the Aleutian group, at the extreme south of Behring Sea, that all the
colonists of Fort Hope at last landed, after having traversed eighteen
hundred miles since the breaking-up of the ice. They were hospitably
received by some Aleutian fishermen who had hurried to their assistance,
and were soon able to communicate with some English agents of the
Hudson’s Bay Company.
After all the details we have given, it is needless to dwell on the
courage and energy of the brave little band, which had proved itself
worthy of its noble leader. We know how all struggled with their
misfortunes, and how patiently they had submitted to the will of God.
We have seen Mrs Barnett cheering every one by her example and sympathy;
and we know that neither she nor those with her yielded to despair when
the peninsula on which Fort Hope had been built was converted into a
wandering island, when that island became an islet, and the islet a
strip of ice, nor even when that strip of ice was melting beneath the
combined influence of sun and waves. If the scheme of the Company was
a failure, if the new fort had perished, no one could possibly blame
Hobson or his companions, who had gone through such extraordinary and
unexpected trials. Of the nineteen persons under the Lieutenant’s
charge, not one was missing, and he had even two new members in his
little colony, Kalumah and Mrs Barnett’s godson, Michael Mac-Nab.
Six days after their rescue the shipwrecked mariners arrived at New
Archangel, the capital of Russian America.
Here the friends, bound together by so many dangers shared, must part,
probably for ever! Hobson and his men were to return to Fort Reliance
across English America, whilst Mrs Barnett, accompanied by Kalumah, who
would not leave her, Madge, and Thomas Black, intended to go back to
Europe via San Francisco and the United States.
But whilst they were still altogether, the Lieutenant, addressing Mrs
Barnett, said with considerable emotion—
“God bless you, madam, for all you have been to us. You have been our
comforter, our consoler, the very soul of our little world; and I thank
you in the name of all.”
Three cheers for Mrs Barnett greeted this speech, and each soldier
begged to shake her by the hand, whilst the women embraced her
affectionately.
The Lieutenant himself had conceived so warm an affection for the lady
who had so long been his friend and counsellor, that he could not bid
her good-bye without great emotion.
“Can it be that we shall never meet again?” he exclaimed.
“No, Lieutenant,” replied Mrs Barnett;” we must, we shall meet
again. If you do not come and see me in Europe, I will come back to you
at Fort Reliance, or to the new factory you will found some day yet.”
On hearing this, Thomas Black, who had regained the use of his tongue
since he had landed on terra firma, came forward and said, with an air
of the greatest conviction—
“Yes, we shall meet again in thirty-six years. My friends, I missed
the eclipse of 1860, but I will not miss that which will take place
under exactly similar conditions in the same latitudes in 1896. And
therefore I appoint a meeting with you, Lieutenant, and with you,
my dear madam, on the confines of the Arctic Ocean thirty six years
hence.”
End of Part II