The World of Ice

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.

  WINTER ENDS--THE FIRST INSECT--PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE--NARROWESCAPE--CUTTING OUT--ONCE MORE AFLOAT--SHIP ON FIRE--CREW TAKE TO THEBOATS.

  Winter passed away, with its darkness and its frost, and, happily, withits sorrows; and summer--bright, glowing summer--came at last to gladdenthe heart of man and beast in the Polar regions.

  We have purposely omitted to make mention of spring, for there is nosuch season, properly so called, within the Arctic Circle. Winterusually terminates with a gushing thaw, and summer then begins with ablaze of fervent heat. Not that the heat is really so intense ascompared with that of southern climes, but the contrast is so great thatit _seems_ as though the torrid zones had rushed towards the Pole.

  About the beginning of June there were indications of the coming heat.Fresh water began to trickle from the rocks, and streamlets commenced torun down the icebergs. Soon everything became moist, and a markedchange took place in the appearance of the ice-belt, owing to the poolsthat collected on it everywhere and overflowed.

  Seals now became more numerous in the neighbourhood, and were frequentlykilled near the _atluks_, or holes; so that fresh meat was secured inabundance, and the scurvy received a decided check. Reindeer, rabbits,and ptarmigan, too, began to frequent the bay, so that the larder wasconstantly full, and the mess-table presented a pleasing variety--ratsbeing no longer the solitary dish of fresh meat at every meal. A fewsmall birds made their appearance from the southward, and these werehailed as harbingers of the coming summer.

  One day O'Riley sat on the taffrail, basking in the warm sun, anddrinking in health and gladness from its beams. He had been ill, andwas now convalescent. Buzzby stood beside him.

  "I've bin thinkin'," said Buzzby, "that we don't half know the blessin'sthat are given to us in this here world till we've had 'em taken away.Look, now, how we're enjoyin' the sun an' the heat just as if it wos somuch gold!"

  "Goold!" echoed O'Riley in a tone of contempt; "faix, I niver thought solittle o' goold before, let me tell ye. Goold can buy many a thing, itcan, but it can't buy sunshine. Hallo! what's this!"

  O'Riley accompanied the question with a sudden snatch of his hand.

  "Look here, Buzzby! Have a care, now! jist watch the opening o' myfist."

  "Wot is it?" enquired Buzzby, approaching, and looking earnestly at hiscomrade's clenched hand with some curiosity.

  "There he comes! Now, then; not so fast, ye spalpeen!"

  As he spoke, a small fly, which had been captured, crept out frombetween his fingers, and sought to escape. It was the first that hadvisited these frozen regions for many, many months, and the whole crewwere summoned on deck to meet it, as if it were an old and valuedfriend.

  "Let it go, poor thing?" cried half a dozen of the men, gazing at thelittle prisoner with a degree of interest that cannot be thoroughlyunderstood by those who have not passed through experiences similar tothose of our Arctic voyagers.

  "Ay, don't hurt it, poor thing! You're squeezin' it too hard!" criedAmos Parr.

  "Squaazing it! no, then, I'm not. Go, avic, an' me blessin' go wid ye."

  The big, rough hand opened, and the tiny insect, spreading its gossamerwings, buzzed away into the bright atmosphere, where it was soon lost toview.

  "Rig up the ice-saws, Mr Bolton, set all hands at them, and get out thepowder-canisters," cried Captain Guy, coming hastily on deck.

  "Ay, ay, sir," responded the mate. "All hands to the ice-saws! Lookalive, boys! Ho! Mr Saunders! where's Mr Saunders?"

  "Here I am," answered the worthy second mate in a quiet voice.

  "Oh, you're there? get up some powder, Mr Saunders, and a fewcanisters."

  There was a heartiness in the tone and action with which these orderswere given and obeyed that proved they were possessed of more thanordinary interest; as, indeed, they were, for the time had now come formaking preparations for cutting the ship out of winter-quarters, andgetting ready to take advantage of any favourable opening in the icethat might occur.

  "Do you hope to effect much?" enquired Captain Ellice of Captain Guy,who stood at the gangway watching the men as they leaped over the side,and began to cut holes with ice chisels preparatory to fixing the sawsand powder-canisters.

  "Not much," replied the captain; "but a _little_ in these latitudes isworth fighting hard for, as you are well aware. Many a time have I seena ship's crew strain and heave on warps and cables for hours together,and only gain a yard by all their efforts; but many a time, also, have Iseen a single yard of headway save a ship from destruction."

  "True," rejoined Captain Ellice; "I have seen a little of it myself.There is no spot on earth, I think, equal to the Polar regions forbringing out into bold relief two great and _apparently_ antagonistictruths--namely, man's urgent need of all his powers to accomplish thework of his own deliverance, and man's utter helplessness and entiredependence on the sovereign will of God."

  "When shall we sink the canisters, sir?" asked Bolton, coming up andtouching his hat.

  "In an hour, Mr Bolton; the tide will be full then, and we shall trywhat effect a blast will have."

  "My opeenion is," remarked Saunders, who passed at the moment with twolarge bags of gunpowder under his arms, "that it'll have no effect ata'. It'll just loosen the ice roond the ship."

  The captain smiled as he said: "_That_ is all the effect I hope for, MrSaunders. Should the outward ice give way soon, we shall then be in abetter position to avail ourselves of it."

  As Saunders predicted, the effect of powder and saws was merely toloosen and rend the ice-tables, in which the _Dolphin_ was imbedded; butdeliverance was coming sooner than any of those on board expected. Thatnight a storm arose, which, for intensity of violence, equalled, if itdid not surpass, the severest gales they had yet experienced. It setthe great bergs of the Polar seas in motion, and these moving mountainsof ice slowly and majestically began their voyage to southern climes,crashing through the floes, overturning the hummocks, and ripping up theice-tables with quiet, but irresistible momentum. For two days the warof ice continued to rage, and sometimes the contending forces, in theshape of huge tongues and corners of bergs, were forced into the Bay ofMercy, and threatening swift destruction to the little craft, which wasa mere atom that might have been crushed and sunk and scarcely missed insuch a wild scene.

  At one time a table of ice was forced out of the water and reared up,like a sloping wall of glass, close to the stern of the _Dolphin_, whereall the crew were assembled with ice-poles ready to do their utmost; buttheir feeble efforts could have availed them nothing had theslowly-moving mass continued its onward progress.

  "Lower away the quarter-boat," cried the captain, as the sheet of icesix feet thick came grinding down towards the starboard quarter.

  Buzzby, Grim, and several others sprang to obey, but, before they couldlet go the fall-tackles, the mass of ice rose suddenly high above thedeck, over which it projected several feet, and caught the boat. Inanother moment the timbers yielded; the thwarts sprang out or werebroken across, and slowly, yet forcibly, as a strong hand might crush anegg-shell, the boat was squeezed flat against the ship's side.

  "Shove, lads; if it comes on we're lost," cried the captain, seizing oneof the long poles with which the men were vainly straining every nerveand muscle. They might as well have tried to arrest the progress of aberg. On it came, and crushed in the starboard quarter bulwarks.Providentially at that moment it grounded and remained fast; but theprojecting point that overhung them broke off and fell on the deck witha crash that shook the good ship from stem to stern. Several of the menwere thrown violently down, but none were seriously hurt in thiscatastrophe.

  When the storm ceased, the ice out in the strait was all in motion, andthat round the ship had loosened so much that it seemed as if the_Dolphin_ might soon get out into open water and once more float uponits natural element. Every preparation, therefore, was made; the storeswere reshipped from Store Island; the sails were shake
n out, and thoseof them that had been taken down were bent on to the yards. Tackle wasoverhauled, and, in short, everything was done that was possible underthe circumstances. But a week passed away ere they succeeded in finallywarping out of the bay into the open sea beyond.

  It was a lovely morning when this happy event was accomplished. Beforethe tide was quite full, and while they were waiting until the commandto heave on the warps should be given, Captain Guy assembled the crewfor morning prayers in the cabin. Having concluded, he said:

  "My lads, through the great mercy of Heaven we have been all, exceptone, spared through the trials and anxieties of a long and drearywinter, and are now, I trust, about to make our escape from the ice thathas held us fast so long. It becomes me at such a time to tell youthat, if I am spared to return home, I shall be able to report thatevery man in this ship has done his duty. You have never flinched inthe hour of danger, and never grumbled in the hour of trial. Only oneman--our late brave and warm-hearted comrade, Joseph West--has fallen inthe struggle. For the mercies that have never failed us, and for oursuccess in rescuing my gallant friend, Captain Ellice, we ought to feelthe deepest gratitude. We have need, however, to pray for a blessing onthe labours that are yet before us, for you are well aware that we shallprobably have many a struggle with the ice before we are once moreafloat on blue water. And now, lads, away with you on deck, and man thecapstan, for the tide is about full."

  The capstan was manned, and the hawsers were hove taut. Inch by inchthe tide rose, and the _Dolphin_ floated. Then a lusty cheer was given,and Amos Parr struck up one of those hearty songs intermingled with"Ho!" and "Yo heave ho!" that seem to be the life and marrow of allnautical exertion. At last the good ship forged ahead, and, _boring_through the loose ice, passed slowly out of the Bay of Mercy.

  "Do you know I feel quite sad at quitting this dreary spot?" said Fredto his father, as they stood gazing backward over the taffrail. "Icould not have believed that I should have become so much attached toit."

  "We become attached to any spot, Fred, in which incidents have occurredto call forth, frequently, our deeper feelings. These rocks and stonesare intimately associated with many events that have caused you joy andsorrow, hope and fear, pain and happiness. Men cherish the memory ofsuch feelings, and love the spots of earth with which they areassociated."

  "Ah, Father, yonder stands one stone, at least, that calls forthfeelings of sorrow."

  Fred pointed, as he spoke, to Store Island, which was just passing outof view. On this lonely spot the men had raised a large stone over thegrave of Joseph West. O'Riley, whose enthusiastic temperament hadcaused him to mourn over his comrade more, perhaps, than any other manin the ship, had carved the name and date of his death in rudecharacters on the stone. It was a conspicuous object on the low island,and every eye in the _Dolphin_ was fixed on it as they passed. Soon thepoint of rock, that had sheltered them so long from many a westerlygale, intervened and shut it out from view for ever.

  A week of uninterrupted fair wind and weather had carried the _Dolphin_far to the south of their dreary wintering-ground, and all was goingwell, when the worst of all disasters befell the ship--she caught fire!How it happened no one could tell. The smoke was first seen risingsuddenly from the hold. Instantly the alarm was spread.

  "Firemen to your posts!" shouted the captain. "Man the water-buckets;steady, men, no hurry. Keep order."

  "Ay, ay, sir," was the short, prompt response, and the most perfectorder _was_ kept. Every command was obeyed instantly, with a degree ofvigour that is seldom exhibited save in cases of life and death.

  Buzzby was at the starboard, and Peter Grim at the larboard gangway,while the men stood in two rows, extending from each to the main hatch,up which ever-thickening clouds of dark smoke were rolling. Bucketafter bucket of water was passed along and dashed into the hold, andeverything that could be done was done, but without effect. The fireincreased. Suddenly a long tongue of flame issued from the smokingcavern, and lapped round the mast and rigging with greedy eagerness.

  "There's no hope," said Captain Ellice in a low voice, laying his handgently on Captain Guy's shoulder.

  The captain did not reply, but gazed with an expression of the deepestregret, for one moment, at the work of destruction.

  Next instant he sprang to the falls of the larboard quarterboat.

  "Now, lads," he cried energetically, "get out the boats. Bring upprovisions, Mr Bolton, and a couple of spare sails. Mr Saunders, seeto the ammunition and muskets. Quick, men. The cabin will soon be toohot to hold you."

  Setting the example, the captain sprang below, followed by Fred and TomSingleton, who secured the charts, a compass, chronometer, and quadrant;also the log-book and the various journals and records of the voyage.Captain Ellice also did active service, and, being cool andself-possessed, he recollected and secured several articles which wereafterwards of the greatest use, and which, but for him, would in such atrying moment have probably been forgotten.

  Meanwhile the two largest boats in the ship were lowered. Provisions,masts, sails, and oars, etcetera, were thrown in. The few remainingdogs, among whom were Dumps and Poker, were also embarked, and the crew,hastily leaping in, pushed off. They were not a moment too soon. Thefire had reached the place where the gunpowder was kept and, althoughthere was not a great quantity of it, there was enough, when itexploded, to burst open the deck. The wind, having free ingress, fannedthe fire into a furious blaze, and in a few moments the _Dolphin_ waswrapped in flames from stem to stern. It was a little after sunset whenthe fire was discovered; in two hours later the good ship was burned tothe water's edge; then the waves swept in, and, while they extinguishedthe fire, they sank the blackened hull, leaving the two crowded boatsfloating in darkness on the bosom of the ice-laden sea.