Arctic Adventures
Page 9
rushedin among the birds, knocking them over right and left. While they laystunned, we were directed to pull off the down from their breasts. Wewere thus employed for several hours, during which we collected anenormous quantity of eider down, as well as a vast number of eggs. Onreturning on board, the skipper sent us back for a further supply. Aswe obtained nearly four hundred pounds of down, and as each pound isworth a guinea in England, the skipper was well pleased with our day'swork, more so than were the poor ducks, deprived of their warmwaistcoats and eggs at the same time. Happily the stern ice saves themfrom frequent visits of the same description.
As we were pulling along we caught sight of a walrus asleep on a rock.Without disturbing the animal, Sandy and two other men landed. Hisharpoon was soon plunged into the side of the walrus, while the end ofthe line still remained in the boat. A fierce struggle commenced. Thewalrus, rolling into the water with head erect and tusks upraised, cameswimming towards the boat, regardless of the spears thrust at it, andhad almost gained the victory, when a shot through its head put an endto its existence. The next day, having again landed, we killed a numberof seals by concealing ourselves behind the rocks on the shore, whilethey lay enjoying the warm sun on the ice. Andrew, Ewen, and I weresome what ahead of the rest of the party, when we caught sight of a bearlying down under the shelter of a hummock. We were intending to stalkhim, when we saw a seal sunning itself upon the ice, some distance off.The bear crept from behind his place of shelter, and began to roll aboutas if also to enjoy the sun. The seal lifted up its head, when Bruinstopped, lying almost on his back, with his legs in the air, and hiseyes directed towards his expected prey. The seal dropped its head, andthe bear began once more to move forward, again to stop and remainperfectly motionless until the seal's eyes were closed. Again Bruinadvanced, when the seal, which must have been somewhat suspicious of thehairy creature, looked about it. For yet another time Bruin stopped,until, the seal's suspicions once more lulled, the bear got near enoughwith one leap to bound upon his prey, when, before the seal was dead, hebegan tearing away at its flesh. We determined to put a stop to hissupper. While he was thus employed and less on the watch than usual, wecrept up to him and a shot through his head prevented him from gainingthe water. We thus got both bear and seal.
I forgot to mention the two young bears which had been carried on board,and had become great pets with the men. We added to our menagerie acouple of young walruses, which we caught after their mothers wereslaughtered. One went by the name of Dick, the other Harry. They andthe bears looked suspiciously at each other, but wisely kept apart. Thewalruses were somewhat of a nuisance; for, being of an independentcharacter, they walloped about the deck, and at night roared far louderthan did the bears, which, frightened at the loud noise, slunk intotheir kennels. We fed the walruses on gruel, which seemed to suit themvery well. At length, one evening while Andrew and I were seated in thecabin, as Captain Hudson was on the point of going on deck, we heard atremendous noise, as if some huge body had fallen down, followed by acry and some pretty severe expressions from the skipper.
On rushing out, we found him sprawling on the floor with Master Dick,who had come rolling down the hatchway, walloping and flopping on thetop of him. Having extricated the captain, who was fortunately not muchthe worse for his tumble, we hauled the slippery little monster up ondeck, and took it to its proper resting-place--a big tub in which itought to have been confined.
Though whales were somewhat scarce, we killed walruses and sealssufficient to satisfy the skipper, a good many bears, and a vast numberof birds. We continued steering north, keeping away from the land, thesea being almost entirely open, with masses of ice and occasionallyicebergs floating about. Not a creature of any sort was seen on theice, but little auks and sea parrots in vast numbers rose and perched onthe gently rippling sea.
The wind having fallen we got out lines to fish for sharks, and sooncaught one twelve feet in length. It was hoisted on board by a blockand tackle, when, its liver being cut out, Sandy, blowing through atube, inflated the stomach of the creature, which was then thrownoverboard. The object of this was to prevent the body from sinking,when its brethren would have devoted their attention to its remainsinstead of to the blubber with which the hooks were baited.
We caught several in the same way. Each liver yielded almost its entireweight of a fine fish-oil, undistinguishable from cod-liver oil, thoughI do not know if it possesses the same qualities. Again a light breezefrom the eastward springing up, we made further progress. A hail fromthe crow's nest announcing that a sail was in sight made us all lookout. Having a soldier's wind we were approaching each other fromopposite directions. As the stranger drew near we watched her with muchinterest. Captain Hudson and the first mate were examining her throughtheir glasses.
"If that's not the _Barentz_ it's her ghost!" exclaimed the captain.
"It's a ship of her size, at all events," observed the mate; "she looksas if she had spent a long time in the ice."
The moment I heard this, my heart leapt with joy at the thought that weshould find our brother David on board, until I recollected the cairnand the document he had left behind him. Could he, after all, have goton board his ship, or could he hare been lost while she had escaped?
As the wind was very light a boat was lowered, and Andrew and I havingjumped into her pulled away that we might as soon as possible learn whathad happened. We were soon clambering up the stranger's sides. On herdeck stood a gaunt and famished crew. As our eyes ranged over theircountenances we in vain sought that of our brother David.
"What ship is this?" was the first question we put.
"The _Barentz_," answered her captain, stepping forward.
"Is David Ogilvy on board?" inquired Andrew.
"I regret to say that he is not," answered the captain, at oncequenching all our hopes. "He was on shore, when we were driven off theland and afterwards carried northward, where we were beset in the icefrom which we have only just escaped. Had he been with us, the lives ofsome of our poor people would have been saved, and the health of allpreserved."
On hearing that our ship was the _Hardy Norseman_, the captain expressedhis wish to come on board in our boat, all his own having been lost, orbeen rendered utterly unserviceable. I need not say that he received awarm welcome, while Captain Hudson promised to supply him and his crewwith all the fresh provisions and antiscorbutics he could spare. Thecaptain of the _Barentz_ was much grieved on hearing of our fears ofDavid's fate. Still, as I looked at his ship, I could scarcely hope, inher battered condition, that she would reach port in safety.
Thus, had my brother remained on board it might have been his lot toperish with all the rest. Captain Hudson suggested that he and his crewshould come on board. This he positively declined doing. Having gothis ship out of the ice and escaped after being shut up for two winters,he fully believed that he should be able to take her home. Andrew againwent on board the _Barentz_ and prescribed for the sick men among thecrew. It was not until the next day, when a breeze sprang up, that weparted company, little supposing at the time what was in store for us.We now found ourselves constantly surrounded by dense mists which madeit difficult to avoid the enormous icebergs and floes, which floated onthe surface of the water. Happily for us, the sea was perfectly calm,or broken into light wavelets by the gentle breeze. The ceaseless andmelancholy sound produced by the waste of ice disturbed the silencewhich would otherwise have reigned over the ocean world.
Sad and solemn was the picture presented to us by the unbrokenprocession of icebergs, which, like the ghosts in Macbeth, floated by todisappear in the warmer regions of the south. Constantly, too, therecame the roar of the ocean swell as it broke among the icebergs andcaverns, or the splash of water like a distant cataract as it fell fromthe lofty summits of the bergs, mingling with the crackling noiseemitted by the masses of ice as they struck each other or their summitswere broken off. Sometimes an iceberg would overturn or the top comehurtling down with a
crash into the sea, covering the water with foam,and sending the birds which had perched there flying in all directionsto seek a more secure resting-place.
We were now never without the light of the sun. According to itsnearness to the horizon, the effects produced varied greatly. Duringthe night the sky was of a deep ultramarine, while the icebergs, clothedwith a rosy hue, appeared to have gone to sleep. Even the cascades fromthe bergs ceased to flow, and few sounds broke the silence. Sea-gullsand divers could be seen sitting round the edge of a floe with theirheads under their wings. The whole region presented a strange and weirdaspect. On we sailed, the icebergs at every mile becoming more numerousand of larger dimensions. As I looked ahead it seemed impossible thatwe could force our way between them, or escape being crushed by the vastmasses which ever and anon came toppling down from their summits, butthe desire to obtain a full ship