Fast in the Ice: Adventures in the Polar Regions
Page 8
CHAPTER EIGHT.
THE CAUSE OF ICE-BERGS--FOX-CHASE--A BEAR.
One day, long after the walrus-hunt just described, Joe Davis stood onthe deck of the _Hope_, leaning over the side and looking out to sea--atleast in the direction of the sea, for, although mid-day, it was so darkthat he could not see very far in any direction. Joe was conversingwith Mr Dicey on the appearance of things around him.
"Do you know, Mr Dicey," said he, "wot it is as causes them thereice-bergs?"
Mr Dicey looked very grave and wise for a few seconds withoutanswering. Then he said, in rather a solemn tone, "Well, Davis, to tellyou the real truth, I _don't_ know!"
Now, as this question is one of considerable interest, I shall endeavourto answer it for the benefit of the reader.
The whole of the interior of Greenland is covered with ice and snow.This snowy covering does not resemble that soft snow which falls on ourown hills. It is hard, and _never_ melts entirely away. The snow thereis in some places a thousand feet thick! It covers all the hill-topsand fills up all the valleys, so that the country may be said to be aburied land. Since the world began, perhaps, snow has been falling onit every winter; but the summers there have been so short that theycould not melt away the snow of one winter before that of another cameand covered it up and pressed it down. Thus, for ages, the snow of oneyear has been added to that which was left of the preceding, and thepressure has been so great that the mass has been squeezed nearly ashard as pure ice.
The ice that has been formed in this way is called _glacier_; and theglaciers of Greenland cover, as I have said, the whole country, so thatit can never be cultivated or inhabited by man unless the climatechange. There are glaciers of this kind in many other parts of theworld. We have them in Switzerland and in Norway, but not on nearly solarge a scale as in Greenland.
Now, although this glacier-ice is clear and hard, it is not quite sosolid as pure ice, and when it is pushed down into the valleys by theincreasing masses above it, actually _flows_. But this flowing motioncannot be seen. It is like the motion of the hour hand of a watch,which cannot be perceived however closely it may be looked at. Youmight go to one of the valleys of Greenland and gaze at a glacier fordays together, but you would see no motion whatever. All would appearsolid, frozen up, and still. But notice a block of stone lying on thesurface of the glacier, and go back many months after and you will findthe stone lying a little further down the valley than when you first sawit. Thus glaciers are formed and thus they slowly move. But what hasall this to do with ice-bergs? We shall see.
As the great glaciers of the north, then, are continually moving downthe valleys, of course their ends are pushed into the sea. These ends,or tongues, are often hundreds of feet thick. In some places theypresent a clear glittering wall to the sea of several hundreds of feetin height, with perhaps as much again lost to view down in the deepwater. As the extremities of these tongues are shoved farther andfarther out they chip off and float away. _These chips are ice-bergs_!I have already said that ice-bergs are sometimes miles in extent--likeislands; that they sink seven or eight hundred feet below the surface,while their tops rise more than a hundred feet above it--like mountains.If these, then, are the "chips" of the Greenland glaciers, what mustthe "old blocks" be?
Many a long and animated discussion the sailors had that winter in thecabin of the _Hope_ on the subject of ice and ice-bergs!
When the dark nights drew on, little or nothing could be done outside byour voyagers, and when the ice everywhere closed up, all the animalsforsook them except polar bears, so that they ran short of freshprovisions. As months of dreary darkness passed away, the scurvy, thatterrible disease, began to show itself among the men, their bodiesbecame less able to withstand the cold, and it was difficult for them atlast to keep up their spirits. But they fought against their troublesbravely.
Captain Harvey knew well that when a man's spirits go he is not worthmuch. He therefore did his utmost to cheer and enliven those aroundhim.
One day, for instance, he went on deck to breathe a mouthful of freshair. It was about eleven in the forenoon, and the moon was shiningbrightly in the clear sky. The stars, too, and the aurora borealis,helped to make up for the total absence of the sun. The cold air cutlike a knife against his face when he issued from the hatchway, and thecold nose of one of the dogs immediately touched his hand, as the animalgambolled round him with delight; for the extreme severity of theweather began to tell on the poor dogs, and made them draw more lovinglyto their human companions.
"Ho! hallo!" shouted the captain down the hatchway. "A fox-chase! afox-chase! Tumble up, all hands!"
The men were sitting at the time in a very dull and silent mood. Theywere much cast down, for as it had been cloudy weather for some weekspast, thick darkness had covered them night and day, so that they couldnot tell the one from the other, except by the help of their watches,which were kept carefully going. Their journals, also, were written updaily, otherwise they must certainly have got confused in their timealtogether!
In consequence of this darkness the men were confined almost entirely tothe cabin for a time. Those who had scurvy, got worse; those who werewell, became gloomy. Even Pepper, who was a tremendous joker, held histongue, and Joe Davis, who was a great singer, became silent. JimCrofts was in his bunk "down" with the scurvy, and stout Sam Baker, whowas a capital teller of stories, could not pluck up spirit enough toopen his mouth. "In fact," as Mr Dicey said, "they all had a most'orrible fit o' the blues!" The captain and officers were in betterhealth and spirits than the men, though they all fared alike at the sametable, and did the same kind of work, whatever that might chance to be.The officers, however, were constantly exerting themselves to cheer themen, and I have no doubt that this very effort of theirs was the meansof doing good to themselves. "He that watereth others shall bewatered," says the Word of God. I take this to mean--he that does goodto others shall get good to himself. So it certainly was with theofficers of the _Hope_.
When the captain's shout reached the cabin Jim Crofts had just said:"I'll tell 'ee what it is, messmates, if this here state of things goeson much longer, I'll go out on the floes, walk up to the first polarbear I meet, and ask him to take his supper off me!"
There was no laugh at this, but Pepper remarked, in a quiet way, that"he needn't put himself to so much trouble, for he was such apale-faced, disagreeable looking object that no bear would eat himunless it was starving."
"Well, then, I'll offer myself to a starvin' bear--to one that's a'mostdead with hunger," retorted Jim gloomily.
"What's that the cap'en is singin' out?" said Davy Butts, who wasmending a pair of canvas shoes.
The men roused themselves at once; for the hope of anything new turningup excited them.
"Hallo! ho!" roared the captain again, in a voice that might havestarted a dead walrus. "Tumble up, there!--a fox-chase! I'll give mysecond-best fur-coat to the man that catches foxey!"
In one instant the whole crew were scrambling up the ladder. Even JimCrofts, who was really ill, rolled out of his bunk and staggered ondeck, saying he would have a "go after foxey if he should die for it!"
The game of fox is simple. One man is chosen to be the fox. He runsoff and the rest follow. They are bound to go wherever the fox leads.In this case it was arranged that the fox should run round the deckuntil he should be caught; then the man who caught him should becomefox, and continue running on with all the rest following, until he, inturn, should be caught, and so on until the one who could run longestand fastest should break down all the rest. The warm fur-coat was aprize worth running for in such a cold climate, so the game began withspirit. Young Gregory offered to be fox first, and away they went witha yell. Mr Mansell was a little lame, and soon gave in. Mr Diceyfell at the second round, and was unable to recover distance. Gregorywould certainly have gained the coat, for he was strong, and had been acrack racer at school; but he did not want the coat, so allowed SamBaker to catch hi
m. Sam held on like a deer for a few minutes, and oneafter another the men dropped off as they were blown. Jim Crofts, poorfellow, made a gallant burst, but his limbs refused to help his spirit.He fell, and was assisted below by the captain and replaced in his bunk,where, however, he felt the benefit of his efforts.
The race was now kept up by Sam Baker, Joe Davis, and Butts. Thesethree were struggling on and panting loudly, while their comrades dancedabout, clapped their mittened hands, and shouted, "Now then, Sam!--go inand win, Joe!--Butts, forever!" and such-like encouraging cries.
To the surprise of everyone Davy Butts came off the winner, and for manya day after that enjoyed the warm coat which he said his long legs hadgained for him.
This effort of the captain to cheer the men was very successful, so heresolved to follow it up with an attempt at private theatricals.Accordingly this thing was proposed and heartily agreed to. Next dayeveryone was busy making preparations. Tom Gregory agreed to write ashort play. Sam Baker, being the healthiest man on board, was willingto act the part of an invalid old lady, and Jim Crofts consented tobecome a gay young doctor for that occasion.
Meanwhile the captain arranged a piece of real work, for he felt thatthe attempt to keep up the spirits alone would not do. They had beenfor a long time living on salt provisions. Nothing could restore thecrew but fresh meat--yet fresh meat was not to be had. The walrus anddeer were gone, and although foxes and bears were still around them,they had failed in all their attempts to shoot or trap any of theseanimals. A visit to the Eskimo camp, therefore, (if such a camp reallyexisted), became necessary; so, while the theatricals were inpreparation, a small sledge was rigged up, Gregory and Sam Baker werechosen to go with him; the dogs were harnessed, and, on a fine, starryforenoon, away they went to the south at full gallop, with three heartycheers from the crew of the brig, who were left in charge of the firstmate.
The journey thus undertaken was one full of risk. It was not known howfar distant the natives might be, or where they were likely to be found.The weather was intensely cold. Only a small quantity of preservedmeat could be taken--for the rest, they trusted in some measure to theirguns. But the captain's great hope was to reach the Eskimo village in aday or two at the farthest. If he should fail to do so, the prospect ofhimself and his crew surviving the remainder of the long winter was, hefelt, very gloomy indeed.
Success attended this expedition at the very beginning. They had onlybeen eight hours out when they met a bear sitting on its haunches behinda hummock. "Hallo! look out!" cried Gregory, on catching sight of him."Fire, lads," said the captain, "I'm not quite ready." Gregory firedand the bear staggered. Baker then fired and it fell!
This was a blessing which filled their hearts so full of thankfulnessthat they actually shook hands with each other, and then gave vent tothree hearty cheers. Their next thoughts were given to their comradesin the _Hope_.
"You and Baker will camp here, Tom," said the captain, "and I willreturn to the brig with a sledge-load of the meat. When I've put itaboard I'll come straight back to you. We'll keep a ham for ourselves,of course. Now then, to work."
To work the three men went. A hind leg of the bear was cut off, therest was lashed firmly on the sledge, and the dogs enjoyed a feed whilethis was being done. Then the captain cracked his whip. "Good-bye,lads", "Good-bye, captain," and away he and the dogs and sledge went,and were soon lost to view among the hummocks of the frozen sea.