Part 6 (2/2)
”You don't say so, sir!” said Mivins in surprise. ”And don't they _never_ melt?”
”No, never. What they lose in summer they more than gain in winter.
Moreover, they are always in motion; but they move so slow that you may look at them ever so closely and so long, you'll not be able to observe the motion--just like the hour hand of a watch--but we know it by observing the changes from year to year. There are immense glaciers here in the Arctic Regions, and the lumps which they are constantly shedding off into the sea are the icebergs that one sees and hears so much about.”
Mivins seemed deeply impressed with this explanation, and would probably have continued the conversation much longer, had he not been interrupted by the voice of his mischievous satellite, Davie Summers, who touched his forelock and said, ”Please, Mr. Mivins, shall I lay the table-cloth?
or would it be better to slump dinner with tea this afternoon?”
Mivins started. ”Ha! caught me napping! Down below, you young dog!”
The boy dived instantly, followed, first by a dish-clout, rolled tightly up and well aimed, and afterwards by his active-limbed superior. Both reached the region of smells, cruets, and crockery at the same moment, and each set energetically to work at their never-ending duties.
Soon after this the ice suddenly loosened, and the crew succeeded, after a few hours' hard labour, in warping the _Dolphin_ once more out of the pack; but scarcely had this been accomplished when another storm, which had been gradually gathering, burst upon them, and compelled them once more to seek the shelter of the land.
Numerous walruses rolled about in the bays here, and they approached much nearer to the vessel than they had yet done, affording those on board a good view of their huge, uncouth visages, as they shook their s.h.a.ggy fronts and ploughed up the waves with their tusks. These enormous creatures are the elephants of the Arctic Ocean. Their aspect is particularly grim and fierce, and being nearly equal to elephants in bulk they are not less terrible than they appear. In form they somewhat resemble seals, having barrel-shaped bodies, with round, or rather square, blunt heads and s.h.a.ggy bristling moustaches, and two long ivory tusks which curve downwards instead of upwards, serving the purpose frequently of hooks, by means of which and their fore-flippers they can pull themselves up on the rocks and icebergs. Indeed, they are sometimes found at a considerable height up the sides of steep cliffs, basking in the sun.
Fred was anxious to procure the skull of one of these monstrous animals, but the threatening appearance of the weather rendered any attempt to secure one at that time impossible. A dark sinister scowl overhung the blink under the cloud-bank to the southward, and the dovkies which had enlivened their progress. .h.i.therto forsook the channel, as if they distrusted the weather. Captain Guy made every possible preparation to meet the coming storm, by warping down under the shelter of a ledge of rock, to which he made fast with two good hawsers, while everything was made snug on board.
”We are going to catch it, I fear,” said Fred, glancing at the black clouds that hurried across the sky to the northward, while he walked the deck with his friend, Tom Singleton.
”I suspect so,” replied Tom, ”and it does not raise my spirits to see Saunders shaking his huge visage so portentously. Do you know, I have a great belief in that fellow. He seems to know everything and to have gone through every sort of experience, and I notice that most of his prognostications come to pa.s.s.”
”So they do, Tom,” said Fred; ”but I wish he would put a better face on things till they _do_ come to pa.s.s. His looks are enough to frighten one.”
”I think we shall require another line out, Mr. Saunders,” remarked the captain, as the gale freshened, and the two hawsers were drawn straight and rigid like bars of iron; ”send ash.o.r.e and make a whale-line fast immediately.”
The second mate obeyed with a grunt that seemed to insinuate that _he_ would have had one out long ago. In a few minutes it was fast; and not a moment too soon, for immediately after it blew a perfect hurricane.
Heavier and heavier it came, and the ice began to drift more wildly than ever. The captain had just given orders to make fast another line, when the sharp, tw.a.n.ging snap of a cord was heard. The six-inch hawser had parted, and they were swinging by the two others, with the gale roaring like a lion through the spars and rigging. Half a minute more and ”tw.a.n.g, tw.a.n.g!” came another report, and the whale-line was gone. Only one rope now held them to the land, and prevented them being swept into the turmoil of ice, and wind, and water, from which the rocky ledge protected them. The hawser was a good one--a new ten-inch rope. It sang like the deep tones of an organ, loud above the rattle of the rigging and the shrouds; but that was its death-song. It gave way with the noise of a cannon, and in the smoke that followed its recoil they were dragged out by the wild ice, and driven hither and thither at its mercy.
With some difficulty the s.h.i.+p was warped into a place of comparative security in the rus.h.i.+ng drift, but it was soon thrown loose again, and severely squeezed by the rolling ma.s.ses. Then an attempt was made to set the sails and beat up for the land; but the rudder was almost unmanageable owing to the ice, and nothing could be made of it, so they were compelled to go right before the wind under close-reefed top-sails, in order to keep some command of the s.h.i.+p. All hands were on deck watching in silence the ice ahead of them, which presented a most formidable aspect.
Away to the north the strait could be seen growing narrower, with heavy ice-tables grinding up and clogging it from cliff to cliff on either side. About seven in the evening they were close upon the piling ma.s.ses, to enter into which seemed certain destruction.
”Stand by to let go the anchor!” cried the captain, in the desperate hope of being able to wind the s.h.i.+p.
”What's that ahead of us?” exclaimed the first mate suddenly.
”s.h.i.+p on the starboard bow, right in-sh.o.r.e!” roared the look-out.
The attention of the crew was for a moment called from their own critical situation towards the strange vessel which now came into view, having been previously concealed from them by a large grounded berg.
”Can you make her out, Mr. Bolton?”
”Yes, sir; I think she's a large brig, but she seems much chafed, and there's no name left on the stern, if ever there was one.”
As he spoke, the driving snow and fog cleared up partially, and the brig was seen not three hundred yards from them, drifting slowly into the loose ice. There was evidently no one on board; and although one or two of the sails were loose, they hung in shreds from the yards. Scarcely had this been noted when the _Dolphin_ struck against a large ma.s.s of ice, and quivered under the violence of the shock.
”Let go!” shouted the captain.
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