CHAPTER XV.THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE.
The next day Bell, Altamont, and the doctor went to the _Porpoise_;they found no lack of wood; the old three-masted launch, thoughinjured by being wrecked, could still supply abundant material for thenew one. The carpenter set to work at once; they needed a seaworthyboat, which should yet be light enough to carry on a sledge. Towardsthe end of May the weather grew warmer; the thermometer rose above thefreezing-point; the spring came in earnest this time, and the men wereable to lay aside their winter clothing. Much rain fell, and soon thesnow began to slide and melt away. Hatteras could not hide his joy atseeing the first signs of thaw in the ice-fields. The open sea meantliberty for him.
"The carpenter set to work at once."]
Whether or not his predecessors had been wrong on this great questionof an open polar sea, he hoped soon to know. All chance of success inhis undertaking depended on this. One evening, after a warm day inwhich the ice had given unmistakable signs of breaking up, he turnedthe conversation to the question of an open sea. He took up thefamiliar arguments, and found the doctor, as ever, a warm advocate ofhis doctrine. Besides, his conclusions were evidently accurate.
"It is plain," he said, "that if the ocean before Victoria Bay getsclear of ice, its southern part will also be clear as far as NewCornwall and Queen's Channel. Penny and Belcher saw it in that state,and they certainly saw clearly."
"I agree with you, Hatteras," answered the doctor, "and I have noreason for doubting the word of these sailors; a vain attempt has beenmade to explain their discovery as an effect of mirage; but they wereso certain, it was impossible that they could have made such amistake."
"I always thought so," said Altamont; "the polar basin extends to theeast as well as to the west."
"We can suppose so, at any rate," answered Hatteras.
"We ought to suppose so," continued the American, "for this open seawhich Captains Penny and Belcher saw near the coast of Grinnell Landwas seen by Morton, Kane's lieutenant, in the straits which are namedafter that bold explorer."
"We are not in Kane's sea," answered Hatteras, coldly, "andconsequently we cannot verify the fact."
"It is supposable, at least," said Altamont.
"Certainly," replied the doctor, who wished to avoid uselessdiscussion. "What Altamont thinks ought to be the truth; unless thereis a peculiar disposition of the surrounding land, the same effectsappear at the same latitudes. Hence I believe the sea is open in theeast as well as in the west."
"At any rate, it makes very little difference to us," said Hatteras.
"I don't agree with you, Hatteras," resumed the American, who wasbeginning to be annoyed by the affected unconcern of the captain; "itmay make considerable difference to us."
"And when, if I may ask?"
"When we think of returning."
"Returning!" cried Hatteras, "and who's thinking of that?"
"No one," answered Altamont; "but we shall stop somewhere, I suppose."
"And where?" asked Hatteras.
For the first time the question was fairly put to Altamont. The doctorwould have given one of his arms to have put a stop to the discussion.Since Altamont made no answer, the captain repeated his question.
"And where?"
"Where we are going," answered the American, quietly.
"And who knows where that is?" said the peace-loving doctor.
"I say, then," Altamont went on, "that if we want to make use of thepolar basin in returning, we can try to gain Kane's sea; it will leadus more directly to Baffin's Bay."
"So that is your idea?" asked the captain, ironically.
"Yes, that is my idea, as it is that if these seas ever becomepracticable, they will be reached by the straightest way. O, that wasa great discovery of Captain Kane's!"
"Indeed!" said Hatteras, biting his lips till they bled.
"Yes," said the doctor, "that cannot be denied; every one should havethe praise he deserves."
"Without considering," went on the obstinate American, "that no onehad ever before gone so far to the north."
"I like to think," said Hatteras, "that now the English have got aheadof him."
"And the Americans!" said Altamont.
"Americans!" repeated Hatteras.
"What am I, then?" asked Altamont, proudly.
"You are," answered Hatteras, who could hardly control hisvoice,--"you are a man who presumes to accord equal glory to scienceand to chance! Your American captain went far to the north, but aschance alone--"
"Chance!" shouted Altamont; "do you dare to say that this greatdiscovery is not due to Kane's energy and knowledge?"
"I say," answered Hatteras, "that Kane's name is not fit to bepronounced in a country made famous by Parry, Franklin, Ross, Belcher,and Penny in these seas which opened the Northwest Passage toMacClure--"
"MacClure!" interrupted the American; "you mention that man, and yetyou complain of the work of chance? Wasn't it chance alone thatfavored him?"
"No," answered Hatteras, warmly,--"no! It was his courage, hisperseverance in spending four winters in the ice--"
"I should think so!" retorted the American; "he got caught in the iceand couldn't get out, and he had to abandon the _Investigator_ at lastto go back to England."
"My friends--" said the doctor.
"Besides," Altamont went on, "let us consider the result. You speak ofthe Northwest Passage; well, it has yet to be discovered!"
Hatteras started at these words; no more vexatious question could havearisen between two rival nationalities. The doctor again tried tointervene.
"You are mistaken, Altamont," he said.
"No, I persist in my opinions," he said obstinately; "the NorthwestPassage is yet to be found, to be sailed through, if you like that anybetter! MacClure never penetrated it, and to this day no ship that hassailed from Behring Strait has reached Baffin's Bay!"
That was true, speaking exactly. What answer could be made?
Nevertheless, Hatteras rose to his feet and said,--
"I shall not permit the good name of an English captain to be attackedany further in my presence."
"You will not permit it?" answered the American, who also rose to hisfeet; "but these are the facts, and it is beyond your power to destroythem."
"Sir!" said Hatteras, pale with anger.
"My friends," said the doctor, "don't get excited! We are discussing ascientific subject."
Clawbonny looked with horror at a scientific discussion into which thehate of an American and an Englishman could enter.
"I am going to give you the facts," began Hatteras, threateningly.
"But I'm speaking now!" retorted the American.
Johnson and Bell became very uneasy.
"Gentlemen," said the doctor, severely, "let me say a word! I insistupon it, I know the facts as well, better than you do, and I can speakof them impartially."
"Yes, yes," said Bell and Johnson, who were distressed at the turn thediscussion had taken, and who formed a majority favorable to thedoctor.
"Go on, Doctor," said Johnson, "these gentlemen will listen, and youcannot fail to give us some information."
"Go on, Doctor," said the American.
Hatteras resumed his place with a sign of acquiescence, and folded hisarms.
"I will tell the simple truth about the facts," said the doctor, "andyou must correct me if I omit or alter any detail."
"We know you, Doctor," said Bell, "and you can speak without fear ofinterruption."
"Here is the chart of the Polar Seas," resumed the doctor, who hadbrought it to the table; "it will be easy to trace MacClure's course,and you will be able to make up your minds for yourselves."
Thereupon he unrolled one of the excellent maps published by order ofthe Admiralty, containing the latest discoveries in arctic regions;then he went on:--
"You know, in 1848, two ships, the _Herald_, Captain Kellet, and the_Plover_, Commander Moore, were sent to Behring Strait in search oftraces of Franklin; their search was vai
n; in 1850 they were joined byMacClure, who commanded the _Investigator_, a ship in which he hadsailed, in 1849, under James Ross's orders. He was followed by CaptainCollinson, his chief, who sailed in the _Enterprise_; but he arrivedbefore him. At Behring Strait he declared he would wait no longer, andthat he would go alone, on his own responsibility, and--you hear me,Altamont--that he would find either Franklin or the passage."
Altamont showed neither approbation nor the contrary.
"August 5, 1850," continued the doctor, "after a final communicationwith the _Plover_, MacClure sailed eastward by an almost unknownroute; see how little land is marked upon the chart. August 30th herounded Cape Bathurst; September 6th he discovered Baring Land, whichhe afterwards discovered to form part of Banks Land, then PrinceAlbert's Land. Then he resolved to enter the long straits betweenthese two large islands, and he called it Prince of Wales Strait. Youcan follow his plan. He hoped to come out in Melville Sound, which wehave just crossed, and with reason; but the ice at the end of thestrait formed an impassable barrier. There MacClure wintered in1850-51, and meanwhile he pushed on over the ice, to make sure thatthe strait connected with the sound."
"Yes," said Altamont, "but he didn't succeed."
"One moment," said the doctor. "While wintering there, MacClure'sofficers explored all the neighboring coasts: Creswell, Baring's Land;Haswell, Prince Albert's Land, to the south; and Wynniat, Cape Walker,to the north. In July, at the beginning of the thaw, MacClure tried asecond time to carry the _Investigator_ to Melville Sound; he gotwithin twenty miles of it, twenty miles only, but the winds carriedhim with irresistible force to the south, before he could get throughthe obstacle. Then he determined to go back through Prince of WalesStrait, and go around Banks Land, to try at the west what he could notdo in the east; he put about; the 18th he rounded Cape Kellet; the19th, Cape Prince Alfred, two degrees higher; then, after a hardstruggle with the icebergs, he was caught in Banks Strait, in theseries of straits leading to Baffin's Bay."
"A hard struggle with the icebergs."]
"But he couldn't get through them," said Altamont.
"Wait a moment, and be as patient as MacClure was. September 26th, hetook his station for the winter in Mercy Bay, and stayed there till1852. April came; MacClure had supplies for only eighteen months.Nevertheless, he was unwilling to return; he started, crossing BanksStrait by sledge, and reached Melville Island. Let us follow him. Hehoped to find here Commander Austin's ships, which were sent to meethim by Baffin's Bay and Lancaster Sound; April 28th he arrived atWinter Harbor, at the place where Parry had wintered thirty-threeyears previously, but no trace of the ships; only he found in a cairna paper, telling him that MacClintock, Austin's lieutenant, had beenthere the year before, and gone away. Any one else would have been indespair, but MacClure was not. He put in the cairn another paper, inwhich he announced his intention of returning to England by theNorthwest Passage, which he had discovered by reaching Baffin's Bayand Lancaster Sound. If he is not heard from again, it will be becausehe will have been to the north or west of Melville Island; then hereturned, not discouraged, to Mercy Bay for the third winter,1852-53."
"I have never doubted his courage," said Altamont, "but his success."
"Let us follow him again," resumed the doctor. "In the month of March,being on two-thirds rations, at the end of a very severe winter, whenno game was to be had, MacClure determined to send back half of hiscrew to England, either by Baffin's Bay, or by Mackenzie River andHudson's Bay; the other half was to bring the _Investigator_ back. Hechose the weakest men, who could not stand a fourth winter; everythingwas ready, and their departure settled for April 15th, when on the6th, MacClure, who was walking on the ice with his lieutenant,Creswell, saw a man running northward and gesticulating; it wasLieutenant Pim of the _Herald_, lieutenant of the same Captain Kelletwhom two years before he had left at Behring Strait, as I said when Ibegan. Kellet, having reached Winter Harbor, found the paper leftthere by MacClure; having heard in that way of his position in MercyBay, he sent Lieutenant Pim to meet the captain. He was followed by adetachment of the men of the _Herald_, among whom was a midshipman ofa French ship, M. de Bray, who was a volunteer aid of Captain Kellet.You don't doubt this meeting?"
MacClure saw a man running and gesticulating.]
"Not at all," answered Altamont.
"Well, see what followed, and whether the Northwest Passage was reallymade. If you join Parry's discoveries to those of MacClure, you willsee the northern coast of America was rounded."
"But not by a single ship," said Altamont.
"No, but by a single man. Let us go on. MacClure went to see CaptainKellet at Melville Island; in twelve days he made the one hundred andseventy miles between Winter Harbor and the island; he agreed with thecommander of the _Herald_ to send him his sick, and returned; manyothers would have thought, had they been in MacClure's place, thatthey had done enough, but this bold young man determined to try hisfortune again. Then, and please observe this, Lieutenant Creswell,with the sick and disabled men of the _Investigator_, left Mercy Bay,reached Winter Harbor, and from there, after a journey of four hundredand seventy miles on the ice, reached Beechey Island, June 2d, and afew days later, with twelve of his men, he took passage on board ofthe _Phoenix_."
"In which I was at the time," said Johnson, "with Captain Inglefield,and we returned to England."
"And October 7, 1853," continued the doctor, "Creswell arrived atLondon, after having crossed over the whole distance between BehringStrait and Cape Farewell."
"Well," said Hatteras, "to enter at one end and go out by the other,isn't that going through?"
"Yes," answered Altamont, "but by going four hundred and seventy milesover the ice."
"Well, what difference does that make?"
"The whole," answered the American. "Did MacClure's ship make thepassage?"
"No," answered the doctor, "for after a fourth winter, MacClure wasobliged to leave it in the ice."
"Well, in a sea-voyage it's important to have the ship reach herdestination. If the Northwest Passage ever becomes practicable, itmust be for ships and not for sledges. The ship must accomplish thevoyage, or if not the ship, the launch."
"The launch!" shouted Hatteras, who detected the hidden meaning in theAmerican's words.
"Altamont," said the doctor, hurriedly, "you make a pueriledistinction, and we all consider you wrong."
"That is easy, gentlemen," answered the American; "you are four toone. But that won't keep me from holding my own opinion."
"Keep it," said Hatteras, "and so closely that we need hear nothingabout it."
"And what right have you to speak to me in that way?" asked theAmerican in a rage.
"My right as captain," answered Hatteras.
"Am I under your commands?" retorted Altamont.
"Without doubt, and look out for yourself, if--"
The doctor, Johnson, and Bell intervened. It was time; the two enemieswere gazing at one another. The doctor was very anxious. Still, aftera few gentler words, Altamont went off to bed whistling "YankeeDoodle," and, whether he slept or not, he did not speak. Hatteras wentout and paced up and down for an hour, and then he turned in withoutsaying a word.
"The doctor, Johnson, and Bell intervened. It was time;the two enemies were gazing at one another."]