CHAPTER XXIX
ACROSS THE ICE
The little troop descended towards the south-east. Simpson drove thesledge. Dick helped him with zeal, and did not seem astonished atthe new occupation of his companions. Hatteras and the doctor walkedbehind, whilst Bell went on in front, sounding the ice with hisiron-tipped stick. The rising of the thermometer indicatedapproaching snow; it soon fell in thick flakes, and made the journeydifficult for the travellers; it made them deviate from the straightline, and obliged them to walk slower; but, on an average, they madethree miles an hour. The surface of the ice was unequal, and the sledgewas often in danger of being overturned, but by great care it waskept upright.
Hatteras and his companions were clothed in skins more useful thanelegant. Their heads and faces were covered with hoods, their mouths,eyes, and noses alone coming into contact with the air. If they hadnot been exposed the breath would have frozen their coverings, andthey would have been obliged to take them off with the help of anaxe--an awkward way of undressing. The interminable plain kept onwith fatiguing monotony; icebergs of uniform aspect and hummockswhose irregularity ended by seeming always the same; blocks cast inthe same mould, and icebergs between which tortuous valleys wound.The travellers spoke little, and marched on, compass in hand. It ispainful to open one's mouth in such an atmosphere; sharp icicles formimmediately between one's lips, and the breath is not warm enoughto melt them. Bell's steps were marked in the soft ground, and theyfollowed them attentively, certain of being able to go where he hadbeen before.
Numerous traces of bears and foxes crossed their path, but not ananimal was seen that day. It would have been dangerous and uselessto hunt them, as the sledge was sufficiently freighted. Generallyin this sort of excursion travellers leave provision-stores alongtheir route; they place them in hiding-places of snow, out of reachof animals; unload during the journey, and take up the provisionson their return. But Hatteras could not venture to do this on moveableice-fields, and the uncertainty of the route made the return the sameway exceedingly problematic. At noon Hatteras caused his little troopto halt under shelter of an ice-wall. Their breakfast consisted ofpemmican and boiling tea; the latter beverage comforted the coldwayfarers. They set out again after an hour's rest. The first daythey walked about twenty miles, and in the evening both men and dogswere exhausted. However, notwithstanding their fatigue, they wereobliged to construct a snow-house in which to pass the night. It tookabout an hour and a half to build. Bell showed himself very skilful.The ice-blocks were cut out and placed above one another in the formof a dome; a large block at the top made the vault. Snow served formortar and filled up the chinks. It soon hardened and made a singleblock of the entire structure. It was reached by a narrow opening,through which the doctor squeezed himself painfully, and the othersfollowed him. The supper was rapidly prepared with spirits of wine.The interior temperature of the snow-house was bearable, as the windwhich raged outside could not penetrate. When their repast, whichwas always the same, was over, they began to think of sleep. Amackintosh was spread over the floor and kept them from the damp.Their stockings and shoes were dried by the portable grate, and thenthree of the travellers wrapped themselves up in their blankets,leaving the fourth to keep watch; he watched over the common safety,and prevented the opening getting blocked up, for if it did they wouldbe buried alive.
Dick shared the snow-house; the other dogs remained outside, and aftertheir supper they squatted down in the snow, which made them a blanket.The men were tired out with their day's walk, and soon slept. Thedoctor took his turn on guard at three o'clock in the morning. Therewas a tempest during the night, the gusts of which thickened the wallsof the snow-house. The next day, at six o'clock, they set out againon their monotonous march. The temperature lowered several degrees,and hardened the ground so that walking was easier. They often metwith mounds or cairns something like the Esquimaux hiding-places.The doctor had one demolished, and found nothing but a block of ice.
"What did you expect, Clawbonny?" said Hatteras. "Are we not the firstmen who have set foot here?"
"It's very likely we are, but who knows?" answered the doctor.
"I do not want to lose my time in useless search," continued thecaptain; "I want to be quick back to my ship, even if we don't findthe fuel."
"I believe we are certain of doing that," said the doctor.
"I often wish I had not left the _Forward_," said Hatteras; "acaptain's place is on board."
"Johnson is there."
"Yes; but--well, we must make haste, that's all."
The procession marched along rapidly; Simpson excited the dogs bycalling to them; in consequence of a phosphorescent phenomenon theyseemed to be running on a ground in flames, and the sledges seemedto raise a dust of sparks. The doctor went on in front to examinethe state of the snow, but all at once he disappeared. Bell, who wasnearest to him, ran up.
"Well, Mr. Clawbonny," he called out in anxiety, "where are you?"
"Doctor!" called the captain.
"Here, in a hole," answered a reassuring voice; "throw me a cord,and I shall soon be on the surface of the globe again."
They threw a cord to the doctor, who was at the bottom of a hole aboutten feet deep; he fastened it round his waist, and his companionshauled him up with difficulty.
"Are you hurt?" asked Hatteras.
"Not a bit," answered the doctor, shaking his kind face, all coveredwith snow.
"But how did you tumble down there?"
"Oh, it was the refraction's fault," he answered laughing. "I thoughtI was stepping across about a foot's distance, and I fell into a holeten feet deep! I never shall get used to it. It will teach us to soundevery step before we advance. Ears hear and eyes see all topsy-turvyin this enchanted spot."
"Can you go on?" asked the captain.
"Oh, yes; the little fall has done me more good than harm."
In the evening the travellers had marched twenty-five miles; theywere worn out, but it did not prevent the doctor climbing up an icebergwhile the snow-house was being built. The full moon shone withextraordinary brilliancy in the clearest sky; the stars weresingularly bright; from the top of the iceberg the view stretchedover an immense plain, bristling with icebergs; they were of all sizesand shapes, and made the field look like a vast cemetery, in whichtwenty generations slept the sleep of death. Notwithstanding the cold,the doctor remained a long time in contemplation of the spectacle,and his companions had much trouble to get him away; but they wereobliged to think of rest; the snow-hut was ready; the four companionsburrowed into it like moles, and soon slept the sleep of the just.
The next day and the following ones passed without any particularincident; the journey was easy or difficult according to the weather;when it was cold and clear they wore their moccasins and advancedrapidly, when damp and penetrating, their snow-shoes, and made littleway. They reached thus the 15th of January; the moon was in her lastquarter, and was only visible for a short time; the sun, though stillhidden below the horizon, gave six hours of a sort of twilight, notsufficient to see the way by; they were obliged to stake it outaccording to the direction given by the compass. Bell led the way;Hatteras marched in a straight line behind him; then Simpson and thedoctor, taking it in turns, so as only to see Hatteras, and keep ina straight line. But notwithstanding all their precautions, theydeviated sometimes thirty or forty degrees; they were then obligedto stake it out again. On Sunday, the 15th of January, Hatterasconsidered he had made a hundred miles to the south; the morning wasconsecrated to the mending of different articles of clothing andencampment; divine service was not forgotten. They set out again atnoon; the temperature was cold, the thermometer marked only 32 degreesbelow zero in a very clear atmosphere.
All at once, without warning of any kind, a vapour rose from the groundin a complete state of congelation, reaching a height of about ninetyfeet, and remaining stationary; they could not see a foot before them;it clung to their clothing, and bristled it with ice. Our travellers,surprised by the frost-ri
me, had all the same idea--that of gettingnear one another. They called out, "Bell!" "Simpson!" "This way,doctor!" "Where are you, captain?" But no answers were heard; thevapour did not conduct sound. They all fired as a sign of rallying.But if the sound of the voice appeared too weak, the detonation ofthe firearms was too strong, for it was echoed in all directions,and produced a confused rumble without appreciable direction. Eachacted then according to his instincts. Hatteras stopped, folded hisarms, and waited. Simpson contented himself with stopping his sledge.Bell retraced his steps, feeling the traces with his hands. The doctorran hither and thither, bumping against the icebergs, falling down,getting up, and losing himself more and more. At the end of fiveminutes he said:
"I can't go on like this! What a queer climate! It changes too suddenly,and the icicles are cutting my face. Captain! I say, captain!"
But he obtained no answer; he discharged his gun, and notwithstandinghis thick gloves, burnt his hand with the trigger. During thisoperation he thought he saw a confused mass moving at a few stepsfrom him.
"At last!" said he. "Hatteras! Bell! Simpson! Is it you? Answer, do!"
A hollow growl was the only answer.
"Whatever is that?" thought the doctor. The mass approached, and itsoutline was more distinctly seen. "Why, it's a bear!" thought theterrified doctor. It was a bear, lost too in the frost-rime, passingwithin a few steps of the men of whose existence it was ignorant.The doctor saw its enormous paws beating the air, and did not likethe situation. He jumped back and the mass disappeared like a phantom.The doctor felt the ground rising under his feet; climbing onall-fours he got to the top of a block, then another, feeling theend with his stick. "It's an iceberg!" he said to himself: "if I getto the top I shall be saved." So saying he climbed to a height ofabout eighty feet; his head was higher than the frozen fog, of whichhe could clearly see the top. As he looked round he saw the headsof his three companions emerging from the dense fluid.
"Hatteras!"
"Doctor!"
"Bell!"
"Simpson!"
The four names were all shouted at the same time; the sky, lightenedby a magnificent halo, threw pale rays which coloured the frost-rimelike clouds, and the summits of the icebergs seemed to emerge fromliquid silver. The travellers found themselves circumscribed by acircle less than a hundred feet in diameter. Thanks to the purityof the upper layers of air, they could hear each other distinctly,and could talk from the top of their icebergs. After the first shotsthey had all thought the best thing they could do was to climb.
"The sledge!" cried the captain.
"It's eighty feet below us," answered Simpson.
"In what condition?"
"In good condition."
"What about the bear?" asked the doctor.
"What bear?" asked Bell.
"The bear that nearly broke my head," answered the doctor.
"If there is a bear we must go down," said Hatteras.
"If we do we shall get lost again," said the doctor.
"And our dogs?" said Hatteras.
At this moment Dick's bark was heard through the fog.
"That's Dick," said Hatteras; "there's something up; I shall go down."
Growls and barks were heard in a fearful chorus. In the fog it soundedlike an immense humming in a wadded room. Some struggle was evidentlygoing on.
"Dick! Dick!" cried the captain, re-entering the frost-rime.
"Wait a minute, Hatteras; I believe the fog is clearing off," calledout the doctor. So it was, but lowering like the waters of a pondthat is being emptied; it seemed to enter the ground from whence itsprang; the shining summits of the icebergs grew above it; others,submerged till then, came out like new islands; by an optical illusionthe travellers seemed to be mounting with their icebergs above thefog. Soon the top of the sledge appeared, then the dogs, then aboutthirty other animals, then enormous moving masses, and Dick jumpingabout in and out of the fog.
"Foxes!" cried Bell.
"Bears!" shouted the doctor. "Five!"
"Our dogs! Our provisions!" cried Simpson. A band of foxes and bearshad attacked the sledge, and were making havoc with the provisions.The instinct of pillage made them agree; the dogs barked furiously,but the herd took no notice, and the scene of destruction waslamentable.
"Fire!" cried the captain, discharging his gun. His companionsimitated him. Upon hearing the quadruple detonation the bears raisedtheir heads, and with a comical growl gave the signal for departure;they went faster than a horse could gallop, and, followed by the herdof foxes, soon disappeared amongst the northern icebergs.