usabundance of food. We were standing along the shore one evening when,under a cliff, what was our astonishment to see a light. The Esquimauxwere inclined to avoid the place; for, pulling away, evidently alarmed,they assured us that the spot would not afford comfortablecamping-ground.
We, however, were anxious to ascertain by what the light was produced,feeling certain that some person must be on the shore who was making asignal. At last we persuaded them to turn the boat's head towards thebeach.
As we approached, what was our astonishment to see a man standing at themouth of a cave, and holding a torch which, in his eagerness, as we drewnear, he flung into the air.
"Who are you?" shouted Ewen.
"An Englishman," was the answer.
We quickly leaped on the beach, and the stranger, advancing to meet us,stretched out his hands.
"Thank Heaven you have come, for I was very near perishing," heexclaimed. "My powder and shot were expended, and I had consumed thelast remnant of the meat of the last deer I had killed."
I replied that we had sailed in the _Hardy Norseman_, that she had beenlost on the ice, and that we had been separated from our companions.
"Why, that ship belonged to Dundee, the port I sailed from in the_Barentz_."
"Are you, then, her surgeon, David Ogilvy?" I asked in a tremblingvoice.
"I am," he answered.
"Then I am your younger brother," was my reply, and we threw ourselvesinto each other's arms.
After recovering ourselves, I introduced Ewen, when my brother invitedhim and the Esquimaux into his cavern. Though the entrance was small,the interior was of considerable size, and had been made habitable bymeans of skins and the wreck of the very sloop in which he had escaped.Most of her crew, he told us, had left her in search of walruses, when astorm arose, and she was driven among the ice on to the coast, theremainder of his people perishing. He had providentially been able tosave two rifles and all the ammunition on board, together with thelarger part of her provisions. After finding shelter in the cavern, hehad discovered a path which led to the heights above. From thence hehad been able to make excursions into the interior, where he foundreindeer and musk-oxen in considerable numbers, together with mosses andseveral herbs, with the qualities of which being acquainted he was ableto vary his food.
The next morning we loaded the oomiak with as many of the skins as shecould carry, and proceeded on our voyage. To our disappointment wefound our further progress stopped by a large field of ice, which hadbeen driven against the shore or had remained fixed to it since thewinter. We must either cross it--and it might extend for several miles,besides being covered with hummocks--or we must paddle out seawards andtry to get round it. The latter proceeding did not appear to suit theideas of the Esquimaux. Rather than be delayed, however, they consentedto make the attempt, as we persuaded them that a passage might be foundfurther out. After we had gone a short distance, on looking seaward,great was our astonishment to catch sight of a flag. Presentlyafterwards we saw some dark dots on the floe, which had apparently comein contact with the field of ice at present impeding our progress.
"Can it be possible that those are our shipmates?" exclaimed Ewen.
"I have no doubt about it," I answered. "I see three persons; perhapsthey are Sandy, Croil, and Hans. I trust that the poor fellows haveescaped."
To make sure I fired off my rifle, when the shot was replied to, thoughthe sound but faintly struck our ears. The Esquimaux had now not theslightest hesitation of paddling out.
As we drew nearer other figures appeared who came to the edge of thefloe. Among them was my brother Andrew.
"It is our crew. The whole have escaped then," exclaimed Ewen, as wemade him out.
To our infinite satisfaction, Sandy himself was the next person wedistinguished, and several others who had seen the oomiak came hurryingacross the ice.
I have not time to describe the meeting of us three brothers, thus sowonderfully preserved and reunited. Sandy had come upon the floe whilefor a short time it remained fixed to the land-ice, and had arranged toreturn the next morning to rescue us, when, to his dismay, he found thatit was in motion, and that any communication with the land wasimpossible. The boats, being damaged, were unfit at present to belaunched, but the carpenters were very busily employed in repairingthem. It was the captain's intention to land as soon as they could getopposite the settlement of Friedrichsthal, should the floe hold togetherso long, or, should its disruption be threatened, to make the voyage inthe boats. We, of course, were willing to share the fortunes of ourfriends.
On returning to the oomiak we bestowed the rifles and ammunition we hadpromised on the honest Esquimaux, to which we added several otherarticles of a sort they valued.
David, Ewen, and I were cordially welcomed by the captain, Sandy, andthe rest of the crew, who appeared to have suffered little from theirlong exposure on the floe. The wreck of the _Hardy Norseman_, however,had broken off and gone to the bottom. We had now the boats alone todepend upon. Scarcely had the Esquimaux taken their departure andpaddled away than the floe began to move. As it did so I could not helpseeing our perilous position, for at any moment it might drive against aberg, which might topple over and crush us. The wind, too, which haduntil now been favourable, changed, and there appeared great probabilityof our being again driven northward. Two days had thus passed, when thelook-out, who was stationed at a flag-staff on the top of a hummock,shouted, "A sail, a sail!"
All hands quickly joined him, when we beheld the joyful sight of a shipstanding towards us, some way to the southward. She could not possiblyfail, we thought, to see our flag. We were not mistaken. On she came.As if to hasten her progress, some of us fired off our guns, othersshouted. Several of the men danced and clapped their hands, and otherswept and rushed into each other's arms. Then, as the ship approachedand began to shorten sail, we ran down to the side of the floe on whichshe was approaching, and waved our caps and cheered. As the floe wassteady, she glided up alongside, and threw her ice-anchors on to it.
"She's the _Barentz_!" exclaimed David, "though her appearance haschanged greatly for the better since I last saw her."
The _Barentz_ she was. Having been refitted, she had been the firstship to sail from Dundee in search of us, her captain calculating that,having escaped with our lives, we should be found not far off from thespot where providentially he had fallen in with us.
The remaining stores and skins, together with those belonging to mybrother, and everything of value, were quickly hoisted on board, and the_Barentz_, having already caught several whales, before long obtained afull ship. Her head was then turned southward, and, after all ourwonderful adventures and hairbreadth escapes, we reached in safety theport of Dundee.
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The End.
Arctic Adventures Page 21
