[Illustration:
“_In Melville Bay_”
]
For days after this, when it was clear, AH-NI-GHI´-TO could see no
water; nothing but what looked like snow. It seemed to her as if the
“Windward” would certainly be stopped by some of the heavy sheets of
snow-covered ice. But the bright sun had been shining on it day and
night for months, and it was not nearly so strong as it looked to be.
When the ship struck it a sharp blow it shivered to pieces and the old
“Windward” shoved them aside and pushed on. The sunlight on these great
fields of snow-covered ice was so blinding that AH-NI-GHI´-TO was
obliged to wear the darkest smoked-glass goggles all the time.
[Illustration:
“_To wear smoked-glass Goggles all the Time_”
]
Even if the progress was slow AH-NI-GHI´-TO knew that every night when
she lay down to sleep she was one day nearer her father’s camp, where
she hoped to meet “dear old Dad,” whom she had not seen for over two
years.
The ever dreaded Melville Bay, full of icebergs and large sheets of ice,
was crossed at last. Captain Sam expected the north water to be free
from the large pans of ice. He did not fear the great white icebergs,
for the sun shone during the twenty-four hours without setting, and he
could keep out of their way. Sometimes he would run the old ship right
alongside of one of these “palaces of the Ice King” and fill the water
tanks with pure cold water which formed in pools where the ice had been
melted by the hot rays of the sun.
Sometimes AH-NI-GHI´-TO saw these large masses of ice turn
“somersaults,” as she called it. This was caused by the water washing
against the sides of the berg until the part in the water was lighter
than that above the water, and the berg became top-heavy and tumbled
over. At first there was a low rumbling noise, then as it gained headway
it grew to a roar, like the increasing sound of an approaching train.
This was followed by the boiling and foaming of the water (filled with
pieces of ice which had broken off) as far as the eye could see, until
at the shore the waves dashed high.
The poor old “ice palace” would roll over and over and rock and sway and
totter until at last it regained its balance. But now the part which
before had been under water was above it and glistened like polished
silver, with lots of little rainbow colours in between, where the sun
glinted from drops of sea water.
Here it would stay until some other time when it again became top-heavy
by the washing of the waves, and the same thing would happen to it. Each
time it would become smaller, until at last it was only a lump of ice
floating idly about on the water. Such pieces are liked by the seals and
walrus to crawl upon out of the cold water into the warm sunshine, and
there take their sun-bath.
[Illustration:
“_Iceberg, ‘Palace of the Ice King’_”
]
AH-NI-GHI´-TO thought it must be a very cold bed, but these animals all
have such a thick blanket of fat wrapped entirely around them, just
under the skin, that it does not seem cold to them.
One morning about four o’clock AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S mother came on deck to
look around, when just alongside, on quite a large cake of ice she saw a
beautiful snow-white bear. He had been swimming about in the hope of
finding a seal or two for his breakfast, and coming to this cake of ice,
thought he would get up on it, stretch his legs, and get a nice drink of
water.
The man on the “lookout” had been looking at ice and water in the
glaring sunshine for so long that he had failed to notice the bear who
was just the colour of the ice on which it stood, and so it was that
AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S mother was the first one to see it, and call the
Captain.
Captain Sam never undressed when he went to bed while the ship was in
motion, and so it was only a few moments before he appeared with his
rifle. The poor bear did not seem to know that he was in danger for he
stood quite still, with his head up sniffing the air, and watching the
ship slowly nearing him. The Captain fired, and the bear jumped into the
water and began to swim away. The Captain fired again, and though the
poor brute did not stop, the water about him turned red and we knew he
had been hit. Another shot and his head drooped and his body floated on
the water. He was dead. A boat was lowered and the animal hoisted on
board, where he was hung in the rigging to dry before being skinned and
cut up.
[Illustration:
“_Skinning the Bear_”
]
AH-NI-GHI´-TO was very much excited. Her heart bled for the bear, and
she hoped all the while the shooting was going on that he would get
away. Her mother told her it was necessary to kill these animals for her
father, who needed the meat to feed his dogs and his Eskimos, and the
skin to make into clothing to help keep him warm during the long, cold
winter. But AH-NI-GHI´-TO still grieved for the bear.
[Illustration]
V
[Illustration]
A few days later Etah, the place where her father had built his winter
house, was sighted, and AH-NI-GHI´-TO thought that in a few hours she
would be in his arms; but she was to be disappointed, for before the
ship reached the inlet AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S mother saw that the dear old
stars and stripes were not flying from the little red house, and told
her this was a sure sign that father was not there.
As soon as the ship’s anchor was down a boat full of Eskimos came off
from the shore and they said that Peary had not yet returned, but he had
sent letters which were in his house on shore. Captain Sam jumped into
the boat and in a short time brought letters from AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S
father, in which he told the Captain what he wanted done at Etah and
that he wished the ship to come on to Fort Conger where he would meet
it.
[Illustration:
“_A Boat full of Eskimos_”
]
Now Etah is on the east shore of Smith Sound and Fort Conger, the place
where AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S father hoped to meet his vessel, is on the west
side and nearly three hundred miles farther north. The ice here was very
thick and only small lakes of water were to be seen through it, in the
direction in which the ship must go.
Both Captain Sam and AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S mother felt that there was little
chance of getting to Fort Conger in their small ship. Before leaving
Etah the Captain must get hundreds of tins of canned goods, barrels of
flour, cases of sugar, rice, biscuit, oatmeal, etc., etc., on board to
take with them. These had all been piled near the beach by
AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S father, ready to be put on the ship as soon as she came.
This took more than twenty-four hours and during this time AH-NI-GHI´-TO
was ashore as much as possible meeting some of her old Eskimo friends
and getting acquainted with others. That night she wrote in her diary:
“_August 20, 1900._—Ashore all day. Took a look at father’s house.
It is very empty and very small. I also looked into the tents of the
Eskimos. They are dirty places. Am so sorry not to find more
children here. Only a boy nine or ten years old and a baby. They are
going on the ship with us, so I guess I will have a good time. The
‘grown-ups’ thought it was very funny to see me jump rope with the
‘Bosun,’ and also to see me swing. They helped me pick flowers,
which I have just finished pressing, and they took me to the glacier
which mother says is a river of ice that flows down the
mountain-side toward the sea just as if it were water, only it moves
very slowly; not more than a few feet in a year. They tried to tell
me about my father, but I did not understand them very well. I gave
one of the women a white cup and she was very proud to have it.
Early in the morning we hope to get away from here and take with us
five grown Eskimos and two children. I wonder will we meet father
soon.”
[Illustration:
“_Father’s House is very small._”
]
[Illustration:
“_Coasted down the Slopes of the Ice Hummocks_”
]
Poor little AH-NI-GHI´-TO thought that in a few hours at most the ship
would cross Smith Sound and reach her first landing-place on the
opposite shore, Cape Sabine, only thirty miles away, where a depot of
supplies and coal would be landed for the use of those on board the
“Windward” in case she should be crushed in the ice, while trying to get
north, and her people forced to return to the shore in boats. But it
took eight long days to reach this place, and during all of this time
there was hardly a moment when the ship was not in danger.
Sometimes the great sheets of ice would hold the “Windward” in their
grasp and not allow her to move an inch. Then the current would take
her, together with the ice, and drift the whole southward. In this way
the ship was often farther south at the end of the day than she was when
she started to steam north a few hours before. At these times when the
“Windward” was drifting she was perfectly motionless and AH-NI-GHI´-TO,
together with Percy and some of the Eskimos, would climb over the side
of the ship onto the Hoes and there they would play and slide on the
smooth ice; and once Captain Sam lashed two Norwegian skates called
“Ski” together, and she coasted down the slopes of the ice hummocks.
This was great sport and helped pass the time.
[Illustration:
“_Eskimo Family_”
]
There were other times that were not so pleasant when the heavy fields
of ice would crush against the ship so fiercely that pieces would break
off and pile up against her sides till some of them fell upon the deck,
and the ship would groan and tremble with the pressure like a person in
pain. At times the ship would force her way between mountains of ice so
high that the boats hanging at the davits had to be hauled in to keep
them from being smashed, and all the seamen climbed out and chopped away
the overhanging pinnacles as fast as possible so that the rigging would
not be cut or torn away.
At last, after eight weary days in the ice, the little harbour was
reached. Here a family of Eskimos had been watching the ship during the
last three days, fearing all the time that she would be crushed and
sink. Now there was great rejoicing, for the Eskimos on the ship had not
seen this family since early Spring, and all were eager to gossip.
This family consisted of a man, Accom-moding-wah, his wife, Ah-we-a, a
son of seven years, Ne-ah-kwa, and a daughter of twelve,
Ach-ah-ting-wah. The boy, though some months older than AH-NI-GHI´-TO,
was still a perfect baby; his mother nursing him like an infant; but the
girl was a playmate for AH-NI-GHI´-TO and they soon became friends.
[Illustration]