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diff --git a/38296.txt b/38296.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..364dd7f --- /dev/null +++ b/38296.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11922 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Wild Adventures round the Pole, by Gordon Stables + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Wild Adventures round the Pole + The Cruise of the "Snowbird" Crew in the "Arrandoon" + +Author: Gordon Stables + +Release Date: December 13, 2011 [EBook #38296] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILD ADVENTURES ROUND THE POLE *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +Wild Adventures round the Pole +The Cruise of the "Snowbird" Crew in the "Arrandoon" +By Gordon Stables +Published by Hodder and Stoughton, 27 Paternoster Row, London. +This edition dated 1883. + +Wild Adventures round the Pole, by Gordon Stables. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +________________________________________________________________________ +WILD ADVENTURES ROUND THE POLE, BY GORDON STABLES. + +CHAPTER ONE. + +THE TWIN RIVERS--A BUSY SCENE--OLD FRIENDS WITH NEW FACES--THE BUILDING +OF THE GREAT SHIP--PEOPLE'S OPINIONS--RALPH'S HIGHLAND HOME. + +Wilder scenery there is in abundance in Scotland, but hardly will you +find any more picturesquely beautiful than that in which the two great +rivers, the Clyde and the Tweed, first begin their journey seawards. It +is a classic land, there is poetry in every breath you breathe, the very +air seems redolent of romance. Here Coleridge, Scott, and Burns roved. +Wilson loved it well, and on yonder hills Hogg, the Bard of Ettrick--he +who "taught the wandering winds to sing"--fed his flocks. It is a land, +too, not only of poetic memories, but one dear to all who can appreciate +daring deeds done in a good cause, and who love the name of hero. + +If the reader saw the rivers we have just named, as they roll their +waters majestically into the ocean, the one at Greenock, the other near +the quaint old town of Berwick, he would hardly believe that at the +commencement of their course they are so small and narrow that +ordinary-sized men can step across them, that bare-legged little boys +wade through them, and thrust their arms under their green banks, +bringing therefrom many a lusty trout. But so it is. + +Both rise in the same district, within not very many miles of each +other, and for a considerable distance they follow the same direction +and flow north. + +But soon the Tweed gets very faint-hearted indeed. + +"The country is getting wilder and wilder," she says to her companion, +"we'll never be able to do it. I'm going south and east. It is +easier." + +"And I," says the bold Clyde, "am going northwards and west; it is more +difficult, and therein lies the enjoyment. I will conquer every +obstacle, I'll defy everything that comes against me, and thus I'll be a +mightier river than you. I'll water great cities, and on my broad +breast I will bear proud navies to the ocean, to do battle against wind +and wave. `Faint heart never won fair lady.' Farewell, friend Tweed, +farewell." + +And so they part. + +This conversation between the two rivers is held fourteen hundred feet +above the level of the sea, and five score miles and over have to be +traversed before the Clyde can reach it. Yet, nothing daunted, merrily +on she rolls, gaining many an accession of strength on the way from +streams and burns. + +"If you are going seaward," say these burns, "so are we, so we'll take +the liberty of joining you." + +"And right welcome you are," sings the Clyde; "in union lies strength." + +In union lies strength; yes, and in union is happiness too, it would +seem, for the Clyde, broader and stronger now, glides peacefully and +silently onwards; or if not quite silently, it emits but a silvery +murmur of content. Past green banks and wooded braes, through daisied +fields where cattle feed, through lonely moorlands heather-clad, now +hidden in forest depths, now out again into the broad light of day, +sweeping past villages, cottages, mansions, and castles, homes of serf +and feudal lord in times long past and gone, with many a sweep and many +a curve it reaches the wildest part of its course. Here it must rush, +the rapids and go tumbling and roaring over the lynns, with a noise that +may be heard for miles on a still night, with an impetuosity that shakes +the earth for hundreds of yards on every side. + +"I wonder how old Tweed is getting on?" thinks our brave river as soon +as it has cleared the rocks and rapids and pauses for breath. + +But the Clyde will soon be rewarded for its pluck and its daring, before +long it will enter and sweep through the second city of the empire, the +great metropolis of the west; but ere it does so, forgive it, if it +lingers awhile at Bothwell, and if it seems sullen and sad as it dashes +underneath the ancient bridge where, in days long gone, so fierce a +fight took place that five hundred of the brave Covenanters lay dead on +the field of battle. And pardon it when anon it makes a grand and +splendid sweep round Bothwell Bank, as if loth to leave it. Yonder are +the ruins of the ancient castle-- + + "Where once proud Murray held the festive board. + ***** + But where are now the festive board, + The martial throng, and midnight song? + Ah! ivy binds the mouldering walls, + And ruin reigns in Bothwell's halls. + O, deep and long have slumbered now + The cares that knit the soldier's brow, + The lovely grace, the manly power, + In gilded hall and lady's bower; + The tears that fell from beauty's eye, + The broken heart, the bitter sigh, + E'en deadly feuds have passed away, + Still thou art lovely in decay." + +But see, our river has left both beauty and romance far behind it. It +has entered the city--the city of merchant princes, the city of a +thousand palaces; it bears itself more steadily now, for hath not Queen +Commerce deigned to welcome it, and entrusted to it the floating wealth +of half a nation? The river is in no hurry to leave this fair city. + +"My noble queen," it seems to say, "I am at your service. I come from +the far-off hills to obey your high behests. My ambition is fulfilled, +do with me as you will." + +But soon as the bustle and din of the city are led behind, soon as the +grand old hills begin to appear on the right, and glimpses of green on +the southern banks, lo! the tide comes up to welcome the noble river; +and so the Clyde falls silently and imperceptibly into the mighty +Atlantic. Yet scarcely is the lurid and smoky atmosphere that hangs +pall-like over the town exchanged for the purer, clearer air beyond, +hardly have the waters from the distant mountains begun to mingle with +ocean's brine, ere the noise of ten thousand hammers seems to rend the +very sky. + +Clang, clang, clang, clang--surely the ancient god Vulcan has +reappeared, and taken up his abode by the banks of the river. Clang, +clang, clang. See yonder is the _Iona_, churning the water into foam +with her swift-revolving paddles. She has over a thousand passengers on +board; they are bound for the Highlands, bent on pleasure. But this +terrible noise and din of hammers--they will have three long miles of it +before they can even converse in comfort. Clang, clang, clang--it is no +music to them. Nay, but to many it is. + +It is music to the merchant prince, for yonder lordly ship, when she is +launched from the slips, will sail far over the sea, and bring him back +wealth from many a foreign shore. It is music to the naval officer; it +tells him his ship is preparing, that ere long she will be ready for +sea, that his white flag will be unfurled to the breeze, and that he +will walk her decks--her proud commander. + +And it is music--merry music to the ears of two individuals at least, +who are destined to play a very prominent part in this story. They are +standing on the quarter-deck of a half-completed ship, while clang, +clang, clang, go the hammers outside and inside. + +The younger of the two--he can be but little over twenty-three--with +folded arms, is leaning carelessly against the bulwarks. Although there +is a thoughtful look upon his handsome face, there is a smile as well, a +smile of pleasure. He is taller by many inches than his companion, +though by no means better "built," as sailors call it. This companion +has a bold, brown, weather-beaten face, the lower half of it buried in a +beard that is slightly tinged with grey; his eyes are clear and +honest,--eyes that you can tell at a glance would not flinch to meet +even death itself. He stands bold, erect, firm. Both are dressed well, +but there is a marked difference in the style of their attire. The +garments of the elder pronounce him at once just what he is,--one who +has been "down to the sea in ships." The younger is dressed in the +fashionable attire of an English gentleman. To say more were needless. +A minute observer, however, might have noticed that there was a slight +air of _neglige_ about him, if only in the unbuttoned coat or the +faultless hat pushed back off the brow. + +"And so you tell me," said the younger, "that the work still goes +bravely on?" + +"Ay, that it does," said his companion; "there have been rumours of a +strike for higher wages among the men of other yards, but none, I am +proud to say, in this." + +"And still," continued the former, "we pay but a fraction of wage more +than other people, and then, of course, there is the extra weekly +half-holiday." + +"There is something more, Ralph--forgive me if I call you Ralph, in +memory of dear old times. You will always be a boy to me, and I could +no more call you Mr Leigh than I could fly." + +Ralph grasped his companion by the hand; the action was but momentary, +but it showed a deal of kindly feeling. "Always call me Ralph," he +said, "always, McBain, always. When we are back once more at sea I'll +call you captain, not till then. But what is the something more that +makes our men so happy?" + +"Why, your kindly manner, Ralph boy. You mix with them, you talk with +them, and take an interest in all their doings, and you positively seem +to know every one of them by name. Mind you, that extra half-holiday +isn't thrown away: they work all the harder, and they are happy. Why, +listen to them now." + +He paused, and held up one hand. From bows to stern of the vessel there +arose the sound of industry, incessant, continual; but high over the +clang of hammers and the grating noise of saws there arose the voice of +song. + +"They sing, you see," continued McBain; "but they don't put down their +tools to sing. But here comes old Ap. What cheer, Mr Ap Ewen?" + +Those of my readers who knew Ap as he was two or three years ago--the +little stiff figure-head of a fellow--would be surprised to see him now. +[_Vide_ "Cruise of the Snowbird." Same Author and Publishers.] He is +far more smartly dressed, he is more active looking, and more the man, +had taken him in hand. He had caused him to study his trade of +boat-builder in a far more scientific fashion, with the result that he +was now, as our story opens, foreman over all the men employed on the +ship in which Ralph Leigh stood. + +Indeed, McBain himself, as well as Ap, were good examples of what +earnest study can effect. There is hardly anything which either boy or +man cannot learn if he applies his mind thereto. + +"What cheer, Mr Ap Ewen?" said McBain. + +"More hands wanted, sir," said Ap, pulling out his snuff-box and taking +a vigorous pinch. + +"More hands, Ap?" exclaimed McBain. + +"Ay, sir, ay; look you see," replied Ap, "you told me to hurry on, you +see, and on Monday we shall want to begin the saloon bulkheads." + +"Bravo! Ap, bravo! come to my office to-night at seven, and we'll put +that all straight." + +"Thank you, sir," said Ap, touching his hat and retiring. + +Ralph Leigh was owner of the splendid composite steamship that was now +fast nearing her completion. + +She was not being built by contract, but privately, and McBain was head +controller of every department, and for every department he had hired +experts to carry on the work. The vessel was designed for special +service, and therefore she must be a vessel of purity, a vessel of +strength. There must not be a flaw in her, not a patch--all must be +solid, all must be good. McBain had hired experts to examine everything +ere it was purchased, but he made use of his own eyes and ears as well. +The yard in which the ship was built was rented, and every bit of timber +that entered it was tested first, whether it were oak or teak, pine, +mahogany, or cedar; and the iron the same, and the bolts of copper and +steel, so that Captain McBain's work was really no sinecure. + +"Well, then," said Ralph, "I've been over all the ship; I'm extremely +pleased with the way things are going on, so if you have nothing more to +say to me I'm off. By the way, do the people still flock down on Friday +afternoons to look over the ship?" + +"They do," replied McBain; "and poor old Ap, I feel sorry for him. _He_ +gets no Friday half-holiday; he won't let me stop, but he insists upon +remaining himself to show the people round." + +"And the people enjoy it?" + +"They do. They marvel at our engines, as well they may. The gear, so +simple and strong, that Ap and I invented for the shipping and +unshipping of the rudder, and the easy method we have for elevating the +screw out of the water and reducing the vessel to a sailing ship, they +think little short of miraculous. They are astonished, too, at the +extraordinary strength of build of the ship. Indeed, they are highly +complimentary to us in their general admiration. But," continued +McBain, laughing aloud, "it would amuse you to hear the remarks of some +of these good, innocent souls. The two 12-pounder Dalgrens are +universal favourites. They pat them as if they loved them. One girl +last Friday said `they just looked for a' the warld like a couple o' big +iron soda-water bottles.' They linger in the armoury; old Ap shows them +our `express' rifles, and our `bone-crushers,' and the hardened and +explosive bullets: then he takes them to the harpoon-room and shows them +the harpoons, and the guns, and the electric apparatus, and all the +other gear. They stare open-mouthed at the balloon-room and the +sledge-lockers, but when they come to the door of the torpedo-chamber +they simply hurry past with looks of awe. It is currently reported that +we are bound for the very North Pole itself; I'm not sure we are not +going to bring it back home with us. Anyhow, they say that as soon as +we reach the ice, we are to fill our balloons, attaching one to each +mast and funnel, and float away and away over the sea of ancient ice +until we reach the Pole." + +Ralph laughed right merrily, and next minute he was over the side, with +his face set townwards, trudging steadily on to the railway-station. It +was only a trifle over three miles; there were cabs to be had in +abundance, but what young man would ride if he had time to walk? + +Ralph was going home. Not to his fair English home far away in the +south, for ever since, in the early spring-time--and now it was autumn-- +the keel of the ship--_his_ ship--had been laid, Ralph had taken up his +abode in a rustic cottage by the banks of a broad-bosomed lake in the +Highlands of Argyll. Wild though the country was all around, it was but +four miles from the railway, and this journey he used to accomplish +twice or oftener every week, on the back of a daft-looking Welsh pony +that he had bought for the purpose. Once on board the train, two hours +took him to the city, and thence a brisk walk to the building-yard. + +He had watched, week after week, the gradual progress of his ship +towards completion, with an interest and a joy that were quite boyish. +He dearly loved to see the men at work, and listen to their cheerful +voices as they laboured. Even the smell of the pine or cedar shavings +was perfume to Ralph, and the way he used to climb about and wander over +and through the ship, when she was little more than ribs, knees, and +beams, was quite amusing. + +But he was nevertheless always happy to get back to his Highland home, +his books, his boat, and his fishing-rod. She was a widow who owned the +humble cottage, but she was kind and good, and Ralph's rooms, that +looked away out over the lake, were always kept in a state of perfect +cleanliness. The widow had one little daughter, a sweetly pretty and +intelligent child, over whose fair wee head five summers had hardly +rolled. Jeannie was her name, Jeannie Morrison, and she was an especial +pet of Ralph's. She and the collie dog always came gleefully down the +road to meet him on his return from the distant city, and you may be +perfectly sure he always brought something nice in his pocket for the +pair of them. + +When tired of reading, Ralph used to romp with wee Jeannie, or take her +on his knee and tell her wonderful stories, which made her blue eyes +grow bigger and more earnest than ever as she listened. + +In fact, Jeannie and Ralph were very fond of each other, indeed, and +every time he went to a romantic little island out in the lake to fish, +he took Jeannie in the stern of the boat, and the time passed doubly +quick. + +"Oh, Mista Walph! Mista Walph!" cried Jeannie, bursting into Ralph's +room one afternoon, clapping her hands with joy. "Mista McBain is +coming; Capping McBain is coming." + +"Yes," said Mistress Morrison, entering behind her little daughter. +"I'm sure you'll be delighted, sir, and so am I, for the captain hasn't +been here for a month." + +Then Ralph got his hat, and, accompanied by the honest collie and his +favourite Jeannie, went off down the road to meet McBain and bid him +welcome to his Highland home. + +CHAPTER TWO. + +THE DINNER BY THE LAKE--RORY'S RUN ROUND AFRICA--THE RETURN OF THE +WANDERERS. + +"When did you hear from Allan and Rory?" asked McBain that day, as they +were seated at dinner in the little Highland cottage. + +Mrs Morrison had done her best to put something nice before them, and +not without success either--so thought Ralph, and so, too, thought his +guest. At all events, both of them did ample justice to that noble lake +trout. Five pounds did he weigh, if he weighed an ounce, and as red was +he in flesh as if he had been fed upon beet. The juicy joint of +mountain mutton that followed was fit to grace the table of a prince--it +was as fragrant and sweet as the blooming heather tops that had brought +it to perfection. Nor was the cranberry tart to be despised. The +berries of which it was composed had not come over the Atlantic in a +barrel of questionable flavour--no, they had been culled on the dewy +braelands that very morning by the fair young fingers of wee Jeannie +Morrison herself. The widow did not forget to tell them that, and it +did not detract from their enjoyment of the tart. For drink they had +fragrant heather ale--home-brewed. + +"When did I hear from Allan and Rory?" said Ralph, repeating McBain's +question; "from the first, not for weeks--he is a lazy boy; from the +latter, only yesterday morning." + +"And what says Rory?" asked McBain. + +"Oh!" replied Ralph, "his letter is beautiful. It is twelve pages long. +He is loud in his praises of the behaviour of the yacht, as a matter of +course; but in no single sentence of this lengthy epistle does he refer +definitely to the health or welfare of anybody whatever." + +"From which you infer--?" + +"From which I infer," said Ralph, "that everybody is as well as Rory +himself--that my dear father is well, and Allan, and his mother, and his +sister Helen Edith. He is a queer boy, Rory, and he encloses me a +couple of columns from a Cape of Good Hope paper, in which he has +written an epitome of the whole voyage, since they first started in May +last. He calls his yarn `Right round Africa.' He commences at Suez, a +place where even boy Rory, I should think, would fail to find much +poetry and romance; but they must have enjoyed themselves at Alexandria, +where Rory mounted on top of Pompey's Pillar, rode upon donkeys, and did +all kinds of queer things. Well, they spent a week at Malta, with its +streets of stairs, its bells, its priests, its convents, and its +blood-oranges. Rory missed trees and shade, though; he says Malta is a +capital place for lizards, or any animal, human or otherwise, that cares +to spend the day basking on the top of a stone. He liked Tunis and +Algiers better, and he quite enjoyed Teneriffe and Madeira. Then they +crossed over to Sierra Leone, and he launches forth in praise of the +awful forests--`primeval,' he calls them--and he says, in his own +inimitable Irish way, that `they are dark, bedad, even in broad +daylight.' Then all down the strange savage West Coast they sailed; +they even visited Ashantee, but he doesn't say whether or not they +called on his sable majesty the king. Of course they didn't miss +looking in at Saint Helena, which he designates a paradise in mid-ocean, +and not a lonely sea-girt rock, as old books call it. Ascension was +their next place of resort. That is a rock, if you like, he says; but +the sea-birds' eggs and the turtle are redeeming features. And so on to +the Cape, and up the Mozambique, landing here and there at beautiful +villages and towns, and in woods where they picked the oysters off the +trees." + +[Oysters growing on trees seems a strange paradox. They do so grow, +however. The mangrove-trees are washed by the tide, and to their +tortuous roots oysters adhere, which may be gathered at low water.] + +"They really must be enjoying themselves," said McBain. + +"That they are," Ralph replied, pulling out Rory's letter. "Just listen +how charmingly he writes of the Indian Ocean--nobody else save our own +poetic Rory could so write:--`My dear, honest, unsophisticated Ralph,-- +oh, you ought to have been with us as we rounded the Cape! That +thunderstorm by night would have made even your somewhat torpid blood +tingle in your veins. It was night, my Ralph; what little wind there +was was dead off the iron-bound coast, but the billows were mountains +high. Yes, this is no figure of speech. I have never seen such waves +before, and mayhap never will again. I have never seen such lightning, +and never heard such thunder. We remained all night on deck; no one had +the slightest wish to go below. As I write our yacht is bounding over a +blue and rippling sea; the low, wooded shore on our lee is sleeping in +the warm sunlight, and everything around us breathes peace and quiet, +and yet I have but to clap my hand across my eyes, and once again the +whole scene rises up before me. I see the lightning quivering on the +dark waves, and flashing incessantly around us, with intervals of the +blackest darkness. I see the good yacht clinging by the bows to the +crest of the waves, or plunging arrowlike into the watery ravines; I see +the wet and slippery decks and cordage, and the awe-struck men around +the bulwarks; and I see the faces of my friends as I saw them then-- +Allan's knitted brow, his mother's looks of terror, and the pale +features of poor Helen Edith. There are nights, Ralph, in the life of a +sailor that he is but little likely ever to forget; that was one in mine +that will cling to my memory till I cease to breathe.' + +"Don't you call that graphic?" said Ralph. + +"I do," replied McBain; "give us one other extract, and then lend me the +letter. I'll take it to town with me, and you can have it again when +you come up." + +"Well," said Ralph, "he describes Delagoa Bay and the scenery all round +it so pleasantly, that if I hadn't an estate of my own in old England I +would run off and take a farm there; right quaintly he talks of the +curious Portuguese city of Mozambique; he is loud in the praises of the +Comoro Islands, especially of Johanna, with its groves of citrons and +limes, its feathery palm-trees, and its lofty mountains, tree-clad to +the very summits; and he could write a lordly volume, he says, on the +sultanic city of Zanzibar, where, it would seem, his adventures were not +like angels' visits--few and far between. He has even fought with the +wild Somali Indians, and assisted at a pitched battle between Arabs and +a British cruiser. Then he describes his adventures in the woods and in +the far-off hills and jungles, tiger-slaying; here is a serpent +adventure; here is a butterfly hunt. Fancy butterflies as big as a +lady's fan, and of plumage--yes, that is the very word Rory makes use +of--`plumage' more bright than a noonday rainbow. + +"Here again is a description of the great Johanna hornet, two inches +long, blue-black in colour, and so dreaded by the natives that they will +not approach within twenty yards of the tree these terrible insects +inhabit. Here is a beetle as big as a fish, and as strong apparently as +a man, for he seizes hold of the top of the big pickle-jar into which +Rory wants to introduce him, and obstinately refuses to be drowned in +spirits; and here is a centipede as long as an adder, green, +transparent, deadly; tarantulas as big as frogs, hairy and horrible; +scorpions as big as crabs, green and dangerous as the centipedes +themselves, that run from you, it is true, but threaten you as they run. + +"It is pleasant," continued Ralph, "to turn from his descriptions of the +awful African creepie-creepies, and read of the enchanting beauty of +some parts of the Zanzibar woods, the mighty trees mango-laden, the +patches of tempting pine-apples, through which one can hardly wade, the +curious breadfruit-trees, the pomolos, the citrons, the oranges, and the +guavas, that look and taste, says Rory, `like strawberries smothered in +cream.' He dilates, too, on the beauty of the wild flowers, and the +brilliancy of the birds--birds that never sing, but flit sadly and +silently from bough to bough in the golden sunlight. From the very +centre of this beautiful wood Rory, with masterly pen, carries you right +away to a lovely coral island in the Indian Ocean. + +"`Although many, many miles in extent,' he tells us, `although it is +clothed in waving woods, although even the cocoa-nut palm waves high +aloft its luscious fruit, it is not inhabited by man. Perhaps my boat +was the first that ever rasped upon its shore of silvery sand, perhaps I +was the first human being that ever lay under the shade of its +mangrove-trees or bathed in the waters of its sunny lagune. My boat is +a skiff--a tiny skiff; our yacht lies at anchor off Chak-Chak, and I +have come all alone to visit this fairy-like island. I left the ship +while the stars were still glittering in the heavens, long before the +sun leapt up and turned the waters into blood; and now I have rested, +bathed, and breakfasted, and am once more on board my indolent skiff. +Here in this bay, even half a mile from the shore, you can see the +bottom distinct and clear, for the water is as pellucid as crystal, and +there isn't a ripple on the sea. And what do I gaze upon?--A submarine +garden; and I gaze upon it like one enchanted, the while my boat-- +impelled by the tide alone--glides slowly on and over it. Down yonder +are flowers of every shape and hue, shrubs of every variety of foliage, +coral bushes--pink, and white, and even black--rocks covered with +medusae of the most brilliant colours an artist could imagine, and +patches of white sand, strewn with living shells, each one more lovely +to look upon than another. And every bush and shrub and flower is all +a-quiver with a strange, indescribable motion, which greatly heightens +their magical beauty; and why? Because every bush and shrub and flower +is composed of a thousand living things. But the larger creatures that +creep and crawl, or glide through this submarine garden are fantastic in +the extreme. Monster crabs and crayfish, horny, abhorrent, and so +strange in shape one cannot help thinking they were made to frighten +each other; long transparent fishes, partly grayling partly eel; flat +fishes that swim in all kinds of ridiculous ways; some fishes that seem +all tail together, and others that are nothing but head. And among all +the others a curious flat fish that swims on an even keel, and, by the +very brilliancy of his colours and gorgeous array, seems to quite take +the shine out of all the others. Both sides of this fish are painted +alike; both sides of him are divided into five or six equal parts, and +each part is of a different colour--one is a marigold yellow, another +green, another brightest crimson, another steel grey, and so on. Him I +dubbed the harlequin flounder. Yes, Ralph, Shakespeare was right when +he said there are more things in heaven and earth than we dream of in +our philosophy, and he might have added there are more things in ocean's +depths, and stranger things, than any naturalist ever could imagine.' + +"You see," said Ralph, folding Rory's funny letter, and handing it to +McBain, "that our friends are enjoying themselves; but you won't fail to +notice Rory's closing sentence, in which he says that, in the very midst +of all the brightness and beauty so lavishly spread around him, he is +ofttimes longing to visit once more the strange, mysterious regions +around the Pole." + +"And you have never written a word to him about our new ship and our +purposed voyage?" inquired McBain. + +"Never a word," cried Ralph, laughing. "You see, I want to keep that a +secret till the very last. Oh, fancy, McBain, how wild with glee both +Rory and Allan will be when they find that the splendid ship is built +and ready, and that we but wait for the return of spring to carry us +once more away to the far north again." + +"I'd like to see Rory's face," said McBain, smiling, "when you break the +news to him." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Just six weeks after this quiet little _tete-a-tete_ dinner on the bank +of the Highland lake, a very important-looking and fussy little tug-boat +come puff-puffing up the Clyde from seaward, towing in a large and +pretty yacht; her sails were clewed, and her yards squared, and +everything looked trig and trim, not only about her, but on board of +her. The blue ensign floated proudly from her staff; her crew were +dressed in true yachting rig, and her decks were white as the driven +snow. + +An elderly lady with snow-white hair paced slowly up and down the +quarter-deck, leaning lightly on the arm of a tall and gentlemanly man +of mature age. In a lounge chair right aft, and abreast of the +binnacle, a fair young girl was reclining, book in lap, but not reading; +she was engaged in pleasant conversation with a youth who sat on a +camp-stool not far off, while another who leant upon the taffrail gazing +shorewards frequently turned towards them, to put in his oar with a word +or two. He was taller than the former and apparently a year or two +older. He was probably more manly in appearance and build, but +certainly not better-looking. Both were tanned with the tropical sun, +and both were dressed alike in a kind of sailor uniform of navy blue. + +"Yes, Rory," the girl was saying, "I must confess that I do feel glad to +get back again to Scotland, much though I have enjoyed our cruise and +all our strange adventures around that wild and beautiful coast. Oh! I +do not wonder at your being fond of the sea. If I were a man I feel +sure I would be a sailor." + +"And here we are," replied Rory, with pleasure beaming from his bright, +laughing eyes, "within three miles of Glasgow. And, you know, Ralph is +here; how delighted he will be to meet us all again! I really wonder he +did not come with us." + +But Ralph was very much nearer to them at that moment than they had any +idea of. + +"Helen Edith," cried Allan at that moment, "and you, Rory, do come and +have a look at this beautiful steam barque on the stocks." + +Both Helen and Rory were by his side in a moment. + +"She is a beauty indeed," said Rory, enthusiastically. "There are lines +for you! There is shape! Fancy that craft in the water! Look at the +beautiful rake that even her funnel has! But is she a man-o'-war, I +wonder?" + +"More like a despatch boat, I should say," said Allan. "Look, she is +pierced for guns." + +Allan was right about the guns, for just as he spoke a balloon-shaped +cloud of white smoke rose slowly up from her side, and almost +simultaneously the roar of a big gun came over the water and died away +in a hundred echoes among the rocks and hills. Another and another +followed in slow and measured succession, until they had counted +fourteen. + +"It is saluting they are," said Allan; "but they surely cannot be +saluting us; and yet there is no other craft of any consequence coming +up the water." + +"But I feel sure," said Helen, "it is some one bidding us welcome. And +see, they dip the flag." + +The yacht's flag was now dipped in return, but still the mystery +remained unravelled. + +But it does not remain so long. + +For see, the yacht is now almost abreast of the new ship, and the decks +of the latter are crowded with wildly cheering men. Ay, and yonder, +beside the flagstaff, is Ralph himself, with McBain by his side, waving +their hats in the air. + +The good people on the yacht are for a minute rendered dumb with +astonishment, but only for a minute; then the air is rent with their +shouts as they give back cheer for cheer. + +"Och! deed in troth," cried Rory, losing all control of his English +accent, "it's myself that is bothered entoirely. Is it my head or my +heels that I'm standing on? for never a morsel of me knows! Is it +dreaming I am? Allan, boy, can't you tell me? Just look at the name on +the stern of the beautiful craft." + +Allan himself was dumb with astonishment to behold, in broad letters of +gold the words, "The Arrandoon." + +CHAPTER THREE. + +RETROSPECTION--RALPH'S HOME IN ENGLAND--A HEARTY IF NOT POETIC WELCOME. + +Many of my readers have met with the heroes of this tale before [in the +"Cruise of the Snowbird," by the same Author and Publishers], but +doubtless some have not; and as it is always well to know at least a +little of the _dramatis personae_ of a story beforehand, the many must +in the present instance give place to the few. They must either, +therefore, listen politely to a little epitomised repetition, or sit +quietly aside with their fingers in their ears for the space of five +minutes. But, levity apart, I shall be as brief as brevity itself. + +Which of our heroes shall we start with first? Allan? Yes, simply +because his initial letter stands first on the alphabetic list. + +Allan McGregor is a worthy Scot. + +We met him for the first time several years prior to the date of this +tale; met him in the company of his foster-father, met him in a wildly +picturesque Highland glen, called Glentruim, at the castle of Arrandoon. +It was midwinter; the young man's southern friends, Ralph Leigh and +Rory Elphinston, were coming to see him and live with him for a time, +and right welcomely were they received, all the more in that they had +narrowly escaped losing their lives in the snow. + +Allan was--and so remains--the chieftain of his clan, his father having +died years before, sword in hand, on a bloodstained redoubt in India, +leaving to his only son's care an encumbered estate, a mother and one +daughter, Edith, or Helen Edith. + +The young chief was poor and proud, but he dearly loved his widowed +mother, his beautiful sister, the romantic old castle, and the glen that +had reared him from his boyhood; and how he wished and longed to be able +to better the position of the former and the condition of the latter, +none but he could tell or say. Allan was brave--his clan is +proverbially so; his soul was deeply imbued with the spirit of religion, +and, it must be added, just slightly tinged with superstition--a +superstition born of the mountain mists and the stern, romantic scenery, +where he had lived for the greater part of his lifetime. + +Ralph Leigh was the son of a once wealthy baronet, and had just finished +his education. + +Rory Elphinston was an orphan, who owned estates in the west of Ireland, +from which property, however, he seldom realised the rents. Like Ralph, +Rory was fond of adventure, and ready and willing to do anything honest +and worthy to earn that needful dross called gold; and when, one +evening, McBain hinted at the wealth that lay ungathered in the +inhospitable lands around the Pole, and of the many wild adventures to +be met with in those regions, the relation fired the youthful blood of +the trio. The boys clubbed together, as most boys might, and bought a +small yacht. Small as she was, however, in her, under the able tuition +of McBain, they were taught seamanship and discipline, and they became +enamoured of the sea and longed to possess a larger ship, in which they +might go in quest of adventures in far-off foreign lands. + +Now Ralph's father, poor though he was, was very fond--and perhaps even +a little proud--of his son; he would, therefore, not refuse him anything +in reason he could afford. He rejoiced to see him happy. The good +yacht _Snowbird_ was therefore bought, and in it our brave boys sailed +away to the far north. The narrative of their adventures by sea and +land is duly recorded in "The Cruise of the Snowbird." You may seek for +them there if you wish to read of them; if not, there is little harm +done. + +The _Snowbird_ returned at last, if not really rich, yet with what +sailors call an excellent general cargo, quite sufficient for each of +them to realise a tolerably large sum of money from. Every shilling of +his share Allan had expended in improving the glen, with its cottages +and sheep farms, and the dear old castle itself. But, meanwhile, Ralph +had fallen into a large fortune, and found himself possessed of rich +estates, and a splendid old mansion in --shire, England. He might have +married now, and settled quietly down for life as a country squire, +enjoying to the full all the pleasures and luxuries that health combined +with wealth are capable of bringing to their possessors. Ah! but then +the spirit of the rover had entered into him; he had learned to love +adventure for the sake of itself, and to love a life on the ocean wave. + +Loving a life on the ocean wave, he might, had he so chosen, have had a +very pleasant cruise with his friends, had he gone with them in their +run round Africa, alluded to in the last chapter of this tale; but, as +would be gleaned from the conversation recorded therein, he did not so +choose. He and McBain had their little secret, which they kept well. +They were determined to turn explorers, so Ralph built a ship, built a +noble ship--built it without acquainting any one what service it was +intended for, and even his dear friends Ralph and Rory were to know +nothing about her until they, returned from their cruise in the tropics. +Ralph meant it all as a kindly and a glad surprise to them, for well +did he know how their hearts would bound with joy at the very thoughts +of sailing once more in quest of adventures. Nor, as the sequel will +show, was he in one whit disappointed. + +In character, disposition, and appearance my four principal heroes may +be thus summed up--I have already told you about Allan's:-- + +McBain--Captain McBain--was a hardy, fear-nothing, daring man, his mind +imbued with a sense of duty and with piety, both of which he had learned +at the maternal knee. + +Ralph was a young Englishman in every sense of the word--tall, broad, +shapely, somewhat slow in action, with difficulty aroused, but a very +lion when he did march out of his den intent on a purpose. + +Somewhat more youthful was Rory, smaller as to person, poetic as to +temperament, fond of the beautiful, an artist and a musician. And if +you were to ask me, "Was he, too, brave?" I should answer, "Are not +poets and Irishmen always brave? Does not Sir Walter Scott tell us that +they laugh in their ranks as they go forward to battle--that they-- + + "Move to death with military glee?" + +Sir Walter, I may also remind those who live in the land o' cakes, says +in the same poem: + + "But ne'er in battlefield throbbed heart more brave + Than that which beats beneath the Scottish plaid." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +So now we are back again at the place where we left off in the last +chapter, with the yacht being towed slowly past good Ralph's ship on the +stocks, and lusty cheers being exchanged from one vessel to the other. + +Rory and Allan exchanged glances. The faces of each were at that moment +a study for a physiognomist, but the uppermost feeling visible in either +was one of astonishment--not blank astonishment, mind you, for there was +something in the eyes of each, and in the smile that flickered round +their lips, that would have told you in a moment that Ralph's +nicely-kept secret was a secret no more. Rory, as usual with natives of +green Erin, was the first to break the silence. + +"Depend upon it," he said, nodding his head mirthfully, "it is all some +mighty fine joke of Ralph's, and he means giving us a pleasant +surprise." + +"The same thought struck me," replied Allan, "as soon as I clapped eyes +on the word `_Arrandoon_.'" + +"Oh?" chimed in Helen Edith, with her sweet, musical voice; "that is the +reason your friend would not come with us on our delightful voyage." + +"That _was_ the reason," said Allan, emphatically, "because he was +building a ship of his own, the sly dog." + +"But wherever do you think he means cruising to at all, at all?" added +Rory, with puzzled face. + +"That's what I should like to know," said Allan. + +And this thought occupied their minds all the way up to Glasgow; but +once there, and the ladies seen safely to their hotels, Rory and Allan +sped off without delay to visit this big, mysterious yacht; and they had +not been half an hour on board ere, as Rory expressed it, in language +more forcible than elegant. + +"The secret was out entirely, the cat flew out of the bag, and every +drop of milk got out of the cocoa-nut." + +Poor Ralph was delighted at the return of his friends from their long +cruise; and now that he had their company he had no longer any wish or +desire to remain in the vicinity of the _Arrandoon_; so giving up his +pretty Highland cottage, bidding a kindly adieu to the widow, kissing +wee weeping Jeannie, and promising to be sure to return some day, the +trio hurried them southwards, to spend most of their time at Ralph's +pleasant home, until the ship should be ready to launch. + +Leigh Hall was a lordly mansion, possessing no very great pretensions to +architectural splendour, but beautifully situated among its woods and +parks on a high braeland that overlooked one of England's fairest lakes. +For miles you approached the house from behind by a road which, with +many a devious turning, wound through a rich but rolling country. Past +many a rural hamlet; past many a picturesque cottage, their gables and +fronts charmingly painted and tinted by the hands of the magic artist +Time; past stately farms, where sleek cattle seemed to low kindly +welcome to our heroes as their carriage came rolling onwards, with here +a wood and there a field, and yonder a great stretch of common where +cows waded shoulder deep in ferns and furze, daintily cropping the green +and tender tops of the trailing bramble; and here a broad, rushy moor, +on which flocks of snowy geese wandered. + +Alluding to the latter, says Rory, "Don't these geese come out prettily +against the patches of green grass, and how soft and easy it must be for +the feet of them!" + +"They're preparing for Christmas," said Ralph. Poet Rory gave him a +look--one of Rory's looks. "There's never a bit of poetry nor romance +in the soul of you," he said. + +"Except the romance and poetry of a well-spread table," said Allan, +laughing. + +"And, 'deed, indeed," replied Rory, "there is little to choose betwixt +the pair of you; so what can I do but be sorry for you both?" + +It was on a beautiful autumn afternoon that the three young men were now +approaching the manor of Leigh. The trees that had been once of a +tender green, whose leaves in the gentle breath of spring had rustled +with a kind of silken _frou-frou_, were green now only when the sun +shone upon them; all the rest was black by contrast. Feathery seedlings +floated here and there on the breeze that blew from the north. This +breeze went rushing through the woods with a sound that made Rory, at +all events, think of waves breaking in mid-ocean, and even the fields of +ripe and waving grain had, to his mind, a strange resemblance to the +sea. The rooks that floated high in air seemed to glory in the wind, +for they screamed with delight, baffled though at times they were--taken +aback you might say, and hurled yards out of their course. + +It was only a plain farmer's autumn wind after all, but it made these +youthful sailors think of something else than baffled, rooks and fields +of ripening grain. + +Now up through a dark oak copse, and they come all at once to one of the +old park gates. Grey is it with very age, and so is the quaintly-gabled +lodge; its stones are crumbling to pieces. And well suited for such a +dwelling is the bent but kindly-faced old crone who totters out on her +staff to open the ponderous gates. She nods and smiles a welcome, to +which bows and smiles are returned, and the carriage rolls on. A great +square old house; they come to it at last, so big and square that it did +not even look tall at a distance. They drove up to what really appeared +the back of this mansion, with its stairs and pillars and verandahs, the +door opening from which led into the hall proper, which ran straight +through the manor, and opened by other doors on to broad green terraces, +with ribbon gardens and fountains, and then the braelike park, with its +ancient trees, and so on, downwards to the beautiful lake, with the +hills beyond. + +Right respectfully and loyally was Ralph greeted by his servants and +retainers. All this may be imagined better than I can describe it. + +While Rory was marching through the long line of servants I believe he +felt just a little awed; and if, as soon as they found themselves alone, +Ralph had addressed himself to his guests in some such speech as +follows, he would not have been very much astonished. If Ralph had +said, "Welcome, Ronald Elphinston, and you, my lord of Arrandoon, to the +ancient home of the Leighs!" Rory would have thought it quite in +keeping with the poetry of the place. + +Ralph did nothing of the kind, however; he pitched his hat and gloves +rather unceremoniously on a chair, and said, all in one breath and one +tone of voice, "Now, boys, here we are at last; I'm sure you'll make +yourselves at home. We'll have fine times for a few weeks, anyhow. +Would you like to wash your hands?" + +Well, if it was not a very poetic welcome, it was a very hearty one +nevertheless. + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +LIFE AT LEIGH HALL--THE LAUNCH OF THE "ARRANDOON"--TRIAL TRIPS--A ROW +AND A FIGHT--"FREEZING POWDERS." + +As the owner of a large house, the head of a county family, and a landed +proprietor, there were many duties devolved upon Ralph Leigh when at +home, from which he never for a moment thought of shrinking. Though a +great part of the day was spent in shooting, rowing, or fishing, the +mornings were never his own, nor the evenings either. He had a knack of +giving nice dinners, and young though he was, he also possessed the +happy knack of making all his guests feel perfectly at home, so that +when carriages drew round, and it was time to start for their various +homes, everybody was astonished at the speed with which the evening had +sped away; and that was proof positive it had passed most pleasantly. + +They kept early hours at Leigh Hall, and so they did at every house all +over the quiet, romantic country, and no doubt they were all the better +for it, and all the more healthy. + +But our heroes must be forgiven, if, after the last guest had gone, +after the lights were out in the banqueting hall, and the doors closed +for the night, they assembled in a cosy, fire-brightened room upstairs, +all by their three selves, for a quiet confab and talk, a little +exchange of ideas, a little conversation about the days o' auld lang +syne, and their hopes of adventures in the far north, whither they were +so soon to sail. + +About once a fortnight, McBain, whom we may as well call Captain McBain +now--Captain McBain, of the steam yacht _Arrandoon_--used to run down to +Leigh Hall to report progress; the "social hour," as Rory called it, was +then doubly dear to them all, and I'm not at all sure that they did not +upon these occasions steal half an hour at least from midnight. You see +they were very happy; they were happy with the happiness of +anticipation. They never dreamt of failure in the expedition on which +they were about to embark. + + "In the lexicon of youth, which fate reserves + For a great manhood, there is no such word as--fail." + +True, but had they known the dangers they were to encounter, the trials +they would have to come through, brave as they undoubtedly were, their +hearts might have throbbed less joyfully. They had, however, the most +perfect confidence in each other, just as brothers might have. The +friendship, begun long ago between them, cemented, during the cruise of +the _Snowbird_, in many an hour of difficulty and danger--for had they +not come through fire and death together?--was strengthened during their +residence at Leigh Hall. Indeed, it would not be too much to say that +their affection for each other was brotherly to a degree. Dissimilar in +character in many ways they were, but this same dissimilarity seemed but +to increase their mutual regard and esteem. Faults each one of them +had--who on this earth has not?--and each could see those of the other, +if he did not always notice his own. Says Burns-- + + "O would some power the giftie gie us, + To see ourselves as others see us, + It would from mony a fautie free us." + +Probably, individually they did not forget these lines, and so the one +was most careful in guarding against anything that might hurt the +feelings of the others. Is not this true friendship? + +But as to what is called "chaff," they had all learned long ago to be +proof against that--I'm not sure they did not even like it; Rory did, I +know; he said so one day; and on Allan asking him his reason, "My reason +is it?" says Rory; "sure enough, boys, chaffing metres with laughing; +where you find the chaff you find the laugh, and laughing is better to a +man than cod-liver oil. And that's my reason!" + +And Rory's romantic sayings and doings were oftentimes the subject of a +considerable deal of chaff and fun; so, too, was what the young Irishman +was pleased to call Ralph's English "stolidity" and Allan's Scottish +fire and intensity of patriotism; but never did the blood of one of our +boys get hot, never did their lips tighten in anger or their cheeks pale +with vexation. + +Just on one occasion--which I now record lest I forget it--was boy Rory, +as he was still affectionately called, very nearly losing his temper +under a rattling fire of chaff from Allan and Ralph, who were in extra +good spirits. It happened months after they had sailed in the +_Arrandoon_. All at once that day Rory grew suddenly quiet, and the +smile that still remained on his face was only round the lips, and +didn't ripple round the eyes. It was a sad kind of a smile; then he +jumped up and ran away from the table. + +"We've offended him," said Allan, looking quite serious. + +"I hope not," said Ralph, growing serious in turn. + +"I'll go and look him up;" this from Allan. + +"No, that you won't!" put in McBain. + +"Leave boy Rory alone; he'll come to presently." + +Meanwhile, ridiculous as it may seem, Rory had sped away forward to the +dispensary, where he found the doctor. "Doctor, dear," cried Rory, +"give me a blue pill at once--a couple of them, if you like, for sure it +isn't well I am!" + +"Oh!" said the surgeon, "liver a bit out of order, eh?" + +"Liver!" cried Rory; "I know by the nasty temper that's on me that there +isn't a bit of liver left in me worth mentioning! There now, give me +the pills." + +The doctor laughed, but Rory had his bolus; then he came aft again, +smiling, confessing to his comrades what a ninny he had very nearly been +making of himself. Just like Rory! + +The bearing of our young heroes towards Captain McBain was invariably +respectful and affectionate; they both loved and admired him, and, +indeed, he was worthy of all their esteem. In wealth there is power, +but in wisdom worth, and Ralph, Rory, and Allan felt this truth if they +never expressed it. McBain had really raised himself to the position he +now held; he was a living proof that-- + + "Whate'er a man dares he can do." + +I will not deny, however that McBain possessed a little genius to begin +with; but here is old Ap, once but a poor boat-builder, with never a +spark of genius in him, superintending the construction of a noble ship. +In him we have an example of industry and perseverance pure and simple. + +The _Arrandoon_ made speedy progress on the stocks, and the anxious day +was near at hand when she would leave her native timbers, and slide +gracefully and auspiciously it was to be hoped, into the smooth waters +of the Clyde. + +That day came at last, and with it came thousands to view the launch. +With it came Mrs McGregor and Allan's sister; and the latter was to +break the tiny phial of wine and name the ship! + +On the platform beneath, and closely adjoining the bows of the +_Arrandoon_, were numerous gentlemen and ladies; conspicuous among the +former was Rory. He was full of earnest and pleasant excitement. +Conspicuous among the latter was Helen Edith. She certainly never +looked more lovely than she did now. The ceremony she was about to +engage in, in which, indeed, she was chief actress, was just a trifle +too much for her delicate nerves, and as she stood, bouquet in hand, +with a slight flush on her cheek and a sparkle in her eye, with head +slightly bent, she looked like a bride at the altar. Rory stood near +her; perhaps his vicinity comforted her, as did his remarks, to which, +however, he met with but little response. + +I am beginning to think that Rory loved this sweet child; if he did it +was a love that was purely Platonic, and it needed be none the less +sincere for all that. As for Helen Edith--but hark! A gun rings out +from the deck of the _Arrandoon_ causing every window in the vicinity to +rattle again, and the steeples to nod. The gallant ship moves off down +the slip slowly--slowly--slowly, yes, slowly but steadily, swerving +neither to starboard nor larboard, quicker now faster still. Will she +float? Our heroes' hearts stand still. McBain is pale and breathes +not. She slows, she almost stops, now she is over the hitch and on +again, on--on--and on--and into the water. Hurrah! You should have +heard that cheer, and Rory shakes hands with Helen Edith, and +compliments her, and positively there are tears in the foolish boy's +eyes. There was a deal of hand-shaking, I can assure you, after the +launch, and a deal of joy expressed, and if the truth be told, more than +one prayer breathed for the future safety of the _Arrandoon_ and her +gallant crew. There was lunch after launch in the saloon of the new +yacht, at which Allan's mother presided with the same quiet dignity she +was wont to maintain at the castle that gave the ship its name. + +McBain made a speech, and a good one, too, after Ralph had spoken a few +words. Poor Ralph! speaking was certainly not his strong point. But +there was no hesitancy about McBain, and no nervousness either, and +during its delivery he stood bolt upright in his place, as straight as +an arrow, and his words were manly and straightforward. Allan felt +proud of his foster-father. But Rory came next. For once in his life +he hadn't the slightest intention of making anybody laugh. But because +he tried not to, he did; and when Irish bull after Irish bull came +rattling out, "Och!" thinks Rory to himself, "seriousness isn't my forte +after all;" then he simply gave himself rein, and expressed himself so +comically that there was not a dry eye in the room, for tears come with +laughing as well as weeping. + +There was a deal to be done to the _Arrandoon_--in her, on her, and +around her--after she was launched, before she was ready; but it would +serve no good purpose and only waste time to describe her completion, +for we long to be "steam up" and away to sea _en route_ for the starry +north. + +She was a gallant sight, the _Arrandoon_, as she stood away out to sea, +past the rocky shores of Bute, bound south on her trial trip by the +measured mile. Fifteen hundred tons burden was she, with tall and +tapering masts: lower, main, topgallant, and royal; not one higher; no +star-gazers, sky-scrapers, or moon-rakers; she wouldn't have to rake +much for the wind in the stormy seas they were going to. Then there was +the funnel, such a funnel as a man with an eye in his head likes to see, +not a mere pipe of a thing, but a great wide armful of a funnel, with +the tiniest bit of rake on it; so too had the masts, though the +_Arrandoon_ did not look half so saucy as the _Snowbird_. The +_Arrandoon_ had more solidity about her, and more soberness and +staidness, as became her--a ship about to be pitted against dangers +unknown. + +Her figure-head was the bust of a fair and beautiful girl. + +That day, on her trial trip, the ladies were on board; and Rory made +this remark to Helen Edith: + +"The fair image on our bows, Helen, will soon be gazing wistfully +north." + +"Ah! you seem to long for that," said Helen, "but," she added archly, +"mamma and I look forward to the time when she will be gazing just as +wistfully south again." + +Rory laughed, and the conversation assumed a livelier tone. + +Steamers, I always think, are very similar in one way to colts, they +require a certain amount of breaking in, they seldom do well on their +trial trip. The _Arrandoon_ was no exception; she promised well at +first, and fulfilled that promise for twenty good miles and two; then +she intimated to the engineers in charge that she had had enough of it. +Well, this was a good opportunity of trying her sailing qualities, and +in these she exceeded all expectations. + +McBain rubbed his hands with delight, for no yacht at Cowes ever sailed +more close to the wind, came round on shorter length, or made more knots +an hour. He promised himself a treat, and that treat was to run out +some day with her in half a gale of wind, when there were no ladies on +board. He would then see what the _Arrandoon_ could do under sail, and +what she couldn't. He did this; and the very next day after he came +back he made the journey to Leigh Hall, and stopped there for a whole +week. That was proof enough that the captain was pleased with his ship. + +Early in the month of the succeeding February, the _Arrandoon_ lay at +the Broomielaw, with the blue-peter unfurled, steam up, all hands on +board, and even the pilot. That very morning they were to begin their +adventurous voyage. Ralph, Allan, and Rory would be picked up at Oban, +and the vessel now only awaited the arrival of McBain before casting off +and dropping down stream. + +The Broomielaw didn't look pretty that morning, nor very comfortable. +Although the hills all around Glasgow were white with snow, over the +city itself hung the smoke like a murky pall. There was mud under feet, +and a Scotch mist held possession of the air. Here was nothing cheering +to look at, slop-shops and pawn-shops, and Jack-frequented dram-shops, +bales of wet merchandise on the quay, and eave-dripping dock-houses; nor +were the people pleasant to be among; the only human beings that did +seem to enjoy themselves were the ragged urchins who had taken shelter +in the empty barrels that lined the back of the warehouses; they had +shelter, and sugar to eat. McBain thought he wouldn't be sorry when he +was safely round the Mull of Cantyre. + +"Come on, Jack," cried one of these tiny gutter-snipes, rushing out of +his tub; "come on, here's a row." + +There was a row; apparently a fight was going on, for a ring had formed +a little way down the street; and simply out of curiosity McBain went to +have a peep over the shoulders of the mob. As usual, the policemen were +very busy in some other part of the street. + +Only a poor little itinerant nigger boy lying on the ground, being +savagely kicked by a burly and half-drunken street porter. + +"Oh!" the little fellow was shrieking; "what for you kickee my shins so? +Oh!" + +McBain entered the ring in a very businesslike fashion indeed; he begged +for room; he told the mob he meant thrashing the ruffian if he did not +apologise to the poor lad. Then he intimated as much to the ruffian +himself. + +"Come on," was the defiant reply, as the fellow threw himself into a +fighting attitude. "Man, your mither'll no ken ye when you gang home +the nicht." + +"We'll see," said McBain, quietly. + +For the next three minutes this ruffianly porter's movements were +confined to a series of beautiful falls, that would have brought down +the house in a circus. When he rose the last time it was merely to +assume a sitting position, "Gie us your hand," he said to McBain. +"You're the first chiel that ever dang Jock the Wraggler. I admire ye, +man--I admire ye." + +"Come with me, my little fellow," said McBain to the nigger boy; and he +took him kindly by the hand. Meanwhile a woman who had been standing by +placed a curious-looking bundle in the lad's hand, and bade him be a +good boy, and keep out of Jock the Wraggler's way next time. + +"I'll see you a little way home, Jim," continued McBain, when they were +clear of the crowd. "Jim is what they call you, isn't it?" + +"Jim," said the blackamoor, "is what dey are good enough to call me. +But, sah, Jim has no home." + +"And where do you sleep at night, Jim?" + +"Anywhere, sah. Jim ain't pertikler; some time it is a sugar barrel, an +oder time a door-step." + +A low, sneering laugh was at this moment heard from the mysterious +bundle Jim carried. McBain started. + +"Don't be afeared, sah," said Jim; "it's only de cockatoo, sah!" + +"Have you any money, Jim?" asked McBain. + +"Only de cockatoo, sah," replied Jim; "but la!" he added, "I'se a puffuk +gemlam (gentleman), sah--I'se got a heart as high as de steeple, sah!" + +"Well, Jim," said McBain, laughing, "would you like to sail in a big +ship with me, and--and--black my boots?" + +"Golly! yes, sah; dat would suit Jim all to nuffin." + +"But suppose, Jim, we went far away--as far as the North Pole?" + +"Don't care, sah," said Jim, emphatically; "der never was a pole yet as +Jim couldn't climb." + +"Have you a surname, Jim?" + +"No, sah," replied poor Jim; "I'se got no belongings but de cockatoo." + +"I mean, Jim, have you a second name?" + +"La! no, sir," said Jim; "one name plenty good enough for a nigga boy. +Only--yes now I 'members, in de ship dat bring me from Sierra Leone last +summer de cap'n never call me nuffin else but Freezin' Powders." + +McBain did not take long to make up his mind about anything; he +determined to take this strange boy with him, so he took him to a shop +and bought him a cage for the cockatoo, and then the two marched on +board together, talking away as if they had known each other for years. + +Freezing Powders was sent below to be washed and dressed and made +decent. The ship was passing Inellan when he came on deck again. Jim +was thunderstruck; he had never seen snow before. + +"La! sah," he cried, pointing with outstretched arm towards the hills; +"look, sah, look; dey never like dat before. De Great Massa has been +and painted dem all white." + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +DANGER ON THE DEEP--A FOREST OF WATERSPOUTS--THE "ARRANDOON" IS +SWAMPED--THE WARNING. + +"La la lay lee-ah, lay la le lo-O" So went the song on deck--a song +without words, short, and interrupted at every bar, as the men hauled +cheerily on tack and sheet. + +Such a thing would not be allowed for a single moment on board a British +man-o'-war, as the watch singing while they obeyed the orders of the +bo'sun's pipe, taking in sail, squaring yards, or doing any other duty +required of them. And yet, with all due respect for my own flag, +methinks there are times when, as practised in merchant or passenger +ships, that strange, weird, wordless song is not at all an unpleasant +sound to listen to. By night, for instance, after you have turned in to +your little narrow bed--the cradle of the deep, in which you are nightly +rocked--to hear it rising and falling, and ending in long-drawn cadence, +gives one an indescribable feeling of peace and security. Your bark is +all alone--so your thoughts may run--on a wild world of waters. There +may not be another ship within hundreds of miles; the wind may be rising +or the wind may be falling--what do you care? What need you care? +There are watchful eyes on deck, there are good men and true overhead, +and they seem to sing your cradle hymn, "La la lee ah," and before it is +done you are wrapt in that sweetest, that dreamless slumber that +landsmen seldom know. + +There was one man at least in every watch on board the _Arrandoon_, who +usually led the song that accompanied the hauling on a rope, with a +sweet, clear tenor voice; you could not have been angry with these men +had you been twenty times a man-o'-war's man. + +It was about an hour after breakfast, and our boys were lazing below. +For some time previous to the working song, there had been perfect +silence on board--a silence broken only now and then by a short word of +command, a footstep on deck, or the ominous flapping of the canvas +aloft, as it shivered for a moment, then filled and swelled out again. + +Had you been down below, one sign alone would have told you that +something was going to happen--that some change was about to take place. +It was this: when everything is going on all right, you hear the almost +constant tramp, tramp of the officer of the watch up and down the +quarter-deck, but this was absent now, and you would have known without +seeing him that he was standing, probably, by the binnacle, his eyes now +bent aloft, and now sweeping the horizon, and now and then glancing at +the compass. + +Then came a word or two of command, given in a quiet, ordinary tone of +voice--there was no occasion to howl on this particular morning. And +after this a rush of feet, and next the song, and the bo'sun's pipe. +Thus:-- + +_Song_.--"La la lee ah, lay la le lo-O." + +_Spoken_.--"Hoy!" + +_Boatswain's Pipe_.--"Whee-e, weet weet weet, wee-e." + +_Song_.--"La la lee ah, lay la le lo-O." + +_Spoken_.--"Belay!" + +_Boatswain's Pipe_.--"Wee wee weet weet weet weet, wee-e." + +_Spoken_.--"Now lads." + +_Song_.--"Lo ah o ee." + +_Pipe_.--"Weet weet!" + +Then a hurry-scurrying away forward, a trampling of feet enough to +awaken Rip van Winkle, then the bo'sun's pipe _encore_. + +Allan straightens his back in his easy-chair--he has been bending over +the table, reading the "Noctes Ambrosianae"--straightens his back, +stretches his arms, and says "Heigho!" Rory is busy arranging some +beautiful transparent specimens of animalculae, not bigger than midges, +on a piece of black cardboard; he had caught them overnight in a gauze +net dragged astern. He doesn't look up. Ralph is lying "tandem" on a +sofa, reading "Ivanhoe." He won't take his eyes off the book, nor move +as much as one drowsy eyelid, but he manages to say,-- + +"What are they about on deck, Rory?" + +"Don't know even a tiny bit," says Rory. + +"Rory," continues Ralph, in a slightly louder key; "you're a young man; +run up and see." + +"Rory won't then," says Rory, intent on his work; "fag for yourself, my +lazy boy." + +"Oh!" says Ralph, "won't you have your ears pulled when I do get up!" + +"Ha! ha!" laughed Rory, "you'll have forgotten all about it long before +then." + +"Freezing Powders!" roared Ralph. + +The bright-faced though bullet-headed nigger boy introduced in last +chapter appeared instantly. He was dressed in white flannel, braided +with blue. Had he been a sprite, or a djin, he couldn't have popped up +with more startling rapidity. Truth is, the young rascal had been +asleep under the table. + +"Off on deck with you, Freezing Powders, and see what's up." + +Freezing Powders was down again in a moment. + +"Take in all sail, sah! and square de yard; no wind, sah! nebber a +puff." + +It was just as Freezing Powders said, but there was noise enough +presently, and puffing too, for steam was got up, and the great screw +was churning the waters of the dark northern ocean into creamish foam, +as the vessel went steadily ahead at about ten knots an hour. There was +no occasion to hurry. When Rory and Allan went on deck, they found the +captain in consultation with the mates, Mitchell and Stevenson. + +"I must admit," McBain was remarking, "that I can't make it out at all." + +"No more can we," said Stevenson with a puzzled smile. "The wind has +failed us all at once, and the sea gone down, and the glass seems to +have taken leave of its senses entirely. It is up one moment high +enough for anything, and down the next to 28 degrees. There, just look +at that sea and look at that sky." + +There was certainly something most appalling in the appearance of both. +The ocean was calm and unruffled as glass, with only a long low heave on +it; not a ripple on it big enough to swamp a fly; but over it all a +strange, glassy lustre that--so you would have thought--could have been +skimmed off. The sky was one mass of dark purple-black clouds in +masses. It seemed no distance overhead, and the horizon looked hardly a +mile away on either side. Only in the north it was one unbroken bluish +black, as dark seemingly as night, from the midst of which every now and +then, and every here and there, would come quickly a little puff of +cloud of a lightish grey colour, as if a gun had been fired. Only there +was no sound. + +There was something awe-inspiring in the strange, ominous look of sea +and sky, and in the silence broken only by the grind and gride of screw +and engine. + +"No," said McBain, "I don't know what we are going to have. Perhaps a +tornado. Anyhow, Mr Stevenson, let us be ready. Get down topgallant +masts, it will be a bit of exercise for the men; let us have all the +steam we can command, and--" + +"Batten down, sir?" + +"Yes, Mr Stevenson, batten down, and lash the boats inboard." + +The good ship _Arrandoon_ was at the time of which I write about fifty +miles south of the Faroes, and a long way to the east. The weather had +been dark and somewhat gloomy, from the very time they lost sight of the +snow-clad hills around Oban, but it now seemed to culminate in a +darkness that could be felt. + +The men were well drilled on board this steam yacht. McBain delighted +to have them smart, and it was with surprising celerity that the +topgallant masts were lowered, the hatches battened down, and the good +ship prepared for any emergency. None too soon; the darkness grew more +intense, especially did the clouds look threatening ahead of them. And +now here and there all round them the sea began to get ruffled with +small whirlwinds, that sent the water wheeling round and round like +miniature maelstroms, and raised it up into cones in the centre. + +"How is the glass now, Mr Stevenson?" asked McBain. + +"Stands very low, sir," was the reply, "but keeps steadily down." + +"All right," said McBain; "now get two guns loaded with ball cartridge; +have no more hands on deck than we want. No idlers, d'ye hear?" + +"Ay, ay, sir." + +"Send Magnus Bolt here." + +"Now, Magnus, old man," continued McBain, "d'ye mind the time, some +years ago in the _Snowbird_, when you rid us of that troublesome +pirate?" + +"Ay, that I do right well, sir," said this little old weasened specimen +of humanity, rubbing his hands with delight. "It were a fine shot that. +He! he! he! Mercy on us, to see his masts and sails come toppling +down, sir,--he! he! he!" + +"Well, I want you again, Magnus; I'd rather trust to your old eye in an +emergency than to any in the ship." + +"But where is the foe, sir?" + +"Look ahead, Magnus." + +Magnus did as he was told; it was a strange, and to one who understood +it, a dreadful sight. Apparently a thousand balloons were afloat in the +blue, murky air, each one trailing its car in the sea, balloons of +terrible size, flat as to their tops, which seemed to join or merge into +one another, forming a black and ominous cloud. The cars that trailed +on the sea were snowy white. + +"Heaven help us?" said Magnus, clasping his hands for just a moment, +while his cheeks assumed an ashen hue. "Heaven help us, sir; this is +worse than the pirate." + +"They are all coming this way," said McBain; "fire only at those that +threaten us, and fire while they are still some distance ahead." + +Meanwhile Ralph had come on deck, and joined his companions. I do not +think that through all the long terrible hour that followed, either of +them spoke one word; although there was no sea on, and for the most part +no motion, they clutched with one hand rigging or shroud, and gazed +terror-struck at the awful scene ahead and around them. + +They were soon in the very centre of what appeared an interminable +forest of waterspouts. Few indeed have ever seen such a sight or +encountered so pressing a danger and lived to tell it. + +The balloon-shaped heads of these waterspouts looked dark as midnight; +their shafts, I can call them nothing else, were immense pillars rising +out of gigantic feet of seething foam. So close did they pass to some +of these that the yardarms seemed almost to touch them. Our heroes +noticed then, and they marvelled at it afterwards, the strange +monotonous roaring sound they emitted,--a sound that drowned even the +noise of the troubled waters around their shafts. + +[Such a phenomenon as this has rarely been witnessed in the Northern +Ocean. It is somewhat strange that on the self-same year this happened, +an earthquake was felt in Ireland, and shocks even near Perth, in +Scotland.] + +Old Magnus made good use of his guns on those that threatened the good +ship with destruction; one shot broke always one, and sometimes more, +probably with the vibration; but the thundering sound of the falling +waters, and the turmoil of the sea that followed, what pen can describe? + +But, good shot as he is, Magnus is not infallible, else McBain would not +now have to grasp his speaking-trumpet and shout,-- + +"Stand by, men, stand by." + +A waterspout had wholly, or partially at least, broken on board of them. +It was as though the splendid ship had suddenly been blown to atoms by +a terrible explosion, and every timber of her engulfed in the ocean! + +For long moments thus, then her crew, half drowned, half dead, could +once more look around. The _Arrandoon_ was afloat, but her decks were +swept. Hundreds of tons of water still filled her decks, and poured out +into the sea in cataracts through her broken bulwarks; ay, and it poured +below too, at the fore and main hatchways, which had been smashed open +with the violence and force of the deluge. The main-yard had come down, +and one whaler was smashed into matchwood. I wish I could say this was +all, but two poor fellows lost for ever the number of their mess. One +was seen floating about dead and unwounded on the deck ere the water got +clear; the other, with sadly splintered brow, was still clutching in a +death-grasp a rope that had bound a tarpaulin over a grating. + +But away ahead appeared a long yellowish streak of clear sky, close to +the horizon. The danger had passed. + +All hands were now called to clear away the wreck and make good repairs. +The pumps, too, had to be set to work, and as soon as the wind came +down on them from the clear of the horizon, sail was set, for the fires +had been drowned out. + +The wind increased to a gale, and there was nothing for it but to lay +to. And so they did all that night and all next day; then the weather +moderated, and the wind coming more easterly they were able to show more +canvas, and to resume their course with something akin to comfort. + +The bodies of the two poor fellows who had met with so sad a fate were +committed to the deep--the sailor's grave. + + "Earth to earth and dust to dust." + +There was more than one moist eye while those words were uttered, for +the men had both been great favourites with their messmates. + +Rory was sitting that evening with his elbows resting on the saloon +table, his chin on his hands, and a book in front of him that he was not +looking at, when McBain came below. + +"You're quieter than usual," said McBain, placing a kindly hand on his +shoulder. + +Rory smiled, forced a laugh even, as one does who wants to shake off an +incubus. + +"I was thinking," he said, "of that awful black forest of waterspouts. +I'll never get it out of my head." + +"Oh! yes you will, boy Rory," said McBain; "it was a new sensation, +that's all." + +"New sensation!" said Allan, laughing in earnest; "well, captain, I must +say that is a mild way of putting it. _I_ don't want any more such +sensations. Steward, bring some nice hot coffee." + +"Ay!" cried Ralph, "that's the style, Allan. Some coffee, steward--and, +steward, bring the cold pork and fowls, and make some toast, and bring +the butter and the Chili vinegar." + +Poor Irish Rory! Like every one with a poetic temperament, he was +easily cast down, and just as easily raised again. Ralph's wondrous +appetite always amused him. + +"Oh, you true Saxon!" said Rory--"you hungry Englishman!" But, ten +minutes afterwards, he felt himself constrained to join the party at the +supper table. + +You see, reader mine, a sailor's life is like an April day--sunshine now +and showers anon. + +"How now, Stevenson?" said McBain, as the mate entered with a kind of a +puzzled look on his face. + +"Well, sir, we are, as you said, off the Faroes. The night is precious +dark, but I can see the lights of a village in here, and the lights of a +vessel of some size, evidently lying at anchor." + +"Then, mate," said the captain, "as we don't know exactly where we are, +I don't think we can do wrong to steam in and drop anchor alongside this +craft. We can then board her and find out. How is the weather?" + +"A bit thick, sir, and seems inclined to blow a little from the +east-south-east." + +"Let it, Stevenson--let it. If the other vessel can ride it out I don't +think the _Arrandoon_ is likely to lose her anchors. Hullo! Mitchell," +he continued, as the second mate next entered hat in hand, "what's in +the wind now, man?" + +"Why, sir," said Mitchell, "I'm all ashore like, you see; I can't make +it out. But here is a boat just been a-hailing of us, and the +passenger--there is only one, a comely lass enough--has just come on +board, and wants to see you at once. Seems a bit cranky. Here she be, +sir;" and Mitchell retired. + +A young girl. She was probably not over seventeen, fair-faced, and with +wild blue eyes, and yellow hair, dripping with dew, floating over her +shoulders. + +"Stop the ship!" she cried, seizing McBain by the arm. "Go no farther, +or her ribs will be scattered over the waves, and your bones will bleach +on the cliffs of the rocks." + +"Poor thing!" muttered McBain. "Oh, you heed me not!" continued the +girl, wringing her hands in despair. "It will be too late--it will be +too late! I tell you here is no harbour, here is no ship. The lights +you see are placed there to lure your vessel on shore. They are +wreckers, I tell you; they will--" + +"By the deep three!" sung the man in the chains. + +Then there was a shout from the man at the foretop. + +"Breakers ahead!" + +Then, "Stand by both anchors. Ready about." + +CHAPTER SIX. + +A LIFE ON THE OCEAN WAVE--ON THE ROCKS--MYSTERY--A HOME ON THE ROLLING +DEEP. + +Has the reader ever been to sea? The first feeling that a landsman +objects to at sea is that of the heaving motion of the ship; to your +true sailor the cessation of that motion, or its absence under +circumstances, is disagreeable in the extreme. To me there is always a +certain air of romance about the old ocean, and about a ship at sea; but +what can be less romantic than lying in a harbour or dull wet dock, with +no more life nor motion in your craft than there is in the slopshop +round the corner? To lie thus and probably have to listen to the +grating voices and pointless jokes of semi-inebriated stevedores, as +they load or unload, soiling, as they do, your beautiful decks with +their dreadful boots, is very far from pleasant. In a case like this +how one wishes to be away out on the blue water once more, and to feel +life in the good ship once again--to feel, as it were, her very heart +throb beneath one's feet! + +But disagreeable as the sensation is of lying lifeless in harbour or +dock, still more so is it to feel your vessel, that one moment before +was sailing peacefully over the sea, suddenly rasp on a rock beneath +you, then stop dead. Nothing in the world will wake a sailor sooner, +even should he be in the deepest of slumber, than this sudden cessation +of motion. I remember on one particular occasion being awakened thus. +No crew ever went to sleep with a greater feeling of security than we +had done, for the night was fine and the ship went well. But all at +once, about four bells in the middle watch,-- + +Kurr-r-r-r! that was the noise we heard proceeding from our keel, then +all was steady, all was still. And every man sprang from his hammock, +every officer from his cot. + +We were in the middle of the Indian Ocean, or rather the Mozambique +Channel, with no land in sight, and we were hard and fast on the dreaded +Lyra reef. A beautiful night it was, just enough wind to make a ripple +on the water for the broad moon's beams to dance in, a cloudless sky, +and countless stars. We took all this in at the first glance. Safe +enough we were--for the time; _but_ if the wind rose there was the +certainty of our being broken up, even as the war-ship _Lyra_ was, that +gave its name to the reef. + +At the first shout from the man on the outlook in the _Arrandoon_, +McBain rushed on deck. "Stand by both anchors. Ready about." But +these orders are, alas! too late. Kurr-r-r-r! The stately _Arrandoon_ +is hard and fast on the rocky bottom. + +The ship was under easy sail, for although there was hardly any wind, +what little there was gave evident signs of shifting. It might come on +to blow, and blow pretty hard, too, from the south-east or +east-south-east, and Mr Stevenson was hardly the man to be caught in a +trap, to find himself on a lee shore or a rock-bound coast, with a crowd +of canvas. Well for our people it was that there was but little sail on +her and little wind, or, speedily as everything was let go, the masts-- +some of them at least--would have gone by the board. + +Half an hour after she struck, the _Arrandoon_ was under bare poles and +steam was up. + +The order had been given to get up steam with all speed. Both the +engineer and his two assistants were brawny Scots. + +"Man!" said the former, "it'll take ye a whole hour to get up steam if +you bother wi' coals and cinders alone. But do your best wi' what ye +hae till I come back." + +He wasn't gone long ere he came staggering down the ladder again, +carrying a sack. + +"It's American hams," he said; "they're hardly fit for anything else but +fuel, so here goes." + +And he popped a couple into the fire. + +"That's the style," he said, as they began to frizzle and blaze. "Look, +lads, the kettle'll be boilin' in twa seconds." + +"Thank you, Stuart," said McBain, when the engineer went on the bridge +to report everything ready; "you are a valuable servant; now stand by to +receive orders." + +All hands had been called, and there was certainly plenty for them to +do. + +It wanted several hours to high-water, and McBain determined to make the +best of his time. + +"By the blessing of Providence on our own exertions, Stevenson," the +captain said, "we'll get her off all right. Had it been high-water, +though, when we ran on shore, eh!" + +Stevenson laughed a grim laugh. "We'd leave her bones here," he said, +"that would be all." + +The men were now getting their big guns over the side into the boats. +This would lighten her a little. But as the tide was flowing, anchors +were sent out astern, to prevent the ship from being carried still +farther on to the reef. + +"Go astern at full speed." + +The screws revolved and kept on revolving, the ship still stuck fast. +The night was very dark, so that everything had to be done by the weird +light of lanterns. Never mind, the work went cheerily on, and the men +sang as they laboured. + +"High-water about half-past two, isn't it, Stevenson?" asked Captain +McBain. + +"Yes, sir," the mate replied, "that's about the time, sir." + +"Ah! well," the captain said, "she is sure to float then, and there are +no signs of your storm coming." + +"There is hardly a breath of wind now, sir, but you never know in these +latitudes where it may come on to blow from next." + +The cheerful way in which McBain talked reassured our heroes, and +towards eleven o'clock English Ralph spoke as follows,-- + +"Look here, boys--" + +"There isn't a bit of good looking in the dark, is there?" said Allan. + +"Well," continued Ralph, "figuratively speaking, look here; I don't see +the good of sticking up on deck in the cold. We're not doing an atom of +good; let us go below and finish our supper." + +"Right," said Allan; "and mind you, that poor girl is below there all +this time. She may want some refreshment." + +When they entered the saloon they found it empty, deserted as far as +human beings were concerned. Polly the cockatoo was there, no one else. + +"Well?" said the bird, inquiringly, as she helped herself to an enormous +mouthful of hemp-seed. "Well?" + +"What have you done with the young lady?" asked Allan. + +"The proof o' the pudding--" + +Polly was too busy eating to say more. Peter the steward entered just +then, overhearing the question as he came. + +"That strange girl, sir," he replied, "went over the side and away in +her boat as soon as the ship struck." + +"Well, I call that a pity," said Allan; "the poor girl comes here to +warn us of danger and never stops for thanks. It is wonderful." + +"From this date," remarked Ralph, "I cease to wonder at anything. +Steward, you know we were only half done with supper, and we're all as +hungry as hunters, and--" + +But Peter was off, and in a few minutes our boys were supping as quietly +and contentedly as if they had been in the Coffee-room of the Queen's +Hotel, Glasgow, instead of being on a lee shore, with the certainty that +if it came on to blow not a timber of the good ship _Arrandoon_ that +would not be smashed into matchwood. + +But hark! the noise on deck recommences, the men are heaving on the +winch, the engines are once more at work, and the great screw is +revolving. Then there is a shout from the men forward. + +"She moves!" + +"Hurrah! then, boys, hurrah!" cried McBain; "heave, and she goes." + +[The word "hurrah" in the parlance of North Sea sailors means "do your +utmost" or "make all speed."] + +The men burst into song--tune a wild, uncouth sailor's melody, words +extempore, one man singing one line, another metreing it with a second, +with a chorus between each line, in which all joined, with all their +strength of voice to the tune, with all the power of their brawny +muscles to the winch. Mere doggerel, but it did the turn better, +perhaps, than more refined music would have done. + + In San Domingo I was born, + _Chorus_--Hurrah! lads, hurrah! + And reared among the yellow corn. + Heave, boys, and away we go. + Our bold McBain is a captain nice, + _Chorus_--Hurrah! lads, hurrah! + The main-brace he is _sure_ to splice. + Heave, boys, and away we go. + The Faroe Isles are not our goal, + Oh! no, lads, no! + We'll reach the North, and we'll _bag_ the Pole, + Heave, boys, and away we go, + Hurrah! + +"We're off," cried Stevenson, excitedly. "Hurrah! men. Hurrah! hurrah! +hurrah!" + +The men needed but little encouragement now, though. Round went the +winch right merrily, and in a quarter of an hour the bows were abreast +of the anchors. + +"Now, steward," said the captain, "splice the main-brace." + +The ration was brought and served, Ted Wilson, who was a moving spirit +in the 'tween decks, giving a toast, which every man re-echoed ere he +raised the basin to his head,-- + +"Success to the saucy _Arrandoon_, and our bold skipper, Captain +McBain." + +The vessel's head was now turned seawards, and presently the anchors +that had been taken in were let go again, and fires banked. The long +night wore away, and the dismal dawn came. McBain had lain down for a +short time, with orders to be roused on the first appearance of +daylight. Rory, anxious to see how the land looked, was on deck nearly +as soon as the captain. + +A grey mist was lifting up from off the sea, and from off the shore, +revealing black, beetling crags, hundreds of feet high at the water's +edge, a sheer beetling cliff around which thousands of strange sea-birds +were wheeling and screaming, their white wings relieved against the +black of the rocks, on which rows on rows of solemn-looking guillemots +sat, and lines of those strange old-fashion-faced birds, the puffins. + +The cliffs were snow-clad, the hills above were terraced with rocks +almost to their summits. Between the ship and this inhospitable shore +lay a long, dangerous-looking reef of rocks. + +"Ah! Rory," said McBain, "there was a merciful Providence watching over +us last night. Yonder is where we lay; had it come on to blow, not one +of us would be alive this morning to see the sun rise." + +Rory could hardly help, shuddering as he thought of the narrow escape +they had had from so terrible a fate. + +When steam was got up they went round the island--it was one of the most +southerly of the Faroes; but except around one little bay, where boats +might land with difficulty, it seemed impossible that human beings could +exist in such a place. What, then, was the mystery of the previous +evening, of the fair-haired girl, of the lights inside the reef that +simulated those of a broad-beamed ship, of the lights like those of a +village that twinkled on shore? The whole affair seemed strange, +inexplicable. Now that it was broad daylight the events of the +preceding night, with its dangers and its darkness, had more the +similitude of some dreadful dream than a stern reality. + +This same evening the anchor was let go in the Bay of Thorshaven, the +capital--city, shall I say?--of the Faroe Islands. I am writing a tale +of adventure, not a narrative of travel, else would I willingly devote a +whole chapter to a description of this quaint and primitive wee, wee +town. Our heroes saw it at its very worst, its very bleakest, for +winter still held it in thrall; the turf-clad roofs of its cottages, +that in summer are green with grass and redolent of wild thyme, were now +clad with snow; its streets, difficult to climb even in July, were now +stairs of glass; its fort looked frozen out; and its little chapel, +where Sunday after Sunday the hardy and brave inhabitants, who never +move abroad without their lives in their hands, worship God in all +humility--this little chapel stood up black and bold against its +background of snow. + +Although the streamlets were all frozen, although ice was afloat in the +bay, and a grey and leaden sky overhead, our boys were not sorry to land +and have a look around. To say that they were hospitably received would +be hardly doing the Faroese justice, for hospitality really seems a part +and parcel of the people's religion. The viands they placed before them +were well cooked, but curious, to say the least of it. Steak of young +whale, stew of young seal's liver, roast guillemot and baked auk; these +may sound queer as dinner dishes, but as they were cooked by the ancient +Faroese gentleman who entertained our heroes at his house, each and all +of them were brave eating. + +Couldn't they stop a month? this gentleman, who looked like a true +descendant of some ancient viking, asked McBain. Well then, a +fortnight? well, surely one short week? + +But, "Nay, nay, nay," the captain answered, kindly and smilingly, to all +his entreaties; they must hurry on to the far north ere spring and +summer came. + +The Faroese could give them no clue to the mystery that shrouded the +previous night. They had never heard of either wreckers or pirates in +these peaceful islands. + +"But," said the old viking, "we are willing to turn out to a man; we are +one thousand inhabitants in all--including the women; but even they will +go; and we have ten brave, real soldiers in the fort, they too will go, +and we will make search, and if we find them we will hang them on--on--" +the old man hesitated. + +"On the nearest tree," suggested Rory with a mischievous smile. + +The viking laughed grimly at the joke. + +"Well," he said, "we will hang them anyhow, trees or no trees." + +But McBain could not be induced to deviate from his set purpose, and +bidding these simple folk a friendly farewell, they steamed once more +out of the bay, passed many a strange, fantastic island, passed rocks +pierced with caves, and bird-haunted, and so, with the vessel's prow +pointing to the northward and west, they left the Faroes far behind +them. + +Tremendous seas rolled in from the broad Atlantic all that night and all +next day, little wind though, and no broken water. In the evening, in +the dog-watch, the waves seemed to increase in size; they were miles +long, mountains high; when down in the trough of the sea you had to look +up to their crests as you would to the summer's sun at noontide. +Indeed, those waves made the brave ship _Arrandoon_ look wondrous small. + +McBain, somewhat to Stevenson's astonishment, made the man at the wheel +steer directly north. + +"We're out of our course, sir," said the mate. + +"Pardon me for a minute or two," replied the captain, half +apologetically, "we are now broadside on to these seas, I just want to +test her stability." + +"Well, everything is pretty fast, sir," said the mate, quietly; "but if +the ship goes on her beam-ends don't blame me." + +"Perhaps, Mr Stevenson, there wouldn't be much time to blame any one; +but I can trust my ship, I think. Wo! my beauty." + +The beauty didn't seem a bit inclined to "wo!" however. She positively +rolled her ports under, and Rory confessed that the doldrums were +nothing to this. + +Presently up comes Rory from below. + +"Och! captain dear," he says, "my gun-case has burst my fiddle-case, and +I'm not sure that the fiddle herself is safe, the darling." + +Next up comes Stevenson. "Please captain," he says, "the steward says +his crockery is all going to smithereens, and the cook can't keep the +fire in the galley range, and Freezing Powders has broken the tureen and +spilt the soup, and--" + +"Enough, enough," cried McBain, laughing; "take charge, mate, and do as +you like with her, I'm satisfied." + +So down below dived the captain, the ship's head was once more turned +north-west, and a bit of canvas clapped on to steady her. + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +SANDIE MCFLAIL, M.D.--"WHA WOULDNA' BE A SEA-BIRD?"--THE GIRL TELLS HER +STRANGE ADVENTURES--NIGHTFALL ON THE SEA. + +There is one member of the mess whom I have not yet introduced, but a +very worthy member he is, our youthful doctor. Poor fellow! never +before had he been to sea, and so he suffered accordingly. Oh! right +bravely had he tried to keep up for all that. He was the boldest +mariner afloat while coming down the Clyde; he disappeared as the ship +began to round the stormy Mull. He appeared again for a short time at +Oban, but vanished when the anchor was weighed. At Lerwick, where they +called in to take old Magnus Bolt on board, and ship a dozen stalwart +Shetlanders, the doctor was once more seen on deck; and it was currently +reported that when the vessel lay helpless on the reef, a ghostly form +bearing a strong resemblance to the bold surgeon was seen flitting about +in the darkness, and a quavering voice was heard to put this solemn +question more than once, "Any danger, men? Men, are we in danger?" +This was the last that had been seen of the medico; but Rory found a +slate in the dispensary, into which sanctum, by the way, he had no right +to pop even his nose. He brought this slate aft, the young rascal, and +read what was written thereon to Allan and Ralph, from which it was +quite evident that Sandie McFlail, M.D., of Aberdeen, had made a most +intrepid attempt to keep a diary. The entries were short, and ran +somewhat thus:-- + +"February 9th.--Dropped away from the Broomielaw and steamed down the +beautiful Clyde. Charming day, though cold, and the hills on each side +the river clothed in virgin snow. Felt sad and sorrowful at leaving my +native land. I wonder will ever we return, or will the great sea +swallow us up? Would rather it didn't. I wonder if _she_ will think of +me and pray for her mariner bold when the wind blows high at night, when +the cold rain beats against the window-panes of her little cot, and the +storm spirit roars around the old chimneys. I feel a sailor already all +over, and I tread the decks with pride. + +"Feb. 10th.--At sea. The ocean getting rough. Passed some seagulls. + +"Feb. 11th.--Sea rougher. Passed a ship. + +"Feb. 12th.--Sea still rough. Passed some seaweed. + +"Feb. 13th.--Sea mountains high. Passed--" + +"And here," says Rory, "the diary breaks off all of a sudden like; and +all of a sudden the entries close; so, really, there is no saying what +the doctor passed on the 13th. But just about this time, the mate tells +me, he was seen leaning languidly over the side, so--" + +"Ho, ho!" cried McBain, close at his ear. The captain had entered the +saloon unperceived by boy Rory, and had been standing behind him all the +time he was reading. Ralph and Allan saw him well enough, but they, of +course, said nothing, although they could not refrain from laughing. + +"Ho, ho, Rory, my boy!" says McBain; "ho, ho, boy Rory! so you're fairly +caught?" + +"And indeed then," says Rory, jumping up and looking as guilty as any +schoolboy, "I didn't know you were there at all at all." + +"Of that I am perfectly sure," McBain says, laughing, "else you wouldn't +have been reading the poor doctor's private diary. What shall we do +with him, Ralph? What shall he be done to, Allan?" + +"Oh!" said Ralph, mischievously; "send him to the masthead for a couple +of hours. Into the foretop, mind, where he'll get plenty of air about +him." + +"No," said Allan, grinning; "give him a seat for three hours on the end +of the bowsprit. Of course, Captain McBain, you'll let him have a +bottle of hot water at his feet, and a blanket or two about him. He is +only a little one, you know." + +"But now that I think of it," said McBain, "you are all the same, boys; +there isn't one of you a whit better than the other." + +"Sure and you're right, captain," Rory put in, "for if I was reading, +they were listening, most intently, too." + +"Well then, boys, I'll tell you how you can make amends to the honest +doctor. Off you go, the three of you, and see if you can't rouse him +out. Get him to come on deck and breathe the fresh air. He'll soon get +round." + +And off our three heroes went, joyfully, on their mission of mercy. + +They found the worthy doctor in bed in his cabin, and forthwith set +about kindly but firmly rousing him out. They had even brought Freezing +Powders with them, to carry a pint of moselle. + +"I feel vera limp," said Sandie, as soon as he got dressed, "vera limp +indeed. Well, as you say, the moselle may do me good, but I'm a +teetotaler as a rule." + +"We never touch any wine," said Ralph, "nor care to; but this, my dear +doctor, is medicine." + +Sandie confessed himself better immediately when he got on deck. With +Allan on one side of him and big Ralph on the other, he was marched up +and down the deck for half an hour and more. + +"Man! gentlemen!" he remarked, "I thought I could walk finely, but I'm +just now for a' the world like a silly drunken body." + +"We were just the same," said Allan, "when we came first to sea-- +couldn't walk a bit; but we soon got our sea-legs, and we've never lost +them yet." + +The doctor was struck with wonder at the might and majesty of the waves, +and also at the multitude of birds that were everywhere about and around +them. Kittiwakes, solons, gulls, guillemots, auks, and puffins, they +whirled and wheeled around the ship in hundreds, screaming and shrieking +and laughing. They floated on the water, they swam on its surface, and +dived down into its dark depths, and no fear had they of human beings, +nor of the steamer itself. + +"How happy they all seem!" said Rory; "if I was one of the lower +animals, as we call them, sure there is nothing in the wide world I'd +like better to be than a sea-bird." + +"True for you," said Allan; "it's a wild, free life they lead." + +"And they seem to have no care," said the doctor. "Their meat is bound +to their heads; at any rate, they never have far to go to seek it. When +tired they can rest; when rested they can fly again. Then look at the +warm and beautiful coats they wear. There is no wetting them to the +skin; the water glides off o' them like the rain from a duck's back. +Then think o' the pleasure o' possessin' a pair o' wings that can cleave +the air like an arrow from a bowstring; that in a few short days, +independent o' wind or waves or weather, can carry them from the cauld +north far, far awa' to the saft and sunny south. Wha wouldna' be a +sea-bird?" + +"Yes," reiterated Rory, stopping in front of the doctor; "as you say, +doctor, `Wha wouldna' be a sea-bird?' But pardon me, sir, for in you I +recognise a kindred spirit, a lover of nature, a lover of the beautiful. +You and I will be friends, doctor--fast friends. There, shake hands." + +"As for Ralph and Allan," he added, with a mischievous grin, "'deed in +troth, doctor dear, there isn't a bit of poetry in their nature, and +they would any day far sooner see a couple of eider ducks roasted and +flanked with apple sauce, than the same wildly beautiful birds happy and +alive and afloat on the dark, heaving breast of the ocean. It's the +truth I'm telling ye, doctor. D'ye play at all? Have you any favourite +instrument?" + +"Weel, sir," the doctor replied, "I canna say that I'm vera much o' a +musician, but I just can manage to toot a wee bit on the flute." + +"And I've no doubt," said Rory, "that you `toot' well, too." + +The conversation never slackened for a couple of hours, and so well did +the doctor feel, that of his own free will he volunteered joining them +at dinner in the saloon. McBain was as much surprised as delighted when +he came below to dine, and found that their new messmate, Sandie +McFlail, had at long last put in an appearance at table. + +The swell on the sea was much less next morning; the wind had slightly +increased, and more sail had been spread, so that the ship was +moderately steady. The rugged coast and strange, fantastic rocks of the +outlying islands of Iceland were in sight, and, half-buried in misty +clouds, the distant mountains could be dimly descried. + +"Yonder," said the mate, advancing towards Captain McBain, glass in +hand,--"yonder is a small boat, sir, with a bit of a sail on her; she +has just rounded the needle rocks, and seems standing in for the +mainland." + +"Well," said the captain, "let us overhaul her, anyhow. There can be no +harm in that, and it may secure us a fresh fish or two for dinner." + +In less than an hour the _Arrandoon_ had come up with this strange sail, +which at first sight had seemed a mere speck on the ocean, seen at one +moment and hidden the next behind some mountain roller. The surprise of +our heroes may be better imagined than described, to find afloat in this +cockle-shell of a boat, with an oar shipped as a mast and a tartan plaid +as a main-sail, none other than the heroine of the wreckers' reef. +Seeing that she was in the power of the big ship, she made no further +attempt to get away, but, dropping her sail, she seized the oars, +paddled quietly and coolly alongside, and next moment stood on the +quarter-deck, with bowed head and modest mien, before Captain McBain. + +The captain took her kindly by the hand, smiling as he said, "Do not be +afraid, my girl; consider yourself among friends--among those, indeed, +who would do anything in their power to serve you, even if they were not +already deeply in your debt, and deeply grateful." + +"Ah!" she said, mournfully, "my warning came all too late to save you. +But, praised be God! you are safe now, and not in the power of those +terrible men, who would have spared not a single life of those the waves +did not engulf." + +"But tell us," continued McBain, "all about it--all about yourself. +There is some strange mystery about the matter, which we would fain have +solved. But stay--not here, and not yet. You must be very tired and +weary; you must first have rest and refreshment, after which you can +tell us your tale. Stevenson, see the little boat hauled up; and, +doctor, I place this young lady under your care; to-night I hope to land +her safely in Reikjavik; meanwhile my cabin is at her disposal." + +"Come, lassie," said the good surgeon, laconically, leading the way down +the companion. + +Merely dropping a queenly curtsey to McBain and our young heroes, she +followed the doctor without a word. + +Peter the steward placed before her the most tempting viands in the +ship, yet she seemed to have but little appetite. + +"I am tired," she said at length, "I fain would rest. Long weary weeks +of sorrow have been mine. But they are past and gone at last." + +Then she retired, this strange ocean waif and stray, and so the day wore +gradually to a close, and they saw no more of her until the sun, fierce, +fiery, and red, began to disappear behind the distant snow-clad hills; +then they found her once more in their midst. + +She had gathered the folds of her plaid around her, her long yellow hair +still floated over her shoulders, and her dreamy blue eyes were shyly +raised to McBain's face as she began to speak. + +"I owe you some explanation," she said. "My strange conduct must appear +almost inexplicable to you. My appearance among you two nights ago was +intended to save you from the destruction that awaited you--from the +destruction that had been prepared for you by the Danish wreckers." + +"Sir," she continued, after a pause, "I am myself a Dane. My father was +parish minister in the little village of Elmdene. Alas! I fear he is +now no more. Afflictions gathered and thickened around us in our once +happy little home, and the only way we could see out of them was to +leave our native land and cross the ocean. In America we have many +friends who had kindly offered us an asylum, until happier days should +come again. Our vessel was a brig, our crew all told only twenty hands, +and we, my brother, father, and myself--for mother has long since gone +up beyond--were the only passengers. + +"All went well until we were off the northern Shetlands, when at the +dark, starry hour of midnight our ship was boarded and carried by +pirates. Every one in the ship was put to the sword, saving my father +and myself. My poor dear brave brother was slain before my eyes, but he +died as the Danes die--with his face to the foe. My father was promised +his life if he would perform the ceremony of marriage between myself and +the pirate captain, who is a Russian, a daring, fearless fellow, but a +strange compound of superstition and vice--a man who will go to prayers +before scuttling a ship! The object of this pirate was to seize your +vessel; he would have met and fought you at sea, but the easier plan for +him was to try to wreck you. Fortune seemed to favour this bold design +of his. The lights placed on shore, to represent a vessel of large +size, were part and parcel of his vile scheme. But the darkness of the +night enabled me to escape and come towards you. Then I feared to +return; but, alas! alas! I now tremble lest my dear father has had to +pay the penalty of my rashness with his life." + +[The story of the pirate is founded on fact.] + +"But the ship--this pirate?" said McBain. "We sailed around the island +next day but saw no signs of him?" + +"Then," said the girl, "he must have escaped in the darkness, +immediately after discovering the entire failure of his scheme." + +"And whither were you bound for when we overtook you, my poor girl?" +asked McBain. + +"At Reikjavik," she replied, "I have an uncle, a minister. He it was +who taught me all I know, while he was still at home in Elmdene--taught +me among other things the beautiful language of your country, which I +speak, but speak so indifferently." + +"Can this be," said McBain, "the self-same pirate that attacked the +_Snowbird_?" + +"The very same thought," answered Ralph, "was passing through my own +mind." + +"And yet how strange that a pirate should, cruise in these far northern +seas?" + +"She has less chance of being caught, at all events," Allan said. + +"Ha?" exclaimed McBain, with a kind of grim, exultant laugh, "if she +comes across the _Arrandoon_, that chance will indeed be a small one. +She'll find us a different kind of a craft from the _Snowbird_." + +The vessel was now heading directly for the south-east coast of Iceland. +Somewhere in there, though at present hidden by points of land and +rocky islets, lay the capital of Iceland, which they hoped to reach ere +midnight. + +A more lovely land and seascape than that which was now stretched out +before them, it would indeed be difficult to conceive. The sun had gone +down behind the western end of a long line of snow-clad mountains, +serrated, jagged, and peaked, but their tops were all rose-tipped with +his parting beams. Above them the sky was clear, with just one speck of +crimson cloud; the lower land between was bathed in a purple mist, +through which the ice-bound rocks could dimly be discerned, while the +mantle of night had already been spread over the ocean. + +It was "nightfall on the sea." + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +A GALE FROM THE MOUNTAINS--DAYBREAK IN ICELAND--THE GREAT BALLOON +ASCENT--RORY'S YARN--THE SNOW-CLOUD--THE PIRATE IS SEEN. + +A whole week has elapsed since the events transpired which I have +related in last chapter,--a week most interestingly if not always quite +pleasantly spent. The _Arrandoon_ is lying before the quaint, +fantastical old town of Reikjavik, surrounded almost in every direction +by mountains bold and wild, the peaked summits and even the sides of +which are now covered with ice and snow. For spring has not yet arrived +to unrivet stern winter's chains, to swell the rivers into roaring +torrents, and finally to carpet the earth with beauty. The streams are +still frozen, the bay in which the good ship lies at her anchors twain, +is filled with broken pancake-ice, which makes communication with the +shore by means of boat a matter of no little difficulty, for oars have +to be had inboard or used as pressing poles, and boat-hooks are in +constant requisition. + +Winter it is, and the country all around might be called dreary, were it +not for the ever-varying shades of colour that, as the sun shines out, +or anon hides his head behind a cloud, spread themselves over hill and +dale and rugged glen. Oh! the splendour of those sunrises and sunsets, +the rose tints, the purples, the emerald greens and cool greys, that +blaze and blend, grow faint and fade as they chase each other among +mountains and ravines! What a poor morsel of steel my pen feels as I +attempt to describe them! Yet have they a beauty peculiarly their +own,--a beauty which never can be forgotten by those whose eyes have +once rested thereon. + +The fair-haired Danish girl has been landed, and for a time has found +shelter and peace in the humble home of her uncle the clergyman. Our +heroes have been on shore studying the manners and customs of the +primitive but hospitable people they find themselves among. + +Several city worthies have been off to see the ship and to dine. But +to-night our heroes are all by themselves in the saloon. Dinner is +finished, nuts and fruit and fragrant coffee are on the table, at the +head of which sits the captain, on his right the doctor and Ralph, on +his left Allan and Rory. Freezing Powders, neatly dressed, is hovering +near, and Peter, the steward, is not far off, while the cockatoo is busy +as usual, helping himself to tremendous billfuls of hemp-seed, but +nevertheless putting in his oar every minute, with a "Well, duckie?" or +a long-drawn "Dea-ah me!" + +I cannot say that all is peace, though, beyond the wooden walls of the +_Arrandoon_, for a storm is raging with almost hurricane violence, +sweeping down from the hills with ever-varying force, and threatening to +tear the vessel from her anchorage. Steam is up, the screw revolves, +and it taxes all the engineer's skill to keep up to the anchors so as to +avert the strain from them. + +But our boys are used to danger by this time, and there is hardly a +moment's lull in the conversation. Even Sandie McFlail, M.D. o' +Aberdeen, has already forgotten all the horrors of _mal-de-mer_; he even +believes he has found his sea-legs, and feels all over as good a sailor +as anybody. + +"Reikjavik?" says Ralph; "isn't it a queer break-jaw kind of a name. It +puts one in mind of a mouthful of exceedingly tough beefsteak." + +"A gastronomic simile," says Rory; "though maybe neither poetical nor +elegant, sure, but truly Saxon." + +"Ah! weel," the doctor says, in his quiet, thoughtful, canny way, "I +dinna know now. Some o' the vera best poetry of all ages bears +reference to the pleesures o' the table. Witness Horace's Odes, for +instance." + +"Hear! hear!" from Allan; and "Horace was a brick!" from honest English +Ralph; but Rory murmurs "Moore?" + +"But," continues the doctor, "to my ear there is nothing vera harsh in +the language that these islanders speak. They pronounce the `ch' hard, +like the Scotch; their `j's' soft, like the Spanish; and turn their +`w's' into `v's.' They pronounce church--kurk; and the `j' is a `y,' or +next thing to it. `Reik' or `reyk' means smoke, you know, as it is in +Scotch `reek;' and `wik,' or `wich,' or `vik' means a bay, as in the +English `Woolwich,' `Sandwich,' etc, so that Reikjavik is simply `the +bay of smoke,' or `the smoking bay;' but whether with reference to the +smoke that hangs over the town, or the spray that rises mistlike from +the seething billows when the wind blows, I cannot say--probably the +former; and it is worthy of note, gentlemen, that some savage races far, +far away from here--the aborigines of Australia, for example--designate +towns by the term `the big smoke.'" + +"How profoundly erudite you are, doctor!" says Rory. "Now, wouldn't it +have been much better for your heirs and assigns and the world at large, +if you had accepted a Professorship of Antiquity in the University of +Aberdeen, instead of coming away with us, to cool the toes of you at the +North Pole, and maybe leave your bones to bleach beneath the Aurora +Borealis, eh?" + +"Ha! there I have you," cries Sandie, smiling good-humouredly, for by +this time he was quite used to Rory's bantering ways,--"there I have +you, boy Rory; and it is with the profoundest awe and respect for +everything sacred, that I remind you that the Aurora Borealis never +bleached any bones; and those poor unfortunates who, in their devotion +for science, have wandered towards the mystery land around the Pole, and +there laid down their lives, will never, never moulder into dust, but, +entombed in the green, salt ice, with the virgin snow as their +winding-sheet, their bodies will rest in peace, and rest intact until +the trumpet sounds." + +There was a lull in the conversation at this point, but no lull in the +storm; the waves dashed wildly over the ship, the wind roared through +the rigging, the brave vessel quivered from stem to stern, as if in +constant fear she might be hurled from the protection afforded by anchor +and cable, and cast helpless upon the rock-bound shore. + +A lull, broken presently by a deep sigh from Freezing Powders. + +"Well, duckie?" said Polly, in sympathising tones. + +"Well, Freezing Powders," said McBain, "and pray what are you sighing +about?" + +"What for I sigh?" repeated Freezing Powders. "Am you not afraid +you'se'f, sah! You not hear de wild winds roar, and de wave make too +much bobbery? 'Tis a'most enuff, sah, to make a gem'lam turn pale, +sah!" + +"Ha! ha?" laughed Rory; "really, it'll take a mighty big storm, Freezing +Powders, to make you turn pale. But, doctor," he continued, "what say +you to some music?" + +"If you'll play," said the surgeon, "I'll toot." + +And so the concert was begun; and the shriek of the storm spirit was +drowned in mirth and melody, or, as the doctor, quoting Burns, expressed +it,-- + + "The storm without might roar and rustle, + They didna mind the storm a whustle." + +But after this night of storm and tempest, what a wonderful morning it +was! The sun shot up amidst the encrimsoned mountain peaks, and shone +brightly down from a sky of cloudless blue. The snow was everywhere +dazzling in its whiteness, and there was not a sigh of wind to raise so +much as a ripple on the waters of the bay, from which every bit of ice +had been blown far to sea. Wild birds screamed with joy as they wheeled +in hundreds around the ship, while out in the bay a shoal of porpoises +were disporting themselves, leaping high in air from out of the +sparkling waters, and shrieking--or, as the doctor called it, +"whustling"--for very joy. + +Every one on board the _Arrandoon_ was early astir--up, indeed, before +the sun himself--for there were to be great doings on shore to-day. The +first great experimental balloon ascent and flight was about to be made. +Every one on shore was early astir, too; in fact, the greatest +excitement prevailed, and on the table-land to the right of, and some +little distance from, the town, from which the balloon was to ascend, +the people had assembled from an early hour, even the ladies of +Reikjavik turning out dressed in their gayest attire, no small +proportion of which consisted of fur and feathers. + +The aeronaut was a professional, Monsieur De Vere by name. McBain had +gone all the way to Paris especially to engage his services. Nor had he +hired him at random, for this canny captain of ours had not only +satisfied himself that De Vere was in a scientific point of view a +clever man, but he had accompanied him in several ascents, and could +thus vouch for his being a really practical aeronaut. + +Who would go with De Vere in this first great trip over the regions of +perpetual snow? The doctor stepped forward as a volunteer, and by his +side was Rory. Perhaps Allan and Ralph were rather lazy for any such +aerial exploit; anyhow, they were content to stay at home. + +"We'll look on, you know," said Ralph, "as long as we can see you; and +when you return--that is, if ever you do return--you can tell us all +about it." + +When all was ready the ropes were cast loose, and, with a ringing cheer +from the assembled multitude, up arose the mighty balloon, straight as +arrow from bow, into the blue, sunny sky. Like the eagle that soars +from the peak of Benrinnes, she seemed to seek the very sun itself. + +Rory and the surgeon, who had never been in a balloon before--nor even, +for the matter of that, down in a coalpit--at first hardly relished +their sudden elevation, but they soon got used to it. + +Not the slightest motion was there; Rory could hardly credit the fact +that he was moving, and when at last he did muster up sufficient courage +to peep earthwards over the side of the car. + +"Oh, look, doctor dear!" he cried; "sure, look for yourself; the world +is moving away from us altogether!" + +And this was precisely the sensation they experienced. Both the doctor +and Rory were inclined to clutch nervously and tremulously the sides of +the car in the first part of their ascent; but though the former was not +much of a sailor, somewhat to his surprise he experienced none of those +giddy feelings common to the landsman when gazing from an immense +height. He could look beneath him and around him, and enjoy to the full +the strange bird's-eye landscape and seascape that every moment seemed +to broaden and widen, until a great portion of the northern island, with +its mountains, its lakes, its frozen torrents, its gulfs and bays and +islands, and the great blue southern ocean, even to the far-off Faroe +Isles, lay like a beautifully portrayed map beneath their feet. The +grandeur of the scene kept them silent for long minutes; it impressed +them, it awed them. It did more than even this, for it caused them to +feel their own littleness, and the might of the Majesty that made the +world. + +De Vere himself seldom vouchsafed a single glance landwards; he seemed +to busy himself wholly and solely with the many strange instruments with +which he was surrounded. He was hardly a moment idle. The intense +cold, that soon began to benumb the senses of Sandie, seemed to have no +deterrent effect on his efforts. + +"I must confess I do fell sleepy," said the worthy medico, "and I meant +to assist you, Mr De Vere." + +"Here," cried the scientist, pouring something out of a phial, and +handing it to him, "drink that quick." + +"I feel double the individual," cried Sandie, brightly, as soon as he +had swallowed the draught. + +"Come," said Rory, "come, monsieur, _I_ want to feel double the +individual, too." + +"No, no, sir," said De Vere, smiling, "an Irishman no want etherism; you +are already--pardon me--too ethereal." + +Sandie was gazing skywards. + + "It is the moon,"--he was saying--"I ken her horn, + She's blinkin' in the lift sae hie; + She smiles, the jade! to wile us hame, + But, 'deed, I doubt, she'll wait a wee." + +"Happy thought!" cried Rory; "let us go to the moon." + +"No," laughed the doctor; "nobody ever got that length yet." + +"Oh, you forget, Mr Surgeon," said Rory,--"you forget entirely all +about Danny O'Rourke." + +"Tell us, then, Rory." + +"Troth, then," began Rory, in his richest brogue, "it was just like this +same. Danny was a dacint boy enough, who lived entoirely alone with +Biddy his wife, and the pig, close to a big bog in old Oireland. +Sitting on a stone in the midst of this bog was Danny, one foine +summer's evening, when who should fly down but an aigle. `Foine +noight,' says the aigle. `The same to you,' says Danny, `and many of +them.' `But,' says the aigle, `don't you see that it is sinking you +are?' `Och! sure,' cries Danny, `and so it is. I'll be swallowed up in +the bog, and poor Biddy and the pig will nivir set eyes on me again. +Och! och! what'll I do?' `Git on to me back, troth,' says the aigle, +`and I'll fly you sthraight to your Biddy's door.' `And the blessings +av the O'Rourkes be wid ye thin,' says Danny, putting his arms round the +aigle's neck, `for you are the sinsible bird, and whatever I'd have done +widout ye, ne'er a bit o' me knows. But isn't it high enough you are +now, aroon? Yonder is my cottage just down there.' For," continued +Rory, "you must know that by this time the aigle had mounted fully a +mile high with poor Danny. `Be quiet wid ye,' says the aigle, `or I'll +shake ye off me back entoirely. Don't ye remember robbing my nest last +year? _I_ do. And it's niver a cottage you'll ever see again, nor +Biddy, nor the pig either. It's right up to the moon I'm flying wid +ye.' `What!' cries Danny, `to that bit av a thing like a raping-hook? +Och! and och! what'll become av me at all at all?' But the moon got +bigger the nearer they came to it, and they found it a dacint size +enough when they got there entirely. `Catch a howld av the end av the +raping-hook,' says the aigle, `or by this and by that I'll shake ye off +me shoulder.' And so poor Danny had no ho' but just to do as he was +told, and away flew the aigle and left him. While he was wondering what +he should do now, a stern voice behind him says, `Let go--let go the end +of the raping-hook, and be off wid ye back to your own counthry.' `It's +hardly civil av you,' says Danny, `to ask me sich a thing. Sure it is +few ever come to call on you anyhow.' `Let go,' thundered the man o' +the moon; and he gave Danny just one kick, and off went the poor boy +flying into the air. `It's killed I'll be,' says he to himself, `killed +entoirely wid the fall, and what'll become o' me wife Biddy and the pig +is more'n I can tell.' But he fell, and he fell, and he fell, and he +never seemed to stop falling, till plump he alights right in the middle +o' the sea, and there he lay on the broad back av him, till a big lump +av a whale came and splashed him all over wid his tail. But sure enough +the sea was only his bed, and the big whale turned out to be Biddy +herself, with the watering-pot, telling him to get up, for a lazy ould +boy, and feed the pig, and troth it was nothing but a dream after all. + +"But where in the name of wonder are we now?" he continued, gazing +around. + +It was a very natural question. It had got suddenly dark. They were +enveloped in a snow-cloud. The brave balloon seemed to struggle through +it. + +Ballast was thrown over, and up and out into the sunshine she rose +again, but what a change had come over her appearance--every rope and +length of her and the car itself and our bold aeronauts were covered +white with virgin snow. + +"Monsieurs," said De Vere, "this is more than I bargained for. We must +descend. You see she has lost all life. De lofely soul dat was in de +balloon seems to have gone. We will descend." + +Indeed the huge balloon was already moving slowly earthwards, and in a +minute more they were again passing through the snow-cloud. Once clear +of this a breeze sprang up, or, to speak more correctly, they entered a +current of air, that carried them directly inland for many miles. Tired +of this direction, the valve was opened, out roared the gas, and the +descent became more rapid, until the wind ceased to blow--they were +beneath the adverse current. More ballast was thrown out, and her "way" +was stopped. + +But see, what aileth our hero, boy Rory? For some minutes he has been +gazing southwards over the sea, so intensely indeed that his looks +almost frighten the honest doctor. + +"The glass, the glass," he hisses, holding round his hand, but not +taking his glance for a moment off the southern horizon. + +The glass is handed to him, he adjusts it to his eye, and takes one +long, fixed look; and when he turns once more towards the doctor his +face is radiant with joy and excitement. + +"It is she," he cried, "it is _she_, it is she!" + +The doctor really looked scared. + +"Man!" he said, "are ye takin' leave o' your wuts? There, tak' a hold +o' my hand and dinna try to frighten folk. There's never a `she' near +ye." + +"It is _she_, I tell you," cried Rory again; "take the glass and look in +under the land yonder, and heading for Stromsoe. It is the pirate +herself,--the pirate we fought in the _Snowbird_. Hurrah! hurrah!" + +CHAPTER NINE. + +MOUNT HEKLA--THE GREAT GEYSER--A NARROW ESCAPE--THE SEARCH FOR THE +PIRATE--MCBAIN'S LITTLE "RUSE DE GUERRE"--THE BATTLE BEGUN. + +"That puts quite another complexion on the matter," said Dr Sandy +McFlail, with a sigh of relief, when Rory explained to him that he had +spied the pirate, "quite another complexion, though, for the time bein' +ye glowered sae like a warlock that I did think ye had lost your reason; +so give me the glass, and I'll e'en take a look at her mysel'. + +"Eh! sirs," he continued, with the telescope at his eye, "but she is a +big ship, and a bonnie ship. But, Rory boy, just catch a hold o' my +coat-tails, and I'll feel more secure like. I wouldn't wish to go heels +o'er head out o' the car. A fine big ship indeed--square-rigged forward +and schooner-rigged aft; a vera judeecious arrangement." + +"Now," cried Rory, "the sooner we are landed on old mother earth the +better. Bend on to the valve halyards, De Vere. Down with her." + +"Sirs! sirs!" cried the doctor, in great alarm; "pray don't be rash. Be +judeecious, gentlemen, be judeecious." + +De Vere looked from one to the other, then laughed aloud. He was +amused at the impetuosity of the Irishman and at the canniness of the +Scot. + +A very pleasant little man was this De Vere to look at, black as to hair +and moustache, dark as to eyes; thoughtful-looking as a rule were these +eyes, yet oft lit up with fun. He never spoke much, perhaps he +cogitated the more; he seldom made a joke himself, but he had a high +appreciation of humour in others. Taking him all and all he gave you +the impression of one who would be little likely to lose his presence of +mind in a time of danger. + +"Gentlemen," he said, quietly, "you will leave the descent in my hands, +if you please. We are now, by my calculation, some ninety miles from +the city of Reikjavik. You see beneat' you wild mountains, ice-bound +plains, frozen lakes, rivers and waterfalls, deep ravines and gorges, +but no sign of smoke, no life. Shall I make my descent here? Shall I +pull vat Monsieur Rory call de valve halyard? Shall I land in de +regions of desolation?" + +"Dinna think o't," cried Sandy. "Never mind Rory; he is only a laddie." + +"It's yourself that's complimentary," quoth Rory. + +"Ah! ver' well," said De Vere; "I will go on, for since you have been +gazing on de ship, de current have change, and we once more get nearer +home." + +An hour went slowly by. Both the doctor and Rory were gazing at the +_far-off_ mountain, Hekla, that lay to the south and east, though +distant many miles. The vast hill looked a king among the other +mountains; a king, but a dead king, being still and quiet in the +sunshine, enrobed in a shroud of snow. + +Sandy was doubly engaged--he was talking musingly, and aloud; but at the +same time he was doing ample justice to the venison pie that lay so +confidingly on his knee, for Sandy was a bit of a philosopher in his own +quiet way. + +"Mount Hekla," he was saying; "is it any wonder that these Norsemen, +these superstitious sons of the ancient Vikings, look upon it as the +entrance-gate to the terrible abode of fire and brimstone, gloom and +woe, where are confined the souls of the unhappy dead? Hekla, round thy +snow-capped summit the thunders never cease to roll--" + +"Hark," said Rory, holding up his hand; "talk about thunder, list to +that." + +Both leant over the car and looked earthwards. What could it mean, that +low, deep, long-continued thunderpeal? Was a storm raging beneath them? +Yes, but not of the kind they at first imagined. For see, from where +yonder hill starts abruptly from the glen, rise immense clouds of +silvery white, and roll slowly adown the valley. The balloon hangs +suspended right above the great _geyser_, which is now in full eruption. + +"It is as I thought," said De Vere; "let us descend a little way;" and +he opened the valve as he spoke. + +The balloon made a downward rush as he did so, as if she meant to plunge +herself and all her occupants into the very midst of the boiling +cauldron. The steam from the geyser had almost reached their feet; the +car thrilled beneath them, while the never-ceasing thunder pealed louder +and louder. + +"My conscience!" roared honest Sandy, losing all control over himself; +"we'll be boiled alive like so many partans!" + +[Partans: Scottish, crabs.] + +De Vere coolly threw overboard a bag or two of sand, and the balloon +mounted again like a skylark. And not too soon either, for, awful, to +relate, in his sudden terror Sandy had made a grab at the valve-rope, as +if to check her downward speed. Had not Rory speedily pulled him back, +the consequences would have been too dreadful to think of. + +De Vere only laughed; but he held up one finger by way of admonishing +the doctor as he said, "Neever catch hold of de reins ven anoder man is +driving." + +"But," said Rory, "didn't you go a trifle too near that time, Mister de +Vere?" + +"A leetle," said the Frenchman, coolly. "It was noding." + +"Ach! sure no," says Rory; "it was nothing at all; and yet, Mister de +Vere, it isn't the pleasantest thing in the world to imagine yourself +being played at pitch and toss with on the top of a mighty geyser, for +all the world like a nut-gall on the top of a twopenny fountain!" + +Sandy resumed the dissection of his venison pie. He would have a long +entry for his diary to-night, he thought. + +Luck does not always attend the aeronaut, albeit fortune favours the +brave, and the current of air that was carrying the balloonists so +merrily back to Reikjavik, ceased entirely when they were still within +ten miles of that quaint wee place. It was determined, therefore, to +make a descent. Happily, they were over a glen. Close by the sea and +around the bay were many small farms, and so adroitly did De Vere manage +to attach an anchor to the roof of an old barn, that descent was easy in +the extreme. + +Perhaps the happiest man in the universe at the moment Sandy McFlail's +feet touched mother earth again was Sandy himself. "Man!" he cried to +Rory, rubbing his hands and laughing with glee, "I thought gettin' out +meant a broken leg at the vera least, and I haven't even bled my nose." + +There was some commotion, I can tell you, among the feathered inmates of +the barnyard when the balloonists popped down among them; as for the +farm folks, they had shut themselves up in the dwelling-house. The +geese were particularly noisy. Geese, reader, always remind me of those +people we call sceptics: they are sure to gabble their loudest at things +they can't understand. + +But convinced at last that the aeronauts were neither evil spirits nor +inhabitants of the moon, the good farmer made them heartily welcome at +his fireside, and assisted them to pack, so that, by the aid of men and +ponies, they found themselves late that evening safely on board the +_Arrandoon_; and right glad were their comrades to see them again, you +may be sure, and to listen to a narration by Rory of all their +adventures, interlarded by Sandy's queer, dry remarks, which only served +to render it all the more funny. + +But before they sat down to the ample supper that Peter had prepared for +them, Rory reported to the captain his great discovery. + +McBain's eyes sparkled like live coals as he heard of it, but he said +little. He sent quietly for the engineer and the mate. "How soon," he +asked the former, "can you get up steam?" + +"In an hour, sir--easy." + +"That will do," said the captain. "Mr Stevenson, when will the moon +rise?" + +"She is rising now, sir." + +"All right, Mr Stevenson. Have all ready to weigh anchor in two hours' +time." + +"Ay, ay, sir!" + +The engineer still lingered. "I _could_ get up steam in twenty +minutes," he said; "those American hams, sir--" + +"Oh, bother the hams?" said the captain, laughing. "No, no; we may be +glad of those yet when frozen in at the Pole. Bear-and-ham pie, +engineer; how will that eat, eh?" and he bowed him kindly out. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +By two bells in the middle watch the good ship _Arrandoon_ was off the +needle rocks of the Portland Huck. They stood up out of the water like +tall sheeted ghosts, with the moonlight and starlight shimmering from +their shoulders. The sea was calm, with only a gentle heave on it; and +there were but a few snowy clouds in the sky skirting the southern +horizon, so the vessel ploughed along as beautifully as any sailor could +wish, with a steady, contented throb of engine and gride of screw, +leaving in her wake a long silvery line for the moonbeams to dance in. +Save the noise of the ship's working there was not another sound to be +heard, only occasionally a gull would float past overhead emitting a +strange and mournful cry. What makes the sea-birds, I have wondered, +sometimes leave the rocks at the midnight hour, and go skimming alone +through the darkling air, emitting that weird and plaintive wail of +theirs? It is a wail that goes directly to one's heart, and you cannot +help thinking they must be bereaved ones mourning for their dead. + +Our heroes walked long on deck that night, talking quietly, as became +the hour, of the prospects of their having a brush with the pirate. But +they got weary at last, and turned in. Next morning they found the +decks wet and slippery, more clouds in the sky, a fair beam wind +blowing, and a trifle of canvas displayed. + +After breakfast McBain called all hands aft. In calm, dispassionate +language he told them the story of the poor girl who had risked her life +on their account, of her murdered brother and captive father, and of the +pirate he was about to try to find and capture. Then he paused; and as +he did so every one of the crew turned eyes on Ted Wilson, who strode +forward. + +"Captain," said Ted, firmly, "we didn't sign articles to fight, did we, +mates?" + +"No," from all hands. + +"_But_," continued Ted, "for such a captain as you be, and in such a +cause, we _will_ fight, every man Jack of us, as long as the saucy +_Arrandoon_ has a timber above the water. Am I right, mates?" + +A ringing cheer was all the reply, and Ted retired. + +Now, reader, were I a landsman novelist I would very likely here make my +captain give the orders to "splice the main-brace," but I'm a sailor, +and I tell you this, boys, that British seamen never yet needed Dutch +courage to make them do their duty. + +Captain McBain only waved a hand and said, "Pipe down." + +An hour afterwards the crow's-nest was rigged and hoisted at the +main-truck, and either the mate or the captain was in it off and on the +whole day. But no pirate appeared that day nor the next. In the +evening, however, some fishermen boarded the _Arrandoon_, and reported +having seen a large barque, answering to the description of the +suspected craft, that same morning lying at anchor off Suddersoe, with +boats passing to and fro 'twixt ship and shore. + +"It is my precious opinion, captain," said old Magnus Bolt, "that this +craft does a bit o' smuggling 'tween here and Shetland." + +"And it is my precious opinion, my dear Magnus," said McBain, "that the +rascal doesn't care what he does so long as he lands the cash." + +The _Arrandoon_ was now kept away for the island named by the honest +fishermen. Not straight, however; McBain gave it a wide berth, and +passed it far to the west, and held on his course until many miles to +the southward. In the morning it was "bout ship" and stand away north +and by east again. They sighted the island about seven bells in the +morning watch. Suddenly there was a hail from the crow's-nest. It was +the captain's voice. + +"Come up here, Magnus Bolt, if your old bones will let you, and see what +you shall see." + +Magnus sprang up the rigging somewhat after the fashion of an antiquated +monkey, but with an agility no one would have given him credit for. + +"It is she!" he shouted, after he had had a look through the long glass +in towards the iron-bound shores of the islands; "it is she! it is she! +Ha! ha! ha!" and he positively danced and chuckled with delight. + +"You'll fight? you'll fight?" he gasped. "Rather," replied McBain; "but +we'll run first. She shall fire the first shot, and, Magnus, you shall +fire the second." + +Half an hour afterwards, when our heroes came on deck to have their +morning look around, they stared at each other in blank astonishment. +The _Arrandoon_ looked as if she had just come out of a tornado and had +been dreadfully handled. The foretop-gallant mast was down, the jibboom +inboard, the screw was hoisted up, the funnel itself had been unshipped +and was lashed to the deck, and the flag was flying at half-mast, as if +the vessel were in distress, or had death on board. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Now let me, with one touch of the fairy wand the storyteller wields, +waft my readers on board the pirate herself. Fear not, for we will stay +there but a brief space of time indeed. The tall and by no means +unprepossessing form of the captain, armed _cap-a-pie_, is leaning +against the rudder-wheel, one spoke of which he holds. His mate is by +his side, glass in hand, examining the _Arrandoon_, now only a few miles +off. + +"Ha! ha!" says the latter; "it is the same big craft we tried to strand; +and she's had dirty weather, too--foretop-gallant mast and jibboom both +gone. She is flying a signal of distress." + +"Distress? Eh? Ha! ha! ha?" laughed the pirate. "Isn't it funny? +She'll have more of it; won't she, matie mine?" + +The mate laughed and commenced to sing-- + + "`Won't you walk into my parlour?' + Said the spider to the fly?" + +"She's evidently a whaler, crow's-nest and all," he said. + +"Well," said the captain, "we'll _w(h)ale_ her;" and he laughed at his +own stupid joke. + +"I say there, old lantern-jaws," he bawled down the companion. + +"I reckon," said a Yankee voice, "you alludes to this child." + +"I do," cried the captain; "and look ye here. We are going to fight and +so forth. If we're like to be bested, scupper the old man at once. +D'ye hear?" + +"Well, I guess I ain't deaf." + +"Very well, then. Obey, or a short shrift yours will be." + +"Why, captain," said the mate, "she knows us. She has put about, and is +bearing away to the nor'-nor'-west." + +"Then hands up-anchor," cried his superior. "Crowd all sail; she can't +escape us in her crippled condition." + +"Ah! captain," the mate remarked, "had you taken my advice and given +that pretty but sly minx the _sack_, ere she gave you the _slip_, that +whaler would have been ours before now." + +"Silence," roared the captain. "On that subject I will not hear a word. +She shall be mine yet--or her father dies." + +With the exception of the few sentences bawled down the companion, all +this was said in Danish, and my translation is a free one. + +And so the chase commenced, and seawards before the pirate, in an +apparently crippled condition, staggered the _Arrandoon_. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +"How far do you intend to bring her out?" asked Allan. + +"Ten miles clear of these islands, anyhow," replied McBain, "then she +won't be able to play any pranks with us. Boys," continued McBain, a +few minutes afterwards, "I'm going to write letters--home." + +There was nothing very unusual in the tone of his voice as he spoke +these words, but there was a meaning in them, nevertheless, that was +perfectly understood by our young heroes. They were not long, then, +before they were each and all of them seated by the saloon table, +inditing, it might or might not be, the last communications to the loved +ones at home they _ever_ would pen. They were performing a duty--a sad +one, perhaps, but still a duty; they were about to fight in a good +cause, doubtless, but the result of the battle was uncertain. The +_Maelsturm_, for that was the name of the pirate, was better--or rather, +I should say, more copiously--manned than the _Arrandoon_, and though +not so large a ship, she had more guns; her crew too fought with halters +round their necks, and would therefore doubtless fight to the bitter +end. The only advantage--and it was a great one--possessed by the +_Arrandoon_ was steam power. Hours went by, and the chase was still +kept up. It was six bells in the forenoon watch, and the _Maelsturm_ +was hardly a mile astern. Our men had already had dinner, and were all +in readiness--waiting, when, borne towards them over the wind-rippled +waters from the pirate ship, came the quick, sharp rattle of a +kettledrum. One roll, two rolls, three. + +"At last," said McBain, "they are beating to quarters." + +A puff of smoke from the bow of the pirate, the roar of a gun, and +almost immediately after a round shot ricocheted past the quarter of the +_Arrandoon_. + +The battle was begun. + +CHAPTER TEN. + +"DOWN WITH THE RED FLAG AND UP WITH THE BLACK!"--VICTORY--AN OLD +ACQUAINTANCE--HIE, FOR THE NORTH. + +If the crew of the _Arrandoon_ needed any stimulus to fight the pirate, +beyond the short speech that their captain had made them, it certainly +was given them when the order was issued on board the latter craft, +"Down with the red flag and up with the black!" and the broad, +white-crossed ensign of merchant Denmark gave place to the hideous skull +and cross-bones flown by sea marauders of all nations. She had rounded, +too, in order to fire her broadside guns, or this would hardly have been +visible. Perhaps the pirates imagined it would strike sudden fear into +the hearts of those they had elected to consider their foes. Hatred and +loathing it certainly inspired, but as to fear--well, in the matter of +scaring, British sailors are perhaps the most unsatisfactory class of +beings in the world. + +For the next quarter of an hour the doings on board the _Arrandoon_, as +seen from the pirate's poop, must have considerably astonished--not to +say puzzled--the officers of that ship, for in that short space of time +what had appeared to be a sadly disabled vessel in distress, had hoisted +a funnel, lowered a screw, and, while sail was being taken in, moved +slowly away beyond reach of her guns. Not for long was she gone, +however. She rounded almost on her own length; then, bows on, back she +came, black and grim, athirst for vengeance. But the pirate was no +coward, and broadside after broadside was poured into the advancing +ship, without eliciting a single shot save one. + +This was the shot--the second shot--that McBain had promised Magnus. It +went roaring through the air, crashed through the _Maelsturm's_ bulwarks +midships, and smashed a boat to flinders. + +Magnus Bolt, or "Green," as he was better known, old as he was, was by +far the best shot in the ship. He and Mitchell, the mate, a man of +eagle eye and firm of nerve, were the gunners proper, and fired every +gun in the fight that followed the second shot. If it were a starboard +broadside they were there; if a port, they but crossed the deck to take +deadly aim and fire it. + +"Remember, gunners," cried McBain, "we've got to take that ship, and not +to sink her; so waste not a shot between wind and water?" + +On came the vessels, bow to bow, as arrow might meet arrow, and when +within two hundred yards of each other, the _Maelsturm_ heading north +and west, the _Arrandoon_ going full speed south and east, the pirate +delivered her broadside, and immediately luffed up and commenced firing +with her bow guns. She could get no nearer the wind, however. To go on +the other tack would be but to hasten the inevitable. + +"Hard a port! Ease her a little! Steady as you go!" were the orders +from the quarter-deck of the _Arrandoon_. "Small-arm men to fire +wherever head or hand is visible." + +Now the _Arrandoon_ delivers her broadside as she again comes parallel +with the _Maelsturm_, whose sails are all a-shiver. This just by way of +confusing her a little. There is worse to come, for the order is now +given to double-shot the port Dalgrens with canister. Away steams the +_Arrandoon_, and round goes the _Maelsturm_. Ah! well he knows what the +foe intends, but he will try to outmanoeuvre her if he can. But see! +the _Arrandoon_ is round again; there will be no escaping her this time. +Fire your bow guns, Mr Pirate; fire your broadside, you cannot elicit +a reply. + +"Sta'board!" cries the captain; "starboard?" he signals, with his calm, +uplifted arm. "Starboard still! steady now!" Then, in a voice of +thunder, as they rounded the port quarter of the pirate, and, in spite +of all good handling, got momentarily broadside on to her stem, "Stand +to your guns--_Fire_!" + +When the _Arrandoon_ forged ahead clear of the smoke, it was evident +from the confusion on board the _Maelsturm_, and the dishevelment of +running and standing rigging, that the havoc on her decks must have been +terrible. She was not beaten, though, as a gun from her broadside soon +told. + +"We'll end this," said the captain to Rory, by his side, who had +constituted himself clerk, and was coolly taking notes in the very thick +of the fight, while shot roared through the ship's rigging and sides, +men fell on all hands, and splinters filled the air. "We'll end it in +the good old fashion, Rory. Stand by to grapple with ice-anchors! +Prepare to board!" Now Allan and Ralph, who had been below assisting +the surgeon, heard that word of command, and, just as the sides of the +two ships had grated together, after firing their last broadsides, they +were both, sword in hand, by their captain's side. + +McBain and our heroes were the very first to leap on to the +blood-slippery decks of the pirate. The crew of that doomed ship fought +for a time like furies--for a time, but only for a time. In less than +five minutes every pirate on board was either disarmed or driven below, +and the _Maelsturm_ was the prize of the gallant _Arrandoon_, and her +captain himself lay bound on the quarter-deck. + +But the commander of this pirate ship was the very last man on board of +her to yield. Even when the battle was virtually ended, as fiercely as +a lion at bay he fought on his own quarter-deck, McBain himself being +his antagonist. The latter could have shot him down had he been so +minded, but he was not the man to take a mean advantage of a foe. The +pirate was taller than McBain, but not so well built nor so muscular. +They were thus pretty well matched, and as they fought, round and round +the quarter-deck, a more beautiful display of swordsmanship was perhaps +never witnessed. Once the pirate tripped and fell, McBain lowered his +weapon until he had regained his feet, then swords clashed again and +sparks flew. But see, the captain of the _Arrandoon_ clasps his +claymore double-handed; he uses it hatchet fashion almost. He looks in +his brawny might as if he could fell trees. The pirate cannot withstand +the shock of the terrible onslaught, but he makes up in agility what he +lacks in strength. He is borne backward and backward round the +companion, McBain "showering his blows like wintry rain;" and now at +last victory is his, the pirate's sword flies into flinders, our captain +drops his claymore and springs empty-handed on his adversary, and next +moment dashes him to the deck, where he lies stunned and bleeding, and +before he can recover consciousness he is bound and helpless. + +Ralph, Allan, and Rory, none of whom, as providence so willed it, are +wounded, and who had been silent spectators of the duel, now crowd +around their captain, and shake his willing hand. + +"Heaven," says McBain, "has given the enemy into our hands, boys, but +there is now much to be done. Let us buckle to it without a moment's +delay. The wounded are to be seen to, both our own and the pirate's, +the decks cleared, and everything made shipshape, and, if all goes well, +we'll anchor with our prize to-morrow at Reikjavik." + +"And the clergyman, captain, the clergyman, the poor girl's father?" +exclaimed Rory. + +"Ay, ay, boy Rory," said McBain; "he is doubtless on the vessel. We +will proceed at once to search for him." + +If fiends ever laugh, reader, it must be with some such sound as that +which now proceeded from the larynx of the pirate captain; if fiends +ever smile, it must be with the same sardonic expression that now spread +itself over his features. All eyes were instantly turned towards him. +He had raised himself to the sitting position. + +"Ha! ha! ha!" he chuckled, while, manacled though his wrists were, he +drew his right forefinger rapidly across his throat, uttering, as he did +so, these words, "Your padre; ha! ha! dead--dead--dead." + +His listeners were horrified. What McBain's reply would have been none +can say. It was not needed, for at that very moment, ere the exultant +grin had vanished from the wretch's face, there sprang on deck from the +companion a figure, tall and gaunt, clad from top to toe in skins. He +knelt on the deck in front of the pirate, the better to confront him. + +With forefinger raised, "he held him with his glittering eye," while he +addressed him as follows: + +"Look here, Mister Pirate, I was going to use strong language, but I +won't, though I guess and calculate mild words are wasted on sich as +you. The parson ain't dead; ne'er a hair on his reverend head. Ye +thought I'd scupper him, didn't you, soon's the ship was taken? Ye +thought this child was your slave, didn't ye? Ha! ha! though, he has +rounded on ye at last, and if that bit of black rag weren't enough to +hang you and your wretched crew of cutthroats, here in front o' ye +kneels one witness o' your dirty deeds, and the other will be on deck in +a minute in the person o' the parson you thought dead. How d'ye like +it, eh?" and the speaker once more stood erect, and confronted our +heroes. + +"Seth!" they ejaculated, in one voice. + +"Seth! by all that is marvellous!" said McBain, clutching the old man by +the right hand, while Rory seized his left, and Allan and Ralph got hold +of an arm each. + +"Ah! gentlemen," said honest Seth--and there was positively a tear in +his eye as he spoke--"it's on occasions like these that one wishes he +had four hands,--a hand for every friend. Yes, I reckon it is Seth +himself, and nary a one else. You may well say wonders will never +cease. You may well ask me how on earth I came here. It war +Providence, gentlemen, and nuthin' else, that I knows on. It war +Providence sent that cut-throat skipper to the land where you left me on +the _Snowbird_, though I didn't think so at the time, when they burned +and pillaged my hut and killed poor old Plunkett, nor when they carried +me a prisoner on board the _Maelsturm_. They meant to scupper old Seth. +They did talk o' bilin' his old bones in whale oil, but they soon found +out he could heal a hole in a hide as well as make one, and so, +gentlemen, I've been surgeon-in-chief to this craft for nine months and +over. Yes, it war Providence and nuthin' else, and I knew it war as +soon as I saw your ship heave in sight, the day they guessed they'd +wreck ye. The parson's daughter, poor little Dunette, war on board +then. I sent her to save ye; and when I heard your voice, Captain +McBain, on the reef, I felt sure it war Providence then, and I kind o' +prayed in my rough way that He might spare ye. Shake hands, gentlemen, +again. Bother these old eyes o' mine; they will keep watering." + +And Seth drew his sleeve rapidly across his face as he spoke. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Rory was a proud--boy, ahem! well, _man_, then, if you will have it so, +when that same afternoon he was put on board the _Maelsturm_, as captain +of her, with a picked crew from the _Arrandoon_, and with orders to make +all sail for Reikjavik. McBain's last words to him were these,-- + +"Keep your weather eye lifting, Captain Roderick Elphinston. Clap two +sentries on those ruffianly prisoners of yours, and let your men sleep +with their cutlasses by their sides and their revolvers under their +heads." + +"Ay, ay, sir!" said Rory. + +Rory allowed his crew to sleep, but he himself paced the deck all the +livelong night. Occasionally he could see the lights of the _Arrandoon_ +far on ahead; but towards morning the weather got thick and somewhat +squally, and at daylight the _Maelsturm_ seemed alone on the ocean. +Sail was taken in, but the ship kept her course, and just in the +even-glome Rory ran into the Bay of Reikjavik, and dropped anchor, and +shortly after a boat came off from the _Arrandoon_ with both Allan and +Ralph in it, to congratulate the boy-captain on the success of his, +first voyage as skipper-commandant. + +Next day both the pirate vessel and her captor were show-ships for the +people--all the _elite_ and beauty of Reikjavik crowded off from the +shore in dozens to see them. The dilapidated condition of the +_Maelsturm_, her broken bulwarks, rent rigging, and shivered spars, +showed how fierce the fight had been. Nor were evidences of the +struggle wanting on board the _Arrandoon_, albeit the men had been hard +at work all the day making good repairs. + +The dead were buried at sea; the wounded were mostly sent on shore. +Five poor fellows belonging to McBain's ship would never fight again, +and many more were placed for a time _hors de combat_. + +As to the prisoners, they were transferred to a French ship that lay at +Reikjavik, and that in the course of a week sailed with them for +Denmark. Seth and the officers of the _Arrandoon_ made and signed +depositions; and in addition to this, as evidence against the pirates, +the old clergyman and his daughter Dunette, now joyfully reunited, went +along with the Frenchman, while, with a crew from shore, the _Maelsturm_ +left some days after. The black flag had never been lowered, nor was it +until the day the pirate captain and many of his crew expiated their +long list of crimes on the scaffold at the Holms of Copenhagen. + +Poor Dunette, the tears fell unheeded from her sad blue eyes as she bade +farewell to our heroes on the deck of the _Arrandoon_. She did not say +good-bye to the surgeon, however--at least not there. He had begged for +a boat, and accompanied her on board the vessel in which she was to +sail. Have they a secret, we wonder? Is it possible that our quiet +surgeon has won the heart of this beautiful fair-haired Danish maiden? +These are questions we must not seek answer to now, but time may tell. + +Not until the pirate ship had left the bay, and the wounded were so far +convalescent as to be brought once more on board, did the old peace and +quiet settle down upon the good ship _Arrandoon_. And now once more all +was bustle and stir; in a day or two they would start for the far north, +and bid adieu to civilisation--a long but not, they hoped, a last adieu. + +The very evening before they sailed, a farewell party was given on board +the _Arrandoon_. The decks were tented over with canvas lined with +flags, and the whole scene was gay and festive in the extreme. Poetic +Rory could not have believed that there was so much female youth and +loveliness in this primitive little town of Reikjavik. No wonder that +day was dawning in the east ere the last boat of laughing and merry +guests left for the shore. + +Many and many a time afterwards, when surrounded by dangers innumerable, +when beset in ice, when engulfed in darkness and storm, in the +mysterious regions of the Pole, did they look back with pleasure to that +last happy night spent in the bay of Reikjavik. + +But see, it is twelve o'clock by the sun. Flags are floating gaily on +the fort, on the little church tower, and on every eminence in or near +the town, and the beach and snow-clad rocks are lined with an excited +crowd. Hands and handkerchiefs are waved, and with the farewell cheers +the far-off hills resound. Then our brave fellows man the rigging and +waft them back cheer for cheer, as the noble vessel cleaves the waters +of the bay, and stands away for the Northern Ocean. + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +THE VOYAGE RESUMED--A PLEASANT EVENING--"THOSE RUSHING WINDS"--THE +"ARRANDOON" GROWS SAUCY--THE DOCTOR SPREAD-EAGLED--A SCHOOL OF WHALES. + +Ere the day had worn to a close, before the sun went down in a golden +haze, leaving one long line of crimson cloud, as earnest of a bright +to-morrow, the _Arrandoon_, steaming twelve knots to the hour, was once +more far away at sea, and the rugged mountains of Iceland could hardly +be descried. As night fell a breeze sprang up, and as there was little +doubt it would freshen ere long--for it blew from the east-south-east, +and the glass had slightly gone down, with the mercury still concave at +top--Captain McBain gave orders for the fires to be banked, and as much +canvas spread as she could comfortably carry. + +"Just make her snug, you know, Mr Stevenson," said McBain, "for the +night will be dark, and we may have more wind before the middle watch." + +"And troth," said Rory to his companions, "if the ship is to be made +snug, I don't see why we shouldn't make ourselves snug for the night +too." + +Ralph was gazing down through the skylight at the brilliantly-lighted +saloon, where Peter, with the aid of the assistant-steward and Freezing +Powders, was busy laying the cloth for dinner. + +"I've just come from forward," replied Ralph, in raptures, "where I've +been sniffing the roast beef and the boiled potatoes; and now just look +below, Rory,--look how Peter's face beams with intelligent delight; see +how radiant Freezing Powders is; behold how merrily the flames dance on +that fire of fires in the stove, and how the coloured crystal shimmers, +and the bright silver shines on that cloth of spotless snow! Yes, Rory, +you're right, boy--let us make ourselves snug for the night. So down we +go, and dress our smartest--for, mind, boys, there is going to be +company to-night." + +Yes, there was going to be company; five were all that as a rule sat +down to table in the grand saloon, but to-night the covers were laid for +five more, namely Stevenson, Seth, old Magnus, and Ap, and last, though +not least, De Vere, the French aeronaut. + +The cook of the _Arrandoon_ had been chosen specially by Ralph himself. +Need I say, then, that he was an artist? and to-night he had done his +best to outshine himself, and, I think, succeeded. I think, too, that +when Peter went forward, some time after the great joints had been put +on the table, and told him that everything was going on "as merrily as +marriage bells," and that the gentlemen were loud in their praises of +Ralph's cook, that that cook was about the happiest man in the ship. +Peter had not exaggerated a bit either, for everything did go off well +at this little dinner-party. It would have done your heart good to have +seen the beaming countenances of little Ap, old man Magnus, and honest +trapper Seth; and to have noticed how often they passed their plates for +another help would have made you open your eyes with wonder--that is, if +you never had been to Greenland; but had you made the voyage North +Polewards even once, you would have known that of all countries in the +world that is just the place to give man or boy a healthy appetite. + +When the cloth was removed and dessert placed upon the table they seemed +happier than ever, if that were possible, and smiles and jokes and +jocund yarns ere the order of the evening. After every good story the +cockatoo helped himself to an immense mouthful of hemp-seed, and +cried,-- + +"Dea-ah me! Well, well, but go on, _go on_--next." + +And as to Freezing Powders, he was so amazed at many things he heard, +that more than a dozen times in one hour he had to refresh himself by +standing on his head in a corner of the saloon. + +"Well, well, well!" said McBain, taking the advantage of a mere +momentary lull in this feast of reason and flow of soul, "and what a +strange mixture of nationalities we are, to be sure! Here is our bold, +quiet Ralph, English to the spine--" + +"And I," said Rory, "I'm Oirish to the chine." + +"That you are," assented McBain; "and Allan and myself here are Scotch; +and if you look farther along the table there is Wales represented in +the form of cool, calculating, mathematical Ap; Shetland in the shape of +our brave gunner Magnus; France in the form of friend De Vere; and the +mightiest republic in the world in Seth's six feet and odd inches; to +say nothing of Africa standing on its head beside Polly's cage. +Freezing Powders, you young rascal, drop on to your other end; don't you +see you're making Polly believe the world is upside down? look at her +hanging by the feet with her head down!" + +"Dat cockatoo not a fool, sah," said Freezing Powders; "he know putty +well what he am about, sah!" + +"D'ye know," said Ralph, looking smilingly towards Seth, "it is quite +like old times to see Seth once more in the midst of us?" + +"And oh!" said Seth, rubbing his hands, while a modest smile stole over +his wiry face, "mebbe this old trapper ain't a bit pleased to meet ye +all again. Gentlemen, Seth and civilisation hain't been 'cquaintances +very long; skins seem to suit this child better'n the fine toggery ye've +rigged him out in. But ye've made him feel a deal younger, and he +guesses and calculates he may die 'pectable yet." + +I fear it was pretty far into the middle watch ere our friends parted +and betook themselves to their berths. Two bells had gone--"the wee +short hoor ayont the twal"--when McBain rose from the table, this being +a signal for general good-nights. + +"I'm going part of the way home with you, old man," he said to Magnus, +and with his arm placed kindly over his shoulder he left the saloon with +the brave wee Shetlander. "Two turns on the deck, Magnus," he +continued, "and then you can turn in. And so, you say, in all your +experience--and it has been very vast, hasn't it, my friend?" + +"That it has, sir," replied Magnus. "I may say I was born in these +seas, for the first thing I remember--when our ship went down under us +in the pack north of Jan Mayen--is my father, bless him! putting me in a +carpetbag for safety, to carry me on to the ice with him. Yes, sir, +yes." + +"And in all your experience," McBain went on, "you don't remember a +season likely to have been more favourable for our expedition to the +North Pole than the present?" + +"I don't, sir--I don't," said little Magnus, "Look, see, sir, the frost +has been extreme all over the north. In the Arctic regions the ice has +been all of a heap like. It isn't yet loosened. We haven't met a berg +yet. Funny, ain't it, sir?--queer, isn't it, cap'n?" + +"It is strange," said McBain; "and from this what do you anticipate?" + +"Anticipate isn't the word, cap'n," cried Magnus, fixing McBain by the +right arm, stopping his way, and emphasising his words with wildfire +glints from his warlock eyes. "Anticipate?--bah! cap'n--bah! I'm old +enough to be your grandfather. Ask me rather what I _augur_? And I +answer this, I augur a glorious summer. Ice loosened before May-Day. +Fierce heat south of England, and consequently rarefaction of the +atmosphere, and rushing winds from the far north to fill up the heated +vacuum--rushing winds to trundle the icebergs south before them--rushing +winds to split the packs, and rend the floes, and open up a passage for +this brave ship to the far-off Isle of Alba." + +"Bless you, Magnus! Give us your hand, my old sea-dad. You always gave +me comfort, even when I was a boy in the wilds of Spitzbergen. You +taught me to splice, and reef, and steer. Bless you, Magnus! I +couldn't have sailed without you." + +"But stay, my son, stay," continued this weird little man, holding up a +warning finger; "those rushing winds--" + +"Yes, Magnus?" + +"They will bring danger on their wings." + +"I'll welcome it, Magnus," laughed McBain. + +"Those rushing winds will tear down on us, hurricane-high, +tempest-strong. The great bergs, impelled by force of wind and might of +wave, will dash each other to atoms." + +"All the better for us, Daddy Magnus," said the captain. + +"Were your voice as loud as cannon's roar you will be as one dumb amid +the turmoil." + +"Then I'll steer by signs," said McBain. + +"Should our ship escape destruction, we will be enveloped by fogs, +encircled by a darkness that will be felt." + +"Then we'll heave-to and wait till they evaporate. But there, my good +Magnus, you see I'm not afraid of anything. I'd be unworthy of such a +sea-dad as you if I were; so no more tragic airs, please. Thou mindest +me, old Magnus, of the scene between Lochiel and the Wizard. + + "`Lochiel, Lochiel, beware of the day + When the Lowlands shall meet you in battle array,' + +"says the Wizard, and so on and so forth. + +"`False wizard, avaunt!' replies Lochiel, and all the rest of it, you +know. But, beloved Magnus, I don't _say_ `avaunt!' to you. But just +see how the cold spray is dashing inboard. So, not to put too poetic a +point on it, I simply say, `Go down below, old man, and don't get wet, +else your joints will ache in the morning with the rheumatiz.'" + +The morning broke beautifully fine and clear, the reefs were shaken out +of the topsails, topgallant-sails and royals were set, and, indeed, all +the square cloth she could carry, and away went the _Arrandoon_ before +the wind, as happy, to all appearance, as the malleys and gulls that +seemed to play at hide-and-seek with her, behind the comb-crested seas +of olive-green. + +Ralph and Allan, arm-in-arm, were marching rapidly up and down one side +of the quarter-deck, Rory and McFlail on the other, and ever and anon a +merry laugh from some one of them rang out bright and joyously on the +fresh frosty air. + +Towards noon stunsails were set, and the _Arrandoon_ looked more like a +sea-bird than ever; she even seemed to sing to herself--so thought Rory +and so thought the doctor--as she went nodding and curtseying along over +the waves, with now a bend to starboard, and now a lean to port; now +lowering her bows till the seas ahead looked mountains high, and anon +giving a dip waterwards till her waist was wet with the seething spray, +and her lower stunsail-booms seemed to tickle the very breast of old +mother ocean. + +The wind was increasing, and there were times when our boys had to pause +in their walk and grapple the mizzen rigging, laughing at each other as +they did so. + +"Wo ho, my beauty?" said McBain. "Mr Mitchell, I daresay we must take +in sail." + +"I'm afraid so, sir," replies Mitchell; "but--" and here he eyes the +bellowing canvas--"it do seem a pity, sir, don't it?" + +But here "my beauty" gives a vicious plunge forwards, elevating herself +aft like a kicking mare, and shipping tons of water over her bows. + +"I don't want to be wicked," the ship seems to say, "and I don't want to +lose a spar, though I _could_ kick one off as easy as a daddy-longlegs +gets rid of a limb; but if you don't ease me a bit I'll--" + +A bigger and more decided plunge into the sea, followed by a rising of +her jibboom zenithwards, and the water comes roaring aft in one great +bore, which seeks exit by the quarter-deck scupper-holes, and goes +tumbling down the companion ladder, to the indignation of Peter and the +disgust of Freezing Powders, who is standing on his head in an attitude +of contemplation, and ships a green sea down his nostrils. Our heroes +leap in time on to the top of the skylight, and there sit grinning +delightedly as the waters go roaring past them, and floating thereon +evidence enough that the men had been preparing dinner when Neptune +boarded them, for yonder float potatoes and turnips and cabbages, to say +nothing of a leg of Highland mutton and a six-pound piece of bacon. + +"Hands, shorten sail!" + +But next day--so changeable is a sailor's life--the wind had all got +bottled up again or gone back to its cave; the sea was smooth as glass, +and steam was up, but the sky was still clear, and the sun undimmed by +the slightest haze. + +Just before lunch came the first signs that ice was not far ahead. The +_Arrandoon_ encountered a great "stream," as it is called, of deep, +snowy slush--I do not know what else to call it. It stretched away +eastwards to westwards, as far as the eye from the crow's-nest could +reach, and it was probably nine or ten miles wide. It lessened the good +ship's way considerably, you may be sure. Her bows clove through it +with a brushing sound; her screw revolved in it with a noise like dead +leaves stirred by autumn winds. + +"Losh!" cried Sandy, the surgeon, looking curiously overboard, "what's +this noo? Wonders will never cease!" + +"Och, sure!" replied Rory, mischievously, "you know well enough what it +is; it's only speaking for speaking's sake you are." + +"The ne'er a bone o' ma knows, I do assure ye," said Sandy. + +"Well, doctor dear," said Rory, "it is simply the belt, or zone, that +geographers call the `Arctic circle.'" + +But Sandy looked at him with a pitying smile. "Man--Rory?" he said, +"I'm no' so sea-green as you tak me to be. I've a right good mind to +pu' your lugs. Young men, sir, dinna enter Aberdeen University stirks +and come out cuddies?" + +"Mon!" cried Rory, imitating Sandy's brogue, "if ye want to pu' my lugs +you'll hae to catch me first;" and off he went round the deck, with the +doctor after him. But Ralph caught him, if Sandy couldn't, and handed +him over to justice. + +"Now," cried the surgeon, catching him by the ear, "whistle, and I'll +let you free." + +It is no easy matter to whistle when you want to laugh, but when Rory at +long last did manage to emit a labial note that passed muster as a +whistle, the doctor was as good as his word, and Rory was free. + +Luncheon was barely finished, when down from the crow's-nest rang the +welcome hail, "Ice ahead!" + +Our heroes rushed on deck, McBain was there before them, and when they +stepped on to the "lid" of the ship, as Sandy once called the deck, they +found the captain half-way up to the nest. + +There wasn't a bit of ice to be seen from the deck. + +"Hurrah for the foretop?" cried Rory, laying hold of a stay. "Who's +coming?" + +"I will!" cried Allan. + +"I'm going below to finish lunch," said Ralph. + +"I'll be safer on deck, I think," said the canny doctor. + +But when Rory on the foretop struck an attitude of wonderment, and +pointing away ahead, exclaimed, in rapture, "Oh, boys, what a scene is +here!" the doctor thought he would give anything for a peep, so he +summoned up his courage and began to ascend the rigging, slowly, and +with about as much grace in his actions as a mud turtle would exhibit +under the like circumstances. + +Allan roared, "Good doctor! good! Bravo, old man! Heave round like a +brick! Don't look down." + +Rory was in a fit of merriment, and trying to stifle himself with his +handkerchief. Suddenly down dropped that handkerchief; and this was +just the signal four active lads were waiting for. Up they sprang like +monkeys behind the surgeon, who had hardly reached the lubber-hole. +Alas! the good medico didn't reach it that day, for before you could +have said "cutlass" he was seized, hand and foot, and lashed to the +rigging, Saint Andrew's-cross fashion. + +The surgeon of the _Arrandoon_ was spread-eagled, and Rory, the wicked +boy! had his revenge. + +"My conscience!" cried Sandy; "what next, I wonder?" + +"It's a vera judeecious arrangement," sung Rory from the top. + +But the men were not hard on the worthy doctor, and the promise of +several ounces of nigger-head procured him his freedom, and he soon +regained the deck, a sadder and a wiser man. + +They were quickly among the ice--not bergs, mind you, only a stream of +bits and pieces, of every shape and form, some like sheep and some like +swans, and some like great white oxen. Here was a piece like a +milking-pail; here was a lump like a hay-cock; yonder a gondola; yonder +a boat; and yonder a couch on which the Naiades might recline and float, +or Ino slumber. + +It was Rory who made the last remark. + +"And by this and by that!" he exclaimed, "there is a Naiad on it now! or +it's Ino herself, by all that's amusing!" + +"Away, second whaler!"--this from McBain. "Get your rifle, boy Rory, +and jump on board and fetch that seal!" + +Down rattled the boat from the davits, Rory in the bows; the next moment +she was off, and tearing through the glazed water as fast as sturdy arms +could row. The seal took one look up to see what was coming. Rory's +rifle rang out sharp and clear in the frosty air, and the poor seal +never lifted head again. + +The ship was by this time a goodly mile ahead, but there she stopped; +then she went ahead again, rounded, and came back full speed to meet the +boat, for they on board could see a danger that Rory couldn't--couldn't, +did I say? Ah! but he soon did, and, with the roar of a maelstrom, down +they came upon him--an enormous school of whales! + +The men lay on their oars thunderstruck. The sea around them seemed +alive with the mighty monsters. How they plunged and ploughed and +snorted and blew! The sea became roughened, as if a fierce wind was +blowing over it; pieces of ice as large as boats were caught on the +backs or tails of these brutes and pitched aside as one might a +football. + +It occurred to Rory to fire at some of them. + +"Stay, stay!" roared the coxswain; "if you love your life, sir, and care +for ours, fire not. _You_ may never have seen a whale angry--I have. +Fire not, I beseech you!" + +It was a strange danger to have encountered, and Rory and his boat-mates +were not sorry when it passed, and they once more stood in safety on the +deck of the _Arrandoon_. + +But Rory soon regained his equanimity. + +"Five hundred whales!" he cried; "and they were all mine, Ralph, 'cause +I found them! Sure, they were worth a million of money?" + +"So you've been a millionaire, Rory?" said McBain. "Yes, worse luck!" +said Rory, in a voice of comic sadness, "a millionaire for a minute!" + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +THE ISLE OF JAN MAYEN--RETROSPECTION--THE SEA OF ICE--THE DESERTED +VILLAGE--CARRIED OFF BY A BEAR--DANCING FOR DEAR LIFE. + +What a tiny speck it looks in the map, that island of Jan Mayen, all by +itself, right in the centre of the great Arctic Ocean. Of volcanic +origin it undoubtedly is--every mountain, rock, and hill in it--and +there is ample evidence that from yonder gigantic cone, that rises, like +a mighty sugar-loaf or the Tower of Babel itself, to a height of 6,000 +feet sheer into the blue and cloudless sky, at one time smoke and flames +must oftentimes have burst, and showers of stones and ashes, and streams +of molten lava. + +I have gazed on it by night, and my imagination has carried me back, and +back, and back, through the long-distant past, and I have tried to fancy +the sublimity of the scene during an eruption. + +The time is early spring. The long, dark winter has passed away; the +cold-looking, rayless sun rises now, but skirts hurriedly across a small +disc of southern sky, then speedily sinks to rest again, as though he +shuddered to gaze upon scenery so bleak and desolate. The island of Jan +Mayen, with its ridgy hills and its one mighty mountain, is clad in +dazzling robes of virgin snow. Its rocky and precipitous shores rise +not up, as yet, from the dark waters that in summer time wash round +them, but from the sea of ice itself. As far as eye can reach, or north +or south, or east or west, stretches this immeasurable ocean of ice. +All flat and all snow-clad is it, like the wildest and loneliest of +Highland moorlands in winter, and its very flatness gives it an air of +greater lonesomeness, which the solitary hummocks here and there but +tend to heighten. And through the short and dreary day one solitary +cloud has rested like a pall on the summit of the mountain. But it is +midnight now: in the deep blue of the sky big, bright stars are shining, +that look like moons of molten silver, and seem far nearer than they do +in southern climes. In the north the radiant bow of the Aurora is +spread out, its transverse beams glancing and glistering, spears of +light, that dance and glide and shimmer, changing their colours every +moment from green to blue or red, from pale-yellow to the brightest of +crimson. + +And the silence that reigns over all this field of ice is one that +travellers have often experienced, often been impressed and awed by, but +never yet found words to describe. + +Silence did I say? Yes! but listen! Subterranean thunders suddenly +break it--thunders coming evidently from the bosom of the great mountain +yonder, thunders that shake and crack and rend the very ice on which you +stand, causing the bergs to grind and shriek like monsters in agony. +The great cloud pall has risen higher and spread itself out, and now +hangs horizontally over half the island, black and threatening, its +blackness lit up ever and anon with flashes of lightning, sheet and +forked, while, peal after peal, the thunder now rolls almost without +intermission. + +And onward and onward rolls the cloud athwart the sky, blotting out the +starlight--blotting out the beautiful Aurora--till the sea of ice for +leagues around is canopied in darkness. But behold, over the +mountain-top the cloud gets lighter in colour, for immense volumes of +steam, solid sheets of water, and pieces of ice tons in weight, are +being belched forth, or hurtled into the air with a continued noise that +drowns the awful rhythm of the thunder itself. Then flames follow, +shooting up into the sky many hundreds of feet, lighting up the scene +with a lurid glare, while down the snow-clad sides of the great cone +streams of fiery lava rush in fury, crimson, blue, or green. And +gigantic rocks are precipitated into the air--rocks so large that, as +they fall upon the ice miles distant from the burning crater, they smash +the heaviest floes, and sink through into the sea. Great stones, too, +are incessantly emitted, like balls of fire, that burst in the air, and +keep up a sound like that of the loudest artillery. + +The sun will rise in due course, but his beams cannot penetrate the veil +of saturnine darkness that envelops the sea of ice. And the fire will +rage, the thunders will roll, and showers of stones and ashes fall for +days, ay, mayhap for weeks or months, ere the mighty convulsion ceases, +and silence once more reigns in and around this island of Jan Mayen. + +Towards this lonely isle of the ocean the _Arrandoon_ had been beating +and pushing her way for days; and she now lay, with clewed sails and +banked fires, among the flat but heavy bergs not five miles from it. +There was no water in sight, for the iceless ocean had been left far, +far astern, and the ship was now to all intents and purposes beset. Yet +the ice was loose; it was not welded together by the fingers of King +Frost, and if it remained so, the difficulty of getting out into the +clear water again would be by no means insurmountable. + +Our heroes, the doctor included, were all on deck, dressed to kill, in +caps of fur with ear lapels, coats of frieze with pockets innumerable, +with boots that reached over the knees, and each was armed with a rifle +and seal-club, with revolver in belt and short sheath-knife dangling +from the left side. + +"And so," said the doctor, "this is the mighty sea of ice that I've +heard so much about! Man! boys! I'm no so vera muckle struck with it. +It is not unlike my father's peat moss in the dreary depths of winter. +Where are the lofty pinnacled bergs I expected to see, the rocks and +towers of ice, the green glistening gables, and the tall spires, like a +hundred cathedrals dang into one?" + +"Ah!" said McBain, laughing, "just bide a wee, doctor lad, till we go +farther north, and if you don't see ice that will outdo your every dream +of romance, I'm neither Scot nor sailor. + +"But what is this?" continued the captain. "Who in the name of all that +is marvellous have we here?" + +"I 'spects I'se Freezin' Powders, sah," was the reply of the little +negro boy. "Leastways I hopes I is." Here the urchin touched his cap. +"Freezin' Powders, at your service, sah--your under-steward and butler, +sah?" + +"Well, my under-steward and butler," said McBain; "but whoever could +have expected to see you rigged out in this fashion--pilot suit, fur +cap, boots, and all complete? Why, who dressed you, my little Freezin' +Powders?" + +"De minor ole gem'lam," replied the boy; "but don't dey fit, sah? +Don't dey become dis chile? Look heah, sah!" and Freezing Powders went +strutting up and down the quarter-deck, as proud as a pouter pigeon; and +finished off by presenting arms with his seal-club in front of his +good-natured captain. + +"Well," said McBain, much amused, "you are a comical customer. By `the +minor ole gem'lam' I suppose you mean honest Magnus? But your English +is peculiar, youngster." + +"My English is puffuk, sah!" replied the boy; "but lo! sah! suppose I +not have dis suit of close, I freeze, sah! I no longer be Freezin' +Powders, 'cause I freeze all up into one lump, sah! Now, sah, I can go +on shoh wid de oder officers." + +"Ho! ho!" laughed McBain; "the _other_ officers. It's come to that, has +it? But," he added, turning to Allan and Rory, "you'll look after the +lad, won't you?" + +"That will we," said both in a breath. + +Here are the names of those who went on shore in Jan Mayen on this +memorable day--Allan, Ralph, Rory, Seth, and the doctor, with three +club-armed retainers, and lastly, Freezing Powders himself. + +They were a merry band. You could have heard them laughing and talking +when they were miles away from the ship. They had to leap from one +piece of ice to another; but as the bergs were from forty to fifty feet +square--thus affording them a good run for their leaps--and as the +pieces were pretty closely packed, jumping was no great hardship. When +now and then they came to a bit of water that required a tolerable +spring to get over, tall Ralph vaulted first, then brawny-chested Allan +pitched Freezing Powders after him, whom Ralph caught as easily as if he +had been a cricket-ball. + +They landed on the island in a kind of bay, where the land sloped down +to the snow-clad beach. Not far from the sea they were much surprised +to find the ruins of huts that had been. No smoke issued therefrom now, +but there was ample proof that roaring fires had once burned in each +hut. They were partly underground, and though built of wood and +sealskins they were thatched and fortified with snow. The largest cot +of all was in the centre, and entering this they found a key to the +seeming mystery, for here were evidences of civilisation. Pots and pans +stood on the empty hearth; a chair or two, a truckle bed, a deal table +and a book-cupboard, formed the furniture, and to cap all a written +document was found, which informed them that this village had been the +encampment for the summer months of a party of American walrus-hunters, +the captain of which had aided science by making innumerable +observations of a meteorological and scientific nature. + +"I reckon," said Seth, "there ain't many parts o' the world where my +enterprising countrymen hain't shown their noses." + +"All honour to them for that same," said Rory; "and troth, there isn't a +mightier nation on the face of the earth bar the kingdom of Ireland." + +"Now, look here," said Allan, "this wee chap, Freezing Powders, will be +far too tired if he goes with us; and here, by good luck, is a frozen +ham in this enterprising Yankee's cupboard. I move we light a fire, +hang it over it, and leave the little black butler as cook till we come +back." + +"Bravo!" said Ralph. "Allan, you're a brick. You won't be afraid, will +you, Freezing Powders?" + +"I stop and do de cookin', plenty quick," answered the boy, briskly. +"Freezin' Powders never was afraid of nuffin in his life." + +So the fire was lighted--there was fuel enough in the hut to keep it +going for a month; then, leaving the boy to watch the ham, away went our +explorers, upwards and onwards, through the ruggedest glens imaginable; +winding round rocks and hills of ice and snow, they soon lost sight of +the primitive village, the distant ship, and the sea of ice itself. +They wandered on and on for miles, pausing often to allow Rory to make a +sketch of some more than usually wild and fantastic group of ice-clad +rocks or charming bit of scenery; but wherever they went, or whichever +way they turned, there loomed the great mountain cone of Jan Mayen above +them. + +The scene was everywhere silent and desolate in the extreme, for not a +breath of wind was blowing, not a cloud was in the sky, and no sign of +life was there to greet them, not even a solitary gull or snowbird. + +It wanted two good hours to sunset when they once more returned to the +deserted village, eager to test the flavour of the Yankee's ham, for +walking on the snow had given them the appetite of healthy hunters. + +Their astonishment as well as horror may be imagined when, on entering +the hut, they found a scene of utter confusion. The fire still burned, +it is true, and yonder hung the ham; but the table and chairs were +overturned, and the contents of even the rude bookcase scattered about +the floor. + +_And Freezing Powders was gone_! + +He had been carried off by a bear. Of this there was plenty of +testimony, if only in the huge footprints of the monster, which he had +left in the snow. Not very distinct were they, however, for the surface +of the snow was crisp and hard. But Seth was equal to the occasion, and +at once--walking in a bee line, the trapper leading--they set out to +track the bear, if possible, to his lair. The footprints led them +southwards and west, through a region far more wild than that which they +had already traversed. + +For a whole hour they walked in silence, until they found themselves at +the top of a ravine, the rocks of which joined to form a sort of +triangle. Half-roofed over was this triangle with a balcony of frozen +snow, from which descended immense icicles, on which the roof leant, +forming a kind of verandah. + +Seth paused, and pointed upwards. "The b'ar is yonder!" he whispered. +"Stay here; the old trapper's feet are moccasined, he won't be heard. +Gentlemen, Seth means to have that b'ar, or he won't come back alive!" + +So leaving his companions, onwards, all alone, steals Seth. A bear +itself could not have crept more silently, more cautiously along than +the trapper does. + +Those left behind waited in a fever of almost breathless suspense. The +doctor stretched out his arm and took gentle hold of Rory's wrist. His +pulse was over a hundred; so was the doctor's own, and he could easily +hear his heart beat. + +How slowly old Seth seems to move. He is on hands and knees now, and +many a listening pause he makes. Now he has reached the edge of the icy +verandah, and peers carefully over. The bear is there, undoubtedly, +for, see, he gives one anxious glance at his rifle--it is a +double-barrelled bone-crusher. + +Crang-r-r-r! goes the rifle, and every rock in the island seems to +re-echo the sound. The reverberation has not ceased, however, when +there mingles with it a roar--a blood-curdling roar--that seems to shake +the very ground. "Wah-o-ah! waugh! waugh! wah-o?" and a great +pale-yellow bear springs from the cave, then falls, quivering and +bleeding, on his side in the snow. + +Our heroes rush up now. + +"Any more of them?" cries Rory. + +"Wall, I guess not," said the old trapper. "Yonder lies the master; +I've given him a sickener; and the missus ain't at home. But there is +suthin' black in thar, though!" + +"Why," cried Allan, "I declare it is Freezing Powders himself!" and out +into the bright light stalked the poor nigger boy, staring wildly round +about, and seemingly in a dream. + +"Ah, gem'lams!" he said, slowly, "so you have come at last! What a +drefful, _drefful_ fright dis poor chile have got! 'Spect I'll nebber +get ober it; nebber no more!" + +"Come along," said Ralph. "Get on top of my shoulder. That's the +style! You can tell us all about it when we reach the village." + +"Now," cried Allan, "look alive, lads, and whip old Bruin out of his +skin, and bring along his jacket and paws!" + +When they did get back to the hut, and poor Freezing Powders had warmed +himself and discussed a huge slice of broiled ham and a captain's +biscuit, the boy got quite cheery again, and proceeded to relate his +terrible adventure. + +"You see, gem'lams," he said, "soon as ebber you leave me I begin for to +watch de ham, and turn he round and round plenty much, and make de fire +blaze like bobbery. Mebbe one whole hour pass away. De flames dey +crack, and de ham he frizzle. Den all to once I hear somebody +snuff-snuffing like, and I look round plenty quick, and dere was--oh! +dat great big awful bear--bigger dan a gator [alligator]. Didn't I +scream and run jus'! And de bear he knock down de chairs and de tables, +and den he catchee me in his mouf, all de same I one small mouse and he +one big cat. You see, gem'lam, he smell de ham. `Dat bery nice,' he +tink, `but de nigga boy better.' So he take dis chile. He nebber have +take one nigga boy before dis, praps. Den he run off wid me ober de +mountains. He no put one tooth in me all de time. When he come to de +cave he put me down and snuff me. Den he say to himself, `I want some +fun; I make play wid dis nigga boy befoh I gobbles 'im up.' So he make +me run wid his big foot, and when I run away den he catchee me again, +and he keep me run away plenty time, till I so tired I ready to drop. +[Greenland bears have been known to play this cat-and-mouse game with +seals before devouring them.] All de same, I not want to be gobble up +too soon, gem'lams, so I make all de fun I can. I stand on my head, and +I run on my four feet. I jump and I kick, and I dance, and I sing to de +tune ob-- + + "`Plenty quick, nigga boy, + Plenty fast you run, + De bear will nebber gobble you up + So long's you make de fun.' + +"Den de big, ugly yellow bear he berry much tickled, and he tink to +hisself, `Well,' he tink, `'pon my word and honah! I nebber see nuffin +like dis before--not in all my born days! I not eat dis nigga boy up +till my mudder come home.' And all de time I make dance and sing-- + + "`Quicker, quicker, nigga boy, + Faster, faster go, + Amoosin' ob de ole bear, + Among de Ahtic snow. + + "`Jing-a-ring, a-ring-a-ring, + Sich somersaults I frow, + In all his life dis nigger chile + Ne'er danced like dis befoh.' + +"But now, gem'lams, I notice dat de bear he begin to make winkee-winkee +wid both his two eyes. Den I dance all de same, but I begin to sing +more slow and plaintive, gem'lams-- + + "`Oh! I'm dreaming 'bout my mudder dear + Dat I leave on Afric's shoh, + And de little hut among de woods + Dat I ne'er shall see no moh. + + "`Sierra-lee-le-ohney, + Sierra-lee-leon, + Ah! who will feed de cockatoo + When I is dead and gone?' + +"Dat song fix de yellow bear, gem'lams. He no winkee no more now; he +sleep sound and fast, wid his big head on his big paws. Den I sing one +oder verse, and I sleep, too, and I not hear nuffin more until de rifles +make de bobbery and de yellow bear begin to cough." + +"Bravo!" cried Ralph, when Freezing Powders had finished his story. +"Now, Allan, lad, cut us all another slice of that glorious ham, and let +us be moving." + +"Yes," said Allan. "Here goes, then, for night is falling already, and +the captain will be longing to hear of our adventures." + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +MORE ABOUT FREEZING POWDERS--"PERSEVERANDO"--DINING IN THE SKY--THE +DESCENT OF THE CRATER. + +A black man in a barrel of treacle is said by some to be emblematical of +happiness. So situated, a black man without doubt enjoys a deal of +bliss, but I question very much if it equals the joy poor Freezing +Powders felt when he found himself once more safe on board the +_Arrandoon_, and cuddled down in a corner with his old cockatoo. [It +may be as well to state here that neither the negro boy nor the cockatoo +is a character drawn at random; both had their counterparts in real +life.] What a long story he had to tell the bird, to be sure!--what a +"terrible tale," I might call it! + +As usual, when greatly engrossed in listening, the bird was busily +engaged helping himself to enormous mouthfuls of hemp-seed, spilling +more than he swallowed, cocking his head, and gazing at his little black +master, with many an interjectional and wondering "Oh!" and many a +long-drawn "De-ah me!" just as if he understood every word the boy said, +and fully appreciated the dangers he had come through. + +"Well, duckie?" said the bird, fondly, when Freezing Powders had +concluded. + +"Oh! der ain't no moh to tell, cockie," said the boy; "but I 'ssure you, +when I see dat big yellow bear wid his big red mouf, I tink I not hab +much longer to lib in dis world, cockie--I 'ssure you I tink so." + +Freezing Powders was the hero for one evening at all events. McBain +made him recite his story and sing his daft, wild songs more than once, +and the very innocence of the poor boy heightened the general effect. +He was a favourite all over the ship from that day forth. Everybody in +a manner petted him, and yet it was impossible to spoil him, for he took +the petting as a matter of course, but always kept his place. His +duties were multifarious, though light--he cleaned the silver and shined +the boots, and helped to lay the cloth and wait at table. He went by +different names in different parts of the ship. Ralph called him his +cup-bearer, because he brought that young gentleman's matutinal coffee, +without which our English hero would not have left his cabin for the +world. Freezing Powders was message-boy betwixt steward and cook, and +bore the viands triumphantly along the deck, so the steward called him +"Mustard and Cress," and the cook "Young Shallots," while Ted Wilson +dubbed him "Boss of the Soup Tureen;" but the boy was entirely +indifferent as to what he was called. + +"Make your games, gem'lams," he would say; "don't be afraid to 'ffend +dis chile. He nebber get angry I 'ssure you." + +When Freezing Powders had nothing in his hand his method of progression +forward was at times somewhat peculiar. He went cart-wheel fashion, +rolling over and over so quickly that you could hardly see him, he +seemed a mist of legs, or something like the figure you see on a Manx +penny. + +At other times "the doctor," as the cook was invariably called by the +crew, would pop up his head out of the fore-hatch and bawl out,-- + +"Pass young Shallots forward here." + +"Ay, ay, doctor," the men would answer. "Shalots! Shalots! Shalots!" + +Then Freezing Powder's curly head would beam up out of the saloon +companion. + +"Stand by, men!" the sailor who captured him would cry; and the men +would form themselves into a line along the deck about three yards +apart, and Freezing Powders would be pitched from one to the other as if +he had been a ball of spun-yarn, until he finally fell into the friendly +arms of the cook. + +About a week after the bear adventure De Vere, the aeronaut, was +breakfasting in the saloon, as he always did when there was anything +"grand in the wind," as Rory styled the situation. + +"Dat is von thing I admire very mooch," said the Frenchman, pointing to +a beautifully-framed design that hung in a conspicuous part of the +saloon bulkhead. + +"Ah," said Allan, laughing, "that was an idea of dear foolish boy Rory. +He brought it as a gift to me last Christmas. The coral comes from the +Indian Ocean; Rory gathered it himself; the whole design is his." + +"It's a vera judeecious arrangement," said Sandy McFlail, admiringly. + +The arrangement, as the doctor called it, was simple enough. Three +pieces of coral, in the shape of a rose, a thistle, and shamrock, +encased--nay, I may say enshrined--in a beautiful casket of crystal and +gilded ebony. There was the milk-white rose of England and the +blood-red thistle of Scotland side by side, and fondly twining around +them the shamrock of old Ireland--all in black. + +Here was the motto underneath them-- + +"Perseverando." + +"There is nothing like perseverance," said Allan. "The little coral +insect thereby builds islands, ay, and founds continents, destined to be +stages on which will be worked out or fought out the histories of +nations yet unborn. `Perseverando!' it is a grand and bold motto, and I +love it." + +The Frenchman had been standing before the casket; he now turned quickly +round to Allan and held out his hand. + +"You are a bold man," he said; "you will come with me to-day in de +balloon?" + +"I will," said Allan. + +"We vill soar far above yonder mountain," continued De Vere; "we vill +descend into the crater. We vill do vat mortal man has neever done +before. Perseverando! Do you fear?" + +"Fear?" said Allan; "no! I fear nothing under the sun. Whate'er a man +dares he can do." + +"Bravely spoken," cried the Frenchman. "Perseverando! I have room for +two more." + +"Perseverando!" says Rory. "Perseverando for ever! Hoorah! I'm one of +you, boys." + +Ralph was lying on the sofa, reading a book. But he doubled down a +leaf, got up, and stretched himself. + +"Here," he said, quietly, "you fellows mustn't have all the fun; I'll go +toe, just to see fair play. But, I say," he added, after a moment's +pause, "I don't suppose there will be any refreshment-stalls down +there--eh?" + +"No, that there won't," cried Allan. "Hi! Peter, pack a basket for +four." + +"Ay, ay, sir?" said Peter. + +"And, I say, Peter--" This from Ralph. + +"Yes, sir," said the steward, pausing in the doorway. + +"Enough for twenty," said Ralph. "That's all, Peter." + +"Thank'ee, sir," said Peter, laughing; "I'll see to that, sir." + +It was some time before De Vere succeeded in gaining Captain McBain's +consent to the embarkation of his boys on this wild and strange +adventure, but he was talked over at last. + +"It is all for the good of science, I suppose," he said, half +doubtfully, as he shook hands with our heroes before they took their +places in the car. "God keep you, boys. I'm not at all sure I'll ever +see one of you again." + +The ropes were let go, and upwards into the clear air rose the mighty +balloon. + +"Here's a lark," said Allan. + +"A skylark," said Rory. "Let us sing, boys--let us sing as we soar, +`Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves.'" + +Standing on the quarter-deck, and gazing upwards, McBain heard the +voices growing fainter and fainter, and saw the balloon lessening and +lessening, till the song could no longer be heard, and the balloon +itself was but a tiny speck in the heaven's blue. Then he went down +below, and busied himself all day with calculations. He didn't want to +think. + +Meanwhile, how fared it with our boys? Here they were, all together, +embarked upon as strange an expedition as it has ever probably been the +lot of any youth or youths to try the chance of. Yet I do not think +that anything approaching to fear found place in the hearts of one of +them. The situation was novel in the extreme. With a slow and steady +but imperceptible motion--for she was weightily ballasted--the +"Perseverando," as they had named the balloon, was mounting skywards. +There was not the slightest air or wind, nor the tiniest of clouds to be +seen anywhere, and down beneath and around them was spread out a +panorama, which but to gaze upon held them spell-bound. + +There was the island itself, with its rugged hills looking now so +strangely flattened and so grotesquely contorted; to the west and to the +north lay the white and boundless sea of ice, but far to the eastward +and south was the ocean itself, looking dark as night in contrast with +the solid ice. + +But see, yonder, where the ice joins the water, and just a little way +from its edge, lie stately ships--two, three, five in all can be +counted, and their sails are all clewed; and those innumerable black +ticks on the snow, what can they be but seals, and men sealing? + +"Don't you long to join them?" said Allan, addressing his companions. + +"I don't," replied Rory; "in spite of the cold I feel a strange, dreamy +kind of happiness all over heart and brain. Troth! I feel as if I had +breakfasted on lotus-leaves." + +"And I," said Ralph, "feel as I hadn't breakfasted on anything in +particular. Let us see what Peter has done up for us." + +And he stretched out his hand as he spoke towards a basket. + +"Ah?" cried the Frenchman, "not dat basket; dat is my Bagdads--my +pigeons, my letter-carriers! You see, gentlemen, I have come prepared +to combat eevery deeficulty." + +"So I see," said Ralph, coolly undoing the other basket; "what an +appetite the fresh air gives a fellow, to be sure!" + +"Indeed," says Rory, archly, "it is never very far from home you've got +to go for that same, big brother Ralph. But it's hardly fair, after +all, to try to eat the Bagdads." + +"Remember one thing, though," replied Ralph; "if it should occur to me +suddenly that you want your ears pulled you cannot run away to save +yourself." + +"Indeed," said Rory, "I don't think that the frost has left any ears at +all on me worth pulling, or worth speaking about either." + +"Ha?" cried Allan, "that reminds me; I've got those face mufflers. +There! I'll show you how to put one on. The fur side goes inside-- +thus; now I have a hole to breathe through, and a couple of holes for +vision." + +"And a pretty guy you look!" + +"Oh! bother the looks," responded Ralph, "let us all be guys. Give us a +mask, old man." + +They did feel more comfortable now that they had the masks on, and could +gaze about them without the risk of being frozen. + +The cold was intense; it was bitter. + +"I'd beat my feet to keep them warm," said Rory, "if I didn't think I'd +beat the bottom of the car out. Then we'd all go fluttering down like +so many kittywakes, and it's Captain McBain himself that would be +astounded to see us back so soon." + +"Gentlemen," said the Frenchman, "we are right over the mouth of the +crater. I shall now make descent, with your permission. Then it vill +not be so cold." + +"And is it inside the volcano," cries Rory, "you'd be taking us to warm +us? Down into the crater, to toast our toes at Vulcan's own fireside? +Sure, Captain De Vere, it is splicing the main-brace you're after, for +you want to give us all a drop of the craytur." + +"Oh!--oh!" this from Ralph. "Oh! Rory--oh! how can you make so vile a +pun? In such a situation, too!" + +The gentlest of breezes was carrying the balloon almost imperceptibly +towards the north and west; meanwhile De Vere was permitting a gradual +escape of gas, and the _Perseverando_ sunk gradually towards the +mountain-top, the mouth of which seemed to yawn to swallow them up. +There was a terrible earnestness about this daring aeronaut's face that +awed even Rory into silence. + +"Stand by," he whispered; for in the dread silence even a whisper could +be heard,--"stand by, Allan, to throw that bag of ballast over the +moment I say the word." + +Viewing it from the sea of ice, no one could calculate how large is the +extent of the crater on the top of that mighty mountain cone. It is +perfectly circular, and five hundred yards at least in circumference, +but it is deeper, far and away, than any volcanic crater into which it +has ever been my fortune to peer. Even when the great balloon began to +alight in its centre the gulf below seemed bottomless. The +_Perseverando_ appeared to be sinking down--down--down into the +blackness of darkness. To the perceptions of our heroes, who peered +fearfully over the car and gazed below, the gulf was rising towards them +and swallowing them up. + +I do not think I am detracting in the slightest from their character for +bravery, when I say that the hearts of Ralph, Rory, and Allan, at all +events, felt as if standing still, so terrible was the feeling of dread +of some unknown danger that crept over them. As for De Vere, he was a +fatalist of the newest French school, and a man that carried his life in +his hand. He never attempted, it is true, any feat which he deemed all +but impossible to perform; but, having embarked on an enterprise, he +would go through with it, or he cared not to live. + +Strange though it may appear, it is just men like this that fortune +favours. Probably because the wish to continue to exist is not +uppermost in their minds, the wish and the hope to achieve success is +the paramount feeling. + +Still slowly, very slowly, sunk the balloon, as if unwilling to leave +her aerial home. And now a faint shade of light begins to mingle with +the darkness beneath them; they are near the bottom of the crater at +last. + +"Stand by once again," whispers De Vere, "to throw that anchor over as +soon as I tell you." + +A moment of awful suspense. + +"Now! now!" hisses De Vere. + +Two anchors quit the car at the same time--one thrown by the aeronaut +himself, one by Allan, and the ropes are speedily made fast. The +balloon gives an upward plunge, the cables tighten, then all is still! + +"Ha! ha! she is fast!" cried De Vere, now for the first time showing a +little excitement. "Oh, she is a beauty! she has behave most lofely! +Look up, gentlemen!--look up!--behold the mighty walls of blue ice that +surround us!--behold the circle of blue sky dat over-canopies us!--look, +the stars are shining!" + +"Can it be night so soon?" exclaimed Allan, in alarm. + +"Nay, nay, gentlemen," said the enthusiastic Frenchman, "be easy of your +minds. It is not night in the vorld outside, but here it is alvays +night; up yonder the stars shine alvays, alvays, when de clouds are +absent. And shine dey vill until de crack of doom. Now gaze around +you. See, the darkness already begins to vanish, and you can see the +vast and mighty cavern into which I have brought you. If my judgment +serves me, it extends for miles around beneath de mountain. There!--you +begin to perceive the gigantic stalactites that seem to support the +roof!" + +"Ralph," cried Rory, seizing his friend by the hand, "do you remember, +years and years ago, while we all sat round the fire in the tartan +parlour of Arrandoon Castle, wishing we might be able to do something +that no one, man or boy, had ever done before?" + +"I do--I do," answered Ralph. + +"Descend with me here, then," continued Rory, "and let us explore the +cavern. Only a little, _little_ way, captain," he pleaded, seeing that +De Vere shook his head in strong dissent. + +"You know not vat you do ask," said De Vere, solemnly. "Here are caves +within caves, one cavern but hides a thousand more; besides, there are, +maybe, and doubtless are, crevasses in de floor of dis awful crater, +into which you may tumble, neever, neever to be seen again. Pray do not +think of risking a danger so vast." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The day wore slowly to a close; many and many an anxious look did McBain +take skywards, in hopes of seeing the returning balloon. But the sun +set, tipping the distant hills with brightest crimson, twilight died +away in the west, and one by one shone out the stars, till night and +darkness and silence reigned over all the sea of ice. + +He went below at last. His feelings may be better imagined then +described. He tried to make himself believe that nothing had occurred, +and that the balloon had safely descended in some snow-clad valley, and +that morning would bring good tidings. But for all this he could not +for the life of him banish a dread, cold feeling that something terrible +had occurred, the very novelty of which made it all the more appalling +to think of. Presently the mate entered the saloon. + +"What cheer, Stevenson! Any tidings?" + +"A pigeon, sir," replied the mate, handing the bird into the captain's +grasp. + +McBain's hands shook as he had never remembered them shake before, as he +undid the tiny missive from the pigeon's leg. + +It ran briefly thus:-- + +"We are detained here in the crater all night. Do not be alarmed. +To-morrow will, please Providence, see us safely home." + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +ANXIOUS HOURS--EXPLORATION OF THE MOUNTAIN CAVERN--THE CAVE OF THE KING +OF ICE, AND GHOULS OF A THOUSAND WINTERS--TRANSFORMATION SCENES-- +SNOWBLIND--LOST. + +It would be difficult to say which was most to be pitied, McBain on +board the _Arrandoon_, passing long hours of inconceivable anxiety, or +our other heroes, left to spend the drear, cold night in the awful +depths of that Arctic crater. + +It was with light hearts that Ralph and Rory descended from the car of +the _Perseverando_ and commenced their perilous exploration of the vast +and dimly-lighted cavern; but heavy hearts were left behind them, and +hardly had they disappeared in the gloom ere the Frenchman exclaimed to +Allan, "I greatly fear dat I have done wrong. Your two friends are big +wid impulse; if anydings happen to them dere vill be for me no more +peace in dis world." + +Allan was silent. + +But when hours passed away and there were no signs of their returning, +when gloaming itself began to fall around them, and the stars at the +crater's mouth assumed a brighter hue, Allan's anxiety knew no bounds, +and he proposed to De Vere to go in search of his friends. + +"Ah! if dat vere indeed possible!" was the reply. + +"And why not?" said Allan. + +"For many reasons: de balloon vill even now hardly bear de strain on her +anchors; de loss of even your veight vould require such delicate +manipulation on my part, dat I fear I could not successfully vork in +such small space. Alas! ve must vait. But there yet is hope." + +Meanwhile it behoves us to follow Ralph and Rory. They had faithfully +promised De Vere they would go but a short distance from the car, and +that promise they had meant to redeem. They found that the ground +sloped downwards from the mouth of the crater, but there was no want of +light, as yet at least, and thus not the slightest danger of being +unable to find their way back, for were there not their footsteps in the +snow to guide them? So onward they strolled, cheerfully enough, +arm-in-arm, like brothers, and that was precisely how they felt towards +each other. + +The road--if I may say "road" where there was no road--was rough enough +in all conscience, and at times it was difficult for them to prevent +stumbling over a boulder. + +"I wonder," said Rory, "how long these boulders have lain here, and I +wonder what is beneath us principally, and what those vast stalactite +pillars are formed of." + +"`Bide a wee,' as the doctor says," replied Ralph; "don't hurry me with +too many questions, and don't forget that though I am ever so much +bigger and stronger than you, I don't think I am half so wise. But the +boulders may have lain here for ages: those ghostly-looking pillars are +doubtless ice-clad rocks, partly formed through the agency of fire, +partly by water. I think we stand principally on rocks and on ice, +with, far, far down beneath us, fire." + +"Dear, dear!" said Rory, talking very seriously, and with the perfect +English he always used when speaking earnestly; "what a strange, +mysterious place we are in! Do you know, Ralph, I am half afraid to go +much farther." + +"Silly boy!" said his companion, "how thoroughly Irish you are at +heart--joy, tears, sunshine and fun, but, deep under all, a smouldering +superstition." + +"Just like the fires," added Rory, "that roll so far beneath us. But +you know, Ray,"--in their most affectionate and friendly moods Ralph had +come to be "Ray" to Rory, and Rory "Row" to Ralph--"you know, Ray, that +the silence and gloom of this eerie place are enough to make any one +superstitious--any one, that is, whose soul isn't solid matter-of-fact." + +"Well, it _is_ silent. But I say, Row--" + +"Well, Ray?" + +"Suppose we try to break it with a song? I daresay they have never +heard much singing down here." + +"Who?" cried Rory, staring fearfully into the darkness. + +"Oh!" said Ralph, carelessly, "I didn't mean any one in particular. +Come, what shall we sing--`The wearing o' the green'?" + +"No, Ray, no; that were far too melancholic, though I grant it is a +lovely melody." + +"Well, something Scotch, and stirring. The echoes of this cavern must +be wonderful." + +They were, indeed; and when Rory started off into that world-known but +ever-popular song, "Auld lang syne," and Ralph chimed with deep and +sonorous bass, the effect was really grand and beautiful, for a thousand +voices seemed to fill the cavern. They heard the song even in the car +of the balloon, and it caused Allan to remark, smilingly, for they had +not yet been long gone, "Ralph and boy Rory seem to be enjoying +themselves; but I trust they won't be long away." + +Rory was quite lively again ere he reached the words-- + + "And we'll tak' a richt good-willy waught + For auld lang syne." + +He burst out laughing. "Indeed, indeed! there is no wonder I laugh," he +said; "fancy the notion of taking a `good-willy waught' in a place like +this! And now," he added, "for a bit of a sketch." + +"Don't be long in nibbing it in, then." + +Rory was seated on a boulder now, tracing on his page the outlines of +those strange, weird pillars that hands of man had never raised nor +human eyes gazed upon before. So the silence once more became irksome, +and the time seemed long to Ralph, but Rory had finished at last. + +Then the two companions, after journeying on somewhat farther, began to +awaken the echoes by various shouts; and voices, some coming from a long +distance, repeated clearly the last words. + +"Let us frighten those ghouls down there by rolling down boulders," said +Rory. + +"Come on, then," said Ralph; "I've often played at that game." + +They had ten minutes of this work. It was evident this hill within a +hill, this crater's point, was of depth illimitable from the distant +hissing noises which the broken boulders finally emitted. + +"It's a regular whispering gallery," said Rory. + +"It is, Row. But do let us get back. See, there is already barely +light enough to reveal our footsteps." + +"Ah! but, my boy," said Rory, "the nearer the car we walk the more light +we'll have. And I have just one more surprise for you. You see this +little bag?" + +"Yes. What is in it--sandwiches?" + +"Nay, my Saxon friend! but Bengal fires. Now witness the effects of the +grand illumination of the Cave of the King of Ice by us, his two ghouls +of a thousand winters!" + +The scene, under weird blue lights, pale green or crimson, was really +magical. All the transformation scenes ever they had witnessed dwindled +into insignificance compared to it. + +"I shall remember this to my dying day?" Rory exclaimed. + +"And I too!" cried Ralph, entranced. + +"Now the finale?" said the artist; "it'll beat all the others! This +white light of mine will eclipse the glory of the rest as the morning +sun does that of moonlight! It will burn quite a long time, too; I made +it last night on purpose." + +It was a Bengal fire of dazzling splendour that now was lit, and our +heroes themselves were astonished. + +"It beats the `Arabian Nights'!" cried Rory. "Look, look!" he +continued, waving it gently to and fro, "the stalactites seem to dance +and move towards us from out the gloom arrayed in robes of transplendent +white. Yonder comes the King of Ice himself to bid us welcome." + +"Put it out! put it out!" murmured Ralph, with his hand on his brow. + +It presently burned out, but lo! the change!--total darkness! + +_Rory and Ralph were snowblind_! + +"Oh, boy Rory!" said Ralph, "that brilliant of yours has sealed our +fate. It will be hours ere our eyes can be restored, and long before +then the darkness of night will have enshrouded us. We are lost!" + +"Let us not lose each other, at all events," said Rory, feeling for his +friend's arm, and linking it in his own. + +"You think we are lost; dear Ralph, I have more hopes. Something within +me tells me that we were never meant to end our days in the awful +darkness of this terrible cavern. Pass the night here it is certain we +must, but to-morrow will bring daylight, and daylight safety, for be +assured Allan and De Vere will not leave us, unless--" + +Here the hope-giver paused. + +"Unless," added Ralph--"for I know what you would say--an accident +should be imminent--unless they _must_ leave. A balloon needs strange +management." + +"Even then they will return to seek us by morning light. Do you know +what, Ray?" he continued, "our adventures have been too foolhardy. +Providence has punished us, but He will not utterly desert us." + +"Hope springs eternal in the human breast." + +The lamp of hope was flickering--had, indeed, burned out--in Ralph's +heart, but his friend's words rekindled it. Perhaps Rory's true +character never shone more clearly out than it did now, for, while +trying to cheer his more than friend, he fully appreciated the +desperateness of the situation, and had but little hope left in him, +except his extreme trust in the goodness of a higher Power. + +"Could we not," said Ralph, "all snowblind as we are, try to grope our +way upwards?" + +"No, no, no!" cried Rory; "success in that way is all but impossible; +and, remember, we have but the trail of our footprints to guide us even +by day." + +Something of the ludicrous invariably mixes itself up with the most +tragic affairs of this world. I have seen the truth of this in the +chamber of death itself, in storms at sea, and in scenes where men +grappled each other in deadly strife. And it is well it should be so, +else would the troubles of this world oftentimes swamp reason itself. +The attempts of Rory to keep his companion in cheer, partook of the +nature of the ludicrous, as did the attempts of both of them to keep +warm. + +So hours elapsed, and sometimes sitting, sometimes standing and beating +feet and hands for circulation's sake, and doing much talking, but never +daring to leave the spot, at last says Rory, "Hullo, Ray! joy of joys! +I've found a lucifer!" + +Almost at the same moment he lit it. They could see each other's +faces--see a watch, and notice it was nearly midnight. They had +regained sight! Joy and hope were at once restored. + +"Troth!" said Rory, resuming his brogue, "it's myself could be a baby +for once and cry. Now what do ye say to try to sleep? We'll lie close +together, you know, and it's warm we'll be in a jiffey?" + +So down they lay, and, after ten long shivering minutes, heat came back +to their frozen bodies. They had not been talking all this time; it is +but right to say they were better engaged. + +With warmth came _le gaiete_--to Rory, at least. + +"Have you wound your watch, Ray?" + +"No, Row? and I wouldn't move for the world!" + +After a pause, "Ray," says Row. + +"Yes, Row?" says Ray. + +"You always said you liked a big bed-room, Ray, and, troth, you've got +one for once!" + +"How I envy you your spirits," answers Ray. + +"Don't talk about spirits," says Row, "and frighten a poor boy. I've +covered up my head, and I wouldn't look up for the world. I'm going to +repeat myself to sleep. Good night." + +"Good night," asks Ray, "but how do you do it?" + +"Psalms, Ray," Row replies. "I know them all. I'll be out of here in a +moment. + + "`He makes me down to lie by pastures green, + He leadeth me the quiet waters by.' + +"Isn't that pretty, Ray?" + +"Very, Row, but `pastures green' and `quiet waters' aren't much in my +way. Repeat _me_ to sleep, Rory boy, and I promise you I won't pull +your ears again for a month." + +"Well, I'll try," says Row. "Are your eyes shut?" + +"To be sure. A likely thing I'd have them open, isn't it?" + +"Then we're both going to a ball in old England." + +"Glorious," says Ray. "I'm there already." + +Then in slow, monotonous, but pleasing tones, Row goes on. He describes +the brilliant festive scene, the warmth, the light, the beauty and the +music, and the dances, and last but not least the supper table. It is +at this point that our Saxon hero gives sundry nasal indications that +this strange species of mesmerism had taken due effect, so Row leaves +him at the supper table, and goes back to his "pastures green" and +"quiet waters," and soon they both are sound enough. Let us leave them +there; no need to watch them. Remember what Lover says in his beautiful +song,-- + + "O! watch ye well by daylight, + For angels watch at night." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Poor McBain! Worn out with watching, he had sunk at last to sleep in +his chair. + +And day broke slowly on the sea of ice. The snow-clad crater's peak was +the first to welcome glorious aurora with a rosy blush, which stole +gradually downwards till it settled on the jagged mountain tips. Then +bears began to yawn and stretch themselves, the sly Arctic foxes crept +forth from snow-banks, and birds in their thousands--brightest of all +the snowbird--came wheeling around the _Arrandoon_ to snatch an early +breakfast ere they wended their way westward to fields of blood and +phocal carnage. + +And their screaming awoke McBain. + +He was speedily on deck. + +Yonder was the _Perseverando_ slowly descending. + +During all the long cruise of the _Arrandoon_ nobody referred to the +adventure at the crater of Jan Mayen without a feeling akin to sadness +and contrition, for all felt that something had been done which ought +not to have been done--there had been, as McBain called it, "a tempting +of Providence." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +"Well, well, well," cried the skipper of the _Canny Scotia_--and he +seemed to be in anything but a sweet temper. "Just like my luck. I do +declare, mate, if I'd been born a hatter everybody else would have been +born without heads. Here have I been struggling away for years against +fortune, always trying to get a good voyage to support a small wife and +a big family, and now that luck seems to have all turned in our favour, +two glorious patches of seals on the ice yonder, a hard frost, and the +ice beautifully red with blood, and no ship near us, then you, mate, +come down from the crow's-nest with that confoundedly long face of +yours, for which you ought to have been smothered at birth--" + +"I can't help my face, sir," cried the mate, bristling up like a bantam +cock. + +"Silence!" roared the burly skipper. "Silence! when you talk to your +captain. You, I say, _you_ come and report a big steamer in sight to +help us at the banquet." + +The mate scratched his head, taking his hat off for the purpose. + +"Did I make the ship?" he asked with naive innocence. + +"Pooh!" the skipper cried; and next moment he was scrambling up the +rigging with all the elegance, grace, and speed of a mud turtle. + +He was in a better humour when he returned. + +"I say, matie," he said, "yonder chap ain't a sealer; too dandy, and not +boats enough. No, she is one of they spectioneering kind o' chaps as +goes a prowling around lookin' for the North Pole. Ha! ha! ha! Come +below, matie, and we'll have a glass together. She ain't the kind o' +lady to interfere with our blubber-hunting." + +The mate was mollified. His face was soaped, and he shone. + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +THE "ARRANDOON" ANCHORS TO THE "FLOE"--THE VISIT TO THE "CANNY SCOTIA"-- +SILAS GRIG--A SAD SCENE--RORY RELIEVES HIS FEELINGS--STRANGERS COMING +FROM THE FAR WEST. + +Seeing the skipper of the _Canny Scotia_ and his mate come below +together smiling, the steward readily guessed what they wanted, so he +was not dilatory in producing the rum-bottle and two tumblers. Then the +skipper pushed the former towards the mate, and said,-- + +"Help yourself, matie." + +And the mate dutifully and respectfully pushed it back again, saying,-- + +"After you, sir." + +This palaver finished, they both half-filled their tumblers with the +ruby intoxicant, added thereto a modicum of boiling coffee from the urn +that simmered on top of the stove, then, with a preliminary nod towards +each other, emptied their glasses at a gulp. After this, gasping for +breath, they beamed on each other with a newly-found friendliness. + +"Have another," said the skipper. + +They had another, then went on deck. + +After ten minutes of attentive gazing at the _Arrandoon_, "Well," said +the skipper, "I do call that a bit o' pretty steering; if it ain't, my +name isn't Silas Grig." + +"But there's a deal o' palaver about it, don't you think so, sir?" +remarked the mate. + +"Granted, granted," assented Silas; "granted, matie." + +The cause of their admiration was the way in which the _Arrandoon_ was +brought alongside the great ice-floe. She didn't come stem on--as if +she meant to flatten, her bows--and then swing round. Not she. She +approached the ice with a beautiful sweep, describing nearly half a +circle, then, broadside on to the ice, she neared it and neared it. +Next over went the fenders; the steam roared from the pipe upwards into +the blue air, like driven snow, then dissolved itself like the ghost of +the white lady; the ship was stopped, away went the ice-anchors, the +vessel was fast. + +And no noise about it either. There may not be much seamanship +now-a-days, but I tell you, boys, it takes a clever man to manage a big +steamer prettily and well. + +The _Arrandoon_ was not two hundred yards from the _Canny Scotia_. Now +round go the davits on the port quarter, outward swings the boat, men +and officers spring nimbly into her, blocks rattle, and down goes the +first whaler, reaching the water with a flop, but not a plash, and with +keel as even and straight as a ruled line. + +"I say, matie," said Silas Grig, in some surprise, "if that boat ain't +coming straight away here, I hope I may never chew cheese again." + +So far as that was concerned, if Silas chose, he would at least have the +chance of chewing cheese again, for the _Arrandoon's_ boat came rippling +along towards them with a steady cluck-el-tee cluck-el-tee, which spoke +well for the men at the oars. + +"Well," continued Silas, who, rough nut though he was, always meant well +enough, "let us do the civil, matie; tell the steward to fill the +rum-bottle, and pitch 'em a rope." + +The rope came in very handy; but there was no need for the rum; even in +Greenland men can live without it--the officers of the _Arrandoon_ had +found that out. + +McBain, with Allan and Rory,--the latter, by the way, seemed to have +registered a vow to go everywhere and see everything,--stood on the +quarter-deck of the _Canny Scotia_, the skipper of which craft was in +front of him, a comical look of admiration on his round brick-coloured +countenance, and his two hands deep in the pockets of his powerful pilot +coat. + +"Ay, sir! ay!" he was saying; "well, I must say ye do surprise _me_." + +He put such an emphasis on the "me" that one would have thought that to +surprise Silas Grig was something to be quite boastful of ever after. + +"All the way to the North Pole? Well, well; but d'ye think you'll find +it?" + +"We mean to," said Rory, boldly. + +"Perseverando!" said Allan. + +"The _Perseverance_!" cried the skipper. "I know the ship, a +Peterheader. Last time I saw her she had got in the nips, and was lying +keel up on the ice, yards and rigging all awry of course; and, bother +her, I hope she'll lie there till Silas Grig gets a voyage [a cargo], +then when the _Scotia_ is full ship, the _Perseverance_ can get down off +the shelf, and cabbage all the rest. Them's my sentiments. But come +below, gentlemen, come below; there is room enough in the cabin of the +old _Scotia_ for every man Jack o' ye. Come below." + +Silas was right. There was room, but not much to spare, and, squeezed +in between Allan and McBain, poor Rory was hardly visible, and could +only reach the table with one hand. + +The cabin of this Greenlandman can be described with a stroke of the +pen, so to speak. It was square and not very lofty--a tall man required +to duck when under a beam; the beams were painted white, the bulkheads +and cabin doors--four in number--were grey picked out with green. +One-half at least of the available space was occupied by the table; +close around it were cushioned lockers; the only other furniture was the +captain's big chair and a few camp-stools, a big square stove with a +roaring fire, and a big square urn fixed on top thereof, which contained +coffee, had never been empty all the voyage, and would not be till the +end thereof. I suppose a bucket of water could hardly be called +furniture, but there it stood close to the side of the stove, and the +concentric rings of ice inside it showed the difficulty everybody must +experience who chose to quench his thirst in the most natural way +possible. + +Above, in the hollow of the skylight, hung a big compass, and several +enormously long sealer's telescopes. + +"No rum, gentlemen?" said Silas; "well, you do astonish _me_; but you'll +taste my wife's green ginger wine, and drink her health?" + +"That we will," replied McBain, "and maybe finish a bottle." + +"And welcome to ten," said Silas; "and the bun, steward, bring the bun. +That's the style! My wife isn't much to look at, gentlemen, but, for a +bun or o' drop o' green ginger, I'll back her against the whole world." + +After our heroes had done justice to the bun, and pledged the skipper's +good lady in the green ginger, that gentleman must needs eye them again +and again, with as much curiosity as if they had been some new and +wonderful zoological specimens, that he had by chance captured. + +"All the way to the North Pole!" he muttered. "Well, well, but that +_does_ get over Silas." + +Rory could not help laughing. + +"Funny old stick," said Silas, joining in his merriment, "ain't I?" + +He did look all that and more, with his two elbows on the table, and his +knuckles supporting his chin, for his face was as round as a full moon +orient, and just the colour of a new flower-pot; then he laughed more +with one side of his face than the other, his eyes were nowhere in the +folds of his face, and his nose hardly worth mentioning. + +After the laugh, beginning with Rory, had spread fairly round the table, +everybody felt relieved. + +"I'm only a plain, honest blubber-hunter, gentlemen," said Silas Grig, +apologetically, "with a large family and--and a small wife--but--but you +do surprise _me_. There?" + +[It is but fair to say that, as a rule, captains of Greenlandmen are far +more refined in manner than poor Silas.] + +But when McBain informed him that the _Arrandoon_ would lay alongside +him for a week or more, and help him to secure a voyage, and wouldn't +ship a single skin herself, Silas was more surprised than ever. Indeed, +until this day I could not tell you what would have happened to Silas, +had the mate not been providentially beside him to vent his feelings +upon. On that unfortunate officer's back he brought down his great +shoulder-of-mutton fist with a force that made him jump, and his breath +to come and go as if he had just been popped under a shower-bath. + +"Luck's come," he cried. "Hey? hey?" + +And every "hey?" represented a dig in the mate's ribs with the skipper's +thumb of iron. + +"Told ye it would, hey? Didn't I? hey?" + +"What'll the old woman say, hey? Hey, boys? Hey, matie? Hey? Hey?" + +"You gentlemen," said Silas, alter his feelings had calmed down a +trifle, "are all for sport, and Silas has to make a voyage. But you'll +have sport, gentlemen, that ye will. My men are sealing now. They're +among the young seals. It has been nothing but flay, flay, flay, for +the last two rounds of the sun, and there isn't such a very long night +now, is there? And you saw the blood?" + +Saw the blood, reader! Indeed, our heroes had. Where was it that that +blood was not? All the beautiful snow was encrimsoned with it on the +distant field of ice, where the men were carrying on their ghastly work. +It was as if a great battle had been fought there, and the dead crangs +lay in dozens and hundreds. A crang means a carcass. Is the adjective +"dead," then, not unnecessary? What else can a carcass or crang be but +"dead"? Nay, but listen: let me whisper a truth in your ear, and I know +your brave young blood will boil when I tell you: I've known our men, +Englishmen and Scotchmen, flense the lambs while still alive. + +From the field of slaughter the skins were being dragged to the ship by +men with ropes, so there were streaks of red all the way to the ship, +and all the vessel's starboard side was smeared with blood. Indeed, I +do not wish to harrow the feelings of my readers, and I shall but +describe a few of the cruelties of sealing--no, on second thoughts, I +will not even do that, because I know well you will believe me when I +tell you these cruelties are very great, and believing this, if ever you +have an opportunity of voting for a bill or signing a petition to get +poor Greenland seals fair play, I know you will. + +Silas Grig and our heroes took a walk to the field of unequal strife, +and Rory and Allan, to whom all they saw was very new, were not a little +horrified as well as disgusted. + +"This," said McBain, "is the young-sealing. We are not going to assist +you in this; we are sportsmen, not butchers, Captain Grig?" + +Silas grasped McBain's hand. "Your feelings do you credit, sir," he +said--"they do. But I have feelings, too. Yes, a weather-beaten old +stick like me has feelings! But I'm sent out here to make a voyage, and +what can I do? I've a small wife and a large family; and my owners, +too, would sack me if I didn't bring the skins. I say," he added, after +a pause, "you know my mate?" + +"Yes," said McBain. + +"Well," said Silas, "you wouldn't, imagine that a fellow with such an +ugly chunk o' a figure-head as that had feelings, eh? But he has, +though; and during all this young-sealing business we both of us just +drowns our feelings in the rum-bottle. Fact, sir! and old Silas scorns +a lie. But, gentlemen, when all this wicked work is over, when we are +away north from here, among the old seals, and when we can look at that +sun again without seeing blood, then my matie and I banishes Black-Jack +[the gallon measure from which rum is served is so called] and sticks to +coffee and arrowroot; that we do!" + +They had turned their backs on the by no means inviting scene, and were +walking towards the _Canny Scotia_ as Silas spoke. + +"But," said the Greenland mariner, "come and dine with the old man +to-morrow. The last of the young seals will be on board by then, and +we'll have had a wash down; we'll be clean and tidy like. Then hurrah +for the old seals! That's sport, if you like!--that's fair play." + +"Ah!" said McBain, "your heart is in the right place, I can see that. I +wish there were more like you. Do _you_ seal on Sunday? Many do." + +Silas looked solemn. "I knows they do," he said, "but Silas hasn't done +so yet, and he prays he never may be tempted to." + +"Captain Grig, we'll come and dine with you, and we expect you to pay us +the same compliment another day." + +"I daresay you fellows are glad to get home?" said Ralph, rising from +the sofa and throwing down the volume he had been dreaming over. + +"Not a bit of it!" said Rory and Allan, both in one breath; and Rory +added, "You don't know what a funny ship a real Greenlandman is! I +declare you've lost a treat!" + +"Does it smell badly?" asked Ralph, with a slight curl of his upper +lip. + +"Never a taste!" says Rory; "she's as sweet as cowslips or clover, or +newly-made hay; and the bun was beautiful!" + +"The what?" said Ralph. + +"Don't tell him?" cried Allan; "don't tell him!" + +"And the green ginger!" said Rory, smacking his lips. "Ah, yes! the +green ginger," said Allan; "I never tasted anything like that in all my +born days!" + +"Hi, you, Freezing Powders!" cried Rory, "take my coat and out-o'-doors +gear. D'ye hear? Look sharp?" + +"I'm coming, sah; and coming plenty quick!" + +"De-ah me!" from Cockie. + +"Now bring my fiddle, you young rascal, into my cabin;" for Rory, +reader, had that young-sealing scene on his brain, and he would not be +happy till he had played it away. And a wild, weird lilt it was, too, +that he did bring forth. Extempore, did you ask? Certainly, for he +played as he thought and felt; all his soul seemed to enter the cremona, +and to well forth again from the beautiful instrument, now in tones of +plaintive sorrow, now in notes of wrath; and then it stopped all at once +abruptly. That was Rory's way; he had pitched fiddle and bow on the +bed, and presently he returned to the saloon. + +"Are you better?" inquired Allan. Rory only gave a little laugh, and +sat down to read. It had taken McBain nearly a fortnight to get clear +away from the Isle of Jan Mayen, for the frost had set in sharp and +hard, and the great ice-saws had to be worked, and the aid of dynamite +called in to blast the pieces. They were now some ten miles to the +north and east of the island, but, so far as he knew on the day of his +visit to the _Scotia_, he had bidden it farewell for ever. + +It had not been for the mere sake of sport or adventure he had called in +there, he had another reason. Old Magnus, before the sailing--ay, or +even the building--of the _Arrandoon_, had heard that the island was +inhabited by a party of wandering Eskimos. Wherever Eskimos were McBain +had thought there must be dogs, and that was just what was wanting to +complete the expedition--a kennel of sleigh-dogs. But, as we have seen, +the Eskimo encampment was deserted, so McBain had to leave it +disappointed. But, as it turned out, it was only temporarily deserted +after all, and on the very day on which they had arranged to dine with +Skipper Grig, two daring men, chiefs of a tribe of Eskimos, drawn in a +rude sledge, were making their way towards the island. Their team +consisted of over a dozen half-wild dogs, harnessed with ropes of skin +and untanned leather. They seemed to fly across the sea of ice. Hardly +could you see the dogs for the powdery snow that rose in clouds around +them. Well might they hurry, for clouds were banking up in the west, a +low wind came moaning over the dreary plain, and a storm was brewing, +and if it burst upon them ere they reached the still distant island, +then-- + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +SILAS GRIG'S DINNER-PARTY--A NEW MEMBER OF THE MALACOPTERYGII--THE STORM +ON THE SEA OF ICE--BREAK-UP OF THE MAIN PACK--ROUGHING IT AT SEA. + +While those two chiefs of the Eskimo Indians were hurrying their team of +dogs across the sea of ice eastwards, ever eastwards, with the clouds +rising behind them, with the wind whispering and moaning around them, +and sometimes raising the powdery snow in little angry eddies, that +almost hid the plunging dogs from their view, honest Silas Grig, though +somewhat uneasy in his mind as to what kind of weather was brewing, +busied himself nevertheless in preparing what he considered a splendid +dinner for his coming guests. + +"But," he said to his mate, "it will just be like my luck, you know, if +it comes on to blow big guns, and we've got to leave good cheer and put +out to sea." + +"Ah! sir," said the mate, "don't forget luck has turned, you know." + +"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed Silas, "really, matie, I _had_ a'most forgotten." + +And away forward he hurried, to see how the men were getting on +scrubbing decks and cleaning brass-work, and how the cook was getting on +with that mighty sirloin of beef. He took many a ran forward as the day +advanced, often pausing, though, to give an uneasy glance windward, and +at the sun, not yet hidden by the rising clouds. And often as he did so +he shook his head and made some remark to his mate. + +"I tell ye, matie," he said once, "I don't quite like the looks o' 't. +Those clouds ain't natural this time o' the year, and don't you see the +spots in the sun? Why, he is holed through and through like an old +Dutch cheese. Something's brewin'. But, talking of brewin', I wonder +how the soup is getting on?" [In Greenland these sunspots are quite +easily seen by the naked eye.] + +Silas's face was more the colour of a new flower-pot than ever, when +McBain and our three heroes came alongside in their dashing gig, with +its beautiful paint and varnish, snow-white oars, flag trailing astern, +and rudder-ribbons, all complete. + +Rory was steering, and he brought her alongside with a regular admiral's +sweep. + +"Why, she's going away past us!" cried Silas; "no, she ain't. It is the +bow-and-bow business the young 'un's after." + +"In bow?" cried Rory. "Way enough--oars!" + +These were the only three orders Rory needed to give to his men. There +was no shouting of "Easy sta'board!" or "Easy port!" as when a lubber is +coxswain. + +Next moment they were all on deck, shaking hands with the skipper and +his mate. The latter remained on deck; he didn't care for the company +of "quality;" besides, he had to loosen sails, and have all ready to get +in anchors at a minute's notice and put out to sea. + +The skipper of the _Canny Scotia_ had contrived another seat at table, +so there was no such thing as crowding, and the dinner passed off +entirely to his satisfaction. The pea-soup was excellent, neither too +thick nor too thin, and the sippets done to a turn. Then came what +Silas called the whitebait. + +"Which is only my fun, gentlemen," he observed, "seeing that they are +bigger than sprats. Where do I get them? Hey? Why, turn up a piece of +pancake-ice, and there they be sticking in the clear in hundreds, like +bees in a honeycomb, and nothing out but their bits of tails." + +"It is curious," said Rory. "How do they bore the holes, I wonder?" + +"That, young gentleman," replied Silas, "I can't say, never having seen +them at work. Maybe they melt the ice with their noses; they can't make +the holes with their teeth, their bows are too blunt and humble like. +Perhaps, after all, they find the holes ready-made, and just go in for +warmth. Queer, ain't it?" + +"I believe," said Rory, "they belong to the natural order +_Malacopterygii_." + +"The what?" cried Ralph; "but, pray, Row, don't repeat the word. Think +of the small bones; and McFlail isn't here, you know." + +"Of which," continued Rory, "the _Clupeidae_" [Ralph groaned] "form one +of the families, belonging to which are the herring, the sardine, the +whitebait, and sprat." + +"They may be sprats, or they may be young sperm-whales, for anything I +care," said Ralph; "but I do know they are jolly good eating. Captain +Grig, may I trouble you again?" + +With the pudding came the green ginger, that Ralph was so anxious to +taste. + +"The peculiarity of that pudding, gentlemen, is this," said +Silas--"eaten hot it _is_ a pudding, eaten cold it is a bun. The +peculiarity of the green--" + +What more he meant to have said will never be known, for at that moment +the _Canny Scotia_ gave an angry cant to leeward, and away--extemporised +seat and all--went the skipper down upon the sta'board bulkheads; the +coalscuttle, the water-bucket, and the big armchair followed suit, and +there was consequently some little confusion, and a speedy break-up of +the dinner-party. + +McBain's boat was called away, for the ship had slipped her ice-anchors, +and was drifting seaward, with the wind roaring wildly through rigging +and cordage. The gale had come upon them as sudden as a thunderclap. +Good-byes were hastily said, and away pulled the gig. She was in the +lee of the ice and partly sheltered, otherwise they never would have +regained the _Arrandoon_. As it was, the men were almost exhausted when +they got alongside. + +Her anchors were well fast, and her cables were strong; there was little +fear of dragging for some time, so the order was given to at once get up +steam, and that, too, with all speed, for the force of the wind seemed +to increase almost momentarily. On the _Arrandoon's_ decks you could +scarcely have seen anything, for the snow blew blindingly from off the +ice; there was little to be heard either, for the shrill, harsh +whistling of the wind. Men flitted hither and thither like uneasy +ghosts, making things snug, and battening down the principal hatches; on +the bridge, dimly descried, was McBain, speaking-trumpet under arm, and +beside him Stevenson. + +Down below, from fore to aft, everybody was engaged. In the stoke-hole +they were busy, and making goodly use of the American hams; in the +engine-room the engineers were looking well to their gear, with bits of +greasy "pob" in their hands, humming songs as they gave a rub here and a +nib there, though to what end or purpose I couldn't tell you, but +evidently on the best of terms with themselves and their beautiful +engine. The doctor was busy stowing his bottles away, and the steward +was making the pantry shipshape, and our heroes themselves were stowing +away all loose gear in their cabins. Presently they entered the saloon +again, where was Freezing Powders making the cockatoo's cage fast with a +morsel of lanyard. + +"Here's a pretty to-do!" the bird was saying, half choking on a billful +of hemp. "Call the steward!--call the steward!--call the steward!" + +"You jus' console yourse'f," said the boy, "and don't take sich big +mou'fuls o' hemp. Mind, you'll be sea-sick p'esently." + +"De-ah me!" + +"Yes, ye will--dreffully sea-sick. Den you wants to call de steward +plenty quick." + +One ice-anchor came on board; the other--the bow--was cut adrift as the +ship's stern swung round seaward. Almost at the same moment an +explosion was heard close alongside, as if one of the boilers had burst. +The great berg to which they had been anchored had parted company with +the floe, and was evidently bent on going to sea along with the +_Arrandoon_. + +Once they were a little way clear of the ice they could look about them, +the snow no longer blowing over the vessel. The scene was peculiar, and +such as can only be viewed in Greenland under like circumstances. + +The whole field of ice, as far as it was visible, was a smother of +whirling drift; the lofty cone of Jan Mayen, which though miles to the +south'ard and west, had been so well-defined an object against the blue +of the sky, was now blurred and indistinct, and the grey, driving clouds +every now and again quite hid the top of it from view. All along the +edge of the pack the snow was being blown seaward like smoke, or like +the white spray on the rocks where billows break. The eastern horizon +was a chaos of dark, shifting billows, as tall as houses, and +foam-tipped; but near by the ice, although the wind blew already with +the force of a gale, and the surface of the water was churned into +froth, there was not a wave bigger than you would see on a farmer's +mill-pond. + +What a pity it seemed to leave this comparatively smooth water and steam +away out into the centre of yonder mighty conflict 'twixt wind and wave. +But well every one on board knew that to remain where they were was but +to court destruction, for the noise that proceeded from the ice-fields +told them the pack was breaking up. Ay, and bergs were already forging +ahead of them, and surrounding them. Ere they were a mile from the +floes they found this out, and the danger from the floating masses of +ice was very real indeed. Every minute the pieces were hurtled with all +the force of the waves against the sturdy vessel's weather-side, +threatening to stave her; nor could McBain, who never left the bridge +until the vessel was well out to sea, avoid at times stemming the bergs +that appeared ahead of him. For often two would present themselves at +one time, and one must be stemmed--the smaller of the twain; for to have +come in collision bow on, would have meant foundering. + +But at length the danger was past as far as the ice was concerned, +though now the seas were mountains high, and of Titanic force; so after +an hour or two the _Arrandoon_ lay to, and having seen the lights all +properly placed, and extra hands put on the look-out--having, in fact, +done everything a sailor could do for the safety of his ship, McBain +came down below. + +In shining oil-skins and dripping sou'-wester, he looked like some queer +sea-monster that had just been caught and hauled on board. + +He looked a trifle more human, however, when the steward had marched off +with his outer garments. + +"Is she snug?" asked Allan. + +"Ay, lads, as snug as she is likely to be to-night," replied McBain; +"but she doesn't like it, I can tell you, and the gale seems increasing +to hurricane force. How is the glass, Rory?" + +"Not so very low," said Rory; "not under twenty-nine degrees." + +"But concave at the top?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Well, well," said McBain, "content yourselves, boys, for I think we'll +have days of it. I for one don't want to see much more of the ice while +this blow lasts. But what a splendid fire you have! Steward, mind you +put on the guard last thing to-night." + +"Why the guard?" asked Rory. + +"Because," explained McBain, "I feel certain that many a good ship has +been burned at sea by the fire falling out of the grate; a wave or a +piece of ice hits her on the bows, the fire flies out of the stove, no +one is below, and so, and so--" + +"Yes," said Ralph, "that is very likely, and pray don't let us speak of +anything very dreadful to-night. List! how the wind roars, to be sure! +But to change the subject--Peter." + +"Ay, ay, sir." + +"Is supper ready?" + +"Very nearly, sir." + +"Well, tell Seth to come, and Magnus." + +"Ho! ho!" said McBain, "that's it, is it?" + +"What a comfort on a night like this," Allan remarked, "it is to be +shipmates with two such fellows as Ray and Row, the epicure and the +poet--the one to cater for the corporeal, the other for the mental man." + +The ship was pitching angrily, dipping her bows deep down under the +solid seas and raising them quickly again, but not neglecting to ship +tons of water every time, which found its way aft, so that down in the +saloon they could hear it washing about overhead and pouring past the +ports into the sea. + +"Steady, sir, steady," cried Magnus, entering the saloon. He was +speaking to Seth, who had preceded him. He didn't walk in, he came in +head first, and was now lying all his length on the saloon floor. + +But Rory and Allan lifted him tenderly up again and seated him on the +couch, amid such remarks as, "No bones broken, I do hope," "Gently does +it, Seth, old man," "Have you really left your sea-legs forward?" "Call +the steward," the last remark being the cockatoo's. + +"I reckon," said the old trapper, rubbing his elbows and knees, "there +ain't any bones given way this time, but that same is more chance than +good management." + +After supper--which was of Ralph's own choosing, I need not say more--a +general adjournment was made to the after-cabin, or snuggery, and here +every one adopted attitudes of comfort around the blazing stove, in +easy-chairs, on sofas, or on rugs and skins on the deck; there they sat, +or lounged, or lay. The elders had their pipes, the youngsters coffee. +But with the pitching and rolling of the ship it was not very easy +either to sit, or lounge, or lie, nor was it advisable to leave the +coffee in the cup for any length of time; nevertheless everybody was +happy, for wondrous little care had they on their minds. Oh! how wild +and tempestuous the night was, and how madly the seas leapt and tossed +around them! But they had a ship they could trust, and, better by far, +a Power above them which they had learned to put confidence in. + +Seth, to-night, was in what Ralph called fine form. His stories of +adventure, told in his dry, droll, inimitable way, were irresistible. +De Vere's face never once lacked a smile on it; he loved to listen +though he could not talk. + +Old Magnus also had some queer tales to tell, his relation of them +affording Seth breathing space. Several times during the evening Rory +played, and the doctor tooted, as he called it. + +Thus merrily and pleasantly sped the time--every one doing his best to +amuse his neighbours--until eight bells rang out, then all retired. + +It is on such a night as this that the soundest sleep visits the pillow +of your thorough sailor--the roar of the wind overhead, the rocking of +the ship, and the sound of the waves close by the ear, all conduce to +sweetest slumber. + +There was little if any improvement in the weather next day, nor for +several days; but cold and stormy though it was, to be on the bridge, +holding on--figuratively speaking--by the eyelids, was a glorious treat +for our sailor heroes. The masts bent like fishing-rods beneath the +force of the gale. At times the good ship heeled until her yard-ends +ploughed the waves, and if a sea struck her then, the spray leapt higher +than the main-truck, and the green water made a clean breach over her. +On the second day the clouds were all blown away, but the wind retained +its force, and the waves their power and magnitude. Every wave +threatened to come inboard, and about one out of ten did. Those that +didn't went singing astern, or got in under the _Arrandoon_, and tossed +her all they could. The frost was intense, and in some way or other, I +think, accounted for the strange singing noise emitted by those waves +that went past without breaking. But it was when one great sea followed +swiftly on the heels of another that the good ship suffered most, +because she would probably be down by the head when she received salute +number two. It was thus she had her bulwarks smashed, and one good boat +rent into matchwood and cast away. + +It was no easy task to reach the bridge, nor to rush therefrom and +regain the saloon companion. You had to watch the seas, and were +generally pretty safe if you made use of arms and legs just after one or +two big waves had done their worst; but Allan once, and Rory three +times, were washed into the scuppers, and more bruised than they cared +to own. Ralph seldom came on deck, and the doctor just once got his +head above the companion; for this piece of daring he received a sea in +the teeth, which he declared nearly cut his head off. He went down +below to change his clothes, and never came up again. + +On the third day, in the dog-watch, the wind fell, and the sea went down +considerably. Had the gale blown from the east, the sea would have been +in no such hurry to go down, but it had continued all the time to blow +steadily from off the ice. What a strange sight the _Arrandoon_ now +presented! She was a ship of glass and snow. Funnel, masts, and +rigging were, or seemed to be, composed of frosted crystal. The funnel, +Rory declared, looked like a stalactite from "the cave of a thousand +winters." Her bows were lumbered with ice feet thick, and from stem to +stern there was no more liveliness in the good _Arrandoon_ than there is +in a Dutch collier. + +As soon as the wind fell a man was sent up aloft, and the order was +given,-- + +"All hands clear ship of ice." + +But hark! there is a shout from the crow's-nest. + +"Large ship down to leeward, sir, apparently in distress." + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +THE STORM--THE "CANNY SCOTIA" IN DISTRESS--RUM, MUTINY, ANARCHY, AND +DEATH--SAVED--ADVENTURE WITH A SHE-BEAR--CAPTURE OF THE YOUNG. + +Has it not been said that the greatest pleasure on earth is felt on the +sudden surcease of severe pain? I am inclined, though, to doubt the +truth of this statement, and I think that nothing can equal the feeling +of quiet, calm joy that is instilled into the heart on the instant one +is plucked from the jaws of impending death. When the King of Terrors +comes speedily, while the blood is up and the heart beating high, as he +does to those who fall in the field of battle, his approach does not +seem anything like so terrible as when he lags in his march towards his +victim. One needs to have a hope that leads his thoughts beyond this +world, to be brave and calm at such a moment. + +When the _Canny Scotia_ slipped her ice-anchors and was driven out to +sea, to encounter all the fury of the gale that had so suddenly sprung +up, she had not the advantages of the _Arrandoon_. She had no steam +power, nor was she so well manned. She could therefore only scud under +bare poles, or lie to with about as much canvas spread as would make a +mason's apron. + +Silas didn't mean to be caught napping, however, and, as quickly as he +could, he got the tarpaulins down over the hatches, took in all spare +canvas, and did all he could for the best. Alas! the best was bad. The +_Scotia_ made fearful weather, and twenty-four hours after it had come +on to blow, she had not a topmast standing, two of her best boats had +been carried away, her bulwarks looked like a badly-built farmer's +paling, and, worse than all, she was stove amidships on the weather-side +and under the water-line. When this last disaster was reported to Silas +Grig, he called all hands to "make good repairs," and stem the flow of +the water, which was rushing inboard like a mill-stream through the ugly +hole in the vessel's side. Had it been calm weather, this might have +been done effectually enough, but, under the circumstances, it was +simply an impossibility. Everything was done, however, that could be +done, but still the seas poured in at every lurch to windward. + +Then it was "All hands to the pumps." The men worked in relays, and +cheerily, too, and for a time the water was sent overboard faster than +it came in, albeit there were times when the green seas poured over the +ship like mountain cataracts. But after some hours, either through the +men flagging, or from the hole in the ship's side getting larger, the +water in the hold began to gain rapidly on them. + +"Bring up black-jack!" cried the skipper to the steward, "and we'll +splice the main-brace." + +"Now hurrah! lads!" he exclaimed, addressing the men after a liberal +allowance of rum had been handed round. "Hurrah! heave round again. +The storm has about spent itself and the sea is going down. We can keep +her afloat if we try. Hurrah then, hurrah!" + +"Hurrah!" echoed the men in response, and, flushed with artificial +strength, they once more set themselves with redoubled energy to keep +the water under. There was no danger now from ice. The piece that had +wrought them so much mischief was about the last they had seen. So for +a time all went well, and if the water did not decrease it certainly did +not rise. An hour went by, then a deputation came aft to beg for more +rum, and the fate of this vessel, like that of many another lost at sea, +seemed sealed by the awful drink curse. + +"It's hardly judicious," said Silas to his mate, "but I suppose they +must have it." + +Ah! Silas Grig, it was not judicious to serve them with the first +allowance. When hard work is over and finished, and men are worn out +and tired, then is the time, if ever, to splice the main-brace; but when +work has to be done that needs clear heads, and when danger is all +around a ship, the farther away the rum is the better. + +They had it, though, and presently they were singing as they pumped-- +singing, but not working half so hard as before. Then even the singing +itself ceased; they were getting tired and drowsy, and yet another +allowance of rum was asked and granted. + +The water rose higher in the hold. + +When the men heard this report they would work no more. With one accord +they desisted from their labours, and a deputation of the boldest found +their way aft. + +"It is no use, Captain Silas Grig," they said, addressing their skipper; +"the ship is going down, and we mean to die jolly. Bring up the rum." + +"This is mutiny," cried the captain, pulling out a revolver. "I'll +shoot the first man dead that dares go down that cabin staircase." + +"Captain," said one of the men, stepping forward, "will you let me speak +to you? I've nothing but friendly feelings towards you." + +"Well," replied the skipper, "what have you to say?" + +"This," said the man; "let us have no murder. Put up your +shooting-irons. It is all in vain. The men _will_ have rum. Hark! +d'ye hear that?" + +"I heard a knocking below," said the skipper. "What does it mean?" + +Before the man could reply there was a wild shout from the half-deck. + +"It means," replied the man, "that the men have broken through the cabin +bulkheads and supplied themselves." + +"Then Heaven help us!" said poor bewildered Silas. + +He staggered to the seat beside the skylight and sat down, holding on by +the brass glass-guards. + +A moment after the mate joined him. + +"You haven't been drinking, matie," said Silas, glancing gloomily +upwards, "have you?" + +"No, sir, nor the second mate, nor the steward, nor the spectioneer," +was the mate's reply. "Give us your hand, sir. We've had words +together often; let us forgive each other now. God bless you, sir, and +if die together we must, we won't die like pigs, at all events." + +There was anarchy forward, anarchy and wild revelry, and cruel brawls +and fighting, but the five men aft stuck together, and tried to comfort +each other, though there was hardly a hope in their hearts that their +vessel would be saved. A long evening wore away, a kind of +semi-darkness settled over the sea, but this short night soon gave place +once more to-day. Then down forward all was quiet; the revellers were +sleeping the stertorous sleep of the drunkard. + +But the wind had fallen considerably, and the seas had gone down; the +broken waves no longer sung in the frosty air, but the ship rolled like +a half-dead thing in the trough of the sea. She was water-logged. + +With infinite difficulty the mates, with the steward's assistance, +stretched more canvas, while the captain took the helm. She heeled over +to it, and looked as if she hardly cared to right again. But this +brought the hole in her side into view. Then they got heavy blankets +up, and, working as they had never worked before, they managed in an +hour and a half to staunch the leak from the outside. + +Hope began to rise in their hearts, and, at the bidding of the skipper, +the steward went below and brought up a large tin of preserved soup. + +"Ah! men," said poor Silas, "this is better than all the rum in the +world." + +And it was, for it gave them strength and heart. They went away down +below next to the galley and half-deck, and tried to rouse some of the +men. They found five of them stark and stiff, and from the others came +nothing but groans and oaths. + +So they went to the pumps themselves, and worked away for hours for dear +life itself. + +Oh! what a joyful sight it was for them when, in answer to their signal +of distress, they saw the good ship _Arrandoon_ coming steaming down +towards them. + +Then the grim raven Death, who had been hovering over the seemingly +doomed ship, flapped his ragged wings and flew slowly away. + +They were saved! + +Oil was pumped upon the water between the _Arrandoon_ and _Scotia_, to +round off the curling, comb-like peaks of the waves, and a boat was +lowered from the steamer and sent to the assistance of the distressed +vessel. + +The ship was pumped out, and next day, the weather becoming once more +fine, she was towed towards the island of Jan Mayen, and made fast to a +floe. She was next heeled over and the repairs completed. The +_Arrandoon_ spared them a few spars, and plenty of willing hands to +hoist them, so that in a few days the Greenland sealer was as strong as +ever. + +Silas Grig was a very happy man now. The unfortunate wretches who had +flown to meet their fate were sunk in the dark waters of the sea of ice, +but this rough but kindly-hearted skipper never let one upbraiding word +escape him towards his men, and the men knew they were forgiven, and +liked their skipper none the less for his extreme forbearance. + +"Do you know what I have done?" said Silas to McBain. + +"You have forgiven your men, haven't you?" replied McBain. + +"Ay, that I have," said Silas, "but I have staved every cask of rum on +board, and black-jack is thrown overboard." + +All along the west coast or shore of the island of Jan Mayen our heroes, +on their re-arrival there, found that the water was comparatively clear, +the bergs having been driven away out to sea on the wings of the wind, +so that by breaking the light bay ice the boats could approach quite +close to the snow-clad cliffs. + +Our three boys--for boys we must continue to call them for the sake of +the days of "auld lang syne"--were glad to set foot on shore again, and +with them went old Seth and the doctor. Freezing Powders was also +invited, but his reply was, "No, sah! thank you all de same. But only +dis chile not want anoder bad winter wid a yellow bear!" + +"`Adventure' you mean, don't you?" said Rory. + +"Dat is him, sah!" replied the boy. "I not want no more dancin' for de +dear life." + +"But the yellow bear was killed, Freezing Powders," persisted Allan. + +"But him's moder not killed," said the lad, with round, open eyes. "You +seem to hab 'tirely forgotten dat, sah; and p'raps de moder is much +worse dan de son." + +So they went without him. Well armed were they, and provisioned for a +day at all events. + +Somewhat to their surprise, they found smoke issuing from the once +deserted huts, while a whole pack of dogs started up from where they had +been lying and attempted to bar their progress. But the same two hardy +chiefs of the Eskimos whom we last saw speeding along over the sea of +ice, with the snow-wind roaring around them, came forth, quieted the +dogs, and bade them kindly welcome. + +In their broken English they told them the tale of their adventurous +journey across the pack from the far-off western land of Greenland, and +of the narrow escape they had had from the violence of the sudden storm. + +Then they led the way, not into one of the small huts, but into the +large central one. + +"We are making him fit and warm and good," they explained, "for our big +'Melican masta. He come directly. To-day we see his boat not far off-- +a two-stick boat, with plenty mooch sail." + +The "two-stick boat" which the chiefs referred to was a saucy little +Yankee yacht, that on this very morning was cruising off the island. + +Our heroes spent several hours in the hut, seated by the blazing logs, +listening delightedly to a description of the strange country these +chiefs called their home--a country that few white men have ever yet +visited, and where certainly none have ever wintered. + +But I cannot repeat all the strangers told them about the manners and +customs of their countrymen, the dress of the men and women, their +fishing and hunting exploits, their fierce though petty wars with other +tribes, and the wonderful life they lead throughout the summer and +during the long, drear, sunless season of winter. + +"Ah!" said Rory, with a bit of a sigh, "I do like to hear these men talk +about their wild land in the Far West. We must come again and make them +tell us a deal more. I've half a mind to set out with them when they +return, and live among them for some months. I say, Ray, wouldn't it be +glorious to go surging over the ice-fields drawn by a hundred +fleet-footed hounds?" + +"Drawn by a hundred hounds!" cried Allan, laughing. "Draw it mild, +Rory." + +"Well," said Rory, "more or less, you know." + +"Besides," Ralph put in, "these are not hounds, Rory; there is more of +the wolf about them than the hound." + +"Och, botheration?" replied Rory; "you're too particular. But if I went +with these men, and dwelt among their tribes for a time, then I'd go to +press when I came back to old England." + +"A book of adventure?" said Allan. + +"Ah, yes!" said Rory; "a book, if you please, but not dry-as-dust prose, +my boys! I'd write an epic poem." + +Talking thus, away they went on an exploring expedition, Rory riding the +high horse, building any number of castles in the air, and giving the +reins to his wonderful imagination. + +"I reckon, Mr Rory," said Seth, "that you'd make the fortune of any +publisher that liked to take you up. You try New York, I guess that'd +suit you; and, if you like, you shall write the life of old trapper +Seth." + +"Glorious!" cried Rory; "`A Life in the Forests of the Far West.' +Hurrah! I'll do it! You wait a bit. Look, look! What is that?" + +"It's a white fox," said Seth, bowling the animal over before the others +had time to draw a bead on it. + +But that white fox, with a few loons, and five guillemots--which, by the +way, when skinned, are excellent eating--were all they bagged that day. + +McBain and Stevenson had better luck though, they had seen a gigantic +bear prowling around among the rough ice beneath the cliffs, and had +called away a boat and gone after it. + +"O! sah!" cried Freezing Powders, running up to McBain as he was going +over the side. "Don't go, sah! I can see de yellow bear's moder and +two piccaninnies on de ice. She is one berry bad woman. She make you +dance to please de piccaninnies, den she gobble your head off. Don't +you go, sah! You not look nice widout a head. Dat am my impression, +sah." + +There was nothing of the sensational about McBain's adventure with the +bear, but something of the sad. The captain of the _Arrandoon_ was not +the man to take the life of even a bear while in company of her young +ones, but he well knew how terrible and how bloodthirsty such an animal +is, and how cunning in her ferocity. He shuddered as he thought of +Allan or Rory heedlessly passing the cave or crevasse in the rocks where +she lay concealed, and being pounced upon and dragged in to be torn limb +from limb. So he determined she must die. + +Once landed, they almost immediately sighted her, and gave chase. Alone +she might have escaped; but in dread terror the young ones leapt on her +back and thus hampered her movements. [She-bears with young ones are +easily got up to and killed on this account.] She then turned fiercely +at bay, coming swiftly on to the attack, bent upon a fearful vengeance +if she could only accomplish it. + +"Stand by, Stevenson," cried McBain, dropping on one knee, "to fire if I +don't kill at once." + +The monster held her head low as she advanced, and a less experienced +hunter would have made this the target. McBain knew better. He aimed +at the lower part of the neck, and the bear fell pierced through the +great artery of the heart. Yet so near had he allowed the animal to +come before firing, that Stevenson, trembling for his safety, had +brought his own rifle to the shoulder. + +Then those two poor young bears stood up to fight for their dead dam, +giving vent to growls of grief and rage. + +"We can take them alive, sir," said Stevenson. "Come along, lads." +This last sentence was addressed to the boat's crew. "Come along quick, +and bring the ropes." + +Had old Seth been there, these young Bruins would soon have been +lassoed. But McBain's men were not over expert at such work. They did +manage to rope one in a few minutes, but the other gave them a deal of +trouble--sport one man erroneously called it. He invariably flew at the +man who tried to throw the rope, and the man invariably made his feet +his friends, thus giving another man a chance to try his skill. If he +failed he had to run next, and so on until at long last one more adroit +or more fortunate than his fellow succeeded in throwing the lasso over +the young bear's neck, and brought it half strangled to the ice. + +"A present for you, Captain Grig," cried McBain, pulling alongside the +_Canny Scotia_ with his double capture. + +Silas was delighted when he saw the two live bears. "Heaven bless you, +sir!" he exclaimed. "Why, sir, they'll fetch forty pounds each in the +London _too_. Forty pounds, sir! Think o' that. Eighty pounds for the +two o' them. Keep my little wife and all the family for a month o' +Sundays. Hurrah! matie, luck's turned." + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. + +A NEW ARRIVAL--THE DOGS--TRAPPER SETH BECOMES KENNEL-MAN--PREPARATIONS +FOR A GREAT SEAL HUNT--THE GREENLAND BEAR. + +On the very day that McBain shot the great she-bear--for it was one of +the largest that ever fell before a sportsman's gun--on that day, and on +the afternoon of that day, just as our heroes were about to leave the +island and re-embark on the _Arrandoon_, there landed from off that +saucy "little two-stick yacht" one of the tallest Yankees that ever +stepped in boots. + +Seth squeezed the hand of this countryman of his till tears sprang into +the stranger's eyes; and they were not tears of emotion, nor sentiment +either, but of downright pain. + +"I say, siree?" cried the newcomer, shaking his hand and looking at the +tips of his fingers, "patriotism and brotherly love are both beautiful +things in their way, but when it comes to squeezing the blood out from +under a fellow's finger-nails, then I say, bother brotherly love." + +"I'm proud to meet you, sir," exclaimed Seth, "let us shake hands once +more." + +"Never a shake, old man," said the stranger; "let us admire each other +at a respectable distance. But come, gentlemen all," he continued, +turning to the others, "you ain't going on board just yet. Come up with +me to my house. I daresay you've been there already; but come back and +break bread with Nathaniel Cobb, sometimes called the Little Wonder, +because I ain't much more'n seven feet high." + +Nat Cobb's boat's crew were Norwegians every one of them, short, +somewhat squat, fair-haired fellows, but as active and bustling as a +corresponding number of well-bred fox-terriers. A couple of them were +moving on ahead now, with an immense basket between them. + +"That's the dinner," said the Little Wonder; "and you'll find there's +enough for all hands, too." + +"Well, gentlemen," Nat said, when everybody had done justice to the good +things placed before them, "let us drink each other's healths in a cup +of fragrant mocha, for that's the wine for Greenland weather. +Gentlemen, I look around me at your smiling faces, and I pledge you and +bid you welcome to my island of Jan Mayen." + +"Hallo!" thought Rory, "_your_ island." + +"Yes, gentlemen," continued Nat, looking as if he really read Rory's +thoughts, "_my_ island. Six months and more ago I annexed it, and +to-morrow once again the stars and stripes will proudly flutter from +yonder flagstaff, and the bird o' freedom will soar over this wild +mountain land." + +Apart from his queer, half-boastful speech, Nat Cobb was a very +agreeable companion. + +He was very frank at all events. + +After looking at Rory for the space of half a minute, he suddenly +stretched out his hand. + +"I like you," he said, "muchly, and I like you all. It is from men like +you that the mightiest republic in the world has been built. But why +don't you speak more, Rory, as your messmates call you?" + +"Ach! troth?" said Rory, "and sure I'm driving _tandem_ with the +thinking." + +"And you're wondering," said Nat, "where a piece of elongated mortality +like myself stretches himself of a night on board the _Highflier_?" + +"Seeing," replied Rory, laughing, "that you're about as long as the +keel, and maybe a bit longer, I may well wonder that same; and unless +you lean against a mast, I don't quite see how you can stretch +yourself." + +"Well, young sir, I'll tell you how I do it. I double up into four, and +lie on my back! that is how it's done." + +The Little Wonder went off with our party to the _Arrandoon_; and as +Yankees are ever ready to trade, he had not been long on board when +McBain had purchased from him a dozen of his best dogs. They were to be +kept until the ship returned from a week's sport among the old seals, +then taken on board just before the _Arrandoon_ left for the extreme +north. Old Seth was duly told off to superintend the erection of +kennels, forward near the bows, and old Seth was in his glory in +consequence. + +"I'll feel myself o' some kind o' use now," he said. "Kennel-man in +ordinary to the _Arrandoon_, a free house and victuals found, I guess it +ain't half a bad sitivation." + +About a week after this--the Greenland sealer having been made as good +as new again--the Jan Mayen fleet sailed away from the island, and +directed its course about north-and-by-east. First on the line went the +noble _Arrandoon_ sailing, not steaming, for a nice beam wind was +blowing; next came the _Canny Scotia_ with her tall, tapering spars; and +the saucy _Highflier_, with her fore-and-aft canvas, brought up the +rear. + +Nathaniel Cobb was Arctic meteorologist to a private company of American +scientists, but his time was pretty much his own, and he didn't mind +spending a week or a fortnight of it among the old seals. He wanted a +skin or two anyhow, he said, to make a warm carpet for his "house," and +some oil to burn for fuel, but promised that everything beyond what he +really wanted which happened to fall to his gun should be given to +Silas. + +Silas Grig was never happier in his life than he was now. Luck had +indeed turned, fortune was about to favour him for once in a way. His +would be a bumper ship, full to the hatches, with a bing of skins on +deck that he wouldn't be able to find room for below. And when he +returned to Peterhead, flags would fly and bands would play, and his +little wife and he would live happy ever after. + +McBain wanted to show his young companions a little genuine sport, and +at the same time do a good turn to honest Silas, by helping him to a +voyage; while the former, on the other hand, were all excitement and +bustle, for the _Arrandoon_ was about to be transformed into a sealer; +and the idea being such a perfectly new one, was correspondingly +appreciated. + +The little fleet kept well together; it would not have suited them to +part company, although, even on a wind, without the aid of her boilers, +the _Arrandoon_ could easily have shown her consorts a pair of clean +heels. The doctor himself was led away with enthusiasm, and longed to +draw a bead, as Seth called it, on a bear itself. He had chosen a rifle +from the box, cleaned and polished it, and called it his own. + +"I've never shot a wild beast," he explained to Rory, "but, man, if I +get the chance, I'll have a try." + +"Bravo!" cried Rory, "and you're sure to get the chance, you know." + +The ice was loose, although the weather was clear and very frosty. +There was a heaving motion in the main pack that prevented the bergs +from getting frozen together, but for all that the fleet kept well clear +of it, for fear of getting beset. Patches of old seals might, it is +true, have been found far in among the ice, but the risk was too great +to run, so McBain kept to the outside edge, and the others followed his +example. + +Silas Grig was invited on board the _Arrandoon_; and proud he was when +the captain told him that he could choose five-and-twenty of his best +men, and superintend their preparations for going after the seals. The +third mate might be one of the number, but neither Stevenson nor +Mitchell was to be allowed to go, although McBain did not object to +these officers, or even the engineers, having a day's sport now and +then. + +It was a glorious morning--for Greenland--when Captain McBain called all +hands, in order that Silas might choose the men who were to assist him +in making his fortune. The sun was shining as brightly as ever it does +in England, and there wasn't too much wind to blow the cold through and +through one. Either of the officers might have passed for old men, if +white hairs make men look old, for their hair, whiskers, and moustachios +were coated with hoar-frost ice. Our heroes had just finished +breakfast, all of them having had a cold sea-bath to give them a glow +before they sat down, and were now walking briskly up and down the +quarter-deck, talking merrily and laughing. + +The _Scotia_ had her foreyard aback, and the _Arrandoon_ had also +stopped her way, and yonder was Silas in his boat coming rapidly over +the rippling water towards the steamer, the skipper himself standing +like a gondolier and steering with an oar in true whaler fashion. + +"Now, lads," cried Silas, when the men of the _Arrandoon_ lay aft in +obedience to orders. "You're a fine lot, I must say; every man Jack o' +ye is better than the other; but I just want the men that have been to +the country before. The men among ye that know a seal-club from a +toastin'-fork, or a lowrie-tow from a bell-rope, just elevate a hand, +will ye?" + +[Lowrie-tow--the rope with which the men drag the skins to the ship's +side.] + +No less than fifteen gloved hands were waved aloft. Silas was +delighted, and did not take long to choose the remaining ten. + +"You'll go on the ice by twos, you know, men," he continued, "and when +one o' ye tumbles into the water, why, the other'll simply pull him out. +Nothing easier." + +All these hands were to be clubsmen and draggers, while "the guns," as +they were called, comprised the following: Ralph, Rory, Allan, Sandy the +surgeon, De Vere the aeronaut, Seth trapper, and the third mate, seven +in all, and warranted to give a good account of the seals, and keep the +men steadily on drag if the sport was anything like good. + +Having made these preliminary arrangements, the men were dismissed, and +Silas spent the rest of the day forward with old Ap the carpenter and +the sail-maker. And very busy the whole four of them were, too, for +three dozen daggers or seal-knives had to be fitted with sheaths of +leather, and belts to go round the men's waists, and three dozen +lowrie-tows, with the same number of seal-clubs, had to be got ready. + +I saw the other day an engraving of a sealing scene in Greenland, +evidently done by an artist who had never been in the Arctic regions in +his life, and who had therefore trusted to his imagination, which had +led him far from the truth. In this picture there is a ship under +canvas: error Number 1, for sealers always clue or brail up before the +men go over the side. The ice is tall and pinnacled: error Number 2, +for the ice the old seals lie on is either flat or hummocky. The men on +the ice are leaping madly from berg to berg and clubbing _old_ seals: +error Number 3, for unless old seals get positively frozen out of the +water by the pieces becoming fast together, they will not wait to be +clubbed. You may catch a weasel asleep, but never an old seal. Lastly, +in this picture, the men are wielding clubs that have evidently been +borrowed from some gymnasium: this constitutes error Number 4, for +seal-clubs are nothing like these. They are more like an ancient +battle-axe; the shaft is about four or five feet long and made of +strong, tough wood, while through the top of this terrible weapon is run +the part that does the execution--a square piece of iron or steel-- +sharpened at one end, hammer-like at the other, and nearly a foot long. +With this instrument a strong man has been known to lay a Greenland bear +dead with one blow. No one of course would dare to attack a bear armed +with a club alone, but instances have occurred where the bear has been +the aggressor, and where the man had to defend himself as best he could. + +One word parenthetically about the great Polar or ice bear. Until I had +first seen the carcass of one lying flensed on the ice, I could not have +believed that any wild beast could attain such gigantic proportions. +The footprints of this monster were as large as an ordinary pair of +kitchen bellows. The pastern, or ankle, seemed as wide as the paw, and +as near as I could guess about thirty inches round; the forearms and +hind-legs were of tremendous strength; so too were the shoulders and +loin. An animal like this with one stroke can slay the largest seal in +Greenland, and could serve the biggest lion that ever roared in an +African jungle precisely the same. As to the voice, it is hardly so +fearful as the lion's, but heard, as I heard it one night on the pack, +within two yards of me, it is sufficiently appalling, to say the least +of it. It is a sort of half-cough, half roar. As trapper Seth +described it after his adventure at the cave in Jan Mayen, when little +Freezing Powders so nearly lost the number of his mess: + +"The roar of a healthy Greenland bear, when the owner of it is so close +ye could kick him, is a kind o' confusin'; it shakes your innards +considerable, and makes ye think the critter has swallowed the thick end +of a thunderstorm and is tryin' to work it up again." + +An elephant--a tusker--is no joke when he loses his temper and comes +after you, nor is a lion or tiger when he thinks he can do you a +mischief, but I would rather face either of them twice over than I would +an ice bear with his back up, if I myself were unarmed. I was very +young, by the way, when I found myself confronted with my first +Greenland bear, but I well remember both what my thoughts were at the +time, and what were my feelings. The truth is, I had made the captain +promise he would give me a chance to go and fight one of these terrible +giants of the ice. He did so in good time, and I confess that as the +boat neared the pack--I being in the bows--I suddenly discovered that I +was not half so brave as I had previously imagined. The bear did not +run away, as I fear I had almost wished that he would. He simply +waited, looking at us somewhat inquiringly; and when I landed, all +alone, mind you, he came along to meet me, and inquire what I wanted, +and I hated him while I envied him for his coolness. He seemed to say, +"Why, you're only a boy; just wait till I get alongside you, and I'll +show you how I treat boys. I'll turn you inside out." I had to wait. +Wild horses couldn't have tom me from the spot, where I had dropped on +one knee. Oh! I can assure you, I would have liked, well enough, to +run away, but with all the ship's crew looking at me--? No; death +rather than live a coward. On came Bruin, much to my disgust; I would +have felt as brave as a lion had he only shown me his heels. Then these +questions chased each other through my brain: "How near will I let the +beggar come before I fire? Shall I hit him on the head, or shoot him in +the chest? and, What shall I do if the rifle misses fire?" + +Bruin still advanced at a shambling trot. Then I brought my rifle to +the shoulder and took aim, glancing along the glimmering barrel till I +could only see the _vise_ at the end, and immediately beyond that +Bruin's yellow breast. Bang, bang! I dare say it really was myself who +pulled those two triggers of my double-barrelled rifle, but at the time +I felt as if I had nothing at all to do with it. Then there was a shout +from the boat, and a shout from the ship. Bruin was dead, and I was the +hero; but somehow I did not feel that I deserved the praise which I +received. Yet, after all, I daresay I only felt in this encounter as +most boys would have felt. Doing anything dangerous is always nasty at +first, but when one gains confidence in himself, then is the time one +knows-- + + "That strange joy that warriors feel + In foemen worthy of their steel." + +CHAPTER NINETEEN. + +"SILAS GRIG, HIS YARN"--THE WHITE WHALE--AFLOAT ON AN ICEBERG--A DREARY +JOURNEY--BEAR ADVENTURES--"THE SEALS! THE SEALS!" + +There was only one subject in the whole world that Silas Grig was +thoroughly conversant with, and that was the manners and customs of his +friends the seals. Had you started talking upon either politics or +science, or the state of Europe or Ireland, Silas would have become +silent at once. He would have retired within himself; his soul, so to +speak, would have gone indoors, and not come out again until you had +done. Such was Silas; and he confessed frankly that he had never sung a +song nor made a speech in his lifetime. He was a perfect enthusiast +while talking about the natural family _Phocidae_. No naturalist in the +world knew half so much about them as Silas. On the evening of the day +in which he had chosen his men from the crew of the _Arrandoon_, he was +pronounced by both Ralph and Rory to be in fine form. He was full of +anecdote, and even tales of adventure, so our heroes allowed him to +talk, and indeed encouraged him to do so. + +"What!" he cried, his honest, fear-nothing face lighting up with smiles +as he eyed Rory across the table after dinner. "Spin you a yarn, d'ye +say? ah! boy, and you'll excuse me calling ye a boy. Silas never could +tell a story, and I don't suppose he ever had an adventure as signified +much to you in his life." + +"Never mind," insisted Rory, "you tell us something, and I'll play you +that old tune you so dearly love." + +"Ah! but," said Silas, "if my matie were only here; now you wouldn't +think, gentlemen,"--here he glanced round the table as seriously as if +contradiction were most unlikely--"you wouldn't think that a fellow like +that, with such an ugly chunk of a head, had any sentiment; but he has, +though, and he owns the prettiest wife and the smartest family in all +Peterhead." + +"Look here," cried Rory, "be quiet about your matie. Sure this is what +we're waiting for." + +He exhibited the doctor's slate as he spoke, and on the back thereof, +behold! in large letters, the words,-- + +"Silas Grig, His Yarn." + +Silas laughed till his sides ached, his eyes watered, the chair creaked, +and the rafters rang. It was a pleasant sight to see. After this he +lit up a huge meerschaum pipe, "hoping there was no offence," cleared +his throat, turning his face upwards at the pendent compass, as if +seeking help there. Then he began,-- + +"Of the earlier days of Silas Grig little need be said. I daresay he +was no better and no worse than other boys. He nearly plagued the life +out of his grandmother, and drove three maiden aunts to the verge of +distraction, and made any amount of work for the tailor and the +shoemaker; and when they couldn't stand him any longer at home they sent +him to school, reminding the teacher ere they left him there, that to +spare the rod was to spoil the child. The teacher didn't forget that; +he whipped me three times a day, drilled me through the English grammar +and Grey's arithmetic, then flogged me into Caesar; and when I +translated the passage, `Caesar triduas vias fecit' [Caesar made three +days' journey.] into `Caesar made three roads,' the dominie gave me such +a dressing that I followed Caesar's example--I made three days' journey +due north, and never returned to my maiden aunts, nor the dominie +either. + +"I found myself now in the heart of what I then took to be a big town, +for I wasn't very big myself, you know. It was only Peterhead, after +all. I marched boldly down to the docks, and on board a great +raking-masted Greenlandman. + +"`What use would you be?' inquired the skipper when I told him what I +wanted. `Bless me!' he added, `you ain't any size at all; the bears +would eat you up.' + +"`I'll have him,' said the doctor, `if you'll let me, captain. He can +be my lob-lolly-boy and body-guard.' + +"And so, gentlemen, from that day to this I've been a sailor o' the +northern seas; and there isn't much to be seen in these regions that old +Silas hasn't come across, from Baffin's Bay to Kamschatka, from lonely +Spitzbergen in the north to Iceland in the south." + +"And so you've been in Spitzbergen, have you?" said McBain. + +"Why, bless you, yes," replied Silas. "It was there I was in at the +death of the great white whale, and a sad day it was for us, I can tell +you. He was white with age. [Very old whales are sometimes found in +the far northern seas covered with a kind of parasite, which gives them +a white or light-grey appearance.] I should think he couldn't have been +much under a hundred years old, and just as sly and wary as a hundred +and forty foxes all rolled in to one. Many and many a boat had tried to +catch him, but he had a way of diving and doubling to avoid the harpoons +that some believed was rather more than natural; then when you thought +he was miles and miles away, pop! up he would come among the very midst +of the boats, and a funny thing it would be if he didn't knock one o' +them to smithereens with that tail o' his. We killed him though. Our +skipper himself speared him, but it was hours after that before he died. +And before he died terrible was the revenge he took on his destroyers. +Gentlemen, Silas Grig has no language in his vocabulary to describe the +vicious wrath of that sea-demon. I think I see him now as he rose to +the surface, blowing blood and spray, snorting with fury, with fire +seeming to flash out of his little evil eyes. We in the boats thought +our last hour had come, as he ploughed down through us. But our hearts +stood still with fear and dread when he dashed past us and made for the +ship itself. Onward with lightning speed went the brute, leaving a wake +astern such as a man-o'-war might have left. + +"Our craft--a small brig--was lying with her foreyard aback. She looked +as if sleeping on the gently rippling water. No one spoke in the boats, +every eye was fixed on our ship--our home, and on the fearful monster +advancing to attack her. We could see that the people left on the brig +knew the whole extent of their danger, for they seemed all on deck. +There were wild shouts, and guns were fired, but nothing availed to +avert the catastrophe. Then, oh! the sad, despairing cry that rose to +heaven from that doomed ship! It seems to ring in my ears whenever I +think of it. The whale struck her right amidships, and she went over +and down at once. No soul was saved; and when we rode up to the spot, +there was nothing to be seen, and nothing to be heard, save the body of +the great white whale, dead, on his side, with the waves lap-lapping +against it as it slowly rose and fell. + +"For six long, cold, weary days we lived in the open boats, feeding on +the flesh of the seals we happened to kill, and quenching our thirst +with the snow we gathered from the ice. When we had almost despaired of +being saved, for we were far to the nor'ard and east of the usual +fishing-grounds, a Norwegian walrus-hunter picked us up, and landed us +at last, in midwinter, on a dreary shore in Lapland. But, gentlemen, +that is nothing to what we, the survivors of the ill-fated _Jonathan +Grey_, suffered some years afterwards. The ship got `in the nips' +coming out o' the pack. We were crushed just as you might crash an +egg-shell between your fingers. Thirty of us embarked upon the very +iceberg that had caused our ruin, with two casks of biscuit, and hardly +clothes enough to cover us. Then it came on to blow, and, huddled +together in the centre of the berg, we were blown out to sea, trying in +vain to keep each other warm, and defend ourselves from the cruel cold +seas that dashed over us, heavier than lead, more remorseless than the +grave. Fifteen days were we on the berg, and every day some one dropped +off, ay, and the living seemed to envy the quiet, calm sleep of the +dead. A sail in sight at last; and how many of us, think you, were +alive to see it? Three I only three! It was a year after this before I +was fit to brave the Arctic seas again, and meanwhile I had met my +Peggy--my little wife that is. Some difference, you will allow, +gentlemen, between Silas Grig afloat on a solitary iceberg in a troubled +northern sea, and Silas strolling on the top of a breezy cliff in the +bright moonlight of midsummer, with Peggy on his arm, and just as happy +as the sea-birds. + +"Were these the only times that I was cast away? No--for I lost my ship +by fire once in the northern ice of Western Greenland, and it was two +whole years before either myself or my messmates placed foot again on +British soil. There wasn't a ship anywhere near us, and the nearest +settlement was a colony of transported Danes, that lived about three +hundred miles south of us. We saved all we could from the burning +barque, and that was little enough; then we constructed rough sledges, +and tied our food and chattels thereon, and set out upon our long, +dreary march. It took us well-nigh two months to accomplish our +journey, for the way was a rough one, and the region was wild and +desolate in the extreme. It was late in autumn, and the sun shone by +day, but his beams were sadly shorn by the falling snow. Five suns in +all we could count at times, though four, you know, were merely mirages. +We did not all reach the colony; indeed, many succumbed to the fatigue +of the march, to frost-bites, and to scurvy; and we laid them to rest in +hastily-dug graves, and the snow was their only winding-sheet. It was +more than a year before we found a passage back to our own country, and +kind though the poor people all were to us, the governor included, we +had to rough it, I can tell you. But you see, sailors who choose the +Arctic Seas as their cruising-grounds must expect to suffer at times. + +"Bears, did you say? Thousands! I've counted as many as fifty at one +time on the ice, and I've had a few encounters with them too, myself, +though I've known those that have had more. I've known men fight them +single-handed, and come off scot-free, leaving Bruin dead on the ice. +Dickie McInlay fought a bear with a seal-club. You may be sure the duel +wasn't of his own proposing; but coming across the ice one day all +alone, he rounded the corner of a hummock, and lo! and behold! there was +a monstrous bear washing the blood off his chops after eating a seal. + +"`Ho! ho!' roared the bear. `I have dined, but you'll come in handy for +dessert. Oho! Waugh, O! oh!' + +"Dick was a little bit of a fellow, but his biceps was as big, round, +and just as hard as a hawser. + +"`If you come an inch nearer me,' cried Dickie, quite undaunted, `it'll +be a dear day's work for ye, Mr Bruin.' + +"The bear crouched for a spring. He never did spring, though; but +Dickie did; and he will tell you to this day that he never could +understand how he managed to clear the space betwixt himself and the +bear so speedily. Then there was a dull thud; Bruin never lifted head +again, for the iron of Dickie's club was planted deep into his brain. + +"The doctor here," continued Silas, "can tell you what a terribly sharp +and deadly weapon of offence a large amputating knife would prove, in +the hands of a powerful man, against any animal that ever lived. But +the doctor I don't think would care to attack a bear with one." + +"Indeed, no," said Sandy; "I would rather be excused." + +"But the surgeon of the _North Star_ did," said Silas. "I was witness +myself to the awful encounter. But the poor surgeon was mad at the +time; he had given way to the rum-fever--rum-fiend it should be called. +With his knife in his hand he wandered off and away all by himself over +the pack. I saw the fight between the bear and him commence, and sent +men at once to assist him. When they reached the scene of action they +found the huge bear lying dead, stabbed in fifty places at least. The +snow for yards around had been trampled down in the awful struggle, and +was yellow and red with blood. The doctor lay beside the bear, +apparently asleep. I need not tell you that he slept the sleep that +knows no waking. The poor fellow's body was crushed to pulp. + +"Charles Manning, a spectioneer of the _Good Resolve_, was lying on his +back on the sunny side of a hummock, snatching a five-minutes' rest, for +it was sealing time, when a bear crept up behind him, more stealthily +than any cat could have done. He drew his paw upwards along the poor +fellow's body. Only once, mind you, but he left him a mere empty +shell." + +[The author is relating facts; names only are concealed.] + +"Ah! but, gentlemen, you should have seen a two-mile run I had not five +years ago from a bear. Silas himself wouldn't have believed that Silas +could have done the distance in double the time. He was coming home all +by himself, when he burst his rifle firing at a seal, and just at that +moment up popped a bear. + +"`All alone, are you, Silas?' Bruin seemed to say. + +"`Yes,' replied Silas, moving off; `and I don't want your company +either. I know my way, thank you.' + +"`Oh, I daresay you do!' says the bear. `But it will only be friendly +like if I see you home. Wait a bit.' + +"`Never a wait!' said Silas; and so the race began. + +"Of course they saw it from the ship, and sent men to meet me and settle +Bruin. Puffed? I should think I was! I lay on my face for five +minutes, with no more breath in my old bellows than there is in a dead +badger?" + +"You've seen the sea-lion, I suppose, Captain Grig?" said Allan. + +"I have that!" replied Silas, "and the sea-bear, too, and I don't know +which of the two I'd rather meet on the top of a berg, for they are +vicious brutes both." + +"I've read some very interesting accounts of them," said Allan, "in the +encyclopaedias." + +"So have I," laughed old Silas, "written by men who had never seen them +out of the Brighton Aquarium. Pardon me, but you cannot study nature +from books." + +"Do you know the _Stemmatopus cristatus_?" inquired Rory. + +"What ship, my boy?" said Silas, with one hand behind his ear; "I didn't +catch the name o' the craft." + +"It isn't a ship," said Rory, smiling; "it is a great black seal, with a +thing like a kettle-pot over his head." + +"Oho!" cried Silas; "now I know. You mean the bladder-nose. Ay, lad! +and a dangerous monster he is. A Greenland sailor would almost as soon +face a bear as fight one of those brutes single-handed." + +"But the books tell us," said Rory, "that, when surprised by the hunter, +they weep copiously." + +"Bother such books!" said Silas. "What? a bladder-nose weep! +Crocodile's tears, then, lad! Why, gentlemen, this monstrous seal is +more fierce than any other I know. When once he gets his back up and +erects that kettle-pot o' his, and turns round to see who is coming, +stand clear, that's what Silas says, for he means mischief, and he's as +willing to take his death as any terrier dog that ever barked. I would +like to see some o' those cyclopaedia-building chaps face to face with a +healthy bladder-nose on a bit o' bay ice. I think I know which o' them +would do the weeping part of the business." + +"Down south here," said McBain--"if we can call it south--the seals have +their young on the ice, don't they?" + +"You're right, sir," said Silas. + +"And where do they go after that?" + +"Away back to the far, far north," said Silas. "We follow them up as +far as we can. They live at the Pole." + +"Ah!" said McBain; "and that, Captain Grig, is in itself a proof that +there must be open water around the Pole." + +"I haven't a doubt about it!" cried Silas; "and if you succeed in +getting there you'll see land and water too, mountains and streams, and +maybe a milder climate. Seals were never made to live down in the dark +water; they have eyes and lungs, even, if they are amphibious. But +look! look! look, men, look!" + +Silas started up from the table as he spoke, excitement expressed in +every lineament of his face. He pointed to the port from which at +present the _Canny Scotia_ was plainly visible, about half a mile off, +on the weather quarter. The men could be seen crowding up the +rattlings, and even manning the yards, and wildly waving their caps and +arms in the air. + +Silas threw the port open wide. "Listen!" he cried. + +Our heroes held their breath, while over the water from the distant +barque came the sound of many voices cheering. Then the _Arrandoon's_ +rigging is manned, and glad shout after glad shout is sent them back. + +Next moment Stevenson rushed into the cabin. "The seals! the seals!" +was all he could say, or rather gasp. + +"Are there many?" inquired several voices at once.--"Millions on +millions!" cried the mate; "the whole pack is black with them as far as +ever we can see from the mainmast head." + +CHAPTER TWENTY. + +SEAL-STALKING--A GLORIOUS DAY'S SPORT--PIPER PETER AND THE BEAR--A +STRANGE DUET--THE SEAL-STALKERS' RETURN. + +It was about midnight on the 24th of April when the seals were sighted. +Midnight, and the sun was low down on the horizon, but, for three long +months, never more would it set or sink behind the sea of ice. The +weather was bright, bracing, beautiful. Not a cloud in the sky, and +hardly wind enough to let the ships get well in through the pack, +towards the place where the seals lay as thick as bees, and all +unconscious of their approaching fate. But the _Arrandoon_ got steam +up, and commenced forcing her way through the closely packed yet loosely +floating bergs, leaving behind her a wake of clear water, which made it +easy work for the _Scotia_ and the saucy little "two-stick yacht" to +follow her example. + +My young reader must dismiss from his mind the idea of tall, +mountainous, pinnacled icebergs, like those he sees in common +engravings. The ice was in heavy pieces, it is true, from forty to +sixty or seventy feet square, and probably six feet out of water, with +hummocks here and there, and piles of bay ice that looked like packs of +gigantic cards, but so flat and low upon the whole, that from the +masthead a stretch of snow-clad ice could be seen, spreading westwards +and north for many and many a mile. + +When even the power of steam failed to force the _Arrandoon_ farther +into the pack, the ships were stopped, fires were banked and sails were +clewed, and all hands prepared for instant action. The men girt their +knives and steels around them, and threw their "Jowrie-tows" across +their broad shoulders, and the officers, dressed in their sealing +costume, seized their rifles and shot-belts. + +Next moment the bo's'n's shrill pipe sounded out in the still air, and +the order was shouted,-- + +"All hands over the side." + +In five minutes more the ships were apparently deserted. You wouldn't +have heard a sound on board, for few were left but stewards and cooks; +while little boy Freezing Powders and his wonderful cockatoo had it all +to themselves down in the saloon of the great steamship. The boy was +bending down beside his favourite in the corner. + +"What's the row? What's the row? What's the row?" the bird was saying. + +"I don't know nuffin' more nor you do, Cockie," was the boy's reply; +"but it strikes dis chile dat dey have all taken leave of der senses, +ebery moder's son of dem. And de captain he have gone up into de +crow's-nest, which looks for all de world like a big barrel of treacle, +Cockie, and he have shut hisself in der, and nuffin' does he do but wave +a long stick wid a black ball at de end of it. [The fan with which +Greenland captains guide their men in the direction of the seals.] Dat +is all de knows; but oh! Cockie, don't you take such drefful big +mouf-fuls o' hemp. Supposin' anyting happen to you, Cockie, den I hab +nobody to talk to dat fully understand dis chile." + +The _Canny Scotia_ was moored to the ice so close to the _Arrandoon_ +that the captains of the respective ships could maintain a conversation +without stressing their lungs to any very great extent. Talking thus, +each in his own crow's-nest, they looked for all the world like a couple +of chimney-sweeps conversing together from rival chimneys. The cooks +were not idle in the galleys, they were busy boiling hams and huge +joints of beef, and these, when cooked, were taken on deck; for sealing +is hungry work, and every time a man brings a drag to the vessel's side +he helps himself to a lordly slice and a biscuit. + +By-and-by the draggers began to drop in fast enough, each one hauling an +immense skin with the fat or blubber attached; and these skins were all +hoisted on board the _Scotia_, for all hands were working for Silas. +But our heroes had the sport, and, taking it all in all, I do not think +there is any sport in the world to compare to that of seal-stalking. +Without any of the cowardliness of battue shooting, in which the poor +surrounded animals are helpless, and cruelly and mercilessly slain, you +have far more excitement, and the sport is not unattended with danger. +To be a good seal-stalker you need the limbs of an athlete, the eye of +an excellent marksman, and all the stealth and cunning of a tabby cat or +a Coromanche Indian. If your nerves are not well strung, or your +muscles not like iron, you may fail to leap across the lane of dark +water that separates piece from piece; if you do fail and are not +speedily helped out, the current may drag you beneath the bergs, or +those dreadful sharks, that seldom are absent where blood is being +spilled on the sea of ice, may seize and pull you down to a fearful +death; if you are not a good shot, your seals will get away, for your +bullet _must_ pierce either neck or head; and, lastly, if you are not +cunning, if you do not stalk with stealth, your seals will escape with +the speed of lightning. + +On warm, sunny days the seals lie close and sleep soundly, but they +always have their sentries set. Kill the sentry, and many others are at +your mercy; miss him, or merely wound him, and he gives the alarm +_instanter_, and all the rest jump helter-skelter into the sea, +according you a beautiful view of their tail-ends, which you don't find +very advantageous in the way of making a bag. + +A good sealer, like a good skirmisher, takes advantage of every bit of +cover, and many a death-blow is dealt from the shelter of a lump of +loose ice. + +The gunners to-day, as they usually do, went on after the seals in +skirmishing order, in one long line, each taking a breadth of about +seventy or one hundred yards. + +It was an hour past midnight before they left the ships. When it was +nine in the morning there was a kind of general assembly of the riflemen +to breakfast, behind a large square hummock of packed bay ice, and only +the very oldest among them could believe that it was so late. [These +strange hummocks, which resemble, as already stated, huge packs of +cards, are formed of pieces of bay ice about a foot thick, which has +been broken up between two bergs, and finally thrown up out of the water +altogether. They form quite a characteristic feature of a North +Greenland icescape.] Why, to our own particular heroes it seemed +scarcely an hour since they had left their ship, so great is the +excitement of seal-stalking. But Ralph and Rory and Allan had done so +well, and had managed to lay so many splendid seals dead on every piece +of ice, that they earned high encomiums from the mate of the _Canny +Scotia_; and even the doctor hadn't shot amiss, and proud was he to be +told so. + +"But, my dear sirs," said Sandy, "I'd like to know why a good surgeon +shouldn't be a good sportsman. Don't you know that the great Liston +himself was sometimes summoned to an operation at the hospital, just as +he was mounting his horse to ride off to the hunt, arrayed in scarlet +and cords?" + +"And what did he do?" asked Rory. + +"Pass the pie," said Ralph. + +"Why," continued the doctor, enthusiastically, "doffed his scarlet coat +and donned an old gown, whipped off a leg in one minute ten and a half +seconds, and was in the saddle again five minutes after that." + +"Brayvo!" cried Captain Cobb, "doctor, you're a brick, and if ever you +come out to New Jersey, come and see Cobb, and I guess he'll give you a +good time of it." + +"Ray," said Rory. + +"Well, Row," said Ray. + +"Your face and hands are begrimed with powder, and there is a kind of +wolfish look about you that is worth studying. You look like a +frozen-out blacksmith who hasn't a penny to buy a bit of peas-pudding or +a morsel of soap." + +"I'm hungry, anyhow," said Ray. "How good of McBain to send such a +jolly breakfast! But I say, Row, d'ye remember the proverb about +Claudius? Well, don't you call my face and hands black till you've +washed your own. You look like a chimney-sweep who has been out of work +for a week, and got no food since the day before yesterday." + +"Well, well," says Row, "but 'deed in troth, my dear big boy, nobody can +wonder at your being successful as a seal-stalker, for what with the +colour of your face, and the urgency, so to speak, of the two eyes of +you, and that big fur cap, why the seals take you for one o' themselves, +a big bladder-nose." + +"Pass the ham," said Ray; "Allan, some more coffee, I begin to feel like +a giant refreshed." + +"I do declare upon mine honour," said De Vere, "dat dis is de most +glorious pignig [picnic] I ever have de pleasure to attend. But just +you look at mine friend Seth, how funnily he do dress." + +"It may be a funny way," said Allan, "but it is a most effectual one; +dear old trapper Seth has killed more seals this morning than any two of +us." + +Seth was dressed from top to toe in young seals' skins, the hair +outwards, with the exception of the cap, which was of darker fur, and a +black patch on his back. They were not loose garments, they were almost +as tight as a harlequin's; but when Seth drew his fur cap over his face +and threw himself on the ice, and began wriggling along, his resemblance +to a saddle-seal was so preposterous that everybody burst into a hearty +laugh. + +"That's the way I gets so near them," said Seth, standing once more +erect. + +"Look, look!" cried Rory, and every eye was turned in the direction in +which he pointed; and there, in a pool of dark water not twenty yards +away, a dozen beautiful heads, with round, wondering eyes, had popped up +to gaze at them. + +It was a lovely sight, and never a rifle was lifted to shoot. Presently +they disappeared, but on the mate of the _Scotia_ giving vent to a loud +whistle, up came the heads again, and there they remained as long as the +mate whistled, for of all wild creatures in the world that I have ever +come across, the Greenland seal is the most inquisitive; and no doubt +the experience of some of my old-boy readers who have been to the +country is the same as my own. + +Onwards, steadily onwards, all that day went our sportsmen; they did not +even assemble again for another meal, and at five of the clock they +found themselves fully four miles from the place where the ships lay. +The field of seals which they had attacked was some ten miles square, +and although they had worked their way into it for miles, nevertheless +when the flags were hoisted to recall them, at two bells in the first +dog-watch, the field of seals still remained about ten miles square. +This may seem strange, but is thus accounted for. Out of say twenty +seals on each berg, fifteen at least would escape, and these swam away +under the pack, and again took the ice on the far-off edge of the field +of seals. + +It being somewhat too far to drag the skins to the ship, bings had been +made on the ice during the latter part of the day, so that no dead seals +should be left unflensed upon the ice. When they wended their way +homewards at the end of this glorious day's shooting a broom was stuck +besom-side up, on each bing, with the name of the ship on the handles. +This is done with the view of preventing other ships from appropriating +the skins. This is the custom of the country--one of the unwritten laws +of the sea of ice. + +While the gunners and their merry men were yet a long way off from the +ships, there came a hail from the crow's-nest of the _Arrandoon_, which, +by the way, McBain had hardly left all the time. Peter had brought him +up coffee and food, and he had danced in the interval to keep himself +warm. + +"On deck there?" + +"Ay, ay, sir," roared Peter, looking up. + +"Is dinner all laid?" + +"Ay, sir, and the cook is waiting." + +"Well, on with the kilt, Peter, if you're not afraid of getting your +hocks frozen, get the bagpipes, and go and meet the hunters." + +Down below dived Peter, and he was up again in what sailors call "a +brace of shakes," arrayed in full Highland costume, with the bagpipes +over his arm. No wonder the cockatoo cried,-- + +"De-ah me?" when he saw Peter, and added, "Such a to-do! such a to-do! +such a to-do!" + +Now the bears had been rather numerous on the pack that day, just as the +sharks were in the water. Doubtless the sharks found many a poor +wounded seal to close their vengeful jaws upon, for they are either too +cowardly or not swift enough to catch a healthy phoca; but the bears had +behaved themselves unusually well. They had had plenty to eat, at all +events, and seemed to know that the men at work on the ice were laying +up a store of provisions for them that would last them all the summer, +so they had made no attempt to attack them. But on their way back to +the ship the doctor, who was striding on a little way in advance of the +rest, startled a huge monster who was sunning himself behind a hummock. +It would be difficult to say whether the bear or the doctor was the more +startled; at all events the latter fired and missed, and the former made +off, running in the direction of the ships. But he hadn't gone above +half a mile when who should Bruin meet but Peter, coming swinging along +with his bagpipes under his arm. Never a gun had Peter, and never a +club--only the pipes. As soon as they saw each other they both stopped +short. + +"I do declare," Bruin seemed to say to himself, "here is a man or +something all alone. But what a strange dress! I never saw anybody +dressed like that before. Never mind, he looks sweet and nice; I'll +have a bit." + +"I do declare," said Peter to himself, "if that isn't a big lump of a +bear coming along, and I haven't even a stone to throw at him. Whatever +shall I do at all, at all? Och! and och! this is the end of me now, at +last. Sure enough it is marching to my own funeral I've been all the +time, instead of going to meet the sportsmen. Oh! Peter, Peter! you'll +never see your old mother in this world again, nor Scotland either. +Yonder big bear is licking his chops to devour you. Yonder is the big +hairy sarcophagus that'll soon contain your mangled remains. Who would +have thought that Peter of Arrandoon would have lived to play his own +coronach?" [Coronach--a funeral hymn or wail for the departed.] + +Hardly knowing what he did, poor Peter shouldered his pipes, and began +to play a dreary, droning, yelling, squealing lament. + +At the same moment Bruin commenced to perform some of the queerest +antics ever a bear tried before. He stretched first one leg, then +another, and he stretched his neck and described circles in the air with +his nose, keeping time with the music. Then he sat up entirely on one +end. + +"Oh!" he seemed to say, "flesh and blood couldn't stand that; I must, +yes, I must give vent to a Ho--o--o--o--o-- + +"And likewise to a Hoo--oo--oo--oo--oo!!" + +Reader, the voice of an asthmatical steam-engine, heard at midnight as +it enters a tunnel, is a melancholy sound, so is the Welsh hooter, and +the fog-horn of a Newcastle coal brig; but all combined, and sounding +together, would be but a feeble imitation of the agonising notes of that +great white bear as he sat on his haunches listening to Peter's pipes. +Peter himself saw the effect his music had produced, and, like the +"towsy tike" in _Tam o' Shanter_,-- + + "He hotched and blew wi' might and main." + +And, as if Peter had been a great magician, Bruin felt impelled to try +to follow the notes, though I am bound to say he did not always keep +even in the key-note. Surely such a duet was never heard before in this +world. There was a small open space of water not far from the hummock +on which the piper of the _Arrandoon_ had stationed himself; it was soon +alive with the heads of hundreds of seals who had come up to listen; so, +upon the whole, Peter had a most appreciative audience. But see yonder, +is that a seal on the ice that is creeping closer and closer up behind +the bear? Nay, for seals don't carry rifles; and now the newcomer +levels his gun just for a moment, there is a puff of blue-white smoke, +the bear springs high in the air, then falls prostrate on the snow. His +ululations are over for ever and ay; the piper plays a merrier air, and +advances with speed to meet old Seth and the rest of the sportsmen, who, +glad as they are to see him alive, greet him with uproarious cheers and +laughter. Then a procession is formed, and with Peter and his pipes +striding on in front, thus do the seal-stalkers return to the +_Arrandoon_. + +CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. + +THE COMING FROST--SILAS WARNS THE "ARRANDOON" OF DANGER--FORGING THROUGH +THE ICE--BESET--A STRANGE AND ALARMING ACCIDENT. + +So willingly and merrily worked all hands on the ice, that in less than +three days the _Canny Scotia_ was almost a full, though by no means a +bumper ship, and poor Silas began to see visions of future happiness in +his mind's eye, when he should return to his native land and complete +the joy of his family. Unfortunately, however, his good fortune did not +last for the present. How seldom, indeed, good luck does last in this +world of ours! One day, towards midnight, the sky apparently assumed a +brighter blue. This seemed to concern Silas considerably. The good man +was walking the deck at the time with his inseparable companion the +first mate, neither of whom ever appeared now to court sleep or rest. + +"Matie," said Silas, pointing skywards, "do you see any difference in +the colour yonder?" + +"That do I!" replied the mate. + +"And hasn't it got much colder?" + +"Well, both of us have been walking," the chief officer returned, "at +the rate of several knots, just to keep the dear life in us, and I never +saw you, sir, with your hands so deep in your pockets before." + +Down rushed the captain to consult his glass; he was speedily up again, +however. "It is just as I thought," he said. "Now come up into the +nest with me; there's room for both of us. Look!" he added, as soon as +they had reached their barrel of observation, "the rascals know what is +coming. They are taking the water, and before ten minutes there won't +be a seal with his nose on that bit of pack. Heigho, matie! heigho! +that is just like my luck. If I'd been born a tailor, every man would +have been born a Highlander, and made his own kilts. But hi! up, matie, +Silas doesn't mean to let his heart down yet for a bit. A black frost +is on the wing. There is no help for that, but the _Arrandoon's_ people +don't seem to know it. I must off over and tell them;" and even as he +spoke Silas began descending the Jacob's ladder. "Call all hands!" he +cried, as he disappeared over the side; "we must work her round as long +as the pieces are anything loose-like." + +It was not a long journey to the big sister ship, and the sturdy legs of +this ancient mariner would soon get him there. But he would not wait +till alongside; he needs must hail her while still many yards from her +dark and stately sides. + +"What ho, there!" he bawled. "_Arrandoon_ ahoy!" + +That voice of his was a wonderful one. It might have awakened the dead; +it was like a ten-horse power speaking-trumpet lined with the roughest +emery-paper. Seals heard it far down beneath the ice, and came to the +surface to listen and to marvel. A great bear was sitting not twenty +yards from Silas. He thought he should like to eat Silas, but he could +not swallow that voice, so he went across the ice instead. Then the +voice rolled in over the vessel's bulwarks, startled the officer on +duty, and went ringing down below through the state-rooms, causing our +sleeping heroes to tumble out of their bunks with double-quick speed, +even the usually late and lazy Ralph evincing more celerity than ever he +had done in his life before. + +They met, rubbing their eyes and looking cold and foolish, all in a knot +in the saloon. Cold and foolish, and a little bit frightened as well, +for the words of Silas sounded terribly like "the _Arrandoon_ on fire!" + +Not a bit of it, for there came the hail again, and distinct enough this +time. + +"_Arrandoon_ ahoy! Is everybody dead on board?" + +"What _is_ the matter?" cried McBain, as soon as he got on deck, dressed +as he was in the garments of night. + +"Black frost, Captain McBain," answered Silas, springing up the side, +"and you'll soon find that matter enough, or my name ain't Grig, nor my +luck like a bad wind, always veering in the wrong direction. The seals +are gone, sir--every mother's son o' them! My advice is--but, dear me, +gentlemen! go below and rig out. Why, here's four more of you! That +ain't the raiment for a black frost! You look like five candidates for +a choking good influenza!" This first bit of advice being taken in good +part, "Now," continued Silas, "your next best holt, Captain McBain, will +be to get up steam, and get her head pointed away for the blue water, +else there is no saying we may not leave our bones here." + +"Ah!" exclaimed McBain, "we've no wish to do that. And here comes our +worthy engineer. The old question, chief--How soon can you get us under +way?" + +"With the American hams, sir," was the quiet reply, "in about twenty +minutes; with a morsel of nice blubber that I laid in especially for the +purpose of emergencies, in far less time than that." + +"Thanks!" said McBain, smiling; "use anything, but don't lose time." + +The ships lay far from the open sea. They had been "rove" a long way in +through the pack, to get close to the seals, but, independently of that, +floating streams of ice, one after another, had joined the outer edge of +this immense field of bergs, placing them at a greater distance from the +welcome water. + +Steam was speedily roaring, and ready for its work. Then, not without +considerable difficulty, the vessel was put about, and the voyage +seaward was commenced. Slow and tedious this voyage was bound to be, +for there was so little wind it was useless to shake the sails loose, so +the duty of towing her consorts devolved upon the _Arrandoon_. Instead +of remaining on his own ship, Silas Grig came on board the steamer, +where his services as iceman were fully appreciated. + +As yet the frost had made no appreciable difference to the solidity of +the pack; a very gentle swell was moving the pieces--a swell that rolled +in from seaward, causing the whole scene around to look like a tract of +snow-clad land, acted on by the giant force of an earthquake. Forging +ahead through such ice, even by the aid of steam, is hard, slow work; +and, assisted as the _Arrandoon_ was by men walking in front of her and +pushing on the bergs with long poles, hardly could she make a headway of +half a mile an hour, and there were twenty good miles to traverse! It +was a weary task, but the men bent their backs cheerfully to it, as +British sailors ever do to a duty that has to be performed. + +[Light lie the earth on the breast of the gallant Captain Brownrigg, +R.N., and green be the grass on his grave. My young readers know the +story; it is such stories as his they ought to read; such men as he +ought to be enshrined in their memory. Betrayed by treacherous Arabs, +with a mere handful of men he fought their powerful dhow and guns; and +even when hope itself had fled he made no attempt to escape, but fought +on and fought on, till he fell pierced with twenty wounds. He was a +heroic sailor, and _he was doing his duty_!] + +Even had it been possible to keep up the men's strength, forty hours +must have elapsed ere the _Arrandoon_ would be rising and falling on +blue water. But many hours had not gone by ere the men got a rest they +little cared for--for down went the swell, the motion among the bergs +was stilled, and frost began its work of welding them together. + +"Just like my luck, now, isn't it?" said Silas, when he found the ship +could not be budged another inch, and was quite surrounded by heavy ice. + +"I don't believe in luck," said Captain McBain; "and, after all, things +might have turned out even worse than they have." + +"Oh!" said Silas, "I'm not the man to grumble or growl. We are +comfortable and jolly, and we have plenty to eat." + +"We won't have much sport, though," said Rory, with a sigh, "if we have +to remain here long, for the bears will follow the seals, won't they?" + +"That they will," replied Silas, "and small blame to them; it is exactly +what I should like to do myself." + +"Well, you can, you know," said McBain, laughing. "We have a splendid +balloon. De Vere will take you for a fly I'm sure, if you'll ask him." + +"What! trust myself up in the clouds!" cried Silas; "thank you very much +for the offer, but if ill-luck has kept following my footsteps all my +life, ill-luck would be sure to follow me if I attempted any aerial +flights, and I'd come down by the run." + +"Well, we're fairly beset, anyhow," said Rory, "and I daresay we'll have +to try to make the best of it." + +So guns were placed disconsolately ill the racks, as soon as the +terrible black frost had quite set in, or if they were taken out when a +walk was determined on, it was only for fashion's sake, and for the fear +that an occasional bear might be met with. But it was good fun breaking +bottles with rifle bullets, and good practice as well. As the days went +on, and there were no signs of the pack breaking up, a number of books +were taken down to be perused, much time was spent in playing piano or +violin, or both together, while after dinner the hours were devoted to +talking. Many a racy yarn was told by Cobb, many an adventure by Seth, +and many a queer experience by Silas Grig, and duly appreciated, too. +So the evenings did not seem long, whatever the days did. + +Said Silas one morning to McBain, as they stood together leaning on the +bulwarks. + +"I don't quite like the look of that ice, captain; it is precious big, +and if it came on to press a bit, why, it would go clean through the +ribs of us, strong though our good ships are. And that cockle-shell of +Cobb's would be the very first to go down to the bottom." + +"Or up to the top," suggested McBain. + +"What?" laughed Silas; "would you clap your balloon top of her, and lift +her out like?" + +"No, not that; but we could hoist her high and dry on top of the ice +easily enough." + +"Well, I declare," cried Silas, clapping one brawny hand on his knee, +"that is a glorious idea. And an old iceman like me to never think of +it!" + +Then Silas's face fell, as he said,-- + +"Ah! but you couldn't hoist me up too. The _Canny Scotia_ would go +down; that would be more of my luck." + +"Well, but I've thought of a plan. I have torpedoes on board. I'll +have a go at this ice, anyhow." + +"Make a kind of harbour, you mean?" inquired Silas. + +"That's it," was the reply. + +"But," said Silas, still somewhat dubious, "you know the currents run +like mill-streams in under the ice. Well, suppose your torpedoes were +to be floated in under my ship, and went bursting off there?" + +"Well, your ship would be hoisted," replied McBain; "that would be all." + +"Ay!" said Silas, "that would be all; that would end all the luck, good +or bad." + +"But there is no fear of any such accident. And now let us just have a +try at it." + +Blowing up icebergs with torpedoes is by no means difficult, when you +know how to do it, but sometimes the current will shift the guiding-pole +or rope, and were it to get under the stern of the ship itself, it would +make it awkward for the Arctic explorers. In the present instance +everything went well, and berg after berg succumbed to the force of the +gun-cotton, until the last, when, by some mismanagement, one torpedo was +shifted right under a piece of ice on which stood, tools in hand, about +ten men, besides Silas, Rory, and Captain McBain himself. Of course it +was not likely that boy Rory was going to be far away when any fun was +going on, so that is why he happened to be on top of this identical berg +when the blowing-up took place. And here is precisely what was seen by +disinterested bystanders--a smother of snow and water and ice, mixed, +rising in shape of a rounded column over ten feet high, and, dimly +visible in the misty midst thereof, a minglement of hands and heads and +arms and legs. The sound accompanying the columnar rising was something +between a puff and a thud; I cannot better describe it. Then there was +a sudden collapse, and next moment the arms and the legs and the hands +and the heads were all seen sprawling and struggling in the frothy, +seething water below. It simply and purely looked as if they were all +being boiled alive in a huge cauldron. But the strangest part of the +story is to come. With the exception of a few trifling braises, not one +of those who were thus surprised by so sudden a rise in the world was a +bit the worse. The ducking in the cold sea was certainly far from +pleasant, but dry clothes and hot coffee soon put that to rights, and +they came up smiling again. + +Freezing Powders, who was on deck at the time of the accident, was +dreadfully frightened, and ran down below instantly to report matters to +his favourite. + +"What's the row? What's the row? What's the row?" cried the bird as +the boy entered the saloon. + +"Don't talk so fast, Cockie, and I'll tell you," said Freezing Powders, +sinking down on the deck with one arm on the cage. "I tink I'se all +right at present, though my breaf is all frightened out of my body, and +I must look 'bout as pale as you, Cockie." + +"De-ah me!" said Cockie. + +"But don't hang by de legs, Cockie. When you wants a mouf-ful of hemp +just hop down for it, else de blood all run to your poor head, den you +die in a fit?" + +"Poor de-ah Cockie! Pretty old Cockie!" said the bird, in mournful +tones. + +"And now I got my breaf again, I try to 'splain to you what am de row. +De drefful world round de ship is all white, Cockie, and to-day dey has +commenced blowing it up, and jus' now, Cockie, dey has commenced to blow +derselves up?" + +"De-ah me!" from Cockie. + +"Dat am quite true, Cockie, and de heads and de legs am flying about in +all directions! It is too drefful to behold!" + +"Now then, young Roley Poley!" cried Peter, entering at that moment, +"toddle away forward for some boiling-hot coffee, and run quicker than +ever you ran in your life." + +"I'se off like a bird!" said Freezing Powders, darting out of the cabin +as if there had been a boot after him. + +CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. + +CAPTAIN COBB RETIRES--MORE TORPEDOING--THE GREAT ICE-HOLE--STRANGE +SPORT--THE TERRIBLE ZUGAENA--THE DEATH STRUGGLE. + +Both Captain McBain and Silas Grig felt more easy in their minds when +they had got fairly rid of the green-rooted monsters of icebergs that +had lain so placidly yet so threateningly alongside their respective +ships. And oh! by the way, how very calm, harmless, and gentle bergs +like these _can_ look, when there is no disturbing element beneath them, +their snow-clad tops asleep and glistening in the sunlight; but I have +seen them angry, grinding and crashing together, each upheaval +representing a height of from fifteen to thirty feet; each upheaval +representing a strength hydraulic equal in force to the might of the +great ocean itself. + +Our heroes had taken time by the forelock. They had "guncottoned the +bergs," as Captain Cobb termed it, and lay for the time being in square +ice-locked harbours, and could bid defiance to almost any ordinary +occurrence, whether gale of wind in the pack or swell from the distant +sea. + +As the days went by the black frost seemed only to increase in severity. + +"How long d'ye think," said Captain Cobb, one morning, while at +breakfast in the _Arrandoon_--"how long d'ye think this state of +affairs'll last? 'cause, mind ye, I begin to feel a kind o' riled +already." + +McBain looked inquiringly at Silas. + +"If it's asking me you are," said the latter, "I makes answer and says, +it may be for months, but it can't be for ever." + +"But the frost isn't likely to go for a week, is it now?" + +"That it won't, worse luck," was the reply. + +"Well, then, gentlemen," said Cobb, "this child is going off, straight +away out o' here back to Jan Mayen." + +"Back to Jan Mayen?" + +"Back to Jan Mayen!" everybody said, or seemed to say, in one breath. + +"I reckon ye heard aright," said the imperturbable Yankee. + +"It's just like this, ye see," he continued. "I'm paid by my employers +to make observations on the old island down yonder; stopping here ain't +taking sights, but it's taking the company's dollars for nothing, so if +you'll--either o' ye--lend me a hand or two, and promise to hoist up +Cobb's cockle-shell in the event of a squeeze, Cobb himself is off home, +'tain't mor'n fifty miles." + +The journey was a dangerous one, nobody knew that better than the bold +American himself, and it was a true sense of duty to his employers that +caused him to undertake it. But having once made up his mind to a +thing, Cobb was not the man to be deterred from accomplishing it. + +So, with many a good wish for his safety, accompanied by only three men, +he set out on his long journey over the snow. Rory, from the deck of +the _Arrandoon_, and McBain from the nest, watched them as long as they +were in sight. Indeed, I am not at all sure that Rory did not feel a +little sorry he had not asked leave to accompany them, so fond was he of +adventure in every shape and form. + +It was a relief for him--and not for him alone--when McBain, in order to +break the monotony of existence, and by way of doing something, proposed +trying the effects of his torpedoes again at some distance from the +ship, and forming a great ice-hole. + +"Things will come up to breathe, and look about them, you know," he +explained, "and then we may get some sport, and Silas may bag a seal or +two." + +Our heroes were overjoyed when the working party was called away. At +last there was a prospect of doing something, and seeing an animal of +some kind, for not only the bears, but the very birds had deserted them. +Sometimes, indeed, a solitary snowbird would come flying around the +ships. It would hover for awhile in the air, giving vent to many a +peevish, mournful chirp, then fly away again. + +"No, no, no!" it seemed to say, "there is nothing good to eat down +there--no raw flesh, no blood--and so I'm off again to the distant +sealing ground, where the yellow bear prowls, and the snow is red with +blood." + +A few hours' work with torpedoes, picks, and ice-saws, was enough to +form an opening big enough for the purpose required. The broken pieces +were either "landed high and dry," or sunk beneath the pack, and so the +work was completed. + +"It'll entail a deal of trouble, gentlemen," said Dr McFlail, "to keep +that hole clear with the temperature which we are at present enjoying-- +or rather enduring." + +"There is that in the sea, doctor," said Silas, with a knowing nod, +"which will save us the trouble." + +He wasn't wrong. Not an hour elapsed ere a few black heads, with great +wondering eyes, appeared above the surface and peered around them, and +blinked at the sun, and seemed to enjoy mightily a sniff of the fresh +air and a blink of the daylight. + +"This is nice, now," they said, "and ever so much better than being down +there in the dark--quite an oasis in the desert." + +Bang! bang! + +Two of them slowly sank to rise no more. + +"This won't do," said Allan; "it is only murder to shoot poor seals that +we cannot land and make some good out off. What is to be done?" + +"Be quiet with ye!" said Rory. "Sure yonder is Seth himself, coming +straight from the ship, in his suit of skins, and if he isn't up to some +manoeuvre then my name isn't Roderick, that is all." + +Seth _was_ up to something; he had a coil of rope with him, and the +nattiest little harpoon that ever was handled. + +"Fire away, gentlemen!" he said, lying down on the sunny side of a small +hummock pretty close to the water's edge, "only don't hit the old +trapper; he'd rather die in his bed if it be all the same to you." + +Undeterred by the fate that had befallen their companions, it was not +long before other seals popped up to breathe. Our heroes were ready for +them, and two again were killed, one being missed. Seth was ready for +them, too. He sprang to his feet, and ere the smoke had melted in the +thin air, one of the seals was neatly harpooned and dragged to the edge. +Here it was gaffed, and lifted or pulled bodily on to the ice by help +of Ralph's powerful arm. The harpoon was released, and before the other +seal had time to sink it was served in precisely the same manner. + +The sport was exceedingly novel, and combined, as Rory said, "all the +pleasures of shooting and fishing in one glorious whole." + +No work on natural history, so far as my reading goes, remarks upon the +exceedingly great speed exhibited by the Greenland seal in his flight-- +it is in reality a flight--through and beneath the water. I have often +been astonished at the rapidity of their movements; so swiftly do they +dart along that the eye can barely follow them for the moment or two +they are visible. This power of swimming enables them to pursue their +finny prey for many miles under an ice-pack; it doubtless also enables +them to escape the fangs of their natural enemy, the great Greenland +shark (_Scymnus borealis_), and on the present occasion it accounted for +their appearance at the great breathing-hole made for them by the +torpedoes and ice-saws of the _Arrandoon_. The water under the pack +would be everywhere else as black and dark as midnight, but through this +opening the sunshine would stream in straight and powerful rays, and not +seals alone, but fishes and monsters of the deep of many kinds, would +naturally come towards the light, as the salmon does to the glimmer from +the torch of the Highland poacher. + +The sport obtained at the opening was not of a very exciting character +on the first day, but next morn, to their joy, they found that a bear +had been around, and had left the marks of his broad soles in the snow. +Many more seals, too, came up to breathe, and more harpoons had to be +requisitioned. Silas was once more in his glory at the prospect of +adding a few more skins, and a few more tons of oil, to the cargo he had +already shipped. + +Towards afternoon the fun grew fast and furious, and when Peter came in +person to announce dinner, he could hardly get his officers to pay any +heed to the summons. Even Cockie down in the saloon heard the noise, +and must needs inquire, as he stretched his neck and fastened one bead +of an eye on his little black master. + +"What's all the to-do about? What's all the to-do about?" + +"I don't know," was the reply of Freezing Powders. "I don't know no +more nor you do, Cockie. I tinks dey has gone to blow derselves all to +pieces again." + +Dinner was partaken of in a merrier mood that day than it had been for +weeks. Silas was there, of course; in fact, he had become an honorary +member of the _Arrandoon_ mess. + +"You see, Captain Grig," McBain had observed, "we must have you as much +with as now as we can, for we soon go different roads, don't we?" + +"Ah! yes," replied Silas, with a bit of a sigh; "you go north; God send +you safe back; and I go back to my little wife and large family." + +"Happy reunion, won't it be?" said Allan. + +The eyes of Silas sparkled, but his heart was too full of happy thoughts +to say more than simply,-- + +"Yes." + +"Won't the green ginger fly?" said Rory. + +"I say, boys," Ralph put in, "this sort of thing positively gives a man +a kind of an appetite." + +Rory looked at him with such a mischievous twinkle in his eyes that +Ralph longed to pinch him. + +"Just as if ever you lost yours," said Rory. + +At this moment the sound of a rifle was heard, apparently close to the +ship. + +"It's the trapper," cried Rory; "it's friend Seth. Sure enough I know +the charming music of his long gun. Now, Ray, I'll wager my fiddle he +has bagged a bear." + +Rory was right for once, and here is how it fell out. Several bears had +that day scented the battle from afar, or were attracted by the noise of +the malleys and gulls that were now wheeling around the ships in +thousands. They stood aloof while shooting was going on, sitting on +their haunches licking their chops, greedy, hungry, expectant; but as +soon as the sportsmen went off to dine,-- + +"Now is our time," said one, "to get a bit of fresh meat." + +"Come on, then," cried another; "there are a hundred seals lying on the +ice. Hurrah?" + +So down they came to the feast. They had not had such a treat for a +whole day, and that is a long time for a bear to fast, and they made +good use of their time, you may be sure, and so earnest were they, that +they did not perceive a long, hairy creature that came creeping +stealthily towards them. When at last one of them did observe this +strange animal "with the tail of his eye," he said to himself,-- + +"Oh! it is only a tiny bit of a young seal, hunting for a lost mother, +perhaps. Well, I'll have it presently by way of dessert." + +And almost immediately after, the sound that had startled our friends at +_their_ dessert rang out in the clear, frosty air, and Bruin's head +dropped never more to rise. His brother bears suddenly discovered they +had eaten enough; anyhow, they remembered that it was always best to +rise up from the table feeling that you could eat a little more, so they +shambled away across the pack as fast as four legs could carry them. + +"Bravo, Seth, old boy," cried Rory and Allan, coming on the scene. + +Ralph only waited to finish some pastry, then he too joined them. + +"Why," said the latter, "it is the biggest bear we have seen yet." + +In true trapper fashion, Seth was already on his knees beside the +enormous carcass, engaged with knife and fist and elbow, "working the +rascal out of his jacket," as he called it, when Rory, who was not far +from the edge of the water, started, or rather sprang back in horror. + +"Oh! Allan, Allan! Ray, Ray! look!" he cried. + +Well might he cry "look," for a more terrible or revolting apparition +never raises head over the black waters of the Greenland ocean than the +zugaena, or hammer-headed shark. The skull is in shape precisely what +the name indicates, that of a gigantic hammer, with a great eye at each +end, and the mouth beneath. This shark is not unfrequently met with in +the northern seas, and he is just as fierce as he is fearful to behold. + +Allan and Ralph both saw the brute, and neither could repress a shudder. +It appeared but for a few moments, then dived below again. + +Silas and McBain, coming up at the time, were told of the occurrence. + +"I know the vile beasts well," said Silas, "and they do say that they +never appear in these seas without bringing a big slice o' ill-luck in +their wake. That is unless you catches them, and sometimes that doesn't +save the ship. When I was skipper o' the _Penelope_, and that is more +than ten years ago, there wasn't a lazier chap in the crew than snuffy +Sandy Foster. He wasn't a deal o' use down below, he did nothing on +deck, and he never went aloft. He had two favourite positions: one was +sitting before a joint of junk, with a knife in his hand; t'other was +leaning against the bulwarks with a pipe in his mouth, and we never +could make out which he liked best. + +"`Did ever you do anything clever in your life, Sandy?' I asked one +day. + +"Sandy took his pipe out of his mouth and eyed the mainmast for fully +half a minute. Then he brought his eyes round to my face, and said,-- + +"`Not that I can remember o', sir.' + +"`The first time, Sandy,' says I, `that you do anything clever, I'll +give you a pair of the best canvas trousers in the ship.' + +"Sandy's eyes a kind of sparkled; I'd never seen them sparkle before. + +"`I'll win them,' said Sandy, `wait till ye see.' + +"And, indeed, gentlemen, I hadn't long to wait. One day the brig was +dead before the wind under a crowd o' cloth, for there wasn't much wind, +but a nasty rumble-tumble sea; there was no doubt, gentlemen, from the +looks o' that sea, that we had just come through a gale o' wind, and +there was evidence enough to go to jury on that there was another not +far away. Well, it was just in the dusk o' the evening--we were pretty +far south--that the cry got up,-- + +"`Man overboard.' + +"It was our bo's'n's boy, a lad of fourteen, who had gone by the run. +Singing out to the mate to lay to, I ran forward, and if ever I forget +the expression of the poor bo's'n's face as he wrung his hands and +cried, `Oh, save my laddie! Oh, save my laddie!' my name will change to +something else than Silas. + +"`I'll save him,' cried a voice behind me. Some one rushed past. There +was a splash in the water next moment, and I had barely time to see it +was Sandy. Before the boat reached the spot they were a quarter of a +mile astern, but they were saved; they found the bo's'n's laddie riding +`cockerty-coosie' on Sandy's shoulder, and Sandy spitting out the +mouthfuls of salt water, laughing and crying,-- + +"`I've won the breeks! I've won the canvas breeks, boys!' + +"He had won them, and that right nobly, too. Well, after he had worn +them for over a month, it became painfully evident even to Sandy that +they sorely needed washing; but, woe is me! Sandy was too lazy to put a +hand to them. But he thought of a plan, nevertheless, to save trouble. +He steeped them in a soda ley, attached a strong line to them, and +pitched them overboard to tow. + +"When, after two hours' towing, Sandy went to haul them up, great was +his astonishment to find a great hammer-head spring half out of the +water and seize them. Sandy had never seen so awful a monster before; +he put it down as an evil spirit. + +"`Let go,' he roared; `let go my breeks, ye beast.' + +"Now, maybe, with those hooked teeth of his, the shark could not let go; +anyhow, he did not. + +"`I dinna ken who ye are, or what ye are,' cried Sandy, `but ye'll no +get my breeks. Ah! bide a wee.' + +"Luckily the dolphin-striker lay handy, Sandy made a grab at it, and +next minute it was hard and fast in the hammer-head's neck. To see how +that monster wriggled and fought, more like a fiend than a fish, when we +got him on deck, would have--but look--look--r--" + +Seth had not been idle while his companions were talking. He had cut +off choice pieces of blubber and thrown them into the sea; he had coiled +his rope on the ice close by; then, harpoon in hand, he knelt ready to +strike. Nor had he long to wait. The bait took, the bait was taken, +the harpoon had left the trapper's hand and gone deep into the monster's +body. + +I will not attempt to describe the scene that followed--it was a +death-scene that no pen could do justice to--the wild struggle of the +giant shark in the water, his mad and frantic motions ere clubbed to +death on the ice, and his terrible appearance as he snapped his dreadful +jaws at everything within reach; but here is a fact, strange and weird +though it may read--fully half an hour after the creature seemed dead, +and lying on its side, while our heroes stood silently round it, with +the wild birds wheeling and screaming closely overhead, the zugaena +suddenly threw itself on its stomach as if about to swim away. It was +the last of its movements, and a mere spasmodic and painless one, though +very distressing to witness. + +CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. + +RORY'S REVERIE--SILAS ON THE SCYMNUS BOREALIS--THE BATTLE WITH THE +SHARKS--RORY GETS IN FOR IT AGAIN--THROWN AMONG THE SHARKS. + +The ships still lay hard and fast in the ice-pack, many miles to the +nor'ard and eastward of the Isle of Jan Mayen. There was as yet no sign +of the frost giving way. Day after day the bay ice between the bergs +got thicker and thicker, and the thermometer still stood steadily well +down below zero. But the wind never blew, and there never was a speck +of cloud in the brilliant sapphire sky, nor even haze itself to shear +the sun of his beams; so the cold was hardly felt, and after a brisk +walk or scamper over the ice our heroes felt so warm that they were in +the habit of throwing themselves down on the snow on the southern side +of a hummock of ice. Book in hand, Rory would sometimes lie thus for +fully half an hour on a stretch. Not always reading, though; the fact +of Rory's having a book in his hand was no proof that he was reading, +for just as often he was dreaming; and I'll tell you a little secret-- +there were a pair of beautiful eyes which were filled with tears when +last he had seen them, there were two rosy lips that had quivered as +they parted to breathe the word "good-bye." These, and a soft, small +hand that had lain for a moment in his, haunted him by night and by day, +and seemed ever present with him through all his wild adventures. + +Ah! but they didn't make him unhappy, though; no, but quite the reverse. + +He was reclining thus one day all by himself, about a quarter of a mile +from his ship, when Ralph and McBain came gently up behind him, walking +as silently as the crisp snow, that felt like powdered glass under their +feet, would permit them. + +"Hullo! Rory," cried McBain, in a voice of thunder. + +Startled from his reverie, Rory sprang to his feet, and instinctively +grasped his rifle. + +His friends laughed at him. + +"It is somewhat late to seize your rifle now, my boy," said McBain; +"supposing now we'd been a bear, why, we would be eating you at this +present moment." + +"Or making a mouse of you," added Ralph, "as the yellow bear did of poor +Freezing Powders; and at this very minute you'd be-- + + "`Dancin' for de dear life + Among de Greenland snow.'" + +"I was reading," said Rory, smiling, "that beautiful poem of Wordsworth, +_We are seven_." + +"Wordsworth's _We are seven_?" cried Ralph, laughing. "Oh! Row, Row, +you'll be the death of me some day. Since when did you learn to read +with your book upside down?" + +"Had I now?" said Rory, with an amused look of candour. "In troth I +daresay you are right." + +"But come on, Row, boy," continued Ralph, "luncheon is all ready, Peter +is waiting, and after lunch Silas Grig is going to show as some fun." + +"What more malley-shooting?" asked Rory. + +"No, Row, boy," was the reply; "he is going to lead us forth to battle +against the sharks." + +"Against the sharks!" exclaimed Rory, incredulous. + +"I'm not in fun, really," replied Ralph. "Silas tells us they are in +shoals of thousands at present under us; that the sea swarms with them, +some fifteen feet long, others nearer twenty." + +"Oh!" said Row; "this _is_ interesting. Come on; I'm ready." + +While the trio stroll leisurely shipwards over the snow, let me try to +explain to my reader what Rory meant by malley-shooting, as taught them +by Silas Grig. The term, or name, "malley," is that which is given by +Greenlandmen to the Arctic gull. Although not so charming in plumage as +the snowbird, it is nevertheless a very handsome bird, and has many +queer ways of its own which are interesting to the naturalist, and which +you do not find described in books. These gulls build their nests early +in the season on the cliffs of Faroe and Shetland, and probably, though +I have never found them, in sheltered caves of Jan Mayen and Western +Greenland as well. Despite the extreme cold, they manage to bring forth +and rear their young successfully, and are always ready to follow +Greenland ships in immense flocks. Wherever work is going on, wherever +the crack of the rifle is heard on the pack, wherever the snow is +stained crimson and yellow with blood, the malleys will be there in +daring thousands. The most curious part of the thing is this: they +possess a power of either scent or sight, which enables them to discover +their quarry, although scores of miles away from it. For example--the +Arctic gulls, as a rule, do not follow a ship for sake of the bits of +bread and fat that may be thrown overboard. Some of them do, I know, +but I look upon these as merely the lazaroni, the beggars of their +tribe; your healthy, youthful, aristocratic malley prefers something he +considers better. Give him blubber to eat, or the flesh of a new slain +seal, and he will follow you far enough. Now a ship may be lying +becalmed off this pack, with no seals in sight, and doing nothing; if so +she will be deserted by these birds. Not from the crow's-nest, though +aided by the most powerful telescope, will you be able to descry a +single gull; but no sooner is a sealskin or two hauled on deck to be +cleared of their fat, than notice seems to be flashed to the far-off +gulls, and in a few minutes they are winging around you, making the +welkin ring with their wild, delighted screams. They alight in the +water around a morsel of meat in such bunches, that a table-cloth would +cover two dozen of them. + +Having had enough--and that "enough" means something enormous--they go +off for a "fly," just as tumbling pigeons do. You may see them in +hundreds high in air, sailing round and round, enjoying themselves +apparently to the very utmost, and shrieking with joy. Now is the time +for the skua to attack them. A bold, black, hawklike rascal is this +skua, a robber and a thief. He never comes within gunshot of a ship. +He is as wild and untamable as the north wind itself; yet, no sooner +have the malleys commenced their post-prandial gambols than he is in the +midst of them. He does not want to kill them; only some one or more +must disgorge their food. On this the skua lives. No wonder that +Greenland sailors call him the unclean bird. + +The malley-gull floats on the waves as lightly and gently as a child's +toy air-ball would. His usual diet is fish, except in sealing times; +and of the fish he catches the marauding skua never fails to get his +share. It is for the sake of the feathers sailors shoot these birds on +the ice, for they are nearly as well feathered as an eider duck. + +Getting tired of shooting seals in the water, Rory and Allan one day, +leaving the others on the banks of the great ice-hole, determined to +make a bag of feathers. And here is how they bagged their game. + +Armed with fowling-pieces, they retired to some distance from the water +party and lay down behind a hummock of ice. Here they might have lain +until this day without a bird looking twice in their direction had they +not provided themselves with a lure. This lure was simply a pair of the +wings of a gull, which one waved above his head, while the other +prepared to fire right and left. And not a minute would these wings be +waved aloft ere the gulls, with that strange curiosity inherent in all +wild creatures, would begin to circle around, coming nearer and nearer, +tack and half-tack, until they were within reach of the guns, when--down +they came. But the untimely end of one brace nor twenty did not prevent +their companions from trying to solve the mystery of the waving wings. + +Luncheon was on the table, and our friends were seated around it, all +looking happy and hungry. Rory would have liked to have asked Silas +Grig right straight away about the expedition against the sharks but for +one thing--he didn't like to appear too inquisitive; and, for another, +he was not quite sure even now that it was not one of Ralph's pretty +jokes. But when everybody had been served, when weather and future +prospects, the state of the thermometer and height of the barometer, had +been discussed, Rory found he could not contain himself any longer. + +"What are you going to be doing after lunch?" he asked Silas, pointedly. + +"Aha, boy Rory!" was the reply; "we'll have such sport as you never saw +the likes o' before!" + +Rory now began to see there really was no joke about the matter; and +Ralph, who was sitting next to him, pinched him for his doubt and +misbelief. The two young men could read each other's thoughts like +books. + +"Do you mean to say you are going to catch sharks in earnest, you know?" +asked Rory. + +"Well," said Silas, with a bit of a laugh, "I'm going to have as good a +try at it as ever I had. And as for catching 'em in earnest, I'm +thinking it won't be fun--for the sharks!" + +"It is the _Scymnus borealis_, isn't it?" said Dr Sandy McFlail, +"belongin', if my memory serves me, to the natural family _Squalidae_--a +powerful brute, and a vera dangerous, too." + +"You may call him the _Aurora borealis_ if you like, doctor," said +Silas; "and as for his family connections I know nought, but I daresay +he comes from a jolly bad stock." + +"Natural history books," said Allan, "don't speak of their being so very +numerous." + +"Natural history books!" reiterated Silas, with some warmth of disdain. +"What do they know? what can they teach a man? Write a complete history +of all the creatures that move about on God's fair earth, that fly in +His air or swim in His sea, and you'd fill Saint Paul's with books from +top to bottom--from the mighty cellars beneath to the golden cross +itself. No, take my advice, boy Rory; if you want to study nature, put +little faith in books. The classification is handy, say you? Yes, +doctor; and I've seen a stripling fresh from college look as proud as a +two-year-old peacock because he could spin you off the Greek names of a +few specimens in the British Museum, though he couldn't have told you +the ways and habits of any one of them to save him from having his leave +stopped. There is only one way, gentlemen, to study natural history; +you must go to the great book of Nature itself--ay, and be content, and +thankful, too, if, during even a long lifetime, you are able to learn +the contents of even a single page of it." + +Rory, and the doctor, too, looked at Silas with a kind of new-born +admiration; there was more in this man, with his weather-beaten, +flower-pot-coloured face, than they had had any idea of. + +"If I had time, gentlemen," Silas added, "I could tell you some queer +stories about sharks. `I reckon,' as poor old Cobb used to say, that +some o' them would raise your hair a bit, too!" + +"And what kind of a monster is this Greenland shark?" asked Allan. + +"No more a monster," said Silas, "than I am. God made us both, and we +have each some end to fulfil in life. But if you want me to tell you +something about him, I'll confess to you I love the animal about as much +as I do an alligator. He comes prowling around the icebergs when we are +sealing to see what he can pick up in the shape of a dead or wounded +seal, a chunk o' blubber, or a man's leg. He is neither dainty nor +particular, he has the appetite of a healthy ostrich, and about as much +conscience as a coal-carter's horse. He is as wary as a five-season +fox, and when he pays your ship a visit when out at sea, he looks as +humble and unsophisticated as a bull trout. He'll take whatever you +like to throw him, though--anything, in fact, from a cow's-heel to the +cabin boy--and he'll swallow a red-hot brick rather than go away with an +empty stomach. But when he comes around the ice at old-sealing time he +doesn't come alone, he brings his father and mother with him, and his +uncles and aunts, and apparently all his natural family, as the doctor +calls it. And fine fun they have, though they don't agree particularly +well even _en famille_. I've seen five of them on to one seal crang, +and there was little interchange of courtesies, I can tell you. He's +not a brave fish, the Greenland shark, big and all as he is. If you +fall into the water among a score of them your best plan is to keep cool +and kick. Yes, gentlemen, by keeping cool and kicking plenty I've known +more than one man escape without a bite. The getting out is the worst, +though, for as long as you splash they keep at a distance and look on; +they don't quite know what to make of you; but as soon as you get a hold +of the end of the rope, and are being drawn out, look sharp, that's all, +or it will be `Snap!' and you will be minus one leg before you can wink, +and thankful you may be it isn't two. A mighty tough skin has the +Greenland shark," continued Silas; "I've played upon the back of one for +over half an hour with a Colt's revolver, and it just seemed to tickle +him--nothing more. I don't think sharks have much natural affection, +and they are no respecters of persons. I do believe they would just as +soon dine off little Freezing Powders here as they would off a leg of +McBain." + +"Oh, oh, Massa Silas!" cried Freezing Powders, "don't talk like dat; you +makes my flesh all creep like nuffin' at all!" + +"They are slow in their movements, aren't they?" said the doctor. + +"Ay!" said Silas, "when they get everything their own way; but they are +fierce, revengeful, and terrible in their wrath. An angry shark will +bite a bit out of your boat, collar an oar, or do anything to spite you, +though it generally ends in his having his own head split in the long +run." + +[Silas Grig's description of the Greenland shark is a pretty correct +one, so far as my own experience goes.--G.S.] + +"The men are all ready, sir," said Stevenson, entering the cabin at that +moment, "to go over the side, sir." + +"Thank you," said the captain; "send them on to the ice, then, for a +general skylark till we come up." + +When the officers did come up they found all the men on the ice, and a +pretty row they were having. They were running, racing, jumping high +leap and low leap, boxing, and fencing with single-sticks, +quarter-staves, and foils; and last but not least, a party were dancing +the wild and exciting reels of Scotland, with Peter playing to them just +as loudly as he knew how to, although his eyes seemed starting from his +head, and his face was as red as a dorking's comb in laying season. + +Then it was "Hurrah for the ice-hole!" and "Hurrah for the sharks!" + +Silas did not take very long to get his party--his fishing-party, as he +called it--into working order. He evidently meant business, and +expected it, too. He had seven or eight long lines, to each of which +was attached a piece of chain and an immense shark-hook. These were +baited with pieces of blubber; the men were armed with long knives and +clubs. So sure was Silas Grig of capturing a big haul of these +sea-fiends, the Greenland sharks, that he had a large fire of wood +lighted on the ice at some little distance, and over it, suspended by a +kind of shears, hung an immense cauldron. In this it was intended to +boil the livers of the sharks in order to extract the oil, which is the +most valuable part of the animal. + +Until tempted by huge pieces of seal-flesh hardly a shark showed fin; +but when once their appetites were wetted then--! + +I cannot, nor will I attempt to describe this battle with the sharks, +although such a fight I have been eyewitness to. Sometimes as many as +two were hauled out at once; it required the united strength of fifteen +or twenty men to land them. Then came the struggle on the ice, the +clubbing, the axing, and the death, during which many a man bit the +snow, though none were grievously wounded. Before the sun pointed to +midnight, between thirty and forty immense sharks had been captured, and +the oil from their livers weighed nearly a ton. + +Poor Rory--to whom all the best of the fun and all the worst misfortunes +seemed always to fall--had a terrible adventure during the battle. +Carried away by his enthusiasm, with club in hand, he was engaging one +of the largest sharks landed. The brute bent himself suddenly, then as +suddenly straightened himself out, and away went boy Rory, like an arrow +from a cross-bow, alighting in the very centre of the pool. For a +moment every one was struck dumb with horror! + +But Rory himself never lost his presence of mind. He remembered what +Silas had said about splashing and kicking to keep the sharks at bay. +Splash? I should think he did splash, and kick, too; indeed, kicking is +hardly any name for his antics. He made a wheel of himself in the +water. He seemed all arms and legs, and as for his head, it was just as +often up as down, and _vice versa_; and all the while he was issuing +orders to those on the bank--a word or two at a time, whenever his head +happened to be uppermost, so that in the midst of the splashing and +spluttering his speech ran like this: + +"Stand by"--(splutter, splutter)--"you fellows"--(splash, splash)--"up +there"--(splutter) "to pull quick"--(splash)--"as soon as!"--(splutter, +splutter)--"catch the rope."--(splash, splash)--"Now lads, +now!"--(splutter, splutter, splash, splash, splutter, splutter, splash). + +"Hurrah!" he cried, when he found himself on the ice. "Hurrah! boys. +Cheer, boys, cheer. Safe to bank! Hurrah! and both my legs as sound as +a bell, and never a toe missing from any single one of the two o' them. +Hurrah! Sure it's myself'll be Queen o' the May to-morrow. Hurrah!" + +Yes, reader, the very next day was May-day, and on that day there are +such doings on Greenland ships as you never see in England. + +CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. + +MAY-DAY IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS. + +May-day! May-day in England! Surely, even to the minds of the youngest +among us, these words bring some pleasant recollections. + +"Ah! but," I think I hear you complain, "the May-days are not now what +they were in the good old times; not the May-days we read of in books; +not the May-days of merrie England. Where are the may-poles, with their +circles of rosy-cheeked children dancing gleesomely around them? Where +are the revels? Where are the games? Where is the little maiden +persistent, who plagued her mother so lest she should forget to wake and +call her early-- + + "`Because I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, + I'm to be Queen o' the May?' + +"And echo answers, `Where?'" + +These things, maiden included, have passed away; they have fled like the +fairies before the shriek of engine and rattle of railway wheels. + +But May-day in England! Why, there is some pleasure and some joy left +in it even yet. Summer comes with it, or promises it will soon be on +the wing. Already in the meadows the cattle wade knee-deep in dewy +grass, and cull sweet cowslips and daisies. A balmier air breathes over +the land; the rising sun is rosy with hope; the lark springs from his +nest among the tender corn, and mounts higher to sing than he has ever +done before; flowers are blooming on every brae; the mossy banks are +redolent of wild thyme; roses begin to peep coyly out in the hedgerows, +and butterflies spread their wings, as a sailor spreads a sail, and go +fluttering away through the gladsome sunshine. And yonder--why, yonder +_is_ a little maiden, and a very pretty one, too, though she isn't going +to be Queen o' the May. No, but she is tripping along towards the +glade, where the pink-blossomed hawthorn grows, and the yellow scented +furze. She is going to-- + + Bathe her sweet face in May-morn dew, + To make her look lovely all the year through. + +She glances shyly around her, hoping that no one sees her. You and I, +dear reader, are far too manly to stand and stare so. + +Hey! presto! and the scene is changed. + +May-day! May-day in Greenland! An illimitable ocean of ice, stretching +away on all sides towards every point of the compass from where those +ships are lying beset. It looks like some measureless wold covered with +the snows of midwinter. It is early morning, though the sun shines +brightly in a sky of cloudless blue, and, save for the footfall of the +solitary watchman who paces the deck of the _Arrandoon_, there is not a +sound to be heard, the stillness everywhere is as the stillness of +death. An hour or two goes slowly by, then the watchman approaches the +great bell that hangs amidships. + +Dong-dong! dong-dong! dong-dong! dong-dong! Eight bells. The men +spring up from hatch and companion-way, and soon the decks are crowded +and the crew are busy enough. They have discussed their breakfast long +ago, and have since been hard at work on the May-day garland, which they +now proceed to hoist on high, 'twixt fore and main masts. That garland +is quite a work of art, and a very gay one, too. Not a man in the ship +that has not contributed a few ribbons to aid in decorating it. Those +ribbons had been kept for this special purpose, and were the last loving +gifts of sisters, wives, or sweethearts ere the vessel set sail for the +sea of ice. But there is more to be done than hoisting the garland. +The ship has to be dressed, and when this is finished, with her flags +all floating around her, she will look as beautiful as a bride on her +marriage morning. + +None the worse for the ducking and fright of the previous day, Rory was +first up on this particular May-day, and tubbed and dressed long before +either Allan or Ralph was awake. + +"Get up, Ray!" cried Rory, entering his friend's cabin. + +"Ray, _Ray_, Ray!" + +The last "Ray" was shouted. + +"Hullo! hullo!" cried Ray. "Oh! it's you, is it, Row? Is breakfast all +ready, old man?" + +"Ray, arise, you lazy dog!" continued Row, shaking him by the shoulder. +"This is May-morning, Ray, and I'm to be Queen of the May, my boy, I'm +to be Queen of the May!" + +At half-past eight our heroes, Captain McBain included, went on deck in +a body, and this was the time for the crew to cluster up the rigging, +man the yards, and give voice to a ringing cheer; nay, not one cheer +only, but three times three; and hardly had the sound died away ere it +was taken up and re-echoed back by the crew of the _Canny Scotia_. It +seemed that Captain Cobb's cockle-shell was not to be left out of the +fun either, for the crew of even that tiny craft must man the rigging +and cheer, though after the lusty roar that had gone up from the other +ships, their voices sounded like that of a chicken learning to crow. + +After this, while the men went to work to rig a great platform on the +upper deck, Peter, arrayed in fullest Highland costume, played pibroch +after pibroch, and wild march after wild march, as he went strutting up +and down the quarter-deck. + +The decks were cleared of everything that could be removed, and a great +tent erected from mizen to foremast; when this was lined with flags +there was but little light, but lamps in clusters were hung here and +there, and a stove was brought up to give heat, so that the whole place +was as gay as could be, and comfortable as well. + +At one end of the tent a platform was erected. There the piano was +placed all handy, and Rory's fiddle and the doctor's flute, as well as +several armchairs and a kind of a throne, the use of which will soon be +seen. On the stage at one side was an immense tub nearly filled with +cold, icy water; two steps led up to it, and on the edge thereof was a +revolving chair. Very comfortable it looked indeed, but, on touching a +spring, backwards it went, and whoever might be sitting on it had the +benefit of a beautiful bath. My readers already guess what this is for. +Yes, for May-day in Greenland is not only a day of fun and frolic, but +the self-same kind of performance takes place as on southern ships while +crossing the line. + +The day itself was dedicated to games on the ice, for not until towards +evening would the real fun begin. The seals had a rest to-day, and so +had the sharks; even the terrible zugaena wasn't once thought of, and +Bruin himself might sit on one end licking his chops and looking on, so +long as he kept at a respectful distance. The games were both Scotch +and English, a happy medley in which all hands joined. The morning saw +cricket and football matches in full swing, the afternoon golf--and golf +played on hummocky ice _is_ golf--and hockey. Peter was the band, and +right well he played; but when, tired of march quadrille, or pibroch, he +burst into a Highland reel, and the crews began to dance--well, the +scene on the snow grew exciting indeed. It was grotesque enough, too, +in all conscience, for everybody, without exception, was dressed in +fancy costume. + +No wonder, too, that Cockie, whom his master had brought on deck to look +down on them from the bulwarks, lost all control of himself, and +shouted, "Go on--go on--keep it up--keep it up." Then when Cockie began +to throw his head back and shriek with laughter, the men couldn't resist +it any longer; they joined in that laugh, and laughed till sides ached +and eyes ran water, and many had to roll in the snow to prevent +catastrophes. But the louder the men laughed, all the louder laughed +Cockie, till Freezing Powders was obliged to run below with him at last. + +"Oh!" said his master, as he restored the cage to its corner, "I tell +you all day, Cockie, you eat too much hemp. It's drefful, Cockie, to +hear you laugh like all dat." + +Suddenly from the bows of the _Arrandoon_ a big gun is fired, and the +revel stops. Then comes a hail from the crow's-nest,-- + +"Below there?" + +"Ay, ay!" roared McBain. + +"A procession coming along over the snow, sir, towards the ship." + +A consultation was at once held, and it was resolved to march forth to +meet them. + +"It is Neptune, I know," said McBain, "for a snowbird this morning +brought me a note to say he'd dine with us." + +It wasn't long before our friends came in sight of the royal party. It +was Neptune, sure enough, trident and all, both his trident and he +looking as large as life.--He was drawn along in a sledge by a party of +naiads, and Amazon jades they looked. On one side of him walked his +wife, on the other the Cock o' the North, while behind him came the +barber carrying an immense razor and a bucket of lather. Silas Grig, I +may as well mention, played Neptune, and Seth his wife--and a taller, +skinnier, bristlier old lady you couldn't have imagined; and her +attempts to act the lady of fashion, and her airs and graces, were +really funny. The Cock o' the North was Ted Wilson. He was dressed in +feathers from top to toe, with an immense bill, comb, and wattles, and +acted his part well. He was introduced by Neptune as-- + + "One who ne'er has been to school, + But keeps us fat--in fact, our fool; + A fool, forsooth, yet full of wit + As he can stand, or lie, or sit." + +After the usual introduction, salaams, and courtesies, Neptune made his +speech in doggerel verse, with many an interruption both from his wife +and his fool, telling how "his name was Neptune"--"though it might be +Norval," added the Cock o' the North. How-- + + "From east to west, from pole to pole, + Where'er waves break or waters roll, + _My_ empire is--" + _His Wife_--"And _you_ belong to _me_." + _Cock o' the North_.--"All hail, great monarch of the sea!" + _Neptune_--"The clouds pay tribute, and streams and rills + Come singing from the distant hills." + _His Wife_.--"_Do_ stop, my dear; you're _not_ a poet, + And never were--" + _Neptune_.--"Good sooth, I know it. + But now lead on, our blood feels cold, + For truth to tell, we're getting old. + We and our wife have seen much service, + Besides--the dear old thing is nervous, + So to the ship lead on, I say, + We'd see some fun on this auspicious day. + My younger sons I fain would bless 'em." + _His Barber_.--"And I can shave." + _His Wife (rapturously_).--"And I can kiss 'em." + +The six poor lads who were to be operated on, and whose only fault was +that they had never before crossed the line, trembled in their prison as +they heard the big guns thunder forth, announcing the arrival of King +Neptune. They trembled more when, dressed in white, they were led +forth, a pair at a time, and seated blindfolded on the chair of the +terrible tub, and duly shaved and blessed and kissed; but they trembled +most when the bolt was drawn, and they tumbled head foremost into the +icy water; but when, about twenty minutes thereafter, they were seen +seated in a row in dry, warm clothing, you would not have known them for +the same boys. Their faces were beaming with smiles, and each one +busied himself discussing a huge basin of savoury sea-pie. They were +not trembling then at all. + +At the dinner which followed, Neptune took the head of the table, with +his wife on his right and McBain himself as vice-president. The dinner +was good even for the _Arrandoon_, and that is saying a deal. In size, +in odour, and beauty of rotundity, the plum-pudding that two stalwart +men carried in and placed in front of Neptune, was something to remember +for ever and a day. Size? Why, Neptune could have served it out with +his trident. Ay! and everybody had two helps, and looked all the +healthier and happier after them. + +Our three chief heroes were in fine form, Rory in one of his funniest, +happiest moods. And why not? Had not he dubbed himself Queen o' the +May? Yes, and well he sustained the part. + +I am not sure how Neptune managed to possess himself of so many bottles +of Silas Grig's green ginger, but there they were, and they went all +round the table, and even the men of the crew seemed to prefer it to +rum. The toasts given by the men were not a few, and all did honour to +the manliness of their hearts. The songs sung ere the table was cleared +were all well worth listening to, though some were ballads of extreme +length. + +Neptune was full of anecdotes of his life and adventures, and his wife +also had a good deal to say about hers, which caused many a peal of +laughter to rattle round the table. + +Some of the men recited pieces of their own composition. Here is one by +the crew's pet, Ted Wilson to wit: + + The Ghost of the Cochin-Shanghai. + + 'Tis a tale of the Greenland ocean, + A tale of the Northern seas, + Of a ship that sailed from her native land + On the wings of a favouring breeze; + Her skipper as brave a seaman + As ever set sail before, + Her crew all told as true and bold + As ever yet left the shore. + + And never a ship was better "found," + She couldn't be better, I know, + With beef in the rigging and porkers to kill, + And tanks filled with water below; + And turkeys to fatten, and ducklings and geese, + And the best Spanish pullets to lay; + But the pride of the ship, and the pet of the mess, + Was a Brahma cock, Cochin-Shanghai. + And every day when the watches were called, + This cock crew so cheery O! + With a shrill cock-a-lee, and a hoarse cock-a-lo, + And a long cock-a-leerie O! + But still as the grave was the brave bird at night, + For well did he know what was best; + Yes, well the cock knew that most of the crew + Were weary and wanted their rest + But one awful night he awoke in a fright, + Then wasn't it dreary O! + To hear him crow, with a hoarse cock-a-lo, + And a shrill cock-a-leerie O! + + Oh! + + Then out of bed scrambled the men in a mass, + "We cannot get sleep," they all cried; + "May we never reach dock till we silence that cock, + We'll never have peace till the villain is fried." + All dressed as they were in the garments of night, + Though the decks were deep covered with snow, + They chased the cock round, with wild yell and bound, + ####But they never got near him--no. And wherever he flew, still the + bold + Cochin crew, With a shrill cock-a-lee, and a hoarse cock-a-lo, + And a long cock-a-leerie O! + + Now far up aloft defiant he stands, + Like an eagle in eerie O! + Till a sea-boot at last, knocked him down from the mast, + And he sunk in the ocean below. + But the saddest part of the story is this: + He hadn't quite finished his crow, + He'd got just as far as the hoarse cock-a-lo + But failed at the leerie O! + + Oh-h! + + And that ship is still sailing, they say, on the sea, + Though 'tis hundreds of years ago; + Till they silence that cock they'll ne'er reach a dock, + Nor lay down their burden of woe; + For out on the boom, till the crack of doom, + The ghost of the Cochin will crow, + With his shrill cock-a-lee, and his hoarse cock-a-lo, + But _never_ the leerie O! + + No! + + They tell me at times that the ship may be seen + Straggling on o'er the billows o' blue, + That the hardest of hearts would melt like the snow, + To witness the grief of that crew, + As they eye the cold waves, and long for their graves, + Looking _so weary O_! + Will he _never_ have done with that weird cock-a-lo, + As get to the leerie O! + + Oh-h! + +Dinner discussed, the fun commenced. In the first place, there were +sailors' dances, and the floor was kept pretty well filled one way or +another. But certainly _the_ dances of the evening were the barber's +"break-down," Rory's "Irish jig," and the doctor's "Hielan fling." They +were _solos_, of course, and the barber was the first to take the floor; +and oh! the shuffling and the double-shuffling, and the tripleing and +double-tripleing of that wonderful hornpipe! No wonder he was cheered, +and encored, and cheered again. Then came Rory, dressed in natty +knickerbockers and carrying a shillelah! nobody could say at times which +end of him was uppermost, or whether he did not just as often strike his +seemingly adamantine head with his heels as with his shillelah. Lastly +came Sandy McFlail in Highland costume, and being a countryman of my +own, I must be modestly mum on the performance, only, towards the end of +the "fling," you saw before you such a mist of waving arms and legs and +plaid-ends, that you could not have been sure it was Sandy at all, and +not an octopus. + +But hark! there comes a shriek from the pack, so loud that it drowns the +sounds of music and merriment. Men grow suddenly serious. Again they +hear it, and there is a perceptible movement--a kind of thrill under +their feet. It is the wail that never fails to give the first +announcement of the breaking up of the sea of ice. + +CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE. + +BREAKING UP OF THE GREAT ICE PACK--IN THE NIPS--THE "CANNY SCOTIA" ON +HER BEAM-ENDS--STAVING OF THE "ARRANDOON." + +In the very midst of joy and pleasure in this so-called weary world, we +are oftentimes very nigh to grief and pain. + +See yonder Swiss village by the foot of the mountain, how peacefully it +is sleeping in the moonlight; not a sound is to be heard save the +occasional crowing of a wakeful cock, or the voice of watch-dog baying +the moon. The inhabitants have gone to bed hours and hours ago, and +their dreams, if they dream at all, are assuredly not dreams of danger. +But hark to that terrible noise far overhead. Is it thunder? Yes, the +thunder of a mighty avalanche. Nearer and nearer it rolls, till it +reaches the devoted village, then all is desolation and woe. + +See yet another village, far away in sunny Africa; its little huts +nestle around the banyan-tree, the tall cocoa-palm, and the +wide-spreading mango. They are a quiet, inoffensive race who inhabit +that village. They live south of the line, far away from treacherous +Somali Indians or wild Magulla men; they never even dreamt of war or +bloodshed. They certainly do not dream of it now. + + "The babe lies in its mother's arms, + The wife's head pillowed on the husband's breast." + +Suddenly there is a shout, and when they awake--oh! horror! their huts +are all in flames, the Arab slavers are on them, and--I would not harrow +your young feelings by describing the scenes that follow. + +But a ship--and this is coming nearer home--may be sailing over a +rippling sea, with the most pleasant of breezes filling her sails, no +land in sight, and every one, fore and aft, as happy as the birds on an +early morning in summer, when all at once she rasps, and strikes-- +strikes on a rock, the very existence of which was never even suspected +before. In half an hour perhaps that vessel has gone down, and those +that are saved are afloat in open boats, the breeze freshening every +moment, the wavetops breaking into cold spray, night coming on, and +dark, threatening clouds banking up on the windward horizon. + +When the first wail arose from the pack that announced the breaking up +of the sea of ice, a silence of nearly a minute fell on the sailors +assembled at the entertainment. Music stopped, dancing ceased, and +every one listened. The sound was repeated, and multiplied, and the +ship quivered and half reeled. + +McBain knew the advantage of remaining calm and retaining his presence +of mind in danger. Because he was a true sailor. He was not like the +sailor captains you read of in penny dreadfuls--half coal-heaver, half +Herzegovinian bandit. + +"Odd, isn't it?" he muttered, as he stroked his beard and smiled; then +in a louder voice he gave his orders. + +"Men," he said, "we'll have some work to do before morning--get ready. +The ice is breaking up. Pipe down, boatswain. Mr Stevenson, see to +the clearing away of all this hamper." + +Then, followed by Rory and the doctor, he got away out into the +daylight. + +The ships were all safe enough as yet, and there was only perceptible +the gentlest heaving motion in the pack. Sufficient was it, however, to +break up the bay ice between the bergs, and this with a series of loud +reports, which could be heard in every direction. McBain looked +overboard somewhat anxiously; the broken pieces of bay ice were getting +ploughed up against the ship's side with a noise that is indescribable, +not so much from its extreme loudness as from its peculiarity; it was a +strange mixture of a hundred different noises, a wailing, complaining, +shrieking, grinding noise, mingled with a series of sharp, irregular +reports. + +"It is like nothing earthly," said Rory, "that ever I heard before; and +when I close my eyes for a brace of seconds, I could imagine that down +on the pack there two hundred tom-cats had lain down to die, that twenty +Highland bag-pipers--twenty Peters--were playing pibrochs of lament, and +that just forenenst them a squad of militia-men was firing a +_feu-de-joie_, and that neither the militia-men nor the pipers either +were as self-contained as they should be on so solemn an occasion." + +The doctor was musing; he was thinking how happy he had been half an +hour ago, and now--heigho; it was just possible he would never get back +to Iceland again, never see his blue-eyed Danish maiden more. + +"Pleasures," he cried, "pleasures, Captain McBain--" + +"Yes," said McBain, "pleasures--" + +"Pleasures," continued the doctor,-- + + "`Are like poppies shed, + You seize the flower, the bloom is fled.' + +"I'll gang doon below. Bed is the best place." + +"Perhaps," said McBain, smiling, "but not the safest. Mind, the ship is +in the nips, and a berg might go through her at any moment. There is +the merest possibility of your being killed in your bed. That's all; +but that won't keep _you_ on deck." + +Mischievous Rory was doing ridiculous attitudes close behind the worthy +surgeon. + +"What?" cried Sandy, in his broadest accent. "_That_ not keep me on +deck! Man, the merest possibility of such a cawtawstrophy would keep me +on deck for a month." + +"A vera judeecious arrangement," hissed Rory in his ear, for which he +was chased round the deck, and had his own ears well pulled next minute. +The doctor had him by the ear when Allan and Ralph appeared on the +scene. + +"Hullo!" they laughed, "Rory got in for it again." + +"Whustle," cried Sandy. + +"I only said `a vera--'" began Rory. + +"Whustle, will ye?" cried the doctor. + +"I can't `whustle,'" laughed Rory. But he had to "whustle," and then he +was free. + +"It's going to be a tough squeeze," said Silas to McBain. + +"Yes; and, worse luck, the swell has set in from the east," answered the +captain. + +"I'm off to the _Canny Scotia_; good morning." + +"One minute, Captain Grig; we promised to hoist up Cobb's cockle-shell. +Lend us a hand with your fellows, will you?" + +"Ay, wi' right good will," said Silas. + +There were plenty of spars on board the _Arrandoon_ big enough to rig +shears, and these were sent overboard without delay, with ropes and +everything else required. + +The men of the _Arrandoon_, assisted by those of the _Canny Scotia_, +worked with a readiness and will worthy even of our gallant Royal +Engineers. A shears was soon rigged, and a winch got up. On a spar +fastened along the cockle-shell's deck the purchase was made, and, under +the superintendence of brave little Ap, the work began. + +For a long time the "shell" refused to budge, so heavily did the ice +press around her; the spar on her deck started though, several times. +"Worse luck," thought little Ap. He had the spar re-fastened. Tried +again. The same result followed. Then little Ap considered, taking +"mighty" big pinches of snuff the while. + +"We won't do like that," he said to himself, "because, look you see, the +purchase is too much on the perpendicular. Yes, yes." + +Then he had the spar elevated a couple of yards, and fastened between +the masts, which he had strengthened by lashing extra spars to them. +The result of this was soon apparent. The hawsers tightened, the little +yacht moved, even the pressure of the ice under her helped to lift her +as soon as she began to heel over, and, in half an hour afterwards, the +cockle-shell lay in a very ignominious position indeed--beam-ends on the +ice. + +"Bravo!" cried Silas, when the men had finished their cheering. "Bravo! +what _would_ long Cobb say now? what would he say? Ha! ha! ha!" + +Silas Grig laughed and chuckled till his face grew redder than ever, but +he would not have been quite so gay, I think, had he known what was so +soon to happen to his own ship. + +Stevenson touched McBain on the shoulder. + +"The ice presses heavy on the rudder, sir." + +"Then unship it," said McBain. + +"And I'll unship mine," said Silas. + +Unshipping rudders is a kind of drill that few save Greenland sailors +ever learn, but it is very useful at times, nevertheless. + +In another hour the rudders of the two ships were hoisted and laid on +the bergs. So that was one danger past. + +But others were soon to follow, for the swell under the ice increased, +the bergs all around them rolled higher and higher. The noise from the +pack was terrific, as the pieces met and clashed and ground their +slippery sides together. In an hour or two the bay ice had been either +ground to slush, or piled in packs on top of the bergs, so that the +bergs had freedom to fight, as it were. Alas! for the two ships that +happened to be between the combatants. Their position was, indeed, far +from an enviable one. Hardly had an hour elapsed ere the ice-harbours +McBain and Silas had prided themselves in, were wrecked and +disintegrated. They were then, in some measure, at the mercy of the +enemy, that pressed them closely on every quarter. The _Canny Scotia_ +was the worst off--she lay between two of the biggest bergs in the pack. +McBain came to his assistance with torpedoes. He might as well have +tried to blow them to pieces with a child's pop-gun. Better, in fact, +for he would have had the same sport with less trouble and expense, and +the result would have been equally gratifying. + +For once poor Silas lost his equanimity. He actually wrung his hands in +grief when he saw the terrible position of his vessel. + +"My poor shippie," he said. "Heaven help us! I was building castles in +the air. But she is doomed! My bonnie ship is doomed." + +At the same time he wisely determined not to be idle, so provisions and +valuables were got on shore, and all the men's clothes and belongings. + +As nothing more could be done, Silas grew more contented. "It was just +his luck," he said, "just his luck." + +Long hours of anxiety to every one went slowly past, and still the swell +kept up, and the bergs lifted and fell and swung on the unseen billows, +and ground viciously against the great sides of the _Arrandoon_. Now +the _Canny Scotia_ was somewhat Dutchified in her build--not as to bows +but as to bottom. She was not a clipper by any manner of means, and her +build saved her. The ice actually ground her up out of the water till +she lay with her beam-ends on the ice, and her keel completely exposed. + +[As did the _P--e_, of Peterhead, once for weeks. The men lived on the +ice alongside, expecting the vessel to sink as soon as the ice opened. +The captain, however, would not desert his ship, but slept on board, his +mattress lying on the ship's side. The author's ship was beset some +miles off at the same time.] + +But the _Arrandoon_ had no such build. The ice caught under her +forefoot, and she was lifted twelve feet out of the water. No wonder +McBain and our heroes were anxious. The former never went below during +all the ten hours or more that the squeeze lasted. But the swells +gradually lessened, and finally ceased. The _Arrandoon_ regained her +position, and lost her list, but there lay the _Canny Scotia_, a +pitiable sight to see, like some giant overthrown, silent yet suffering. + +When the pumps of the _Arrandoon_ had been tried, and it was found that +there was no extra water in her, McBain felt glad indeed, and thanked +God from his inmost heart for their safe deliverance from this great +peril. He could now turn his attention to consoling his friend Silas. +After dinner that day, said McBain,-- + +"Your cabin is all ready, Captain Grig, for of course you will sleep +with us now." + +But Silas arose silently and calmly. + +"I needn't say," he replied, "how much I feel your manifold acts of +kindness, but Silas Grig won't desert his ship. His bed is on the +_Canny Scotia_." + +"But, my dear fellow," insisted McBain, "the ice may open in an hour, +and your good ship go down." + +"Then," said Silas, "I go with her, and it will be for you to tell my +owners and my little wife--heaven keep her!--that Skipper Grig stuck to +his ship to the last." + +What could McBain say, what argument adduce, to prevent this rough old +tar from risking his life in what he considered a matter of duty? +Nothing! and so he was dumb. + +Then away went Silas home, as he called it, to his ship. He lowered +himself down by a rope, clambered over the doorway of the cabin, took +one glance at the chaos around, then walked tenderly _over_ the +bulkhead, and so literally _down_ to his bed. He found the mattress and +bed-clothes had fallen against the side, and so there this good man, +this true sailor, laid him down and slept the sleep of the just. + +But the _Scotia_ did not go to the bottom; she lay there for a whole +week, defying all attempts to move her, Silas sleeping on board every +night, the only soul in her, and his crew remaining on the _Arrandoon_. +At the end of that time the ice opened more; then the prostrate giant +seemed to begin to show signs of returning life. She swayed slightly, +and looked as if she longed once more to feel the embrace of her native +element; seeing which, scientific assistance was given her. Suddenly +she sprang up as does a fallen horse, and hardly had the men time to +seek safety on the neighbouring bergs, when she took the water-- +relaunched herself--with a violence that sent the spray flying in every +direction with the force of a cataract. It would have been well had the +wetting the crew received been the only harm done. + +It was not, for the bergs moved asunder with tremendous force. One +struck the _Arrandoon_ in her weakest part--amidships, under the +water-line. She was stove, the timbers bent inwards and cracked, and +the bunks alongside the seat of accident were dashed into matchwood. +Poor old Duncan Gibb, who was lying in one of these bunks with an almost +united fracture of one of his limbs, had the leg broken over again. + +"Never mind, Duncan," said the surgeon, consolingly, "I didn't make a +vera pretty job of it last time. I'll make it as straight as a dart +this turn!" + +"Vera weel, sir; and so be it," was poor contented Duncan's reply, as he +smiled in his agony. + +"Dear me, now!" said Silas, some time afterwards; "I could simply cry-- +make a big baby of myself and cry. It would be crying for joy and +grief, you know--joy that my old shippie should show so much pluck as to +right herself like a race-horse, and grief to think she should go and +stave the _Arrandoon_. The ungrateful old jade!" + +"Never mind," said McBain, cheerfully, "Ap and the carpenters will soon +put the _Arrandoon_ all right. We will shift the ballast, throw her +over to starboard, and repair her, and the place will be, like Duncan's +leg, stronger than ever." + +It did not take very long to right Captain Cobb's cockle-shell, and all +the vessels being now in position again, and the ice opening, it might +have been as well to have got steam up at once, and felt the way to the +open water. McBain decided to make good repairs first; it was just as +easy to list the ship among the ice as out of it, and probably less +dangerous. Besides, the water kept pouring in, and the beautiful +arrangement of blankets and hammock-cloths which Ap had devised, hardly +sufficed to keep it out.--This decision of the captain nearly cost the +life of two of our best-loved heroes, and poor old Seth as well. But +their adventure demands a chapter, or part of one at least, to itself. + +CHAPTER TWENTY SIX. + +AN ADVENTURE ON THE PACK--SEPARATED FROM THE SHIP--DESPAIR--THE DREAM OF +HOME--UNDER WAY ONCE MORE. + +Nothing in the shape of adventure came amiss to Rory. He was always +ready for any kind of "fun," as he called every kind of excitement. +Such a thing as fear I do not believe Rory ever felt, and, as for +failing in anything he undertook, he never even dreamt of such a thing. +He had often proposed escapades and wild adventures to his companions at +which they hung fire. Rory's line of argument was very simple and +unsophisticated. It may be summed up in three sentences--first, "Sure +we've only to try and we're bound to do it." If that did not convince +Allan or Ralph, he brought up his first-class reserve, "Let us try, +_anyhow_;" and if that failed, his second reserve, "It's _bound_ to come +right in the end." Had Rory been seized by a lion or tiger, and borne +away to the bush, those very words would have risen to his lips to bring +him solace, "It's bound to come right in the end." + +The few days' delay that succeeded the accident to the _Arrandoon_, +while she had to be listed over, and things were made as uncomfortable +as they always are when a ship is lying on an uneven keel, threw Rory +back upon his books for enjoyment. That and writing verses, and, fiddle +in hand composing music to his own words, enabled him to pass the day +with some degree of comfort; but when Mr Stevenson one morning, on +giving his usual report at breakfast-time, happened to say,-- + +"Ice rather more open to-day, sir; a slight breeze from the west, and +about a foot of rise and fall among the bergs; two or three bears about +a mile to leeward, and a few seals," then Rory jumped up. + +"Will you go, Allan," he cried, "and bag a bear? Ralph hasn't done +breakfast." + +"Bide a wee, young gentleman," said McBain, smiling. "I really imagined +I was master of the ship." + +"I beg your pardon, Captain McBain," said Rory, at once; and with all +becoming gravity he saluted, and continued, "Please, sir, may I go on +shore?" + +"Certainly not," was the reply; and the captain added, "No, boy, no. We +value even Rory, for all the trouble he gives us, more than many bears." + +Rory got hold of his fiddle, and his feelings found vent in music. But +no sooner had McBain retired to his cabin than Rory threw down his much +beloved instrument and jumped up. + +"Bide a wee; I'll manage," he cried. + +"Doctor," he added, disarranging all the medico's hair with his hand-- +Sandy's legs were under the mahogany, so he could not speedily +retaliate--"Sandy, mon, I'll manage. It'll be a vera judeecious +arrangement." + +Then he was off, and presently back, all smiles and rejoicing: + +"Come on, Allan, dear boy," he cried. "We're going, both of us, and +Seth and one man, and we're going to carry a plank to help us across the +ice. Finish your breakfast, baby Ralph. I wouldn't disturb myself for +the world if I were you." + +"I don't mean to," said Ralph, helping himself to more toast and +marmalade. + +"What are you grinning at now?" asked Rory of the surgeon. + +"To think," said Sandy, laughing outright, "that our poor little boy +Rory couldn't be trusted on the ice without Seth and a plank. Ha, ha, +ha! my conscience!" + +"Doctor," said Rory. + +"Well?" said the doctor. + +"Whustle," cried Rory, making a face. + +"I'll whustle ye," said Sandy, springing up. But Rory was off. + +On the wiry shoulders of Seth the plank was borne as easily as if it had +been only an oar; the man carried the rope and sealing clubs. The plank +did them good service, for whenever the space between two bergs was too +wide for a safe leap it was laid down, and over they went. They thus +made good progress. + +There was a little motion among the ice, but nothing to signify. The +pieces approached each other gradually until within a certain distance. +Then was the time to leap, and at once, too, without fear and +hesitation. If you did hesitate, and made up your mind to leap a moment +after, you might fail to reach the next berg, and this meant a ducking +at the very least. But a ducking of this kind is no joke, as the writer +of these lines knows from experience. You strip off your clothes to +wring out the superabundance of water, and by the time you put them on +again, your upper garments, at all events, are frozen harder than +parchment. You have to construe the verb _salto_ [_Salto_--I leap, or +jump] from beginning to end before you feel on good terms with yourself +again. But falling into the sea between two bergs may not end with a +mere ducking. A man may be sucked by the current under the ice, or he +may instantly fall a prey to that great greedy monster, the Greenland +shark. Well the brute loves to devour a half-dead seal, but a man is +caviare to his maw. Again, if you are not speedily rescued, the bergs +may come slowly together and grind you to pulp. But our heroes escaped +scot-free. So did the bears which they had come to shoot. + +"It is provoking!" said Rory. "Let us follow them a mile or so, at all +events." + +They did, and came in sight of one--an immensely great brute of a +Bruin--who, after stopping about a minute to study them, set off again +shambling over the bergs. Then he paused, and then started off once +more; and this he did many times, but he never permitted them to get +within shot. + +All this time the signal of recall was floating at the masthead of the +_Arrandoon_, but they never saw it. They began to notice at last, +though, that the bergs were wider apart, so they wisely determined to +give up the chase and return. + +Return? Yes, it is only a little word--hardly a simpler one to be found +in the whole English vocabulary, whether to speak or to spell; and yet +it is a word that has baffled thousands. It is a word that we should +never forget when entering upon any undertaking in which there is danger +to either ourselves or others. It is a word great generals keep well in +view; probably it was just that word "return" which prevented the great +Napoleon from landing half a million of men on our shores with the view +of conquering the country. The man of ambition was afraid he might find +a difficulty in getting his Frenchmen back, and that Englishmen would +not be over kind to them. + +Rory and his party could see the flag of recall now, and they could see +also the broad black fan being waved from the crow's-nest to expedite +their movements. So they made all the haste in their power. There was +no leaping now, the plank had to be laid across the chasms constantly. +But at last they succeeded in getting just half-way to the ship, when, +to their horror, they discovered that all further advance was a sheer +impossibility! A lane of open water effectually barred their progress. +It was already a hundred yards wide at least, and it was broadening +every minute. South and by west, as far as eye could reach, stretched +this canal, and north-west as well. They were drifting away on a loose +portion of the pack, leaving their ship behind them. + +Their feelings were certainly not to be envied. They knew the whole +extent of their danger, and dared not depreciate it. It was coming on +to blow; already the face of that black lane of water was covered with +angry little ripples. If the wind increased to a gale, the chances of +regaining their vessel were small indeed; more likely they would be +blown out to sea, as men have often been under similar circumstances, +and so perish miserably on the berg on which they stood. To be sure, +they were to leeward, and the _Arrandoon_ was a steamer; there was some +consolation in that, but it was damped, on the other hand, by the +recollection that, though a steamer, she was a partially disabled one. +It would take hours before she could readjust her ballast and +temporarily make good her leak, and hours longer ere she could force and +forge her way to the lane of water, through the mile of heavy bergs that +intervened. Meanwhile, what might not happen? + +Both Rory and Allan were by this time good ice-men, and had there been +but a piece of ice big enough to bear their weight, and nothing more, +they could have embarked thereon and ferried themselves across, using as +paddles the butt-ends of their rifles. But there was nothing of the +sort; the bay ice had all been ground up; there was nothing save the +great green-sided, snow-topped bergs. And so they could only wait and +hope for the best. + +"It'll all come right in the end," said Rory. + +He said this many times; but as the weary hours went by, and the lane +widened and widened, till, from being a lane, it looked a Jake, the +little sentence that had always brought him comfort before seemed trite +to even Rory himself. + +The increasing motion of the berg on which they stood did not serve to +reassure them, and the cold they had, from their forced inactivity, to +endure, would have damped the boldest spirits. For a time they managed +to keep warm by walking or running about the berg, but afterwards +movement itself became painful, so that they had but little heart to +take exercise. + +The whole hull of the _Arrandoon_ was hidden from their view behind the +hummocky ice, and thus they could not tell what was going on on deck, +but they could see no smoke arising from the funnel, and this but served +further to dishearten them. + +Even gazing at those lanes of water that so often open up in the very +midst of a field of ice, is apt to stir up strange thoughts in one's +mind, especially if one be, like Rory, of a somewhat poetical and +romantic disposition. The very blackness of the water impresses you; +its depth causes a feeling akin to awe; you know, as if by instinct, +that it is deep--terribly, eeriesomely deep. It lies smiling in the +sunshine as to surface, but all is the blackness of darkness below. Up +here it is all day; down there, all night. The surface of the water +seems to divide two worlds--a seen and an unseen, a known and an unknown +and mysterious--life and death! + +Tired at last of roaming like caged bears up and down the berg, one by +one they seated themselves on the sunny side of a small hummock. They +huddled together for warmth, but they did not care to talk much. Their +very souls seemed heavy, their bodies seemed numbed and frozen, but +their heads were hot, and they felt very drowsy, yet bit their lips and +tongues lest they might fall into that strange slumber from which it is +said men wake no more. + +They talked not at all. The last words were spoken by Seth. Rory +remembered them. + +"I'm old," he was muttering; "my time's a kind o' up; but it do seem +hard on these younkers. Guess I'd give the best puma's skin ever I +killed, just to see Rory safe. Guess I'd--" + +Rory's eyes were closed, he heard no more. He was dreaming. Dreaming +of what? you ask me. I answer, in the words of Lover,-- + + "Ask of the sailor youth, when far + His light barque bounds o'er ocean's foam + What charms him most when evening star + Smiles o'er the wave? To dream of home." + +Yes, Rory was dreaming of home. All the home he knew, poor lad! He was +in the Castle of _Arrandoon_. Seeing, but all unseen, he stood in the +cosy tartan parlour where he had spent so many happy hours. A bright +fire was burning in the grate, the curtains were drawn, in her +easy-chair sat Allan's mother with her work on her lap, the great +deerhound lay on the hearthrug asleep, and Helen Edith was bending over +her harp. How boy Rory longed to rush forward and take her by the hand! +But even in his partial sleep he knew this was but a dream, and he +feared to move lest he might break the sweet spell. But languor, pain, +and cold, all were forgotten while the vision lasted. + +But list! a horn seems to sound beyond the castle moat. Rory, in his +dream, wonders that Helen hears it not; then the boy starts to his feet +on the snow. The vision has fled, and the sound of the horn resolves +itself into the shout,-- + +"Ahoy--oy--hoy! Ahoy! hoy!" + +Every one is on his feet at the same time, though both Allan and Rory +stagger and fall again. But, behold! a boat comes dancing down the lane +of water towards them, and a minute after they are all safe on board. + +The labour of getting that boat over the ice had been tremendous. It +had been a labour of love, however, and the men had worked cheerily and +boldly, and never flinched a moment, until it was safely launched in the +open water and our heroes were in it. + +The _Arrandoon_, the men told them, had got up steam, and in a couple of +hours at most she would reach the water. Meanwhile they, by the +captain's orders, were to land on the other side, and make themselves as +comfortable as possible until her arrival. + +Rory and Allan were quite themselves again now, and so, too, was honest +Seth,-- + +"Though, blame me," said he, "if I didn't think this old trapper's time +had come. Not that that'd matter a sight, but I did feel for you +youngsters, blame me if I didn't;" and he dashed his coat-sleeve rapidly +across his face as he spoke. + +And now a fire was built and coffee made, and Stevenson then opened the +Norwegian chest--a wonderful contrivance, in which a dinner may be kept +hot for four-and-twenty hours, and even partially cooked. Up arose the +savoury steam of a glorious Irish stew. + +"How mindful of the captain?" said Allan. + +"It was Ralph that sent the dinner," said Stevenson, "and he sent with +it his compliments to Rory." + +"Bless his old heart," cried Rory. "I don't think I'll ever chaff him +again about the gourmandising propensities of the Saxon race." + +"And the doctor," continued the mate, "sent you some blankets, Mr Rory. +There they are, sir; and he told me to give you this note, if I found +you alive." + +The note was in the Scottish dialect, and ran as follows:-- + +"_My conscience, Rory! some folks pay dear for their whustle. But keep +up your heart, ma wee laddie. It's a vera judeecious arrangement_." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +In a few days more the _Arrandoon_ had made good her repairs, and as the +western wind had freshened, and was blowing what would have been a +ten-knot breeze in the open sea, the steamer got up steam and the +sailing-ship canvas, and together they took the loose ice, and made +their way slowly to the eastward. The bergs, though some distance +asunder, were still sufficiently near to considerably impede their way, +and, for fear of accident, the _Arrandoon_ took the cockle-shell, as she +was always called now, in tow. + +For many days the ships went steadily eastward, which proved to them how +extensive the pack had been. Sometimes they came upon large tracts of +open water, many miles in extent, and across this they sailed merrily +and speedily enough, considering that neither of the vessels had as yet +shipped her rudder. This they had determined not to do until they were +well clear of the very heavy ice, or until the swell went down. So they +were steered entirely by boats pulling ahead of them. + +Open water at last, and the cockle-shell bids the big ships adieu, +spreads her white sails to the breeze, and, swanlike, goes sailing away +for the distant isle of Jan Mayen. Ay, and the big ships themselves +must now very soon part company, the _Scotia_ to bear up for the green +shores of our native land, the _Arrandoon_ for regions as yet unknown. + +CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN. + +WORKING ALONG THE PACK EDGE--AMONG THE SEALS AGAIN--A BUMPER SHIP-- +ADVENTURES ON THE ICE--TED WILSON'S PROMOTION. + +The _Arrandoon_ was steaming slowly along the pack edge, wind still +westerly, the _Canny Scotia_, with all canvas exposed, a mile or more to +leeward of her. Both were heading in the same direction, north and by +east, for McBain and our heroes had determined not to desert Silas until +he really had what he called a voyage--in other words, a full ship. + +"We can spare the time, you know," the captain had said to Ralph; "a +fortnight, will do it, and I dare say Rory here doesn't object to a +little more sport before going away to the far north." + +"That I don't," Rory had replied. + +"If we fall among the old seals, a fortnight will do it." + +"Ay," Allan had said, "and won't old Silas be happy!" + +"Yes," from McBain; "and, after all, to be able to give happiness to +others is certainly one of the greatest pleasures in this world." + +Dear reader, just a word parenthetically. I am so sure that what McBain +said is true, that I earnestly advise you to try the experiment +suggested by his words, for great is the reward, even in this world, of +those who can conquer self and endeavour to bring joy to others. + +The _Arrandoon_ steamed along the pack edge, but it must not be supposed +that this was a straight line, or anything like it. Indeed it was very +much like any ordinary coastline, for here was a bay and yonder a cape, +and yonder again, where the ice is heavier, a bold promontory. But +Greenlandmen call a bay a "bight," and a cape they call a "point-end." +Let us adopt their nomenclature. + +The _Canny Scotia_, then, avoided these point-ends; she kept well out to +sea, well away from the pack, for there was not over-much wind, and +Silas Grig had no wish to be beset again. But the _Arrandoon_, on the +other hand, steamed, as I have said, in a straight line. She scorned to +double a point, but went steadily on her course, ploughing her way +through the bergs. There was one advantage in this: she could the more +easily discover the seals, for in the month of May these animals, having +done their duty by their young, commence their return journey to the +north, the polar regions being their home _par excellence_. They are in +no hurry getting back, however. They like to enjoy themselves, and +usually for every one day's progress they make, they lie two or three on +the ice. The capes, or point-ends, are favourite positions with them, +and on the bergs they may be seen lying in scores, nor if the sun be +shining with any degree of strength are they at all easily disturbed. +It is their summer, and they try to make the best of it. Hark now to +that shout from the crow's-nest of the _Arrandoon_. + +"A large patch of seals in sight, sir." + +Our heroes pause in their walk, and gaze upwards; from the deck nothing +is visible to windward save the great ice-pack. + +"Where away?" cries Stevenson. + +"On the weather bow, sir, and a good mile in through the pack." + +"What do you think, sir?" says Stevenson, addressing his commander. +"Shall we risk taking the ice again?" + +"Risk, Stevenson?" is the reply. "Why, man, yes; we'll risk anything to +do old Silas a good turn. We'll risk more yet, mate, before the ship's +head is turned homewards." + +Then the ship is stopped, and signals are made to Silas, who instantly +changes his course, and, after a vast deal of tacking and half-tacking, +bears down upon them, and being nearly alongside, gets his main-yard +aback, and presently lowers a boat and comes on board the _Arrandoon_. + +Our heroes crowd around him. + +"Why," they say, "you are a perfect stranger; it is a whole week since +we've seen you." + +"Ay," says Silas, "and a whole week without seeing a seal--isn't it +astonishing?" + +"Ah! but they're in sight now," says McBain. "I'm going to take the +ice, and I'll tow you in, and if you're not a bumper ship before a week, +then this isn't the _Arrandoon_, that's all." + +Silas is all smiles; he rubs his hands, and finally laughs outright, +then he claps his hand on his leg, and,-- + +"I was sure of it," says Silas, "soon as ever I saw your signal. +`Matie,' says I, `yonder is a signal from the _Arrandoon_. I'm wanted +on board; seals is in sight, ye maybe sure. Matie,' says I, `luck's +turned again;' and with that I gives him such a dig in the ribs that he +nearly jumped out of the nest." + +"Make the signal to the _Scotia_, Stevenson," says McBain, "to clew up, +and to get all ready for being taken in tow. Come below, Captain Grig, +lunch is on the table." + +Fairly seated at the table, honest Silas rubbed his hands again and +looked with a delighted smile at each of his friends in turn. There was +a bluff heartiness about this old sailor which was very taking. + +"I declare," he said, "I feel just like a schoolboy home for a holiday?" + +Rory and Silas were specially friendly. + +"Rory, lad," he remarked, after a pause, "we won't be long together +now." + +"No," replied Rory; "and it isn't sorry I am, but really downright _sad_ +at the thoughts of your going away and leaving us. I say, though--happy +thought!--send Stevenson home with your ship and you stay with us in +place of him." + +Silas laughed. "What _would_ my owners say, boy? and what about my +little wife, eh?" + +"Ah! true," said Rory; "I had forgotten." Then, after a pause, he +added, more heartily, "But we'll meet again, won't we?" + +"Please God!" said Silas, reverently. "I think," Rory added, "I would +know your house among a thousand, you have told me so much about it--the +blue-grey walls, the bay windows, the garden, with its roses and--and--" + +"The green paling," Silas put in. "Ah, yes! the green paling, to be +sure; how could I have forgotten that? Well, I'll come and see you; and +won't you bring out the green ginger that day, Silas!" + +"_And_ the bun," added Silas. "_And_ the bun," repeated Rory after him. +"And won't my little wife make you welcome, too! you may bet your +fiddle on that!" + +Then these two sworn friends grasped hands over the table, and the +conversation dropped for a time. + +But there perhaps never was a much happier Greenland skipper than Silas +Grig, when he found his ship lying secure among the ice, with thousands +on thousands of old seals all around him. The weather continued +extremely fine for a whole week. The little wind there had been, died +all away, and the sun shone more warmly and brightly than it had done +since the _Arrandoon_ came to the country. The seals were so cosy that +they really did not seem to mind being shot, and those that were scared +off one piece of ice almost immediately scrambled on to another. "Fire +away!" they seemed to say; "we are so numerous that we really won't miss +a few of us. Only don't disturb us more than you can help." + +So the seals hugged the ice, basking in the bright sunshine, either +sleeping soundly or gazing dreamily around them with their splendid +eyes, or scratching their woolly ribs with their flippers for want of +something to do. + +And bang, bang, bang! went the rifles; they never seemed to cease from +the noon of night until mid-day, nor from mid-day until the noon of +night again. + +The draggers of skins went in pairs for safety, and thus many a poor +fellow who tumbled into the sea between the bergs, escaped with a +ducking when otherwise he would have lost his life. + +Ralph--long-legged, brawny-chested Saxon Ralph--was among "the ducked," +as Rory called the unfortunates. He came to a space of water which was +too wide even for him. He would not be beaten, though, so he pitched +his rifle over first by way of beginning the battle. Then he thought, +by swinging his heavy cartridge-bag by its shoulder-strap the weight +would help to carry him over. He called this jumping from a tangent. +It was a miserable failure. But the best of the fun--so Rory said, +though it could not have been fun to Ralph--was this: when he found +himself floundering in the water he let go the bag of cartridges, which +at once began to sink, but in sinking caught his heel, and pulled him +for the moment under water. Poor Ralph! his feelings may be better +imagined than described. + +"I made sure a shark had me!" he said, quietly, when by the help of his +friend Rory, he had been brought safely to bank. + +It was not very often that Ralph had a mishap of any kind, but, having +come to grief in this way, it was not likely that Rory would throw away +so good a chance of chaffing him. + +He suddenly burst out laughing at luncheon that day, at a time when +nobody was speaking, and when apparently there was nothing at all to +laugh about. + +"What now, Rory? what now, boy?" said McBain, with a smile of +anticipation. + +"Oh!" cried Rory, "if you had only seen my big English brother's face +when he thought the shark had him!" + +"Was it funny?" said Allan, egging him on. + +"Funny!" said Rory. "Och I now, funny is no name for it. You should +have seen the eyes of him!--and his jaw fall!--and that big chin of his. +You know, Englishmen have a lot of chin, and--" + +"And Irishmen have a lot of cheek," cried Ralph. "Just wait till I get +you on deck, Row boy." + +"I'd make him whustle," suggested the doctor. + +"Troth," Rory went on, "it was very nearly the death o' me. And to see +him kick and flounder! Sure I'd pity the shark that got one between the +eyes from your foot, baby Ralph." + +"Well," said Ralph, "it was nearly the death of me, anyhow, having to +take off all my clothes and wring them on top of the snow." + +"Oh! but," continued Rory, assuming seriousness, and addressing McBain, +"you ought to have seen Ralph just then, sir. That was the time to see +my baby brother to advantage. Neptune is nobody to him. Troth, Ray, if +you'd lived in the good old times, it's a gladiator they'd have made of +you entirely." + +Here came a low derisive laugh from Cockie's cage, and Ralph pitched a +crust of bread at the bird, and shook his fingers at Rory. + +But Rory kept out of Ralph's way for a whole hour after this, and by +that time the storm had blown clean away, so Rory was safe. + +Allan had his turn next day. The danger in walking on the ice was +chiefly owing to the fact that the edges of many of the bergs had been +undermined by the waves and the recent swell, so that they were apt to +break off and precipitate the unwary pedestrian into the water. + +Here is Allan's little adventure, and it makes one shudder to think how +nearly it led him to being an actor in a terrible tragedy. He was +trudging on after the seals with rifle at full cock, for he expected a +shot almost immediately, when, as he was about to leap, the snowy edge +of the berg gave way, and down he went. Instinctively he held his rifle +out to his friend, who grasped it with both hands, the muzzle against +his breast, and thus pulled him out. It seemed marvellous that the +rifle did not go off. + +[Both these adventures are sketched from the life.] + +When safe to bank, and when he noticed the manner in which he had been +helped out, poor Allan felt sick, there is no other name for it. + +"Oh, Ralph, Ralph!" he said, clutching his friend by the shoulder to +keep himself from falling, "what if I had killed you?" + +When told of the incident that evening after dinner, McBain, after a +momentary silence, said quietly,-- + +"I'm not sorry such a thing should have happened, boys; it ought to +teach you caution; and it teaches us all that there is Some One in whose +hands we are; Some One to look after us even in moments of extremest +peril." + +But I think Allan loved Ralph even better after this. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Two weeks' constant sealing; two weeks during which the crews of the +_Arrandoon_ and _Canny Scotia_ never sat down to a regular meal, and +never lay down for two consecutive hours of repose, only eating when +hungry and sleeping when they could no longer keep moving; two weeks +during which nobody knew what o'clock it was at any particular time, or +which was east or west, or whether it were day or night. Two weeks, +then the seals on the ice disappeared as if by magic, for the frost was +coming. + +"Let them go," said Silas, shaking McBain warmly by the hand. "Thanks +to you, sir, I'm a bumper ship. Why, man, I'm full to the hatches. Low +freeboard and all that sort of thing. Plimsoll wouldn't pass us out of +any British harbour. But, with fair weather and God's help, sir, we'll +get safely home." + +"And now," McBain replied, "there isn't a moment to lose. We must get +out of here, Captain Grig, or the frost will serve us a trick as it did +before." + +With some difficulty the ships were got about and headed once more for +the open sea. + +None too soon, though, for there came again that strange, ethereal blue +into the sky, which, from their experiences of the last black frost, +they had learned to dread. The thermometer sank, and sank, and sank, +till far down below zero. + +The _Arrandoon_ took her "chummy ship" in tow. + +"Go ahead at full speed," was the order. + +No, none too soon, for in two hours' time the great steam-hammer had to +be set to work to break the newly-formed bay ice at the bows of the +_Arrandoon_, and fifty men were sent over the side to help her on. With +iron-shod pikes they smashed the ice, with long poles they pushed the +bergs, singing merrily as they worked, working merrily as they sang, +laughing, joking, stamping, shouting, and cheering as ever and anon the +great ship made another spurt, and tore along for fifty or a hundred +yards. Handicapped though she was by having the _Scotia_ in tow, the +_Arrandoon_ fought the ice as if she had been some mighty giant, and +every minute the distance between her and the open water became less, +till at last it could be seen even from the quarter-deck. But the frost +seemed to grow momentarily more intense, and the bay- ce stronger and +harder between the bergs. Never mind, that only stimulated the men to +greater exertions. It was a battle for freedom, and they meant to win. +With well-meaning though ridiculous doggerel, Ted Wilson led the +music,-- + + "Work and keep warm, boys; heave and keep hot, + Jack Frost thinks he's clever; we'll show him he's not. + Beyond is the sea, boys; + Let us fight and get free, boys; + One thing will keep boiling, and that is the pot. + With a heave O! + Push and she'll go. + To work and to fight is the bold sailor's lot. + Heave O--O--O! + + "Go fetch me the lubber who won't bear a hand, + We'll feed him on blubber, we'll stuff him with sand. + But yonder our ships, boys, + Ere they get in the nips, boys, + We'll wrestle and work, as long's we can stand, + Then cheerily has it, men, + Heave O--O--O! + Merrily has it, men, + Off we go, O--O--O!" + +Yes, reader, and away they went, and in one more hour they were clear of +the ice, _the Arrandoon_ had cast the _Scotia_ off, and banked her +fires, for, together with her consort, she was to sail, not steam, down +to the island of Jan Mayen, where they were to take on board the +sleigh-dogs, and bid farewell to Captain Cobb, the bold Yankee +astronomer.--There was but little wind, but they made the most of what +there was. Silas dined on board that day, as usual. They were +determined to have as much of the worthy old sailor as they could. But +before dinner one good action was performed by McBain in Captain Grig's +presence. First he called all hands, and ordered them aft; then he +asked Ted Wilson to step forward, and addressed him briefly as follows: + +"Mr Wilson, I find I can do with another mate, and I appoint you to the +post." + +Ted was a little taken aback; a brighter light came into his eyes; he +muttered something--thanks, I suppose--but the men's cheering drowned +his voice. Then our heroes shook hands with him all around, and McBain +gave the order,-- + +"Pipe down." + +But as soon as Ted Wilson returned to his shipmates they shouldered him, +and carried him high and dry right away forward, and so down below. + +CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT. + +A WONDERFUL YANKEE--"MAKING OFF" SKINS--PREPARING TO "BEAR UP"--THE +SUMMER HOME OF THE GIANT WALRUS--THE SHIPS PART. + +In two days the ships sighted the island of Jan Mayen. As they neared +it, they found the ice so closely packed around the shore that all +approach even by boats was out of the question, so the sails were +clewed, the ice-anchors got out, and both ships made fast to the floe. + +It was not long ere Captain Cobb was on board the _Arrandoon_, to +welcome our heroes back to "_his_ island of Jan Mayen." + +He was profuse in his thanks for what he called the clever kindness of +Captain McBain, in saving his little yacht from a fatal accident among +the ice; and, of course, they would do him the honour to come on shore +and dine with him. He would take it as downright "mean" if they did +not. + +There was no resisting such an appeal as this, so, leaving their ships +in charge of their respective mates, both McBain and Silas, in company +with our heroes--Sandy McFlail, Seth, and all--they trudged off over the +snowy bergs to take dinner in the hut of the bold Yankee astronomer. +Very unprepossessing, indeed, was the building to behold from the +outside, but no sooner had they entered, than they opened their eyes +wide with astonishment. + +When our young friends had visited it before, the hut looked neither +more nor less than a big hall, or rather barn. But now--why, here were +all the luxuries of civilised life. The place was divided into +ante-room, saloon, and bed-chamber, and each apartment seemed more +comfortable than another. The walls of the saloon were covered with +rich tapestry, the floor with a soft thick carpet. There were couches +and easy-chairs and skins _galore_, and books and musical instruments. +A great stove, of American pattern, burned in the centre, giving out +warmth and making the room look doubly cheerful, and overhead swung an +immense lamp, which shed a soft, effulgent light everywhere, so that one +did not miss the windows, of which the hut was _minus_. At one end of +this apartment was a dining-table, as well laid and as prettily arranged +as if it stood in the dining-hall of a club-room in Pall Mall, and +beside the table were two sable waiters clad in white. + +Captain Cobb seemed to thoroughly enjoy the looks of bewilderment and +wonder exhibited on the faces of his guests. + +"Why," said McBain at last, "pardon me, but you Yankees are about the +most wonderful people on the face of the earth." + +"Waal," said the Yankee, "I guess we like our little comforts, and don't +see any harm in having them." + +"So long's we deserve them," put in Seth, who, at that moment, really +felt very proud of being a Yankee. + +"Bravo! old man," cried his countryman; "let us shake your hand." + +"And now, gentlemen," he continued, "sit in. I reckon the keen air and +the walk have given ye all an appetite." + +Soups, fish, _entries_, joints--why I do not know what there was not in +the bill-of-fare. It was a banquet fit for a king. + +"I can't make out how you manage it," said McBain. "Do you keep a +djin?" + +Cobb laughed and summoned the cook. If he was not a djin, he was just +as ugly. Four feet high--not an inch more--with long arms, black skin, +flat face, and no nose at all worth mentioning. He was dressed as a +_chef_, however, and very polite, for at a motion from his master, he +salaamed very prettily and retired. + +At dessert the host produced a zither, and, accompanying himself on this +beautiful instrument, sang to them. He drawled while talking, but he +sang most sweetly, and with a taste and feeling that quite charmed Rory, +and held Silas and the doctor spell-bound. He was indeed a wonderful +Yankee. + +"Do you know," said Rory, "I feel for all the world like being in an +enchanted cave? Do sing again, if only one song." + +It is needless to add that our friends spent the evening most enjoyably. +It was a red-letter night, and one they often looked back to with +pleasure, and talked about as they lay around their snuggery fire, +during the long dreary time they spent in the regions round the Pole. + +"I'm glad, anyhow," said Captain Cobb, as he bade them good-bye on the +snow-clad beach, "that I've made it a kind o' pleasant for ye. Don't +forget to call as you come back, and if Cobb be here, why, Cobb will bid +you welcome. Farewell." + +By eight bells in next morning watch everything was ready for a start. +The dogs--twelve in number--were got on board and duly kennelled, and +the old trapper was installed as whipper-in. + +"But I guess," said Seth, "there won't be much whipping-in in the play. +Trapper Seth is one of those rare old birds who know the difference +between a dog and a door-knocker. Yes, Seth knows that there's more in +a good bed and a biscuit, with a kind word whenever it is needed, than +there is in all the cruel whips in existence." + +The kennelling for the poor animals was got up under the supervision of +Ap and Seth himself. It was built on what the trapper called +"scientific principles." + +There was a yard or ran in common for the whole pack; but the large, +roomy sleeping compartment had a bench, on which all twelve dogs could +sleep or lie at once, yet nevertheless it was divided by boards about a +foot high into six divisions. This was to prevent the dogs all tumbling +into a heap when the ship rolled. The bedding was straw and shavings; +of the former commodity McBain had not forgotten to lay in a plentiful +supply before leaving Scotland. There was, besides, a whole tankful of +Spratts' biscuits, so that what with these and the ship's scraps, it did +not seem at all likely that the dogs would go hungry to bed for some +time to come. + +Seth was now much happier on board than ever he had been, because he had +duties to perform and an office to fill, humble though it might be. + +At half-past eight Silas came on board the _Arrandoon_ to breakfast. +Allan and Rory were tramping rapidly up and down the deck to keep +themselves warm, for, though the wind was blowing west-south-west, it +was bitterly cold, and the "barber" was blowing. The barber is a name +given to a light vapoury mist that, when the frost is intense and the +wind in pertain directions, is seen rising off the sea in Greenland. I +have called it a mist, but it in reality partakes more of the nature of +steam, being due to the circumstance of the air being ever so much +colder than the surface of the water. + +Oh! but it is a cold steam--a bitter, biting, killing steam. Woe be to +the man who exposes his ears to it, or who does not keep constantly +rubbing his nose when walking or sailing in it, for want of precaution +in this respect may result in the loss of ears or nose, and both +appendages are useful, not to say ornamental. + +"Good morning," cried Silas, jumping down on to the deck. + +"The top of the morning to you, friend Silas," said Rory; "how do you +feel after your blow-out at Captain Cobb's?" + +"Fust-rate," said Silas--"just fust-rate; but where is Ralph and the +captain?" + +"Ralph!" said Rory; "why, I don't suppose there is a bit of him to be +seen yet, except the extreme tip of his nose and maybe a morsel of his +Saxon chin; and as for the captain, he is busy in his cabin. Breakfast +all ready, is it, Peter? Thank you, Peter, we're coming down in a +jiffy." + +Just as they entered the saloon by one door, McBain came in by another. + +"Ah! good morning, Captain Grig," he cried, extending his hand. "Sit +down. Peter, the coffee. And now," he continued, "what think you of +the prospect? It isn't exactly a fair wind for you to bear up, is it?" + +"The wind would do," said Silas; "but I'm hardly what you might call +tidy enough to bear up yet. It'll take us a week to make off our skins, +and a day more to clean up. I'd like to go home not only a bumper ship, +but a clean and wholesome sweet ship." + +"Well, then," McBain said, "here is what I'll do for you." + +"But you've done so much already," put in Silas, "that really--" + +"Nonsense, man," cried McBain, interrupting him; "why, it has been all +fun to us. But I was going to say that instead of lying here for a +week, you had better sail north with us, Spitzbergen way, and my men +will help you to make off and tidy up. Who knows but that after that +you may get a fair wind to carry you right away south into summer +weather in little over a week?" + +"Bless your heart!" said Silas; "the suggestion is a grand one. I close +with your offer at once. You see, sir, we Greenlandmen generally return +to harbour all dirty, outside anyhow, with our sides scraped clean o' +paint, and our masts and spars as black as a collier's." + +"_You_ shan't, though," said McBain. "We'll spend a bucket or two of +paint over him, won't we, boys?" + +"That will we," said Ralph and Allan, both in one breath. + +"And I'll tell you what I'll do," added Rory. + +"Something nice, I'm certain," said Silas. + +"I'll paint and gild that Highland lassie of yours that you have for a +figure-head." + +"Glorious! glorious!" cried Silas Grig. + +"Why, my own wife won't know the ship. And, poor wee body! she'll be +down there looking anxiously enough out to sea when she hears I'm in the +offing. Oh, it will be glorious! Won't my matie be pleased when he +hears about it!" + +"I say, though," said Rory, "I'll change the pattern of your Highland +lassie's tartan. She came to the country a Gordon, she shall return a +McGregor." + +"Or a McFlail," suggested Sandy. + +"Ha! ha! ha!" This was an impudent, derisive laugh from Cockie's cage, +which made everybody else laugh, and caused Sandy to turn red in the +face. + +After breakfast the ice-anchors were cast off and got on board, and sail +set. The _Arrandoon_ led, keeping well clear of the ice, and taking a +course of north-east and by north. When well off the ice, and +everything working free and easy, McBain called all hands, and ordered +the men to lay aft. + +"Men," he said, "you all signed articles to complete the voyage with me +to the Polar regions and back. Most of you knew, as you put your names +to the paper, what you were about, because you had been here before, but +some of you didn't. Now I am by no means short-handed, and if any of +you thinks he has had enough of it already, and would like to return to +his country, step forward and say so now, and I'll make arrangements +with Captain Grig for your passage back." + +Not a man stirred. + +"I will take it as a favour," continued the captain, "if any one who has +any doubts on his mind will come forward now. I want only willing hands +with me." + +"We _are_ willing, we are willing hands," the men shouted. + +"Beg your pardon, sir," said bold Ted Wilson, stepping forward, "but I +know the crew well. I'm sure they all feel thankful for your kind +offer, but ne'er a man Jack o' them would go back, if you offered to pay +him for doing so." + +The captain bowed and thanked Ted, and the men gave one hearty cheer and +retired. + +Once fairly at sea, McBain sent two whalers on board the _Scotia_, their +crews rigged out in working dress, and making off was at once commenced. + +Upright boards were made fast here and there along the decks; the skins, +with their two or three inches of blubber attached, were handed up from +below, and the men set to work in this way--they stood at one side of +the board and spread the skin in front of them on the other; then they +leant over, and first cutting off all useless pieces of flesh, etc, they +next cleaned the blubber from off the skin. This was by other hands cut +into pieces about a foot square, carried away, and sent below to be +deposited in the tanks. Other workmen removed the cleaned skins. These +were dashed over with rough salt, rolled tightly and separately up, and +cast into tanks by themselves. This latter duty devolved upon the +mates, and old Silas himself stood, with book in hand, "taking tally," +that is, counting the number of skins as they were passed one by one +below. The refuse, or "orra bits," as Scotch sailors call them, were +thrown overboard by bucketfuls, and over these thousands of screaming +gulls fought on the surface of the water, and scores of sharks +immediately beneath. + +It was a busy scene, and one that can only be witnessed in Greenland +north. + +In three days all the skins were made off and stowed away. All this +time the men had been as merry as sheep-shearers, and only on the last +day did Silas splice the main-brace, even then diluting the rum with +warm coffee. + +Then came the cleaning up, and scouring of decks below and above, and +white-washing and mast-scraping. After this McBain sent his painters on +board, and in less than four-and-twenty hours she looked like a new +ship. + +And Rory was busy below on the 'tween decks. The Highland lassie had +been unshipped, and taken below for him to paint and gild. Rory, mind +you, did not wish it to be unshipped. He would have preferred being +swung overboard. There would have been more fun in it, he said. But +Silas would not hear of such a thing. The cold, he feared, would benumb +him so that he might drop off into the sea, to the infinite joy and +satisfaction of a gang of unprincipled sharks that kept up with the +ship, but to the everlasting sorrow of him, Captain Silas Grig. + +When the ship was all painted, and the masts scraped and varnished, and +the Highland lassie--brightly arrayed in gold and McGregor tartan-- +re-shipped, why then, I do not think a prouder or happier man than Silas +Grig ever trod a quarter-deck. + +The day after this everybody on the _Arrandoon_ was busy, busy, busy +writing letters for home. + +They were thus engaged, when a shout came from the crow's-nest,-- + +"Heavy ice ahead!" + +It was the ice-bound shores of the southernmost islands of Spitzbergen +they had sighted. They passed between several of these, and grandly +beautiful they looked, with their fantastically-shaped sides glittering +green and blue and white in the sunshine. These islands seemed to be +the northern home or summer retreat of the great bladder-nosed seal and +the giant walrus. They basked on the smaller bergs that floated around +them, while hundreds of strange sea-birds nodded half asleep on the +snow-clad rocks. + +It was here where the two ships parted, the _Canny Scotia_ bearing up +for the sunny south, the _Arrandoon_ clewing sails and lighting fires to +steam away to The Unknown Land. + +There were tears in poor Rory's eyes as he shook hands with Silas, and +he could not trust himself to say much. Indeed, there was little said +on either hand, but the farewell wishes were none the less heartfelt for +all that. There is always somewhat of humour mixed up with the sad in +life. It was not wanting on this occasion. Silas had brought a servant +with him when he came to say adieu. This servant carried with him a +mysterious-looking box. It was all he could do to lift it. Seeing +McBain look inquiringly at it,-- + +"It's just a drop of green ginger," said Silas. "When you tap it, boys, +when far away from here, you won't forget Silas, I know. I won't forget +you, anyhow," he continued; "and look here, boys, if a prayer from such +a rough old salt as I am availeth, then Heaven will send you safely home +again, and the first to welcome you will be Silas Grig. Good-bye, God +be wi' ye." + +"Good-bye, God be wi' ye." + +CHAPTER TWENTY NINE. + +NORTHWARD HO!--HOISTING BEACONS--THE WHITE FOG--THE GREAT SEA-SERPENT. + +"Good-bye, and God be with you." + +It was a prayer as heartfelt and fervent as ever fell from the lips of +an honest sailor. + +The _Arrandoon_ steamed away, and soon was hidden from view behind a +lofty iceberg, and all that Silas Grig, as he stood on his own +quarter-deck, could now hear, was the sad and mournful wail of Peter's +bagpipes. Peter was playing that wild and plaintive melody which has +drawn tears from so many eyes when our brave Highland regiments were +departing for some far-off seat of wax, to be-- + + "Borne on rough seas to a far-distant shore, + Maybe to return to Lochaber no more." + +"Heigho! matie," sighed Silas, talking to his chief officer and giving +orders all in one breath, "I don't think we'll--haul aft the jib-sheet-- +ever see them again. I don't think they can--take a pull on the +main-brace--ever get back from among that fearful--luff a little, lad, +luff--ice, matie. And the poor boys, if any one had told Silas he could +have loved them as much as he does in so short a time, he would have +laughed in his face. Come below, matie, and we'll have a drop o' green +ginger. Keep her close, Mortimer, but don't let her shiver." + +"Ay, ay, sir," said the man at the wheel. + +In a few hours the wind got more aft, and so, heading now for more +southern climes, away went the _Canny Scotia_, with stun'sails up. I +cannot say that she bounded over the waters like a thing of life. No; +but she looked as happy and frisky as a plough-horse on a gala day, that +has just been taken home from the miry fields, fed and groomed, and +dressed with ribbons and started off in a light spring-van with a load +of laughing children. + +But eastwards and north steamed the _Arrandoon_. Indeed, she tried to +do all the northing she could, with just as little easting as possible. +She passed islands innumerable; islands that we fail to see in the +chart, owing, no doubt, to the fact that they are usually covered +entirely with ice and snow, and would be taken for immense icebergs. +But this was a singularly open year, and there was no mistaking solid +rocky land for floating ice. + +The bearings of all these were carefully put down in the charts--I say +charts, because not only the captain and mate, but our young heroes as +well, took the daily reckoning, and kept a log, though I am bound in the +interests of truth to say that Ralph very often did not write up his log +for days and days, and then he impudently "fudged" it from Rory's. + +"Are you done with my log?" Rory would sometimes modestly inquire of +Ralph as he sat at the table busily "fudging." + +"Not yet, youngster," Ralph would reply; "there, you go away and amuse +yourself with your fiddle till I'm done with it, unless you specially +want your ears pulled." + +McBain landed at many of these islands, and hoisted beacons on them. +These beacons were simply spare spars, with bunches of light wood lashed +to their top ends, so that at some little distance they looked like tall +brooms. He hoisted one on the highest peak of every island that lay in +his route. + +They came at length to what seemed the very northernmost and most +easterly of these islands, and on this McBain determined to land +provisions and store them. It would tend to lighten the ship; and "on +the return voyage," said the captain, "if so be that Providence shall +protect and spare us, they will be a welcome sight." + +This done, the voyage was continued, and the sea becoming clearer of ice +towards the west, the course was altered to almost due north. + +The wind drawing round more to the south, the fires were banked, and the +vessel put under easy sail. The water all round looked black and deep; +but, with all the caution of your true sailor, McBain had two men +constantly in the chains to heave the lead, with a watch continually in +the crow's-nest to give warning of any sudden change in the colour of +the water. More than once such a change was observed, the surface +becoming of a yellowish ashen hue away ahead of them. Then the main or +fore yard was hauled aback, and a boat despatched to investigate, and it +was found that the strange appearance was caused by myriads of tiny +shrimplets, what the northern sailor calls "whale's food." Whether this +be whale food or not I cannot say for certain, but several times our +heroes fell in with a shoal of bottle-noses, disporting themselves among +these curious ashen-hued streams. + +This formed a temptation too great to resist, for the oil would do +instead of fuel when they wintered away up in the extreme north. So +boats were lowered--not two but four, for these brutes are as wild as +the winds and more wily than any old fox. No less than four were +"bagged," as Rory called it. They were not large, but the blubber +obtained from them was quite sufficient to fill one large tank. The +best of it was, that Ralph--big, "plethoric" (another of Rory's pretty +words), Saxon Ralph, made quite a hero of himself by manfully guiding +his boat towards a floundering monster that was threatening destruction +to the third whaler, which was fast to her, and skilfully spearing her +at the very nick of time. + +Rory was in the same boat, and drenched in blood from head to heels +though both of them were, he must needs get up and shake his "baby +brother" by the hand. + +"Oh, sure!" said Rory, with tears in his eyes, "it's myself that is +proud of the English race, after all. They haven't the fire of the +Gael; but only just awaken them!--Dear Ray, you're a broth of a boy, +entirely." + +"What do you think," said McBain, one morning just after +breakfast--"what do you think, Rory, I'm going to make to-day?" + +"Sure, I don't know," said Rory, all interest. + +"Why, fenders," said McBain. + +"Fenders?" ejaculated Rory, with wider eyes. "Fenders? troth it'll be +fire-irons you'll be making next, sir; but what do you want with +fenders?" + +"You don't take," said Ralph. "It is fenders to throw overboard when +the ice is too obtrusive, isn't it, sir?" + +"That's it," said the captain, laughing. "Sometimes the bergs may be a +bit too pressing with their attentions, and then I'll hang these over. +That's it." + +It took nearly a fortnight to complete the manufacture of these fenders +or trusses, for each of them was some twelve feet long by three in +diameter composed of compressed straw and shielded by knitted ropework. + +To the captain's foresight in making these fenders, they several times +owed the safety of their gallant ship during the winter that followed. + +A whole month passed away. The sun now set every night, and the still, +long day began to get sensibly shorter. + +The progress northward was hindered by dense white fogs, which at times +hugged the ship so closely that, standing by the bowsprit, you could not +see the jibboom-end. The vessel, as Sandy McFlail expressed it, seemed +enveloped in huge sheets of wet lint. Then the fog would lift partially +off and away--in other words, it seemed to retire and station itself at +some distance, with the ice looming through it in the most magical way. +At these times the ship would be stopped, and our heroes were allowed to +take boat exercise around the _Arrandoon_, with strict injunctions not +to go beyond a certain distance of the vessel. Their laughing and +talking and singing never failed to bring up a seal or two, or a +round-eyed wondering walrus, or an inquisitive bladder-nose, but the +appearance of these animals, as they loomed gigantic through the fog, +was sometimes awful in the extreme. When a malley or gull came sweeping +down towards them it looked as big as the fabulous Roc that carried away +Sinbad the Sailor, and Rory would throw himself in the bottom of the +boat and pretend to be in a terrible fright. + +[The optical illusions caused among the ice by these fogs are well and +humorously described in a book just to hand called "The Voyage of the +_Vega_" (Macmillan and Co). I myself wrote on the same subject +_thirteen years ago_, in a series of articles on Greenland North.] + +"Oh! Ray, boy, look at the Roc," he would cry. "I'm come for, sure +enough. Do catch hold of me, big brother. Don't let the great baste +carry me off. Sure, he'll fly up to the moon with me, as the eagle did +with Daniel O'Rourke." + +I think the fog must have caused delusions in sound as well as sight, +else why the following. + +They were pulling gently about, one day, in the first whaler, when, +borne along on the slight breeze that was blowing, came a sound as of +happy children engaged at play. The merry laughter and the occasional +excited scream or shout were most distinctly audible. + +"Whatever can it be?" cried Allan, looking very serious, his somewhat +superstitious nature for a moment gaining the ascendency. + +"Sure," said Rory, "you needn't pull so long a face, old man; it's only +the childer just got out of school." + +The "childer" in this instance were birds. + +"It's much clearer to-day," said Stevenson, one morning, as he made his +usual report. "We can see the clouds, and they're all on the scud. I +expect we'll have wind soon, sir." + +"Very well, Mr Stevenson," was the reply, "be ready for it, you know; +have the fires lit and banked, and then stand by to get the ice-anchors +and fenders on board," (the ship was fast to a berg). + +"There is a line of ice to the westward, sir, about a quarter of a mile +off, and clear water all between." + +"Thank you, Mr Stevenson." + +But Stevenson did not retire. He stopped, hesitatingly. + +"You've something to ask me, I think?" said McBain. + +"I've something to tell you," replied the mate, with a kind of a forced +laugh. "I dare say you will think me a fool for my pains, but as sure +as you gentlemen are sitting there at breakfast this morning, about five +bells in the middle watch I saw--and every man Jack of us saw--" + +"Saw what?" said McBain. "Sit down, man; you are looking positively +scared." + +"We saw--_the great Sea-Serpent_!" + +[What is herein related really occurred as described. I myself was a +witness to the event, being then in medical charge of the barque +_Xanthus_, recently burned at sea.] + +McBain did not attempt to laugh him out of his story, but he made him +describe over and over again what he had seen; then he called the watch, +and examined them verbally man by man, and found they all told the +self-same tale, talking soberly, earnestly, and truthfully, as men do +who feel they are stating facts. + +The terrible monster they averred came from the northwards, and was +distinctly visible for nearly a minute, passing between the ship and the +ice-line which Stevenson had mentioned. They described his length, +which could not have been less than seventy or eighty yards, the +undulations of his body as he swept along on the surface of the water, +the elevated head, the mane and--some added--the awful glaring eyes. + +It did not come on to blow as the mate predicted, so the ship made no +move from her position, but all day long there was but little else +talked about, either fore or aft, save the visit of the great +sea-serpent, and as night drew on the stories told around the galley +fire would have been listened to with interest by any one at all fond of +the mysterious and awful. + +"I mean," said Rory, as he retired, "to turn out as soon as it is light, +and watch; the brute is sure to return. I've told Peter to call me." + +"So shall I," said Allan and the doctor. + +"So shall I," said Ralph. + +"Well, boys," said McBain, "I'll keep you company." + +When they went on deck, about four bells in the middle watch, they were +not surprised to find all hands on deck, eagerly gazing towards the spot +where they had seen "the maned monster of the deep,"--as poet Rory +termed him--disappear. + +It was a cold, dull cheerless morning; the sun was up but his beams were +sadly shorn--they failed to pierce the thick canopy of clouds and mist +that overspread the sky, and brought the horizon within a quarter of a +mile of them. They could, however, easily see the ice-line--long and +low and white. + +A whole hour passed, and McBain at all events was thinking of going +below, when suddenly came a shout from the men around the forecastle. + +"Look! look! Oh! look! Yonder he rips! There he goes!" + +Gazing in the direction indicated, the hearts of more than one of our +heroes seemed to stand still with a strange, mysterious fear, for there, +rushing over the surface of the dark water, the undulated body +well-defined against the white ice-edge, was--what else could it be?-- +the great sea-serpent! + +"I can see his mane and head and eyes," cried Rory. "Oh! it is too +dreadful." + +Then a shout from the masthead,-- + +"He is coming this way." + +It was true. The maned monster had altered his course, and was bearing +straight down upon the _Arrandoon_. + +No one moved from his position, but there were pale, frightened faces +and starting eyes; and though the men uttered no cry, a strange, +frightened moan arose, a fearful quavering "Oh-h-h?"--a sound that once +heard is never to be forgotten. Next moment, the great sea-serpent, +with a wild and unearthly scream, bore down upon the devoted ship, then +suddenly resolved itself _into a long flight of sea-birds_ (Arctic +divers)! + +So there you have a true story of the great sea-serpent, but I am +utterly at a loss to describe to you the jollity and fun and laughing +that ensued, as soon as the ridiculous mistake was discovered. + +And nothing would suit Ted Wilson but getting up on the top of the +bowsprit and shouting,-- + +"Men of the _Arrandoon_, bold sailors all, three cheers for the great +sea-serpent. Hip! hip! hip! Hurrah!!!" + +Down below dived Ralph, followed by all the others. "Peter! Peter! +Peter!" he cried. + +"Ay, ay, sir," from Peter. + +"Peter, I'm precious hungry." + +"And so am I," said everybody. + +Peter wasn't long in laying the cloth and bringing out the cold meat and +the pickles, and it wasn't long either before Freezing Powders brought +hot coffee. Oh! didn't they do justice to the good things, too! + +"I dare say," said the doctor, "this is our breakfast." + +"Ridiculous!" cried Ralph, "ridiculous! It's only a late supper, +doctor. We'll have breakfast just the same." + +"A vera judeecious arrangement," said Sandy. + +CHAPTER THIRTY. + +LAND HO! THE ISLE OF DESOLATION--THE LAST BLINK OF SUNSHINE--THE AURORA +BOREALIS--STRANGE ADVENTURE WITH A BEAR. + +"Well, Magnus," said Captain McBain one day to his old friend, "what +think you of our prospects of gaining the North Pole, or your mysterious +island of Alba?" + +Magnus was seated at the table in the captain's own room, with an old +yellow, much-worn chart spread out before him, the only other person in +the cabin, save these two, being Rory, who, with his chin resting on his +hands and his elbows on the table, was listening with great interest to +the conversation. + +"Think of it?" replied the weird wee man, looking up and glaring at +McBain through his fierce grey eyebrows. "Think of it, sir? Why we are +nearly as far north now as _we_ were in 1843. We'll reach the Isle of +Alba, sir, if--" + +"If what, good Magnus?" asked McBain, as the old man paused. "If what?" + +"If that be all you want," answered Magnus. + +"Nay, nay, my faithful friend," cried the captain, "that isn't all. We +want to reach the Pole, to plant the British flag thereon, and return +safely to our native shores again." + +"So you will, so you will," said Magnus, "if--" + +"What, another `if,' Magnus?" said McBain. "What does this new `if' +refer to?" + +"If," continued Magnus, "Providence gives us just such another autumn as +that we have had this year. If not--" + +"Well, Magnus, well?" + +"We will leave our bones to lie among the eternal snows until the last +trump shall sound." + +After a pause, during which McBain seemed in deep and earnest thought. + +"Magnus," he said, "my brave boys and I have determined to push on as +far as ever we can. We have counted all the chances, we mean to do our +utmost, and we leave the rest to Providence." + +Allan had entered while he was speaking, and he said, as the captain +finished,-- + +"Whatever a man dares he can do." + +"Brave words, my foster-son," replied McBain, grasping Allan's hand, +"and the spirit of these words gained for the English nation the victory +in a thousand fights." + +"Besides, you know," added Rory, looking unusually serious, "it is sure +to come right in the end." + +The _Arrandoon_, wonderful to relate, had now gained the extreme +altitude of 86 degrees north latitude, and although winter was rapidly +approaching, the sea was still a comparatively open one. Nor was the +cold very intense; the frosts that had fled away during the short Arctic +summer had not yet returned. The sea between the bergs and floes was +everywhere calm; they had passed beyond the region of fogs, and, it +would almost seem, beyond the storm regions as well, for the air was +windless. + +So on they steamed steadily though slowly, never relaxing their +vigilance; so careful, indeed, in this respect was McBain, that the man +in the chains as well as the "nest hand" were changed every hour, and +only old and tried sailors were permitted to go on duty on these posts. + +"Land ahead!" was the shout one day from the nest. The day, be it +remembered, was now barely an hour long. + +"Land ahead on the port bow!" + +"What does it look like, Mr Stevenson?" cried the captain. + +The mate had run up at the first hail. + +"I can just see the tops of a few hills, sir," was the reply, "towering +high over the icebergs." + +The _Arrandoon_ bore away for this strange land. In three hours' time +they were lying off one of the dreariest and most desolate-looking +islands it has ever been the lot of mariners to behold. It looked like +an island of some worn-out planet, whose internal fires have gone for +ever out, from which life has long since fled, which possesses no future +save the everlasting night of silence and death. + +Some slight repairs were required in the engine-room, so the _Arrandoon_ +lay here for a week. + +"To think," said McBain, as he stood on the bridge one day with our +heroes, "that in the far-distant past that lonely isle of gloom was once +clad in all the bright colour of tropical vegetation, with wild beasts +roaming in its jungles and forests, and wild birds filling its groves +with music,--an island of sunshine, flowers, and beauty! And now behold +it." + +An expedition was got up to explore the isle, and to climb its highest +peak to make observations. + +McBain himself accompanied it, so did Allan, Rory, and Seth. It was no +easy task, climbing that snowy cone by the light of stars and Aurora. +But they gained the summit ere the short, short day broke. + +To the north and west they saw land and mountains, stretching away and +away as far as eye could follow them. To the east and north water +studded with ugly icebergs that looked as if they had broken away from +the shores of the western land. + +"But what is that in the middle of yonder ice-floe to the south and +west?" cried Rory. + +"As I live," exclaimed McBain, as he eyed the object through the glass, +"it is a ship of some kind, evidently deserted; and it is quite as +evident that we are not the only explorers that have reached as far +north as this island." + +The mystery was explained next day, and a sad story brought to light. +McBain and party landed on the floe and walked towards the derelict. +She was sloop-rigged, with sails all clewed, and her hull half hidden in +snow. After a deal of difficulty they succeeded in opening one of the +companion hatches, and making their way down below. + +No less than five unburied corpses lay huddled together in the little +cabin. From their surroundings it was plain they had been +walrus-hunters, and it was not difficult to perceive that the poor +fellows had died from cold and hunger _many, many years before_. + +Frozen in, too far up in this northern sea, they had been unable to +regain the open water, and so had miserably perished. + +Next day they returned and laid the mortal remains of these unfortunate +men in graves in the snow, and even Rory was much more silent and +thoughtful than usual as they returned to the ship. + +Was it not possible that they might meet with a similar fate? The poor +fellows they had just buried had doubtless possessed many home ties; +their wives and mothers had waited and wished a weary time, till at long +last the heart had grown sick with hope deferred, and maybe the grave +had long since closed over them. + +Such were some of Rory's thoughts, but after dinner McBain "brought him +up with a round turn," as he phrased it. + +"Rory," he cried, "go and play to us. Freezing Powders, you young +rascal, bring that cockatoo of yours up on the table and make us laugh." + +Rory brightened up and got hold of his fiddle; and "All right, sah," +cried Freezing Powders. "I bring de old cockatoo plenty quick. Come +along, Cockie, you catchee my arm and pull yourse'f up. Dat's it." + +"Come on," cried Cockie, hopping on the table and at once commencing to +waltz and polka round. "Come on; play up, play up." + +A queer bird was Cockie. He cared for nobody except his master and +Rory. Rory he loved solely on account of the fiddle, but his affection +for Freezing Powders was very genuine. When his master was glad, so was +Cockie; when the little nigger boy felt tired, and threw himself down +beside the cage to rest, then Cockie would open his cage door and back +tail foremost under the boy's arm, heaving as he did so a deep, +delighted sigh, as much as to say, "Oh, what joy it is to nestle in +here?" + +Cockie was not a pretty bird; his bill was worn and all twisted awry, +and his eyes looked terribly old-fashioned, and the blue, wrinkled skin +around them gave him quite an antediluvian look. He was white in +colour--or, more correctly speaking, he had been white once; but time, +that steals the roses from the softest cheeks, had long since toned him +down to a kind of yellow lilac, so he did not look a very respectable +bird on the whole. + +"You ought to wash him," McBain said, one day. "Wash him, sah?" said +Freezing Powders; "is dat de 'xpression you make use of, sah? Bless +you, sah! I have tried dat plenty much often; I have tried to wash +myself, too. No good in eeder case, sah; I 'ssure you I speak de truf." + +"Come on I come on?" cried Cockie. "Play up! play up! La de lal, de +lal, de lal!" + +And round spun the bird, keeping time to the merry air, and every now +and then giving a "whoop?" such as could only be emitted by Cockie +himself, a Connemara Irishman, or a Cuscarora Indian. + +But this is a remarkable thing, Cockie danced and whirled in one +direction till he found his head getting light, then he reversed the +action, and whirled round the other way! + +[This description of the wonderful bird is in no way overdrawn.] + +It really seemed as if he would tire Rory out. "Lal de dal!" he sung: +"our days are short--whoop!--our lives are merry--lal de dal, de dal, de +_whoop_!" + +But Rory changed his tactics; he began to play _The Last Rose of +Summer_, leaning down towards the table. Cockie stopped at once, and +backed, tail foremost, in under the musician's hands, crouching down +with a sigh to listen. + +But Rory went off again into the _Sprig of Shillelagh_, and off went +Cockie, too, dancing more madly than ever with a small flag in his mouth +that Freezing Powders had handed him. Then he stopped at last, and +walked about gasping, pitching penholders and pencils in all directions. + +"Here's a pretty to-do!" he said; and when somebody laughed, Cockie +simply shrieked with laughter till he had everybody joining him and +holding their sides, and feeling sore all over. Verily, Cockie was a +cure! No wonder his master loved him. + +In a few days the _Arrandoon_ left the desolate island, which Rory had +named "Walrus Isle." + +Everybody was on deck as the vessel slowly steamed away. + +Most of the land was already shrouded in gloom, only in the far distance +a tall mountain cone was all ablaze with a crimson glory, borrowed from +the last blink of sunshine. Yes, the god of day had sunk to rest, and +they would bask no more in his cheering beams for many a long and weary +month to come. + +"Give us a bass, Ray, old boy!" cried Rory; "and you, doctor, a tenor." + +And he started,-- + + "Shades of evening, close not o'er us, + Leave our lonely bark awhile, + Morn, alas! will not restore us + Yonder dim and distant isle." + +Ah, reader! what a glorious thing music is; I tell you, honestly and +truthfully, that I do not believe I could have come through half the +trials and troubles and griefs and worries I have had in life, if I had +not at times been able to seek solace and comfort from my old cremona. + +Our heroes thought at first they would greatly miss the light of the +sun, but they soon got quite used to the strange electric light emitted +by the splendid Aurora, combined with that which gleamed more steadily +downwards from the brilliant stars. These stars were seen to best +advantage in the south; they seemed very large and very near, and +whether it was the reflection of the Aurora, or whether it was real, I +never could tell, but they seemed to shine with differently coloured +lights. There were pure white stars, mostly low on the horizon; there +were crimson and green changing stars, and yellow and rose-coloured +changing stars, and some of a pale-golden hue, the soft light of which +was inexpressibly lovely. But any effort of mine to paint in words the +extreme beauty of the heavens on clear nights would prove but a painful +failure, so I leave it alone. The chief bow of the Aurora is, I may +just mention, composed apparently of spears of ever-changing +rainbow-coloured light continually falling back into masses and +phalanxes, and anon advancing and clashing, as it were. While walking +on the ice-fields, if you listen, you can hear a strange whispering, +hissing sound emitted from these clashing, mixing spears. The following +letters, whispered rapidly, give some faint idea of this mysterious +sound,-- + +"Ush-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh." + +You can also produce a somewhat similar noise by rubbing your fingers +swiftly backwards and forwards on a sheet of paper. + +But indeed the whole firmament, when the sky was clear, was precisely as +Rory described it--"one beautiful poem." + +Many bears were now seen, and nearly all that were seen were killed. +They were enormously large and fierce, foolishly fierce indeed, for they +seldom thought of taking to flight. + +There were unicorns (narwhals) in the sea in scores, and walruses on the +flat ice by the dozen. It was after these latter that Master Bruin came +prowling. + +A nice juicy walrus-steak a Greenland bear will tell you is the best +thing in the world for keeping the cold out. + +Old trapper Seth had strange ways of hunting at times. One example must +suffice. + +Our heroes had been out after a walrus which they had succeeded in +killing. A bear or two had been seen an hour or two before that, +evidently on the prowl, and probably very hungry. Now, nothing will +fetch these kings of the northern ice more surely than the scent of +blood. + +"Young gentlemen," said Seth, "there's a b'ar about somewheres, and I +reckon he ain't far off either. Now, we'll just whip this old walrus +out o' his skin, and Seth will creep in, and you'll see what you'll +see." + +He was very busy with his knife as he spoke, and in a few minutes the +crang was got out and thrown into the water, the head being left on. +Into the skin crept the trapper, lying down at full length with his +rifle close by his side, and by his directions away pulled the boat. + +It was not two hundred yards off, when up out of the sea scrambled a +huge bear. + +"Hullo," says Bruin, shaking himself like a dozen great Newfoundland +dogs rolled into one--"hullo! they've killed the wallie and left him. +Now won't I have a blow-out just?" and he licked his great chops in +anticipation. + +"Dear me?" continued Bruin, as the walrus turned right round and +confronted him; "why, they haven't quite killed you! Never mind, +wallie, I'll put you out of pain, and I'll do it ever so gently. Then +I'll just have one leetle bite out of your loin, you know." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +"I guess you won't this journey," said Seth, bringing his rifle into +position as the bear prepared to spring. "I reckon it'll be the other +way on, and b'ar's steak ain't to be sneezed at when it's nicely +cooked." + +Bang! + +It was very soon over with that poor bear; he never even changed the +position into which he had thrown himself, but lay there dead, with his +great head on his paws like a gigantic dog asleep. + +CHAPTER THIRTY ONE. + +A COUNCIL--PREPARING FOR WINTER QUARTERS--THE ISLE OF ALBA AND ITS +MAMMOTH CAVES--MAGNUS'S TALE--AT HIS BOY'S GRAVE. + +The word "canny" is often applied to Scotchmen in a somewhat disparaging +sense by those who do not know the meaning of the word, nor the true +character of the people on whom they choose to fix the epithet. The +word is derived from "can," signifying knowledge, ability, skill, etc, +and probably a corruption of the Gaelic "caen" (head). The Scotch are +pre-eminently a thinking nation, and, as a rule, they are individually +skilful in their undertakings; they like to look before they leap, they +like to know what they have to do before they begin, but having begun, +they work or fight with all their life and power. It was "canniness" +that won for Robert Bruce the Battle of Bannockburn, it was the +canniness of Prince Charles Stuart that enabled him to defeat Sir John +Cope at the Battle of Dunbar. There is no nation in the world possesses +more "can" than the Scotch, although they are pretty well matched by the +Germans. Prince Bismarck is the canniest man of the century. + +"A Berlin! A Berlin!" was the somewhat childish cry of the volatile +Gaul, when war broke out betwixt his sturdy neighbour and him. + +Yes, fair France, go to Berlin if you choose, only first and foremost +you have to overthrow--what? Oh! only one man. A very old one, too. +Yonder he is, in that tent in the corner of a field, seated at a table, +quietly solving, one would almost think, a chess problem. And so it is, +but he is playing the game with living men, and every move he makes is +carefully studied. That old man in the tent, to which the wires +converge from the field of battle, is General von Moltke, the best +soldier that the world has ever known since the days of Bonaparte and +Wellington, and the _canniest_. + +But the word "canny" never implies over-frugality or meanness, and I +believe my readers will go a long way through the world, without meeting +a Scotchman who would not gladly share the last sixpence he had in the +world to benefit a friend. + +Our Captain McBain was canny in the true sense of the word, and it was +this canniness of his that induced him to call his officers, and every +one who could think and give an opinion, into the saloon two days after +the events described in the last chapter. + +After making a short speech, in which he stated his own ideas freely, he +called upon them to express theirs. + +"If," he concluded, "you think we have gone far enough north with the +ship, here, or near here, we will anchor; if you think we ought to push +on, I will take that barrier of ice to the north-east, and push and bore +and forge and blast my way for many miles farther, and it may be we will +strike the open water around the Pole, if such open water exists." + +"We are now," said Stevenson, after consulting for a short time with the +second mate, with Magnus, and De Vere the aeronaut--"we are now nearly +88 degrees north and 76 degrees west from the meridian; the season has +been a wonderful one, but will we have an open summer to find our way +back again if we push on farther?" + +"No," cried old Magnus, with some vehemence; "no, such seasons as these +come but once in ten years." + +"I see how the land lies," said McBain, smiling, "and I am glad that we +are all of the same way of thinking. Well, gentlemen, this decides me; +we shall winter where we are." + +"Hurrah!" cried Stevenson; "we wouldn't have gone contrary to your +wishes for the world, captain, but I'm sure we will be all delighted to +go into winter quarters." + +After this the _Arrandoon_ was kept away more to the west, where the +water was clearer of bergs, and where mountainous land was seen to lie. + +They steamed along this land or shore for many miles, although lighted +only by the bright silvery stars and the gleaming Aurora. They came at +length to a small landlocked bay or gulf, entirely filled with flat ice. +The ship was stopped, and all hands ordered away to a clear a passage +by means of ice-saws and torpedoes. After many hours of hard work this +was successfully accomplished, and the vessel was warped in till she lay +close under the lee of the braeland, that rose steeply up from the +surface of the sea. Those braes were to the north and west of them, and +would help to shelter the ship from at least one of the coldest winds. + +"Well, boys," said McBain that day as they sat down to dinner, and he +spoke more cheerfully than he had done since the departure of the +_Scotia_,--"well, boys, here we are safe and snug in winter quarters. +How do you like the prospect of living here for three months without +ever catching a blink of the sun?" + +"I for one don't mind it a bit," said Allan. "It'll do us all good; but +won't we be glad to see the jolly visage of old Sol again, when he peeps +over the hills to see whether we are dead or alive!" + +"I'm sure," said Rory, "that I will enjoy the fun immensely." + +"What fun?" asked Ralph. + +"Why, the new sensation," replied Rory; "a winter at the Pole." + +"You're not quite there yet," said Ralph; "but as for me, I think I'll +enjoy it too, though of course winter in London would be more lively. +Why, what is that green-looking stuff in those glasses, doctor?" + +"That's your dram," said Sandy. + +"Why it's lime-juice," cried Rory, tasting his glass and making a face. + +"So it is," said Ralph. "Where are the sugar-plums, doctor?" + +"Yes," cried Rory; "where are the plums? Oh!" he continued, "I have +it--a drop of Silas Grig's green ginger, steward, quick." + +And every day throughout the winter, when our heroes swallowed their +dose of lime-juice, they were allowed a tiny drop of green ginger to put +away the taste, and as they sipped it, they never failed to think and +talk of honest Silas. + +And lime-juice was served out by the surgeon to all hands. They knew +well it was to keep scurvy at bay, so they quietly took their dose and +said nothing. + +The sea remained open for about a week longer, and scores of bears were +bagged. [These animals are said to bury themselves in the snow during +winter, and sleep soundly for two or three months. This, however, is +doubtful.] This seemed, indeed, to be the autumn home of the King of +the Ice. Then the winter began to close in in earnest, and all saving +the noonday twilight deserted them. The sky, however, remained clear +and starry, and many wonderful meteors were seen almost nightly shooting +across the firmament, and for a time lighting up the strange and +desolate scene with a brightness like the noon of day. The Aurora was +clearer and more dazzling after the frost came, so that as far as light +was concerned the sun was not so much missed. + +On going on deck one morning our heroes were astonished to find a light +gleaming down upon them from the maintop, of such dazzling whiteness +that they were fain, for the moment, to press their hands against their +eyes. + +It was an electric candle, means for erecting which McBain had provided +himself with before leaving the Clyde. So successful was he with his +experiment that the sea of ice on the one hand, and the braeland on the +other, seemed enshrouded in gloom. Rory gazed in ecstasy, then he must +needs walk up to McBain and shake him enthusiastically by the hand, +laughing as he remarked,-- + +"'Deed, indeed, captain, you're a wonderful man. Whatever made you +think of this? What a glorious surprise. Have you any more in store +for us? Really! sir, I don't know what your boys would do without you +at all at all." + +Thus spoke impulsive young Rory, as McBain laughingly returned his +hand-shake, while high overhead the new light eclipsed the radiance of +the brightest stars. But what is that strange, mournful cry that is +heard among the hills far up above them? It comes nearer and still more +near, and then out from the gloom swoops a gigantic bird. Attracted by +the light, it has come from afar, and now keeps wheeling round and round +it. Previously there had not been a bird visible for many days, but +now, curious to relate, they come in hundreds, and even alight close by +the ship to feed on the refuse that has been thrown overboard. + +"It is strange, isn't it, sir?" said Rory. + +"It is, indeed," replied McBain, adding, after a pause, "Rory, boy, I've +got an idea." + +"Well," said Rory, "I know before you mention it that it is a good one." + +"Ah! but," said McBain, "I'm not going to mention it yet awhile." + +"I vill vager," said the aeronaut, who stood beside them, gazing upwards +at the bright light and the circling birds--"I vill vager my big balloon +dat de same idea has struck me myself." + +"Whisper," said the captain. + +The aeronaut did so, and McBain burst out laughing. + +"How funny!" he remarked; "but you are perfectly right, De Vere; only +keep it dark for a bit." + +"Oh yes," said De Vere, laughing in turn; "very dark; as dark as--" + +"Hush?" cried McBain, clapping a hand on his mouth. + +"How tantalising!" said Rory. + +"You'll know all about it in good time," McBain said; "and now, boys, +we've got to prepare for winter in right good earnest. Duty before +pleasure, you know. Now here is what I propose." + +What he did propose was set about without loss of time. Little Ap was +summoned aft. + +"Can you build barrows?" asked McBain. + +Little Ap took an immense pinch of snuff before he replied. + +"I have built many a boat," he said, "but never a barrow. But look, you +see, with the help of the cooper and the carpenters I can build barrows +by the dozen. Yes, yes, sir." + +"Bravo, Ap!" cried McBain; "then set about it at once, for we are all +going to turn navvies. We are going," he added, "to excavate a cave +half-way up that brae yonder on the starboard quarter. It will be big +enough, Ap, to hold the whole ship's crew, officers and all. It will be +a glorious shelter from the cold, and it will--" + +"Stop," cried Sandy McFlail. "Beg your pardon, sir, but let me finish +the sentence: it will give the men employment and keep sickness away." + +"That's it, my worthy surgeon," said McBain. + +"Bravo!" said Sandy. "I look upon that now as--" + +Sandy paused and reddened a little. + +"As a vera judeecious arrangement," said Rory, laughing. "Out with it, +Sandy, man." + +Rory edged off towards the door of the saloon as he spoke; the doctor +kicked over his chair and made a dart after him, but Rory had fled. +Hardly, however, was the surgeon re-seated ere his tormentor keeked in +again. + +"Eh! mon, Sandy McFlail," he cried; "you'll want to take a lot more salt +in your porridge, mon, before ye can catch Rory Elphinston." + +On the hillside, fifty feet above the sea level, they commenced +operations, and in a fortnight's time the cave was almost completed; and +not only that, but a beautiful staircase leading up to it. The soil was +not hard after the outer crust was tapped, although some veins of quartz +were alighted upon which required to be blasted. Several times they +came across the trunks of huge trees that seemed to have been scorched +by fire, the remains, doubtless, of the primeval forest that had once +clad these hills with a sea of living green. Nor were bones wanting; +some of immense size were turned up and carefully preserved. + +Rory made a careful study of the remains of the animal and vegetable +life which were found, and the result of this was his painting two +pictures representing the Past and Present of the strange land where +their vessel now lay. The one represented the _Arrandoon_ lying under +bare poles and yards in the ice-locked bay, with the wild mountainous +land beyond, peak rising o'er peak, and crag o'er crag, all clad in the +garments of eternal winter, and asleep in the uncertain light of the +countless stars and the radiant Aurora. But the other picture! Who but +Rory--who but an artist-poet could have painted that? There are the +same formations of hill and dale, the same towering peaks and bold +bluffs, but neither ice nor snow is there; the glens and valleys are +clad in waving forests; flowers and ferns are there; lichens, crimson +and white, creep and hang over the brown rocks; happy birds are in the +sky; bright-winged butterflies seem flitting in the noonday sunshine, +and strange animals of monstrous size are basking on the sea-shore. + +Rory's pictures were admired by all hands, but the artist had his +private view to begin with, and, among others like privileged, aft came +weird old Magnus. First he was shown the picture of the Past. + +He gazed at it long and earnestly, muttering to himself, "Strange, +strange, strange." + +But no sooner was the companion picture placed before him, than he +started from the chair on which he had been sitting. + +"I was right! I was right?" he cried. "Oh! bless you, boy Rory; bless +you, Captain McBain. This--this is the Isle of Alba. Yonder are the +dear hills. I thought I could not be mistaken, and not far off are the +mammoth caves. I can guide you, gentlemen, to the place where lies +wealth untold. This is the happiest day of old Magnus's life." + +"Sit down, Magnus," said McBain, kindly; "sit down, my old sea-dad. +Gentlemen, gather round us; Magnus has something to tell us I know. +Magnus," he continued, taking the old man's thin and withered hand in +his, "I have often thought you knew more about this Isle of Alba than +you cared to tell. What is the mystery? You have spoken so often about +these mammoth caves. How know you there is wealth of ivory lying +there?" + +"I have no story to relate," said Magnus, talking apparently to himself; +"only a sad reminiscence of a voyage I took years and years ago to these +same dreary latitudes. I had a son with me, a son I loved for his dead +mother's sake and his own. I commanded a sloop--'twas but a sloop--and +we sailed away from Norwegian shores in search of the ivory mines. We +reached this very island. The year was an open one, just like this; +myself and my brave fellows found ivory in abundance; in such abundance +that our sloop would not carry a thousandth part of it, for, gentlemen, +in ages long gone by, this island and those around it were the homes of +the mammoth and the mastodon. We collected all the ivory and placed it +in one cave. How I used to gloat over my treasure! It was all for my +boy. He would be the richest man in Northern Europe. My boy, my dear +boy, with his mother's eyes! I had only to go back to Norway with my +sloop and charter a large vessel, and return to the Isle of Alba for my +buried treasure." + +Here poor old Magnus threw his body forward and covered his face with +his skinny hands, and the tears welled through his fingers, while his +whole form was convulsed with sobs. + +"My boy--died!" was all he could utter. "He sleeps yonder--yonder at +the cave's mouth. Yonder--yonder. To-morrow I will guide you to the +cave, and we will see my boy." + +The old man seemed wandering a little. + +"I would sleep now," he added. "To-morrow--to-morrow." + +There was a strange light in Magnus's eye next day when he joined the +search party on deck, and a strange flush on his cheek that seemed to +bode no good. + +"I'll see my boy," he kept repeating to himself, as he led the way on +shore. "I'll see my boy." + +He walked so fast that his younger companions could hardly keep pace +with him. + +Along the shore and upwards through a glen, round hills and rocks, by +many a devious path, he led them on and on, till they stood at last at +the foot of a tall perpendicular cliff, with, close beside it, a spar or +flagstaff. + +They knew now that Magnus had not been raving, that they were no old +man's dream, these mammoth caves, but a glorious reality. + +"Quick, quick," cried Magnus, pointing to a spot at the foot of the +spar. "Clear away the snow." + +Our heroes were hardly prepared for the sight that met their eyes, as +soon as Magnus had been obeyed, for there, encased in a block of crystal +ice, lay the form of a youth of probably sixteen summers, dressed in the +blue uniform of a Norwegian sailor, with long fair hair floating over +his shoulders. Time had wrought no change on the face; this lad, though +buried for twenty years, seemed even now only in a gentle slumber, from +which a word or touch might awake him. + +"My boy! my boy!" was the cry of the old man, as he knelt beside the +grave, kissed the cold ice, and bedewed it with his tears. "Look up, +look up; 'tis your father that is bending over you. But no, no, no; +he'll never speak nor smile again. Oh! my boy, my boy!" + +Rory was in tears, and not he alone, for the roughest sailor that stood +beside the grave could not witness the grief of that old man unmoved. + +McBain stepped forward and placed his hand kindly on his shoulder. + +Magnus turned his streaming eyes just once upwards to his captain's +face, then he gave vent to one long, sobbing sigh, threw out his arms, +and dropped. + +Magnus was no more. + +They made his grave close to that of his boy's, and there, side by side, +these twain will sleep till the sea gives up its dead. + +CHAPTER THIRTY TWO. + +THE TERRIBLE SNOWSTORM--SOMETHING LIKE AN AQUARIUM--THE MAMMOTH CAVES +AND THEIR STARTLING TREASURES--THE JOURNEY POLEWARDS--COLLAPSE OF THE +BALLOON--"GOD SAVE THE QUEEN." + +Four long months have passed away since poor old Magnus dropped dead on +the grave of his son. The sun has once more appeared above the horizon, +bringing joy to the hearts of the officers and crew of the _Arrandoon_. +Despite every effort to keep their spirits up, the past winter has been +a weary one. Had the stars always shone, had the glorious Aurora always +flickered above them, it might have been different; but shortly after +the cave was finished and furnished, divided into compartments, and made +comfortable with chairs and sofas, and carpets and skins, a terrible +storm came on them from the north-west. Never had our young heroes, +never had McBain himself, known such cold, or such fierce winds and +depth of snow. For three whole weeks did this Arctic storm rage, and +during this time it would have been certain death for any one to have +ventured ten yards from the mouth of the cavern. + +But the wind fell at last, the clouds dispersed, and once more the +goodly stars shone forth, and the bright Aurora. Then they ventured to +creep out from their friendly shelter. The Arctic night seemed now as +bright as day; they could hardly believe that the sun was not hidden +behind some of those quartz-like clouds, that were still banked up on +the south-eastern horizon. But where was the ship? where was their +lordly _Arrandoon_? For a moment it seemed as if the ice had opened and +swallowed her up. They rubbed their wondering eyes and looked again. +Three silver streaks glimmering against the dark blue of the sky +represented her topmasts; all the rest of her was buried beneath the +snow. + +And as far as they could see seaward it was all a waste of smooth +dazzling white, with here and there only the points and peaks of the +icebergs appearing above it. + +As soon as the snow had sunk, which it soon did many feet, McBain had +got his crew ready to start for the mammoth mines. The weather had +continued fine, only there were whole weeks during which the wind blew +so cuttingly fierce that no work or walking either could be attempted. + +The troglodytes--an expression of Rory's--were, therefore, a good deal +confined to their cave, and it was well for them then that they had +books to read and the wherewithal to amuse themselves in many other +ways. The following is a remark that Rory had made to Ralph and Allan +one day, after nearly three months of the winter had passed away. + +"Which of you troglodytes is going with me to-morrow to see the sun +rise?" + +"Not I, thanks," said Ralph. "Pass the ham, old man; that bit of +bear-steak was a treat." + +"I'll go," said Allan. + +"Hurrah!" cried Rory. "It is you that's the brave boy after all. We'll +have friend Seth, too, and the dogs. It's the first time they've been +out; it will do us all good." + +This sledging-party had been a merry one, but they were obliged to leave +the dogs at the foot of the mountain, and climb, as best they could, to +the top, where, sure enough, they were soon rewarded by a glimpse, just +one thrilling glimpse, of the king of day. They could not refrain from +shouting aloud with joy. They shouted and cheered, and though, +well-nigh three miles from the cave, the troglodytes there heard it, so +intense was the silence, and gave them back shout for shout and cheer +for cheer. + +They had seen something, though, from the hill-top that had very much +astonished them. In the centre of this curious island, and entirely +surrounded by mountains, was a lake of open water, as black as ink it +looked in contrast with the snow-clad braeland around it, and right in +the centre thereof played an enormous geyser, or natural fountain. It +was evidently of volcanic origin. + +The days got longer and longer, and in five months from the time they +had entered the cave day and night were about equal. + +But I must not omit telling you of the strange experiment that had +suggested itself to McBain while gazing upwards at the birds--lured from +afar--circling round the electric light. It was nothing more nor less +than that of paying a visit, by means of a diving-bell and the electric +light, to the denizens of the deep--the creatures that lived in the +ocean under the ice. + +Everything was got ready under the supervision of the aeronaut, ably +assisted by the carpenter and crew and little Ap. The bell itself was +an immense one, and most carefully constructed to float or sink at will. +Inside it was quite as comfortable as the room in the lift of some of +our large hotels. + +Ralph seldom went far out of his way in search of adventure, but this +new and wonderful experiment seemed to possess an irresistible charm +even for him. + +As for Rory, he was, as Sandy McFlail said, "half daft" over the idea. + +McBain was most careful in seeing that everything was in working order; +and the bell was sunk and re-sunk empty a dozen times in the water +before he would allow any one to venture down in it. The snow had been +previously cleared away all from and around the ship, and an immense +ice-hole made for the purpose of conducting the experiment. + +When all seemed safe, and it was found that the bell, sunk to a depth of +forty feet, was acted on by no current, but rose straight to the surface +of the ice-hole when wanted, then the captain himself and De Vere +ventured down. They remained beneath for fully twenty minutes--and +anxious minutes they were to those on the surface; then the signal to +hoist was given, and presently up bobbed the bell, and was raised to the +level by the derrick, when out stepped De Vere and McBain. + +"Smiling all over, sure!" said Rory, "and looking as clean and sweet and +pretty as if they'd just popped out of a band-box." + +The diving-bell was called "the band-box" after this. + +But it was after dark that the real experiment was to take place. + +"Troth!" said Rory at dinner that day, "will you fellows never have done +eating? It's myself that is longing to get away down to the bottom of +the sea." + +The four of them entered the band-box--Allan, Ralph, the doctor, and +Rory; then they were slowly lowered down--down--down amid a darkness +that could be felt. But presently a green glimmer of light shone in +through the strong window of the bell; they could see each other's +faces. The light got stronger and stronger as the electric ball came +nearer and nearer, till at last it stopped stationary about twelve yards +from their window, making the sea all round, beneath, and above it as +bright as noon. + +"Yonder is the stage, boys," cried Rory; "but where are the performers?" + +They had not long to wait for these. Fish, first of the smaller kinds, +came sailing round the light; presently these fled in all directions, +and a monster shark took up the room. He soon had company, for dozens +of others came floating around, and not sharks only, but creatures of +more hideous forms than anything even Rory could have imagined in his +wildest dreams. + +"Oh!" cried the young poet, "if Gustave Dore were only here to see this +terrible sight!" + +"It beats," said Sandy, "the Brighton Aquarium all to pieces. Oh?" he +screamed, shrinking into a corner of the band-box, as a huge +hammer-headed shark sidled up to the window, crooked his awful eyes, and +stared in. "Oh, Rory, man, signal quick! I want to get up out o' here. +No more divin'-bells for me, lad." + +For nearly six weeks it became the regular custom to visit this +submarine vivarium every night after dinner. + +"It was just as good," Ralph and Allan said, "as going to a show." + +"And a deal better," added Rory. Even the mates and the crew begged for +a peep at the wonders displayed in the depths of the illuminated sea. + +"Well," said Ted Wilson, when he ascended after his first view, "I'm a +sadder and a wiser man, and I'll dream of what I've seen this night as +long as ever I live." + +They found the mouth of the mammoth cave, near which lay all that was +mortal of poor old Magnus and his son, after days and days of digging; +but when at long last they succeeded in forcing an entrance, one glance +around them proved that they had indeed fallen upon riches and wealth +untold. Those vast tusks and teeth of the mighty monsters of an age +long past and gone were of the purest ivory, more white and hard than +any they had ever seen before. + +"Why, sure," said Rory, "the cave of Aladdin was nothing to this!" + +"The next thing, gentlemen," said the captain, "is to transport our +treasure to the good ship _Arrandoon_. Seth, old friend, your dogs will +be wanted now in good earnest." + +"I reckon," replied Seth, "they're all ready, sir, and just mad enough +to eat each other's collars, 'cause they don't get anything to do." + +What a change it was to have sunshine and a comparative degree of warmth +again. Rough and toilsome enough was the road between the ship and the +mammoth cave, but the snow was crisp and hard. The dogs were wild with +delight, and so were our heroes, and so hard did everybody work all day +that no one thought any more about the diving-bell and the denizens of +the deep. After dinner they needed rest. Rory took his boat, or canoe, +with him once or twice, and, all alone, he embarked on the volcanic lake +and paddled round the geyser. + +In three weeks from the day they had found the entrance to the cave they +had transported all the ivory to the _Arrandoon_. They were now what +Silas would have called a "bumper ship." If they should succeed in +regaining their own country, Rory would be able to live all his days in +peace and comfort, independent of the whims of his Irish tenantry, and +Allan--ah, yes, poor Allan!--began to dream of home now. Already, in +imagination, he saw Glentruim a fair and smiling valley, every acre of +it tilled, comfortable cottages sending their blue smoke heavenwards +from the green birchen woods, a new and beautiful church, and the castle +restored, himself once more resuming his rights of chief of his clan, +and his dear mother and sister honoured and respected by all. + +"I'll roast an ox whole, boys!" he cried, one evening, jumping up from +the sofa in the snuggery, where he had been lying thinking and dreaming +of the future. "A whole ox; nothing less!" + +Rory and Ralph burst out laughing. + +"A vera judeecious arrangement!" cried Sandy. "But where will ye get +the ox? I'm getting tired o' bear-beef, and wouldn't mind a slice out +of a juicy stot's rump." + +"Oh, dear!" said Allan, smiling; "I forgot you hadn't been following the +train of my thoughts. I was back again in Arrandoon." + +"Hurrah!" cried Rory. "Gather round the fire, boys; sit in, captain; +sit in, Sandy; let us talk about home and what we all will do when we +get there." + +Little, little did they know then the hardships that were in store for +them. + +Summer had fairly set in, but as yet there were not the slightest signs +of the ice breaking up. Several balloon flights were made, the aeronaut +always making most careful calculations for days before starting, and +generally succeeding in catching a favourable time. + +Then the principal adventure of the whole cruise was undertaken--a great +sledging journey towards the Pole itself. + +The sledges, specially prepared for the purpose, were got out and +carefully loaded with everything that would be found necessary. + +For a time the _Arrandoon_ was to be left with but a few hands, or +"ship-keepers," as they are called, on her. + +The great snowstorm of the previous winter McBain judged, and rightly +too, would be in favour of the expedition; it smoothed the roughness of +the ice, and made sledging even pleasurable. De Vere had two sledges, +devoted to carrying his balloon and the means wherewith to inflate it. + +Ted Wilson was left in charge of the ship, with little Ap, the cook, and +carpenter's crew, to say nothing of little Freezing Powders and Cockie. + +"If you do find the North Pole," cried Ted Wilson, as a parting +salutation to one of his companions, "do fair Johnick, Bill, fair +Johnick--bring us a bit." + +I have to tell of no terrible hardships or sufferings experienced by our +heroes during this memorable sledge journey. They accomplished on an +average about twelve miles a day, or seventy miles a week, and they +invariably rested on the Sabbath, merely taking exercise on that day to +keep up the warmth of their bodies. + +They suffered but little from the cold, but it must be remembered that +by this time they had become thoroughly inured to the rigours of the +Arctic regions. It was easy to keep warm trudging along over the snow, +and helping to drag the sledge by day. + +The dogs they found were a great acquisition. Under the wise and +judicious management of Trapper Seth they were most tractable, and their +strength seemed something marvellous. They were fat and sleek, and +comfortable-looking, too, and had entirely lost the gaunt, hungry, +wolfish appearance they presented when Captain Cobb first sent them on +board. Well did they work for, and richly did they deserve, the four +Spratts' biscuits given to each of them daily; that, followed by a +mouthful of snow, was all they cared for and all they needed to make +them the happiest of the happy. + +A short halt was made for luncheon every noon, and at six o'clock they +stopped for the night, and dinner was cooked. This was Seth's duty, +and, considering the limited means at his command, he succeeded +wonderfully. The tent was erected over a large pit in the snow, the +sledges being drawn up to protect it against the prevailing wind. But +of this there was but little. + +After dinner they gathered around a great spirit-lamp stove, wrapped in +skins and blankets, and generally talked themselves to sleep. But Seth +always slept with the dogs. + +"I like to curl up," he explained, "with the animiles. They keeps me +warm, they do; and, gentlemen, Seth's bones ain't quite so young as they +used to be." + +For weeks our heroes journeyed on towards the Pole, but they came to the +end of what McBain called the snowfields at last, and all farther +progress by sledge was practically at an end. Before them stretched +away to the utmost limits of the horizon The Sea of Ancient Ice, a chaos +of boulders, over which it would take a week at least to drag the +sledges even a distance of ten miles, Now came the balloon to the +rescue, but who were to go in it? Its car would, big as it was, contain +but four. The four were finally selected; they were McBain, the +aeronaut himself, Allan, and Rory. + +Upwards mounted the great balloon, upwards but sailing southwards; yet +well had De Vere counted his chances. Ballast was thrown out, and they +rose into the air with inconceivable rapidity, and McBain soon perceived +that the direction had now changed, and that the balloon was going +rapidly northwards. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +To those left behind on the snowfields the time dragged on very slowly +indeed, and when four-and-twenty hours had gone by, and still there was +no sign of the return of the aeronauts, Ralph's anxiety knew no bounds. +He seemed to spend most of his time on the top of a large iceberg, +gazing northwards and skywards in hopes of catching a glimpse of the +balloon. But all in vain, and so passed six-and-thirty hours, and so +passed forty-eight and fifty. Something must have happened. Grief +began to weigh like lead on poor Ralph's heart. A hundred times in an +hour he reproached himself for not having gone in the balloon instead of +Rory. He was strong, Rory was not, and if anything had happened to his +more than brother, he felt he could never forget it and never forgive +himself. Despair was slowly taking the place of grief; he was walking +up and down rapidly on the snow, for he could not rest,--he had taken +neither food nor sleep since the balloon departed,--when there was a +shout from the man on the outlook. + +"Something black on the northern horizon, sir, but no signs of the +balloon." + +"Hurrah?" cried Ralph. "Now, men, to the rescue. Let us go and meet +them, and help them over this sea of boulders." + +In three hours more McBain and party were back in camp, safe and sound, +terribly tired, but able to tell all their story. + +"We've planted the dear old flag as far north as we could get," said +McBain, "and left it there." + +"Ay," said Rory, "and kissed and blessed it a hundred times over." + +"And but for the accident to the balloon, which we were obliged to +abandon, we would have been back long ere now." + +"But we have not seen de open sea around de Pole," said De Vere. + +"No," said McBain; "there is no such sea; that is all a myth; only the +sea of ancient ice, and land, with tall, cone-shaped mountains on it, +evidently the remains of extinct volcanoes. Oh! it was a dreary, dreary +scene. No signs of life, never a bird or bear, and a silence like the +silence of death." + +"It was on one of those hills," added Rory, "we planted the flag--`the +flag that braved a thousand years the battle and the breeze.' It was a +glorious moment, dear Ralph, when we saw that bit of bunting unfurled. +How Allan and myself wished you'd been with us. It was so funny, too, +because, you see, there was no north, no east, and no west; everything +was south of us. The whole world lay down beneath us, as it were, all +to the south'ard, and we could walk round the world, so to speak, a +dozen times in a minute." + +"Yes, it is curious," replied Ralph, musing in silence for a moment. +Then he stretched out his hand and grasped Rory's. He did not speak. +There was no need, Rory knew well what he meant. + +"Now, boys and men," cried the captain, "we have to return thanks to Him +who has safely guided us through all perils into these distant regions, +and pray that He may permit us to return in safety to our native land. +Let us pray." + +A more heartfelt prayer than that of those hardy sailors probably never +ascended on high. Afterwards a psalm was sung, to a beautiful old +melody, and this closed the service; but next morning, ere they started +to return to the _Arrandoon_, another spar was erected on the top of the +biggest and highest iceberg. On this the English colours were _nailed_, +and around it the crew assembled, and cheer after cheer rent the air, +and, as Sandy McFlail afterwards observed, hats and bonnets were pitched +on high, till they positively darkened the air, like a flock o' craws. + +Then "Give us a good bass and tenor, boys," cried Rory, and he burst +into the grand old National Anthem,-- + + "God save our Gracious Queen, + Long may Victoria reign, + God save the Queen." + +CHAPTER THIRTY THREE. + +ANOTHER WINTER AT THE POLE--CHRISTMAS DAY--THE CURTAIN RISES ON THE LAST +ACT--SICKNESS--DEATH--DESPAIR. + +The summer was far advanced before Captain McBain and his crew returned +to where their vessel lay off the island of Alba. They had fully +expected to see some signs of the ice breaking up, so as to allow them +to get clear and bear up for home, but the chance of this taking place +seemed as far off as ever. If the truth must be told, the captain had +counted upon a break-up of the sea of ice shortly after midsummer at the +very latest. But midsummer went past, the sun each midnight began to +decline nearer and nearer to the northern horizon, and it already seemed +sadly probable that another winter would have to be passed in these +desolate regions. McBain could not help recalling the words of old +Magnus, "Open seasons do not come oftener than once in ten years." If +this indeed were true, then he, his boys and his crew, were doomed to +sufferings more terrible than tongue could tell or pen relate-- +sufferings from which there could be no escape save through the jaws of +death. Provisions would hardly last throughout another winter, and +until the ice broke up and they were again free, there could be no +chance of getting those that had been stored on the northernmost isle of +Spitzbergen. + +The sky remained clear and hard, and McBain soon began to think he would +give all he possessed in life for the sight of one little cloud not +bigger than a man's hand. But that cloud never came, and the sun +commenced to set and the summer waned away. The captain kept his sorrow +very much to himself; at all events he tried to talk cheerfully and +hopefully when in the company of any of our young heroes; but they could +mark a change, and well they knew the cause. + +The ice-hole was opened, but, strange to say, although they captured +sharks and other great fish innumerable, neither seal nor walrus ever +showed head above the water. + +Bears were pretty numerous on the ice, and now McBain gave orders to +preserve not only the skins but even the flesh of those monsters. It +was cut in pieces and buried in the ice and snow, well up the braeland +near to the mouth of the cave, in which they had found shelter during +all the dark months of the former winter. + +The fact that no seals appeared at the ice-hole proved beyond a doubt +that the open water was very far indeed to the southward of them. + +How they had rejoiced to see the sun rise for the first time in the +previous spring; how their hearts sank now to see him set! + +"Boys," said McBain one day, after he had remained silent for some time, +as if in deep thought--"boys, I fear we won't get out of this place for +many months to come. How do you like the prospect?" + +He smiled as he spoke; but they could see the smile was a simulated one. + +"Never mind," said Ralph and Allan; "we'll keep our hearts up, never +fear; don't you be unhappy on our account." + +"I'll try not to be," said McBain, "and I'm sure I shall not be so on my +own." + +"Besides, captain dear," added Rory, "it's sure to come right in the +end." + +McBain laid his hand on boy Rory's head, and smiled somewhat sadly. + +"You're always hopeful, Rory," he said. "We must pray that your words +may come true." + +And, indeed, besides waiting with a hopeful trust in that all-seeing +Providence who had never yet deserted them in their direst need, there +was little now to be done. + +As the days got shorter and shorter, and escape from another winter's +imprisonment seemed impossible, the crew of the _Arrandoon_ was set to +work overhauling stores. It was found that with strict economy the +provisions would last until spring, but, with the addition of the flesh +of sharks and bears, for a month or two longer. It was determined, +therefore, that the men should not be put upon short allowance, for +semi-starvation--McBain was doctor enough to know--only opened the door +for disease to step in, in the shape perhaps of that scourge called +scurvy, or even the black death itself. + +When the sun at last sank to rise no more for three long months, so far +from letting down their hearts, or losing hope, the officers and crew of +our gallant ship once more settled down to their "old winter ways," as +Seth called them. They betook themselves to the cave in the hillside, +which, for sake of giving the men exercise, McBain had made double the +size, the mould taken therefrom and the rocks being used to erect a +terrace near the entrance. This was surrounded by a balustrade or +bulwark, with a flagstaff erected at one end, and on this was unfurled +the Union Jack. Watches were kept, and meals cooked and served, with as +much regularity as if they had been at sea, while the evenings were +devoted to reading, music, and story-telling round the many great fires +that were lighted to keep the cave warm. + +Where, it may be asked, did the fuel come from? Certainly not from the +ship. The coals were most carefully stored, and retained for future +service; but tons on tons of great pine-logs were dug from the +hill-sides. And glorious fires they made, too. It was, as Rory said, +raking up the ashes of a long-past age to find fuel for a new one. + +Once more the electric light was got under way, and twice a week at +least the diving-bell was sunk. This was a source of amusement that +never failed to give pleasure; but so intense was the frost at times +that it was a matter of no small difficulty to break the ice on the +water. + +The captain was untiring in his efforts to keep his men employed, and in +as happy a frame of mind as circumstances would admit of. + +There was no snowstorm this winter, and very seldom any wind; the sky +was nearly always clear, and the stars and Aurora brighter than ever +they had seen them. + +Christmas--the second they had spent together since leaving the Clyde-- +passed pleasantly enough, though there was no boisterous merriment. +Songs and story-telling were in far greater request than dancing. +Never, perhaps, was Rory in better spirits for solo-playing. He +appeared to know intuitively the class of music the listeners would +delight in, and his rendering of some of the old Scottish airs seemed +simply to hold them spell-bound. As the wild, weird, plaintive notes of +the violin, touched by the master fingers of the young poet, fell on +their ears, they were no longer ice-bound in the dreary regions of the +pole. It was no longer winter; it was no longer night. They were home +once more in their native land; home in dear auld Scotland. The sun was +shining brightly in the summer sky, the purple of the heather was on the +moorland, the glens and valleys were green, and the music of merle and +mavis, mingling with the soft croodle of the amorous cushat, resounded +from the groves. No wonder that a few sighs were heard when Rory ceased +to play; he had touched a chord in their inmost hearts, and for the time +being had rendered them inexpressibly happy. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +It is well to let the curtain fall here for a short time; it rises again +on the first scene of the last act of this Arctic drama of ours. + +Three months have elapsed since that Christmas evening in the cave when +we beheld the crew of the _Arrandoon_ listening with happy, hopeful, +upturned faces to the sweet music that Rory discoursed from his darling +instrument. Only three months, but what a change has come over the +prospects of sill on board that seemingly doomed ship! Often and often +had our heroes been face to face with death in storms and tempests at +sea, in fighting with wild beasts, and even with wild men, but never +before had they met the grim king of terrors in the form he now assumed. +For several weeks the men had been falling ill, and dying one by one, +and already no less than nine graves had been dug and filled under the +snow on the mountain's side. + +The disease, whatever it was, resisted all kinds of treatment, and, +indeed, though the symptoms in every case were similar at the +commencement, no two men died in precisely the same way. At first there +was an intense longing for home; this would be succeeded in a few days +by loss of all appetite, by distaste for food or exertion of any kind, +and by fits of extreme melancholy and depression. The doctor did his +best. Alas! there are diseases against which all the might of medical +skill is unavailing. + +Brandy and other stimulants were tried; but these only kept the deadly +ailment at bay for a very short time; it returned with double force, and +poor sufferers were doubly prostrated in consequence. + +There was no bodily pain, except from a strange hollow cough that in all +cases accompanied the complaint, but there was rapid emaciation, hot, +burning brow, and hands and feet that scorched like fire, and while some +fell into a kind of gentle slumber from which they awoke no more in this +world, others died from sheer debility, the mind being clear to the +last--nay, even brighter as they neared the bourne from which no +traveller ever returns. + +As the time went on--the days were now getting long again, for spring +had returned--matters got even worse. It was strange, too, that the +very best and brightest of the crew were the first to be attacked and to +die. I do not think there was a dry eye in the ship when the little +procession wound its way round the hillside bearing in its unpretending +coffin the mortal remains of poor Ted Wilson. All this long cruise he +had been the life and soul of the whole crew. No wonder that the words +of the beautiful old song _Tom Bowling_ rose to the mind of more than +one of the crew of the _Arrandoon_ when Ted was laid to rest: + + "His form was of the manliest beauty, + His heart was warm and soft, + Faithful below he did his duty, + And now he's gone aloft." + +Just one week after the burial of Ted Wilson, De Vere, the French +aeronaut, was attacked, and in three days' time he was dead. He had +never been really well since the journey to the vicinity of the Pole, +and the loss of his great balloon was one which he never seemed to be +able to get over. He was quite an enthusiast in his profession, and, as +he remarked to McBain one day, "I have mooch grief for de loss of my +balloon. I had give myself over to de thoughts of mooch pleasant +voyaging away up in de regions of de upper air. I s'all soar not again +until I reach England." + +It was sad to hear him, as he lay half delirious on the bed of his last +illness, muttering, muttering to himself and constantly talking about +the home far away in sunny France that he would never see again. Either +the doctor or one or other of our young heroes was constantly in the +cabin with him. About an hour before his demise he sent for Ralph. + +"I vould not," he said, "send for Rory nor for Allan, dey vill both +follow me soon. Oh I do not you look sad, Ralph, dere is nothing but +joy vere ve are going. Nothing but joy, and sunshine, and happiness." + +He took a locket from his breast. It contained the portrait of a +grey-haired mother. + +"Bury dis locket in my grave," he said. + +He took two rings from off his thin white fingers. + +"For my sister and my mother," he said. + +He never spoke again, but died with those dear names on his lips. + +Ralph showed himself a very hero in these sad times of trouble and +death. He was here, there, and everywhere, by night and by day; +assisting the surgeon and helping Seth to attend upon the wants of the +sick and dying; and many a pillow he soothed, and many a word of comfort +he gave to those who needed it. The true Saxon character was now +beautifully exemplified in our English hero. He possessed that noble +courage which never makes itself uselessly obtrusive, which fritters not +itself away on trifles, and which seems at most times to lie dormant or +latent, but is ever ready to show forth and burn most brightly in the +hour of direst need. + +Sorrows seldom come singly, and one day Stevenson, in making his usual +morning report, had the sad tidings to add that cask after cask of +provisions had been opened and found bad, utterly useless for human +food. + +McBain got up from his chair and accompanied the mate on deck. + +"I would not," he said, "express, in words what I feel, Mr Stevenson, +before our boys; but this, indeed, is terrible tidings." + +"It can only hasten the end," said Stevenson. + +"You think, then, that that end is inevitable?" + +"Inevitable," said Stevenson, solemnly but emphatically. "We are doomed +to perish here among this ice. There can be no rescue for us but +through the grave." + +"We are in the hands of a merciful and an all-powerful Providence, Mr +Stevenson," said McBain; "we must trust, and wait, and hope, and do our +duty." + +"That we will, sir, at all events," said the mate; "but see, sir, what +is that yonder?" + +He pointed, as he spoke, skywards, and there, just a little way above +the highest mountain-tops, was a cloud. It kept increasing almost +momentarily, and got darker and darker. Both watched it until the sun +itself was overcast, then the mate ran below to look at the glass. It +was "tumbling" down. + +For three days a gale and storm, accompanied with soft, half-wet snow, +raged. Then terrible noises and reports were heard all over the pack of +ice seaward, and the grinding and din that never fails to announce the +break-up of the sea of ice. + +"Heaven has not forgotten us," cried McBain, hopefully; "this change +will assuredly check the sickness, and perhaps in a week's time we will +be sailing southwards through the blue, open sea, bound for our native +shores." + +McBain was right; the hopes raised in the hearts of the men did check +the progress of the sickness. When at last the wind fell, they were +glad to see that the clouds still remained, and that there were no signs +of the frost coming on again. + +The pieces of ice, too, were loose, and all hands were set to work to +warp the ship southwards through the bergs. The work was hard, and the +progress made scarcely a mile a day at first. But they were men working +for their lives, with new-born hope in their hearts, so they heeded not +the fatigue, and after a fortnight's toil they found the water so much +more open that by going ahead at full speed in every clear space, a fair +day's distance was got over. For a week more they strove and struggled +onwards; the men, however, were getting weaker and weaker for want of +sufficient food. How great was their joy, then, when one morning the +island was sighted on which McBain had left the store of provisions! + +Boats were sent away as soon as they came within a mile of the place. + +Sad, indeed, was the news with which Stevenson, who was in charge, +returned. The bears had made an attack on the buried stores. They had +clawed the great cask open, and had devoured or destroyed everything. + +Hope itself now seemed for a time to fly from all on board. With a crew +weak from want, and with fearful ice to work their way through, what +chance was there that they would ever succeed in reaching the open +water, or in proceeding on their homeward voyage even as far as the +island of Jan Mayen, or until they should fall in with and obtain relief +from some friendly ship? They were far to the northward of the sealing +grounds, and just as far to the east. McBain, however, determined still +to do his utmost, and, though on short allowance, to try to forge ahead. +For one week more they toiled and struggled onwards, then came the +frost again and all chance of proceeding was at an end. + +It was no wonder that sickness returned. No wonder that McBain himself, +and Allan and Rory, began to feel dejected, listless, weary, and ill. + +Then came a day when the doctor and Ralph sat down alone to eat their +meagre and hurried breakfast. + +"What prospects?" said Ralph. + +"Moribund!" was all the doctor said just then. + +Presently he added-- + +"There, in the corner, lies poor wee Freezing Powders, and, my dear +Ralph, one hour will see it all over with him. The captain and Allan +and Rory can hardly last much longer." + +"God help us, then," said Ralph, wringing his hands, and giving way to a +momentary anguish. + +The unhappy negro boy was stretched, to all appearance lifeless, close +by the side of his favourite's cage. + +Despite his own grief, Ralph could not help feeling for that poor bird. +His distress was painful to witness. If his great round eyes could have +run over with tears, I am sure they would have done so. I have said +before that Cockie was not a pretty bird, but somehow his very ugliness +made Ralph pity him now all the more. Nor was the grief of the bird any +the less sad to see because it was exhibited in a kind of half ludicrous +way. He was not a moment at rest, but he seemed really not to know what +he was doing, and his anxious eye was hardly ever withdrawn from the +face of the dying boy:--jumping up and down from his perch to his +seed-tin and back again, grabbing great mouthfuls of hemp, which he +never even broke or tried to swallow, and blowing great sighs over his +thick blue tongue. And the occasional sentence, too, the bird every now +and then began but never finished,-- + +"Here's a--" + +"Did you--" + +"Come--" + +All spoke of the anguish in poor Cockie's breast. + +A faint moaning was heard in the adjoining cabin, and Ralph hurried away +from the table, and Sandy was left alone. + +CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR. + +A SAILOR'S COTTAGE--THE TELEGRAM--"SOMETHING'S IN THE WIND"--THE GOOD +YACHT "POLAR STAR"--HOPE FOR THE WANDERERS. + +A cottage on a cliff. A cliff whose black, beetling sides rose sheer up +out of the water three hundred feet and over; a cliff around which +sea-birds whirled in dizzy flight; a cliff in which the cormorant had +her home; a cliff against which all the might of the German Ocean had +dashed and chafed and foamed for ages. Some fifty yards back from the +edge of this cliff the cottage was built, of hard blue granite, with +sturdy bay windows--a cottage that seemed as independent of any storm +that could blow as the cliff itself was. In front was a neat wee +garden, with nicely gravelled walks and edging of box, and all round it +a natty railing painted an emerald green. At the back of the cottage +were more gravelled walks and more flower garden, with a summer-house +and a smooth lawn, from the centre of which rose a tall ship's mast by +way of flagstaff, with ratlines and rigging and stays and top complete. + +Not far off was a pigeon-house on a pole, and not far from that still +another pole surmounted by a weather-vane, and two little wooden +blue-jackets, that whenever the wind blew, went whirling round and +round, clashing swords and engaging in a kind of fanatic duel, which +seemed terribly real and terribly deadly for the time being. + +It was a morning in early spring, and up and down the walk behind the +cottage stepped a sturdy, weather-beaten old sailor, with hair and beard +of iron-grey, and a face as red as the newest brick that ever was +fashioned. + +He stood for a moment gazing upwards at the strutting fantails. + +"Curr-a-coo--curr-a-coo," said the pigeons. + +"Curr-a-coo--curr-a-coo," replied the sailor. "I dare say you're very +happy, and I'm sure you think the sun was made for you and you only. +Ah! my bonnie birdies, you don't know what the world is doing. You +don't--hullo?" + +"Yes, my dear, you may say hullo," said a cheerful little woman, with a +bright, pleasant face, walking up to him, and placing an arm in his. +"Didn't you hear me tapping on the pane for you?" + +"Not I, little wife, not I," said Silas Grig. "I've been thinking, +lass, thinking--" + +"Well, then," interrupted his wife, "don't you think any more; you've +made your hair all white with thinking. Just come in and have +breakfast. That haddock smells delicious, and I've made some nice +toast, and tried the new tea. Come, Silas, come." + +Away went the two together, he with his arm around her waist, looking as +happy, the pair of them, as though their united ages didn't make a deal +over a hundred. + +"Come next month," said Silas, as soon as he had finished his first cup +of tea--"come next month, little wife, it will just be two years since I +first met the _Arrandoon_. Heigho?" + +"You needn't sigh, Silas," his wife remarked. "They may return. +Wonders never cease." + +"Return?" repeated Silas, with a broken-hearted kind of a laugh, "Nay, +nay, nay, we'll meet them no more in this world. Poor Rory! He was my +favourite. Dear boy, I think I see him yet, with his fair, laughing +face, and that rogue of an eye of his." + +Rat-tat. + +Silas started. + +"The postman?" he said; "no, it can't be. That's right, little woman, +run to the door and see. What! a telegram for me!" + +Silas took the missive, and turned it over and over in his hand half a +dozen times at least. + +"Why, my dear, who _can_ it be from?" he asked with a puzzled look, "and +what _can_ it be about? _Can_ you guess, little wife? Eh? can you?" + +"If I were you, Silas," said his wife, quietly, "I'd open it and see." + +"Dear me! to be sure," cried Silas. "I didn't think of that. Why, I +declare," he continued, as soon as he had read it, "it is from Arrandoon +Castle, and the poor widow, Allan's mother, wants to see me at once. +I'm off, little woman, at once. Get out my best things. The blue +pilots, you know. Quick, little woman--quick! Bear a hand! Hurrah!" + +Silas Grig didn't finish that second cup of tea. He was dressed in less +than ten minutes, had kissed his wife, and was hurrying away to the +station. Indeed, Silas had never in his life felt in such a hurry +before. + +"It'll be like my luck," he muttered, "if I miss this train." + +But he did not miss it, and it was a fast one, too, a flying train, that +every day went tearing along through Scotland, and was warranted to land +him at Inverness six hours after he first stepped on board. + +No sooner was Silas seated than he pulled out the telegram again, and +read it over and over at least a dozen times. Then he looked at the +back of it, as if it were just possible that some further information +might be found there. Then he read the address, and as he could not get +anything more out of it he folded it up and replaced it in his pocket, +merely remarking, "I'll vow something's in the wind." + +Silas had bought a newspaper. He had meant to read; he tried to read as +hard as ever he had tried to do anything, but it was all in vain. His +mind was in too great a ferment, so he threw down the paper and devoted +himself to gazing out of the window at the glorious panorama that was +passing before him; but if anybody else had been in the same +compartment, he or she would have heard this ancient mariner frequently +muttering to himself, and the burden of all his remarks was, +"Something's in the wind, I'm sure of that!" + +A fast train? A flying train? Yes, a deal too much so, many would have +thought, but she could not fly a bit too fast for Silas. Yet how she +did rattle and rush and roar along the lines, to be sure! The din she +made only deepening for a moment as she dived under a bridge or brushed +past a wayside station, too insignificant by far to waste a thought +upon! Now she passes a country village, with rows of trim-built +cottages and tidy gardens, with lines for clothes to dry, and fences +where children hang or perch and wave their caps at the flying train. +Now she shaves past rows of platelayers, who stand at attention or +extend their grimy arms like signal yards, while a blue-coated +jack-in-a-box waves a white flag from his window to show that all is +safe. Now she ploughs through some larger junction, over a whole field +of rails that seems to run in every conceivable direction; but she makes +her way in safety in a whirl of dust, and next she shrieks as she +plunges into the darkness of a long, dreary tunnel. Ah! but she is out +again into the glare of the day, and again the telegraph posts go +popping past as fast as one could wink. Five miles now on a stretch of +level country as straight as crow could fly, through fields and woods +and past thriving farms, with far beyond on the horizon hills, hills, +hills. + +'Tis spring-time, spring changing into summer, summer coming six good +weeks before its time. Look, Silas, look! crimson flowers are already +peeping red through the greenery of cornfields, drowsy-looking cows are +wading knee-deep in grass and buttercups, the braelands are snowed over +with the gowan's bloom. Birds are singing in meadow and copse, the +yellow furze is blossoming on heathy moorlands. Great black spruces +raise their tall heads skywards, and their every branch is tipped with a +tassel of tender green; rowan-trees seem studded with roses of a pearly +hue, and the feathery larches are hung round with a fringe-work of +darkest crimson. Is it not glorious, Silas? is it not all beautiful? +Did ever you see a sky more blue before, or cloudlets more fleecy and +light? + +"I'll stake my word," replies Silas, "that something's in the wind." + +Wilder scenery now, dark, frowning mountains, lonely glens, heathlands, +highlands, canons, and tarns, then a long and fertile flat, every sod of +which marks a Scottish warrior's grave. + +Inverness at last! + +"Boat gone, is it?" cried Silas. "Like my luck. But why didn't she +wait for the train? Tell me that, eh?" + +"Yes, sir; dare say I could, sir." This from an ostler in answer to +another query of friend Silas. "Five-and-twenty mile, sir. I've just +the horse that'll suit. Three hours to a tick, sir, rough though the +road is, sir. I'll be ready in twenty minutes. Thank'ee, sir, much +obliged. Now then, Donald, bustle about, will you? Get out the bay +mare. Look sharp, gentleman's only got five minutes to feed." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +"It can't be Captain Grig already," said Mrs McGregor. + +"And yet who else can it be?" said Helen Edith. + +"I'll run out and see," said Ralph's father, who had been spending some +weeks at the castle. + +"Ha! welcome, honest Silas Grig," he cried, rushing up and literally +receiving Silas with open arms as he jumped from the high-wheeled +dogcart. "A thousand welcomes. Well, I do declare you haven't let the +grass grow under your feet. How your horse steams! Take him round, +driver, and see to his comfort, then go to the kitchen and see to your +own. Old Janet is there. Now, Silas," continued Mr Leigh, "before you +go to talk to the ladies, I'll tell you what we have arranged. We have +thought well over all you said when you were here in the autumn, and +I've chartered a German Arctic cruiser, and we're going to put you in +command. She is lying at Peterhead, everything ready, crew and all, +stores and all. Our prayers will follow you, dear Captain Grig, and if +you find our poor boys, or even bring us tidings of their fate, we will +be ever grateful. Nay, nay, but `grateful' poorly expresses my meaning. +We will--" + +"Not another word," cried Silas, "not one single word more, sir, or as +sure as my name is Silas Grig I'll clap my fingers in my ears." + +He shook Mr Leigh's hand as he spoke. + +"I'll find the boys if they be alive," he said. "I knew, sir, when I +got the telegram there was something in the wind. I told my little wife +I was quite sure of it. Ha! ha! ha!" + +Silas was laughing, but it was only to hide the tears with which his +eyes were swimming. + +"When can you start, my dear Silas?" + +"To-night. At once. Give me a fresh horse and five minutes for a +mouthful of refreshment, and off I start; and I'll take command +to-morrow before the sun is over the foreyard." + +"To-night?" cried Mr Leigh, smiling. "No, no, no." + +"But I say `yo, yo, yo,'" said Silas, "and `yo heave, O,' and what Silas +says he means. There! Ah, ladies, how are you? Nay, never cry, Miss +McGregor. I'm going straight away to the Arctic Sea, and I'm sure to +bring your brother back, and Rory as well, to say nothing of honest +Ralph and Peter the piper. So cheer ye up, my little lass, If Silas +Grig doesn't come back in company with the bonnie _Arrandoon_, may he +never chew cheese again!" + +There was no getting over the impetuosity of this honest old sailor, but +there was withal a freshness and happiness about him, which made every +one he talked with feel as hopeful as he was himself. Before dinner was +done both Mrs McGregor and her lovely daughter were smiling and +laughing as they had not smiled or laughed for months before, and when +Silas asked for a song, the latter went quite joyfully to the harp. + +You see it appeared quite a foregone conclusion with everybody that +night, that Silas would find the lost explorers and bring them safely +home. + +The moon rose in all its majesty as nine tolled forth from the +clock-tower of the ancient castle. Then Silas said "good-bye," and, +followed by many a blessing and many a prayer, the dogcart wound away up +through the solemn pine forest, and was soon lost to view. + +He was just as good as his word. He took command of his new ship--a +splendid sea-going yacht--before noon next day. Almost immediately +afterwards he summoned both officers and men and mustered them all aft, +and somewhat startled them by the following curt speech: "Gentlemen and +men of the _Polar Star_, we'll sail to-morrow morning. We touch nowhere +until we enter harbour here again. Any one that isn't ready to go can +step on shore and stop there. All ready, eh? Bravo, men! You'll find +your skipper isn't a bad fellow to deal with, but he means to crack on! +No ship that ever sailed 'twixt Pekin and London, no clipper that ever +left Aberdeen, or yacht from New York city, ever did such cracking on as +I mean to do. Go to your duty. Pipe down." + +Then Silas Grig inspected the ship. He was pleased with her get-up and +her rig-out, only he ordered extra spars and extra sails, and these were +all on board ere sundown. + +"The old man means business," said the first mate to the second. + +"That he does!" replied the inferior officer. + +The _Polar Star_ sailed away from Peterhead on the very day that poor +Ted Wilson was laid in his grave beneath the eternal snows of Alba. +Could Silas have seen the desperate position of the _Arrandoon_ just +then, how little hopes he would have entertained of ever reaching her in +time to save the precious lives on board! + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The doctor was left alone in the saloon of the great ship. + +The silence that reigned both fore and aft was oppressive even to +dismalness. + +For a moment or two Sandy buried his face in his hands, and tears welled +through his fingers. "Oh," he whispered, "it is terrible! The silence +of death is all about us! Our men dying forward, our captain doomed, +and Allan and Rory. Ay, and poor Ralph will be next; I can see that in +his face. Not one of us can ever reach his native land again! I envy-- +yes, I envy the dead in their quiet graves, and even wish it were all +past--all, all over?" + +"Doctor!" a kindly hand was laid on his shoulder. Sandy started to his +feet, he cared not who saw his face, wet though it was with tears. +"Doctor, don't you take on so," said Stevenson. + +"Speak, man I speak quick! There is hope in your face!" cried the +doctor. + +"There is hope in my heart, too," said the mate--"only a glint, only a +gleam; but it is there. The frost is gone; the ice is open again." + +"Then quick," cried the surgeon, "get up steam! that alone can save the +dying. Energy, energy, and something to do. _I_ can do nothing more to +save my patients while this hopeless silence lies pall-like around us. +Break it, dear mate, with the roar of steam and the rattle of the +engine's screw!" + +"Listen," said the mate. "There goes the steam. Our chief has not been +long." + +Round went the screw once more, and away moved the ship. + +Poor McBain came staggering from his cabin. Ghastly pale he looked. He +had the appearance of one risen from the grave. + +He clutched Sandy by the shoulder. + +"We are--under--way?" he gasped. + +"Yes, yes," said the surgeon. "Homeward bound, captain." + +"Homeward bound," muttered the captain, pressing his hand on his brow, +as if to recall his memory, which for a time had been unseated from her +throne. + +For a minute or two the surgeon feared for his captain's life or reason. + +"Drink this, dear sir," he said; "be seated, too, you are not over well, +and there is much to be done." + +"Much to be done?" cried McBain, as soon as he had quaffed the medicine. +"I'm better. Thank you, good doctor; thank you, Sandy. There is much +to be done. Those words have saved your captain's life." + +Sandy gave a big sigh of relief and hastened away to Rory's cabin. + +Rory had been lying like a dead thing for hours, but now a new light +seemed to come into his eye. He extended his hand to Sandy and smiled. + +"We are positively under steam again, Sandy?" he said. + +Sandy, like a wise surgeon, did not tell him the frost was quite gone. +Joy kills, and Sandy knew it. + +"Yes," he said, carelessly, "we'll get down south a few miles farther, I +dare say. It is nice, though, isn't it, to hear the old screw rattling +round again?" + +"Why, it is music, it is life?" said Rory. "Sandy, I'm going to be well +again soon. I know and feel I am." + +Then Ralph burst into the cabin. + +"I say, Sandy," he said, "run and see dear old Allan; he says he is +going to get up, and I know he is far, far too weak." + +Sandy had to pass through the saloon. Freezing Powders was sitting bolt +upright in the corner, and Cockie was apparently mad with joy. The bird +couldn't speak fast enough, and he seemed bent on choking himself with +hemp. + +"Peter, Peter, Peter, Peter," he was saying, "here's a pretty, pretty, +pretty to-do. Call the steward, call the steward. Come on, come on, +come on." + +"Oh, Cockie," Freezing Powders said, "I'se drefful, drefful cold, +Cockie. 'Spects I'se gwine to die, Cockie. 'Spects I is--Oh! de-ah, +what my ole mudder say den?" + +"Come, come," cried Sandy, "take this, you young sprout, and don't let +me catch you talking about dying. There now, pull yourself together." + +"I'll try," said the poor boy, "but I 'spects I'se as pale as deaf +(death)." + +CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE. + +THE RESCUE--HOMEWARD BOUND--ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. + +I never have been able to learn with a sufficient degree of exactitude +whether it was the _Polar Star_ that first sighted the _Arrandoon_, or +whether the _Arrandoon_ was the first to catch a glimpse of the _Polar +Star_. And with such conflicting evidence before me, I do not see very +well how I could. + +What evidence have I before me, do you ask? Why the logs of the two +ships, written by their two captains respectively. I give below a +portion of two extracts, both relating to the joyful event. Extract +first from the log of the good yacht _Polar Star_:--"June 21st, 18--. +At seven bells in the forenoon watch--ice heavy and wind about a +south-south-west--caught sight of the _Arrandoon's_ topmasts bearing +about a north and by east. Praise God for all His goodness." Extract +second, from the log of the _Arrandoon_:--"June 21st, 18--. Seven bells +in the forenoon watch--a hail from the crow's-nest, `A schooner among +the ice to the south'ard and west of us, can just raise her topmasts, +think she is bearing this way.' Heaven be praised, we are saved." + +Yes, dear reader, the _Arrandoon_ was saved. The news that a vessel was +in sight spread through the ship like wildfire; those that were hale and +well rushed on deck, the sick tottered up, and all was bustle and +excitement, and the cheer that arose from stem to stern reminded McBain +of the good old times, a year ago, when every man Jack of his crew was +alive and well. + +It had been a very narrow escape for them, for, although not far from +the open water where the _Polar Star_ lay with foreyard aback, they were +unable to reach it, being once more frozen in, and had not good Silas +appeared at the time he did, probably in a few weeks at most there would +not have been a single human being living on board the lordly +_Arrandoon_. + +No sooner had Silas satisfied himself with his own eyes that it was the +_Arrandoon_ that lay ice-bound to the nor'ard of him, than he called +away the boats and gave orders to load them with the best of everything, +and to follow his whaler. + +His whaler took the ice just as eight bells were struck on the _Polar +Star_, and next moment, guided by the fan in the crow's-nest of the +yacht, he was hastening over the rough ice towards the _Arrandoon_. + +McBain and his boys, and the doctor as well, were all on deck, when who +should heave round the corner of an iceberg but Captain Silas Grig +himself, looking as rosy and ten times more happy than they had last +seen him. + +He was still about fifty yards away, and for a moment or two he stood +undecided; it seemed, indeed, that he wished not to walk but to jump or +fly the remaining fifty intervening yards. Then he took off his cap, +and--Scotch fashion--tossed it as high into the air as he possibly +could. + +"_Arrandoon_, ahoy!" he shouted. "_Arrandoon_, ahoy! Hurrah!" + +There was not a soul on board that did not run aft to meet Silas as he +sprang up the side. Even Freezing Powders, with Cockie on his shoulder, +came wondering up, and Peter must needs get out his bagpipes and strike +into _The Campbells are coming_. + +And when Silas found himself once more among his boys, and shaking hands +with them all round; when he noticed the pale faces of Allan and Rory, +and the pinched visage of the once strong and powerful McBain, and read +in their weak and tottering gait the tale of all their sufferings, then +it must be confessed that the bluff old mariner had to turn hastily +about and address himself to others in order to hide a tear. + +"Indeed, gentlemen all," said Silas, many, many months after this, "when +I saw you all looking so peaky and pale, as I first jumped down on to +your quarter-deck, I never felt so near making an old ass o' myself in +all my born days!" + +For three weeks longer the _Arrandoon_ lay among the ice before she got +fairly clear, and, consorted by the _Polar Star_, bore up for home. +Three weeks--but they were not badly spent--three weeks, and all that +time was needed to restore our invalids to robust health. And that only +shows how near to death's door they must have been, because to make them +well they had the best medicine this world can supply, and Silas Grig +was the physician. + +"Silas Grig! Silas Grig!" cried Rory, one morning at breakfast, about a +fortnight after the reunion, "sure you're the best doctor that ever +stepped in shoe-leather! No wonder we are all getting fat and rosy +again! First you gave us a dose of hope--we got that before you jumped +on board; then you gave us joy--a shake of your own honest hand, the +sound of your own honest voice, and letters from home. What care I that +my tenantry--`the foinest pisintry in the world'--haven't paid up? I've +had letters from Arrandoon. What, Ray boy! more salmon and another egg? +Just look at the effects of your physic, Dr Silas Grig!" + +Silas laughed. "But," he said, "there is one thing you haven't +mentioned." + +"Tell us," said Rory: "troth, it's a treat to hear ye talking?" + +"The drop o' green ginger," said Silas. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Nor were these three weeks spent in idleness, for during that time the +whole ship, from stem to stern, was redecorated; and when at last she +was once more clear of the ice, once more out in the blue, she looked as +bran new and as span new as on the day when she steamed down the wide, +romantic Clyde. + +I do not know any greater pleasure in life than that of being homeward +bound after a long, long cruise at sea,-- + + "Good news from home, good news for me, + Has come across the deep blue sea." + +So runs the song. Good news from home is certainly one of the rover's +joys, but how much more joyous it is to be "rolling home, rolling home" +to get that good news, eye to eye and lip to lip! + +Once fairly under way, the weather seemed to get warmer every day. They +reached Jan Mayen in a week; they found the rude village deserted, and +Captain Cobb they would never be likely to meet again. So they left the +island, and on the wings of a favouring breeze bore away for Iceland. +Here Sandy McFlail, Doctor of Medicine of the University of Aberdeen, +and surgeon of the good ship _Arrandoon_, begged to be left. Ah! poor +Sandy was sadly in love with that blue-eyed, fair-haired Danish maiden. +He fairly confessed to Rory, who had previously promised not to laugh at +him, "that he had never seen a Scotch lassie to equal her, and that if +she weren't a `doctor's leddy' before six months were over it would not +be his, Sandy McFlail's, fault." + +"You are quite right, Sandy," said Rory in reply--"quite right; and do +you know what it will be, Sandy?" + +"What?" asked Sandy. + +"A vera judeecious arrangement," cried Rory, running off before Sandy +had a chance of catching him by the ear and making him "whustle." + +But right fervent were the wishes for the doctor's welfare when he bade +his friends adieu. And,-- + +"You'll be sure to send us a piece o' the bride-cake," said Ralph. + +"I'm no vera sure," said Sandy, "if it will ever come the length o' +bride-cake. But," he added, bravely, "a body can only just try." + +"Bravo!" cried Allan; "whatever a true man honestly dares he can do." + +"And it's sure to come right in the end," said Rory. + +So away went Sandy's boat, and away went the _Arrandoon_, firing the +farewell guns, and as gaily bedecked in flags as if it had been Sandy's +wedding morning. + +The _Arrandoon_ sailed nearly all the way home, for a favouring breeze +was blowing, and with stunsails set, low and aloft, she looked like some +gigantic sea-bird; and bravely, too, the little _Polar Star_ kept her in +sight. As for Silas, he did not live on board his own ship at all, but +on board the _Arrandoon_. There was so much to be said and to say that +they could not spare him. + +The inhabitants of Glentruim turned out _en masse_ to welcome the +wanderers home. It was a day long to be remembered in that part of the +Highlands of Scotland. The young chief, Allan McGregor, was not allowed +to walk across one inch of his own grounds towards his castle of +Arrandoon--no, nor to ride nor to drive; he must even be carried +shoulder high, while slogans rent the air, and blue bonnets darkened it, +and claymores were drawn and waved aloft, and the dogs all went daft, +and danced about, barking at everybody, plainly showing that they had +taken leave of their senses for one day, and weren't a bit ashamed of +having done so. + +Behind the procession marched Freezing Powders, with Cockie on his +shoulder. The poor bird did not know what to make of all this Highland +din, all this wild rejoicing. But he evidently enjoyed it. + +"Keep it up, keep it up, keep it up?" he cried; "here's a pretty, +pretty, pretty to-do! Go on, go on! Come on, come on--ha! ha! ha! ha! +Lal de dal de dal lei al!" + +And off went Cockie into the maddest dance that ever legs of bird +performed. And Freezing Powders got frightened at last, and tried to +lecture the bird into a quieter state of mind. + +"I 'ssure you, Cockie," said Freezing Powders, "you is overdoin' it. +Try to 'llay your feelin's, Cockie--try to 'llay your feelin's. As sure +as nuffin' at all, Cockie, you'll have a drefful headache in de +mornin'." + +But Cockie only bowed and becked and danced and laughed the more, till +at last Freezing Powders, looking upon the case as one of desperation, +extracted from his pocket a red cotton handkerchief--the same he carried +Cockie in when Captain McBain first met him on the Broomielaw--and in +this he rolled Cockie as in the days of yore; but even then all the way +to the castle Cockie was constantly finding corners to pop his head +through, and let every one within hearing know that, though captured, he +was as far from being subdued as ever. + +Poor old Janet was beside herself with joy. She had been preparing +pastry and getting ready puddings for days and days. She was fain to +wipe her eyes with very joy when she shook hands once more with Ralph +and Allan, and her old favourite, Rory. She was a little subdued when +she looked at old Seth; she was just a trifle afraid of him, I believe. +But she soon became herself again, and finished off by catching up +Freezing Powders, Cockie and all, and bearing them off in triumph to the +cosiest corner of the kitchen. + +That same night fires were lit on every hill around Glentruim, and the +reflection of them was seen southwards over all the wilds of Badenoch, +and northward to the borders of Ross. + +A few weeks after the return home Rory paid his promised visit to Silas +at his little cottage by the sea, his cottage on the cliff-tops. +Silas's flag fluttered right gaily in the wind that day, the summer +flowers were all in bloom in the garden, and the green paling looked +brighter, probably, than ever it had done, for the sun shone as it +seldom shines--shone as if it had been paid to shine for the occasion, +and the clouds lay low on the horizon, as if they had been paid to keep +out of the way for once. The flag fluttered gaily, and the two little +blue-jackets on the top of the pole ever and anon made such terrible +onslaughts upon each other, that the only wonder was there was a bit of +them left, that they did not demolish each other entirely, like the +traditional cats of Kilkenny. + +Silas had gone to the station to meet Rory. Silas was dressed, as he +thought, like a landsman. Silas really thought that nobody could tell +he was a sailor, because he wore a blue frock-coat and a tall beaver +hat. + +And Silas's little wife was all bustle and nervousness; but Rory had not +been in the house half an hour ere all this was gone, and she was +quietly happy, with a kind of feeling at her heart that she had known +Rory all his life, and had even nursed him when he was quite a little +mite. + +Day and dinner and all passed off right cheerily, and of course with +dessert Silas nodded to his little wife, and his little wife opened a +bottle of fresh green ginger, and produced the bun--the wonderful bun, +which was a pudding one day and a cake the next. + +Silas kept smirking and nodding so long at Rory over his first drop of +green ginger, that Rory knew he was going to say something, and so, by +way of encouragement,-- + +"Out with it, Silas," says Rory. + +"Only this," says Silas: "Success to the wooing." + +Well, who else in all the wide world could Rory have taken advice from +except from Silas, in one little matter that deeply concerned his future +welfare? + +"Go in and win," had been Silas's advice. "Go in and win, like the man +you are. Faint heart never gained fair lady." + +It is pleasant for me to be able to state that Rory took his old +friend's advice to the letter. Now we know that the course of true love +never did run smooth, and the course of Rory's wooing proved no +exception to the proverb, but everything came right in the end, as Rory +himself was fond of observing, and all is well that ends well. Just one +year after this visit to Silas, Rory led Helen Edith McGregor to the +altar. What a beautiful bride she made--more modest and bonnie than the +rose just newly blown, or gowans tipped with dew! + +Rory and Allan were not greater friends after the wedding than they had +been before--that were impossible; but they were now brothers, and Allan +made a vow that Rory should make his home in Glentruim. + +There is a mansion there now as well as a castle, and in it dwell Rory +and his wife. + +Years have passed since the days of which I have been writing; they have +not made very much change in our Irish hero. He is still the painter, +still the poet, only there is not one only, but two little listeners +now, that gaze up round-eyed and wonderingly at their father, whenever +he takes up his magical instrument, the violin! Old Ap teaches these +little ones to cut boats out of scraps of wood, and to rig small yachts +in the summer evenings. The glen and castle both are wonderfully +improved. There is some good after all in ambition, if it is an honest +one, and some truth, too, in the motto of the Camerons, "Whatever a man +dares he can do." + +Every year Ralph, brave English Ralph, comes to the castle on _the_ +twelfth, and always spends a month; and every year Allan and Rory go +southwards to Leigh Hall to return the visit. And they never go without +taking Silas and McBain with them, so you may be sure these are very +happy, very pleasant seasons. + +What about Seth? Oh, merely this, Ralph offered to take him back to his +own country, and to re-instal him as an Arctic Crusoe in his far +northern home. + +"Gentlemen," said Seth, "I'm right sensible of all your kindness, but I +guess I'm getting old, and if my young friend here wouldn't mind, I'd +prefer leaving my bones in the glen here. Civilisation has kind o' +spoiled the old trapper, and he'd feel sort o' lonely now in his old +farm. There ain't many b'ars in the glen, I reckon; but never mind, old +Seth can still draw a bead on a rabbit." + +"And so you shall," said Allan. "I'll make you my warren-master, and +head of all my keepers." + +So Seth has settled down to end his days in peace. He dwells in one of +the prettiest little Highland cottages that ever you saw. It gets +snowed over in winter sometimes, it is true, and that might be looked +upon as a drawback; but oh, to see it in summer, when the feathery +birches nod green around it and the heather is all in bloom! + +Peter played a little trick on poor old Seth, which I cannot help +recording. + +"It will never do, you know," Peter told him, "for a Highland keeper on +the estate of Glentruim not to wear the kilt." + +"Guess you're a kind o' right," said Seth, "but, bless you, Peter, my +legs ain't o' no consequence, they ain't a bit thicker than old Bran the +deerhound's, and I reckon they're just about the same shape." + +"Well," replied Peter, "I grant you that is a kind of an objection, but +then custom is everything, you know." + +So, lo and behold! one fine summer morning, who should stalk into the +castle yard but old trapper Seth arrayed in full Highland costume. No +wonder the dogs barked and ran away! no wonder Allan and Rory laughed +till their sides ached and they could hardly hold their guns! no wonder +old Janet shouted and screamed with merriment, and Cockie whistled +shrill, and Freezing Powders nearly went into a fit! No, Seth's legs +were but little thicker than Bran's. Seth arrayed in skins from head to +heel was passable, but Seth in a kilt!!! + +Poor Seth! it was somewhat unkind of Peter. However, the trapper never +wore a kilt again. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The End. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Wild Adventures round the Pole, by Gordon Stables + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILD ADVENTURES ROUND THE POLE *** + +***** This file should be named 38296.txt or 38296.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/2/9/38296/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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