skins,better get back to the ship with an empty boat than not get back atall."
His directions were obeyed and everything not absolutely required in theboat was thrown out of her. Notwithstanding this there was still thedanger of being cast on a mass of floating ice, or of having one cometoppling down on us, when our destruction would have been certain. Wedid our utmost to keep the boat's head to the sea, as the only hope wehad of saving her from going down.
What had become of the other boat we could not tell. We looked out forher, but she was nowhere visible. Our ship, too, was in no small peril,for she might--should she be unable to beat off the solid ice--be dashedagainst it and knocked to pieces.
All night long we pulled on, amid the heaving waves and tossing floes,sometimes narrowly escaping being thrown on one of them. We could hearthem crashing and grinding together as one was driven against the other.I, for one, did not expect to see another sun rise, nor did probablyany of my companions. Few words were exchanged between us. Sandy satat the steering oar, keeping an anxious look-out for dangers ahead andoccasionally cheering us up to continue our exertions.
"Pull away, lads, pull away; as the boat has kept afloat so long,there's no reason why she shouldn't swim till the gale is over," hecried out. Just then, however, a heavy sea came rolling up, and down itcame right over our bows, almost filling the boat.
"Never fear, bale it out, doctor," cried Sandy; and my brother and Ewenset to work, and, happily, before another sea struck us, got the boatfree. None of the rowers, however, could venture to cease pulling foran instant; not that we made much progress, but it was all-important tokeep the boat's head to the sea. Looking up some few minutes afterthis, I fancied that I saw a peculiar light away to leeward. I was justgoing to draw Sandy's attention to it, when I discovered, close underour lee, a huge iceberg towering up towards the sky. Had we been on theopposite side, it would have afforded us some shelter from the gale,provided it did not topple over. As, however, we were to windward, wehad the greatest difficulty in escaping from being thrown upon it.Sandy's voice sounded almost like a shriek as he urged us to pull away,while he kept the boat off from the furious surf, which, with a sound ofthunder, beat upon the lower portion of the berg. We did not needurging, for we all saw our danger. Though the sea tumbled about much asbefore, we felt in comparative safety when the berg was passed. Still,other bergs or floes might have to be encountered, and we knew not atwhat moment we might come upon them. How anxiously we all wished fordaylight I need not say. At length it came, presenting a wild scene ofconfusion around us, the ocean as turbulent as ever. We had beenmercifully preserved through it, and we trusted that our buoyant craftwould carry us back to the ship. She, however, was not to be seen, butwe made out, far off, a speck, now on the top of a wave, nowdisappearing in the trough, which Sandy declared was the other boat.Our spirits rose somewhat, but we were getting exhausted from hunger andthirst, for we had no food nor water with us, nor if we had could wehave spared time to eat and drink.
As day-light increased we made out the land, for which Sandy steered, asthe other boat was apparently doing. The thought of setting foot onshore, and obtaining a short rest, encouraged us to renew our exertions.The ice had been driven away from us, and formed a barrier somedistance off from the land. We were thus able to make better progressthan during the night. We could now distinguish the other boat clearlyover the starboard quarter.
Mr. Patterson, the second mate, evidently considered--as did Sandy--thatit would be hopeless to try and get on board the ship until the gale wasover. Perhaps he feared, as we did, that she had been knocked to pieceson a floe or against one of the icebergs floating about. As weapproached the land we saw that it was fringed with rocks and masses ofice, between which it would be perilous in the extreme to make our way.Still, unless we could get round to the lee side, it must be done.Sandy stood up to look for the shore. A bay presented itself where thesea broke with less force. We stood on rocks and ice rising up amidstthe seething waters, now on one side, now on the other. Sandy steeredbetween them with consummate skill. Mr. Patterson's boat followed atsome distance. A foaming wave came sweeping up, on the summit of whichwe were carried forward until we could hear the boat's keel grate on thebeach.
"Jump out, jump out!" cried Sandy to the men forward, who obeyed, and,carrying the painter, dragged the boat some way up the strand. We allfollowed, and, putting our shoulders to the gunwale, had her safe out ofthe power of the waves. We then ran to assist our shipmates, whose boathad suffered more than ours, and was almost knocked to pieces; indeed,on examining her, we found, to our dismay, that to make her fit for seashe would require more repairs than, without tools, we were able togive. We had thus only one boat in which to make our escape from theisland, and she was insufficient to carry the whole of the party.Should the ship not appear, therefore, we should be compelled to remain,and perhaps have to endure the hardships of an arctic winter with veryinadequate means for our support. We were, however, on shore, and atall events safe for the present; but we were without food, fuel, orshelter, except such as our boat would afford us. Water we couldprocure from the fragments of icebergs driven on the beach, but we wereunlikely to obtain either walruses or seals, as they would have soughtthe shelter of the lee side of the island; even the birds had desertedthe shore on which we were driven. We determined, therefore, to make anexcursion across the island, hoping, either to reach the other side, orfall in with reindeer or other animals.
Several of the men, overcome with fatigue, preferred remaining under theboats, waiting for the food we might obtain. My brother, Sandy, Ewen,and I, with the second mate and Charley Croil, a fine young lad of whomI have not yet spoken, set off; the mate, my brother, and I having ourrifles, and Sandy his harpoon and lines, while the others carriedlances. Though feeling somewhat weak from our long fast, hunger urgedus on; and in spite of the roughness of the ground, making our way tothe westward, we soon lost sight of our companions on the beach.
CHAPTER THREE.
We found tramping across the rough ground very fatiguing, for in mostplaces it was soft and spongy, except where we crossed more level ridgesof bare rock. Already the grass was beginning to grow, and flowers wereopening their petals, although most of the streams were partially frozenand we could only cross them by wading halfway up to our knees in slush.As yet we had not got sufficiently near to any deer to give us a chanceof obtaining some venison, for which we were longing with the appetitesof half-starved men, nor had we been able to catch any birds.
"We shall have to get over to where the walruses are, and it will behard if we don't get enough then to fill us up to the throats," observedSandy, "though we may chance to find fowl rather scarce."
On we trudged, mile after mile, drawing in our belts and keeping up ourspirits, urged forward by hope. At last my brother Andrew, who wasleading, reached the top of a high rocky ledge, which lay directlyacross our course, when he turned round and made a signal to us with hishand to approach cautiously. I followed, Sandy came next. We soonclimbed up the rock, when we saw before us a low shore and lofty hillsin the distance. The ice was in great part melted. Near the shore werecountless wild fowl, assembled in large flocks,--swans, geese, ducks,snipes, terns, and many others. Scrambling down the rock, we were soonblazing away right and left. In a few minutes we killed a sufficientnumber of birds to afford us an ample feast. The question was how tocook them, as the stems of the largest trees were less in circumferencethan our small fingers. We managed, however, to collect a sufficientquantity of moss and twigs to make up a diminutive fire, at which webrowned, though we could not thoroughly cook, our fishy-tasting fowl.We were, indeed, too hungry to be particular.
After we had satisfied our own hunger, we began to think of ourcompanions. Two of the men volunteered to return with a supply of thebirds sufficient for the crew, while the remainder of us continued ourroute to the west. We had to make a wide circuit round the end of alake. As may be supposed, we kept a bright look
-out for deer. We hadgone some distance, when we observed a couple in a small valley wherethe snow had melted. To have a better chance of securing the reindeer,we divided; Mr. Patterson, Sandy, and Ewen making their way along theside of the hill, while my brother and I proceeded up the valley,concealing ourselves among the rocks or in the gullies, hoping thus toget within shot of the deer. The wind came down the valley, so that wewere to leeward, and had some prospect of getting close to the gamewithout being perceived. Greatly to our satisfaction we saw that theanimals were coming towards us, browsing on their way. We, therefore,knelt down behind a rock, waiting until the deer should approach. Atlength we could hear the sound they made, munching the herbage as theytore off the moss and grass. At this Andrew rose and fired at one, andI, imitating his example, aimed at the other. Greatly to ourdisappointment, as the smoke cleared away, we could see both the
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