moment to think of their misfortunes, the captainat once set them the task of building a house, partly from the plankingof the ship, and partly with ice. It consisted of an inner chamber withtwo outer ones, and a long passage leading to it, and several doors, sothat the outer could be closed before the inner were opened. We had asky-light, made from a piece of double glass on the top, and a chimneyto afford ventilation and to allow the smoke to escape. While the menwere engaged in forming it, the captain, my brother, Ewen and I set offto reach the summit of a berg with our sextants and spy-glasses, hopingthat from thence, while we took observations we might catch sight of theGreenland coast. We carried with us also a small flag and staff, whichwe might plant on the top should our expedition prove successful.
The labour of walking over the hummocky ice was great, for though at adistance it looked tolerably level, we had constantly to be climbing upand sliding down elevations of considerable height. As the days weregetting short, we had little time to spare. We had to keep a look-outalso for holes which exist often in thick ice, kept open by whales andother monsters of the deep which come up to breathe.
"I hope that we may fall in with bears," said Ewen; "the chances are,some old fellow will scent us out."
"I shall be very glad to see them," answered the captain. "It wouldprove that the moveable floes are already connected with the land ice,as bears very seldom swim across a broad channel; but I fear that thisimmense field on which we stand is still drifting northward, and thatnone will venture off to us."
At last we got to the foot of the berg for which we were aiming, andcommenced its ascent.
"Why it's a mountain and not an iceberg!" cried Ewen. "I see rocksprojecting out of it."
The captain laughed.
"Those are mere stones sticking to it," observed Andrew; "they were tornoff when the berg was separated from the glacier of which it once formeda part. Vast rocks, far larger than those we see, were at one period ofour globe's history, carried over the surface to great distances, anddeposited in spots where they are now found, while the marks produced bythe bergs are still visible in many localities. If this berg were to bestranded on some distant shore, it would gradually melt leaving therocks it carries behind it, which a geologist would perceive had noconnection with any strata in the neighbourhood, and he would,therefore, at once justly conclude that the rocks had been brought tothe spot by a berg."
These remarks were made as we stopped to rest on our way up. Wequickly, however, continued the ascent. Andrew, who carried the flag,was first to reach the top, and, waving it above his head, shouted"Land, land!" then, working away with an axe, he dug a hole in which heplanted the staff.
We all soon joined him, when, descending a short distance, the captainsurveyed the distant coast, now turning his glass horizontally, now upat the sky. I asked him what he was looking at.
"Curious as it may seem, I can see the shape of the mountains in the skybetter than by directing my glass at them; besides which I observe adark line which indicates a broad channel running between us and theland ice. It shows that I am right in my conjectures, and that thefield is still moving northward. It must come to a stop one day, andwhen it does we must be prepared for even more violent commotions thanwe have yet experienced."
The captain calculated that the land we saw was nearly thirty miles off,and that the channel ran about midway between us and it.
It was a question whether we should attempt this long journey during theautumn, or wait for the return of spring, spending our winter in ourhouses on the ice. The point could only be decided when the fieldceased to move. One thing was certain, it would be impossible to getthe boats over the hummocky ice, and thus we must depend upon our feetto reach the shore, while we dragged our stores after us.
"We must wait no longer here, lads," said the captain who had justfinished his observation. "If we do we shall be benighted, and may haveto spend a long night without shelter."
We hurried down the berg and directed our course towards the ship, butwhether or not we should reach her appeared doubtful.
CHAPTER SEVEN.
It was evening when we got back to the encampment. On casting our eyestowards the ship, her appearance, as she lay overlapped with masses ofice on her beam ends, could not fail to produce a melancholy feeling.
"She'll never float again!" exclaimed the captain with a sigh. "We mustmake the best of things, however, as they are."
The men had progressed with the house. It was already habitable, thoughmuch more was to be done to enable us to bear the piercing cold of anarctic winter.
Next day was employed in getting everything out of the ship, which couldbe reached, likely to be useful, as she could no longer afford us a safeshelter. We began to cut away the bulwarks, the upper planks, andindeed all the wood we could get at, to serve for fuel as well as tostrengthen the house. While thus employed, the fearful sounds fromwhich we had for some time been free, again assailed our ears. Therewas a sudden movement of our floe, while all around us, and especiallyto the northward, we could see the ice heaving and tumbling, huge massesfalling over, and floes rising one above another. Should our floe besubject to the same violent pressure, a slab might slide over it andsweep us to destruction. Even should some of the more active manage toclimb to the top, our house and boats and stores must inevitably belost, and those who might have escaped at first would, ere long, befrozen to death.
The hours we thus passed, not knowing at what moment the catastrophemight occur, were terrible in the extreme. To work was impossible. Atlength, however, the disturbance ceased. The intense cold quicklycongealed the broken masses together, and we were able to turn in andsleep soundly.
The next day all was quiet. The captain was of opinion that we shouldmove no further north, and that, should our floe become detached, wemight expect to drift to the southward.
The captain's observations showed that at present we were stationary,but it was still doubtful whether our floe was or was not united to themain body. The captain, Mr. Patterson, my brother, the boatswain and I,had been discussing the subject one evening as we sat in the hut, andwere afterwards talking of the Aurora Borealis when I agreed to go outand ascertain if any of peculiar brilliancy was visible.
On emerging from the hut, I gazed up at the sky. An Aurora was blazingbrilliantly, forming an irregular arch, from which showers of rays ofmany colours spread in every direction. I was watching it with intenseadmiration, and was intending to go back and call my companions, whenone of the dogs which had followed me gave a loud bark. It was answeredby a growl. Looking over the ice I saw two enormous shaggy monsters,who, sniffing the air, advanced cautiously towards me. The brave dogdashed forward. In vain I called him to return.
Satisfied that our visitors were Polar bears which must have come fromthe main land, I hurried back, closing the door behind me to preventthem from entering. The captain, mate, and my brother seized theirrifles, as I did mine, hoping to kill one or both of the intruders. Aswe opened the door, a loud cry uttered by a dog reached our ears. Oneof the bears had seized the animal and was carrying him off, satisfiedwith his prize. The other was creeping on towards the hut. Our bulletsquickly settled him, and he rolled over. We then gave chase to theother who was carrying off the dog, but we were compelled to stop andreload, and by the time we had done this, so rapidly did the animal runthat he was far beyond our reach, and all hope of rescuing our caninecompanion was over. We regretted the loss of the brave dog. It was alesson to us not to let the others loose until we were ready to assistin attacking any similar visitors. The bear was quickly skinned and cutup. The skin would serve us for clothing, the fat for fuel, the meatfor food. This visit of the bears showed us that the field of which ourfloe formed part must be attached to the land-ice. Our captain beinganxious to visit the shore, intending, should a favourable spot befound, to form our winter quarters on it--we agreed to set out the nextmorning.
Much to our disappointment, when the time came, the ca
ptain was unableto go. He was very unwell, and my brother forbade him to take thejourney. As he did not improve, Andrew was unable to leave him, and itwas finally settled that the mate, Sandy, Ewen, Croil, another man, andI should form the party to proceed to the land. We had a small sledgewhich had been manufactured some time before. To this we attached ourremaining dogs, and loaded it with stores of ammunition and provisions,including food for the dogs. Each of us carried also a small load aswell as our rifles and long poles to assist our progress. Ourcompanions cheered us as we set off, several accompanying us part of theway from the camp. We were by this time pretty well accustomed totravelling over the ice, but we had great difficulty in making our dogs,who had not been well trained, pull together, and the mate, losingpatience, declared that he would rather drag the sledge himself, andthat he wished the dogs back again.
"If he were to try it for
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