"our greatest fear was to see you returning quietly to Fort Providence
without thought of danger."
"O, I saw everything!" answered the doctor; "your shots warned me; I
happened to be near the fragments of the _Porpoise_; I climbed up a
hummock; I saw five bears chasing you; ah, I feared the worst for you!
But the way you slid down the hill, and the hesitation of the animals,
reassured me for a time; I knew you'd had time to lock yourselves in.
Then I approached gradually, climbing and creeping between cakes of
ice; I arrived near the fort, and I saw the huge beasts working like
beavers; they were tossing the snow about, heaping up the ice so as to
bury you alive. Fortunately, they did not think of hurling the blocks
down from the top of the cone, for you would have been crushed without
mercy."
"But," said Bell, "you were not safe, Doctor; couldn't they leave
their place and attack you?"
"They didn't think of it; the Greenland dogs which Johnson let loose
would sniff around at a little distance, but they didn't think of
attacking them; no, they were sure of better game."
"Thanks for the compliment," said Altamont, smiling.
"O, you needn't be vain of it! When I saw the tactics of the bears, I
resolved to join you; to be prudent, I waited till night; so at
twilight I slipped noiselessly towards the slope, on the side of the
magazine; I had my own idea in choosing this point; I wanted to make a
gallery; so I set to work; I began with my snow-knife, and a capital
tool it is! For three hours I dug and dug, and here I am, hungry and
tired, but here at last--"
"To share our fate?" asked Altamont.
"To save all of us; but give me a piece of biscuit and some meat; I'm
half starved."
Soon the doctor was burying his white teeth in a large slice of salt
beef. Although he was eating, he appeared willing to answer the
questions they put to him.
"To save us?" Bell began.
"Certainly," answered the doctor, "and to rid us of the malicious
pests who will end by finding our stores and devouring them."
"We must stay here," said Hatteras.
"Certainly," answered the doctor, "and yet rid ourselves of these
animals."
"There is then a means?" asked Bell.
"A sure means," answered the doctor.
"I said so," cried Johnson, rubbing his hands; "with Dr. Clawbonny, we
need not despair; he always has some invention handy."
"Not always handy; but after thinking for a while--"
"Doctor," interrupted Altamont, "can't the bears get through the
passage-way you cut?"
"No, I took the precaution of closing it behind me; and now we can go
from here to the powder-magazine without their suspecting it."
"Good! Will you tell us what means you intend to employ to rid us of
these unpleasant visitors?"
"Something very simple, and which is already half done."
"How so?"
"You'll see. But I forgot I didn't come alone."
"What do you mean?" asked Johnson.
"I have a companion to introduce to you."
And with these words he pulled in from the gallery the newly killed
body of a fox.
[Illustration]
"A fox!" cried Bell.
"My morning's game," answered the doctor, modestly, "and you'll see no
fox was ever wanted more than this one."
"But what is your plan, after all?" asked Altamont.
"I intend to blow the bears up with a hundred pounds of powder."
They all gazed at the doctor with amazement.
"But the powder?" they asked.
"It is in the magazine."
"And the magazine?"
"This passage-way leads to it. I had my own reason for digging this
passage sixty feet long; I might have attacked the parapet nearer to
the house, but I had my own idea."
"Well, where are you going to put the mine?" asked the American.
"On the slope, as far as possible from the house, the magazine, and
the stores."
"But how shall you get all the bears together?"
"I'll take charge of that," answered the doctor; "but we've talked
enough, now to work; we have a hundred feet to dig out to-night; it's
tiresome work, but we five can do it in relays. Bell shall begin, and
meanwhile we can take some rest."
"Really," said Johnson, "the more I think of it, the more I admire Dr.
Clawbonny's plan."
"It's sure," answered the doctor.
"O, from the moment you opened your mouth they are dead bears, and I
already feel their fur about my shoulders!"
"To work, then!"
The doctor entered the dark gallery, followed by Bell; where the
doctor had gone through, his companions were sure to find no
difficulty; two reached the magazine and entered among the barrels,
which were all arranged in good order. The doctor gave Bell the
necessary instructions; the carpenter began work on the wall towards
the slope, and his companion returned to the house.
[Illustration]
Bell worked for an hour, and dug a passage about ten feet long,
through which one might crawl. Then Altamont took his place, and did
about as much; the snow which was taken from the gallery was carried
into the kitchen, where the doctor melted it at the fire, that it
might take up less room. The captain followed the American; then came
Johnson. In ten hours, that is to say, at about eight o'clock in the
morning, the gallery was finished. At daybreak the doctor peeped at
the bears through a loop-hole in the wall of the powder-magazine.
The patient animals had not left their place; there they were, coming
and going, growling, but in general patrolling patiently; they kept
going around the house, which was gradually disappearing beneath the
snow. But at length they seemed to lose patience, for the doctor saw
them begin to tear away the ice and snow they had heaped up.
"Good!" he said to the captain, who was standing near him.
"What are they doing?" he asked.
"They seem to be trying to destroy what they have done and to get to
us! But they'll be destroyed first! At any rate, there is no time to
lose."
The doctor made his way to the place where the mine was to be laid;
then he enlarged the chamber all the height and breadth of the slope;
a layer of ice, only a foot thick at the outside, remained; it had to
be supported lest it should fall in. A stake resting on the granite
soil served as a post; the fox's body was fastened to the top, and a
long knotted cord ran the whole length of the gallery to the magazine.
The doctor's companions followed his orders without clearly
understanding his intention.
"This is the bait," he said, pointing to the fox.
At the foot of the post he placed a cask holding about a hundred
pounds of powder.
[Illustration]
"And here is the charge," he added.
"But," asked Hatteras, "sha'n't we blow ourselves up at the same
time?"
"No, we are far enough off from the explosion; besides, our house is
solid; and if it is hurt a little we can easily repair it."
"Well," continued Altamont; "but how are you going to set it off?"
"This way. By pulling this cord we pull over the post which holds up
the ice above the powder; the fox's body will suddenly be seen on the
slope, and you must confess that the starving animals will rush upon
this unexpected prey."
"Certainly."
"Well, at that moment I shall explode the mine, and blow up guest and
dinner."
"Well, well!" exclaimed Johnson, who was listening eagerly.
Hatteras had perfect confidence in his friend, and asked no question.
He waited. But Altamont wanted it made perfectly clear.
"Doctor," he began, "how can you calculate the length of the fuse so
exactly that the explosion will take place at the right moment?"
"It's very simple," answered the doctor; "I don't make any
calculation."
"But you have a fuse a hundred feet long?"
"No."
"Shall you set a train of powder simply?"
"No! that might fail."
"Will some one have to volunteer and light the powder?"
"If you want any one," said Johnson, eagerly, "I'm your man."
"It's not necessary, my friend," answered the doctor, grasping the
boatswain's hand; "our five lives are precious, and they will be
spared, thank God!"
"Then," said the American, "I can't guess."
"Well," answered the doctor, smiling, "if we couldn't get out of this
little affair, what would be the use of physics?"
"Ah!" said Johnson, brightening up, "physics!"
"Yes! Haven't we here an electric pile and wires long enough,--those,
you know, which connected with the lighthouse?"
"Well?"
"Well, we shall explode the powder when we please, instantly, and
without danger."
"Hurrah!" shouted Johnson.
"Hurrah!" repeated his companions, not caring whether the enemy heard
them or not. Soon the electric wires were run through the gallery from
the house to the chamber of the mine. One of the extremities remained
at the pile, the other was plunged into the centre of the cask, the
two ends being placed at but a little distance from one another. At
nine of the morning all was finished, and it was time; the bears were
tearing the snow away furiously. The doctor thought the proper time
had come. Johnson was sent to the magazine and charged with pulling
the cord fastened to the post. He took his place.
"Now," said the doctor to his companions, "load your guns in case they
should not be all killed at once, and take your place near Johnson; as
soon as you hear the explosion, run out."
"All right!" said the American.
"And now we have done all that men can do! We have helped ourselves;
may God help us!"
Hatteras, Altamont, and Bell went to the magazine. The doctor remained
alone at the pile. Soon he heard Johnson's voice crying,--
"Ready?"
"All right!" he answered.
Johnson gave a strong pull at the rope; it pulled over the stake; then
he ran to the loop-hole and looked out. The surface of the slope had
sunk in. The fox's body was visible upon the shattered ice. The bears,
at first surprised, crowded about this new prey.
[Illustration]
"Fire!" shouted Johnson.
The doctor at once established the electric current between the
threads; a loud explosion followed; the house shook as if in an
earthquake; the walls fell in. Hatteras, Altamont, and Bell hastened
out of the magazine, ready to fire. But their guns were not needed;
four of the five bears fell about them in fragments, while the fifth,
badly burned, ran away as fast as he could.
[Illustration: "A loud explosion followed."]
"Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" shouted the doctor's companions, while they
crowded about him and embraced him.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE POLAR SPRING.
The prisoners were set free; they expressed their joy by the warmth of
their thanks to the doctor. Johnson regretted somewhat the skins,
which were burned and useless; but his regret did not sour his temper.
They spent the day in repairing the house, which was somewhat injured
by the explosion. They took away the blocks heaped up by the animals,
and the walls were made secure. They worked briskly, encouraged by the
cheery songs of the boatswain.
The next day the weather was much milder; the wind changed suddenly,
and the thermometer rose to +15 degrees. So great a difference was
soon felt by both man and nature. The southerly wind brought with it
the first signs of the polar spring. This comparative warmth lasted
for many days; the thermometer, sheltered from the wind, even rose as
high as +31 degrees, and there were signs of a thaw. The ice began to
crack; a few spirts of salt-water arose here and there, like jets in
an English park; a few days later it rained hard.
[Illustration]
A dense vapor arose from the snow; this was a good sign, and the
melting of the immense masses appeared to be near at hand. The pale
disk of the sun grew brighter and drew longer spirals above the
horizon; the night lasted scarcely three hours. Another similar
symptom was the reappearance of some ptarmigans, arctic geese, plover,
and flocks of quail; the air was soon filled with the deafening cries
which they remembered from the previous summer. A few hares, which
they were able to shoot, appeared on the shores of the bay, as well as
the arctic mice, the burrows of which were like a honeycomb. The
doctor called the attention of his friends to the fact that these
animals began to lose their white winter plumage, or hair, to put on
their summer dress; they were evidently getting ready for summer,
while their sustenance appeared in the form of moss, poppy, saxifrage,
and thin grass. A new life was peering through the melting snows. But
with the harmless animals returned the famished foes; foxes and wolves
arrived in search of their prey; mournful howling sounded during the
brief darkness of the nights.
[Illustration]
The wolf of these countries is near of kin to the dog; like him, it
barks, and often in such a way as to deceive the sharpest ears, those
of the dogs themselves, for instance; it is even said that they employ
this device to attract dogs, and then eat them. This has been observed
on the shores of Hudson's Bay, and the doctor could confirm it at New
America; Johnson took care not to let loose the dogs of the sledge,
who might have been destroyed in that way. As for Duke, he had seen
too many of them, and he was too wise to be caught in any such way.
During a fortnight they hunted a great deal; fresh food was abundant;
they shot partridges, ptarmigans, and snow-birds, which were delicious
eating. The hunters did not go far from Fort Providence. In fact,
small game could almost be killed with a stick; and it gave much
animation to the silent shores of Victoria Bay,--an unaccustomed sight
which delighted their eyes.
The fortnight succeeding the great defeat of the bears was taken up
with different occupations. The thaw advanced steadily; the
thermometer rose to 32 degrees, and torrents began to roar in the
ravines, and thousands of cataracts fell down the declivities. The
doctor cleared an acre of ground and sowed in it cresses, sorrel, and
cochlearia, which are excellent remedies for the scurvy; the little
greenish leaves were peeping above the ground when, with incredible
rapidity, the cold again seized everything.
In a single night, with a violent north-wind, the thermometer fell
forty degrees, to -8 degrees. Everything was frozen; birds,
quadrupeds, and seals disappeared as if by magic; the holes for the
seals were closed, the crevasses disappeared, the ice became as hard
as granite, and the waterfalls hung like long crystal pendants.
It was a total change to the eye; it took place in the night of May
11-12. And when Bell the next morning put his nose out of doors into
this sharp frost, he nearly left it there.
"O, this polar climate!" cried the doctor, a little disappointed;
"that's the way it goes! Well, I shall have to begin sowing again."
[Illustration]
Hatteras took things less philosophically, so eager was he to renew
his explorations. But he had to resign himself.
"Will this cold weather last long?" asked Johnson.
"No, my friend, no," answered Clawbonny; "it's the last touch of
winter we shall have! You know it's at home here, and we can't drive
it away against its will."
"It defends itself well," said Bell, rubbing his face.
"Yes, but I ought to have expected it," said the doctor; "and I should
not have thrown the seed away so stupidly, especially since I might
have started them near the kitchen stove."
"What!" asked Altamont, "could you have foreseen this change of
weather?"
"Certainly, and without resorting to magic. I ought to have put the
seed under the protection of Saints Mamert, Panera, and Servais, whose
days are the 11th, 12th, and 13th of this month."
"Well, Doctor," said Altamont, "will you tell me what influence these
three saints have on the weather?"
"A very great influence, to believe gardeners, who call them the three
saints of ice."
"And why so, pray?"
"Because generally there is a periodic frost in the month of May, and
the greatest fall of temperature takes place from the 11th to the 13th
of this month. It is a fact, that is all."
"It is curious, but what is the explanation?" asked the American.
"There are two: either by the interposition of a greater number of
asteroids between the earth and the sun at this season, or simply by
the melting of the snow, which thereby absorbs a great quantity of
heat. Both explanations are plausible; must they be received? I don't
know; but if I'm uncertain of the truth of the explanation, I ought
not to have been of the fact, and so lose my crop."
The doctor was right; for one reason or another the cold was very
intense during the rest of the month of May; their hunting was
interrupted, not so much by the severity of the weather as by the
absence of game; fortunately, the supply of fresh meat was not yet
quite exhausted. They found themselves accordingly condemned to new
inactivity; for a fortnight, from the 11th to the 25th of May, only
one incident broke the monotony of their lives; a serious illness,
diphtheria, suddenly seized the carpenter; from the swollen tonsils
and the false membrane in the throat, the doctor could not be ignorant
of the nature of the disease; but he was in his element, and he soon
drove it away, for evidently it had not counted on meeting him; his
treatment was very simple, and the medicines were not hard to get; the
doctor simply prescribed pieces of ice to be held in the mouth; in a
few hours the swelling went down and the false membrane disappeared;
twenty-four hours later Bell was up again.
When the others wondered at the doctor's prescriptions: "This is the
land of these complaints," he answered; "the cure must be near the
disease."
"The cure, and especially the doctor," added Johnson, in whose mind
the doctor was assuming colossal proportions.
During this new leisure the latter resolved to have a serious talk
with the captain; he wanted to induce Hatteras to give up his
intention of going northward without carrying some sort of a boat; a
piece of wood, something with which he could cross an arm of the sea,
if they should meet one. The captain, who was fixed in his views, had
formally vowed not to use a boat made of the fragments of the American
ship. The doctor was uncertain how to broach the subject, and yet a
speedy decision was important, for the month of June would be the time
for distant excursions. At last, after long reflection, he took
Hatteras aside one day, and with his usual air of kindness said to
him,--
"Hatteras, you know I am your friend?"
"Certainly," answered the captain, warmly, "my best friend; indeed, my
only one."
"If I give you a piece of advice," resumed the doctor, "advice which
you don't ask for, would you consider it disinterested?"
"Yes, for I know that selfish interest has never been your guide; but
what do you want to say?"
"One moment, Hatteras; I have something else to ask of you: Do you
consider me a true Englishman like yourself, and eager for the glory
of my country?"
Hatteras looked at the doctor with surprise.
"Yes," he answered, with his face expressing surprise at the question.
"You want to reach the North Pole," resumed the doctor; "I understand
your ambition, I share it, but to reach this end we need the means."
"Well, haven't I so far sacrificed everything in order to succeed?"
"No, Hatteras, you have not sacrificed your personal prejudices, and
at this moment I see that you are ready to refuse the indispensable
means of reaching the Pole."
"Ah!" answered Hatteras, "you mean the launch; this man--"
"Come, Hatteras, let us argue coolly, without passion, and look at all
sides of the question. The line of the coast on which we have wintered
may be broken; there is no proof that it runs six degrees to the
north; if the information which has brought you so far is right, we
ought to find a vast extent of open sea during the summer months. Now,
with the Arctic Ocean before us, free of ice and favorable for
navigation, what shall we do if we lack the means of crossing it?"
Hatteras made no answer.
"Do you want to be within a few miles of the Pole without being able
to reach it?"
Hatteras's head sank into his hands.
"And now," continued the doctor, "let us look at the question from a
moral point of view. I can understand that an Englishman should give
up his life and his fortune for the honor of his country. But because
a boat made of a few planks torn from a wrecked American ship first
touches the coast or crosses the unknown ocean, can that diminish the
honor of the discovery? If you found on this shore the hull of an
abandoned ship, should you hesitate to make use of it? Doesn't the
glory of success belong to the head of the expedition? And I ask you
if this launch built by four Englishmen, manned by four Englishmen,
would not be English from keel to gunwale?"
Hatteras was still silent.
"No," said Clawbonny, "let us talk frankly; it's not the boat you
mind, it's the man."
"Yes, Doctor, yes," answered the captain, "that American; I hate him
with real English hate, that man thrown in my way by chance--"
"To save you!"
"To ruin me! He seems to defy me, to act as master, to imagine he
holds my fate in his hands, and to have guessed my plans. Didn't he
show his character when we were giving names to the new lands? Has he
ever said what he was doing here? You can't free me of the idea which
is killing me, that this man is the head of an expedition sent out by
the government of the United States."
"And if he is, Hatteras, what is there to show that he is in search of
the Pole? Can't America try to discover the Northwest Passage as well
as England? At any rate, Altamont is perfectly ignorant of your plans;
for neither Johnson nor Bell nor you nor I has said a single word
about them in his presence."
"Well, I hope he'll never know them!"
"He will know them finally, of course, for we can't leave him alone
here."
"Why not?" asked the captain, with some violence; "can't he remain at
Fort Providence?"
"He would never give his consent, Hatteras; and then to leave him
here, uncertain of finding him again, would be more than imprudent, it
would be inhuman. Altamont will come with us; he must come! But since
there is no need of suggesting new ideas to him, let us say nothing,
and build a launch apparently for reconnoitring these new shores."
Hatteras could not make up his mind to accede to the demands of his
friend, who waited for an answer which did not come.
"And if he refused to let us tear his ship to pieces!" said the
captain, finally.
"In that case, you would have the right on your side; you could build
the boat in spite of him, and he could do nothing about it."
"I hope he will refuse," exclaimed Hatteras.
"Before he refuses," answered the doctor, "he must be asked. I will
undertake to do it."
In fact, that evening, before supper, Clawbonny turned the
conversation to certain proposed expeditions in the summer months for
hydrographic observations.
"I suppose, Altamont," he said, "that you will join us?"
"Certainly," was the reply; "we must know how large New America is."
Hatteras gazed earnestly at his rival while he made his answer.
"And for that," continued Altamont, "we must make the best use we can
of the fragments of the _Porpoise_; let us make a strong boat which
can carry us far."
"You hear, Bell," said the doctor, quickly; "to-morrow we shall set to
work."
CHAPTER XV.
THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE.
The next day Bell, Altamont, and the doctor went to the _Porpoise_;
they found no lack of wood; the old three-masted launch, though
injured by being wrecked, could still supply abundant material for the
new one. The carpenter set to work at once; they needed a seaworthy
boat, which should yet be light enough to carry on a sledge. Towards
the end of May the weather grew warmer; the thermometer rose above the
freezing-point; the spring came in earnest this time, and the men were
able to lay aside their winter clothing. Much rain fell, and soon the
snow began to slide and melt away. Hatteras could not hide his joy at
seeing the first signs of thaw in the ice-fields. The open sea meant
liberty for him.
[Illustration: "The carpenter set to work at once."]
[Illustration]
Whether or not his predecessors had been wrong on this great question
of an open polar sea, he hoped soon to know. All chance of success in
his undertaking depended on this. One evening, after a warm day in
which the ice had given unmistakable signs of breaking up, he turned
the conversation to the question of an open sea. He took up the
familiar arguments, and found the doctor, as ever, a warm advocate of
his doctrine. Besides, his conclusions were evidently accurate.
"It is plain," he said, "that if the ocean before Victoria Bay gets
clear of ice, its southern part will also be clear as far as New
Cornwall and Queen's Channel. Penny and Belcher saw it in that state,
and they certainly saw clearly."
"I agree with you, Hatteras," answered the doctor, "and I have no
reason for doubting the word of these sailors; a vain attempt has been
made to explain their discovery as an effect of mirage; but they were
so certain, it was impossible that they could have made such a
mistake."
"I always thought so," said Altamont; "the polar basin extends to the
east as well as to the west."
"We can suppose so, at any rate," answered Hatteras.
"We ought to suppose so," continued the American, "for this open sea
which Captains Penny and Belcher saw near the coast of Grinnell Land
was seen by Morton, Kane's lieutenant, in the straits which are named
after that bold explorer."
"We are not in Kane's sea," answered Hatteras, coldly, "and
consequently we cannot verify the fact."
"It is supposable, at least," said Altamont.
"Certainly," replied the doctor, who wished to avoid useless
discussion. "What Altamont thinks ought to be the truth; unless there
is a peculiar disposition of the surrounding land, the same effects
appear at the same latitudes. Hence I believe the sea is open in the
east as well as in the west."
"At any rate, it makes very little difference to us," said Hatteras.
"I don't agree with you, Hatteras," resumed the American, who was
beginning to be annoyed by the affected unconcern of the captain; "it
may make considerable difference to us."
"And when, if I may ask?"
"When we think of returning."
"Returning!" cried Hatteras, "and who's thinking of that?"
"No one," answered Altamont; "but we shall stop somewhere, I suppose."
"And where?" asked Hatteras.
For the first time the question was fairly put to Altamont. The doctor
would have given one of his arms to have put a stop to the discussion.
Since Altamont made no answer, the captain repeated his question.
"And where?"
"Where we are going," answered the American, quietly.
"And who knows where that is?" said the peace-loving doctor.
"I say, then," Altamont went on, "that if we want to make use of the
polar basin in returning, we can try to gain Kane's sea; it will lead
us more directly to Baffin's Bay."
"So that is your idea?" asked the captain, ironically.
"Yes, that is my idea, as it is that if these seas ever become
practicable, they will be reached by the straightest way. O, that was
a great discovery of Captain Kane's!"
"Indeed!" said Hatteras, biting his lips till they bled.
"Yes," said the doctor, "that cannot be denied; every one should have
the praise he deserves."
"Without considering," went on the obstinate American, "that no one
had ever before gone so far to the north."
"I like to think," said Hatteras, "that now the English have got ahead
of him."
"And the Americans!" said Altamont.
"Americans!" repeated Hatteras.
"What am I, then?" asked Altamont, proudly.
"You are," answered Hatteras, who could hardly control his
voice,--"you are a man who presumes to accord equal glory to science
and to chance! Your American captain went far to the north, but as
chance alone--"
"Chance!" shouted Altamont; "do you dare to say that this great
discovery is not due to Kane's energy and knowledge?"
"I say," answered Hatteras, "that Kane's name is not fit to be
pronounced in a country made famous by Parry, Franklin, Ross, Belcher,
and Penny in these seas which opened the Northwest Passage to
MacClure--"
"MacClure!" interrupted the American; "you mention that man, and yet
you complain of the work of chance? Wasn't it chance alone that
favored him?"
"No," answered Hatteras, warmly,--"no! It was his courage, his
perseverance in spending four winters in the ice--"
"I should think so!" retorted the American; "he got caught in the ice
and couldn't get out, and he had to abandon the _Investigator_ at last
to go back to England."
"My friends--" said the doctor.
"Besides," Altamont went on, "let us consider the result. You speak of
the Northwest Passage; well, it has yet to be discovered!"
Hatteras started at these words; no more vexatious question could have
arisen between two rival nationalities. The doctor again tried to
intervene.
"You are mistaken, Altamont," he said.
"No, I persist in my opinions," he said obstinately; "the Northwest
Passage is yet to be found, to be sailed through, if you like that any
better! MacClure never penetrated it, and to this day no ship that has
sailed from Behring Strait has reached Baffin's Bay!"
That was true, speaking exactly. What answer could be made?
Nevertheless, Hatteras rose to his feet and said,--
"I shall not permit the good name of an English captain to be attacked
any further in my presence."
"You will not permit it?" answered the American, who also rose to his
feet; "but these are the facts, and it is beyond your power to destroy
them."
"Sir!" said Hatteras, pale with anger.
"My friends," said the doctor, "don't get excited! We are discussing a
scientific subject."
Clawbonny looked with horror at a scientific discussion into which the
hate of an American and an Englishman could enter.
"I am going to give you the facts," began Hatteras, threateningly.
"But I'm speaking now!" retorted the American.
Johnson and Bell became very uneasy.
"Gentlemen," said the doctor, severely, "let me say a word! I insist
upon it, I know the facts as well, better than you do, and I can speak
of them impartially."
"Yes, yes," said Bell and Johnson, who were distressed at the turn the
discussion had taken, and who formed a majority favorable to the
doctor.
"Go on, Doctor," said Johnson, "these gentlemen will listen, and you
cannot fail to give us some information."
"Go on, Doctor," said the American.
Hatteras resumed his place with a sign of acquiescence, and folded his
arms.
"I will tell the simple truth about the facts," said the doctor, "and
you must correct me if I omit or alter any detail."
"We know you, Doctor," said Bell, "and you can speak without fear of
interruption."
"Here is the chart of the Polar Seas," resumed the doctor, who had
brought it to the table; "it will be easy to trace MacClure's course,
and you will be able to make up your minds for yourselves."
Thereupon he unrolled one of the excellent maps published by order of
the Admiralty, containing the latest discoveries in arctic regions;
then he went on:--
"You know, in 1848, two ships, the _Herald_, Captain Kellet, and the
_Plover_, Commander Moore, were sent to Behring Strait in search of
traces of Franklin; their search was vain; in 1850 they were joined by
MacClure, who commanded the _Investigator_, a ship in which he had
sailed, in 1849, under James Ross's orders. He was followed by Captain
Collinson, his chief, who sailed in the _Enterprise_; but he arrived
before him. At Behring Strait he declared he would wait no longer, and
that he would go alone, on his own responsibility, and--you hear me,
Altamont--that he would find either Franklin or the passage."
Altamont showed neither approbation nor the contrary.
"August 5, 1850," continued the doctor, "after a final communication
with the _Plover_, MacClure sailed eastward by an almost unknown
route; see how little land is marked upon the chart. August 30th he
rounded Cape Bathurst; September 6th he discovered Baring Land, which
he afterwards discovered to form part of Banks Land, then Prince
Albert's Land. Then he resolved to enter the long straits between
these two large islands, and he called it Prince of Wales Strait. You
can follow his plan. He hoped to come out in Melville Sound, which we
have just crossed, and with reason; but the ice at the end of the
strait formed an impassable barrier. There MacClure wintered in
1850-51, and meanwhile he pushed on over the ice, to make sure that
the strait connected with the sound."
"Yes," said Altamont, "but he didn't succeed."
"One moment," said the doctor. "While wintering there, MacClure's
officers explored all the neighboring coasts: Creswell, Baring's Land;
Haswell, Prince Albert's Land, to the south; and Wynniat, Cape Walker,
to the north. In July, at the beginning of the thaw, MacClure tried a
second time to carry the _Investigator_ to Melville Sound; he got
within twenty miles of it, twenty miles only, but the winds carried
him with irresistible force to the south, before he could get through
the obstacle. Then he determined to go back through Prince of Wales
Strait, and go around Banks Land, to try at the west what he could not
do in the east; he put about; the 18th he rounded Cape Kellet; the
19th, Cape Prince Alfred, two degrees higher; then, after a hard
struggle with the icebergs, he was caught in Banks Strait, in the
series of straits leading to Baffin's Bay."
[Illustration: "A hard struggle with the icebergs."]
"But he couldn't get through them," said Altamont.
"Wait a moment, and be as patient as MacClure was. September 26th, he
took his station for the winter in Mercy Bay, and stayed there till
1852. April came; MacClure had supplies for only eighteen months.
Nevertheless, he was unwilling to return; he started, crossing Banks
Strait by sledge, and reached Melville Island. Let us follow him. He
hoped to find here Commander Austin's ships, which were sent to meet
him by Baffin's Bay and Lancaster Sound; April 28th he arrived at
Winter Harbor, at the place where Parry had wintered thirty-three
years previously, but no trace of the ships; only he found in a cairn
a paper, telling him that MacClintock, Austin's lieutenant, had been
there the year before, and gone away. Any one else would have been in
despair, but MacClure was not. He put in the cairn another paper, in
which he announced his intention of returning to England by the
Northwest Passage, which he had discovered by reaching Baffin's Bay
and Lancaster Sound. If he is not heard from again, it will be because
he will have been to the north or west of Melville Island; then he
returned, not discouraged, to Mercy Bay for the third winter,
1852-53."
"I have never doubted his courage," said Altamont, "but his success."
"Let us follow him again," resumed the doctor. "In the month of March,
being on two-thirds rations, at the end of a very severe winter, when
no game was to be had, MacClure determined to send back half of his
crew to England, either by Baffin's Bay, or by Mackenzie River and
Hudson's Bay; the other half was to bring the _Investigator_ back. He
chose the weakest men, who could not stand a fourth winter; everything
was ready, and their departure settled for April 15th, when on the
6th, MacClure, who was walking on the ice with his lieutenant,
Creswell, saw a man running northward and gesticulating; it was
Lieutenant Pim of the _Herald_, lieutenant of the same Captain Kellet
whom two years before he had left at Behring Strait, as I said when I
began. Kellet, having reached Winter Harbor, found the paper left
there by MacClure; having heard in that way of his position in Mercy
Bay, he sent Lieutenant Pim to meet the captain. He was followed by a
detachment of the men of the _Herald_, among whom was a midshipman of
a French ship, M. de Bray, who was a volunteer aid of Captain Kellet.
You don't doubt this meeting?"
[Illustration: MacClure saw a man running and gesticulating.]
"Not at all," answered Altamont.
"Well, see what followed, and whether the Northwest Passage was really
made. If you join Parry's discoveries to those of MacClure, you will
see the northern coast of America was rounded."
"But not by a single ship," said Altamont.
"No, but by a single man. Let us go on. MacClure went to see Captain
Kellet at Melville Island; in twelve days he made the one hundred and
seventy miles between Winter Harbor and the island; he agreed with the
commander of the _Herald_ to send him his sick, and returned; many
others would have thought, had they been in MacClure's place, that
they had done enough, but this bold young man determined to try his
fortune again. Then, and please observe this, Lieutenant Creswell,
with the sick and disabled men of the _Investigator_, left Mercy Bay,
reached Winter Harbor, and from there, after a journey of four hundred
and seventy miles on the ice, reached Beechey Island, June 2d, and a
few days later, with twelve of his men, he took passage on board of
the _Phoenix_."
"In which I was at the time," said Johnson, "with Captain Inglefield,
and we returned to England."
"And October 7, 1853," continued the doctor, "Creswell arrived at
London, after having crossed over the whole distance between Behring
Strait and Cape Farewell."
"Well," said Hatteras, "to enter at one end and go out by the other,
isn't that going through?"
"Yes," answered Altamont, "but by going four hundred and seventy miles
over the ice."
"Well, what difference does that make?"
"The whole," answered the American. "Did MacClure's ship make the
passage?"
"No," answered the doctor, "for after a fourth winter, MacClure was
obliged to leave it in the ice."
"Well, in a sea-voyage it's important to have the ship reach her
destination. If the Northwest Passage ever becomes practicable, it
must be for ships and not for sledges. The ship must accomplish the
voyage, or if not the ship, the launch."
"The launch!" shouted Hatteras, who detected the hidden meaning in the
American's words.
"Altamont," said the doctor, hurriedly, "you make a puerile
distinction, and we all consider you wrong."
"That is easy, gentlemen," answered the American; "you are four to
one. But that won't keep me from holding my own opinion."
"Keep it," said Hatteras, "and so closely that we need hear nothing
about it."
"And what right have you to speak to me in that way?" asked the
American in a rage.
"My right as captain," answered Hatteras.
"Am I under your commands?" retorted Altamont.
"Without doubt, and look out for yourself, if--"
The doctor, Johnson, and Bell intervened. It was time; the two enemies
were gazing at one another. The doctor was very anxious. Still, after
a few gentler words, Altamont went off to bed whistling "Yankee
Doodle," and, whether he slept or not, he did not speak. Hatteras went
out and paced up and down for an hour, and then he turned in without
saying a word.
[Illustration: "The doctor, Johnson, and Bell intervened. It was time;
the two enemies were gazing at one another."]
CHAPTER XVI.
NORTHERN ARCADIA.
On May 29th, for the first time, the sun did not set; it merely
touched the horizon and then rose at once; the day was twenty-four
hours long. The next day it was surrounded by a magnificent halo, a
bright circle with all the colors of the prism; this apparition, which
was by no means rare, always attracted the doctor's attention; he
never failed to note the date and appearance of the phenomenon; the
one he saw on that day was of an elliptic shape, which he had seldom
seen before.
Soon the noisy flocks of birds appeared; bustards and wild geese came
from Florida or Arkansas, flying northward with inconceivable rapidity
and bringing the spring with them. The doctor shot a few, as well as
three or four cranes and a single stork. However, the snow was melting
everywhere beneath the sun; the salt-water, which overran the
ice-field through the crevasses and the seal-holes, hastened the
melting; the ice which was mingled with salt-water formed a soft
slush. Large pools appeared on the land near the bay, and the exposed
soil seemed to be a production of the arctic spring.
[Illustration]
The doctor then resumed his planting; he had plenty of seed; besides,
he was surprised to see a sort of sorrel growing naturally between the
dried rocks, and he wondered at the force of nature which demanded so
little in order to manifest itself. He sowed some cresses, of which
the young sprouts, three weeks later, were already an inch long.
The heath began to show timidly its little pale, rosy flowers. In
fact, the flora of New America is very defective; still, this rare
vegetation was agreeable to their eyes; it was all the feeble rays of
the sun could nourish, a trace of the Providence which had not
completely forgotten these distant countries. At last it became really
warm; June 15th the thermometer stood at 57 degrees; the doctor could
hardly believe his eyes; the country changed its appearance; numerous
noisy cascades fell from the sunny summits of the hills; the ice
loosened, and the great question of an open sea would soon be decided.
The air was full of the noise of avalanches falling from the hills to
the bottom of the ravines, and the cracking of the ice-field produced
a deafening sound.
A trip was made to Johnson Island; it was merely an unimportant, arid,
barren island; but the old boatswain was no less proud of giving his
name to a few desolate rocks. He even wanted to carve it on a high
peak. During this excursion, Hatteras had carefully explored these
lands, even beyond Cape Washington; the melting of the snow sensibly
changed the country; ravines and hillocks appeared here and there,
where the snow indicated nothing but monotonous stretches. The house
and magazines threatened to melt away, and they had frequently to be
repaired; fortunately, a temperature of 57 degrees is rare in these
latitudes, and the mean is hardly above the freezing-point.
By the middle of June the launch was far advanced and getting into
shape. While Bell and Johnson were working at it, the others had a few
successful hunts. Reindeer were shot, although they are hard to
approach; but Altamont put in practice a device employed by the
Indians of his own country; he crept over the ground with his gun and
arms outstretched like the horns of one of these shy animals, and
having thus come within easy gunshot, he could not fail.
But the best game, the musk-ox, of which Parry found plenty at
Melville Island, appeared not to frequent the shores of Victoria Bay.
A distant hunt was determined on, as much to get these valuable
animals as to reconnoitre the eastern lands. Hatteras did not propose
to reach the Pole by this part of the continent, but the doctor was
not sorry to get a general idea of the country. Hence they decided to
start to the east of Fort Providence. Altamont intended to hunt; Duke
naturally was of the party.
[Illustration]
So, Monday, June 17th, a pleasant day, with the thermometer at 41
degrees, and the air quiet and clear, the three hunters, each carrying
a double-barrelled gun, a hatchet, a snow-knife, and followed by Duke,
left Doctor's House at six o'clock in the morning. They were fitted
out for a trip of two or three days, with the requisite amount of
provisions. By eight o'clock Hatteras and his two companions had gone
eight miles. Not a living thing had tempted a shot, and their hunt
threatened to be merely a trip.
This new country exhibited vast plains running out of sight; new
streams divided them everywhere, and large, unruffled pools reflected
the sun. The layers of melting ice bared the ground to their feet; it
belonged to the great division of sedimentary earth, and the result of
the action of the water, which is so common on the surface of the
globe. Still a few erratic blocks were seen of a singular nature,
foreign to the soil where they were found, and whose presence it was
hard to explain. Schists and different productions of limestone were
found in abundance, as was also a sort of strange, transparent,
colorless crystal, which has a refraction peculiar to Iceland spar.
[Illustration]
But, although he was not hunting, the doctor had not time to
geologize; he had to walk too quickly, in order to keep up with his
friends. Still, he observed the land and talked as much as possible,
for had he not there would have been total silence in the little band;
neither Altamont nor the captain had any desire to talk to one
another.
By ten o'clock the hunters had got a dozen miles to the east; the sea
was hidden beneath the horizon; the doctor proposed a halt for
breakfast. They swallowed it rapidly, and in half an hour they were
off again. The ground was sloping gently; a few patches of snow,
preserved either by their position or the slope of the rocks, gave it
a woolly appearance, like waves in a high wind. The country was still
barren, and looking as if no living being had ever set foot in it.
"We have no luck," said Altamont to the doctor; "to be sure, the
country doesn't offer much food to animals, but the game here ought
not to be over-particular, and ought to show itself."
"Don't let us despair," said the doctor; "the summer has hardly begun;
and if Parry met so many animals at Melville Island, we may be as
lucky here."
[Illustration]
"Still, we are farther north," said Hatteras.
"Certainly, but that is unimportant; it is the pole of cold we ought
to consider; that is to say, that icy wilderness in the middle of
which we wintered with the _Forward_; now the farther north we go, the
farther we are from the coldest part of the globe; we ought to find,
beyond, what Parry, Ross, and others found on the other side."
"Well," said Altamont, with a regretful sigh, "so far we've been
travellers rather than hunters."
"Be patient," answered the doctor; "the country is changing gradually,
and I should be astonished if we don't find game enough in the ravines
where vegetation has had a chance to sprout."
"It must be said," continued Altamont, "that we are going through an
uninhabited and uninhabitable country."
"O, uninhabitable is a strong word!" answered the doctor; "I can't
believe any land uninhabitable; man, by many sacrifices, and for
generations using all the resources of science, might finally
fertilize such a country."
[Illustration]
"Do you think so?" asked Altamont.
"Without doubt! If you were to go to the celebrated countries of the
world, to Thebes, Nineveh, or Babylon, in the fertile valleys of our
ancestors, it would seem impossible that men should ever have lived
there; the air itself has grown bad since the disappearance of human
beings. It is the general law of nature which makes those countries in
which we do not live unhealthy and sterile, like those out of which
life has died. In fact, man himself makes his own country by his
presence, his habits, his industry, and, I might add, by his breath;
he gradually modifies the exhalations of the soil and the atmospheric
conditions, and he makes the air he breathes wholesome. So there are
uninhabited lands, I grant, but none uninhabitable."
Talking in this way, the hunters, who had become naturalists, pushed
on and reached a sort of valley, fully exposed, at the bottom of which
a river, nearly free of ice, was flowing; its southern exposure had
brought forth a certain amount of vegetation. The earth showed a
strong desire to grow fertile; with a few inches of rich soil it would
have produced a good deal. The doctor called their attention to these
indications.
"See," he said, "a few hardy colonists might settle in this ravine.
With industry and perseverance they could do a great deal; not as much
as is seen in the temperate zones, but a respectable show. If I am not
mistaken, there are some four-footed animals! They know the good
spots."
"They are Arctic hares," shouted Altamont, cocking his gun.
"Wait a moment," cried the doctor,--"wait a moment, you hasty fellow.
They don't think of running away! See, they'll come to us!"
[Illustration]
And, in fact, three or four young hares, springing about in the heath
and young moss, ran boldly towards the three men; they were so cunning
that even Altamont was softened.
Soon they were between the doctor's legs; he caressed them with his
hand, saying,--
"Why shoot these little animals which come to be petted? We need not
kill them."
"You are right, Doctor," answered Hatteras; "we'll let them live."
"And these ptarmigan, too, which are flying towards us!" cried
Altamont; "and these long-legged water-fowl!"
A whole flock of birds passed over the hunters, not suspecting the
peril from which the doctor's presence saved them. Even Duke was
compelled to admire them.
They were a curious and touching sight, flying about without fear,
resting on Clawbonny's shoulders, lying at his feet, offering
themselves to his caresses, seeming to do their best to welcome their
new guests; they called one another joyously, flying from the most
distant points; the doctor seemed to be a real bird-charmer. The
hunters continued their march up the moist banks of the brook,
followed by the familiar band, and turning from the valley they
perceived a troop of eight or ten reindeer browsing on a few lichens
half buried beneath the snow; they were graceful, quiet animals, with
their branching antlers, which the female carried as well as the male;
their wool-like fur was already losing its winter whiteness in favor
of the summer brown and gray; they seemed no more timid than the hares
and birds of the country. Such were the relations of the first men to
the first animals in the early ages of the world.
[Illustration: "They were a curious and touching sight, flying about
without fear, resting on Clawbonny's shoulders," etc.]
The hunters reached the middle of the band without any one flying;
this time the doctor found it hard to restrain the instincts of
Altamont, who could not calmly look on this game without a thirst for
blood rising in his brain. Hatteras looked mildly at these gentle
beasts, who rubbed their noses against the doctor's clothes; he was
the friend of all the animals.
"But," said Altamont, "didn't we come here to shoot?"
"To shoot musk-ox," answered Clawbonny, "and nothing else! We should
have no need of this game; we have food enough, so let us enjoy the
sight of man walking thus among these animals, without alarming them."
"That proves they have never seen one before," said Hatteras.
"Evidently," answered the doctor; "and so we can be sure that these
animals are not of American origin."
"And why so?" said Altamont.
"If they were born on the continent of North America, they would know
what to think of men, and they would have fled at the sight of us. No;
they probably came from the north, from those unknown lands where our
kind has never set foot, and they have crossed the continents near the
Pole. So, Altamont, you can't claim them as your fellow-countrymen."
"O," answered Altamont, "a hunter does not scrutinize so closely, and
the game belongs to the land where it was shot!"
"Well, calm yourself, my Nimrod! As for me, I would rather never fire
a gun in my life than alarm this timid population. See, even Duke
fraternizes with the charming beasts! Come, we'll be kind when we can!
Kindness is a force!"
"Well, well," answered Altamont, who sympathized but slightly with
this sensitiveness; "but I should be amused to see you armed with this
kindness alone among a flock of bears or wolves!"
[Illustration]
"O, I don't pretend to charm wild beasts!" answered the doctor; "I
have little faith in the enchantment of Orpheus; besides, bears and
wolves wouldn't come up to us like the hares, partridges, and
reindeer."
"Why not," answered Altamont, "if they have never seen men?"
"Because they are naturally ferocious, and ferocity, like
maliciousness, begets suspicion; a remark which is true of man as well
as of animals. A wicked man is distrustful, and fear is commonly found
in those who are able to inspire it."
This little lesson in natural philosophy ended the conversation.
The whole day was passed in this Northern Arcadia, as the doctor named
the valley, with the consent of his companions; and that evening,
after a supper which had not cost the life of a single inhabitant of
the country, the three hunters went to sleep in a cleft of a rock
which was admirably adapted for a shelter.
CHAPTER XVII.
ALTAMONT'S REVENGE.
The next day the doctor and his two companions woke up after a
perfectly quiet night. The cold, although not keen, increased towards
daybreak, but they were well covered, and slept soundly under the
watch of the peaceful animals.
The weather being pleasant, they resolved to consecrate the day to a
reconnaissance of the country, and the search of musk-oxen. Altamont
insisted on shooting something, and they decided that, even if these
oxen should be the gentlest animals in the world, they should be shot.
Besides, their flesh, although strongly flavored with musk, was
pleasant eating, and they all hoped to carry back to Fort Providence a
good supply of it.
During the early morning hours nothing noteworthy took place; the land
grew different in the northeast; a few elevations, the beginning of a
mountainous district, indicated a change. If this New America were not
a continent, it was at any rate an important island; but then they did
not have to trouble themselves about its geography.
Duke ran ahead, and soon came across some traces of a herd of
musk-oxen; he then advanced rapidly, and soon disappeared from the
eyes of the hunters. They followed his clear barking, which soon grew
so hasty that they knew he had discovered the object of their search.
They pushed on, and in an hour and a half they came up to two of these
animals; they were large, and formidable in appearance. They appeared
much surprised at Duke's attacks, but not alarmed; they were feeding
off a sort of reddish moss which grew on the thin soil. The doctor
recognized them at once from their moderate height, their horns, which
were broad at the base, the absence of muzzle, their sheep-like
forehead, and short tail; their shape has earned for them from
naturalists the name of "ovibos," a compound, and which expresses the
two sorts of animals whose characteristics they share. Thick, long
hair and a sort of delicate brown silk formed their fur.
[Illustration]
They ran away when they saw the two hunters, who came running up after
them. It was hard to reach them for men who were out of breath after
running half an hour. Hatteras and his companions stopped.
"The Devil!" said Altamont.
"That's just the word," said the doctor, as soon as he could take
breath. "I'll grant they are Americans, and they can't have a very
good idea of your countrymen."
"That proves we are good hunters," answered Altamont.
Still, the musk-oxen, seeing they were not pursued, stopped in a
posture of surprise. It became evident that they could never be run
down; they would have to be surrounded; the plateau on which they were
aided this manoeuvre. The hunters, leaving Duke to harass them,
descended through the neighboring ravines, so as to get around the
plateau. Altamont and the doctor hid behind a rock at one end, while
Hatteras, suddenly advancing from the other end, should drive the oxen
towards them. In half an hour each had gained his post.
"You don't object any longer to our shooting?" asked Altamont.
"No, it's fair fighting," answered the doctor, who, in spite of
gentleness, was a real sportsman.
They were talking in this way, when they saw the oxen running, and
Duke at their heels; farther on Hatteras was driving them, with loud
cries, towards the American and the doctor, who ran to meet this
magnificent prey.
[Illustration]
At once the oxen stopped, and, less fearful of a single enemy, they
turned upon Hatteras. He awaited them calmly, aimed at the nearest,
and fired; but the bullet struck the animal in the middle of his
forehead, without penetrating the skull. Hatteras's second shot
produced no other effect than to make the beasts furious; they ran to
the disarmed hunter, and threw him down at once.
"He is lost," cried the doctor.
At the moment Clawbonny pronounced these words with an accent of
despair, Altamont made a step forward to run to Hatteras's aid; then
he stopped, struggling against himself and his prejudices.
"No," he cried, "that would be cowardice."
He hastened with Clawbonny to the scene of combat. His hesitation had
not lasted half a second. But if the doctor saw what was taking place
in the American's heart, Hatteras understood it, who would rather have
died than have implored his rival's interference. Still, he had hardly
time to perceive it, for Altamont appeared before him. Hatteras, lying
on the ground, was trying to ward off the horns and hoofs of the two
animals. But he could not long continue so unequal a struggle. He was
about to be torn in pieces, when two shots were heard. Hatteras heard
the bullets whistling by his head.
"Don't be frightened!" shouted Altamont, hurling his gun to one side,
and rushing upon the angry animals.
One of the oxen fell, shot through the heart; the other, wild with
rage, was just going to gore the captain, when Altamont faced him, and
plunged into his mouth his hand, armed with a snow-knife; with the
other he gave him a terrible blow with a hatchet on the head. This was
done with marvellous rapidity, and a flash of lightning would have lit
up the whole scene.
[Illustration: "Gave him a terrible blow with a hatchet on the head."]
The second ox fell back dead.
"Hurrah! hurrah!" cried Clawbonny.
Hatteras was saved. He owed his life to the man whom he detested most
in the world. What was going on in his mind at this time? What emotion
was there which he could not master? That is one of the secrets of the
heart which defy all analysis.
However that may be, Hatteras advanced to his rival without
hesitation, and said to him seriously,--
"You have saved my life, Altamont."
"You saved mine," answered the American. There was a moment's silence.
Then Altamont added, "We are now quits, Hatteras!"
"No, Altamont," answered the captain; "when the doctor took you from
your icy tomb, I did not know who you were, and you have saved me at
the risk of your own life, knowing who I was."
"You are a fellow-being," answered Altamont; "and whatever else he may
be, an American is not a coward."
"No, he is not," said the doctor; "he is a man! a man like you,
Hatteras!"
"And like me he shall share the glory which is awaiting us!"
"The glory of going to the North Pole?" said Altamont.
"Yes," said the captain, haughtily.
"I had guessed it!" exclaimed the American. "So you dared conceive of
this bold design! You dared try to reach that inaccessible point! Ah,
that is great! It is sublime!"
"But you," asked Hatteras, hurriedly, "were you not on your way to the
Pole?"
Altamont seemed to hesitate about replying.
"Well?" said the doctor.
"Well, no," answered the American,--"no; tell the truth, and shame the
Devil! No, I did not have this great idea, which has brought you here.
I was trying simply to sail through the Northwest Passage, that is
all."
"Altamont," said Hatteras, holding out his hand to the American,
"share our glory, and go with us to the North Pole!"
The two men then shook hands warmly.
When they turned towards the doctor, they saw his eyes full of tears.
"Ah, my friends," he murmured, as he dried his eyes, "how can my heart
hold the joy with which you fill it? My dear companions, you have
sacrificed a miserable question of nationality in order to unite in
your common success! You know that England and America have nothing to
do with all this; that mutual sympathy ought to bind you together
against the dangers of the journey! If the North Pole is discovered,
what difference does it make who does it? Why stand bickering about
English or American, when we can be proud of being men?"
The doctor embraced the reconciled foes; he could not restrain his
joy. The two new friends felt themselves drawn closer together by the
friendship this worthy man had for them both. Clawbonny spoke freely
of the vanity of competition, of the madness of rivalry, and of the
need of agreement between men so far from home. His words, his tears
and caresses, came from the bottom of his heart.
Still, he grew calm after embracing Hatteras and Altamont for the
twentieth time.
"And now," he said, "to work, to work! Since I was no use as a hunter,
let me try in another capacity!"
Thereupon he started to cut up the ox, which he called the "ox of
reconciliation," but he did it as skilfully as if he were a surgeon
conducting a delicate autopsy. His two companions gazed at him in
amusement. In a few minutes he had cut from the body a hundred pounds
of flesh; he gave each one a third of it, and they again took up their
march to Fort Providence. At ten o'clock in the evening, after walking
in the oblique rays of the sun, they reached Doctor's House, where
Johnson and Bell had a good supper awaiting them.
But before they sat down to table, the doctor said in a voice of
triumph, as he pointed to his two companions,--
"Johnson, I carried away with me an Englishman and an American, did I
not?"
"Yes, Dr. Clawbonny," answered the boatswain.
"Well, I've brought back two brothers."
[Illustration: "'Well, I've brought back two brothers.'"]
The two sailors gladly shook Altamont's hand; the doctor told them
what the American captain had done for the English captain, and that
night the snow-house held five perfectly happy men.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE LAST PREPARATIONS.
The next day the weather changed; there was a return of cold; the snow
and rain gust raged for many days.
Bell had finished the launch; it was perfectly satisfactory for the
purpose it was intended for; partly decked, and partly open, it could
sail in heavy weather under mainsail and jib, while it was so light as
not to be too heavy a load on the sledge for the dogs.
[Illustration]
Then, too, a change of great importance was taking place in the state
of the polar basin. The ice in the middle of the bay was beginning to
give way; the tallest pieces, forever weakened by the collision of the
rest, only needed a sufficiently heavy tempest to be torn away and to
become icebergs. Still, Hatteras was unwilling to wait so long before
starting. Since it was to be a land journey, he cared very little
whether the sea was open or not. He determined to start June 25th;
meanwhile all the preparations could be completed. Johnson and Bell
put the sledge into perfect repair; the frame was strengthened and the
runners renewed. The travellers intended to devote to their journey
the few weeks of good weather which nature allows to these northern
regions. Their sufferings would be less severe, the obstacles easier
to overcome.
[Illustration]
A few days before their departure, June 20th, the ice had so many free
passages, that they were able to make a trial trip on board of the new
launch as far as Cape Washington. The sea was not perfectly free, far
from it; but its surface was not solid, and it would have been
impossible to make a trip on foot over the ice-fields. This half-day's
sail showed the good sailing qualities of the launch. During the
return they beheld a curious incident. It was a monstrous bear chasing
a seal. Fortunately the former was so busily occupied, that he did not
see the launch, otherwise he would certainly have pursued it; he kept
on watch near a crevasse in the ice-field, into which the seal had
evidently plunged. He was awaiting his reappearance with all the
patience of a hunter, or rather of a fisherman, for he was really
fishing. He was silent, motionless, without any sign of life. Suddenly
the surface of the water was agitated; the seal had come up to
breathe. The bear crouched low upon the ice, and rounded his two paws
about the crevasse. The next moment the seal appeared, with his head
above water; but he had not time to withdraw it. The bear's paws, as
if driven by a spring, were clashed together, strangling the animal
with irresistible force and dragging it out of the water.
It was but a brief struggle; the seal struggled for a few seconds, and
was then suffocated on the breast of his adversary, who, dragging him
away easily, in spite of his size, and springing lightly from one
piece of ice to another, reached land and disappeared with his prey.
[Illustration: "The seal struggled for a few seconds, and was then
suffocated on the breast of his adversary."]
"A pleasant journey!" shouted Johnson; "that bear has got rather too
many paws!"
The launch soon reached the little anchorage Bell had made for her in
the ice.
Only four days were there before the time fixed for their departure.
Hatteras hurried on the last preparations; he was in a hurry to leave
New America, a land which was not his, and which he had not named; he
did not feel at home.
[Illustration]
June 22d they began to carry to the sledge their camp-material, tent,
and food. They carried only two hundred pounds of salt meat, three
chests of preserved meat and vegetables, fifty pounds of pickles and
lime-juice, five quarters of flour, packets of cresses and cochlearia
from the doctor's garden; with the addition of two hundred pounds of
powder, the instruments, arms, and personal baggage, the launch,
Halkett-boat, and the weight of the sledge itself, the whole weighed
fifteen hundred pounds,--a heavy load for four dogs, especially since,
unlike the Esquimaux, who never travel more than four days in
succession, they had none to replace them, and would have to work them
every day. But the travellers determined to aid them when it was
necessary, and they intended to proceed by easy stages; the distance
from Victoria Bay to the Pole was three hundred and fifty-five miles
at the outside, and going twelve miles a day they could make the
journey in a month. Besides, when the land came to an end, the launch
would enable them to finish the journey without fatigue for dogs or
men.
The latter were well, and in excellent condition. The winter, although
severe, ended favorably enough. Each one had followed the doctor's
advice, and escaped from the diseases common in these severe climates.
In fact, they had grown a trifle thinner, which gave a great deal of
pleasure to Clawbonny; but their bodies were inured to the rigors of
that life, and these men were able to face the severest attacks of
cold and hunger without succumbing. And then, too, they were going to
the end of their journey, to the inaccessible Pole, after which their
only thought would be of returning. The sympathy which bound together
the five members of the expedition would aid their success in this
bold trip, and no one doubted of their success.
As a precaution, the doctor had urged his companions to prepare
themselves for some time beforehand, and to "train" with much care.
"My friends," he used to say, "I don't ask you to imitate the English
racers, who lose eighteen pounds after two days' training, and
twenty-five after five days, but we ought to do something to get into
the best possible condition for a long journey. Now the first
principle of training is to get rid of the fat on both horse and
jockey, and this is done by means of purging, sweating, and violent
exercise. These gentlemen know they will lose so much by medicine, and
they arrive at their results with incredible accuracy; such a one who
before training could not run a mile without being winded, can run
twenty-five easily after it. There was a certain Townsend who ran a
hundred miles in twelve hours without stopping."
"A good result," answered Johnson; "and although we are not very fat,
if we must get thinner yet--"
"There is no need of it, Johnson; but without exaggerating, it can't
be denied that training produces good effects; it strengthens the
bones, makes the muscles more elastic, improves the hearing and the
sight; so let us not forget it."
In short, whether in training or not, the travellers were ready June
23d; it was Sunday, and the day was devoted to absolute rest.
The time for departure drew near, and the inhabitants of Fort
Providence could not see it approach without a certain emotion. It
grieved them to leave this snow-hut which had served so well to
protect them; Victoria Bay, this hospitable shore where they had spent
the last days of the winter. Would they find these buildings standing
when they returned? Would not the rays of the sun melt away its
fragile walls?
In a word, they had passed pleasant hours there. The doctor, at the
evening meal, called up to his companions' memory touching
reminiscences, and he did not forget to thank Heaven for its evident
protection.
At last the hour of sleeping came. Each one went to bed early, so as
to be up betimes. Thus passed their last night at Fort Providence.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER XIX.
THE JOURNEY NORTHWARD.
At dawn the next day Hatteras gave the signal for departure. The dogs
were harnessed to the sledge; since they were well fed and had
thoroughly rested, after a comfortable winter there was no reason for
their not being of great service during the summer. Hence they were
not averse to being put into harness.
After all, these Greenland dogs are kind beasts. Their wildness was
partly gone; they had lost their likeness to the wolf, and had become
more like Duke, the finished model of the canine race,--in a word,
they were becoming civilized. Duke could certainly claim a share in
their education; he had given them lessons and an example in good
manners. In his quality of Englishman, and so punctilious in the
matter of cant, he was a long time in making the acquaintance of the
other dogs, who had not been introduced to him, and in fact he never
used to speak to them; but after sharing the same dangers and
privations, they gradually grew used to one another. Duke, who had a
kind heart, made the first advances, and soon all the dogs were
friends. The doctor used to pet the Greenland dogs, and Duke saw him
do it without jealousy. The men were in equally good condition; if the
dogs could draw well, the men could walk well.
They left at six o'clock in the morning; it was a very pleasant day.
After they had followed the line of the bay and passed Cape
Washington, Hatteras gave the order to turn northward; by seven the
travellers lost sight of the lighthouse and of Fort Providence in the
south.
[Illustration: "They left at six o'clock in the morning."]
The journey promised well, much better than the expedition begun in
the dead of winter in search of coal. Hatteras then left behind him,
on board of the ship, mutiny and despair, without being certain of the
object of his journey; he left a crew half dead with cold, he started
with companions who were weakened by the miseries of an arctic winter;
he, too, eager for the north, had to return to the south! Now, on the
other hand, surrounded by vigorous, healthy friends, encouraged and
aided in many ways, he was starting for the Pole, the object of his
whole life! No man had ever been nearer acquiring this glory for
himself and his country.
Was he thinking of all this, which was so naturally inspired by his
present position? The doctor liked to think so, and could hardly doubt
it when he saw him so eager. Clawbonny rejoiced in what so pleased his
friend; and since the reconciliation of the two captains, the two
friends, he was the happiest of men; for hatred, envy, and rivalry
were passions he had never felt. What would be the issue of this
voyage he did not know; but, at any rate, it began well, and that was
a good deal.
The western shore of New America stretched out in a series of bays
beyond Cape Washington; the travellers, to avoid this long curve,
after crossing the first spurs of Mount Bell, turned northward over
the upper plateaus. This was a great saving of time; Hatteras was
anxious, unless prevented by seas or mountains, to make a straight
line of three hundred and fifty miles to the Pole from Fort
Providence.
Their journey was easy; these lofty plains were covered with deep
snow, over which the sledge passed easily, and the men in their
snow-shoes walked easily and rapidly.
[Illustration]
The thermometer stood at 37 degrees. The weather was not absolutely
settled; at one moment it was clear, the next cloudy: but neither cold
nor showers could have stopped the eager party. They could be followed
easily by the compass; the needle was more active as they receded from
the magnetic pole; it is true that it turned to the opposite direction
and pointed to the south, while they were walking northward; but this
did not in any way embarrass them. Besides, the doctor devised a
simple method of staking out the way and thereby avoiding perpetual
reference to the compass; when once they had got their bearings by
some object two or three miles to the north, they walked till they
reached it, when they chose another, and so on. In this way they had a
straight road.
In the first two days they made twenty miles in twelve hours; the rest
of the time was devoted to meals and rest. The tent was ample
protection against the cold when they were sleeping. The temperature
gradually rose. The snow melted away in some places, according to the
shape of the ground, while in others it lay in large patches. Broad
pools appeared here and there, often almost as large as lakes. They
would walk in up to their waists very often; but they only laughed at
it, and the doctor more than any.
"Water has no right to wet us in this country," he used to say; "it
ought to appear only as a solid, or a gas; as to its being liquid,
it's absurd! Ice or vapor will do, but water won't!"
[Illustration]
They did not forget their shooting, for thereby they got fresh meat.
So Altamont and Bell, without going very far away, scoured the
neighboring ravines; they brought back ptarmigan, geese, and a few
gray rabbits. Gradually these animals became very shy and hard to
approach. Without Duke they would often have found it hard to get any
game. Hatteras advised them not to go off farther than a mile, for not
a day nor an hour was to be lost, and he could not count on more than
three months of good weather.
Besides, each one had to be at his post by the sledge whenever a hard
spot, a narrow gorge, or steep inclines lay in the path; then each one
helped pull or push. More than once everything had to be taken off;
and this even did not fully protect against shocks and damage, which
Bell repaired as well as he could.
The third day, Wednesday, June 26th, they came across a vast lake,
still frozen by reason of its being sheltered from the sun; the ice
was even strong enough to bear both men and sledge. It was a solid
mirror which no arctic summers had melted, as was shown by the fact
that its borders were surrounded by a dry snow, of which the lower
layers evidently belonged to previous years.
[Illustration]
From this moment the land grew lower, whence the doctor concluded that
it did not extend very far to the north. Besides, it was very likely
that New America was merely an island, and did not extend to the Pole.
The ground grew more level; in the west a few low hills could be seen
in the distance, covered with a bluish mist.
So far they had experienced no hardships; they had suffered from
nothing except the reflection of the sun's rays upon the snow, which
could easily give them snow-blindness. At any other time they would
have travelled by night to avoid this inconvenience, but then there
was no night. The snow was fortunately melting away, and it was much
less brilliant when it was about turning into water.
June 28th the temperature arose to 45 degrees; this was accompanied
with heavy rain, which the travellers endured stoically, even with
pleasure, for it hastened the disappearance of the snow. They had to
put on their deer-skin moccasins, and change the runners of the
sledge. Their journey was delayed, but still they were advancing
without any serious obstacles. At times the doctor would pick up
rounded or flat stones like pebbles worn smooth by the waves, and then
he thought he was near the Polar Sea; but yet the plain stretched on
out of sight. There was no trace of man, no hut, no cairn nor
Esquimaux snow-house; they were evidently the first to set foot in
this new land. The Greenlanders never had gone so far, and yet this
country offered plenty of game for the support of that half-starved
people. Sometimes bears appeared in the distance, but they showed no
signs of attacking; afar off were herds of musk-oxen and reindeer. The
doctor would have liked to catch some of the latter to harness to the
sledge; but they were timid, and not to be caught alive.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
The 29th, Bell shot a fox, and Altamont was lucky enough to bring down
a medium-sized musk-ox, after giving his companions a high idea of his
bravery and skill; he was indeed a remarkable hunter, and so much
admired by the doctor. The ox was cut out, and gave plenty of
excellent meat. These lucky supplies were always well received; the
least greedy could not restrain their joy at the sight of the meat.
The doctor laughed at himself when he caught himself admiring these
huge joints.
[Illustration: "On the 29th Bell shot a fox, and Altamont a
medium-sized musk-ox."]
"Let us not be afraid to eat it," he used to say; "a good dinner is a
good thing in these expeditions."
"Especially," said Johnson, "when it depends on a better or worse
shot."
"You are right, Johnson," replied the doctor; "one thinks less of
one's food when one gets a regular supply from the kitchen."
[Illustration]
The 30th, the country became unexpectedly rugged, as if it had been
upheaved by some volcanic commotion; the cones and peaks increased
indefinitely in number, and were very high. A southeast breeze began
to blow with violence, and soon became a real hurricane. It rushed
across the snow-covered rocks, among the ice-mountains, which,
although on the firm land, took the form of hummocks and icebergs;
their presence on these lofty plateaus could not be explained even by
the doctor, who had an explanation for almost everything. Warm, damp
weather succeeded the tempest; it was a genuine thaw; on all sides
resounded the cracking of the ice amid the roar of the avalanches.
[Illustration: "The masses of ice took the forms of hummocks and
icebergs."]
[Illustration: "On all sides resounded the cracking of the ice amid
the roar of the avalanches."]
The travellers carefully avoided the base of these hills; they even
took care not to talk aloud, for the sound of the voice could shake
the air and cause accident. They were witnesses of frequent and
terrible avalanches which they could not have foreseen. In fact, the
main peculiarity of polar avalanches is their terrible swiftness;
therein they differ from those of Switzerland and Norway, where they
form a ball, of small size at first, and then, by adding to themselves
the snow and rocks in its passage, it falls with increasing swiftness,
destroys forests and villages, but taking an appreciable time in its
course. Now, it is otherwise in the countries where arctic cold rages;
the fall of the block of ice is unexpected and startling; its fall is
almost instantaneous, and any one who saw it from beneath would be
certainly crushed by it; the cannon-ball is not swifter, nor lightning
quicker; it starts, falls, and crashes down in a single moment with
the dreadful roar of thunder, and with dull echoes.
So the amazed spectators see wonderful changes in the appearance of
the country; the mountain becomes a plain under the action of a sudden
thaw; when the rain has filtered into the fissures of the great blocks
and freezes in a single night, it breaks everything by its
irresistible expansion, which is more powerful in forming ice than in
forming vapor: the phenomenon takes place with terrible swiftness.
No catastrophe, fortunately, threatened the sledge and its drivers;
the proper precautions were taken, and every danger avoided. Besides,
this rugged, icy country was not of great extent, and three days
later, July 3d, the travellers were on smoother ground. But their eyes
were surprised by a new phenomenon, which has for a long time claimed
the attention of the scientific men of the two worlds. It was this:
the party followed a line of hills not more than fifty feet high,
which appeared to run on several miles, and their eastern side was
covered with red snow.
The surprise and even the sort of alarm which the sight of this
crimson curtain gave them may be easily imagined. The doctor hastened,
if not to reassure, at least to instruct, his companions; he was
familiar with this red snow and the chemical analysis made of it by
Wollaston, Candolle, Bauer. He told them this red snow was not found
in the arctic regions alone, but in Switzerland in the middle of the
Alps; De Saussure collected a large quantity on the Breven in 1760;
and since then Captains Ross, Sabine, and others had brought some back
from their arctic journeys.
[Illustration]
Altamont asked the doctor about the nature of this extraordinary
substance. He was told that its color came simply from the presence of
organic corpuscles. For a long time it was a question whether these
corpuscles were animal or vegetable; but it was soon ascertained that
they belonged to the family of microscopic mushrooms, of the genus
_Uredo_, which Bauer proposed naming _Uredo vivalis_.
Then the doctor, prying into the snow with his cane, showed his
companions that the scarlet layer was only nine feet deep, and he bade
them calculate how many of these mushrooms there might be on a space
of many miles, when scientific men estimated forty-three thousand in a
square centimetre.
This coloring probably ran back to a remote period, for the mushrooms
were not decomposed by either evaporation or the melting of the snow,
nor was their color altered.
The phenomenon, although explained, was no less strange. Red is a rare
color in nature; the reflection of the sun's rays on this crimson
surface produced strange effects; it gave the surrounding objects, men
and animals, a brilliant appearance, as if they were lighted by an
inward flame; and when the snow was melting, streams of blood seemed
to be flowing beneath the travellers' feet.
The doctor, who had not been able to examine this substance when he
saw it on crimson cliffs from Baffin's Bay, here examined it at his
ease, and gathered several bottlefuls of it.
This red ground, the "Field of Blood," as he called it, took three
hours' walk to pass over, and then the country resumed its habitual
appearance.
CHAPTER XX.
FOOTPRINTS ON THE SNOW.
July 4th a dense fog prevailed. They were only able with the greatest
difficulty to keep a straight path; they had to consult the compass
every moment. Fortunately there was no accident in the darkness,
except that Bell lost his snow-shoes, which were broken against a
projecting rock.
"Well, really," said Johnson, "I thought, after seeing the Mersey and
the Thames, that I knew all about fogs, but I see I was mistaken."
"We ought," answered Bell, "to light torches as is done at London and
Liverpool."
[Illustration: "'We ought,' answered Bell, 'to light torches, as is
done at London and Liverpool.'"]
"Why not?" asked the doctor; "that's a good idea; it wouldn't light up
the road much, but we could see the guide, and follow him more
easily."
"But what shall we do for torches?"
"By lighting tow dipped in alcohol, and fastening to the end of
walking-sticks."
"Good!" said Johnson; "and we shall soon have it ready."
A quarter of an hour later the little band was walking along with
torches faintly lighting up the general gloom.
But if they went straighter, they did not go quicker, and the fog
lasted till July 6th; the earth being cold then, a blast of north-wind
carried away all the mist as if it had been rags. Soon the doctor took
an observation, and ascertained that meanwhile they had not made eight
miles a day.
[Illustration]
The 6th, they made an effort to make up for lost time, and they set
out early. Altamont and Bell were ahead, choosing the way and looking
out for game. Duke was with them. The weather, with its surprising
fickleness, had become very clear and dry; and although the guides
were two miles from the sledge, the doctor did not miss one of their
movements. He was consequently very much startled to see them stop
suddenly, and remain in a position of surprise; they seemed to be
gazing into the distance, as if scanning the horizon. Then they bent
down to the ground and seemed to be examining it closely, and they
arose in evident amazement. Bell seemed to wish to push on, but
Altamont held him back.
"What can they be doing?" asked the doctor of Johnson.
"I know no more than you, Doctor; I don't understand their gestures."
"They have found the track of some animals," answered Hatteras.
"That's not it," said the doctor.
"Why not?"
"Because Duke would bark."
"Still, they've seen marks of some sort."
"Let us go on," said Hatteras; "we shall soon know."
Johnson urged on the dogs, who quickened their pace.
In twenty minutes the five were together, and Hatteras, the doctor,
and Johnson were as much surprised as Bell and Altamont.
There were in the snow indubitable traces of men, as fresh as if they
had just been made.
[Illustration]
"They are Esquimaux," said Hatteras.
"Yes," said the doctor, "there is no doubt of that!"
"You think so?" said Altamont.
"Without any doubt."
"Well, and this mark?" continued Altamont, pointing to another print,
which was often repeated.
"That one?"
"Do you think it was made by an Esquimau?"
The doctor examined it carefully, and was stupefied. The print of a
European shoe, with nails, sole, and heel, was clearly stamped in the
snow. There could be no further doubt; a man, a stranger, had been
there.
"Europeans here!" cried Hatteras.
"Evidently," said Johnson.
"And still," said the doctor, "it is so unlikely, that we ought to
look twice before being sure."
Thereupon he looked twice, three times, at the print, and he was
obliged to acknowledge its extraordinary origin.
De Foe's hero was not more amazed when he saw the footprint on the
sand of his island; but if he was afraid, Hatteras was simply angry. A
European so near the Pole!
They pushed on to examine the footprints; for a quarter of a mile they
were continually repeated, mingled with marks of moccasins; then they
turned to the west. When they had reached this point they consulted as
to whether they should follow them any farther.
"No," said Hatteras. "Let us go on--"
He was interrupted by an exclamation of the doctor, who had just
picked up on the snow an object even more convincing, and of the
origin of which there could be no doubt. It was the object-glass of a
pocket telescope.
"Now," he said, "we can't doubt that there is a stranger here--"
"Forward!" cried Hatteras.
He uttered this word so sharply that each one obeyed, and the sledge
resumed its monotonous progress.
They all scanned the horizon attentively, except Hatteras, who was
filled with wrath and did not care to see anything. Still, since they
ran the risk of coming across a band of travellers, they had to take
precautions; it was very disappointing to see any one ahead of them on
the route. The doctor, although not as angry as Hatteras, was somewhat
vexed, in spite of his usual philosophy. Altamont seemed equally
annoyed; Johnson and Bell muttered threatening words between their
teeth.
"Come," said the doctor, "let us take heart against our bad fortune."
"We must confess," said Johnson, without being heard by Altamont,
"that if we find the place taken, it would disgust us with journeying
to the Pole."
"And yet," answered Bell, "there is no possibility of doubting--"
"No," retorted the doctor; "I turn it all over in vain, and say it is
improbable, impossible; I have to give it up. This shoe was not
pressed into the snow without being at the end of a leg, and without
the leg being attached to a human body. I could forgive Esquimaux, but
a European!"
"The fact is," answered Johnson, "that if we are going to find all the
rooms taken in the hotel of the end of the world, it would be
annoying."
"Very annoying," said Altamont.
"Well, we shall see," said the doctor.
And they pushed on. The day ended without any new fact to indicate the
presence of strangers in this part of New America, and they at last
encamped for the evening.
A rather strong wind from the south had sprung up, and obliged them to
seek a secure shelter for their tent in the bottom of a ravine. The
sky was threatening; long clouds passed rapidly through the air; they
passed near the ground, and so quickly that the eye could hardly
follow them. At times some of the mist touched the ground, and the
tent resisted with difficulty the violence of the hurricane.
[Illustration: The hut was pitched in a ravine for shelter.]
"It's going to be a nasty night," said Johnson, after supper.
"It won't be cold, but stormy," answered the doctor; "let us take
precautions, and make the tent firm with large stones."
"You are right, Doctor; if the wind should carry away the canvas,
Heaven alone knows where we should find it again."
Hence they took every precaution against such a danger, and the
wearied travellers lay down to sleep. But they found it impossible.
The tempest was loose, and hastened northward with incomparable
violence; the clouds were whirling about like steam which has just
escaped from a boiler; the last avalanches, under the force of the
hurricane, fell into the ravines, and their dull echoes were
distinctly heard; the air seemed to be struggling with the water, and
fire alone was absent from this contest of the elements.
Amid the general tumult their ears distinguished separate sounds, not
the crash of heavy falling bodies, but the distinct cracking of bodies
breaking; a clear snap was frequently heard, like breaking steel, amid
the roar of the tempest. These last sounds were evidently avalanches
torn off by the gusts, but the doctor could not explain the others. In
the few moments of anxious silence, when the hurricane seemed to be
taking breath in order to blow with greater violence, the travellers
exchanged their suppositions.
"There is a sound of crashing," said the doctor, "as if icebergs and
ice-fields were being blown against one another."
"Yes," answered Altamont; "one would say the whole crust of the globe
was falling in. Say, did you hear that?"
"If we were near the sea," the doctor went on, "I should think it was
ice breaking."
"In fact," said Johnson, "there is no other explanation possible."
"Can we have reached the coast?" asked Hatteras.
"It's not impossible," answered the doctor. "Hold on," he said, after
a very distinct sound; "shouldn't you say that was the crashing of
ice? We may be very near the ocean."
"If it is," continued Hatteras, "I should not be afraid to go across
the ice-fields."
"O," said the doctor, "they must be broken by such a tempest! We shall
see to-morrow. However that may be, if any men have to travel in such
a night as this, I pity them."
The hurricane raged ten hours without cessation, and no one of those
in the tent had a moment's sleep; the night passed in profound
uneasiness. In fact, under such circumstances, every new incident, a
tempest, an avalanche, might bring serious consequences. The doctor
would gladly have gone out to reconnoitre, but how could he with such
a wind raging?
Fortunately the hurricane grew less violent early the next day; they
could leave the tent which had resisted so sturdily. The doctor,
Hatteras, and Johnson went to a hill about three hundred feet high,
which they ascended without difficulty. Their eyes beheld an entirely
altered country, composed of bare rocks, sharp ridges entirely clear
of ice. It was summer succeeding winter, which had been driven away by
the tempest; the snow had been blown away by the wind before it could
melt, and the barren soil reappeared.
[Illustration: "They climbed a hill which commanded a wide view."]
But Hatteras's glances were all turned towards the north, where the
horizon appeared to be hidden by dark mist.
"That may be the effect of the ocean," said the doctor.
"You are right," said Hatteras; "the sea must be there."
"That's what we call the blink of the water," said Johnson.
"Exactly," said the doctor.
"Well, let us start," said Hatteras, "and push on to this new ocean."
"That rejoices my heart," said Clawbonny to the captain.
"Certainly," was the enthusiastic answer. "Soon we shall have reached
the Pole! and doesn't the prospect delight you, too, Doctor?"
"It does. I am always happy, and especially about the happiness of
others!"
The three Englishmen returned to the ravine; the sledge was made
ready, and they left the camp and resumed their march. Each one
dreaded finding new tracks, but all the rest of the way they saw no
trace of any human being. Three hours later they reached the coast.
"The sea! the sea!" they all shouted.
"And the open sea!" cried the captain.
[Illustration: "Three hours later they reached the coast. 'The sea!
the sea!' they all shouted."]
It was ten o'clock in the morning.
In fact, the hurricane had cleared up the polar basin; the shattered
ice was floating away in every direction; the largest pieces, forming
icebergs, had just weighed anchor and were sailing on the open sea.
The wind had made a harsh attack upon the field. Fragments of ice
covered the surrounding rocks. The little which was left of the
ice-field seemed very soft; on the rocks were large pieces of
sea-weed. The ocean stretched beyond the line of vision, with no
island or new land peering above the horizon.