When the breaking up of the ice occurred there were three parties who
were imperiled by that occurrence besides the boys.
Those on board the Arctic had due warning, and, although the ship was
badly shattered, the crew got it in order to run the dangerous course
the chopping sea opened to it.
The seven sailors who had left the sled also saw their danger. They
hurried towards the ship, and not one moment too soon reached its deck.
Then, driven rapidly forward, the Arctic sped on its way, unable to
stop and aid those who had been left behind.
To the crew of the ship, as to Will Bertram and his companions, the
fate of the two sailors, Jack and Hugo, was a mystery.
The old tars, however, had not been caught in the broken ice, but had
reached a place of safety before extreme peril had come.
They had been engaged in conversing, and had not noticed the movements
of the party searching for the bear, nor that the boys had wandered out
of sight.
Engrossed in discussing some complex marine question, it was not until
the break-up had reached the ship that they aroused to a sense of their
peril.
Jack’s first thought was of the missing members of his party.
“The boys!” he ejaculated, starting to his feet and eagerly scanning
the scene.
Like Will and his companions they saw the ship’s dilemma and the
sailors rushing towards it.
An instinct of self preservation bade them believe that they themselves
might reach the Arctic, but the brave old sailors were true to their
duty.
“The boys have gone beyond the field here,” said Hugo.
“We must find them,” replied Jack. “Quick, mate, let us get the sled
out of this!”
The oncoming ice warned them to act quickly.
There was no way, however, to drag the sled up the ascent to the place
where the boys had gone.
They kept dragging it along the ice for quite a distance, hoping to
find an opening.
“It’s no use,” said Jack at last, with an anxious look at the ice
plain. “The break-up will overtake us in a few moments.”
“Shall we abandon the sled?” asked Hugo.
“Yes; but not the things on it. We may need them yet.”
A large tarpaulin covered the sled, and they gathered it and its
contents up.
Among them was an axe.
Seizing this, Jack began cutting steps in the icy wall, and then, by
means of these, they gained the upper ice.
The sled was borne upwards and crushed to pieces a few minutes later.
They had escaped certain death, and just in time.
Each seizing an end of the tarpaulin, they started inland, seeking for
the boys everywhere.
Jack was terribly anxious when darkness came down.
They shouted themselves hoarse for nearly an hour, and wandered
aimlessly over the place.
“We must find them,” remarked Hugo.
“They will be lost in this terrible cold. Look, mate.”
“What is it?”
“A light.”
A dull glow, some distance away, met their vision.
“It’s the Aurora,” remarked Hugo.
“Not in the south, mate.”
“What, then?”
“Some kind of a fire.”
They struggled on heroically, tired as they were, towards the distant
light.
The jagged, irregular ice caused several detours, and the light had
become a vague reflection when at length they reached the vicinity of
the spot whence it emanated.
“It was a fire,” said Jack, as, looking beyond them, he caught sight of
some glowing cinders.
They dropped the tarpaulin and its contents, and Jack ran forward.
A moment later his waiting companion heard him call:
“Ahoy, mate, we’ve found them.”
“The boys?” cried Hugo, dragging the tarpaulin towards the ice cave.
“Yes, and asleep.”
“They are lost, then, in this cold and exposed to the open air?”
“No, but they soon would be. To work, Hugo. They must be awakened.”
It was a lively scene that ensued. The two stalwart sailors dragged the
boys to and fro, put on their overcoats, beat their hands and feet, and
finally had them wide awake.
Jack bathed their hands and faces with alcohol, a can of which was
found in the outfit of the sled.
The sight of friends made the boys more hopeful and courageous, and
they listened with attention to Jack’s directions.
It was not safe to sleep, he told them, and managed to keep them moving
until Hugo and he had improvised a warm shelter.
They took the articles from the tarpaulin and spread the latter over
the entrance to the ice cave.
They then cut a round, circular hole in the ice and pouring some
alcohol into it set it on fire.
It was remarkable how the brief but fierce heat of the burning spirits
warmed the temperature of the place.
The long night was uncomfortable, but old Jack was quite satisfied when
morning came to find none of them frost-bitten or sick from the cold.
His first work of the morning was to take an inventory of the things
from the sled.
They consisted of the articles the sailors had taken from the ship
in case of exigency, and consisted of a can of alcohol, two guns, a
hatchet, package of powder, caps and lead bullets, a package of food,
some ropes and several large knives.
“These will be valuable to us if we have to stay here any length of
time,” remarked Jack.
“You don’t think the Arctic will return, do you?” inquired Will.
“It may. Anyway, we seem to be on solid ground, and, as you observe,
the sea is quite open beyond. We will remain here for a few days.”
“And freeze to death, as we came very nearly doing last night?”
“No; we must provide for that.”
“How?”
“By building a house.”
“There is no wood,” suggested Tom.
“We don’t need any.”
“What will you build the house of then?”
“Ice and snow, like the Esquimaux.”
While Jack imparted his plan to his fellow exiles they helped
themselves to what provisions had been saved from the sled.
They found enough canned meat and biscuits to last them for a day or
two, and the food revived them considerably.
The day was much warmer than the night, and they did not suffer from
the cold to any extent.
After breakfast Jack selected a spot where they could safely build the
ice house.
He secured a firm foundation on the ice, and then, with the hatchet,
began to cut blocks of ice and shape them as he wished them.
It was an interesting day for the boys. They were so engrossed in
watching and helping Jack and Hugo that when the ice hut was completed
they were amazed to find that the day had nearly passed.
The hut was built in circular shape, with a very small aperture at the
top. The cracks were filled with snow, and water thrown over it to form
a complete casing.
In front a single block was left open, which, removed, allowed of
entrance to the hut.
The boys were compelled to crawl through this aperture, and found quite
a cozy interior, around which packed-down banks of snow indicated the
couches they were to lie on.
The tarpaulin was cut up and distributed around. Out of a powder flask,
with a wick made of cloth, Jack improvised an alcohol lamp to afford
light.
After supper the entire party rolled up in their overcoats. Jack closed
the aperture or door tightly, and then saturated a piece of cloth with
alcohol several times and set it on fire.
This heated the air of the hut quite comfortably, and the experiment
was repeated several times throughout the night.
The next day Jack gave the boys various bits of advice tending to show
them how to avoid the cold.
The provision stock was getting low, and he and Hugo started out with
loaded guns to find what game they could.
They returned successful before nightfall. They had found a large bird
resembling a duck and quite a quantity of a species of moss.
“We will fare better to go farther to the interior,” said Jack that
night.
“And leave this place where the Arctic may return!” asked Hugo.
“I have watched the movement of the ice,” said Jack in reply, “and I
believe that the Arctic, borne before it, will be carried too far to
come back readily. At any rate, we will take a tramp back from the
coast to-morrow.”
The next morning they packed up their traps and left the open water
behind them.
The sun was quite warm, and in some places the snow was melting. At any
event, they scarcely felt the cold.
The tracks of various animals were observed, but none seen or captured.
After traveling for many miles they came to a broad, open waterway
similar to the one they had left behind.
“We are on an island,” remarked Jack, after surveying the country.
“Yonder across the water is probably the mainland. The question is,
shall we decide to remain here or attempt to cross over to what is
undoubtedly a much larger scope of territory?”
“How can we do it?” inquired Hugo.
“We must devise some way. For the night we will stay here.”
“And build another ice house?” inquired Tom.
“No; we will secure temporary quarters and make a rough snow house.”
Ready hands soon constructed a hut. The weather was much colder than
the preceding night, but with the alcohol and some moss they managed to
pass a comfortable night.
When they awoke they found a thin sheet of ice covering the water,
evidently an arm of the sea. Large cakes of ice were held in the field,
and after breakfast Jack imparted his plan to his companions.
“We must ferry across on the cakes of ice,” he said. “The new ice is
thin, and can be broken through easily. It is not more than half a mile
across.”
Jack selected a large cake of ice near the shore and they all got on it.
Then Jack took a rope from the sled and, attaching the hatchet, flung
it to the nearest large cake of ice, when he would pull on the rope and
slowly progress forward.
It took several hours to cross the water. When they at length reached
the opposite shore they saw that the new ice had melted and the
floating cakes were speeding along to the sea.
The mainland they believed they had reached was in character like the
island they had left, a vast field of ice and snow.
While Hugo and Will were exploring for a place for a camp for the night
the latter became very much excited as he observed what seemed to be an
ice hut.
It was covered with the snow of many storms, but its shape was plainly
defined.
“Is it a hut?” Hugo asked Will, eagerly.
“Yes, lad, and it has been occupied at some time or other. Run for
Jack. This may prove an important discovery.”