CHAPTER XIII
THE FOG
It will be recalled that when Jack and Rob awoke, during the precedingnight, they noticed a marked change in the temperature, and the sailorprophesied an unwelcome change in the weather. Following the directionpointed by him, his friends saw what he meant. The rise had caused oneof those fogs that have been fatal so often to ships off the banks ofNewfoundland, and which frequently wrap the southern coast ofGreenland in a mist as impenetrable as that which overshadows at timesthe British metropolis.
"You see," added Jack, "it might be that some whaler or other vesselis cruising in these latitudes, and will come close enough for us toobserve 'em and they us, provided the sun was shining, but, the waymatters are turning out, they might pass within a biscuit's toss 'outeither of us knowing it."
"Well," was the philosophical comment of Fred, "we have so much to bethankful for that I can't complain over a small matter like that."
"It may be a bigger matter than you think, but I'm as thankful as you,all the same."
"Gracious!" exclaimed Rob, with a sigh; "I'm hungry."
"There's your supper."
Both boys, however, shook their heads, and Rob replied:
"I'm not hungry enough to eat raw bear's meat."
"It's a thousand times better than starving to death."
As the sailor spoke, he walked to the carcass and withdrew his knifefrom the wound.
"You'll come to it bime-by; I've seed the time when I was ready tochaw up a pair of leather breeches, but that isn't half as bad asbeing in an open boat under the equator, with not a drop of water forthree days."
"We can never suffer from that cause so long as this iceberg holdsout. How is it with you, Fred? Are you ready for bear steak?"
"I would be too glad to dine on it, if there was some means of cookingit, but that is out of the question. I think I'll wait awhile."
"I'll keep you company," remarked Jack, who felt no such repugnanceagainst the primitive meal, but was willing to defer the feast out ofregard for them.
The party watched the fog settling over the sea, until, as the sailorhad told them it would do, it shut out all vision beyond a hundredfeet or less.
"I would give a good deal to know one thing," said Fred, after severalminutes' silence, as he seated himself, "and that is just where weare."
"I can tell you," said Rob.
"Where?"
"On an iceberg in the Greenland Sea."
"I am not so sure of that, my hearty," put in Jack; "there's no doubt,of course, that we're on the berg, but I wouldn't bet that we'redrifting through the Greenland Sea."
"Why, the 'Nautilus' was so far north when we left it, and thisiceberg was moving so slowly that we couldn't have gone as far as allthat."
Jack saw that his meaning was not understood.
"What I was getting at is this: Of course, when them bergs slip offinto the ocean, most of them start southward for a more congen'lclime, but all of 'em don't do it by any means. There is a current offthe western coast of Greenland which runs toward the North Pole, andwe may be in that."
"But this extends so far down that it must strike the other current,which flows in the opposite direction."
"That may and may not be, and it may be, too, that if it does, theupper current is the stronger. I've been calling to mind the bearingof the ship and berg, and I've an idee we're going northward. Bime-bythe berg may change its mind and flop about and start for New York orSouth America, but I don't believe it's doing so now."
This was important information, provided it was true, and there wasgood reason to believe that Jack Cosgrove knew far better than theywhat he was talking about.
"Then if we keep on we'll strike the North Pole," remarked Rob,gravely.
"Yes, if we keep on, but we're pretty sure to stop or change ourcourse before we get beyond Davis Strait or Christianshaab or Ivignut.Anyway, this old berg will keep at it till she fetches up in southernwaters."
The words of Jack had opened a new and interesting field fordiscussion. Its ending had not been thought of by the boys in theircalculations; and, despite their faith in their more experiencedcompanion, they believed he was mistaken. They had never heard ofanything of the kind he had mentioned, and it did not seem reasonablethat such a vast mass, after heading southward, should change itsdirection. Even though it was drifting north when first seen, it musthave started still farther north in order to reach the latitude wherefirst observed.
By this time all hope of being rescued by the "Nautilus" had beengiven up, unless some happy accident should lead it to come upon theiceberg. The party, therefore, began considering other means of escapefrom their unpleasant quarters.
As is well known, there are a number of Danish settlements scatteredalong the west coast of Greenland, the bleak, desolate eastern shorebeing inhabited only by wandering Esquimaux. It might be that the bergwould sweep along within sight of land, and the friends would be ableto attract the attention of some of the native fishing boats, orpossibly larger craft. It was a remote hope, indeed, but it was allthey saw before them. At any rate, the polar bear had provided themwith the means of postponing starvation to an indefinite period, forthere was enough meat in his carcass to afford nourishment for manydays to come.
"I wonder whether there are more polar bears on this craft?" remarkedRob, rising to his feet and looking around as if he half expected todiscover another of the monsters making for them.
"Little danger of that," replied Jack, "and it's so mighty seldom thatany of 'em are fools enough to allow themselves to be carried off likethis one did that I never dreamed of anything of the kind. It doeshappen now and then, but not often, though you may read of suchthings."
"I suppose he would have stayed here until he starved to death," wasthe inquiring remark of Fred.
"He might and he might not; when he had got it through his skull thatthere was nothing to eat on the berg he would have plunged into thesea and started for land, provided it was in sight, and he would havereached it, too. When he landed he would have been hungry enough toattack the first saw-mill he came to, and I wouldn't like to be thefirst chap he met."
"I don't see how he could have been fiercer than he was."
"He meant business from the first; and, if he had caught sight of youwhen you lay asleep in that cavity in the ice he would have swallowedyou before you could wake."
"Well, he didn't do it," replied Fred, with a half-shudder and laugh,"so what's the good of thinking about it? Rob, it strikes me," headded, with a quizzical look at the boy, "that raw bear's meat mightnot be so bad after all."
"Of course it isn't!" Jack was quick to say, springing to his feet andstepping forward, knife in hand.
It was evident from the manner in which he conducted the business thathe had done it before. He extracted a goodly-sized piece from near theshoulder, and dressed it as well as he could with the only means atcommand.
Rob had hit upon what might be called a compromise. When one of thethree slices, into which the portion was divided, was handed to him,he struck match after match from the rubber safe he carried, and heldthe tiny flame against different portions of the meat.
Anything like cooking was out of the question, but he succeeded inscorching it slightly, and giving it a partial appearance of havingseen the fire.
"There!" he exclaimed, in triumph, holding it aloft; "it's done to aturn, that is the first turn. It's cooked, but it's a little rare,I'll admit."
Meanwhile, Fred imitated him, using almost all the matches hepossessed.