CHAPTER I.THE DOCTOR'S INVENTORY.
The design which Captain Hatteras had formed of exploring the North,and of giving England the honor of discovering the Pole, was certainlya bold one. This hardy sailor had just done all that human skill coulddo. After struggling for nine months against contrary winds and seas,after destroying icebergs and ice-fields, after enduring the severityof an unprecedentedly cold winter, after going over all that hispredecessors had done, after carrying the _Forward_ beyond the seaswhich were already known, in short, after completing half his task, hesaw his grand plans completely overthrown. The treachery, or ratherthe demoralization of his wearied crew, the criminal folly of some ofthe ringleaders, left him in a terrible situation; of the eighteen menwho had sailed in the brig, four were left, abandoned withoutsupplies, without a boat, more than twenty-five hundred miles fromhome!
The explosion of the _Forward_, which had just blown up before theireyes, took from them their last means of subsistence. Still,Hatteras's courage did not abandon him at this terrible crisis. Themen who were left were the best of the crew; they were genuine heroes.He made an appeal to the energy and wisdom of Dr. Clawbonny, to thedevotion of Johnson and Bell, to his own faith in the enterprise; evenin these desperate straits he ventured to speak of hope; his bravecompanions listened to him, and their courage in the past warrantedconfidence in their promises for the future.
The doctor, after listening to the captain's words, wanted to get anexact idea of their situation; and, leaving the others about fivehundred feet from the ship, he made his way to the scene of thecatastrophe.
Of the _Forward_, which had been built with so much care, nothing wasleft; pieces of ice, shapeless fragments all blackened and charred,twisted pieces of iron, ends of ropes still burning like fuse, andscattered here and there on the ice-field, testified to the force ofthe explosion. The cannon had been hurled to some distance, and waslying on a piece of ice that looked like a gun-carriage. The surfaceof the ice, for a circle of six hundred feet in diameter, was coveredwith fragments of all sorts; the brig's keel lay under a mass of ice;the icebergs, which had been partly melted by the fire, had alreadyrecovered their rock-like hardness.
The doctor then began to think of his ruined cabin, of his lostcollections, of his precious instruments destroyed, his books torn,burned to ashes. So much that was valuable gone! He gazed with tearfuleyes at this vast disaster, thinking not of the future, but of theirreparable misfortune which dealt him so severe a blow. He wasimmediately joined by Johnson; the old sailor's face bore signs of hisrecent sufferings; he had been obliged to struggle against hisrevolted companions, defending the ship which had been intrusted tohis care. The doctor sadly pressed the boatswain's hand.
"Well, my friend, what is going to become of us?" asked the doctor.
"Who can say?" answered Johnson.
"At any rate," continued the doctor, "don't let us give way todespair; let us be men!"
"Yes, Doctor," answered the old sailor, "you are right; it's whenmatters look worst that we most need courage; we are in a bad way; wemust see how we can best get out of it."
"Poor ship!" said the doctor, sighing; "I had become attached to it; Ihad got to look on it as on my own home, and there's not left a piecethat can be recognized!"
"Who would think, Doctor, that this mass of dust and ashes could be sodear to our heart?"
"And the launch," continued the doctor, gazing around, "was itdestroyed too?"
"No, Doctor; Shandon and the others, who left, took it with them."
"And the gig?"
"Was broken into a thousand pieces. See, those sheets of tin are allthat's left of her."
"Then we have nothing but the Halkett-boat?"[1]
[Footnote 1: Made of india-rubber, and capable of being inflated atpleasure.]
"That is all, and it is because you insisted on our taking it, that wehave that."
"It's not of much use," said the doctor.
"They were a pack of miserable, cowardly traitors who ran away!" saidJohnson. "May they be punished as they deserve!"
"Johnson," answered the doctor, mildly, "we must remember that theirsuffering had worn upon them very much. Only exceptional naturesremain stanch in adversity, which completely overthrows the weak. Letus rather pity than curse them!"
After these words the doctor remained silent for a few minutes, andgazed around uneasily.
"What is become of the sledge?" asked Johnson.
"We left it a mile back."
"In care of Simpson?"
"No, my friend; poor Simpson sank under the toil of the trip."
"Dead!" cried the boatswain.
"Dead!" answered the doctor.
"Poor fellow!" said Johnson; "but who knows whether we may not soon bereduced to envying his fate?"
"But we have brought back a dying man in place of the one we lost,"answered the doctor.
"A dying man?"
"Yes, Captain Altamont."
The doctor gave the boatswain in a few words an account of theirfinding him.
"An American!" said Johnson, thoughtfully.
"Yes; everything seems to point that way. But what was this _Porpoise_which had evidently been shipwrecked, and what was he doing in thesewaters?"
"He came in order to be lost," answered Johnson; "he brought his crewto death, like all those whose foolhardiness leads them here. But,Doctor, did the expedition accomplish what it set out for?"
"Finding the coal?"
"Yes," answered Johnson.
The doctor shook his head sadly.
"None at all?" asked the old sailor.
"None; our supplies gave out, fatigue nearly conquered us. We did noteven reach the spot mentioned by Edward Belcher."
"So," continued Johnson, "you have no fuel?"
"No."
"Nor food?"
"No."
"And no boat with which to reach England?"
They were both silent; they needed all their courage to meet thisterrible situation.
"Well," resumed the boatswain, "there can be no doubts about ourcondition! We know what we have to expect! But the first thing to do,when the weather is so cold, is to build a snow-house."
"Yes," answered the doctor, "with Bell's aid that will be easy; thenwe'll go after the sledge, we'll bring the American here, and thenwe'll take counsel with Hatteras."
"Poor captain!" said Johnson, forgetting his own griefs; "he mustsuffer terribly."
With these words they returned to their companions. Hatteras wasstanding with folded arms, as usual, gazing silently into space. Hisface wore its usual expression of firmness. Of what was thisremarkable man thinking? Of his desperate condition and shatteredhopes? Was he planning to return, since both men and the elements hadcombined against his attempt?
No one could have read his thoughts, which his face in no wayexpressed. His faithful Duke was with him, braving a temperature of-32 degrees.
Bell lay motionless on the ice; his insensibility might cost him hislife; he was in danger of being frozen to death. Johnson shook himviolently, rubbed him with snow, and with some difficulty aroused himfrom his torpor.
"Come, Bell, take courage!" he said; "don't lose heart; get up; wehave to talk matters over, and we need a shelter. Have you forgottenhow to make a snow-house? Come, help me, Bell! There's an iceberg wecan cut into! Come, to work! That will give us what we need, courage!"
Bell, aroused by these words, obeyed the old sailor.
"Meanwhile," Johnson went on, "the doctor will be good enough to go tothe sledge and bring it back with the dogs."
"I am ready," answered the doctor; "in an hour I shall be back."
"Shall you go too, Captain?" added Johnson, turning to Hatteras.
Although he was deep in thought, the captain heard the boatswain'squestion, for he answered gently,--
"No, my friend, if the doctor is willing to go alone. We must formsome plan of action, and I want to be alone to think matters over. Go.Do what you think right for the present
. I will be thinking of thefuture."
Johnson turned to the doctor.
"It's singular," he said; "the captain seems to have forgotten hisanger; his voice never was so gentle before."
"Well!" answered the doctor; "he has recovered his presence of mind.Mark my words, Johnson, that man will be able to save us!"
Thereupon the doctor wrapped himself up as well as he could, and,staff in hand, walked away towards the sledge in the midst of a fogwhich the moonlight made almost bright. Johnson and Bell set to workimmediately; the old sailor encouraged the carpenter, who wrought onin silence; they did not need to build, but to dig into the solid ice;to be sure it was frozen very hard, and so rendered the taskdifficult, but it was thereby additionally secure; soon Johnson andBell could work comfortably in the orifice, throwing outside all thatthey took from the solid mass.
From time to time Hatteras would walk fitfully, stopping suddenlyevery now and then; evidently he did not wish to reach the spot wherehis brig had been. As he had promised, the doctor was soon back; hebrought with him Altamont, lying on the sledge beneath all thecoverings; the Greenland dogs, thin, tired, and half starved, couldhardly drag the sledge, and were gnawing at their harness; it was hightime that men and beasts should take some rest.
While they were digging the house, the doctor happened to stumble upona small stove which had not been injured by the explosion, and with apiece of chimney that could be easily repaired: the doctor carried itaway in triumph. At the end of three hours the house was inhabitable;the stove was set in and filled with pieces of wood; it was soonroaring and giving out a comfortable warmth.
The American was brought in and covered up carefully; the fourEnglishmen sat about the fire. The last supplies of the sledge, alittle biscuit and some hot tea, gave them some comfort. Hatteras didnot speak; every one respected his silence. When the meal was finishedthe doctor made a sign for Johnson to follow him outside.
"Now," he said, "we are going to make an inventory of what is left. Wemust know exactly what things we have; they are scattered all about;we must pick them up; it may snow at any moment, and then it would beimpossible to find a scrap."
"Don't let us lose any time, then," answered Johnson; "food and woodis what we need at once."
"Well, let us each take a side," answered the doctor, "so as to coverthe whole ground; let us begin at the centre and go out to thecircumference."
They went at once to the bed of ice where the _Forward_ had lain; eachexamined with care all the fragments of the ship beneath the dim lightof the moon. It was a genuine hunt; the doctor entered into thisoccupation with all the zest, not to say the pleasure, of a sportsman,and his heart beat high when he discovered a chest almost intact; butmost were empty, and their fragments were scattered everywhere.
The violence of the explosion had been considerable; many things werebut dust and ashes; the large pieces of the engine lay here and there,twisted out of shape; the broken flanges of the screw were hurledtwenty fathoms from the ship and buried deeply in the hardened snow;the bent cylinders had been torn from their pivots; the chimney, tornnearly in two, and with chains still hanging to it, lay half hid undera large cake of ice; the bolts, bars, the iron-work of the helm, thesheathing, all the metal-work of the ship, lay about as if it had beenfired from a gun.
"The large pieces of the engine lay here and there,twisted out of shape."]
But this iron, which would have made the fortune of a tribe ofEsquimaux, was of no use under the circumstances; before anything elsefood had to be found, and the doctor did not discover a great deal.
"That's bad," he said to himself; "it is evident that the store-room,which was near the magazine, was entirely destroyed by the explosion;what wasn't burned was shattered to dust. It's serious; and if Johnsonis not luckier than I am, I don't see what's going to become of us."
Still, as he enlarged his circles, the doctor managed to collect a fewfragments of pemmican, about fifteen pounds, and four stone bottles,which had been thrown out upon the snow and so had escapeddestruction; they held five or six pints of brandy.
Farther on he picked up two packets of grains of cochlearia, whichwould well make up for the loss of their lime-juice, which is souseful against the scurvy.
Two hours later the doctor and Johnson met. They told one another oftheir discoveries; unfortunately they had found but little to eat:some few pieces of salt pork, fifty pounds of pemmican, three sacks ofbiscuit, a little chocolate, some brandy, and about two pounds ofcoffee, picked up berry by berry on the ice.
No coverings, no hammocks, no clothing, were found; evidently the firehad destroyed all. In short, the doctor and boatswain had foundsupplies for three weeks at the outside, and with the strictesteconomy; that was not much for them in their state of exhaustion. So,in consequence of these disasters, Hatteras found himself not onlywithout any coal, but also short of provisions.
As to the fuel supplied by the fragments of the ship, the pieces ofthe masts and the keel, they might hold out about three weeks; butthen the doctor, before using it to heat their new dwelling, askedJohnson whether out of it they might not build a new ship, or at leasta launch.
"No, Doctor," answered the boatswain, "it's impossible; there's not apiece of wood large enough; it's good for nothing except to keep uswarm for a few days and then--"
"Then?" asked the doctor.
"God alone knows," answered the sailor.
Having made out their list, the doctor and Johnson went after thesledge; they harnessed the tired dogs, returned to the scene of theexplosion, packed up the few precious objects they had found, andcarried them to their new house; then, half frozen, they took theirplace near their companions in misfortune.
"They harnessed the tired dogs."]