourable auspices."
"That is incontestable, and I notice that Baffin's Sea has a tendency
to return to the same state in which it was before 1817."
"Then you think, doctor, that the present state of things has not
always existed?"
"Yes; from time to time there are vast breakings up which scientific
men can scarcely explain; thus, up to 1817 this sea was constantly
obstructed, when suddenly an immense cataclysm took place which drove
back these icebergs into the ocean, the great part of which were
stranded on Newfoundland Bank. From that time Baffin's Bay has been
almost free, and has become the haunt of numerous whalers."
"Then, since that epoch, voyages to the north have been easier?"
"Incomparably so; but for the last few years it has been observed
that the bay has a tendency to be closed up again, and according to
investigations made by navigators, it may probably be so for a long
time--a still greater reason for us to go on as far as possible. Just
now we look like people who get into unknown galleries, the doors
of which are always shut behind them."
"Do you advise me to back out?" asked Shandon, endeavouring to read
the answer in the doctor's eyes.
"I! I have never known how to take a step backward, and should we
never return, I say 'Go ahead.' However, I should like to make known
to you that if we do anything imprudent, we know very well what we
are exposed to."
"Well, Garry, what do you think about it?" asked Shandon of the sailor.
"I? Commander, I should go on; I'm of the same opinion as Mr.
Clawbonny; but you do as you please; command, and we will obey."
"They don't all speak like you, Garry," replied Shandon. "They aren't
all in an obedient humour! Suppose they were to refuse to execute
my orders?"
"Commander," replied Garry coldly, "I have given you my advice because
you asked me for it; but you are not obliged to act upon it."
Shandon did not reply; he attentively examined the horizon, and
descended with his two companions on to the ice-field.
CHAPTER XI
THE DEVIL'S THUMB
During the commander's absence the men had gone through divers works
in order to make the ship fit to avoid the pressure of the ice-fields.
Pen, Clifton, Gripper, Bolton, and Simpson were occupied in this
laborious work; the stoker and the two engineers were even obliged
to come to the aid of their comrades, for, from the instant they were
not wanted at the engine, they again became sailors, and, as such,
they could be employed in all kinds of work on board. But this was
not accomplished without a great deal of grumbling.
"I'll tell you what," said Pen, "I've had enough of it, and if in
three days the breaking up isn't come, I'll swear to God that I'll
chuck up!"
"You'll chuck up?" replied Gripper; "you'd do better to help us to
back out. Do you think we are in the humour to winter here till next
year?"
"To tell you the truth, it would be a dreary winter," said Plover,
"for the ship is exposed from every quarter."
"And who knows," added Brunton, "if even next spring we should find
the sea freer than it is now?"
"We aren't talking about next spring," said Pen; "to-day's Thursday;
if next Sunday morning the road ain't clear, we'll back out south."
"That's the ticket!" cried Clifton.
"Are you all agreed?" said Pen.
"Yes," answered all his comrades.
"That's right enough," answered Warren, "for if we are obliged to
work like this, hauling the ship by the strength of our arms, my advice
is to backwater."
"We'll see about that on Sunday," answered Wolsten.
"As soon as I get the order," said Brunton, "I'll soon get my steam
up."
"Or we'd manage to get it up ourselves," said Clifton.
"If any of the officers," said Pen, "wants to have the pleasure of
wintering here, we'll let him. He can build himself a snow-hut like
the Esquimaux."
"Nothing of the kind, Pen," replied Brunton; "we won't leave anybody.
You understand that, you others. Besides, I don't think it would be
difficult to persuade the commander; he already seems very uncertain,
and if we were quietly to propose it----"
"I don't know that," said Plover; "Richard Shandon is a hard,
headstrong man, and we should have to sound him carefully."
"When I think," replied Bolton, with a covetous sigh, "that in a month
we might be back in Liverpool; we could soon clear the southern
ice-line. The pass in Davis's Straits will be open in the beginning
of June, and we shall only have to let ourselves drift into the
Atlantic."
"Besides," said the prudent Clifton, "if we bring back the commander
with us, acting under his responsibility, our pay and bounty money
will be sure; whilst if we return alone it won't be so certain."
"That's certain!" said Plover; "that devil of a Clifton speaks like
a book. Let us try to have nothing to explain to the Admiralty; it's
much safer to leave no one behind us."
"But if the officers refuse to follow us?" replied Pen, who wished
to push his comrades to an extremity.
To such a question they were puzzled to reply.
"We shall see about it when the time comes," replied Bolton; "besides,
it would be enough to win Richard Shandon over to our side. We shall
have no difficulty about that."
"Anyhow," said Pen, swearing, "there's something I'll leave here if
I get an arm eaten in the attempt."
"Ah! you mean the dog," said Plover.
"Yes, the dog; and before long I'll settle his hash!"
"The more so," replied Clifton, coming back to his favourite theme,
"that the dog is the cause of all our misfortunes."
"He's cast an evil spell over us," said Plover.
"It's through him we're in an iceberg," said Gripper.
"He's the cause that we've had more ice against us than has ever been
seen at this time of year," said Wolsten.
"He's the cause of my bad eyes," said Brunton.
"He's cut off the gin and brandy," added Pen.
"He's the cause of everything," said the assembly, getting excited.
"And he's captain into the bargain!" cried Clifton.
"Well, captain of ill-luck," said Pen, whose unreasonable fury grew
stronger at every word; "you wanted to come here, and here you'll
stay."
"But how are we to nap him?" said Plover.
"We've a good opportunity," replied Clifton; "the commander isn't
on deck, the lieutenant is asleep in his cabin, and the fog's thick
enough to stop Johnson seeing us."
"But where's the dog?" cried Pen.
"He's asleep near the coalhole," replied Clifton, "and if anybody
wants----"
"I'll take charge of him," answered Pen furiously.
"Look out, Pen, he's got teeth that could snap an iron bar in two."
"If he moves I'll cut him open," cried Pen, taking his knife in one
hand. He bounced in between decks, followed by Warren, who wanted
to help him in his undertaking. They quickly came back, carrying the
animal in their arms, strongly muzzled, with his paws bound tightly
together. They had taken him by surprise whilst he slept, so that
the unfortunate dog could not escape them.
"Hurrah for Pen!" cried Plover.
"What do you mean to do with him now you've got him?" asked Clifton.
"Why, drown him, and if ever he gets over it----" replied Pen, with
a fearful smile of satisfaction.
About two hundred steps from the vessel there was a seal-hole, a kind
of circular crevice cut out by the teeth of that amphibious animal,
hollowed out from underneath, and through which the seal comes up
to breathe on to the surface of the ice. To keep this aperture from
closing up he has to be very careful because the formation of his
jaws would not enable him to bore through the hole again from the
outside, and in a moment of danger he would fall a prey to his enemies.
Pen and Warren directed their steps towards this crevice, and there,
in spite of the dog's energetic efforts, he was unmercifully
precipitated into the sea. An enormous lump of ice was then placed
over the opening, thus closing all possible issue to the poor animal,
walled up in a watery prison.
"Good luck to you, captain," cried the brutal sailor.
Shortly afterwards Pen and Warren returned on deck. Johnson had seen
nothing of this performance. The fog thickened round about the ship,
and snow began to fall with violence. An hour later, Richard Shandon,
the doctor, and Garry rejoined the -Forward-. Shandon had noticed
a pass in a north-eastern direction of which he was resolved to take
advantage, and gave his orders in consequence. The crew obeyed with
a certain activity, not without hinting to Shandon that it was
impossible to go further on, and that they only gave him three more
days' obedience. During a part of the night and the following day
the working of the saws and the hauling were actively kept up; the
-Forward- gained about two miles further north. On the 18th she was
in sight of land, and at five or six cable-lengths from a peculiar
peak, called from its strange shape the Devil's Thumb.
It was there that the -Prince Albert- in 1851, and the -Advance- with
Kane, in 1853, were kept prisoners by the ice for several weeks. The
odd form of the Devil's Thumb, the dreary deserts in its vicinity,
the vast circus of icebergs--some of them more than three hundred
feet high--the cracking of the ice, reproduced by the echo in so
sinister a manner, rendered the position of the -Forward- horribly
dreary. Shandon understood the necessity of getting out of it and
going further ahead. Twenty-four hours later, according to his
estimation, he had been able to clear the fatal coast for about two
miles, but this was not enough. Shandon, overwhelmed with fear, and
the false situation in which he was placed, lost both courage and
energy; in order to obey his instructions and get further north, he
had thrown his vessel into an excessively perilous situation. The
men were worn out by the hauling; it required more than three hours
to hollow out a channel twenty feet long, through ice that was usually
from four to five feet thick. The health of the crew threatened to
break down. Shandon was astonished at the silence of his men and their
unaccustomed obedience, but he feared that it was the calm before
the storm. Who can judge, then, of his painful disappointment,
surprise, and despair when he perceived that in consequence of an
insensible movement of the ice-field the -Forward- had, during the
night from the 18th to the 19th, lost all the advantage she had gained
with so much toil? On the Saturday morning they were once more opposite
the ever-threatening Devil's Thumb, and in a still more critical
position. The icebergs became more numerous, and drifted by in the
fog like phantoms. Shandon was in a state of complete demoralisation,
for fright had taken possession of the dauntless man and his crew.
Shandon had heard the dog's disappearance spoken about, but dared
not punish those who were guilty of it. He feared that a rebellion
might be the consequence. The weather was fearful during the whole
day; the snow rose up in thick whirlpools, wrapping up the -Forward-
in an impenetrable cloak. Sometimes, under the action of the storm,
the fog was torn asunder, and displayed towards land, raised up like
a spectre, the Devil's Thumb.
The -Forward- was anchored to an immense block of ice; it was all
that could be done; there was nothing more to attempt; the obscurity
became denser, and the man at the helm could not see James Wall, who
was on duty in the bow. Shandon withdrew to his cabin, a prey to
unremitting uneasiness; the doctor was putting his voyage notes in
order; one half the crew remained on deck, the other half stayed in
the common cabin. At one moment, when the storm increased in fury,
the Devil's Thumb seemed to rise up out of all proportion in the midst
of the fog.
"Good God!" cried Simpson, drawing back with fright.
"What the devil's that?" said Foker, and exclamations rose up in every
direction.
"It is going to smash us!"
"We are lost!"
"Mr. Wall! Mr. Wall!"
"It's all over with us!"
"Commander! Commander!"
These cries were simultaneously uttered by the men on watch. Wall
fled to the quarter-deck, and Shandon, followed by the doctor, rushed
on deck to look. In the midst of the fog the Devil's Thumb seemed
to have suddenly neared the brig, and seemed to have grown in a most
fantastic manner. At its summit rose up a second cone, turned upside
down and spindled on its point; its enormous mass threatened to crush
the ship, as it was oscillating and ready to fall. It was a most fearful
sight; every one instinctively drew back, and several sailors,
leaping on to the ice, abandoned the ship.
"Let no one move!" cried the commander in a severe voice. "Every one
to his post!"
"How now, my friends? There's nothing to be frightened at!" said the
doctor. "There's no danger! Look, commander, look ahead, Mr. Wall;
it's only an effect of the mirage, nothing else."
"You are quite right, Mr. Clawbonny," answered Johnson; "those fools
were frightened at a shadow."
After the doctor had spoken most of the sailors drew near, and their
fear changed to admiration at the wonderful phenomenon, which shortly
disappeared from sight.
"They call that a mirage?" said Clifton. "Well, you may believe me
that the devil has something to do with it."
"That's certain!" replied Gripper.
But when the fog cleared away it disclosed to the eyes of the commander
an immense free and unexpected passage; it seemed to run away from
the coast, and he therefore determined to seize such a favourable
hazard. Men were placed on each side of the creek, hawsers were lowered
down to them, and they began to tow the vessel in a northerly direction.
During long hours this work was actively executed in silence. Shandon
caused the steam to be got up, in order to take advantage of the
fortunate discovery of this channel.
"This," said he to Johnson, "is a most providential hazard, and if
we can only get a few miles ahead, we shall probably get to the end
of our misfortunes."
"Brunton! stir up the fires, and as soon as there's enough pressure
let me know. In the meantime our men will pluck up their courage--that
will be so much gained. They are in a hurry to run away from the Devil's
Thumb; we'll take advantage of their good inclinations!"
All at once the progress of the -Forward- was abruptly arrested.
"What's up?" cried Shandon. "I say, Wall! have we broken our
tow-ropes?"
"Not at all, commander," answered Wall, looking over the side. "Hallo!
Here are the men coming back again. They are climbing the ship's side
as if the devil was at their heels."
"What the deuce can it be?" cried Shandon, rushing forward.
"On board! On board!" cried the terrified sailors.
Shandon looked in a northerly direction, and shuddered in spite of
himself. A strange animal, with appalling movements, whose foaming
tongue emerged from enormous jaws, was leaping about at a cable's
length from the ship. In appearance he seemed to be about twenty feet
high, with hair like bristles; he was following up the sailors, whilst
his formidable tail, ten feet long, was sweeping the snow and throwing
it up in thick whirlwinds. The sight of such a monster riveted the
most daring to the spot.
"It's a bear!" said one.
"It's the Gevaudan beast!"
"It's the lion of the Apocalypse!"
Shandon ran to his cabin for a gun he always kept loaded. The doctor
armed himself, and held himself in readiness to fire upon an animal
which, by its dimensions, recalled the antediluvian quadrupeds. He
neared the ship in immense leaps; Shandon and the doctor fired at
the same time, when, suddenly, the report of their firearms, shaking
the atmospheric stratum, produced an unexpected effect. The doctor
looked attentively, and burst out laughing.
"It's the refraction!" he exclaimed.
"Only the refraction!" repeated Shandon. But a fearful exclamation
from the crew interrupted them.
"The dog!" said Clifton.
"The dog, captain!" repeated all his comrades.
"Himself!" cried Pen; "always that cursed brute."
They were not mistaken--it was the dog. Having got loose from his
shackles, he had regained the surface by another crevice. At that
instant the refraction, through a phenomenon common to these
latitudes, caused him to appear under formidable dimensions, which
the shaking of the air had dispersed; but the vexatious effect was
none the less produced upon the minds of the sailors, who were very
little disposed to admit an explanation of the fact by purely physical
reasons. The adventure of the Devil's Thumb, the reappearance of the
dog under such fantastic circumstances, gave the finishing touch to
their mental faculties, and murmurs broke out on all sides.
CHAPTER XII
CAPTAIN HATTERAS
The -Forward-, under steam, rapidly made its way between the
ice-mountains and the icebergs. Johnson was at the wheel. Shandon,
with his snow spectacles, was examining the horizon, but his joy was
of short duration, for he soon discovered that the passage ended in
a circus of mountains. However, he preferred going on, in spite of
the difficulty, to going back. The dog followed the brig at a long
distance, running along the plain, but if he lagged too far behind
a singular whistle could be distinguished, which he immediately
obeyed. The first time this whistle was heard the sailors looked round
about them; they were alone on deck all together, and no stranger
was to be seen; and yet the whistle was again heard from time to time.
Clifton was the first alarmed.
"Do you hear?" said he. "Just look how that animal answers when he
hears the whistle."
"I can scarcely believe my eyes," answered Gripper.
"It's all over!" cried Pen. "I don't go any further."
"Pen's right!" replied Brunton; "it's tempting God!"
"Tempting the devil!" replied Clifton. "I'd sooner lose my bounty
money than go a step further."
"We shall never get back!" said Bolton in despair.
The crew had arrived at the highest pitch of insubordination.
"Not a step further!" cried Wolsten. "Are you all of the same mind?"
"Ay! ay!" answered all the sailors.
"Come on, then," said Bolton; "let's go and find the commander; I'll
undertake the talking."
The sailors in a tight group swayed away towards the poop. The
-Forward- at the time was penetrating into a vast circus, which
measured perhaps 800 feet in diameter, and with the exception of one
entrance--that by which the vessel had come--was entirely closed up.
Shandon said that he had just imprisoned himself; but what was he
to do? How were they to retrace their steps? He felt his responsibility,
and his hand grasped the telescope. The doctor, with folded arms,
kept silent; he was contemplating the walls of ice, the medium
altitude of which was over 300 feet. A foggy dome remained suspended
above the gulf. It was at this instant that Bolton addressed his speech
to the commander.
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