This fanciful sketch was written and published, before the fate of
Sir John Franklin and his Discovery Ships was known.
There was not a curtain of any kind over the window.
Now, there are few things that I dislike more than this total want of
privacy in a bed-room. Opposite to a dead wall at a foot's distance, so
that none but bogies could peer within, or looking out through a
port-hole over the lonely sea, I confess to an almost old-maidenish
particularity in this respect. Failing, therefore, in sundry efforts to
substitute a great coat for a curtain, or even to delude myself into a
sense of seclusion, by planting an open umbrella upon a chair before the
window, I finally abandoned my efforts, determined to brazen it out,
blew out my light, and tumbled into bed, not in the best of humours.
You remember, perhaps, the bitter cold night and the flurry of a snow
storm, that came abruptly upon us, a few weeks since. That was the time
of which I write--the place was a country village. And what a freezing
night it was! The east wind blew gustily and drearily. It was
moonlight, but dull and grey; and as I lay in bed, without raising my
head from the starveling bolster vainly eked out by a meagre carpet bag,
I could see a single pine tree, on a steep bank right opposite my
window, nodding, and bowing at me by fits and by starts, as though the
capricious spirit of the night wind had bid it mock me. How I longed for
the sight of a chimney-pot!
There was no snow yet; but I listened to the rush of each driving blast,
and shrunk, huddling under the clothes, from the chill it sent through
me, as its keen edges forced their way through the crevices of the roof
over my head. At length, and after much tumbling and tossing, I fell
asleep--or believed that I did so; and presently I awoke again--or so it
seemed to me. What was sleeping, and what was waking, I scarcely knew,
that night.
Suddenly, there, between us--between myself, I mean, and the white,
shining hill-side--came an object, undefined in form but palpable in
substance, waving gently to and fro, passing and repassing before the
window, and at last appearing almost to touch it. Finally it became
stationary there, yet still undulating with that soft tremulous motion
which you may have noticed in the humming-bird, when, poised upon his
delicate wings, he darts his slender tongue into the petals of a
favourite flower. "What in the world is it?" I exclaimed; and had just
fancied that I could see a few slight cords reaching from it upwards,
above the upper edge of the window, when I distinctly heard a rap upon
the pane, and sprung from my bed, in wonderment, but not in fear. The
glass melted away--frame-work to the casement there was none--I passed
outwards, unconscious how or wherefore. I was seated, warmly and
comfortably seated, springing aloft into the moonlit and starry sky.
Then I knew that it was a balloon. It rose at the instant, and sped
rapidly through the air. The wind was strong, but blowing a steady gale;
not in gusts now, as it had been. And I felt that it was from the south,
for it was soft and balmy; and I knew that I was driving towards the
Polar star, for I saw it; and saw it growing larger and more luminous.
Then my spirit yearned after the missing Mariners; and I prayed Heaven
that I might be on my way to find them.
On we sped; but I was conscious, though the southerly gales were wafting
me to the frozen regions of the North, that there was a spirit beneath
or behind me, guiding the tiny car in which I was borne. I felt that he
was there, though I strove in vain to detect his presence. Slily did I
glance over my shoulder, abruptly did I turn my head, cautiously did I
crane over the edge--I could not see him. I felt him directing my looks
to what I beheld, shaping my thoughts whitherward they went; but it
pleased him to remain invisible.
It was yet night. Many rivers did we cross in our progress, some looking
inky-black as they flowed between snowy banks, others dimly made out,
and lost in the one unvaried tone. Lakes were there, too, and cities
sparcely scattered. The latter were mostly slumbering in the same quiet
as the former; but ascending from one I heard the alarm of a bell, and
glanced downwards at a herd of figures who seemed to be fussing and
fuming around a fire.
And now, for a moment, I knew that I was dreaming; and oh, grievous
disappointment, I half awoke to a consciousness that the vision was
slipping away from me. How I clutched at it! how I hugged it, and
refused to have a word to say to my senses! Did you never try this plan
and succeed in it? If not, I would not give a fig for your dreams.
But I caught up the thread of mine. Bravo! It was a narrow escape,
though. They told me, next day, that there had been a false alarm of
fire in the village, during the night. I would have been roasted alive,
rather than not have dreamed out my dream.
* * * * *
Day-light, and early summer, and we were hovering over the icy land and
icy sea, scarcely now distinguishable, one from other. Nor can I,
indeed, describe much of what I saw; for methought, that we were driving
hither and thither, not only in the dreary realm of the Frost-king, but
up, and down, and athwart the ordinary current of times and seasons. So
was there much confusion. Anon it was that awful Winter, whose cold will
eat, like red-hot iron, into the unguarded flesh, or more fatal still,
will palm off Death upon his victim under the alluring disguise of
Slumber--Winter, with his terrible silence, more fearful than the roar
of his fiercest hurricanes--Winter, with his blinding mantle of unbroken
white, and his snowdrifts wherein cities might be engulphed--Winter,
with his one redeeming beauty, one attendant goddess, one Aurora, the
Borealis, whose coruscations were so marvellous to behold, so changeful,
so grand, so brilliant, that I smiled in looking on them, to think that
ever human skill had fabricated fire-works, and that their display could
throw spectators into ecstacies.
And anon it was the Arctic summer--and the blue waters peeped at
intervals between giant pyramids of ice--pyramids, and pinnacles, and
turrets, and all shapely and all shapeless masses. And these were
floating in the sunlight--some majestically sailing through the ever
opening spaces, coming never in contact with their fellows--others
jarring, and crashing, and splintering into a thousand fragments, as the
upheaving waves compelled them perilously to embrace each other; and
their greeting was as the roar of thunder-storms. And uncouth walrusses
were playing their clumsy antics on detached fragments of the ice, and
the seal was basking in the sun, and the huge whale was spouting, and
the seagull was skimming the surface of the loosened deep, dipping
therein the tips of his wings, as though to assure himself that it was
indeed liquid. Landward, too--for there was land, also, beneath us--I
seemed to see the scanty blades of a dwarfish vegetation thrusting
themselves pertinaciously through the snow; and anon the garb of the
earth seemed changing from one universal white, to varied hues of brown
and green.
Those things and other such, rare and beautiful, were visible to the
bodily eye; but the eye of my mind was not therewith content. It
strained its utmost, but saw not what it longed for; and my voice broke
out in bitterness, "Oh, the ships and the men, the men and the ships,
the good Sir John and his daring crews!"
Then I was conscious that my attendant spirit impelled the balloon in a
direction hitherto unexplored, and lo! there beneath us was a ship--a
ship, one of the objects of my search!
A ship! and my heart bounded within me at the first glimpse I caught of
it. But ah! how the blood curdled in my veins, when, at the next moment,
I saw that the ship had not, and could not have occupants. Poor,
ill-fated, ill-treated vessel; never surely did typhoon or whirlwind so
displace thee from thy proper bearings. The troubled waters of the
Atlantic or the Caribbean Sea might indeed have reared thee upwards, and
plunged thee downwards, and made thee reel to and fro, like a drunkard;
but it was alone the frozen waters of the Arctic, that could have forced
thee into this unnatural position, and then cruelly nailed thee there,
to rot into decay.
Ay, stout ship _Erebus_ or _Terror_--I wot not which--there wert thou
lying, or rather there didst thou stand upright, thy bows grovelling in
the ice, thy stern uplifted high in air, thy keel propped up against a
sheer precipice of ice, thy bowsprit shivered into splinters, thy masts
and yards, and tackle, fallen all, and tangled in most inextricable
confusion. One stick alone remained set out horizontally from the deck.
From it drooped the tattered remnant of a flag; it was the blood-red
standard of England!
As the balloon glided downwards towards the wreck, I could have peered
into the after-cabin windows; but a single glance had already satisfied
me that no living being would be found on board. I have said that my
blood curdled in my veins. Turning hastily with a sudden movement of
indignation, I obtained a moment's glance at my guide--his form was
shadowy; but by his hideous features I recognized him as Despair, and
felt that he and I were one.
But ho, a pleasant change! Down we floated, till my tiny car was almost
on a level with the vessel's bows; and there--oh, joy of joys--were
signs, palpable and undoubted, that the crew had fared better than their
ship--that they had escaped, and were gone, and had carried what they
pleased away with them. At one view I comprehended this--I read it in
the aperture sawn through the doubled planking, and in the fragments of
casks and cases with which the ice was bestrewn around. There was a
board, too, with writing upon it, nailed up conspicuously; but I tried
in vain to decipher it. Under the impulse of strong excitement, I again
turned abruptly toward my guide; this time, I could not obtain a glimpse
of him. Methought, however, that I heard a rustle like the sound of
wings, and that the inflated silk over my head became suddenly tinted
with the hues of the rainbow. And so I knew that I was under the
guidance of Hope; and that Despair would trouble me no more. Whither my
countrymen were gone I could not conjecture; but, at least, I deemed
them safe.
* * * * *
Away, and away, we soared upwards and sped onwards; how far, and how
long, I marked not. And lo, another object! not a ship--it is a house,
this time; yes, a house in the lonely wilderness of that frozen ocean, a
hut upon the waves of that boundless _mer de glace_. And it was
fashioned in rude form; and the material was rough blocks of ice; and
snow seemed to have been used as their cement. The roof was formed by
poles and spars; and across them yet hung a sailcloth covering.
Roundabout the hut was a lofty wall, built apparently to shelter it from
storms, and snowdrifts; and the wall was built with the same material as
the house, for Nature's plentiful quarry fails not in those Polar
regions, if man's hand and man's axe be brought there, to hew and shape.
But for whom the shelter, and whither had they gone, who tenanted it? I
knew well that the long lost had been here. None but they--no miserable,
wandering tribe of Esquimaux--could have left such unmistakable marks of
forethought, and skill, and energy. Near by, too, was plainly visible
the icy cradle wherein a vessel had been lying, and on an even keel. But
ships and men were gone--gone, but how gone, and whither? Earnestly did
I gaze for some solution of this mystery; and at length I solved it, ay,
plain enough; a line along the surface of the ice became distinctly
visible, rugged and indented indeed, but straight, and stretching far
away to the Westward. Then was I assured that Sir John and his brave
comrades had been here, that they had cut out a channel for their
barque, and that the ice had closed in behind them, so soon as they had
passed on their way. Yes, I was on their track. And again I heard the
soft rustling of the wings of Hope; and the rainbow-tinted hues of the
balloon were three-fold more brilliant than before.
One other circumstance only could I note, ere we sped away again upon
the search--all who came hither had not departed hence. Side by side, in
a sheltered nook, beneath a towering pinnacle of ice, two wooden
crosses, peering above the snow, told plainly that beneath it two of the
Mariners were sleeping in death. And their names were rudely carved upon
the crosses; but again my sight, though in some respects preternaturally
sharpened, refused to satisfy my curiosity. Never mind, thought I, 'tis
a small proportion in so large a company. We must all die once; and
those who rest here, rest as well as though they were laid beneath the
"long-drawn aisle;" and their bodies are more enduringly embalmed by the
servants of the great Frost-King, than in olden days they could have
been by the hand of the cunning men of Egypt.
* * * * *
Upwards, and onwards, and steering ever a Westwardly course. And lo, at
length--oh, God be praised--yes I found the men I sought! Yes--no more
doubt--there I saw them below me, although, with the caprice incident to
dreams, I was prevented from dropping down in the midst of them, or
rendering myself either visible or audible.
A strange scene it was, independent of its surpassing interest. Rocky
islands--vast packs and floes of ice--a lone ship beset, impeded,
entangled--a hundred pairs of lusty arms at work with ice-saws and axes,
striving to extricate her, by cutting a channel in the direction where
open water was visible. A little apart from the busy groups stood one
whom I instantly recognised as the Chief. Care had furrowed his brow,
and somewhat whitened his locks, and bowed his vigorous form; but manly
resolution was stamped upon his features, and command was in every
gesture. Bethink you how I strove to shout--how I struggled even to
throw myself down into their arms; but the dream-spell was on me; I was
invisible, perforce, and my tongue refused to give utterance.
How I watched them! and look, the burly seaman who is a few steps ahead
of his comrades, tracking out the pathway to be dug--look, he starts as
though a rattlesnake were issuing from the snow under his feet. What is
it? He stoops, and I see his big brown hand tremble, as it assuredly
would not have done, if picking up a burning grenade. What is it, bold
tar, that moves thee thus? Ay, I see now, and know the cause, 'tis
yonder little slip of gay coloured silk on which are printed a few short
words. Jack could not read, it was evident enough; but he held up his
prize, and called out something which I could not hear, and his
mess-mates bounded to the spot. Foremost in the race was an athletic
young man, in the threadbare uniform of a Midshipman, who had left his
father's halls, five years ago, a beardless boy. Nor was the Chieftain
himself the last. How did it pass rapidly from hand to hand, that little
silken slip! How did its fall amongst them seem to change the whole
spirit of the scene! But look again, a gesture from the Chief, not as
one of authority this time, but rather as one of suggestion. It is
obeyed, however, and a hundred heads are bared; and by the movements of
their lips, I could see that every living man amongst them ejaculated a
hearty "amen" to the Chieftain's short but earnest thanksgiving to
Heaven, for the assistance now known to be at hand. Then I remembered
that the brave Sir John was a pious and a God-fearing man; and that the
veriest infidel sneers not at religion in the mouth of him, whose heart
is fearless and true.
Visible to me, if not audible, what extravagant demonstrations of joy
ensued! I felt my little car vibrating to their force, as cheers, peal
upon peal, came rolling up into the welkin. Singular was it, too, that
though in my dream my ears were stopped, I could read in the expressive
features of those rejoicing Mariners their varied emotions, as they
vociferated their glee. I could see in their honest countenances, which
cheer was for Old England--which for their Queen--which for their
homes--which for their wives and little ones. Then they burst forth into
grotesque dancing, and slapping of each others' hands, and jumping on to
each others' backs, and a thousand merry antics, as though they were
children just let loose from school. And anon, in their mirth, running
races hither and thither, one, an officer amongst them, picked up
another printed silken slip, in general aspect like the former, but
addressed, it seemed, to the Chieftain by name. A second look would have
been sufficient to master its contents, but the young man looked not the
second time, he hurried with it straightway to Sir John. Rare instance
this, methought, of the working of a high sense of honour!
And the veteran, what did it convey to him? I saw not; but I saw a tear
course down his furrowed cheek; and for the moment my ears were opened
to hear his half-smothered ejaculation, "Jane, Jane, God bless
thee--true wife, noble woman--we shall meet, thank God, we shall meet!"
So I watched the merry throng, and strove in vain to catch portions of
their earnest talk. Suddenly, all eyes were turned upon the Captain; he
was speaking, and pointing to the West. A few words only seemed to come
from his lips; but those surely were words of command. In a moment,
every man, though half delirious with delight, seized upon his axe or
his saw. Work recommenced; labour was distributed in gangs. Every arm
was vigorously plied. The watch, descended from the mast-head to hear
the wondrous tidings, mounted lustily again to his look-out station.
Each man was busy at his post; and though there was perchance some
display of increased energy and activity, you would not have surmised
that these patient labourers had just exchanged the gathering gloom of
Despair for the radiant smiles of Hope. O gallant hearts of oak, thought
I--resolute, unflinching, enduring, in the prospect of the dreariest of
fates--orderly, obedient, loyal, in the thrill of unexpected
deliverance.
* * * * *
The remainder of my dream came upon me in snatches.
Midway in a narrow strait, between lofty and sterile banks, a battered
and crippled barque was steering South. I knew the place to be Behring's
Straits, the vessel the Discovery Ship that I had just left amidst the
ice. So bruised, however, was she, so rent, and strained, and
maltreated, that but for the friendly aid of a consort's tow-rope, she
could scarcely have adventured even on this comparatively easy
navigation. At her peak floated the standard of England; but I strove in
vain to make out the colours of her welcome escort. Once, I thought I
saw plainly the Stars and Stripes of America; but these either faded
away, or assumed the appearance of the double-headed eagle of Russia. Be
that as it may, my sense of hearing was restored; and I could both hear
and see signs of continuous rejoicing and festivity. Sounds of mirth,
and song, and music, came upwards to me from those pleasant waters.
Many a canoe, too, filled with outlandish people, visited the ships; all
was wonder, and delight, and congratulation.
* * * * *
Hitherto there had been some consistency in my dream; for if my mode of
seeing were dream-like and fantastical, what I saw had the
verisimilitude of reality. But this was over, or at least was changed.
In place of being seated in the car of a balloon, I was now in the
maintop of Sir John's battered and leaky ship, a witness to what could
only have existence in the wild imaginings of a vision. For, methought
we were still steering to the South, when on our larboard hand uprose a
range of lofty hills, upon which it seemed to me that I could almost
have jumped. Down their sides rolled hundreds of little streams; and in
the waters, waist-deep, were myriads of human beings, delving, and
scraping, and washing, and picking up what seemed to me to be gold. But
they paused in their busy occupations, when they saw the approach of the
ships; and, holding up shining masses of the golden ore, shouted to the
long missing mariners to come to the mines, and gather a plentiful
harvest after their toils. Yardarm were we to the glittering hill-sides,
and the miners wore the air of men who rarely tempted in vain; but the
crew of the worn-out ship gaily shook their heads, laughed a pleasant
little laugh of defiance, and the words, "home, home," came floating up
to me from her deck.
* * * * *
Another trial. The men had theirs, and were staunch. It was the master's
turn. Heading still to the southwards, but almost becalmed, I saw a
swift steamer ranging fast up with us from astern. This time the Stars
and Stripes were plainly evident. She came alongside. Her captain was on
our deck in a moment, and engaged in earnest conversation with the good
Sir John. By the wave of his hand and a word caught here and there, I
knew that the kindly American was pressing the veteran to take passage
in his steamer. He drew a little almanac from his pocket, and there
seemed to be some comparison as to dates; but Sir John finally, with a
moistened eye, touched the other on the shoulder, pointed upwards to the
British ensign, and firmly shook his head. Away rushed the friendly
steamer, and the crowding passengers on her deck took leave of us with
reiterated cheers.
* * * * *
My dream was drawing to a close; but I yet was housed snugly in my new
position, when the look-out at the mast-head announced a sail. It might
have been the same day, or the next, or a week later. But he announced a
sail--then another--and another--and lastly a steamer under canvas. The
squadron bore down upon us. It consisted of two line-of-battle-ships, a
frigate, and a screw-propeller, under command of the British Admiral in
the Pacific. The greetings and salutes were over, and official etiquette
was somewhat relaxed under the intense excitement of the moment, when I
heard in my dream, on the quarter-deck of the flag ship, the Admiral
thus addressed the carpenter, with a certain meaning twinkle in his eye.
"That leaky old tub can never swim round Cape Horn, Carpenter." "I think
not, your Honour," discreetly replied Mr. Chips. "Youngster," continued
the Admiral turning quickly to a little middy, "go to Captain B. with my
compliments, and tell him to call an immediate survey on the Discovery
Ship." The little middy touched his cap respectfully, and off he jumped
with his message. "Mr. C.," cried the Admiral to the other midshipman
who stood by the signal-locker, "signalize the propeller to light her
fires, and get up all steam." In thirty seconds four bits of bunting
flew out from the mizen royal-mast head.
* * * * *
The last object that I saw in my vision was the figure of a woman,
walking the ramparts of an old Spanish city on the Pacific coast of
Central America. Matronly, and dignified in her air and bearing, her
featured bore the impress of past anxiety, but across them flitted at
times the consciousness of approaching joy. She gazed wistfully ever and
anon seaward; and my heart yearned to tell her all that I had so lately
seen. The herd of vulgar gold-hunters, who thronged the battlements,
respected her, for her long-continued sorrows, her abiding faith, her
matchless perseverance. They pressed not on her steps.
I, too, who knew more than they did, how I longed to see the
meeting--but no, no, 'twere better that it should be sacred.
I had not the choice; at this moment, forced upon my unwilling ears,
through the key-hole came a tiny voice, "Please, Sir, mother says won't
you get up; the stage will be here in ten minutes."