One day, long after the walrus-hunt just described, Joe Davis stood on
the deck of the _Hope_, leaning over the side and looking out to sea--at
least in the direction of the sea, for, although mid-day, it was so dark
that he could not see very far in any direction. Joe was conversing
with Mr Dicey on the appearance of things around him.
"Do you know, Mr Dicey," said he, "wot it is as causes them there
ice-bergs?"
Mr Dicey looked very grave and wise for a few seconds without
answering. Then he said, in rather a solemn tone, "Well, Davis, to tell
you the real truth, I _don't_ know!"
Now, as this question is one of considerable interest, I shall endeavour
to answer it for the benefit of the reader.
The whole of the interior of Greenland is covered with ice and snow.
This snowy covering does not resemble that soft snow which falls on our
own hills. It is hard, and _never_ melts entirely away. The snow there
is in some places a thousand feet thick! It covers all the hill-tops
and fills up all the valleys, so that the country may be said to be a
buried land. Since the world began, perhaps, snow has been falling on
it every winter; but the summers there have been so short that they
could not melt away the snow of one winter before that of another came
and covered it up and pressed it down. Thus, for ages, the snow of one
year has been added to that which was left of the preceding, and the
pressure has been so great that the mass has been squeezed nearly as
hard as pure ice.
The ice that has been formed in this way is called _glacier_; and the
glaciers of Greenland cover, as I have said, the whole country, so that
it can never be cultivated or inhabited by man unless the climate
change. There are glaciers of this kind in many other parts of the
world. We have them in Switzerland and in Norway, but not on nearly so
large a scale as in Greenland.
Now, although this glacier-ice is clear and hard, it is not quite so
solid as pure ice, and when it is pushed down into the valleys by the
increasing masses above it, actually _flows_. But this flowing motion
cannot be seen. It is like the motion of the hour hand of a watch,
which cannot be perceived however closely it may be looked at. You
might go to one of the valleys of Greenland and gaze at a glacier for
days together, but you would see no motion whatever. All would appear
solid, frozen up, and still. But notice a block of stone lying on the
surface of the glacier, and go back many months after and you will find
the stone lying a little further down the valley than when you first saw
it. Thus glaciers are formed and thus they slowly move. But what has
all this to do with ice-bergs? We shall see.
As the great glaciers of the north, then, are continually moving down
the valleys, of course their ends are pushed into the sea. These ends,
or tongues, are often hundreds of feet thick. In some places they
present a clear glittering wall to the sea of several hundreds of feet
in height, with perhaps as much again lost to view down in the deep
water. As the extremities of these tongues are shoved farther and
farther out they chip off and float away. _These chips are ice-bergs_!
I have already said that ice-bergs are sometimes miles in extent--like
islands; that they sink seven or eight hundred feet below the surface,
while their tops rise more than a hundred feet above it--like mountains.
If these, then, are the "chips" of the Greenland glaciers, what must
the "old blocks" be?
Many a long and animated discussion the sailors had that winter in the
cabin of the _Hope_ on the subject of ice and ice-bergs!
When the dark nights drew on, little or nothing could be done outside by
our voyagers, and when the ice everywhere closed up, all the animals
forsook them except polar bears, so that they ran short of fresh
provisions. As months of dreary darkness passed away, the scurvy, that
terrible disease, began to show itself among the men, their bodies
became less able to withstand the cold, and it was difficult for them at
last to keep up their spirits. But they fought against their troubles
bravely.
Captain Harvey knew well that when a man's spirits go he is not worth
much. He therefore did his utmost to cheer and enliven those around
him.
One day, for instance, he went on deck to breathe a mouthful of fresh
air. It was about eleven in the forenoon, and the moon was shining
brightly in the clear sky. The stars, too, and the aurora borealis,
helped to make up for the total absence of the sun. The cold air cut
like a knife against his face when he issued from the hatchway, and the
cold nose of one of the dogs immediately touched his hand, as the animal
gambolled round him with delight; for the extreme severity of the
weather began to tell on the poor dogs, and made them draw more lovingly
to their human companions.
"Ho! hallo!" shouted the captain down the hatchway. "A fox-chase! a
fox-chase! Tumble up, all hands!"
The men were sitting at the time in a very dull and silent mood. They
were much cast down, for as it had been cloudy weather for some weeks
past, thick darkness had covered them night and day, so that they could
not tell the one from the other, except by the help of their watches,
which were kept carefully going. Their journals, also, were written up
daily, otherwise they must certainly have got confused in their time
altogether!
In consequence of this darkness the men were confined almost entirely to
the cabin for a time. Those who had scurvy, got worse; those who were
well, became gloomy. Even Pepper, who was a tremendous joker, held his
tongue, and Joe Davis, who was a great singer, became silent. Jim
Crofts was in his bunk "down" with the scurvy, and stout Sam Baker, who
was a capital teller of stories, could not pluck up spirit enough to
open his mouth. "In fact," as Mr Dicey said, "they all had a most
'orrible fit o' the blues!" The captain and officers were in better
health and spirits than the men, though they all fared alike at the same
table, and did the same kind of work, whatever that might chance to be.
The officers, however, were constantly exerting themselves to cheer the
men, and I have no doubt that this very effort of theirs was the means
of doing good to themselves. "He that watereth others shall be
watered," says the Word of God. I take this to mean--he that does good
to others shall get good to himself. So it certainly was with the
officers of the _Hope_.
When the captain's shout reached the cabin Jim Crofts had just said:
"I'll tell 'ee what it is, messmates, if this here state of things goes
on much longer, I'll go out on the floes, walk up to the first polar
bear I meet, and ask him to take his supper off me!"
There was no laugh at this, but Pepper remarked, in a quiet way, that
"he needn't put himself to so much trouble, for he was such a
pale-faced, disagreeable looking object that no bear would eat him
unless it was starving."
"Well, then, I'll offer myself to a starvin' bear--to one that's a'most
dead with hunger," retorted Jim gloomily.
"What's that the cap'en is singin' out?" said Davy Butts, who was
mending a pair of canvas shoes.
The men roused themselves at once; for the hope of anything new turning
up excited them.
"Hallo! ho!" roared the captain again, in a voice that might have
started a dead walrus. "Tumble up, there!--a fox-chase! I'll give my
second-best fur-coat to the man that catches foxey!"
In one instant the whole crew were scrambling up the ladder. Even Jim
Crofts, who was really ill, rolled out of his bunk and staggered on
deck, saying he would have a "go after foxey if he should die for it!"
The game of fox is simple. One man is chosen to be the fox. He runs
off and the rest follow. They are bound to go wherever the fox leads.
In this case it was arranged that the fox should run round the deck
until he should be caught; then the man who caught him should become
fox, and continue running on with all the rest following, until he, in
turn, should be caught, and so on until the one who could run longest
and fastest should break down all the rest. The warm fur-coat was a
prize worth running for in such a cold climate, so the game began with
spirit. Young Gregory offered to be fox first, and away they went with
a yell. Mr Mansell was a little lame, and soon gave in. Mr Dicey
fell at the second round, and was unable to recover distance. Gregory
would certainly have gained the coat, for he was strong, and had been a
crack racer at school; but he did not want the coat, so allowed Sam
Baker to catch him. Sam held on like a deer for a few minutes, and one
after another the men dropped off as they were blown. Jim Crofts, poor
fellow, made a gallant burst, but his limbs refused to help his spirit.
He fell, and was assisted below by the captain and replaced in his bunk,
where, however, he felt the benefit of his efforts.
The race was now kept up by Sam Baker, Joe Davis, and Butts. These
three were struggling on and panting loudly, while their comrades danced
about, clapped their mittened hands, and shouted, "Now then, Sam!--go in
and win, Joe!--Butts, forever!" and such-like encouraging cries.
To the surprise of everyone Davy Butts came off the winner, and for many
a day after that enjoyed the warm coat which he said his long legs had
gained for him.
This effort of the captain to cheer the men was very successful, so he
resolved to follow it up with an attempt at private theatricals.
Accordingly this thing was proposed and heartily agreed to. Next day
everyone was busy making preparations. Tom Gregory agreed to write a
short play. Sam Baker, being the healthiest man on board, was willing
to act the part of an invalid old lady, and Jim Crofts consented to
become a gay young doctor for that occasion.
Meanwhile the captain arranged a piece of real work, for he felt that
the attempt to keep up the spirits alone would not do. They had been
for a long time living on salt provisions. Nothing could restore the
crew but fresh meat--yet fresh meat was not to be had. The walrus and
deer were gone, and although foxes and bears were still around them,
they had failed in all their attempts to shoot or trap any of these
animals. A visit to the Eskimo camp, therefore, (if such a camp really
existed), became necessary; so, while the theatricals were in
preparation, a small sledge was rigged up, Gregory and Sam Baker were
chosen to go with him; the dogs were harnessed, and, on a fine, starry
forenoon, away they went to the south at full gallop, with three hearty
cheers from the crew of the brig, who were left in charge of the first
mate.
The journey thus undertaken was one full of risk. It was not known how
far distant the natives might be, or where they were likely to be found.
The weather was intensely cold. Only a small quantity of preserved
meat could be taken--for the rest, they trusted in some measure to their
guns. But the captain's great hope was to reach the Eskimo village in a
day or two at the farthest. If he should fail to do so, the prospect of
himself and his crew surviving the remainder of the long winter was, he
felt, very gloomy indeed.
Success attended this expedition at the very beginning. They had only
been eight hours out when they met a bear sitting on its haunches behind
a hummock. "Hallo! look out!" cried Gregory, on catching sight of him.
"Fire, lads," said the captain, "I'm not quite ready." Gregory fired
and the bear staggered. Baker then fired and it fell!
This was a blessing which filled their hearts so full of thankfulness
that they actually shook hands with each other, and then gave vent to
three hearty cheers. Their next thoughts were given to their comrades
in the _Hope_.
"You and Baker will camp here, Tom," said the captain, "and I will
return to the brig with a sledge-load of the meat. When I've put it
aboard I'll come straight back to you. We'll keep a ham for ourselves,
of course. Now then, to work."
To work the three men went. A hind leg of the bear was cut off, the
rest was lashed firmly on the sledge, and the dogs enjoyed a feed while
this was being done. Then the captain cracked his whip. "Good-bye,
lads", "Good-bye, captain," and away he and the dogs and sledge went,
and were soon lost to view among the hummocks of the frozen sea.