GETTING NEAR THE POLE.
Hour after hour passed away, and still Hatteras persevered in hisweary watch, though his hopes appeared doomed to disappointment.
At length, about six in the evening, a dim, hazy, shapeless sort ofmist seemed to rise far away between sea and sky. It was not acloud, for it was constantly vanishing, and then reappearing nextminute.
Hatteras was the first to notice this peculiar phenomenon; but afteran hour's scrutiny through his telescope, he could make nothing ofit.
All at once, however, some sure indication met his eye, andstretching out his arm to the horizon, he shouted, in a clearringing voice---
"Land! land!"
His words produced an electrical effect on his companions, and everyman rushed to his side.
"I see it, I see it," said Clawbonny.
"Yes, yes, so do I!" exclaimed Johnson.
"It is a cloud," said Altamont.
"Land! land!" repeated Hatteras, in tones of absolute conviction.
Even while he spoke the appearance vanished, and when it returnedagain the Doctor fancied he caught a gleam of light about the smokefor an instant.
"It is a volcano!" he exclaimed.--P.217]
"It is a volcano!" he exclaimed.
"A volcano?" repeated Altamont.
"Undoubtedly."
]
"In so high a latitude?"
"Why not? Is not Iceland a volcanic island--indeed, almost madeof volcanoes, one might say?"
"Well, has not our famous countryman, James Ross, affirmed theexistence of two active volcanoes, the Erebus and the Terror, on theSouthern Continent, in longitude 170 deg. and latitude 78 deg.? Why, then,should not volcanoes be found near the North Pole?"
"It is possible, certainly," replied Altamont.
"Ah, now I see it distinctly," exclaimed the Doctor." It is avolcano!"
"Let us make right for it then," said Hatteras.
]
It was impossible longer to doubt the proximity of the coast. Intwenty-four hours, probably, the bold navigators might hope to setfoot on its untrodden soil. But strange as it was, now that theywere so near the goal of their voyage, no one showed the joy whichmight have been expected. Each man sat silent, absorbed in his ownthoughts, wondering what sort of place this Pole must be. The birdsseemed to shun it, for though it was evening, they were all flyingtowards the south with outspread wings. Was it, then, soinhospitable, that not so much as a sea-gull or a ptarmigan couldfind a shelter? The fish, too, even the large cetacea, werehastening away through the transparent waters. What
]
could cause this feeling either of repulsion or terror?
At last sleep overcame the tired men, and one after another droppedoff, leaving Hatteras to keep watch.
He took the helm, and tried his best not to close his eyes, for hegrudged losing precious time; but the slow motion of the vesselrocked him into a state of such irresistible somnolence that, inspite of himself, he was soon, like his companions, locked fast indeep slumber. He began to dream, and imagination brought back allthe scenes of his past life. He dreamt of his ship, the Forward, andof the traitors that had burnt it. Again he felt all the agonies ofdisappointment and failure, and forgot his actual situation. Thenthe scene changed, and he saw himself at the Pole unfurling theUnion Jack!
While memory and fancy were thus busied, an enormous cloud of anolive tinge had begun to darken sea and sky. A hurricane was athand. The first blast of the tempest roused the captain and hiscompanions, and they were on their feet in an instant, ready to meetit. The sea had risen tremendously, and the ship was tossingviolently up and down on the billows. Hatteras took the helm again,and kept a firm hold of it, while Johnson and Bell baled out thewater which was constantly dashing over the ship.
It was a difficult matter to preserve the right course, for thethick fog made it impossible to see more than a few yards off.
This sudden tempest might well seem to such excited men, a sternprohibition against further approach to the Pole; but it needed buta glance at their resolute faces to know that they would neitheryield to winds nor waves, but go right on to the end.
]
For a whole day the struggle lasted, death threatening them eachmoment; but about six in the evening, just as the fury of the wavesseemed at its highest pitch, there came a sudden calm. The wind wasstilled as if miraculously, and the sea became smooth as glass.
Then came a most extraordinary inexplicable phenomenon.
The fog, without dispersing, became strangely luminous, and thesloop sailed along in a zone of electric light. Mast, sail, andrigging appeared pencilled in black against the phosphorescent skywith wondrous distinctness. The men were bathed in light, and theirfaces shone with a fiery glow.
"The volcano!" exclaimed Hatteras.
"Is it possible?" said Bell.
"No, no!" replied Clawbonny. "We should be suffocated with itsflames so near."
"Perhaps it is the reflection," suggested Altamont.
"Not that much even, for then we must be near land, and in thatcase we should hear the noise of the eruption."
"What is it, then?" asked the captain.
"It is a cosmical phenomenon," replied the Doctor, "seldom methitherto. If we go on, we shall soon get out of our luminous sphereand be back in the darkness and tempest again."
"Well, let's go on, come what may," said Hatteras.
The Doctor was right. Gradually the fog began to lose its light, andthen its transparency, and the howling wind was heard not far off. Afew minutes more, and the little vessel was caught in a violentsquall, and swept back into the cyclone.
But the hurricane had fortunately turned a point towards the south,and left the vessel free to run before the wind straight towards thePole. There was imminent danger of her sinking, for she sped alongat frenzied speed, and any sudden collision with rock or icebergmust have inevitably dashed her to pieces.
But not a man on board counselled prudence. They were intoxicatedwith the danger, and no speed could be quick enough to satisfy theirlonging impatience to reach the unknown.
At last they began evidently to near the coast. Strange symptomswere manifest in the air; the fog suddenly rent like a curtain tornby the wind; and for an instant, like a flash of lightning, animmense column of flame was seen on the horizon.
"The volcano! the volcano!" was the simultaneous exclamation.
But the words had hardly passed their lips before the fantasticvision had vanished. The wind suddenly changed to south-east, anddrove the ship back again from the land.
"Confound it!" said Hatteras; "we weren't three miles fromthe coast."
However, resistance was impossible. All that could be done was tokeep tacking; but every few minutes the little sloop would be thrownon her side, though she righted herself again immediately obedientto the helm.
As Hatteras stood with dishevelled hair, grasping the helm as ifwelded to his hand, he seemed the animating soul of the ship.
All at once, a fearful sight met his gaze.
Scarcely twenty yards in front was a great block of ice coming righttowards them, mounting and falling on the stormy billows, ready tooverturn at any moment and crush them in its descent.
But this was not the only danger that threatened the boldnavigators. The iceberg was packed with white bears, huddling closetogether, and evidently beside themselves with terror.
The iceberg made frightful lurches, sometimes inclining at such asharp angle that the animals rolled pell-mell over each other andset up a loud growling, which mingled with the roar of the elementsand made a terrible concert.
For a quarter of an hour, which seemed a whole century, the sloopsailed on in this formidable company, sometimes a few yards distantand sometimes near enough to touch. The Greenland dogs trembled forfear, but Duk was quite imperturbable. At last the iceberg lostground, and got driven by the wind further and further away till itdisappeared in the fog, only at intervals betraying its presence bythe ominous growls of i
ts equipage.
Mast and sail were torn off, and went flying awaythrough the darkness like some large white bird.--P.224]
The storm now burst forth with redoubled fury. The little barque waslifted bodily out of the water, and whirled round and round with themost frightful rapidity. Mast and sail were torn off, and wentflying away through the darkness like some large white bird. Awhirlpool began to form among the waves, drawing down the shipgradually by its irresistible suction.
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Deeper and deeper she sank, whizzing round at such tremendous speedthat to the poor fellows on board, the water seemed motionless. Allfive men stood erect, gazing at each other in speechless terror. Butsuddenly the ship rose perpendicularly, her prow went above the edgeof the vortex, and getting out of the centre of attraction by herown velocity, she escaped at a tangent from the circumference, andwas thrown far beyond, swift as a ball from a cannon's mouth.
Altamont, the Doctor, Johnson, and Bell were pitched flat on theplanks. When they got up, Hatteras had disappeared!
It was two o'clock in the morning.
CHAPTER XXIII.