BARNEY AND THE BEAR.
“Pomp, we are going down into the sea!”
“Golly! Marse Frank, am de machinery bruck?”
“No; but ice is forming around the gyroscopes so they can’t revolve.”
“Fo’ de Lawd’s sake, hist up Barney, den, or he drop in de sea!”
They pulled the imperiled Irishman up to the deck, and he heaved a great
sigh of relief when he had a firm footing once more.
Shaking off the broken backstay that saved him, he exclaimed:
“Faith, I’d rather froze ter death up here than doy be fallin’ into ther
say!”
“There really isn’t much choice in the matter,” said Frank; “for we are
going down anyway. Hey, Dr. Vaneyke!”
“Well?” asked the old scientist.
“Put every volt of force into the stern screw.”
“What for?”
“To try and reach land, sir.”
The professor pulled the screw lever over, and with increased speed the
flying ice ship darted through the snowflakes to the eastward.
Vaneyke had got his bearings before the blinding storm began, and
although the Ranger was swiftly descending, she kept going to the
landward at terrific velocity.
Frank saw that the sails no longer interfered with the movements of the
ice ship, and as he and his companions were very cold, they passed into
the pilot house.
A shout suddenly pealed from Barney.
“Land ahead! Port yer hullum!”
“A mountain!” gasped the doctor, obeying.
“We won’t land in the sea, at any rate,” said Frank.
“Yo’ know whar yo’ am, sah?” asked the coon.
“No,” answered the professor, shaking his head. “But once we alight we
will soon find Matotchkin Shar, and as most of the whalers winter there
at the Norwegian fishing stations, we will be very apt to find the Red
Eric there later, if not now.”
“We must have passed her,” said Frank.
“Howly floy!” gasped Barney, looking out of the window, “there’s ther
say beneath us again!”
It was a broad sheet of water, sure enough, but the inventor turned the
electric current into the searchlight.
As the bright glare pierced the falling flakes he saw that it was a
stream of water over which they were flying.
In a moment the truth of the matter dawned upon his mind.
“It is the Matotchkin Shar, the strait that cuts this island in two!” he
exclaimed. “See, we approach a shore.”
He pointed ahead.
The Ranger was then dangerously close to the water.
But she was going ahead like a thunderbolt.
It was fair to presume that she would soon reach land, and as this place
was covered with ice, they rightly concluded that it was the northern
side of the stream.
In a few moments more Frank stopped the driving wheel.
The Ranger was then but ten yards above the water, and still falling
fast; but she was close to the shore.
By the time she alighted she had left the stream astern.
Her runners and side wheels acted like flanges in holding her bolt
upright, and the impetus given her by her flight sent her gliding on her
runners over the sparkling ice.
It moderated the shock of her descent.
Frank had taken entire charge of her now.
He at once dropped the gyroscopes.
Grasping the lever which raised or lowered the side wheels, he gave it a
sudden pull, for he saw the boat swiftly gliding toward an immense
crevice in the ice.
Down went the spiked wheels with a crash, and acting like a brake, as
they were rigid, they scratched over the surface for some distance, and
finally stopped the boat.
This occurred only just in time, for the Ranger had reached the edge of
the chasm as she paused.
The place was dangerous.
Frank saw this, and turning a switch, he put an electric current in the
side-wheel motor, reversing it, and she backed away, the wheels digging
into the ice, and moving the Ranger very easily.
They were then upon an immense glacier running down a valley embowered
between two mountains.
Having brought the ship to a pause, Frank went up the masts and examined
the gyroscope pivots.
It was utterly impossible to keep them clear of the ice without
resorting to some artificial means of keeping the spars warm.
This he explained to his friends on his return.
Various plans were suggested until at length Frank thought of running
platinum wires into all the hollow tubes and connecting them with the
electric heating apparatus in the engine-room.
To carry out this would require time, and as they had plenty of it to
spare, they began to try the experiment.
The following day had dawned before the wires were arranged according to
Frank’s plans, and the snow-storm had stopped.
When the current was turned into them, the ice soon began to melt on the
spars and the gyroscopes spun freely.
The experiment was a perfect success.
“We can go up in the sky without fear now,” said Frank, smilingly, as
they sat down to breakfast.
“Suppose we run for the Norwegian fishing station and consult its
inhabitants about the Red Eric?” asked Vaneyke.
“Is it on this soide av ther strame?” asked Barney.
“Yes—on the eastern side of the island near the strait.”
“Gwine up in de frozen sky?” asked Pomp.
“No,” answered Frank. “We’ll use the boat’s skates, as there is plenty
of ice all around here, and we can save trouble by staying down.”
Accordingly, after the meal, he ascended to the turret and started the
ice wheels, when the ship glided smoothly along.
The stern runner steered her the same as on any ice-boat, and was
automatically lowered to the ice level.
Along sped the Ranger to the eastward, keeping as close to the stream as
possible, so as not to miss any ships that might be at anchor in the
ice-covered water.
As the sun only appeared for a few hours at a time, the days were of
very short duration, and they had to keep the electric lights lit.
The storm had left a mantle of snow upon the ice-covered ground, through
which the Ranger’s runners cut like huge knives, and her crew observed a
range of lofty mountains at the left.
They were clad with snow.
Scarcely any vegetation was seen, but as they glided along, view was
caught of a few vagrant birds, some lemmings, ice-fox, and several
immigrant reindeer.
Oil along the coast, though, countless numbers of ducks, geese and swan
were flying about the rocks, making the air resonant with their cries
and the ceaseless flapping of their wings.
Several miles from the glacier Frank observed a mass of beetling ice
blocks strewn across their path.
There were several openings among them, though, through which he saw he
could steer the ship to clearer ice beyond.
“How in the world could these immense blocks of ice have got there?”
asked Dr. Vaneyke in surprise, when he saw them.
Frank pointed to a mountain cliff half a mile away.
“If they fell from there” said he, “wouldn’t they have been propelled
along over this glassy surface to the very strait?”
“Sure enough, if they came from enough height to project them a great
distance, for they would certainly slide freely.”
“Do you notice how much warmer it is here than it was in the sky,
doctor?” asked the young inventor.
“Quite a difference in the temperature.”
“Pshaw! there goes one of those staysails shaking loose!”
“I’ll go out an’ boind it down, me laddy!” said Barney.
He hastened from the turret, and going out on deck, made his way out to
the end of the long bowsprit.
Barney caught hold of the refractory sail just as the Ranger ran into
the icy pass, and secured it where it belonged.
He then started to make his way back to the deck, when one of the
forward runners struck against an icy hummock.
It made the ship bounce, and flung Barney from his perch.
The Irishman gave a yell and landed upon his back upon the ice.
He barely had time to roll aside when the grinding runners flew by
within an inch of his body, for Frank had seen what had befallen him,
and swiftly steered the Ranger aside.
Had the steel blade hit the Irishman, it would have cut him in two, for
the weight of the boat was considerable, as it was very large.
“Be heavens! I’ve broke me neck!” roared Barney.
“Man oberboa’d!” shouted Pomp, seeing the mishap. “Man oberboa’d!”
The coon rushed out on the deck, and when the Ranger passed Barney, he
scrambled to his feet.
Running after the ship, he yelled:
“Shtop her! Don’t lave me behoind!”
Frank had to keep her going a few moments, though, for there was a bend
around which she was dashing.
The Ranger quickly distanced him.
As he started to rush around the bend after her a huge brown bear darted
out from behind an icy projection in front of him.
Before the startled Irishman could stop himself, he struck the beast,
fell over it and landed on the ice again.
The bear uttered a savage growl, and turned upon Barney.
Up jumped Barney, very much startled.
He wanted to run after the Ranger again, but could not do so, as the
bear was between him and the boat.
Seeing the ugly brute coming for him, he clapped his hand to his belt in
search of a weapon to defend himself.
He was not armed.
A cold chill went over him upon finding this out.
He realized that he could not do anything with the beast now, and taking
to his heels, ran away, hotly pursued by the animal.