given to Kalumah by all at the fort. It seemed to them that the
communication with the outer world was reopened. Mrs Mac-Nab, Mrs Rae
and Mrs Joliffe overwhelmed her with caresses, but Kalumah’s first
thought was for the little child, she caught sight of him immediately,
and running to him covered him with kisses.
The young native was charmed and touched with the hospitality of her
European hosts. A positive fête was held in her honour and every one
was delighted that she would have to remain at the fort for the winter,
the season being too far advanced for her to get back to the settlements
of Russian America before the cold set in.
But if all the settlers were agreeably surprised at the appearance
of Kalumah, what must Lieutenant Hobson have thought when he saw her
leaning on Mrs Barnett’s arm. A sudden hope flashed across his mind
like lightning, and as quickly died away: perhaps in spite of the
evidence of his daily observations Victoria Island had run aground
somewhere on the continent unnoticed by any of them.
Mrs Barnett read the Lieutenant’s thoughts in his face, and shook her
head sadly.
He saw that no change had taken place in their situation, and waited
until Mrs Barnett was able to explain Kalumah’s appearance.
A few minutes later he was walking along the beach with the lady,
listening with great interest to her account of Kalumah’s adventures.
So he had been right in all his conjectures. The north-east hurricane
had driven the island out of the current. The ice-field had approached
within a mile at least of the American continent. It had not been a fire
on board ship which they had seen, or the cry of a shipwrecked mariner
which they had heard. The mainland had been close at hand, and had the
north-east wind blown hard for another hour Victoria Island would have
struck against the coast of Russian America. And then at this critical
moment a fatal, a terrible wind had driven the island away from the
mainland back to the open sea, and it was again in the grasp of the
irresistible current, and was being carried along with a speed which
nothing could check, the mighty south-east wind aiding its headlong
course, to that terribly dangerous spot where it would be exposed to
contrary attractions, either of which might lead to its destruction and
that of all the unfortunate people dragged along with it.
For the hundredth time the Lieutenant and Mrs Barnett discussed all the
bearings of the case, and then Hobson inquired if any important changes
had taken place in the appearance of the districts between Cape Bathurst
and Walruses’ Bay?
Mrs Barnett replied that in some places the level of the coast appeared
to be lowered, and that the waves now covered tracts of sand which
were formerly out of their reach. She related what had happened at Cape
Esquimaux, and the important fracture which had taken place at that part
of the coast.
Nothing could have been less satisfactory. It was evident that the
ice-field forming the foundation of the island was breaking up. What
had happened at Cape Esquimaux might at any moment be reproduced at
Cape Bathurst. At any hour of the day or night the houses of the factory
might be swallowed up by the deep, and the only thing which could save
them was the winter, the bitter winter which was fortunately rapidly
approaching.
The next day, September 4th, when Hobson took his bearings, he found
that the position of Victoria Island had not sensibly changed since
the day before. It had remained motionless between the two contrary
currents, which was on the whole the very best thing that could have
happened.
“If only the cold would fix us where we are, if the ice wall would
shut us in, and the sea become petrified around us,” exclaimed Hobson,
“I should feel that our safety was assured. We are but two hundred
miles from the coast at this moment, and by venturing across the frozen
ice fields we might perhaps reach either Russian America or Kamtchatka.
Winter, winter at any price, let the winter set in, no matter how
rapidly.”
Meanwhile, according to the Lieutenant’s orders, the preparations for
the winter were completed. Enough forage to last the dogs the whole of
the Polar night was stored up. They were all in good health, but getting
rather fat with having nothing to do. They could not be taken too much
care of, as they would have to work terribly hard in the journey across
the ice after the abandonment of Fort Hope. It was most important to
keep up their strength, and they were fed on raw reindeer venison,
plenty of which was easily attainable.
The tame reindeer also prospered, their stable was comfortable, and a
good supply of moss was laid by for them in the magazines of the fort.
The females provided Mrs Joliffe with plenty of milk for her daily
culinary needs.
The Corporal and his little wife had also sown fresh seeds, encouraged
by the success of the last in the warm season. The ground had been
prepared beforehand for the planting of scurvy-grass and Labrador
Tea. It was important that there should be no lack of these valuable
anti-scorbutics.
The sheds were filled with wood up to the very roof. Winter might come
as soon as it liked now, and freeze the mercury in the cistern of the
thermometer, there was no fear that they would again be reduced to burn
their furniture as they had the year before. Mac-Nab and his men had
become wise by experience, and the chips left from the boat-building
added considerably to their stock of fuel.
About this time a few animals were taken which had already assumed their
winter furs, such as martens, polecats, blue foxes, and ermines. Marbre
and Sabine had obtained leave from the Lieutenant to set some traps
outside the enceinte. He did not like to refuse them this permission,
lest they should become discontented, as he had really no reason to
assign for putting a stop to the collecting of furs, although he knew
full well that the destination of these harmless creatures could do
nobody any good. Their flesh was, however, useful for feeding the dogs,
and enabled them to economise the reindeer venison.
All was now prepared for the winter, and the soldiers worked with an
energy which they would certainly not have shown if they had been told
the secret of their situation.
During the next few days the bearings were taken with the greatest care,
but no change was noticeable in the situation of Victoria Island;
and Hobson, finding that it was motionless, began to have fresh hope.
Although there were as yet no symptoms of winter in inorganic nature,
the temperature maintaining a mean height of 49° Fahrenheit, some swans
flying to the south in search of a warmer climate was a good omen. Other
birds capable of a long-sustained flight over vast tracts of the ocean
began to desert the island. They knew full well that the continent of
America and of Asia, with their less severe climates and their plentiful
resources of every kind, were not far off, and that their wings were
strong enough to carry them there. A good many of these birds were
caught; and by Mrs Barnett’s advice the Lieutenant tied round their
necks a stiff cloth ticket, on which was inscribed the position of the
wandering island, and the names of its inhabitants. The birds were then
set free, and their captors watched them wing their way to the south
with envious eyes.
Of course none were in the secret of the sending forth of these
messengers, except Mrs Barnett, Madge, Kalumah, Hobson, and Long.
The poor quadrupeds were unable to seek their usual winter refuges in
the south. Under ordinary circumstances the reindeer, Polar hares, and
even the wolves would have left early in September for the shores of the
Great Bear and Slave Lakes, a good many degrees farther south; but now
the sea was an insurmountable barrier, and they, too, would have to wait
until the winter should render it passable. Led by instinct they had
doubtless tried to leave the island, but, turned back by the water, the
instinct of self-preservation had brought them to the neighbourhood
of Fort Hope, to be near the men who were once their hunters and
most formidable enemies, but were now, like themselves, rendered
comparatively inoffensive by their imprisonment.
The observations of the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th September, revealed
no alteration in the position of Victoria Island. The large eddy between
the two currents kept it stationary. Another fifteen days, another three
weeks of this state of things, and Hobson felt that they might be saved.
But they were not yet out of danger, and many terrible, almost
supernatural, trials still awaited the inhabitants of Fort Hope.
On the 10th of September observations showed a displacement of Victoria
Island. Only a slight displacement, but in a northerly direction.
Hobson was in dismay; the island was finally in the grasp of the
Kamtchatka Current, and was drifting towards the unknown latitudes
where the large icebergs come into being; it was on its way to the vast
solitudes of the Arctic Ocean, interdicted to the human race, from which
there is no return.
Hobson did not hide this new danger from those who were in the secret of
the situation. Mrs Barnett, Madge, Kalumah, and Sergeant Long received
this fresh blow with courage and resignation.
“Perhaps,” said Mrs Barnett, “the island may stop even yet.
Perhaps it will move slowly. Let us hope on ... and wait! The winter is
not far off, and we are going to meet it. In any case God’s will be
done!” “My friends,” said Hobson earnestly, “do you not think I
ought now to tell our comrades. You see in what a terrible position
we are and all that may await us! Is it not taking too great a
responsibility to keep them in ignorance of the peril they are in?”
“I should wait a little longer,” replied Mrs Barnett without
hesitation; “I would not give them all over to despair until the last
chance is gone.”
“That is my opinion also,” said Long.
Hobson had thought the same, and was glad to find that his companions
agreed with him in the matter.
On the 11th and 12th September, the motion towards the north was more
noticeable. Victoria Island was drifting at a rate of from twelve to
thirteen miles a day, so that each day took them the same distance
farther from the land and nearer to the north. They were, in short,
following the decided course made by the Kamtchatka Current, and would
quickly pass that seventieth degree which once cut across the extremity
of Cape Bathurst, and beyond which no land of any kind was to be met
with in this part of the Arctic Ocean.
Every day Hobson looked out their position on the map, and saw only too
clearly to what awful solitudes the wandering island was drifting.
The only hope left consisted, as Mrs Barnett had said, in the fact that
they were going to meet the winter. In thus drifting towards the north
they would soon encounter those ice-cold waters, which would consolidate
and strengthen the foundations of the island. But if the danger of
being swallowed up by the waves was decreased, would not the unfortunate
colonists have an immense distance to traverse to get back from these
remote northern regions? Had the boat been finished, Lieutenant Hobson
would not have hesitated to embark the whole party in it, but in spite
of the zealous efforts of the carpenter it was not nearly ready, and
indeed it taxed Mac-Nab’s powers to the uttermost to construct a
vessel on which to trust the lives of twenty persons in such a dangerous
sea
By the 16th September Victoria Island was between seventy-three and
eighty miles north of the spot where its course had been arrested for
a few days between the Behring and Kamtchatka Cur rents There were now,
however, many signs of the approach of winter Snow fell frequently
and in large flakes The column of mercury fell gradually The mean
temperature was still 44° Fahrenheit during the day, but at night it
fell to 32°. The sun described an extremely lengthened curve above
the horizon, not rising more than a few degrees even at noon, and
disappearing for eleven hours out of every twenty four.
At last, on the night of the 16th September, the first signs of ice
appeared upon the sea in the shape of small isolated crystals like
snow, which stained the clear surface of the water As was noticed by the
famous explorer Scoresby, these crystals immediately calmed the waves,
like the oil which sailors pour upon the sea to produce a momentary
cessation of its agitation These crystals showed a tendency to weld
themselves together, but they were broken and separated by the motion of
the water as soon as they had combined to any extent.
Hobson watched the appearance of the “young ice” with extreme
attention. He knew that twenty four hours would suffice to make the
ice-crust two or three inches thick, strong enough in fact to bear the
weight of a man He therefore expected that Victoria Island would shortly
be arrested in its course to the north.
But the day ended the work of the night, and if the speed of the island
slackened during the darkness in consequence of the obstacles in its
path, they were removed in the next twelve hours, and the island was
carried rapidly along again by the powerful current.
The distance from the northern regions became daily less, and nothing
could be done to lessen the evil.
At the autumnal equinox on the 21st of September, the day and night were
of equal length, and from that date the night gradually became longer
and longer. The winter was coming at last, but it did not set in rapidly
or with any rigour Victoria Island was now nearly a degree farther north
than the seventieth parallel, and on this 21st September, a rotating
motion was for the first time noticed, a motion estimated by Hobson at
about a quarter of the circumference.
Imagine the anxiety of the unfortunate Lieutenant. The secret he had so
long carefully kept was now about to be betrayed by nature to the least
clear sighted. Of course the rotation altered the cardinal points of the
island. Cape Bathurst no longer pointed to the north, but to the east.
The sun, moon, and stars rose and set on a different horizon, and it was
impossible that men like Mac-Nab, Rae, Marbre and others, accustomed to
note the signs of the heavens, could fail to be struck by the change,
and understand its meaning.
To Hobson’s great satisfaction, however, the brave soldiers appeared
to notice nothing, the displacement with regard to the cardinal points
was not, it was true, very considerable, and it was often too foggy for
the rising and setting of the heavenly bodies to be accurately observed.
Unfortunately the rotation appeared to be accompanied by an increase of
speed. From that date Victoria Island drifted at the rate of a mile an
hour. It advanced farther and farther north, farther and farther away
from all land. Hobson did not even yet despair, for it was not in his
nature to do so, but he felt confused and astray, and longed for the
winter with all his heart.
At last the temperature began to fall still lower. Snow fell plentifully
on the 23d and 24th September, and increased the thickness of the
coating of ice on the sea. Gradually the vast ice-field was formed on
every side, the island in its advance continually broke it up, but each
day it became firmer and better able to resist. The sea succumbed to
the petrifying hand of winter, and became frozen as far as the eye could
reach, and on September 27th, when the bearings were taken, it was
found that Victoria Island had not moved since the day before. It was
imprisoned in a vast ice-field, it was motionless in longitude 177°
22’, and latitude 77° 57’—more than six hundred miles from any
continent.