Fort Hope, and the next day the sun for the first time shone upon that
part of the coast which was formerly on the west of the island. Kalumah,
to whom this phenomenon was familiar, had been right, and if the sun had
not been the guilty party neither had the compass!
The position of Victoria Island with regard to the cardinal points was
again completely changed. Since it had broken loose from the mainland
the island—and not only the island, but the vast ice field in which it
was enclosed—had turned half round. This displacement proved that the
ice-field was not connected with the continent, and that the thaw would
soon set in.
“Well, Lieutenant,” said Mrs. Barnett, “this change of front is
certainly in our favour. Cape Bathurst and Fort Hope are now turned
towards the north-east, in other words towards the point nearest to the
continent, and the ice-wall, through which our boat could only have made
its way by a difficult and dangerous passage, is no longer between
us and America. And so all is for the best, is it not?” added Mrs.
Barnett with a smile.
“Indeed it is,” replied Hobson, who fully realised all that was
involved in this change of the position of Victoria Island.
No incident occurred between the 10th and 21st March, but there were
indications of the approaching change of season. The temperature varied
from 43° to 50° Fahrenheit, and it appeared likely that the breaking
up of the ice would commence suddenly. Fresh crevasses opened, and the
unfrozen water flooded the surface of the ice. As the whalers poetically
express it, the “wounds of the ice-field bled copiously,” and the
opening of these “wounds” was accompanied by a sound like the roar
of artillery. A warm rain fell for several hours, and accelerated the
dissolution of the solid coating of the ocean.
The birds, ptarmigans, puffins, ducks, &c., which had deserted the
island in the beginning of the winter, now returned in large numbers.
Marbre and Sabine killed a few of them, and on some were found the
tickets tied round their necks by the Lieutenant several months before.
Flocks of white trumpeter swans also reappeared, and filled the air with
their loud clarion tones; whilst the quadrupeds, rodents, and carnivora
alike continued to frequent the vicinity of the fort like tame domestic
animals.
Whenever the state of the sky permitted, which was almost every day,
Hobson took the altitude of the sun. Sometimes Mrs Barnett, who had
become quite expert in handling the sextant, assisted him, or took the
observation in his stead. It was now most important to note the very
slightest changes in the latitude and longitude of the island. It was
still doubtful to which current it would be subject after the thaw, and
the question whether it would be drifted north or south was the chief
subject of the discussions between the Lieutenant and Mrs Barnett.
The brave lady had always given proof of an energy superior to that of
most of her sex, and now she was to be seen every day braving fatigue,
and venturing on to the half decomposed, or “pancake” ice, in all
weathers, through snow or rain, and on her return to the factory ready
to cheer and help everybody, and to superintend all that was going on.
We must add that her efforts were ably seconded by the faithful Madge.
Mrs Barnett had compelled herself to look the future firmly in the face,
and although she could not fail to fear for the safety of all, and
sad presentiments haunted her, she never allowed herself to betray any
uneasiness. Her courage and confidence never seemed to waver, she was
as ever the kind encouraging friend of each and all, and none could have
dreamt of the conflict of spirit going on beneath her quiet exterior
demeanour. Lieutenant Hobson’s admiration of her character was
unbounded, and he had also entire confidence in Kalumah, often trusting
to her natural instinct as implicitly as a hunter to that of his dog.
The young Esquimaux was, in fact, very intelligent, and familiar from
babyhood with the phenomena of the Polar regions. On board a whaler she
might have advantageously replaced many an ice-master or pilot whose
business it is to guide a boat amongst the ice.
Every day Kalumah went to examine the state of the ice-field.
The nature of the noise produced by the breaking of the icebergs in the
distance was enough to tell her how far the decomposition had advanced.
No foot was surer than hers upon the ice, no one could spring more
lightly forwards than she when her instinct told her that the smooth
surface was rotten underneath, and she would scud across an ice-field
riddled with fissures without a moment’s hesitation.
From the 20th to the 30th March, the thaw made rapid progress. Rain
fell abundantly and accelerated the dissolution of the ice. It was to be
hoped that the ice-field would soon open right across, and that in about
fifteen days Hobson would be able to steer his boat into the open sea.
He was determined to lose no time, as he did not know but that the
Kamtchatka Current might sweep the island to the north before it could
come under the influence of the Behring Current.
“But,” Kalumah repeated again and again, “there is no fear of
that, the breaking up of the ice does not proceed upwards but downwards.
The danger is there!” she added, pointing to the south in the
direction of the vast Pacific Ocean.
The young girl’s confidence on this point reassured Hobson, for he had
no reason now to dread the falling to pieces of the island in the warm
waters of the Pacific. He meant everybody to be on board the boat before
that could happen, and they would not have far to go to get to one
or the other continent, as the strait is in reality a kind of funnel
through which the waters flow between Cape East on the Asiatic side and
Cape Prince of Wales on the American.
This will explain the eager attention with which the slightest change
in the position of the island was noticed. The bearings were taken every
day, and everything was prepared for an approaching and perhaps sudden
and hurried embarkation.
Of course all the ordinary avocations of the factory were now
discontinued. There was no hunting or setting of traps. The magazines
were already piled up with furs, most of which would be lost. The
hunters and trappers had literally nothing to do; but Mac-Nab and
his men, having finished their boat, employed their leisure time in
strengthening the principal house of the fort, which would probably be
subjected to considerable pressure from the accumulation of ice on
the coast during the further progress of the thaw, unless indeed Cape
Bathurst should prove a sufficient protection. Strong struts were fixed
against the outside walls, vertical props were placed inside the rooms
to afford additional support to the beams of the ceiling, and the roof
was strengthened so that it could bear a considerable weight. These
various works were completed early in April, and their utility, or
rather their vital importance, was very soon manifested.
Each day brought fresh symptoms of returning spring, which seemed likely
to set in early after this strangely mild Polar winter. A few tender
shoots appeared upon the trees, and the newly-thawed sap swelled the
bark of beeches, willows, and arbutus. Tiny mosses tinged with pale
green the slopes under the direct influence of the sunbeams; but they
were not likely to spread much, as the greedy rodents collected about
the fort pounced upon and devoured them almost before they were above
the ground.
Great were the sufferings of Corporal Joliffe at this time. We know that
he had undertaken to protect the plot of ground cultivated by his wife.
Under ordinary circumstances he would merely have had to drive away
feathered pilferers, such as guillemots or puffins, from his sorrel and
scurvy grass. A scarecrow would have been enough to get rid of them,
still more the Corporal in person. But now all the rodents and ruminants
of the Arctic fauna combined to lay siege to his territory; reindeer,
Polar hares, musk-rats, shrews, martens, &c., braved all the threatening
gestures of the Corporal, and the poor man was in despair, for whilst he
was defending one end of his field the enemy was preying upon the other.
It would certainly have been wiser to let the poor creatures enjoy
unmolested the crops which could be of no use to the colonists, as the
fort was to be so soon abandoned, and Mrs Barnett tried to persuade the
angry Corporal to do so, when he came to her twenty times a day with the
same wearisome tale, but he would not listen to her:
“To lose the fruit of all our trouble!” he repeated; “to leave an
establishment which was prospering so well! To give up the plants Mrs
Joliffe and I sowed so carefully!... O madam, sometimes I feel disposed
to let you all go, and stay here with my wife! I am sure the Company
would give up all claim on the island to us”——
Mrs Barnett could not help laughing at this absurd speech, and sent the
Corporal to his little wife, who had long ago resigned herself to the
loss of her sorrel, scurvy grass, and other medicinal herbs.
We must here remark, that the health of all the colonists remained good,
they had at least escaped illness; the baby, too, was now quite well
again, and throve admirably in the mild weather of the early spring.
The thaw continued to proceed rapidly from the 2nd to the 5th April. The
weather was warm but cloudy, and rain fell frequently in large drops.
The wind blew from the south west, and was laden with the heated dust
of the continent. Unfortunately the sky was so hazy, that it was quite
impossible to take observations, neither sun, moon, nor stars could be
seen through the heavy mists, and this was the more provoking, as it
was of the greatest importance to note the slightest movements of the
island.
It was on the night of the 7th April that the actual breaking up of the
ice commenced. In the morning the Lieutenant, Mrs Barnett, Kalumah, and
Sergeant Long, had climbed to the summit of Cape Bathurst, and saw
that a great change had taken place in the chain of icebergs. The huge
barrier had parted nearly in the middle, and now formed two separate
masses, the larger of which seemed to be moving northwards.
Was it the Kamtchatka Current which produced this motion? Would the
floating island take the same direction? The intense anxiety of the
Lieutenant and his companions can easily be imagined. Their fate might
now be decided in a few hours, and if they should be drifted some
hundred miles to the north, it would be very difficult to reach the
continent in a vessel so small as theirs.
Unfortunately it was impossible to ascertain the nature or extent of the
displacement which was going on. One thing was, however, evident, the
island was not yet moving, at least not in the same direction as the
ice-wall. It therefore seemed probable that whilst part of the ice field
was floating to the north, that portion immediately surrounding the
island still remained stationary.
This displacement of the icebergs did not in the least alter the opinion
of the young Esquimaux. Kalumah still maintained that the thaw would
proceed from north to south, and that the ice wall would shortly feel
the influence of the Behring Current. To make herself more easily
understood, she traced the direction of the current on the sand with
a little piece of wood, and made signs that in following it the island
must approach the American continent. No argument could shake her
conviction on this point, and it was almost impossible not to feel
reassured when listening to the confident expressions of the intelligent
native girl.
The events of the 8th, 9th, and 10th April, seemed, however, to prove
Kalumah to be in the wrong. The northern portion of the chain of
icebergs drifted farther and farther north. The breaking up of the ice
proceeded rapidly and with a great noise, and the ice field opened all
round the island with a deafening crash. Out of doors it was impossible
to hear one’s self speak, a ceaseless roar like that of artillery
drowned every other sound.
About half a mile from the coast on that part of the island overlooked
by Cape Bathurst, the blocks of ice were already beginning to crowd
together, and to pile themselves upon each other. The ice-wall had
broken up into numerous separate icebergs, which were drifting towards
the north. At least it seemed as if they were moving in that direction.
Hobson became more and more uneasy, and nothing that Kalumah could say
reassured him. He replied by counter-arguments, which could not shake
her faith in her own belief.
At last, on the morning of the 11th April, Hobson showed Kalumah the
last icebergs disappearing in the north, and again endeavoured to prove
to her that facts were against her.
“No, no!” replied Kalumah, with an air of greater conviction than
ever, “no, the icebergs are not going to the north, but our island is
going to the south!”
She might perhaps be right after all, and Hobson was much struck by
this last reply. It was really possible that the motion of the icebergs
towards the north was only apparent, and that Victoria Island, dragged
along with the ice-field, was drifting towards the strait. But it was
impossible to ascertain whether this were really the case, as neither
the latitude nor longitude could be taken.
The situation was aggravated by a phenomenon peculiar to the Polar
regions, which rendered it still darker and more impossible to take
observations of any kind.
At the very time of the breaking up of the ice, the temperature fell
several degrees. A dense mist presently enveloped the Arctic latitudes,
but not an ordinary mist. The soil was covered with a white crust,
totally distinct from hoar-frost—it was, in fact, a watery vapour
which congeals on its precipitation. The minute particles of which this
mist was composed formed a thick layer on trees, shrubs, the walls of
the fort, and any projecting surface which bristled with pyramidal or
prismatic crystals, the apexes of which pointed to the wind.
Hobson at once understood the nature of this atmospheric phenomenon,
which whalers and explorers have often noticed in the spring in the
Polar regions.
“It is not a mist or fog,” he said to his companions, “it is a
‘frost-rime’, a dense vapour which remains in a state of complete
congelation.”
But whether a fog or a frozen mist this phenomenon was none the less to
be regretted, for it rose a hundred feet at least above the level of the
sea, and it was so opaque that the colonists could not see each other
when only two or three paces apart.
Every one’s disappointment was very great. Nature really seemed
determined to try them to the uttermost. When the break up of the ice
had come at last, when the wandering island was to leave the spot in
which it had so long been imprisoned, and its movements ought to be
watched with the greatest care, this fog prevented all observations.
This state of things continued for four days. The frost-rime did not
disappear until the 15th April, but on the morning of that date a strong
wind from the south rent it open and dispersed it.
The sun shone brightly once more, and Hobson eagerly seized his
instruments. He took the altitude, and found that the exact position of
Victoria Island was then: Latitude, 69° 57’; longitude, 179° 33’.
Kalumah was right, Victoria Island, in the grasp of the Behring Current,
was drifting towards the south.