3rd, the sun rose each day higher above the horizon, the nights were,
however, still very long, and, as is often the case in February, the
cold increased, the thermometer marking only 1º Fahrenheit, the lowest
temperature experienced throughout this extraordinary winter.
“When does the thaw commence in these northern seas?” inquired Mrs
Barnett of the Lieutenant.
“In ordinary seasons,” replied Hobson, “the ice does not break up
until early in May; but the winter has been so mild that unless a very
hard frost should now set in, the thaw may commence at the beginning of
April. At least that is my opinion.” “We shall still have two months
to wait then?”
“Yes, two months, for it would not be prudent to launch our boat too
soon amongst the floating ice; and I think our best plan will be to wait
until our island has reached the narrowest part of Behring Strait, which
is not more than two hundred miles wide.”
“What do you mean?” exclaimed Mrs Barnett, considerably surprised
at the Lieutenant’s reply. “Have you forgotten that it was the
Kamtchatka Current which brought us where we now are, and which may
seize us again when the thaw sets in and carry us yet farther north?”
“I do not think it will, madam; indeed I feel quite sure that that
will not happen. The thaw always takes place in from north to south, and
although the Kamtchatka Current runs the other way, the ice always goes
down the Behring Current. Other reasons there are for my opinion which
I cannot now enumerate. But the icebergs invariably drift towards the
Pacific, and are there melted by its warmer waters. Ask Kalumah if I am
not right. She knows these latitudes well, and will tell you that the
thaw always proceeds from the north to the south.”
Kalumah when questioned confirmed all that the Lieutenant had said, so
that it appeared probable that the island would be drifted to the south
like a huge ice-floe, that is to say, to the narrowest part of Behring
Strait, which is much frequented in the summer by the fishermen of New
Archangel, who are the most experienced mariners of those waters.
Making allowance for all delays they might then hope to set foot on the
continent before May, and although the cold had not been very intense
there was every reason to believe that the foundations of Victoria
Island had been thickened and strengthened by a fresh accumulation of
ice at the base, and that it would hold together for several months to
come.
There was then nothing for the colonists to do but to wait
patiently,—still to wait!
The convalescence of little Michael continued to progress favourably. On
the 20th of February he went out for the first time, forty days after
he was taken ill. By this we mean that he went from his bedroom into the
large room, where he was petted and made much of. His mother, acting by
Madge’s advice, put off weaning him for some little time, and he soon
got back his strength. The soldiers had made many little toys for him
during his illness, and he was now as happy as any child in the wide
world.
The last week of February was very wet, rain and snow falling
alternately. A strong wind blew from the north-west, and the temperature
was low enough for large quantities of snow to fall; the gale, however,
increased in violence, and on the side of Cape Bathurst and the chain
of icebergs the noise of the tempest was deafening. The huge ice-masses
were flung against each other, and fell with a roar like that of
thunder. The ice on the north was compressed and piled up on the
shores of the island. There really seemed to be a danger that the cape
itself-which was but a kind of iceberg capped with earth and sand-would
be flung down.
Some large pieces of ice, in spite of their weight, were driven to the
very foot of the palisaded enceinte; but fortunately for the factory
the cape retained its position; had it given way all the buildings must
inevitably have been crushed beneath it.
It will be easily understood that the position of Victoria Island, at
the opening of a narrow strait about which the ice accumulated in large
quantities, was extremely perilous, for it might at any time be swept by
a horizontal avalanche, or crushed beneath the huge blocks of ice driven
inland from the offing, and so become engulfed before the thaw. This
was a new danger to be added to all the others already threatening the
little band. Mrs Barnett, seeing the awful power of the pressure in the
offing, and the violence with which the moving masses of ice crushed
upon each other, realised the full magnitude of the peril they would
all be in when the thaw commenced. She often mentioned her fears to the
Lieutenant, and he shook his head like a man who had no reply to make.
Early in March the squall ceased, and the full extent of the
transformation of the ice-field was revealed. It seemed as if by a kind
of glissade the chain of icebergs had drawn nearer to the island. In
some parts it was not two miles distant, and it advanced like a glacier
on the move, with the difference that the latter has a descending
and the ice-wall a horizontal motion. Between the lofty chain of
ice-mountains the ice-field was fearfully distorted: strewn with
hummocks, broken obelisks, shattered blocks, overturned pyramids, it
resembled a tempest-tossed sea or a ruined town, in which not a building
or a monument had remained standing, and above it all the mighty
icebergs reared their snowy crests, standing out against the sky with
their pointed peaks, their rugged cones, and solid buttresses, forming a
fitting frame for the weird fantastic landscape at their feet.
At this date the little vessel was quite finished. This boat was rather
heavy in shape, as might have been expected, but she did credit to
Mac-Nab, and shaped as she was like a barge at the bows, she ought the
better to withstand the shocks of the floating ice. She might have
been taken for one of those Dutch boats which venture upon the northern
waters. Her rig, which was completed, consisted, like that of a cutter,
of a mainsail and a jib carried on a single mast. The tent canvass of
the factory had been made use of for sailcloth.
This boat would carry the whole colony, and if, as the Lieutenant hoped,
the island were drifted to Behring Strait, the vessel would easily make
her way to land, even from the widest part of the passage. There was
then nothing to be done but wait for the thaw.
Hobson now decided to make a long excursion to the south to ascertain
the state of the ice-field, to see whether there were any signs of its
breaking up, to examine the chain of icebergs by which it was hemmed in,
to make sure, in short, whether it would really be useless to attempt to
cross to the American continent. Many incidents might occur, many fresh
dangers might arise before the thaw, and it would therefore be but
prudent to make a reconnaissance on the ice-field.
The expedition was organised and the start fixed for March 7th. Hobson,
Mrs Barnett, Kalumah, Marbre, and Sabine were to go, and, if the route
should be practicable, they would try and find a passage across the
chain of icebergs. In any case, however, they were not to be absent for
more than forty-eight hours.
A good stock of provisions was prepared, and, well provided for every
contingency, the little party left Fort Hope on the morning of the 7th
March aid turned towards Cape Michael.
The thermometer then marked 32° Fahrenheit. The atmosphere was misty,
but the weather was perfectly calm. The sun was now above the horizon
for seven or eight hours a day, and its oblique rays afforded plenty of
light.
At nine o’clock, after a short halt, the party descended the slope of
Cape Michael and made their way across the ice-fields in a southeasterly
direction. On this side the ice wall rose not three miles from the cape.
The march was of course very slow. Every minute a crevasse had to be
turned, or a hummock too high to be climbed. It was evident that a
sledge could not have got over the rough distorted surface, which
consisted of an accumulation of blocks of ice of every shape and size,
some of which really seemed to retain their equilibrium by a miracle.
Others had been but recently overturned, as could be seen from the
clearly cut fractures and sharp corners. Not a sign was to be seen of
any living creature, no footprints told of the passage of man or beast,
and the very birds had deserted these awful solitudes.
Mrs Barnett was astonished at the scene before her, and asked the
Lieutenant how they could possibly have crossed the ice-fields if they
had started in December, and he replied by reminding her that it
was then in a very different condition; the enormous pressure of the
advancing icebergs had not then commenced, the surface of the sea
was comparatively even, and the only danger was from its insufficient
solidification. The irregularities which now barred their passage did
not exist early in the winter.
They managed, however, to advance towards the mighty ice-wall, Kalumah
generally leading the way. Like a chamois on the Alpine rocks, the
young girl firmly treaded the ice-masses with a swiftness of foot and an
absence of hesitation which was really marvellous. She knew by instinct
the best way through the labyrinth of icebergs, and was an unerring
guide to her companions.
About noon the base of the ice-wall was reached, but it had taken three
hours to get over three miles.
The icy barrier presented a truly imposing appearance, rising as it did
more than four hundred feet above the ice-field. The various strata of
which it was formed were clearly defined, and the glistening surface was
tinged with many a delicately-shaded hue. Jasper-like ribbons of green
and blue alternated with streaks and dashes of all the colours of the
rainbow, strewn with enamelled arabesques, sparkling crystals, and
delicate ice-flowers. No cliff, however strangely distorted, could give
any idea of this marvellous half opaque, half transparent ice-wall,
and no description could do justice to the wonderful effects of
chiara-oscuro produced upon it.
It would not do, however, to approach too near to these beetling cliffs,
the solidity of which was very doubtful. Internal fractures and rents
were already commencing, the work of destruction and decomposition
was proceeding rapidly, aided by the imprisoned air-bubbles; and the
fragility of the huge structure, built up by the cold, was manifest to
every eye. It could not survive the Arctic winter, it was doomed to melt
beneath the sunbeams, and it contained material enough to feed large
rivers.
Lieutenant Hobson had warned his companions of the danger of the
avalanches which constantly fall from the summits of the icebergs, and
they did not therefore go far along their base. That this prudence was
necessary was proved by the falling of a huge block, at two o’clock,
at the entrance to a kind of valley which they were about to cross. It
must have weighed more than a hundred tons, and it was dashed upon the
ice-field with a fearful crash, bursting like a bomb-shell. Fortunately
no one was hurt by the splinters.
From two to five o’clock the explorers followed a narrow winding path
leading down amongst the icebergs; they were anxious to know if it led
right through them, but could not at once ascertain. In this valley, as
it might be called, they were able to examine the internal structure of
the icy barrier. The blocks of which it was built up were here arranged
with greater symmetry than outside. In some places trunks of trees were
seen embedded in the ice, all, however, of Tropical not Polar species,
which had evidently been brought to Arctic regions by the Gulf Stream,
and would be taken back to the ocean when the thaw should have converted
into water the ice which now held them in its chill embrace.
At five o’clock it became too dark to go any further. The travellers
had not gone more than about two miles in the valley, but it was
so sinuous, that it was impossible to estimate exactly the distance
traversed.
The signal to halt was given by the Lieutenant, and Marbre and Sabine
quickly dug out a grotto in the ice with their chisels, into which the
whole party crept, and after a good supper all were soon asleep.
Every one was up at eight o’clock the next morning, and Hobson decided
to follow the valley for another mile, in the hope of finding out
whether it went right through the ice-wall. The direction of the pass,
judging from the position of the sun, had now changed from north to
south east, and as early as eleven o’clock the party came out on the
opposite side of the chain of icebergs. The passage was therefore proved
to run completely through the barrier.
The aspect of the ice-field on the eastern side was exactly similar
to that on the west. The same confusion of ice-masses, the same
accumulation of hummocks and icebergs, as far as the eye could reach,
with occasional alternations of smooth surfaces of small extent,
intersected by numerous crevasses, the edges of which were already
melting fast. The same complete solitude, the same desertion, not a
bird, not an animal to be seen.
Mrs Barnett climbed to the top of the hummock, and there remained for an
hour, gazing upon the sad and desolate Polar landscape before her. Her
thoughts involuntarily flew back to the miserable attempt to escape that
had been made five months before. Once more she saw the men and women of
the hapless caravan encamped in the darkness of these frozen solitudes,
or struggling against insurmountable difficulties to reach the mainland.
At last the Lieutenant broke in upon her reverie, and said—
“Madam, it is more than twenty-four hours since we left the fort. We
now know the thickness of the ice-wall, and as we promised not to be
away longer than forty-eight hours, I think it is time to retrace our
steps.”
Mrs Barnett saw the justice of the Lieutenant’s remark. They had
ascertained that the barrier of ice was of moderate thickness, that it
would melt away quickly enough to allow of the passage of Mac-Nab’s
boat after the thaw, and it would therefore be well to hasten back lest
a snow-storm or change in the weather of any kind should render return
through the winding valley difficult.
The party breakfasted and set out on the return journey about one
o’clock P.M.
The night was passed as before in an ice-cavern, and the route resumed
at eight o’clock the next morning, March 9th.
The travellers now turned their backs upon the sun, as they were making
for the west, but the weather was fine, and the orb of day, already high
in the heavens, flung some of its rays across the valley and lit up the
glittering ice-walls on either side.
Mrs Barnett and Kalumah were a little behind the rest of the party
chatting together, and looking about them as they wound through the
narrow passages pointed out by Marbre and Sabine. They expected to get
out of the valley quickly, and be back at the fort before sunset, as
they had only two or three miles of the island to cross after leaving
the ice. This would be a few hours after the time fixed, but not long
enough to cause any serious anxiety to their friends at home.
They made their calculation without allowing for an incident which no
human perspicacity could possibly have foreseen.
It was about ten o’clock when Marbre and Sabine, who were some twenty
paces in advance of the rest, suddenly stopped and appeared to be
debating some point. When the others came up, Sabine was holding out
his compass to Marbre, who was staring at it with an expression of the
utmost astonishment.
“What an extraordinary thing!” he exclaimed, and added, turning to
the Lieutenant—
“Will you tell me, sir, the position of the island with regard to the
ice-wall, is it on the east or west?”
“On the west,” replied Hobson, not a little surprised at the
question, “you know that well enough, Marbre”
“I know it well enough! I know it well enough!” repeated Marbre,
shaking his head, “and if it is on the west, we are going wrong, and
away from the inland!”
“What, away from the island!” exclaimed the Lieutenant, struck with
the hunter’s air of conviction.
“We are indeed, sir,” said Marbre; “look at the compass; my name
is not Marbre if it does not show that we are walking towards the east
not the west!”
“Impossible!” exclaimed Mrs Barnett.
“Look, madam,” said Sabine.
It was true. The needle pointed in exactly the opposite direction to
that expected. Hobson looked thoughtful and said nothing.
“We must have made a mistake when we left the ice cavern this
morning,” observed Sabine, “we ought to have turned to the left
instead of to the right.”
“No, no,” said Mrs Barnett, “I am sure we did not make a
mistake!”
“But”——said Marbre.
“But,” interrupted Mrs Barnett, “look at the sun. Does it no
longer rise in the east? Now as we turned our backs on it this morning,
and it is still behind us, we must be walking towards the west, so
that when we get out of the valley on the western side of the chain of
icebergs, we must come to the island we left there.”
Marbre, struck dumb by this irrefutable argument, crossed his arms and
said no more.
“Then if so,” said Sabine, “the sun and the compass are in
complete contradiction of each other?”
“At this moment they are,” said Hobson, “and the reason is simple
enough; in these high northern latitudes, and in latitudes in the
neighbourhood of the magnetic pole, the compasses are sometimes
disturbed, and the deviation of their needles is so great as entirely to
mislead travellers.”
“All right then,” said Marbre, “we have only to go on keeping our
backs to the sun.”
“Certainly,” replied Lieutenant Hobson, “there can be no
hesitation which to choose, the sun or our compass, nothing disturbs the
sun.”
The march was resumed, the sun was still behind them, and there was
really no objection to be made to Hobson’s theory, founded, as it was,
upon the position then occupied by the radiant orb of day.
The little troop marched on, but they did not get out of the valley as
soon as they expected. Hobson had counted on leaving the ice-wall before
noon, and it was past two when they reached the opening of the narrow
pass.
Strange as was this delay, it had not made any one uneasy, and the
astonishment of all can readily be imagined when, on stepping on to the
ice field, at the base of the chain of icebergs, no sign was to be seen
of Victoria Island, which ought to have been opposite to them.
Yes!—The island, which on this side had been such a conspicuous
object, owing to the height of Cape Michael crowned with trees, had
disappeared. In its place stretched a vast ice-field lit up by the
sunbeams.
All looked around them, and then at each other in amazement.
“The island ought to be there!” cried Sabine.
“But it is not there,” said Marbre. “Oh, sir—Lieutenant—where
is it? what has become of it?”
But Hobson had not a word to say in reply, and Mrs Barnett was equally
dumfounded.
Kalumah now approached Lieutenant Hobson, and touching his arm, she
said—
“We went wrong in the valley, we went up it instead of down it, we
shall only get back to where we were yesterday by crossing the chain of
icebergs. Come, come!”
Hobson and the others mechanically followed Kalumah, and trusting in
the young native’s sagacity, retraced their steps. Appearances were,
however, certainly against her, for they were now walking towards the
sun in an easterly direction.
Kalumah did not explain her motives, but muttered as she went along—
“Let us make haste!”
All were quite exhausted, and could scarcely get along, when they found
themselves on the other side of the ice-wall, after a walk of three
hours. The night had now fallen, and it was too dark to see if the
island was there, but they were not long left in doubt.
At about a hundred paces off, burning torches were moving about, whilst
reports of guns and shouts were heard.
The explorers replied, and were soon joined by Sergeant Long and others,
amongst them Thomas Black, whose anxiety as to the fate of his friends
had at last roused him from his torpor. The poor fellows left on the
island had been in a terrible state of uneasiness, thinking that Hobson
and his party had lost their way. They were right, but what was it that
had made them think so?
Twenty-four hours before, the immense ice-field and the island had
turned half round, and in consequence of this displacement they were no
longer on the west, but on the east of the ice-wall!