Wild Adventures round the Pole
Page 30
thatsaucy "little two-stick yacht" one of the tallest Yankees that everstepped in boots.
Seth squeezed the hand of this countryman of his till tears sprang intothe stranger's eyes; and they were not tears of emotion, nor sentimenteither, but of downright pain.
"I say, siree?" cried the newcomer, shaking his hand and looking at thetips of his fingers, "patriotism and brotherly love are both beautifulthings in their way, but when it comes to squeezing the blood out fromunder a fellow's finger-nails, then I say, bother brotherly love."
"I'm proud to meet you, sir," exclaimed Seth, "let us shake hands oncemore."
"Never a shake, old man," said the stranger; "let us admire each otherat a respectable distance. But come, gentlemen all," he continued,turning to the others, "you ain't going on board just yet. Come up withme to my house. I daresay you've been there already; but come back andbreak bread with Nathaniel Cobb, sometimes called the Little Wonder,because I ain't much more'n seven feet high."
Nat Cobb's boat's crew were Norwegians every one of them, short,somewhat squat, fair-haired fellows, but as active and bustling as acorresponding number of well-bred fox-terriers. A couple of them weremoving on ahead now, with an immense basket between them.
"That's the dinner," said the Little Wonder; "and you'll find there'senough for all hands, too."
"Well, gentlemen," Nat said, when everybody had done justice to the goodthings placed before them, "let us drink each other's healths in a cupof fragrant mocha, for that's the wine for Greenland weather.Gentlemen, I look around me at your smiling faces, and I pledge you andbid you welcome to my island of Jan Mayen."
"Hallo!" thought Rory, "_your_ island."
"Yes, gentlemen," continued Nat, looking as if he really read Rory'sthoughts, "_my_ island. Six months and more ago I annexed it, andto-morrow once again the stars and stripes will proudly flutter fromyonder flagstaff, and the bird o' freedom will soar over this wildmountain land."
Apart from his queer, half-boastful speech, Nat Cobb was a veryagreeable companion.
He was very frank at all events.
After looking at Rory for the space of half a minute, he suddenlystretched out his hand.
"I like you," he said, "muchly, and I like you all. It is from men likeyou that the mightiest republic in the world has been built. But whydon't you speak more, Rory, as your messmates call you?"
"Ach! troth?" said Rory, "and sure I'm driving _tandem_ with thethinking."
"And you're wondering," said Nat, "where a piece of elongated mortalitylike myself stretches himself of a night on board the _Highflier_?"
"Seeing," replied Rory, laughing, "that you're about as long as thekeel, and maybe a bit longer, I may well wonder that same; and unlessyou lean against a mast, I don't quite see how you can stretchyourself."
"Well, young sir, I'll tell you how I do it. I double up into four, andlie on my back! that is how it's done."
The Little Wonder went off with our party to the _Arrandoon_; and asYankees are ever ready to trade, he had not been long on board whenMcBain had purchased from him a dozen of his best dogs. They were to bekept until the ship returned from a week's sport among the old seals,then taken on board just before the _Arrandoon_ left for the extremenorth. Old Seth was duly told off to superintend the erection ofkennels, forward near the bows, and old Seth was in his glory inconsequence.
"I'll feel myself o' some kind o' use now," he said. "Kennel-man inordinary to the _Arrandoon_, a free house and victuals found, I guess itain't half a bad sitivation."
About a week after this--the Greenland sealer having been made as goodas new again--the Jan Mayen fleet sailed away from the island, anddirected its course about north-and-by-east. First on the line went thenoble _Arrandoon_ sailing, not steaming, for a nice beam wind wasblowing; next came the _Canny Scotia_ with her tall, tapering spars; andthe saucy _Highflier_, with her fore-and-aft canvas, brought up therear.
Nathaniel Cobb was Arctic meteorologist to a private company of Americanscientists, but his time was pretty much his own, and he didn't mindspending a week or a fortnight of it among the old seals. He wanted askin or two anyhow, he said, to make a warm carpet for his "house," andsome oil to burn for fuel, but promised that everything beyond what hereally wanted which happened to fall to his gun should be given toSilas.
Silas Grig was never happier in his life than he was now. Luck hadindeed turned, fortune was about to favour him for once in a way. Hiswould be a bumper ship, full to the hatches, with a bing of skins ondeck that he wouldn't be able to find room for below. And when hereturned to Peterhead, flags would fly and bands would play, and hislittle wife and he would live happy ever after.
McBain wanted to show his young companions a little genuine sport, andat the same time do a good turn to honest Silas, by helping him to avoyage; while the former, on the other hand, were all excitement andbustle, for the _Arrandoon_ was about to be transformed into a sealer;and the idea being such a perfectly new one, was correspondinglyappreciated.
The little fleet kept well together; it would not have suited them topart company, although, even on a wind, without the aid of her boilers,the _Arrandoon_ could easily have shown her consorts a pair of cleanheels. The doctor himself was led away with enthusiasm, and longed todraw a bead, as Seth called it, on a bear itself. He had chosen a riflefrom the box, cleaned and polished it, and called it his own.
"I've never shot a wild beast," he explained to Rory, "but, man, if Iget the chance, I'll have a try."
"Bravo!" cried Rory, "and you're sure to get the chance, you know."
The ice was loose, although the weather was clear and very frosty.There was a heaving motion in the main pack that prevented the bergsfrom getting frozen together, but for all that the fleet kept well clearof it, for fear of getting beset. Patches of old seals might, it istrue, have been found far in among the ice, but the risk was too greatto run, so McBain kept to the outside edge, and the others followed hisexample.
Silas Grig was invited on board the _Arrandoon_; and proud he was whenthe captain told him that he could choose five-and-twenty of his bestmen, and superintend their preparations for going after the seals. Thethird mate might be one of the number, but neither Stevenson norMitchell was to be allowed to go, although McBain did not object tothese officers, or even the engineers, having a day's sport now andthen.
It was a glorious morning--for Greenland--when Captain McBain called allhands, in order that Silas might choose the men who were to assist himin making his fortune. The sun was shining as brightly as ever it doesin England, and there wasn't too much wind to blow the cold through andthrough one. Either of the officers might have passed for old men, ifwhite hairs make men look old, for their hair, whiskers, and moustachioswere coated with hoar-frost ice. Our heroes had just finishedbreakfast, all of them having had a cold sea-bath to give them a glowbefore they sat down, and were now walking briskly up and down thequarter-deck, talking merrily and laughing.
The _Scotia_ had her foreyard aback, and the _Arrandoon_ had alsostopped her way, and yonder was Silas in his boat coming rapidly overthe rippling water towards the steamer, the skipper himself standinglike a gondolier and steering with an oar in true whaler fashion.
"Now, lads," cried Silas, when the men of the _Arrandoon_ lay aft inobedience to orders. "You're a fine lot, I must say; every man Jack o'ye is better than the other; but I just want the men that have been tothe country before. The men among ye that know a seal-club from atoastin'-fork, or a lowrie-tow from a bell-rope, just elevate a hand,will ye?"
[Lowrie-tow--the rope with which the men drag the skins to the ship'sside.]
No less than fifteen gloved hands were waved aloft. Silas wasdelighted, and did not take long to choose the remaining ten.
"You'll go on the ice by twos, you know, men," he continued, "and whenone o' ye tumbles into the water, why, the other'll simply pull him out.Nothing easier."
All these hands were to be clubsmen and draggers, while "the guns," asthey were
called, comprised the following: Ralph, Rory, Allan, Sandy thesurgeon, De Vere the aeronaut, Seth trapper, and the third mate, sevenin all, and warranted to give a good account of the seals, and keep themen steadily on drag if the sport was anything like good.
Having made these preliminary arrangements, the men were dismissed, andSilas spent the rest of the day forward with old Ap the carpenter andthe sail-maker. And very busy the whole four of them were, too, forthree dozen daggers or seal-knives had to be fitted with sheaths ofleather, and belts to go round the men's waists, and three dozenlowrie-tows,