Part 28 (1/2)
”True,” rejoined Captain Ellice; ”I have seen a little of it myself.
There is no spot on earth, I think, equal to the Polar Regions for bringing out into bold relief two great and _apparently_ antagonistic truth's--namely, man's urgent need of all his powers to accomplish the work of his own deliverance, and man's utter helplessness and entire dependence on the sovereign will of G.o.d.”
”When shall we sink the canisters, sir?” asked Bolton, coming up and touching his hat.
”In an hour, Mr. Bolton; the tide will be full then, and we shall try what effect a blast will have.”
”My opeenion is,” remarked Saunders, who pa.s.sed at the moment with two large bags of gunpowder under his arms, ”that it'll have no effect at a'. It'll just loosen the ice roond the s.h.i.+p.”
The captain smiled as he said, ”_That_ is all the effect I hope for, Mr.
Saunders. Should the outward ice give way soon, we shall then be in a better position to avail ourselves of it.”
As Saunders predicted, the effect of powder and saws was merely to loosen and rend the ice-tables in which the _Dolphin_ was imbedded; but deliverance was coming sooner than any of those on board expected. That night a storm arose, which, for intensity of violence, equalled, if it did not surpa.s.s, the severest gales they had yet experienced. It set the great bergs of the Polar Seas in motion, and these moving mountains of ice slowly and majestically began their voyage to southern climes, cras.h.i.+ng through the floes, overturning the hummocks, and ripping up the ice-tables with quiet but irresistible momentum. For two days the war of ice continued to rage, and sometimes the contending forces, in the shape of huge tongues and corners of bergs, were forced into the Bay of Mercy, and threatened swift destruction to the little craft, which was a mere atom that might have been crushed and sunk and scarcely missed in such a wild scene.
At one time a table of ice was forced out of the water and reared up, like a sloping wall of gla.s.s, close to the stern of the _Dolphin_, where all the crew were a.s.sembled with ice-poles ready to do their utmost; but their feeble efforts could have availed them nothing had the slowly-moving ma.s.s continued its onward progress.
”Lower away the quarter-boat,” cried the captain, as the sheet of ice six feet thick came grinding down towards the starboard quarter.
Buzzby, Grim, and several others sprang to obey, but before they could let go the fall-tackles, the ma.s.s of ice rose suddenly high above the deck, over which it projected several feet, and caught the boat. In another moment the timbers yielded, the thwarts sprang out or were broken across, and slowly, yet forcibly, as a strong hand might crush an egg-sh.e.l.l, the boat was squeezed flat against the s.h.i.+p's side.
”Shove, lads! if it comes on we're lost,” cried the captain, seizing one of the long poles with which the men were vainly straining every nerve and muscle. They might as well have tried to arrest the progress of a berg. On it came, and crushed in the starboard quarter bulwarks.
Providentially at that moment it grounded and remained fast; but the projecting point that overhung them broke off and fell on the deck with a crash that shook the good s.h.i.+p from stem to stern. Several of the men were thrown violently down, but none were seriously hurt in this catastrophe.
When the storm ceased the ice out in the strait was all in motion, and that round the s.h.i.+p had loosened so much that it seemed as if the _Dolphin_ might soon get out into open water, and once more float upon its natural element. Every preparation, therefore, was made. The stores were re-s.h.i.+pped from Store Island; the sails were shaken out, and those of them that had been taken down were bent on to the yards; tackle was overhauled; and, in short, everything was done that was possible under the circ.u.mstances. But a week pa.s.sed away ere they succeeded in finally warping out of the bay into the open sea beyond.
It was a lovely morning when this happy event was accomplished. Before the tide was quite full, and while they were waiting until the command to heave on the warps should be given, Captain Guy a.s.sembled the crew for morning prayers in the cabin. Having concluded, he said:--
”My lads, through the great mercy of G.o.d we have been all, except one, spared through the trials and anxieties of a long and dreary winter, and are now, I trust, about to make our escape from the ice that has held us fast so long. It becomes me at such a time to tell you that, if I am spared to return home, I shall be able to report that every man in this s.h.i.+p has done his duty. You have never flinched in the hour of danger, and never grumbled in the hour of trial. Only one man--our late brave and warm-hearted comrade, Joseph West--has fallen in the struggle. For the mercies that have never failed us, and for our success in rescuing my gallant friend, Captain Ellice, we ought to feel the deepest grat.i.tude to the Almighty. We have need, however, to pray for a blessing on the labours that are yet before us, for you are well aware that we shall probably have many a struggle with the ice before we are once more afloat on blue water. And now, lads, away with you on deck, and man the capstan, for the tide is about full.”
The capstan was manned, and the hawsers were hove taut. Inch by inch the tide rose, and the _Dolphin_ floated. Then a l.u.s.ty cheer was given, and Amos Parr struck up one of those hearty songs intermingled with ”Ho!”
and ”Yo heave ho!” that seem to be the life and marrow of all nautical exertion. At last the good s.h.i.+p forged ahead, and, _boring_ through the loose ice, pa.s.sed slowly out of the Bay of Mercy.
”Do you know I feel quite sad at quitting this dreary spot?” said Fred to his father, as they stood gazing backward over the taffrail. ”I could not have believed that I should have become so much attached to it.”
”We become attached to any spot, Fred, in which incidents have occurred to call forth frequently our deeper feelings. These rocks and stones are intimately a.s.sociated with many events that have caused you joy and sorrow, hope and fear, pain and happiness. Men cherish the memory of such feelings, and love the spots of earth with which they are a.s.sociated.”
”Ah, father, yonder stands one stone, at least, that calls forth feelings of sorrow.”
Fred pointed as he spoke to Store Island, which was just pa.s.sing out of view. On this lonely spot the men had raised a large stone over the grave of Joseph West. O'Riley, whose enthusiastic temperament had caused him to mourn over his comrade more, perhaps, than any other man in the s.h.i.+p, had carved the name and date of his death in rude characters on the stone. It was a conspicuous object on the low island, and every eye in the _Dolphin_ was fixed on it as they pa.s.sed. Soon the point of rock that had sheltered them so long from many a westerly gale intervened and shut it out from view for ever.
When man's prospects are at the worst, it often happens that some unexpected success breaks on his path like a bright sunbeam. Alas! it often happens, also, that when his hopes are high and his prospects brightest, a dark cloud overspreads him like a funeral pall. We might learn a lesson from this--the lesson of dependence on that Saviour who _careth_ for us, and of trust in that blessed a.s.surance that ”_all_ things work together for good to them that love G.o.d.”
A week of uninterrupted fair wind and weather had carried the _Dolphin_ far to the south of their dreary wintering ground, and all was going well, when the worst of all disasters befell the s.h.i.+p--she caught fire!
How it happened no one could tell. The smoke was first seen rising suddenly from the hold. Instantly the alarm was spread.
”Firemen, to your posts!” shouted the captain. ”Man the water-buckets!
Steady, men; no hurry. Keep order.”