by Jules Verne
THE OPEN SEA.
Next morning by eight o'clock all the remaining effects were onboard, and the preparations for departure completed. But beforestarting the Doctor thought he would like to take a last look at thecountry and see if any further traces of the presence of strangerscould be discovered, for the mysterious footmarks they had met withwere never out of his thoughts. He climbed to the top of a heightwhich commanded a view of the whole southern horizon, and took outhis pocket telescope. But what was his astonishment, to find hecould see nothing through it, not even neighbouring objects. Herubbed his eyes and looked again, but with no better result. Then hebegan to examine the telescope, the object glass was gone!
The object glass! This explained the whole mystery, foot-prints andall; and with a shout of surprise he hurried down the hill to imparthis discovery to the wondering companions, who came running towardshim, startled by his loud exclamation, and full of anxiety at hisprecipitate descent.
"Well, what is the matter now?" said Johnson.
The Doctor could hardly speak, he was so out of breath. At last hemanaged to gasp out--
"The tracks, footmarks, strangers."
"What?" said Hatteras, "strangers here?"
"No, no, the object glass; the object glass out of my telescope."
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And he held out his spy-glass for them to look at.
"Ah! I see," said Altamont; "it is wanting."
"Yes."
"But then the footmarks?"
"They were ours, friends, just ours," exclaimed the Doctor."We had lost ourselves in the fog, and been wandering in acircle."
"But the boot-marks," objected Hatteras.
"Bell's. He walked about a whole day after he had lost his snowshoes."
"So I did," said Bell.
The mistake was so evident, that they all laughed heartily, exceptHatteras, though no one was more glad than he at the discovery.
A quarter of an hour afterwards the little sloop sailed out ofAltamont Harbour, and commenced her voyage of discovery. The windwas favourable, but there was little of it, and the weather waspositively warm.
The sloop was none the worse for the sledge journey. She was infirst-rate trim, and easily managed. Johnson steered, the Doctor,Bell, and the American leaned back against the cargo, and Hatterasstood at the prow, his fixed, eager gaze bent steadily on thatmysterious point towards which he felt drawn with irresistiblepower, like the magnetic needle to the Pole. He wished to be thefirst to descry any shore that might come in sight, and he had everyright to the honour.
The water of this Polar Sea presented some peculiar features worthmentioning. In colour it was a faint ultramarine blue, and possessedsuch wonderful transparency that one seemed to gaze down intofathomless depths. These depths were lighted up, no doubt, by someelectrical phenomenon, and so many varieties of living creatureswere visible that the vessel seemed to be sailing over a vastaquarium.
Innumerable flocks of birds were flying over the surface of thismarvellous ocean, darkening the sky like thick heavy storm-clouds.Water-fowl of every description were among them, from the albatrossto the penguin, and all of gigantic proportions. Their cries wereabsolutely deafening, and some of them had such
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immense, wide-spreading wings, that they covered the sloopcompletely as they flew over. The Doctor thought himself a goodnaturalist, but he found his science greatly at fault, for many aspecies here was wholly unknown to any ornithological society.
And the Doctor leaning over the side of the vessel,could see the whales and the dolphins, and all the rest of themonsters of the deep.--P.214]
The good little man was equally nonplussed when he looked at thewater, for he saw the most wonderful medusae, some so large thatthey looked like little islands floating about among Brobdignagiansea-weeds. And below the surface, what a spectacle met the eye!Myriads of fish of every species; young manati at play with eachother; narwhals with their one strong weapon of defence, like thehorn of a unicorn, chasing the timid seals; whales of every tribe,spouting out columns of water and mucilage, and filling the air witha peculiar whizzing noise; dolphins, seals, and walruses; sea-dogsand sea-horses, sea-bears and sea-elephants, quietly browsing onsubmarine pastures; and the Doctor could gaze at them all as easilyand clearly as if they were in glass tanks in the Zoological Gardens.
There was a strange supernatural purity about the atmosphere. Itseemed charged to overflowing with oxygen, and had a marvellouspower of exhilaration, producing an almost intoxicating effect onthe brain.
Towards evening, Hatteras and his companions lost sight of thecoast. Night came on, though the sun remained just above thehorizon; but it had the same influence on animated nature as intemperate zones. Birds, fish, and all the cetacea disappeared andperfect silence prevailed.
Since the departure from Altamont Harbour, the sloop had made onedegree further north. The next day brought no signs of land; therewas not even a speck on the horizon. The wind was still favourable,and the sea pretty calm. The birds and fishes returned as numerouslyas on the preceding day, and the Doctor leaning over the side of thevessel, could see the whales and the dolphins, and all the rest ofthe monsters of the deep, gradually coming up from the clear depthsbelow. On the surface, far as the eye could reach, nothing wasvisible except a solitary iceberg here and there, and a fewscattered floes.
Indeed, but little ice was met with anywhere. The sloop was tendegrees above the point of greatest cold, and consequently in thesame temperature as Baffin's Bay and Disko. It was therefore notastonishing that the sea should be open in these summer months.
This is a fact of great practical value, for if ever the whalers canpenetrate north as far as the Polar basin, they may be sure of animmediate cargo, as this part of the ocean seems the generalreservoir of whales and seals, and every marine species.
The day wore on, but still nothing appeared on the horizon. Hatterasnever left the prow of the ship, but stood, glass in hand, eagerlygazing into the distance with anxious, questioning eyes, and seekingto discover, in the colour of the water, the shape of the waves, andthe breath of the wind, indications of approaching land.
CHAPTER XXII.
