Part 7 (2/2)
The season h we continued to see a vast nu-shi+p in all this fishi+ng-ground
I hasten to state that, although ere not to be te was forbidden on board the I-lalbrane, and our daily bill of fare profited by the boatswain's trawling lines, to the extreme satisfaction of stooby, saler, mullet, and parrot-fish
The birds which , and which came from every point of the horizon, were those I have already eons in countless flocks I also saw--but beyond ai This was one of those called ”quebrantahnesos” by the Spaniards This bird of the Magellanlan waters is very res have a span of fros of the great albatross Nor is the latter wanting aed creatures;the dusky-plulacial zone
On the 30th of November, after observation taken at noon, it was found that we had reached 66A 23aE 3aE of latitude
The Halbrane had then crossed the Polar Circle which circumscribes the area of the Antarctic zone
Chapter XII
Between the Polar Circle and the Ice Wall
Since the Halbrane has passed beyond the irees froion, ”that region of Desolation and Silence,” as Edgar Poe says; that lory in which the Eleanora's singer longed to be shut up to all eternity; that iht ineffable
It is my belief--to return to less fanciful hypotheses--that the Antarctic region, with a superficies of more than five millions of square lacial period In the summer, the southern zone, as we all know, enjoys perpetual day, owing to the rays projected by the orb of light above its horizon in his spiral ascent Then, so soon as he has disappeared, the long night sets in, a night which is frequently illuhts
It was then in the season of light that our schooner was about to sail in these forhtness would not fail us before we should have reached Tsalal Island, where we felt no doubt of finding the men of the Jane
When Captain Len Guy, West, and the old sailors of the crew learned that the schooner had cleared the sixtysixth parallel of latitude, their rough and sunburnt faces shone with satisfaction The next day, Hurliguerly accosted me on the deck with a broad s,” said he, ”we've left the fah, boatswain, not far enough!”
”Oh, that will come! But I am disappointed”
”In ay?”
”Because we have not done what is usual on board shi+ps on crossing the Line!”
”You regret that?”
”Certainly I do, and the Halbrane ht have been allowed the ceremony of a southern baptism”
”A baptis that all our men, like yourself, have already sailed beyond this parallel?”
”We! Oh, yes! But you! Oh, no, Mr Jeorling And why, may I ask, should not that ceremony be performed in your honour?”
”True, boatswain; this is the first tih a latitude”
”And you should have been rewarded by a baptis fuss--no dru out old Father Neptune with his masquerade If you would peruerly,” said I, putting my hand intoto drink my health with at the nearest tavern”
”Then that will be Bennet Islet or Tsalal Island, provided there are any taverns in those savage islands, and any Atkinses to keep theet back to Hunt--does he seem so much pleased to have passed the Polar Circle as the Halbrane's old sailors are?”
”Who knows? There's nothing to be got out of him one way or another But, as I have said before, if he has not already made acquaintance with the ice-barrier”
”What , Mr Jeorling One feels these things; one doesn't think the into every corner of the world”
The boatswain's opinion was mine also, and some inexplicable presentie share of hts
Early in Deceood for us, but ould have no serious right to co as it did not blow due south-west In the latter case the schooner would have been thrown out of her course, or at least she would have had a struggle to keep in it, and it was better for us, in short, not to stray from the meridian which we had followed since our departure from the New South Orkneys Captain Len Guy was made anxious by this alteration in the wind, and besides, the speed of the Halbrane was an to soften on the 4th, and in thethe sails hung h not a breath reached us, and the surface of the ocean was unruffled, the schooner was rocked fro fro,” said Captain Len Guy to h weather on that side,” he added, pointing ard
”The horizon is misty,” I replied; ”but perhaps the sun towards noon--”
”The sun has no strength in this latitude, Mr Jeorling, not even in summer Jem!”
West came up to us
”What do you think of the sky?”
”I do not think well of it We , captain”
”Has not the look-out given warning of the first drifting ice?” I asked
”Yes,” replied Captain Len Guy, ”and if we get near the icebergs the dae will not be to theo either to the east or to the west, we shall resign ourselves, but only in case of absolute necessity”
The watch had htedslowly southward, but these were not yet of considerable extent or altitude These packs were easy to avoid; they could not interfere with the sailing of the Haibrane But, although the wind had hitherto per, and it was exceedingly disagreeable to be rolling about in a rough and hollow sea which struck our shi+p's sidesa hurricane from all the points of the compass The schooner was terribly knocked about, and the boatswain had the deck cleared of everything that was
Fortunately, the cargo could not be displaced, the stowage having been effected with perfect forecast of nautical eventualities We had not to dread the fate of the Gra It will be re turned bottom upwards, and that Arthur Pyro and Dirk Peters re on its keel
Besides, the schooner's puive a drop of water; the shi+p was perfectly sound in every part, owing to the efficient repairs that had been done during our stay at the Falklands The temperature had fallen rapidly, and hail, rain, and snow thickened and darkened the air At ten o'clock in the evening--I h the sun remained always above the horizon--the tempest increased, and the captain and his lieutenant, almost unable to hear each other's voices aestures, which is as good a mode as speech between sailors
I could notthe shelter of the roundhouse, I re the weather phenomena, and the skill, certainty, celerity, and effect hich the crew carried out the orders of the captain and West It was a strange and terrible experience for a landsman, even one who had seen so much of the sea and seamanshi+p as I had At the moment of a certain difficult manoeuvre, four men had to climb to the crossbars of the fore- to the ratlines was Hunt The second was Martin Holt; Burry and one of the recruits followed them I could not have believed that any ility as Hunt's His hands and feet hardly caught the ratlines Having reached the crossbars first, he stretched himself on the ropes to the end of the yard, while Holt went to the other end, and the two recruits re, and the te round us, a terrific lurch of the shi+p to starboard under the stroke of aon the deck into wild confusion, and the sea rushed in through the scupper-holes I was knocked down, and for some moments was unable to rise