The Voyages and Adventures of Captain Hatteras
CHAPTER XX.FOOTPRINTS ON THE SNOW.
July 4th a dense fog prevailed. They were only able with the greatestdifficulty to keep a straight path; they had to consult the compassevery moment. Fortunately there was no accident in the darkness,except that Bell lost his snow-shoes, which were broken against aprojecting rock.
"Well, really," said Johnson, "I thought, after seeing the Mersey andthe Thames, that I knew all about fogs, but I see I was mistaken."
"We ought," answered Bell, "to light torches as is done at London andLiverpool."
"'We ought,' answered Bell, 'to light torches, as isdone at London and Liverpool.'"]
"Why not?" asked the doctor; "that's a good idea; it wouldn't light upthe road much, but we could see the guide, and follow him moreeasily."
"But what shall we do for torches?"
"By lighting tow dipped in alcohol, and fastening to the end ofwalking-sticks."
"Good!" said Johnson; "and we shall soon have it ready."
A quarter of an hour later the little band was walking along withtorches faintly lighting up the general gloom.
But if they went straighter, they did not go quicker, and the foglasted till July 6th; the earth being cold then, a blast of north-windcarried away all the mist as if it had been rags. Soon the doctor tookan observation, and ascertained that meanwhile they had not made eightmiles a day.
The 6th, they made an effort to make up for lost time, and they setout early. Altamont and Bell were ahead, choosing the way and lookingout for game. Duke was with them. The weather, with its surprisingfickleness, had become very clear and dry; and although the guideswere two miles from the sledge, the doctor did not miss one of theirmovements. He was consequently very much startled to see them stopsuddenly, and remain in a position of surprise; they seemed to begazing into the distance, as if scanning the horizon. Then they bentdown to the ground and seemed to be examining it closely, and theyarose in evident amazement. Bell seemed to wish to push on, butAltamont held him back.
"What can they be doing?" asked the doctor of Johnson.
"I know no more than you, Doctor; I don't understand their gestures."
"They have found the track of some animals," answered Hatteras.
"That's not it," said the doctor.
"Why not?"
"Because Duke would bark."
"Still, they've seen marks of some sort."
"Let us go on," said Hatteras; "we shall soon know."
Johnson urged on the dogs, who quickened their pace.
In twenty minutes the five were together, and Hatteras, the doctor,and Johnson were as much surprised as Bell and Altamont.
There were in the snow indubitable traces of men, as fresh as if theyhad just been made.
"They are Esquimaux," said Hatteras.
"Yes," said the doctor, "there is no doubt of that!"
"You think so?" said Altamont.
"Without any doubt."
"Well, and this mark?" continued Altamont, pointing to another print,which was often repeated.
"That one?"
"Do you think it was made by an Esquimau?"
The doctor examined it carefully, and was stupefied. The print of aEuropean shoe, with nails, sole, and heel, was clearly stamped in thesnow. There could be no further doubt; a man, a stranger, had beenthere.
"Europeans here!" cried Hatteras.
"Evidently," said Johnson.
"And still," said the doctor, "it is so unlikely, that we ought tolook twice before being sure."
Thereupon he looked twice, three times, at the print, and he wasobliged to acknowledge its extraordinary origin.
De Foe's hero was not more amazed when he saw the footprint on thesand of his island; but if he was afraid, Hatteras was simply angry. AEuropean so near the Pole!
They pushed on to examine the footprints; for a quarter of a mile theywere continually repeated, mingled with marks of moccasins; then theyturned to the west. When they had reached this point they consulted asto whether they should follow them any farther.
"No," said Hatteras. "Let us go on--"
He was interrupted by an exclamation of the doctor, who had justpicked up on the snow an object even more convincing, and of theorigin of which there could be no doubt. It was the object-glass of apocket telescope.
"Now," he said, "we can't doubt that there is a stranger here--"
"Forward!" cried Hatteras.
He uttered this word so sharply that each one obeyed, and the sledgeresumed its monotonous progress.
They all scanned the horizon attentively, except Hatteras, who wasfilled with wrath and did not care to see anything. Still, since theyran the risk of coming across a band of travellers, they had to takeprecautions; it was very disappointing to see any one ahead of them onthe route. The doctor, although not as angry as Hatteras, was somewhatvexed, in spite of his usual philosophy. Altamont seemed equallyannoyed; Johnson and Bell muttered threatening words between theirteeth.
"Come," said the doctor, "let us take heart against our bad fortune."
"We must confess," said Johnson, without being heard by Altamont,"that if we find the place taken, it would disgust us with journeyingto the Pole."
"And yet," answered Bell, "there is no possibility of doubting--"
"No," retorted the doctor; "I turn it all over in vain, and say it isimprobable, impossible; I have to give it up. This shoe was notpressed into the snow without being at the end of a leg, and withoutthe leg being attached to a human body. I could forgive Esquimaux, buta European!"
"The fact is," answered Johnson, "that if we are going to find all therooms taken in the hotel of the end of the world, it would beannoying."
"Very annoying," said Altamont.
"Well, we shall see," said the doctor.
And they pushed on. The day ended without any new fact to indicate thepresence of strangers in this part of New America, and they at lastencamped for the evening.
A rather strong wind from the south had sprung up, and obliged them toseek a secure shelter for their tent in the bottom of a ravine. Thesky was threatening; long clouds passed rapidly through the air; theypassed near the ground, and so quickly that the eye could hardlyfollow them. At times some of the mist touched the ground, and thetent resisted with difficulty the violence of the hurricane.
The hut was pitched in a ravine for shelter.]
"It's going to be a nasty night," said Johnson, after supper.
"It won't be cold, but stormy," answered the doctor; "let us takeprecautions, and make the tent firm with large stones."
"You are right, Doctor; if the wind should carry away the canvas,Heaven alone knows where we should find it again."
Hence they took every precaution against such a danger, and thewearied travellers lay down to sleep. But they found it impossible.The tempest was loose, and hastened northward with incomparableviolence; the clouds were whirling about like steam which has justescaped from a boiler; the last avalanches, under the force of thehurricane, fell into the ravines, and their dull echoes weredistinctly heard; the air seemed to be struggling with the water, andfire alone was absent from this contest of the elements.
Amid the general tumult their ears distinguished separate sounds, notthe crash of heavy falling bodies, but the distinct cracking of bodiesbreaking; a clear snap was frequently heard, like breaking steel, amidthe roar of the tempest. These last sounds were evidently avalanchestorn off by the gusts, but the doctor could not explain the others. Inthe few moments of anxious silence, when the hurricane seemed to betaking breath in order to blow with greater violence, the travellersexchanged their suppositions.
"There is a sound of crashing," said the doctor, "as if icebergs andice-fields were being blown against one another."
"Yes," answered Altamont; "one would say the whole crust of the globewas falling in. Say, did you hear that?"
"If we were near the sea," the doctor went on, "I should think it wasice breaking."
"In fact," said Johnson, "there is no
other explanation possible."
"Can we have reached the coast?" asked Hatteras.
"It's not impossible," answered the doctor. "Hold on," he said, aftera very distinct sound; "shouldn't you say that was the crashing ofice? We may be very near the ocean."
"If it is," continued Hatteras, "I should not be afraid to go acrossthe ice-fields."
"O," said the doctor, "they must be broken by such a tempest! We shallsee to-morrow. However that may be, if any men have to travel in sucha night as this, I pity them."
The hurricane raged ten hours without cessation, and no one of thosein the tent had a moment's sleep; the night passed in profounduneasiness. In fact, under such circumstances, every new incident, atempest, an avalanche, might bring serious consequences. The doctorwould gladly have gone out to reconnoitre, but how could he with sucha wind raging?
Fortunately the hurricane grew less violent early the next day; theycould leave the tent which had resisted so sturdily. The doctor,Hatteras, and Johnson went to a hill about three hundred feet high,which they ascended without difficulty. Their eyes beheld an entirelyaltered country, composed of bare rocks, sharp ridges entirely clearof ice. It was summer succeeding winter, which had been driven away bythe tempest; the snow had been blown away by the wind before it couldmelt, and the barren soil reappeared.
"They climbed a hill which commanded a wide view."]
But Hatteras's glances were all turned towards the north, where thehorizon appeared to be hidden by dark mist.
"That may be the effect of the ocean," said the doctor.
"You are right," said Hatteras; "the sea must be there."
"That's what we call the blink of the water," said Johnson.
"Exactly," said the doctor.
"Well, let us start," said Hatteras, "and push on to this new ocean."
"That rejoices my heart," said Clawbonny to the captain.
"Certainly," was the enthusiastic answer. "Soon we shall have reachedthe Pole! and doesn't the prospect delight you, too, Doctor?"
"It does. I am always happy, and especially about the happiness ofothers!"
The three Englishmen returned to the ravine; the sledge was madeready, and they left the camp and resumed their march. Each onedreaded finding new tracks, but all the rest of the way they saw notrace of any human being. Three hours later they reached the coast.
"The sea! the sea!" they all shouted.
"And the open sea!" cried the captain.
"Three hours later they reached the coast. 'The sea!the sea!' they all shouted."]
It was ten o'clock in the morning.
In fact, the hurricane had cleared up the polar basin; the shatteredice was floating away in every direction; the largest pieces, formingicebergs, had just weighed anchor and were sailing on the open sea.The wind had made a harsh attack upon the field. Fragments of icecovered the surrounding rocks. The little which was left of theice-field seemed very soft; on the rocks were large pieces ofsea-weed. The ocean stretched beyond the line of vision, with noisland or new land peering above the horizon.
In the east and west were two capes gently sloping to the water; attheir end the sea was breaking, and the wind was carrying a slightfoam. The land of New America thus died away in the Polar Ocean,quietly and gently. It rounded into an open bay, with roadsteadenclosed by the two promontories. In the middle a rock made a littlenatural harbor, sheltered against three points of the compass; it ranback into the land in the broad bed of a stream, through which randown the melted snows of winter, now forming a perfect torrent.
Hatteras, after noticing the outline of the coast, resolved to makethe preparations for departure that very day, to launch the boat, toput the unloaded sledge on board for future excursions. That took allday; then the tent was raised, and after a comfortable meal workbegan. Meanwhile the doctor took out his instruments to take anobservation and determine the position of a part of the bay. Hatterashurried on the work; he was anxious to start; he wanted to leave theland, and to be in advance in case any others should reach the sea.
At five o'clock in the evening Johnson and Bell had nothing to do butto fold their arms. The launch was rocking gently in her littleharbor, with her mast set, her jib lowered, and her foresail in thebrails; the provisions and most of the things on the sledge had beenput on board; only the tent and a little of the camping materialremained to be put on board the next day. The doctor found all thesepreparations complete on his return. When he saw the launch quietlysheltered from the wind, it occurred to him to give a name to thelittle harbor, and he proposed that of Altamont. This proposition wasunanimously agreed to. So it was named Altamont Harbor.
"The launch was rocking gently in her little harbor."]
According to the doctor's calculations, it lay in latitude 87 degrees5 minutes, and longitude 118 degrees 35 minutes E. of Greenwich; thatis to say, less than three degrees from the Pole. The band had gonemore than two hundred miles from Victoria Bay to Altamont Harbor.