On and on sailed the beautiful _Valhalla_. East and west, but always
north, went she.
Peterkin was on a voyage of discovery, and one of his chief objects
seemed to be to keep clear of the ice, which had grown very heavy indeed.
It was a delightful holiday for the children as yet, but for the
professor a time of harder work than many know anything about at all. It
was really wonderful how this busy little man found time to play with the
children, with Flossy and with the dogs, or even to play his fiddle. But
this, he would have told you, was his way of taking exercise; and he told
Pansy that if it were not for her he didn't think he should ever be able
to find the island of gold he was in search of.
Do not think, though, it was all and always plain sailing. There were
dangers of many kinds. Sometimes storms would suddenly rise and blow for
a day or two at a stretch. At such times the sun was hidden, and the
cold became intense. The waves that broke on board were turned into ice,
covering the decks and bows, and giving to the ship a wondrous
appearance.
One evening, after a gale like this had blown over, the stowaways, who
had not dared to show face all day, were told to come up on deck.
What a sight! Why, the _Valhalla_ was like a ghost-ship. The decks were
white, and the bulwarks too. Every rope and stay seemed made of frosted
silver, while great icicles hung everywhere around.
It was very dark this evening, so that the children at first could hardly
see anything. But Pete soon had them all hoisted up on to the bridge.
And now he turned on the electric and coloured lights--crimson, blue, and
orange. Then, what a sight was there! It was one that caused Pansy and
Aralia quite to forget the beauty of a pantomime they had seen the winter
before.
They stood spell-bound, and would not have been a bit surprised if all
the deck had suddenly been crowded with fairies, with silver wands,
garlands of flowers, and wings of pearly gauze. But the only fairies were
the sailors, and every one of these looked like a very old man, because
heads and beards were white with frost and snow, and little icicles hung
round their hats.
The children dreamt of it all again that night; but lo! when they went on
deck next morning, before breakfast, to have a romp and a run with the
dogs and Flossy, everything was changed.
And what a change!
The sun was now shining brightly, with not a cloud in the blue sky.
Icebergs lay far astern; all around was a calm blue sea, with one great
whale half-asleep on its surface, wild birds more beautiful than any they
had ever seen before sailing around, and, more wonderful than anything
else, the _Valhalla_ was safe at anchor in front of a pretty island,
patched with the greens, reds, and browns of lovely flowers.
"Behold!" cried Peterkin, as he lifted Pansy up. "Behold, my child, the
land of gold and coals!"
Pansy's reply was to the point.
"Very pretty, very pretty," she said; "but, 'Fessor Pete, I wants to see
the gold--not the nasty coals."
This very forenoon Peterkin started off in the biggest boat to "spy out
the land", as he called it Tom and the three little stowaways were
allowed to come too. To them it was going to be a kind of picnic, and the
steward sent with them a huge basket, filled with enough good things to
last the whole crew for a week. As there was no wind, the men had to row
all the way.
"Oh," cried Pansy, "I hope dear Flossy won't swim away!"
Yes, they had taken Flossy with them as well as the dogs.
The water was deep and dark quite close to the beautiful shore, and the
girls could not help marvelling at the monsters of jelly-fish they saw
far down in its depths. Their bodies were as great as sunshades, and of
the same shape, and the legs they jerked out from under were spangled
with stars of blue and red. Once a huge shark swam up to the boat, leered
at them with his sly and evil eyes, then, turning on his back, showed a
mouth that could have swallowed them all. Poor Pansy drew nearer to the
professor with a cry of horror.
They found a little bay at last, and landed for a meal.
"I don't think there is anything that can hurt you here," said Peterkin,
"and, if you like, you can run about and gather flowers while I cruise
round the coast for an hour. There, I will leave you all the rugs, the
bear-skin, and the basket too."
They were delighted.
So off they set, Veevee and Briton bounding and barking in front, and
Flossy waddling behind. Tom had his rifle and plenty of cartridges, but
there was really nothing to shoot but the lovely gulls, and the boy was
not so cruel as to touch one of these.
So they wandered on and on and upwards, until they came to a level spot
all one lovely carpet of small wild flowers. Poppies of many colours grew
here, mosses, yellow stone-crop, and grasses of every hue, but they
agreed not to pick any until they should be returning. Still higher they
went up the mountain-side, when suddenly little Pansy exclaimed: "Look,
Tom! look, Ara! the sea is all flied away!"
[Illustration]
Tom stared behind him and stood aghast.
A huge wall of fog or white mist had quite covered the ocean and even the
shore, shutting them out from view, and was now slowly advancing towards
them. But that was not the worst, for a low, moaning wind came on before
it, and flakes of snow began to fall.
It was easy for Tom to say: "Let us get back at once to the beach, the
boat must be there already." They had come miles from the bay. Before
they could walk half the distance back, the snow-fog had swallowed them,
and it was no wonder that they lost their way, and became cold and faint
and dizzy.
Both Aralia and Pansy began to cry now, and at last sank down among the
dry snow, unable to move another yard.
Tom was a boy of great courage. He thought for a little, and then he
said: "Frank, if you can carry Pansy I'm sure I can manage Ara; and we
will try to find shelter somewhere till the storm is blown over."
So on again in this way they struggled, till, more dead than alive, they
found, by good luck, the welcome shelter of a cave. The cave was by no
means large, but they were surprised to find it so warm. The first thing,
however, that Tom did was to walk all round the inside, rifle in hand.
Tom had not been two years at sea for nothing. Meanwhile, where was
Flossy, and where was Briton?
Tom whistled again and again, till he said he had nearly whistled the
whites of his eyes out, but never a dog replied.
Something else had begun to whistle also, and that was the wind, and
although Tom made several attempts to leave the cave, to have a look at
the weather as he called it, he found it impossible to stand. Hours and
hours passed away like this, and the tempest seemed only to increase in
force.
They were all very hungry now, and so Tom shared out some biscuits he had
brought with him, and after they had swallowed a little snow they all sat
down to talk.
"I fear," said Tom, "we'll have to stay here all night. It will be good
fun, won't it, girls?"
He knew it was anything but fun himself, but he spoke in that way to keep
up the children's courage.
When Aralia said, "Yes," so did Pansy, but both looked very quiet.
Soon after this, to their great joy, in bounded Briton himself, and close
behind him waddled Floss. It was clear to all that he had been helping
Flossy along, for Flossy was still little more than a puppy; but, poor
wee beauty, how glad she was to see them all again!
She crawled up to Pansy, and lay down on her back to be scratched, which
was always Flossy's way of showing she was pleased.
Well, after they had all talked till they were tired, Tom said: "Now,
girls, just you lie down to sleep. Frank, here is my ticker." He gave his
cousin his watch as he spoke. "You have to do sentry for three hours.
Then wake me up and I'll let you lie down. See, I'll put my rifle and
belt, with fifty cartridges in it, beside you. Mind, that is only for
show, because you're too little a boy to touch guns. Anybody want a
little more snow? No? Very well."
So the girls curled up with Veevee and Floss, and Tom lay near. But
Briton seemed to say: "No, I won't sleep; I'll lie and watch with Frank."
Frank was not sorry to have the dog beside him for it was terrible to
feel all alone in such a dismal place.
Well, the night wore slowly on--one, two, three, four hours--and Frank
was just looking at the rifle, and pretending to aim at something in the
falling snow, when, all at once, Briton uttered a low warning growl and
sprang to his feet.
Next moment a great shambling bear was right in the mouth of the cave. He
gave a roar that seemed to shake the whole island.
Whether the boy took aim or not, I never could tell, but he certainly
fired the rifle, and down dropped Bruin dead, and lay in the snow with
his great tongue hanging out, a marvellous sight to see.
The noise in the cave was fearful, but as soon as the girls had stopped
screaming, Frank told what had happened.
"I tell you what it is, girls," he said more than once, "there wasn't the
least bit of bravery about it. I just held out the gun, and off it went."
"Oh, but you were brave!" said Aralia; "and if you hadn't killed the
awful monster, we should all be dead now.
"No, no," cried Tom, "it was only Flossy that the bear wanted! He just
wanted a bit of seal for supper."
"Wowff!" barked Briton.
"Wiff!" barked Veevee, as much as to say: "No bear shall touch Flossy
while we are alive."
But nobody thought of sleeping any more, and as they were all very
hungry, Tom served out more snow.