situation. To use Sergeant Long’s expression, the island had “cast
anchor,” and was as stationary as when the isthmus connected it with
the mainland. But six hundred miles now separated it from inhabited
countries, six hundred miles which would have to be traversed in sledges
across the solidified surface of the sea, amongst the icebergs which the
cold would build up, in the bitterest months of the Arctic winter.
It would be a fearful undertaking, but hesitation was impossible. The
winter, for which Lieutenant Hobson had so ardently longed, had come at
last, and arrested the fatal march of the island to the north. It would
throw a bridge six hundred miles long from their desolate home to the
continents on the south, and the new chances of safety must not be
neglected, every effort must be made to restore the colonists, so long
lost in the hyperborean regions, to their friends.
As Hobson explained to his companions, it would be madness to linger
till the spring should again thaw the ice, which would be to abandon
themselves once more to the capricious Behring currents. They must wait
until the sea was quite firmly frozen over, which at the most would be
in another three or four weeks. Meanwhile the Lieutenant proposed making
frequent excursions on the ice-field encircling the island, in order to
ascertain its thickness, its suitability for the passage of sledges, and
the best route to take across it so as to reach the shores of Asia or
America.
“Of course,” observed Hobson to Mrs Barnett and Sergeant Long, “we
would all rather make for Russian America than Asia, if a choice is open
to us.”
“Kalumah will be very useful to us,” said Mrs Barnett, “for as a
native she will be thoroughly acquainted with the whole of Alaska.”
“Yes, indeed,” replied Hobson, “her arrival was most fortunate for
us. Thanks to her, we shall be easily able to get to the settlement of
Fort Michael on Norton Sound, perhaps even to New Archangel, a good deal
farther south, where we can pass the rest of the winter.”
“Poor Fort Hope!” exclaimed Mrs Barnett, “it goes to my heart to
think of abandoning it on this island. It has been built at the cost of
so much trouble and fatigue, everything about it has been so admirably
arranged by you, Lieutenant! I feel as if my heart would break when we
leave it finally.”
“You will not suffer more than I shall, madam,” replied Hobson,
“and perhaps not so much. It is the chief work of my life; I have
devoted all my powers to the foundation of Fort Hope, so unfortunately
named, and I shall never cease to regret having to leave it. And what
will the Company say which confided this task to me, for after all I am`
but its humble agent.”
“It will say,” cried Mrs Barnett with enthusiasm, “it will say
that you have done your duty, that you are not responsible for the
caprices of nature, which is ever more powerful than man. It will
understand that you could not foresee what has happened, for it was
beyond the penetration of the most far-sighted man, and it will know
that it owes the preservation of the whole party to your prudence and
moral courage.”
“Thank you, madam,” replied the Lieutenant, pressing Mrs Barnett’s
hand, “thank you for your warm-hearted words. But I have had some
experience of men, and I know that success is always admired and failure
condemned. But the will of Heaven be done!”
Sergeant Long, anxious to turn the Lieutenant from his melancholy
thoughts, now began to talk about the preparations for the approaching
departure, and asked if it was not time to tell his comrades the truth.
“Let us wait a little longer,” replied Hobson. “We have saved the
poor fellows much anxiety and worry already, let us keep silent until
the day is fixed for the start, and then we will reveal the whole
truth.”
This point being decided, the ordinary occupations of the factory went
on for a few weeks longer.
How different was the situation of the colonists a year ago, when they
were all looking forward to the future in happy unconsciousness!
A year ago the first symptoms of the cold season were appearing, even
as they were now. The “young ice” was gradually forming along the
coast. The lagoon, its waters being quieter than those of the sea, was
the first to freeze over. The temperature remained about one or two
degrees above freezing point in the day, and fell to three or four
degrees below in the night. Hobson again made his men assume their
winter garments, the linen vests and furs before described. The
condensers were again set up inside the house, the air vessel and
air-pumps were cleaned, the traps were set round the palisades on
different parts of Cape Bathurst, and Marbre and Sabine got plenty of
game, and finally the last touches were given to the inner rooms of the
principal house.
Although Fort Hope was now about two degrees farther north than at the
same time the year before, there was no sensible difference in the state
of the temperature. The fact is, the distance between the seventieth and
seventy-second parallels is not great enough to affect the mean height
of the thermometer, on the contrary, it really seemed to be less cold
than at the beginning of the winter before. Perhaps, however, that was
because the colonists were now, to a certain extent, acclimatised.
Certainly the winter did not set in so abruptly as last time. The
weather was very damp, and the atmosphere was always charged with
vapour, which fell now as rain now as snow. In Lieutenant Hobson’s
opinion, at least, it was not nearly cold enough.
The sea froze all round the island, it is true, but not in a regular or
continuous sheet of ice. Large blackish patches here and there showed
that the icicles were not thoroughly cemented together. Loud resonant
noises were constantly heard, produced by the breaking of the ice
field when the rain melted the imperfectly welded edges of the blocks
composing it. There was no rapid accumulation of lump upon lump such as
is generally seen in intense cold. Icebergs and hummocks were few and
scattered, and no ice-wall as yet shut in the horizon.
“This season would have been just the thing for the explorers of
the North West Passage, or the seekers of the North Pole,” repeated
Sergeant Long again and again, “but it is most unfavourable for us,
and very much against our ever getting back to our own land!”
This went on throughout October, and Hobson announced that the mean
temperature was no lower than 32° Fahrenheit, and it is well known that
several days of cold, 7° or 8° below zero, are required for the sea to
freeze hard.
Had proof been needed that the ice-field was impassable, a fact noticed
by Mrs Barnett and Hobson would have sufficed.
The animals imprisoned in the island, the furred animals, reindeer,
wolves, &c., would have left the island had it been possible to cross
the sea, but they continued to gather in large numbers round the
factory, and to seek the vicinity of man. The wolves came actually
within musket-range of the enceinte to devour the martens and Polar
hares, which were their only food. The famished reindeer having neither
moss nor herbs on which to browse, roved about Cape Bathurst in herds.
A solitary bear, no doubt the one to which Mrs Barnett and Kalumah felt
they owed a debt of gratitude, often passed to and fro amongst the trees
of the woods, on the banks of the lagoon, and the presence of all these
animals, especially of the ruminants, which require an exclusively
vegetable diet, proved that flight was impossible.
We have said that the thermometer remained at freezing point, and Hobson
found on consulting his journal that at the same time the year before,
it had already marked 20° Fahrenheit below zero, proving how unequally
cold is distributed in the capricious Polar regions.
The colonists therefore did not suffer much, and were not confined to
the house at all. It was, however, very damp indeed, rain mixed with
snow fell constantly, and the falling of the barometer proved that the
atmosphere was charged with vapour.
Throughout October the Lieutenant and Long made many excursions to
ascertain the state of the ice-field in the offing; one day they went to
Cape Michael, another to the edge of the former Walruses’ Bay, anxious
to see if it would be possible to cross to the continent of America or
Asia, or if the start would have to be put off.
But the surface of the ice-field was covered with puddles of water,
and in some parts riddled with holes, which would certainly have been
impassable for sledges. It seemed as if it would be scarcely safe for a
single traveller to venture across the half-liquid, half-solid masses.
It was easy to see that the cold had been neither severe nor equally
maintained, for the ice consisted of an accumulation of sharp points,
crystals, prisms, polyhedrons, and figures of every variety, like
an aggregation of stalactites. It was more like a glacier than a
“field,” and even if it had been practicable, walking on it would
have been very tiring.
Hobson and Long managed with great difficulty to scramble over a mile or
two towards the south, but at the expense of a vast amount of time, so
that they were compelled to admit that they must wait some time yet, and
they returned to Fort Hope disappointed and disheartened.
The first days of November came, and the temperature fell a little, but
only a very few degrees, which was not nearly enough. Victoria Island
was wrapped in damp fogs, and the lamps had to be lit during the day. It
was necessary, however, to economise the oil as much as possible, as the
supply was running short. No fresh stores had been brought by Captain
Craventy’s promised convoy, and there were no more walruses to be
hunted. Should the dark winter be prolonged, the colonists would be
compelled to have recourse to the fat of animals, perhaps even to the
resin of the firs, to get a little light. The days were already very
short, and the pale disc of the sun, yielding no warmth, and deprived of
all its brightness, only appeared above the horizon for a few hours at
a time. Yes, winter had come with its mists, its rain, and its snow, but
without the long desired cold.
On the 11th November something of a fête was held at Fort Hope. Mrs
Joliffe served up a few extras at dinner, for it was the anniversary of
the birth of little Michael Mac-Nab. He was now a year old, and was the
delight of everybody. He had large blue eyes and fair curly hair, like
his father, the head carpenter, who was very proud of the resemblance.
At dessert the baby was solemnly weighed. It was worth something to
see him struggling in the scales, and to hear his astonished cries! He
actually weighed thirty-four pounds! The announcement of this wonderful
weight was greeted with loud cheers, and Mrs Mac-Nab was congratulated
by everybody on her fine boy. Why Corporal Joliffe felt that he ought
to share the compliments it is difficult to imagine, unless it was as
a kind of foster-father or nurse to the baby. He had carried the child
about, dandled and rocked him so often, that he felt he had something to
do with his specific weight!
The next day, November 12th, the sun did not appear above the horizon.
The long Polar night was beginning nine days sooner than it had done
the year before, in consequence of the difference in the latitude of
Victoria Island then and now.
The disappearance of the sun did not, however, produce any change in the
state of the atmosphere. The temperature was as changeable as ever. The
thermometer fell one day and rose the next. Rain and snow succeeded each
other. The wind was soft, and did not settle in any quarter, but often
veered round to every point of the compass in the course of a single
day. The constant damp was very unhealthy, and likely to lead to
scorbutic affections amongst the colonists, but fortunately, although
the lime juice and lime lozenges were running short, and no fresh stock
had been obtained, the scurvy-grass and sorrel had yielded a very good
crop, and, by the advice of Lieutenant Hobson, a portion of them was
eaten daily.
Every effort must, however, be made to get away from Fort Hope. Under
the circumstances, three months would scarcely be long enough for them
all to get to the nearest continent. It was impossible to risk being
overtaken by the thaw on the ice-field, and therefore if they started at
all it must be at the end of November.
The journey would have been difficult enough, even if the ice had been
rendered solid everywhere by a severe winter, and in this uncertain
weather it was a most serious matter.
On the 13th November, Hobson, Mrs Barnett, and the Sergeant met to
decide on the day of departure. The Sergeant was of opinion that they
ought to leave the island as soon as possible.
“For,” he said, “we must make allowance for all the possible
delays during a march of six hundred miles. We ought to reach the
continent before March, or we may be surprised by the thaw, and then we
shall be in a worse predicament than we are on our island.”
“But,” said Mrs Barnett, “is the sea firm enough for us to cross
it?”
“I think it is,” said Long, “and the ice gets thicker every
day. The barometer, too, is gradually rising, and by the time our
preparations are completed, which will be in about another week, I
think, I hope that the really cold weather will have set in.”
“The winter has begun very badly,” said Hobson, “in fact
everything seems to combine against us. Strange seasons have often
been experienced on these seas, I have heard of whalers being able to
navigate in places where, even in the summer at another time they would
not have had an inch of water beneath their keels. In my opinion there
is not a day to be lost, and I cannot sufficiently regret that the
ordinary temperature of these regions does not assist us.”
“It will later,” said Mrs Barnett, “and we must be ready to take
advantage of every chance in our favour. When do you propose starting,
Lieutenant?”
“At the end of November at the latest,” replied Hobson, “but if
in a week hence our preparations are finished, and the route appears
practicable, we will start then.”
“Very well,” said Long, “we will get ready without losing an
instant.”
“Then,” said Mrs Barnett, “you will now tell our companions of the
situation in which they are placed?”
“Yes, madam, the moment to speak and the time for action have alike
arrived.”
“And when do you propose enlightening them?”
“At once. Sergeant Long,” he added, turning to his subordinate, who
at once drew himself up in a military attitude, “call all your men
together in the large room to receive a communication.”
Sergeant Long touched his cap, and turning on his heel left the room
without a word.
For some minutes Mrs Barnett and Hobson were left alone, but neither of
them spoke.
The Sergeant quickly returned, and told Hobson that his orders were
executed.
The Lieutenant and the lady at once went into the large room. All
the members of the colony, men and women, were assembled in the dimly
lighted room.
Hobson came forward, and standing in the centre of the group said very
gravely—
“My friends, until to-day I have felt it my duty, in order to spare
you useless anxiety, to conceal from you the situation of our fort. An
earthquake separated us from the continent. Cape Bathurst has broken
away from the mainland. Our peninsula is but an island of ice, a
wandering island”——
At this moment Marbre stepped forward, and said quietly.
“We knew it, sir!”