A HUNTING EXPEDITION, IN THE COURSE OF WHICH THE HUNTERS MEET WITH MANY
INTERESTING, DANGEROUS, PECULIAR, AND REMARKABLE EXPERIENCES, AND MAKE
ACQUAINTANCE WITH SEALS, WALRUS, DEER, AND RABBITS.
We must now return to Fred Ellice and his companions, Meetuck the
Esquimaux, O'Riley, and Joseph West, whom we left while they were on the
point of starting on a hunting expedition.
They took the direction of the ice hummocks out to the sea, and, seated
comfortably on a large sledge, were dragged by the team of dogs over the
ice at the rate of ten miles an hour.
"Well! did I iver expect to ride in a carriage and six?" exclaimed
O'Riley in a state of great glee as the dogs dashed forward at full
speed, while Meetuck flourished his awful whip, making it crack like a
pistol-shot ever and anon.
The sledge on which they travelled was of the very curious and simple
construction peculiar to the Esquimaux, and was built by Peter Grim
under the direction of Meetuck. It consisted of two runners of about
ten feet in length, six inches high, two inches broad, and three feet
apart. They were made of tough hickory, slightly curved in front, and
were attached to each other by cross bars. At the stem of the vehicle
there was a low back composed of two uprights and a single bar across.
The whole machine was fastened together by means of tough lashings of
raw seal-hide, so that, to all appearance, it was a rickety affair,
ready to fall to pieces. In reality, however, it was very strong. No
metal nails of any kind could have held in the keen frost; they would
have snapped like glass at the first jolt; but the seal-skin fastenings
yielded to the rude shocks and twistings, to which the sledge was
subjected, and seldom gave way, or, if they did, were easily and
speedily renewed without the aid of any other implement than a knife.
But the whip was the most remarkable part of the equipage. The handle
was only sixteen inches in length, but the lash was twenty _feet_ long,
made of the toughest seal-skin, and as thick as a man's wrist near the
handle, whence it tapered off to a fine point. The labour of using such
a formidable weapon is so great that Esquimaux usually, when
practicable, travel in couples, one sledge behind the other. The dogs
of the last sledge follow mechanically and require no whip, and the
riders change about so as to relieve each other. When travelling, the
whip trails behind, and can be brought with a tremendous crack that
makes the hair fly from the wretch that is struck--and Esquimaux are
splendid _shots_, so to speak. They can hit any part of a dog with
certainty, but usually rest satisfied with simply cracking the whip, a
sound that produces an answering yell of terror whether the lash takes
effect or not.
Our hunters were clothed in their Esquimaux garments, and cut the oddest
imaginable figures. They had a soft, rotund, cuddled-up appearance that
was powerfully suggestive of comfort. The sled carried one day's
provisions, a couple of walrus harpoons, with a sufficient quantity of
rope, four muskets, with the requisite ammunition, an Esquimaux
cooking-lamp, two stout spears, two tarpaulins to spread on the snow,
and four blanket sleeping-bags. These last were six feet long, and just
wide enough for a man to crawl into at night, feet first.
"What a jolly style of travelling, isn't it?" cried Fred, as the dogs
sprang wildly forward, tearing the sledge behind them, Dumps and Poker
leading, and looking as lively as crickets.
"Well now, isn't it true that wits jump?--that's jist what I was sayin'
to meself," remarked O'Riley, grinning from ear to ear as he pulled the
fur hood farther over his head, crossed his arms more firmly on his
breast, and tried to double himself up as he sat there like an overgrown
rat. "I wouldn't exchange it with the Lord Mayor o' London and his
coach an' six--so I wouldn't. Arrah! have a care, Meetuck, ye baste, or
ye'll have us kilt."
This last exclamation was caused by the reckless driver dashing over a
piece of rough ice that nearly capsized the sledge. Meetuck did not
answer, but he looked over his shoulder with a quiet smile on his oily
countenance.
"Ah, then, ye may laugh!" said O'Riley, with a menacing look, "but av ye
break a bone o' me body I'll--"
Down went the dogs into a crack in the ice as he spoke, over went the
sledge, and hurled them all out upon the ice.
"Musha! but ye've done it!"
"Hallo, West, are you hurt?" cried Fred anxiously, as he observed the
sailor fall heavily on the ice.
"Oh no, sir; all right, thank you!" replied the man, rising alertly and
limping to the sledge. "Only knocked the skin off my shin, sir."
West was a quiet, serious, polite man, an American by birth, who was
much liked by the crew in consequence of a union of politeness and
modesty with a disposition to work far beyond his strength. He was not
very robust, however, and in powers of physical endurance scarcely
fitted to engage in an Arctic expedition.
"An' don't ye think it's worth makin' enquiries about _me_?" cried
O'Riley, who had been tossed into a crevice in a hummock, where he lay
jammed and utterly unable to move.
Fred and the Esquimaux laughed heartily, while O'Riley extricated
himself from his awkward position. Fortunately no damage was done, and
in five minutes they were flying over the frozen sea as madly as ever in
the direction of the point at the opposite side of Red-snow Valley,
where a cloud of frost-smoke indicated open water.
"Now, look you, Mr Meetuck, av ye do that again ye'll better don't, let
me tell ye. Sure the back o' me's track entirely," said O'Riley, as he
rearranged himself with a look of comfort that belied his words. "Och,
there ye go again," he cried, as the sled suddenly fell about six
inches, from a higher level to a lower, where the floe had cracked,
causing the teeth of the whole party to come together with a snap. "A
man dursen't spake for fear o' bitin' his tongue off."
"No fee," said Meetuck, looking over his shoulder with a broader smirk.
"No fee, ye lump of pork! it's a double fee I'll have to pay the dacter
an ye go on like that."
_No fee_ was Meetuck's best attempt at the words _no fear_. He had
picked up a little English during his brief sojourn with the sailors,
and already understood much of what was said to him, but words were as
yet few, and his manner of pronouncing them peculiar.
"Holo! look! look!" cried the Esquimaux, leaping suddenly off the sledge
and checking the dogs.
"Eh! what! where?" ejaculated Fred, seizing his musket.
"I think I see something, sir," cried West, shading his eyes with his
hand, and gazing earnestly in the direction indicated by Meetuck.
"So do I, be the mortial!" said O'Riley in a hoarse whisper. "I see the
mountains and the sky, I do, as plain as the nose on me face!"
"Hush! stop your nonsense, man," said Fred. "I see a deer, I'm certain
of it."
Meetuck nodded violently to indicate that Fred was right.
"Well, what's to be done? luckily we are well to leeward, and it has
neither sighted nor scented us."
Meetuck replied by gestures and words to the effect that West and
O'Riley should remain with the dogs, and keep them quiet, under the
shelter of a hummock, while he and Fred should go after the reindeer.
Accordingly, away they went making a pretty long detour in order to gain
the shore, and come upon it under the shelter of the grounded floes,
behind which they might approach without being seen. In hurrying along
the coast they observed the footprints of a musk ox, and also of several
Arctic hares and foxes, which delighted them much, for hitherto they had
seen none of those animals, and were beginning to be fearful lest they
should not visit that part of the coast at all. Of course Fred knew not
what sort of animals had made the tracks in question, but he was an
adept at guessing, and the satisfied looks of his companion gave him
reason to believe that he was correct in his surmises.
In half an hour they came within range, and Fred, after debating with
himself for some time as to the propriety of taking the first shot,
triumphed over himself, and, stepping back a pace, motioned to the
Esquimaux to fire. But Meetuck was an innate gentleman, and modestly
declined, so Fred advanced, took a good aim, and fired.
The deer bounded away, but stumbled as it went, showing that it was
wounded.
"Ha! ha! Meetuck," exclaimed Fred, as he recharged in tremendous
excitement (taking twice as long to load in consequence), "I've improved
a little you see in my shoot--, o' bother this--ramrod!--tut! tut!
there, that's it."
Bang went Meetuck's musket at that moment, and the deer tumbled over
upon the snow.
"Well done, old fellow!" cried Fred, springing forward. At the same
instant a white hare darted across his path, at which he fired, without
even putting the gun to his shoulder, and knocked it over, to his own
intense amazement.
The three shots were the signal for the men to come up with the sledge,
which they did at full gallop, O'Riley driving, and flourishing the long
whip about in a way that soon entangled it hopelessly with the dogs'
traces.
"Ah, then, ye've done it this time, ye have, sure enough! Musha! what a
purty crature it is. Now, isn't it, West? Stop, then, won't ye (to the
restive dogs), ye've broke my heart entirely, and the whip's tied up
into iver so many knots. Arrah, Meetuck! ye may drive yer coach yerself
for me, you may; I've had more nor enough of it."
In a few minutes the deer and the hare were lashed to the sledge--which
the Irishman asserted was a great improvement, inasmuch as the carcass
of the former made an excellent seat--and they were off again at full
gallop over the floes. They travelled without further interruption or
mishap until they drew near to the open water, when suddenly they came
upon a deep fissure or crack in the ice, about four feet wide, with
water in the bottom. Here they came to a dead stop.
"Arrah! what's to be done now?" enquired O'Riley.
"Indeed I don't know," replied Fred, looking toward Meetuck for advice.
"Hup, cut-up ice, mush, hurroo!" said that fat individual. Fortunately
he followed his advice with a practical illustration of its meaning.
Seizing an axe he ran to the nearest hummock, and, chopping it down,
rolled the heaviest pieces he could move into the chasm. The others
followed his example, and, in the course of an hour, the place was
bridged across, and the sledge passed over. But the dogs required a
good deal of coaxing to get them to trust to this rude bridge, which
their sagacity taught them was not to be depended on like the works of
nature.
A quarter of an hour's drive brought them to a place where there was
another crack of little more than two feet across. Meetuck stretched
his neck and took a steady look at this as they approached it at full
gallop. Being apparently satisfied with his scrutiny, he resumed his
look of self-satisfied placidity.
"Look out, Meetuck, pull up!" cried Fred in some alarm; but the
Esquimaux paid no attention.
"O morther, we're gone now, for iver," exclaimed O'Riley, shutting his
eyes and clenching his teeth as he laid fast hold of the sides of the
sledge.
The feet of the dogs went faster and faster until they pattered on the
hard surface of the snow like rain. Round came the long whip, as
O'Riley said, "like the shot of a young cannon," and the next moment
they were across, skimming over the ice on the other side like the wind.
It happened that there had been a break in the ice at this point on the
previous night, and the floes had been cemented by a sheet of ice only
an inch thick. Upon this, to the consternation even of Meetuck himself,
they now passed, and in a moment, ere they were aware, they were passing
over a smooth, black surface that undulated beneath them like the waves
of the sea and crackled fearfully. There was nothing for it but to go
on. A moment's halt would have allowed the sledge to break through and
leave them struggling in the water. There was no time for remark. Each
man held his breath. Meetuck sent the heavy lash with a tremendous
crack over the backs of the whole team, but just as they neared the
solid floe, the left runner broke through. In a moment the men flung
themselves horizontally upon their breasts, and scrambled over the
smooth surface until they gained the white ice, while the sledge and the
dogs nearest to it were sinking. One vigorous pull, however, by dogs
and men together, dragged the sledge upon the solid floe, even before
the things in it had got wet.
"Safe!" cried Fred, as he hauled on the sledge rope to drag it farther
out of danger.
"So we are," replied O'Riley, breathing very hard, "and it's meself
thought to have had a wet skin at this minute. Come, West, lind a hand
to fix the dogs, will ye?"
A few minutes sufficed to put all to rights and enable them to start
afresh. Being now in the neighbourhood of dangerous ice, they advanced
with a little more caution; the possibility of seals being in the
neighbourhood also rendered them more circumspect. It was well that
they were on the alert, for a band of seals were soon after descried in
a pool of open water not far ahead, and one of them was lying on the
ice.
There were no hummocks, however, in the neighbourhood to enable them to
approach unseen; but the Esquimaux was prepared for such a contingency.
He had brought a small sledge, of about two feet in length by a foot and
a half in breadth, which he now unfastened from the large sledge, and
proceeded quietly to arrange it, to the surprise of his companions, who
had not the least idea what he was about to do, and watched his
proceedings with much interest.
"Is it to sail on the ice ye're goin', boy?" enquired O'Riley, at last,
when he saw Meetuck fix a couple of poles, about four feet long, into a
hole in the little sledge, like two masts, and upon these spread a piece
of canvas upwards of a yard square, with a small hole in the centre of
it. But Meetuck answered not. He fastened the canvas "sail" to a
cross-yard above and below. Then, placing a harpoon and coil of rope on
the sledge, and taking up his musket, he made signs to the party to keep
under the cover of a hummock, and, pushing the sledge before him,
advanced towards the seals in a stooping posture, so as to be completely
hid behind the bit of canvas.
"Oh the haythen, I see it now!" exclaimed O'Riley, his face puckering up
with fun. "Ah, but it's a cliver trick, no doubt of it!"
"What a capital dodge!" said Fred, crouching behind the hummock, and
watching the movements of the Esquimaux with deep interest.
"West, hand me the little telescope; you'll find it in the pack."
"Here it is, sir," said the man, pulling out a glass of about six inches
long, and handing it to Fred.
"How many is there, an' ye plaze?"
"Six, I think; yes--one, two, three,--I can't make them out quite, but I
think there are six, besides the one on the ice. Hist! there he sees
him. Ah! Meetuck, he's too quick for you."
As he spoke, the seal on the ice began to show symptoms of alarm.
Meetuck had approached to within shot, but he did not fire; the wary
Esquimaux had caught sight of another object which a lump of ice had
hitherto concealed from view. This was no less a creature than a
walrus, who chanced at that time to come up to take a gulp of fresh air,
and lave his shaggy front in the brine, before going down again to the
depths of his ocean home. Meetuck, therefore, allowed the seal to glide
quietly into the sea, and advanced towards this new object of attack.
At length he took a steady aim through the hole in the canvas screen,
and fired. Instantly the seal dived, and at the same time the water
round the walrus was lashed into foam, and tinged with red. It was
evidently badly wounded, for had it been only slightly hurt it would
probably have dived.
Meetuck immediately seized his harpoon, and rushed towards the
struggling monster, while Fred grasped a gun, and O'Riley a harpoon, and
ran to his assistance. West remained to keep back the dogs. As Meetuck
gained the edge of the ice the walrus recovered partially and tried,
with savage fury, to reach his assailant, who planted the harpoon deep
in its breast, and held on to the rope while the animal dived.
"Whereabouts is he?" cried O'Riley, as he came panting to the scene of
action.
As he spoke, the walrus ascended almost under his nose, with a loud
bellow, and the Irishman started back in terror as he surveyed at close
quarters, for the first time, the colossal and horrible countenance of
this elephant of the northern sea. O'Riley was no coward, but the
suddenness of the apparition was too much for him, and we need not
wonder that in his haste he darted the harpoon far over the animal's
head into the sea beyond. Neither need we feel surprised that when Fred
took aim at its forehead, the sight of its broad muzzle, fringed with
bristling moustache and defended by huge tusks, caused him to miss it
altogether. But O'Riley recovered, hauled his harpoon back, and
succeeded in planting it deep under the creature's left flipper, and
Fred, reloading, lodged a ball in its head which finished it. With
great labour the four men, aided by the dogs, drew it out upon the ice.
This was a great prize, for walrus flesh is not much inferior to beef,
and would be an acceptable addition of fresh meat for the use of the
_Dolphin's_ crew, and there was no chance of it spoiling, for the frost
was now severe enough to freeze every animal solid almost immediately
after it was killed.
The body of this walrus was not less than eighteen feet long and eleven
in circumference. It was more like an elephant in bulk and rotundity
than any other creature. It partook very much of the form of a seal,
having two large paw-like flippers, with which, when struggling for
life, it had more than once nearly succeeded in getting upon the ice.
Its upper face had a square, bluff aspect, and its broad muzzle and
cheeks were completely covered by a coarse, quill-like beard of
bristles, which gave to it a peculiarly ferocious appearance. The
notion that the walrus resembles man is very much overrated. The
square, bluff shape of the head already referred to, destroys the
resemblance to humanity when distant, and its colossal size does the
same when near. Some of the seals deserve this distinction more, their
drooping shoulders and oval faces being strikingly like to those of man
when at a distance. The white ivory tusks of this creature were
carefully measured by Fred, and found to be thirty inches long.
The resemblance of the walrus to our domestic land-animals has obtained
for it, among sailors, the names of the sea-horse and sea-cow, and the
records of its ferocity when attacked are numerous. Its hide is nearly
an inch thick, and is put to many useful purposes by the Esquimaux, who
live to a great extent on the flesh of this creature. They cut up his
hide into long lines, to attach to the harpoons, with which they catch
himself, the said harpoons being pointed with his own tusks. This tough
hide is not the only garment the walrus wears to protect him from the
cold. He also wears under-flannels of thick fat and a top-coat of close
hair, so that he can take a siesta on an iceberg without the least
inconvenience. Talking of siestas, by the way, the walrus is sometimes
"caught napping". Occasionally, when the weather is intensely cold, the
hole through which he crawls upon the ice gets frozen over so solidly
that, on waking, he finds it beyond even his enormous power to break it.
In this extremity there is no alternative but to go to sleep again,
and--die! which he does as comfortably as he can. The polar bears,
however, are quick to smell him out, and assembling round his carcass
for a feast, they dispose of him, body and bones, without ceremony.
As it was impossible to drag this unwieldy animal to the ship that
night, for the days had now shortened very considerably, the hunters
hauled it towards the land, and, having reached the secure ice, prepared
to encamp for the night under the lee of a small iceberg.