Works of Jules Verne/Adventures of Captain Hatteras/The English at the North Pole/Chapter 28
CHAPTER XXVIII
ACROSS THE ICE-FIELDS
The little band of adventurers went on towards the south-east. Simpson managed the sledge, aided zealously by Duk. Hatteras and the Doctor brought up the rear, and Bell was the scout in advance.
The rising of the thermometer announced an approaching snow storm, which soon began and greatly increased the difficulties of the way. The surface of the ice was very un- even and rugged, and the dogs were constantly stumbling, at great risk of overturning the sledge.
Hatteras and his companions wrapped themselves closely in their skin clothing, of rude Greenland make, and certainly somewhat unshapely, but admirably adapted to the necessities of the climate. The hoods were drawn right over head and face, and nothing left exposed but eyes, nose, and mouth.
They walked along over the monotonous plain almost in silence, for it was torture to open the mouth: sharp crystals formed immediately between the lips, which even the warm breath was powerless to melt.
Numerous traces of bears and foxes were met with, but not a solitary animal was perceived during the whole of the first day. It did not matter much, for it would have been both useless and dangerous to hunt them, since the sledge was heavily enough loaded already.
It is customary generally with exploring parties to lighten the sledges by depositing stores on the way at intervals, which are taken up on returning; but this was impracticable on ice-fields, which might drift off at any moment.
At mid-day Hatteras made a halt for breakfast, which consisted of pemmican and hot tea, and glad enough were the poor travelers of the reviving beverage.
After resting an hour, the march was resumed, and by night they had gone about twenty miles. Men and dogs were tired out: but in spite of fatigue, a snow-hut must be built before they could lie down to sleep. This was an hour and a half's work. Bell showed great skill in cutting the blocks and laying one above another in a circular dome-like form. The snow served for mortar to fill up all interstices, and became so hard that the whole hut soon appeared as if made of one solid piece. The only entrance was a narrow opening, into which they had to crawl on all-fours. The Doctor squeezed in somehow, though it was rather a tight fit, and the others followed. The portable kitchen was lighted, and supper speedily prepared.
When the repast was over, the mackintosh was spread on the ground, and shoes and socks put to dry by the little spirit stove, and then three of the party wrapped themselves in their warm blankets and went to sleep, leaving the fourth man to keep watch and prevent the opening from getting stopped up. This was necessary for the safety of the rest, and each man had charge in his turn.
Duk shared his master's quarters. His brethren were outside, and found a bed for themselves among the snow. Sleep soon came to the weary men, and at 3 A. M. the Doctor rose to mount guard. He could hear the storm raging without, but within the hut the temperature was tolerably comfortable.
Next morning at six o'clock the monotonous march began once more. It was easier walking, however, for the snow had hardened. They often came across what looked like cairns, or possibly Esquimaux hiding-places, and the Doctor could not rest easy till he had demolished one; but, to his disappointment, he found it was nothing but a block of ice.
"What did you hope to find, Mr. Clawbonny?" asked Hatteras. "Are we not the first that have ever trod this ice?"
"Likely enough, and yet who knows!"
"Don't let us waste time in useless searches," returned the captain. "I am in haste to get back to my ship, even without the coal we so need!"
"Doctor," said Hatteras, often, "I was wrong to leave the brig. It was a mistake. A captain's place is on board, and nowhere else."
"Johnson is there."
"I know that, but let us make haste."
The sledge went swiftly on, and owing to some peculiar phosphorence in the snow, seemed traversing red-hot ground, raising a cloud of sparks as it ran along. The Doctor hurried forward to examine this phenomenon more closely, but all of a sudden, in trying to jump over a hummock, he disappeared. Bell ran towards the spot immediately, but the Doctor was nowhere to be seen, and though he shouted his name, there was no reply till the captain, who came up just then with Simpson, called out:
"Doctor! where are you?"
"Down here, in a hole," was the reassuring answer.
"Throw me the end of a rope, and let me get to the earth's surface again."
The hole into which he had fallen was full ten feet deep, but his three companions succeeded in drawing him safely up, though not without difficulty.
"Are you hurt?" asked Hatteras.
"Never a bit! there is no fear of me," he replied, shaking the snow off his good-tempered face.
"But how did it happen?"
"Oh! it is all owing to refraction—always that stupid refraction," he said, laughing. "I thought I was going to jump over a gap not more than a foot broad, and I found myself in a hole ten feet deep. Take a lesson from me, and don't venture a step till you have tried the ground with your staff. There is no trusting to one's senses in this region, for both ears and eyes deceive one."
"Can we go on?" said Hatteras.
"Oh, go on, by all means. This little tumble will do me more good than harm."
Once more they set off, and by the time they halted for the night had gone a distance of five-and-twenty miles.
While the hut was being constructed for their night quarters, nothing would serve the Doctor but he must climb to the top of an iceberg and look about him.
The moon was almost full, and shining in the clear sky with extraordinary brilliancy. The stars, too, were wondrously beautiful, and as he gazed over the plain below, the surpassing grandeur of the spectacle amply repaid for the fatigue of the ascent. It resembled some vast cemetery full of monuments of every description, in which twenty generations lay slumbering; and in spite of cold and weariness, the Doctor could not tear himself from the scene. He was so absorbed and entranced that his companions could scarcely persuade him to come down. But the hut was ready, and it was high time to think of sleep, so he crept in after the others, and was soon in the arms of Morpheus.
The next few days passed without any particular incidents, sometimes making quicker and sometimes slower progress, till they reached the 15th of January.
The moon was now in her last quarter, and only visible for a short time. The sun, though never appearing above the horizon, made a sort of dim twilight for about six hours in the day. But it was too faint to show the road, and the travelers had to steer the way by the compass. Bell went first, and set up a landmark for the rest to follow, so as to keep in a straight course as far as possible.
On the 15th of February, which was on a Sunday, Hatteras calculated that they had made a hundred miles. He devoted the morning to repairing sundry articles and to religious worship, and started again about noon. The temperature was cold, only 32° above zero, and the air very clear.
Suddenly, without any warning and without any apparent reason, a sort of vapor began to rise from the ground, and condensed into minute frozen particles, instantly filling the atmosphere like dense fog, and rising to the height of about ninety feet, where it remained stationary. It was impossible to see a foot before one, and long prismatic crystals hung from everybody's clothes.
This was the frost rime that had surprised the travelers, and its first effect was to make them wish to keep close together. Each began feeling and fumbling for the other, and calling out his name. But in this dense fog there was not only no seeing, but no hearing, for sounds cannot pass through it.
The same thought apparently struck each to fire a gun as a signal. But the confusion that followed was indescribable, for the noise was echoed far and wide, in one continuous roll.
Each man was left to his own instinct, and each acted in a characteristic manner. Hatteras stopped short, and stood with his arms folded to wait patiently. Simpson managed to keep fast by the sledge. Bell felt for foot-marks on the ground, and the Doctor went tumbling about among the great blocks of ice, now going to the left and then to the right, and the losing himself completely.
After stumbling along in this fashion for five minutes or so, he said to himself:
"This can't last! Strange climate; rather too freaky for my taste. There is no reckoning on it. Hallo, captain, where are you?" he shouted again.
But there was no response, and he resolved to reload his gun and fire a second time.
While doing this, he fancied he could discern the outlines of some dark object close by, and he called out:
"At last! Hatteras, Bell, Simpson, who is it? Speak!"
A low growl was the only reply.
"Ha! what can this be?" thought the good little man.
The moving mass came nearer, its proportions being increased by the fog rather than diminished. A terrible suspicion crossed the Doctor's mind.
"It is a bear!" he said to himself. And a bear it actually was, of huge dimensions. Bruin had lost his way in the fog like his neighbors, and was going hither and thither in all directions, almost knocking right against his enemies, though he little imagined their proximity.
"I'm in a pretty fix now," thought the Doctor, remaining quite still.
The animal sometimes came so close to him that he could feel his breath, and the next minute he disappeared in the frost rime. Sometimes he caught a glimpse of enormous paws beating the air, and more than once they touched him so near that his clothes were torn by the sharp claws, and he leaped back in affright.
But in leaping back the Doctor felt his foot struck rising ground, and by the help of his hand he succeeded in getting on the top of first one block of ice and then another and another, till he reached at last the summit of an iceberg nearly ninety feet high, and found himself in clear air, quite above the level of the fog.
"That's capital!" he said, and looking round, discovered his three companions also emerging from the frost rime.
"Hatteras!"
"Doctor Clawbonny!"
"Bell!"
"Simpson!"
These exclamations were almost simultaneous. The sky was illumined by a magnificent halo, which tinged the frost rime with its soft rays, and gave it the appearance of liquid silver, from which the peaks of the icebergs issued.
The travelers discovered they were in a sort of amphitheater about a hundred feet in diameter, and though they had each clambered up different icebergs, and were considerable distances apart, yet, thanks to the intense cold, and extreme purity of the atmosphere, they could hear one another's voice quite easily, and were able to carry on a conversation.
"Where's the sledge?" asked the captain.
"Down there, eighty feet below," replied Simpson.
"Is it all right?
"First-rate."
"And what about the bear?" inquired the Doctor.
"What bear?"
"The bear I met, that almost made me break my neck."
"A bear!" exclaimed Hatteras; we had better look after him."
"No, no!" said the Doctor; "we should only lose ourselves, and gain nothing by it."
"Well, but suppose he fell on our dogs?"
At that very moment Duk began barking furiously, and Hatteras exclaimed:
"That's Duk! I'm sure there's something up! I'm going down, at any rate."
"Stop, Hatteras, stop! I think the fog is clearing," said the Doctor.
It was not clearing, but it was gradually getting lower, like a pond getting empty. It seemed to sink into the earth from whence it had risen.
Soon the top of the sledge appeared, then the dogs; then about thirty other animals were seen, and large, shapeless moving masses. Duk was leaping and jumping about, appearing and disappearing in the fog.
"Foxes!" exclaimed Bell.
"Bears!" said the Doctor. "I can see one—three—five!"
"Let's see to the dogs and the provisions," shouted Simpson.
It was high time, for a whole pack of foxes and bears had attacked the sledge and were making fine havoc of the food. The dogs barked might and main, but their fury had no effect, and the work of pillage was fast going on.
"Fire!" cried Hatteras, discharging his gun.
His companions followed his example immediately, to the evident alarm of the four-footed robbers, for the whole troop scampered away at once, and speedily disappeared among the icebergs.