A SKETCHER IN IMMINENT DANGER. DIFFICULTIES INCREASE, AND ARE OVERCOME
AS USUAL.
The first night on Home-in-sight Island was not so undisturbed as might
have been expected. The noisy gulls did indeed go to sleep at their
proper bed-time, which, by the way, they must have ascertained by
instinct, for the sun could be no certain guide, seeing that he shone
all night as well as all day, and it would be too much to expect that
gulls had sufficient powers of observation to note the great luminary's
exact relation to the horizon. Polar bears, like the Eskimo, had
forsaken the spot. All nature, indeed, animate and inanimate, favoured
the idea of repose when the explorers lay down to sleep on a mossy couch
that was quite as soft as a feather bed, and much more springy.
The cause of disturbance was the prolonged absence of Alf Vandervell.
That enthusiastic naturalist's failure to appear at supper was nothing
uncommon. His non-appearance when they lay down did indeed cause some
surprise, but little or no anxiety, and they all dropped into a sound
sleep which lasted till considerably beyond midnight. Then the Captain
awoke with a feeling of uneasiness, started up on one elbow, yawned, and
gazed dreamily around. The sun, which had just kissed his hand to the
disappointed horizon and begun to re-ascend the sky, blinded the Captain
with his beams, but did not prevent him from observing that Alf's place
was still vacant.
"Very odd," he muttered, "Alf didn't use to--to--w'at's 'is name in--
this--way--"
The Captain's head dropped, his elbow relaxed, and he returned to the
land of Nod for another half-hour.
Again he awoke with a start, and sat upright.
"This'll never do," he exclaimed, with a fierce yawn, "something _must_
be wrong. Ho! Benjy!"
"Umph!" replied the boy, who, though personally light, was a heavy
sleeper.
"Rouse up, Ben, Alf's not come back. Where did you leave him?"
"Don' know, Burrerface saw 'im las'--." Benjy dropped off with a sigh,
but was re-aroused by a rough shake from his father, who lay close to
him.
"Come, Ben, stir up Butterface! We must go look for Alf."
Butterface lay on the other side of Benjy, who, only half alive to what
he was doing, raised his hand and let it fall heavily on the negro's
nose, by way of stirring him up.
"Hallo! massa Benjamin! You's dreamin' drefful strong dis mornin'."
"Yer up, ol' ebony!" groaned the boy.
In a few minutes the whole camp was roused; sleep was quickly banished
by anxiety about the missing one; guns and rifles were loaded, and a
regular search-expedition was hastily organised. They started off in
groups in different directions, leaving the Eskimo women in charge of
the camp.
The Captain headed one party, Chingatok another, and Leo with Benjy a
third, while a few of the natives went off independently, in couples or
alone.
"I was sure Alf would get into trouble," said Benjy, as he trotted
beside Leo, who strode over the ground in anxious haste. "That way he
has of getting so absorbed in things that he forgets where he is, won't
make him a good explorer."
"Not so sure of that, Ben," returned Leo; "he can discover things that
men who are less absorbed, like you, might fail to note. Let us go
round this hillock on separate sides. We might pass him if we went
together. Keep your eyes open as you go. He may have stumbled over one
of those low precipices and broken a leg. Keep your ears cocked also,
and give a shout now and then."
We have said that the island was a low one, nevertheless it was
extremely rugged, with little ridges and hollows everywhere, like
miniature hills and valleys. Through one of these latter Benjy hurried,
glancing from side to side as he went, like a red Indian on the
war-path--which character, indeed, he thought of, and tried to imitate.
The little vale did not, however, as Leo had imagined, lead round the
hillock. It diverged gradually to the right, and ascended towards the
higher parts of the island. The path was so obstructed by rocks and
boulders which had evidently been at one time under the pressure of ice,
that the boy could not see far in any direction, except by mounting one
of these. He had not gone far when, on turning the corner of a cliff
which opened up another gorge to view, he beheld a sight which caused
him to open mouth and eyes to their widest.
For there, seated on an eminence, with his back to a low precipice, not
more than three or four hundred yards off, sat the missing explorer,
with book on knees and pencil in hand--sketching; and there, seated on
the top of the precipice, looking over the edge at the artist, skulked a
huge Polar bear, taking as it were, a surreptitious lesson in drawing!
The bear, probably supposing Alf to be a wandering seal, had dogged him
to that position just as Benjy Vane discovered him, and then, finding
the precipice too high for a leap perhaps, or doubting the character of
his intended victim, he had paused in uncertainty on the edge.
The boy's first impulse was to utter a shout of warning, for he had no
gun wherewith to shoot the brute, but fear lest that might precipitate
an attack restrained him. Benjy, however, was quick-witted. He saw
that the leap was probably too much even for a Polar bear, and that the
nature of the ground would necessitate a detour before it could get at
the artist. These and other thoughts passed through his brain like the
lightning flash, and he was on the point of turning to run back and give
the alarm to Leo, when a rattling of stones occurred behind him--just
beyond the point of rocks round which he had turned. In the tension of
his excited nerves he felt as if he had suddenly become red hot. Could
this be another bear? If so, what was he to do, whither to fly? A
moment more would settle the question, for the rattle of stones
continued as the steps advanced. The boy felt the hair rising on his
head. Round came the unknown monster in the form of--a man!
"Ah, Benjy, I--"
But the appearance of Benjy's countenance caused Leo to stop abruptly,
both in walk and talk. He had found out his mistake about sending the
boy round the hillock, and, turning back, had followed him.
"Ah! look there," said Benjy, pointing at the _tableau vivant_ on the
hill-top.
Leo's ready rifle leaped from his shoulder to his left palm, and a grim
smile played on his lips, for long service in a volunteer corps had made
him a good judge of distance as well as a sure and deadly shot.
"Stand back, Benjy, behind this boulder," he whispered. "I'll lean on
it to make more certain."
He was deliberately arranging the rifle while speaking, but never for
one instant took his eye off the bear, which still stood motionless,
with one paw raised, as if petrified with amazement at what it saw. As
for Alf, he went on intently with his work, lifting and lowering his
eyes continuously, putting in bold dashes here, or tender touches there;
holding out the book occasionally at arm's length to regard his work,
with head first on one side, then on the other, and, in short, going
through all those graceful and familiar little evolutions of artistic
procedure which arouse one's home feelings so powerfully everywhere--
even in the Arctic regions! Little did the artist know who was his
uninvited pupil on that sunny summer night!
With one knee resting on a rock, and his rifle on the boulder, Leo took
a steady, somewhat lengthened aim, and fired. The result was
stupendous! Not only did the shot reverberate with crashing echoes
among surrounding cliffs and boulders, but a dying howl from the bear
burst over the island, like the thunder of a heavy gun, and went booming
over the frozen sea. No wonder that the horrified Alf leapt nearly his
own height into the air and scattered his drawing-materials right and
left like chaff. He threw up his arms, and wheeled frantically round
just in time to receive the murdered bear into his very bosom! They
rolled down a small slope together, and then, falling apart, lay prone
and apparently dead upon the ground.
You may be sure that Leo soon had his brother's head on his knee, and
was calling to him in an agony of fear, quite regardless of the fact
that the bear lay at his elbow, giving a few terrific kicks as its huge
life oozed out through a bullet-hole in its heart, while Benjy, half
weeping with sympathy, half laughing with glee, ran to a neighbouring
pool to fetch water in his cap.
A little of the refreshing liquid dashed on his face and poured down his
throat soon restored Alf, who had only been stunned by the fall.
"What induced you to keep on sketching all night?" asked Leo, after the
first explanations were over.
"All night?" repeated Alf in surprise, "have I been away all night?
What time is it?"
"Three o'clock in the morning at the very least," said Leo. "The sun is
pretty high, as you might have seen if you had looked at it."
"But he never looked at it," said Benjy, whose eyes were not yet quite
dry, "he never looks at anything, or thinks of anything, when he goes
sketching."
"Surely you must allow that at least I look at and think of my work,"
said Alf, rising from the ground and sitting down on the rock from which
he had been so rudely roused; "but you are half right, Benjy. The sun
was at my back, you see, hid from me by the cliff over which the bear
tumbled, and I had no thoughts for time, or eyes for nature, except the
portion I was busy with--by the way, where is it?"
"What, your sketch?"
"Ay, and the colours. I wouldn't lose these for a sight of the Pole
itself. Look for them, Ben, my boy, I still feel somewhat giddy."
In a few minutes the sketch and drawing-materials were collected,
undamaged, and the three returned to camp, Alf leaning on Leo's arm. On
the way thither they met the Captain's party, and afterwards the band
led by Chingatok. The latter was mightily amused by the adventure, and
continued for a considerable time afterwards to upheave his huge
shoulders with suppressed laughter.
When the whole party was re-assembled the hour was so late, and they had
all been so thoroughly excited, that no one felt inclined to sleep
again. It was resolved, therefore, at once to commence the operations
of a new day. Butterface was set to prepare coffee, and the Eskimos
began breakfast with strips of raw blubber, while steaks of Leo's bear
were being cooked.
Meanwhile Chingatok expressed a wish to see the drawing which had so
nearly cost the artist his life.
Alf was delighted to exhibit and explain it.
For some time the giant gazed at it in silence. Then he rested his
forehead in his huge hand as if in meditation.
It was truly a clever sketch of a surpassingly lovely scene. In the
foreground was part of the island with its pearl-grey rocks, red-brown
earth, and green mosses, in the midst of which lay a calm pool, like the
island's eye looking up to heaven and reflecting the bright
indescribable blue of the midnight sky. Further on was a mass of cold
grey rocks. Beyond lay the northern ice-pack, which extended in chaotic
confusion away to the distant horizon, but the chaos was somewhat
relieved by the presence of lakelets which shone here and there over its
surface like shields of glittering azure and burnished gold.
"Ask him what he thinks of it," said Leo to Anders, a little surprised
at Chingatok's prolonged silence.
"I cannot speak," answered the giant, "my mind is bursting and my heart
is full. With my finger I have drawn faces on the snow. I have seen
men put wonderful things on flat rocks with a piece of stone, but
this!--this is my country made little. It looks as if I could walk in
it, yet it is flat!"
"The giant is rather complimentary," laughed Benjy, when this was
translated; "to my eye your sketch is little better than a daub."
"It is a daub that causes me much anxiety," said the Captain, who now
looked at the drawing for the first time. "D'you mean to tell me, Alf,
that you've been true to nature when you sketched that pack?"
"As true as I could make it, uncle."
"I'll answer for its truth," said Leo, "and so will Benjy, for we both
saw the view from the top of the island, though we paid little heed to
it, being too much occupied with Alf and the bear at the time. The pack
is even more rugged than he has drawn it, and it extends quite unbroken
to the horizon."
The Captain's usually hopeful expression forsook him for a little as he
commented on his bad fortune.
"The season advances, you see," he said, "and it's never very long at
the best. I had hoped we were done with this troublesome `sea of
ancient ice,' but it seems to turn up everywhere, and from past
experience we know that the crossing of it is slow work, as well as
hard. However, we mustn't lose heart. `Nebber say die,' as Butterface
is fond of remarking."
"Yis, Massa, nebber say die, but allers say `lib, to de top ob your
bent.' Dems my 'pinions w'en dey's wanted. Also `go a-hid.' Dat's a
grand sent'ment--was borned 'mong de Yankees, an' I stoled it w'en I
left ole Virginny."
"What says Chingatok?" asked the Captain of the Eskimo, who was still
seated with the sketch on his knees in profound meditation.
"Blackbeard has trouble before him," answered the uncompromising giant,
without removing his eyes from the paper. "There," he said, pointing to
the pack, "you have three days' hard work. After that three days' easy
and swift work. After that no more go on. Must come back."
"He speaks in riddles, Anders. What does he mean by the three days of
hard work coming to an end?"
"I mean," said Chingatok, "that the ice was loose when I came to this
island. It is now closed. The white men must toil, toil, toil--very
slow over the ice for three days, then they will come to smooth ice,
where the dogs may run for three days. Then they will come to another
island, like this one, on the far-off side of which there is no ice--
nothing but sea, sea, sea. Our kayaks are gone," continued the giant,
sadly, "we must come back and travel many days before we find things to
make new ones."
While he was speaking, Captain Vane's face brightened up.
"Are you sure of what you say, Chingatok?"
"Chingatok is sure," replied the Eskimo quietly.
"Then we'll conquer our difficulties after all. Come, boys, let's waste
no more time in idle talk, but harness the dogs, and be off at once."
Of course the party had to travel round the island, for there was
neither ice nor snow on it. When the other side was reached the real
difficulties of the journey were fully realised. During the whole of
that day and the next they were almost continuously engaged in dragging
the sledges over masses of ice, some of which rose to thirty feet above
the general level. If the reader will try to imagine a very small ant
or beetle dragging its property over a newly macadamised road, he will
have a faint conception of the nature of the work. To some extent the
dogs were a hindrance rather than a help, especially when passing over
broken fragments, for they were always tumbling into holes and cracks,
out of which they had to be dragged, and were much given to venting
their ill-humour on each other, sometimes going in for a free fight, in
the course of which they tied their traces into indescribable knots, and
drove their Eskimo masters furious. On such occasions the whips--both
lash and handle--were applied with unsparing vigour until the creatures
were cowed.
Danger, also, as well as toil, was encountered during the journey. On
the evening of the second day the sledge driven by Oolichuk diverged a
little from the line of march towards what seemed an easier passage over
the hummocks. They had just gained the top of an ice-block, which,
unknown to the driver, overhung its base. When the dogs reached the
edge of the mass, it suddenly gave way. Down went the team with a
united howl of despair. Their weight jerked the sledge forward, another
mass of the ice gave way, and over went the whole affair. In the fall
the lashings broke, and Oolichuk, with several of his kindred, including
poor little Oblooria, went down in a shower of skins, packages, bags,
and Eskimo cooking utensils.
Fortunately, they dropped on a slope of ice which broke their fall, and,
as it were, shunted them all safely, though violently, to the lower
level of the pack.
Beyond a few scratches and bruises, no evil resulted from this accident
to these hardy natives of the north.
That night they all encamped, as on the previous night, in the midst of
the pack, spreading their skins and furs on the flattest ice they could
find, and keeping as far from overhanging lumps as possible.
"What does Blackbeard mean by coming here?" asked Chingatok of Anders,
as they lay side by side, gazing up at the blue sky awaiting sleep. "We
cannot swim over the sea, and we have no boats."
"I don't know," answered the interpreter. "Our chief is a wonderful
man. He does things that seem to be all wrong, but they turn out mostly
to be all right."
"Does he ever speak of a Great Spirit?" asked the giant in a solemn
tone.
"Not to me," replied the other, "but I hear him sometimes speaking to
his little boy about his God."
"Then he must know his God," returned Chingatok. "Has he seen him--
spoken to him?"
Anders was a good deal surprised as well as puzzled by the questions put
by his new friend. His extremely commonplace mind had never been
exercised by such ideas. "I never asked him about that," he said, "and
he never told me. Perhaps he will tell you if you ask him."
The interpreter turned on his side with a sigh and went to sleep. The
giant lay on his back gazing long and steadily with a wistful look at
the unbroken vault of sky, whose vast profundity seemed to thrust him
mercilessly back. As he gazed, a little cloud, light as a puff of
eider-down, and golden as the sun from which its lustre came, floated
into the range of his vision. He smiled, for the thought that light may
suddenly arise when all around seems blank gave his inquiring spirit
rest, and he soon joined the slumbering band who lay upon the ice around
him.
According to Chingatok's prophecy, on the third day the fagged and weary
discoverers surmounted their first difficulty, and came upon
comparatively smooth ice, the surface of which resembled hard-trodden
snow, and was sufficiently free from obstructing lumps to admit of rapid
sledge travelling. It was late when they reached it, but as they could
now all sit on the sledges and leave the hard work to the dogs, the
leader resolved to continue the advance without resting.
"It's time enough to stop when we're stopped," he remarked to Leo, while
making preparations to start. "We will sleep at the first obstruction
we meet with, if it's a sufficiently troublesome one. See that the
things are well lashed on all the sledges, Alf. Remember that I hold
you responsible for lost articles."
"And what am I responsible for, father?" asked Benjy with a pert look.
"For keeping out of mischief, Ben. That's the most I can expect of
you."
"You are only a sort of negative blessing to us, you see, Benjy," said
Alf, as he stooped to tighten a rope. "It's not so much what you do, as
what you don't do, that rejoices us."
"I'm glad of that," retorted the boy, arranging himself comfortably on
his father's sledge, "because I won't do anything at all for some hours
to come, which ought to fill you all with perfect felicity. Awake me,
Leo, if we chance to upset."
"Now then, all ready?" cried the Captain. "Off you go, then--clap on
all sail!"
Crack went the mighty whips, howl went the dogs, and the sledges were
soon skimming over the sea at the rate of ten miles an hour. Of course
they did not keep that pace up very long. It became necessary to rest
at times, also, to give the dogs a little food. When this latter
process had been completed, the teams became so lively that they tried
to runaway.
"Let them run," said the Captain to Leo.
"And help them on," added Benjy.
Leo took the advice of both, applied the lash, and increased the speed
so much that the sledge swung from side to side on the smooth places,
sometimes catching on a lump of ice, and all but throwing out its
occupants. The Eskimos entered into the spirit of their leaders. They
also plied their lashes, and, being more dexterous than Leo, soon
converted the journey into a race, in which Chingatok--his giant arm
flourishing an appropriately huge whip--was rapidly coming to the front
when a tremendous shout in the rear caused them to pull up. Looking
back, Alf's sledge was seen inverted and mixed, as it were, with the
team, while Alf himself and his Eskimo friends were sprawling around on
the ice. No damage was done to life or limb, but a sledge-runner had
been partially broken, and could not be mended,--so said Oolichuk--in
less than an hour.
"This, then," said the Captain, "is our first obstruction, so here we
will make our beds for the night."