DESERTERS.
HANS had been for some time promising the hungry company a deer. He had
seen their tracks, and he was watching for them with a good rifle, a
keen eye, and a steady hand. He came in on the evening of February
twenty-second with the good news that he had lodged a ball in one at a
long range, and that he went hobbling away. He was sure he should find
him dead in the morning. The morning came and the game was found, having
staggered, bleeding, only two miles. He was a noble fellow, measuring in
length six feet and two inches, and five feet in girth. He weighed about
one hundred and eighty pounds when dressed. The enfeebled men with
difficulty drew him on board. His presence caused a thrill of joy, and
his luscious flesh sent its invigoration through their emaciated frames.
The following Sunday, as Dr. Kane was standing on deck thinking of their
situation, he lifted up his eyes toward a familiar berg, for many months
shrouded in darkness, and saw it sparkling in the sunlight. The King of
Day was not yet above the intervening hills, but he had sent his sheen
to proclaim his coming. Glad as a boy whom the full mid-winter moon
invites to a coasting frolic, he started on a run, climbed the
elevations, and bathed in his refreshing rays.
During the month of February, Petersen, Hans, and Godfrey had been sent
out on the track of the Esquimo, but they returned and declared that
Etah could not be reached. Their commander said, "Nay, it can!"
By the sixth of March the brig was again without fresh meat. The sick
were once more suffering for it, and the well growing feeble. Hans, the
resort in such emergencies, was given a light sledge, the two surviving
dogs, and to him was committed the forlorn hope. His departure called
forth from his commander a "God bless you!" and prayers followed him.
His story is simple and touching. He lodged the first night in the
"wind-loved," forsaken, desolate, yet friendly hut of Anoatok. He slept
as well as he could in a temperature fifty-three degrees below zero. The
next night he slept in a friendly hut at Etah. The oft-tried feat was
accomplished. But he found the Etahites lean and hungry. Hollow cheeks
and sunken eyes spoke of famine. The skin of a young sea-unicorn, their
last game, was all of food which remained to the settlement. They had
even eaten their light and fire blubber, and were seated in darkness,
gloomily waiting for the sun and the hunt. They had eaten, too, all but
four of their ample supply of dogs.
They hailed the coming of Hans with a shout. He proposed to join them in
a hunt, but they shook their heads. They had lost a harpoon and line in
the attempt to take a walrus the day before. The ice was yet thick, and
the huge monster in his struggles had broken the line over its sharp
edge. Hans showed them his "boom," and bidding them come on, started for
the hunting-grounds. Metek--Mr. Eider Duck--speared a fair-sized walrus,
and Hans gave him five conical balls in quick succession from a Marston
rifle, and he surrendered at discretion.
The return of the hunters caused great joy in the city of Etah, whose
two huts poured out their inhabitants to greet their coming, and aid in
rendering due honors to the game itself. As usual they laughed, feasted,
and slept, to awake, laugh, eat, and sleep again. Hans and his boom were
great in their eyes, but the Kablunah, whose representative he was, rose
before their vision as the glorious sun which scatters the long winter
darkness.
Hans obtained a hunter's share, and his appearance on the deck of the
"Advance," heralded by the yelping of the dogs, sent a thrill of joy
through every heart. As Dr. Kane grasped his hand on the deck, and began
to listen to his story, he exclaimed: "Speak louder, Hans, that they may
hear in the bunks!" The bunks did hear, and feel too, as the good news
came home to their hunger-wasted bodies in refreshing food.
As the commander had requested, Hans brought Myouk with him to assist in
hunting. The smart young hunter was delighted to be with the white men,
though his itching fingers would secrete cups, spoons, and other
valuables, which were made to come back to their proper places by sundry
cuffs and kicks, which, though perhaps not altogether pleasant of
themselves, caused him to cuddle down in his buffalo at his master's
feet like a whipped spaniel, and their relations grew daily more
enjoyable.
Hans and Myouk made soon after an unsuccessful hunt. This made the fresh
meat question come up again with its emphatic importance. The fuel
question, too, was becoming more and more a cause of concern. The
manilla cable had been chopped up and burned, and such portions of the
brig as could be spared, and not destroy her sea-going value, had gone
in the same way. Now the nine feet of solid ice in which she was
imbedded seemed to say that she would never float again, so she might as
well yield her planks to the fire. But to see her thus used went to the
hearts of her gallant men.
On the nineteenth of March Hans was dispatched to the Esquimo, well
supplied with the first quality of cord for their harpoons, and such
other prompters to, and helps in, the walrus hunt as occurred to his
commander. He would bless thereby and please these starving people,
hoping that the blessing would return in the form of fresh walrus to him
and his suffering men.
During the absence of Hans there were unusual and painful developments
at the brig. William Godfrey and John Blake had given Dr. Kane much
trouble from the first. They were now evidently bent on mischief, and
made constant watchfulness over them a necessity. Just as Hans left they
feigned sickness, and were suspected of desiring rest and recruited
strength for desertion. Their plan was believed to be to waylay Hans and
get his sledge and dogs. Dr. Kane contrived so shrewdly to keep one of
them at work under his eye, and the other in some other place, that they
did not perceive his suspicions of them. One night Bill was heard to say
that some time during the following day he should leave, and this was
reported to the commander by a faithful listener. He was, of course
watched, and at six o'clock was called to prepare breakfast. This he
commenced doing uneasily, stealing whispers with John. Finally he seemed
at his ease, and cooked and served the breakfast. Dr. Kane believed he
meant to slip out the first opportunity, meet John on deck, and desert;
he therefore armed himself, threw on his furs, made Bonsall and Morton
acquainted with his plans, and crept out of the dark avenue and hid near
its entrance. After an hour of cold waiting John crept out, grunting and
limping, for he had been feigning lameness, looked quickly round, and
seeing no one, mounted nimbly the stairs to the deck. Ten minutes later
Godfrey came out, booted and fur-clad for a journey. As he emerged from
the tossut his commander confronted him, pistol in hand. He was ordered
back to the cabin, while Morton compelled John's return, and Bonsall
guarded the door preventing any one passing out. In a few moments John
came creeping into the cabin, awful lame and terribly exhausted in his
effort to breathe a little fresh air on deck. He looked amazed as by the
glare of the light he saw the situation.
The commander then explained to the company the offenses of the
culprits, giving from the log-book the details of their plotting. He had
prepared himself for the occasion, and Bill, the principal, was punished
on the spot. He confessed his guiltiness, promised good behavior, and in
view of the few men able to work, his hand-cuffs were removed and he was
sent about his customary business. In an hour after he deserted. Dr.
Kane was at the moment away hunting, and his escape was not noticed
until he was beyond the reach of a rifle ball.
The next two weeks were weary, anxious weeks, though the ever-watchful
Hand tendered in good time occasion for hope. Six sea-fowl and three
hares were shot by Petersen, and gave indispensable refreshment to the
sick.
On the second of April, just before noon, a man was seen, with a
dog-sledge, lurking behind the hummocks near the brig. Dr. Kane went out
armed to meet him. It proved to be Godfrey the deserter, who, seeing his
old comrades, left the sledge and run. Leaving Bonsall with his rifle to
make sure of the sledge, the doctor gave chase, and the fugitive, seeing
but one following, stopped and turned around. He said he had made up
his mind to spend the rest of his life with Kalutunah and the Esquimo,
and that no persuasion nor force should prevent him. A loaded pistol
presented at his head did, though, persuade him to return to the brig.
When he reached the gangway he refused to budge another step. Petersen
was away hunting, Bonsall and Dr. Kane were so weak that they could
barely stand, and all the other men, thirteen, were prostrated with the
scurvy, so that they could not compel him by physical force. As the
doctor was desirous not to hurt him, he left him under the guardianship
of Bonsall's weapons while he went below for irons. Just as he returned
to the deck Godfrey turned and fled. Bonsall presented his pistol, which
exploded the cap only. Kane seized a rifle, but being affected by the
cold, it went off in the act of cocking. A second gun, fired in haste at
a long range, missed its mark. So the rebel made good his retreat.
He had come back with Hans' sledge and dogs, and reported him sick at
Etah from over exhaustion. But there was one consolation in the
affair--the sledge was loaded with walrus-meat. The feast that followed
revived the drooping men wonderfully. They ate, were thankful, and
looked hopefully on the future.
Godfrey was suspected of having come back to get John. The desertion of
two well men when so many were sick would imperil the lives of all. The
commander felt that the safety of the whole required the faithfulness of
each man, he therefore explained the situation to the men and declared
his determination to punish desertion, or the attempt to desert, by the
"sternest penalty."
Hans became now the subject of anxiety. Some unfair dealing toward him
on the part of Godfrey was feared. It was thought but just that he
should be sought, and, if in trouble, relieved. But who should go? Dr.
Kane finally resolved to go after him himself. Besides, the question of
more walrus was again pressing.
April tenth the doctor was off. The first eleven hours the dogs carried
him sixty-four miles, a most remarkable speed for their short rations.
While thus speeding along, far out on the floe, he spied a black speck
in-shore away to the south. Was it some cheat of refraction? He paused,
took his gun, and sighted the object, a device of old Arctic travelers
to baffle refraction. It is an animal--yes, a man! Away went the dogs,
ten miles an hour, while the rider cheated them with the shout,
"Nannook! nannook!"--a bear! a bear! In a few moments Hans and the
doctor were in grateful, earnest talk. He had really been sick. He had
been down five days, and, as he expressed it, still felt "a little
weak." He took his commander's place on the sledge and both went to the
friendly hut at Anoatok, where hot tea and rest prepared both for the
return to the brig.