Arctic Adventures
Page 18
satisfaction when I perceived the bear struggling onhis back in the snow.
Ewen then handed me up his rifle, and while he reloaded mine, I took aimat the next bear, which I knocked over in the same fashion as I had thefirst; but strange to say, their companions, instead of being frightenedand running away, came growling up as if resolved to revenge theirdeaths.
On seeing this, Sandy, who was looking over my shoulder, calling therest of the party, opened the door, and fired a volley, all handsshouting at the same time at the top of their voices.
One of the bears fell; the rest, terrified and pursued by the dogs, whobolted out, took to flight. We called off our canine attendants, whowere, however, very unwilling to return, coming slowly back, and everynow and then facing round and barking furiously at the retreating bears.
Four of the animals had been killed, and we had made, as Sandy observed,"a good morning's work." It took us some time to cut them up and stowthe flesh away in our pit, while the preparation of the skins gave usabundant occupation, though not a pleasant one in the confined hut.
Day after day went by; the sun remained longer and longer above thehorizon; while the warmth sensibly increased, when there happened to beno wind, although the air was still cold enough to make our thickclothing indispensable.
We now began to make preparations for our journey southward, which mustbe performed before the land-ice should begin to break up.
I suggested that some of the party should first make a trip with part ofour provisions, sufficient for three or four days, to the south, andthere form a depot, so that we might not run the risk of starving shouldwe fail to kill any animals, and this was agreed to.
Sandy and I drew lots which of us should go, and which remain at thehut.
The lot fell on him to go, and he chose Hans and Croil to accompany him.I confess that I would far rather have gone, but having agreed to theproposal, I felt bound to yield to his wishes.
The party set off the next morning with the tent, and as much bear'smeat as they chose to carry, and a portion of the remainder of our otherstores. Ewen and I saw them off, not without some forebodings of evil,and then returned to our hut to employ ourselves as usual.
We never allowed the time to hang heavily on our hands, though we wouldhave given a great deal for a book of any description, especially for aBible, for that could have been read over and over again with advantage,whereas any other book would have been quickly got through. Wecalculated that Sandy would be absent a week or ten days at the utmost.The ten days had elapsed, and Sandy had not appeared; a fearfulsnow-storm, with a violent wind, had, however, come on, and confined usto the hut, and we concluded that he and his companions had pitchedtheir tent, and had halted until it should be over, and that we mightthus expect to see them at any hour.
Still days went by after this, and they did not come.
"Can they have deserted us?" asked Ewen.
"I am sure that they have not willingly done so," I replied. "Someserious accident I fear may have happened to prevent them fromreturning."
Our position had now become critical in the extreme. In a short timethe ice might leave the shore, and our escape from the bay would beimpossible.
We resolved at once to set out. Should the party be returning, we mightperhaps meet them. If not, we must push on as long as our strengthlasted. Having accordingly packed up our meat, our lamp, our stock ofoil, and our ammunition, we set out.
We might find shelter in some cavern in the cliffs, or if not we couldbuild a snow-hut of sufficient size to contain us. We might evenventure to sleep out on calm nights, covered up in our blankets.
Before quitting the spot we closed the door of our hut, to prevent theingress of bears, for we might possibly have to return to it, though asthe warmth of the sun increased it would melt away.
We trudged on manfully, both feeling in better spirits than we had donefor some days. On our right rose lofty cliffs, and occasionally vastmasses of ice formed into glaciers a mile or more in extent, while onthe left stretched out a vast field of ice, out of which rose numerousbergs of fantastic shapes, but no open water could we discover.
For the first day we got on very well. As the light decreased we builta snow-hut in which we could comfortably rest, with an entrance so smallthat no bear could have suddenly pounced upon us, while we kept ourrifles ready to shoot the intruder should one appear. Next night we didthe same, though we felt very tired when the work was over, and butlittle inclined to start the next morning at sunrise. We had, indeed,miscalculated our strength. It seemed easy enough to walk straightahead over the ice for several hours a day; but we found that, thoughthe ice was sometimes smooth, we had frequently to clamber overhummocks, so that our progress was slower than we had expected. At lastEwen declared that, unless we could take a whole day's rest, he could gono farther.
My fear was lest, while we were inside our hut, Sandy and his companionsmight pass us. I agreed to take a short journey only, and offered towatch while Ewen slept. This he did not like to let me do, but I overpersuaded him, and, while he turned in, I walked about the outside ofthe hut, sometimes climbing to the top of a hummock near at hand in thehopes of seeing our friends. The day closed in, however, without asingle object appearing, and the next morning, Ewen saying that he feltstronger after his rest, we continued our journey.
We had been travelling for a couple of hours or more, when we reached apoint beyond which a deep bay appeared. Should we go round it, or crossfrom one side to the other? As far as we could discern, there wasnothing to tempt us to go out of our course. The cliffs were moreprecipitous and lofty than those we had hitherto seen, with intervals ofvast glaciers of equal height.
We had hitherto had the cliffs to guide us, but now should the snowfall, or the weather become thick, we should not be able to distinguishthem. Clear weather was, therefore, of the utmost importance, so,praying that it might continue, we pushed forward.
Though we travelled all day, with but a few minutes' rest to take ourfood, the opposite side of the bay appeared no nearer than at first.Darkness came on, and not the faintest outline of the cliffs could wediscover. It seemed to us, as we crept into our hut, that we were inthe midst of the frozen sea. Fatigue happily brought us sound sleep.When we got up in the morning, what was our dismay to find that aviolent storm was blowing, and that the snow was falling so thickly thatwe had great difficulty in forcing our way out of the hut. In a shorttime we should have been enclosed in what might have proved our tomb.To travel was next to impossible; although on starting we knew thedirection to take, we were aware that we might very soon go wrong shouldthe wind change. We therefore remained in our hut, occasionally diggingaway the snow to keep the passage clear.
At last the snow ceased, and as we could make out the faint outlines ofthe cliffs to the southward, we at once, shouldering our packs, pushedforward. It seemed, however, that we had made no progress when again wehad to halt and build a hut.
The three next days were but a repetition of those I have described; butnow our provisions had greatly decreased, as had our strength. Thecliffs on the other side of the bay had not been reached, and when wegot there, what were we likely to find? We had to confess to each otherthat we should not have strength to go much farther. Still, we resolvedto struggle on as long as life remained. The snow had again begun tofall, but not with sufficient thickness to compel us to stop. At lastEwen suddenly declared that not another step could he stir. I offeredto take his rifle and his pack, but, when I made the attempt to carrythem, I found that I was unable to bear an additional load to my own.
Poor Ewen sank down. "Go on," he said; "you may reach human beings, butI fear that you will not." I could not bear the thought of leaving myfriend. Even should I reach the shore and find a settlement, he wouldbe dead before I could return. I proposed again encamping, but he hadnot strength even to assist in building a hut.
While I was endeavouring to encourage him, I fancied that I saw in thedistance to the westwar
d some objects moving over the ice. They mightbe bears--reindeers would scarcely have left the land. I looked moreattentively. While I was gazing, the snow almost ceased falling.
"Look, Ewen, look!" I shouted, "those are men and sledges. They mustbe Sandy's party, but they are too far off to see us. They are comingnearer, however. Rouse up, old fellow; let us try to meet them."
Ewen's strength seemed suddenly to return. We hurried forward, but weboth feared that they might pass by without discovering us. As we gotnearer to them we shouted, but our voices were hollow and low, and tooprobably would not be heard.
"I'll fire my rifle!" I exclaimed. "I wonder that I did not think ofdoing so at first."
The report had the desired effect. As we watched the strangers, to ourjoy we saw that they were directing their course towards us. In a shorttime we were among a party of Esquimaux, who seemed very much surprisedat seeing us, though what they said we could not