Part 9 (1/2)
A Voice in a Dream
Entirely free from ice? No It would have been pres were visible in the distance, while so east Nevertheless, the break-up had been very thorough on that side, and the sea was in reality open, since a shi+p could sail freely
”God has couide us to the end”
”In a week,” I reht of Tsalal Island”
”Provided that the east wind lasts, Mr Jeorling Don't forget that in sailing along the icebergs to their eastern extremity, the Halbrane went out of her course, and she ht back towards the west”
”The breeze is for us, captain”
”And we shall profit by it, for my intention is to make for Bennet Islet It was there that hted that island we shall be certain that we are on the right route To-day, when I have ascertained our position exactly, we shall steer for Bennet Islet”
”Who knows but that we n?”
”It is not i”
I need not say that recourse was had to the surest guide within our reach, that veracious narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, which I read and re-read with intense attention, fascinated as I was by the idea that I e phenomena of nature in the Antarctic world which I, in coarded as creations of the ave voice by his pen to the phantasies of a unique brain No doubt a great part of the wonders of Arthur Gordon Pym's narrative would prove pure fiction, but if even a little of the e would be mine!
The picturesque and wonderful side of the story ere studying as gospel truth had little charht interest for Captain Len Guy; he was indifferent to everything in Pym's narrative that did not relate directly to the castaways of Tsalal Island: his mind was solely and constantly set upon their rescue
According to the narrative of Arthur Pym Jane experienced serious difficulties, due to bad weather, from the 1st to the 4th of January, 1828 It was not until theof the 5th, in latitude 23A 15aE that she found a free passage through the last iceberg that barred her way The final difference between our position and the Jane in a parallel ease, was that theJane took fifteen days to accorees, or six hundred miles, which separated her on the 5th of January from Tsalal Island, while on the 19th of Decerees, or four hundred miles, off the island Bennet Islet, where Captain Guy intended to put in for twenty-four hours, was fiftyunder prosperous conditions; ere no longer visited by sudden hail and snow storms, or those rapid falls of temperature which tried the crew of the Jane so sorely A few ice-floes drifted by us, occasionally peopled, as tourists throng a pleasure yacht, by penguins, and also by dusky seals, lying flat upon the white surfaces like enore flotilla we traced the incessant flight of petrels, pigeons, black puffins, divers, grebe, sterns, corh latitudes Huge medusas, exquisitely tinted, floated on the water like spread parasols A the denizens ot the deep, captured by the crew of the schooner with line and net, I noted iant John Dory1 (dorade) three feet in length, with firht, or rather what ought to have been the night of the 19th-20th, e dream Yes! there could be no doubt but that it was only a dream! Nevertheless, I think it well to record it here, because it is an additional testiinning to labour
I was sleeping--at two hours after ht--and akened by a plaintive and continuous ined I opened an again; I listened, and it seemed to me that a voice--a voice which I did not knohispered these words:-- ”Pym Pym poor Pym!”
Evidently this could only be a delusion; unless, indeed, soot into my cabin: the door was locked
”Pyotten”
This ti of the injunction, and as it addressed to me? And besides, had not Pym, after his return to America, met with a sudden and deplorable death, the circuan to doubt whether I was in htthat I had been disturbed by an extremely vivid dream due to some cerebral cause
I turned out ofback the shutter, looked out of my cabin No one aft on the deck, except Hunt, as at the helain, and this I did It seemed toseveral times; nevertheless, I fell asleep and did not wake until ue impression of this occurrence, which soon faded away No other incident at that period of our voyage calls for notice Nothing particular occurred on board our schooner The breeze from the north, which had forsaken us, did not recur, and only the current carried the Halbrane towards the south This caused a delay unbearable to our iave 82A 50aE of latitude, and 42A 20aE of west longitude Bennet Islet, if it had any existence, could not be far off now
Yes! the islet did exist, and its bearings were those indicated by Arthur Py one of the crew cried out that there was land ahead on the port side
Chapter XV
Bennet Islet
The Halbrane was then within sight of Bennet Islet! The crew urgently needed rest, so the dise day, and I went back to ht passed without disturbance, and when day came not a craft of any kind was visible on the waters, not a native on the beach There were no huts upon the coast, no smoke arose in the distance to indicate that Bennet Islet was inhabited But Willias there, and what I saw of the islet answered to the description given by Arthur Pyue in circuetation existed on its surface
”Mr Jeorling,” said Captain Len Guy, ”do you observe a promontory in the direction of the north-east?”
”I observe it, captain”
”Is it not foriant bales of cotton?”
”That is so, and just what the narrative describes”
”Then all we have to do is to land on the pro Who knows but we e of the crew of the fane, supposing the fro the islet with his eyes What hts, his desires, his iaze was set upon the same point even more fixedly; that man was Hunt
Before we left the Halbrane Len Guy enjoined the most minute and careful watchfulness upon his lieutenant This was a charge which West did not need Our exploration would take only half a day at most If the boat had not returned in the afternoon a second was to be sent in search of us
”Look sharp also after our recruits,” added the captain
”Don't be uneasy, captain,” replied the lieutenant ”Indeed, since you want fourthe new ones That will leave four less troublesoood idea, for, under the deplorable influence of Hearne, the discontent of his shi+p ready, four of the ne took their places forward, while Hunt, at his own request, was steersman Captain Len Guy, the boatswain and myself, all well armed, seated ourselves aft, and we started for the northern point of the islet In the course ot an hour we had doubled the proht of the little bay whose shores the boats of the fane had touched
Hunt steered for this bay, gliding with remarkable skill between the rocky points which stuck up here and there One would have thought he knew his way a them
We disembarked on a stony coast The stones were covered with sparse lichen The tide was already ebbing, leaving uncovered the sandy botto nail-heads
Two e of the boat while we landed amid the rocks, and, accompanied by the other two, Captain Len Guy, the boatswain, Hunt and I proceeded towards the centre, where we found soround, from whence we could see the whole extent of the islet But there was nothing to be seen on any side, absolutely nothing On coht ereed that he was to be our guide We followed him therefore, as he led us towards the southern extre reached the point, Hunt looked carefullyon all sides of him, then stooped and showed us a piece of half rotten wood lying a the scattered stones
”I remember!” I exclaimed; ”Arthur Py on it which appeared to have belonged to the bow of a shi+p”
”An of a tortoise,” added Captain Len Guy
”Just so,” I replied, ”but Arthur Pym pronounced that resemblance doubtful No matter; the piece of wood is still in the same place that is indicated in the narrative, so we may conclude that since the Jane cast anchor here no other crew has ever set foot upon Bennet Islet It follows that we should only lose ti We shall know nothing until we reach Tsalal Island”
”Yes, Tsalal Island,” replied the captain
We then retraced our steps in the direction of the bay In various places we observed fragments of coral reef, and beche-de-ht have taken a full cargo of it
Hunt walked on in silence with downcast eyes, until as ere close upon the beach to the east, he, being about ten paces ahead, stopped abruptly, and suesture
In an instant ere by his side Hunt had evinced no surprise on the subject of the piece of wood first found, but his attitude changed when he knelt down in front of a wor on the sand He felt it all over with his huge hands, as though he were seeking sotne tracery on its rough surface whose signification ible to him The black paint was hidden under the thick dirt that had accumulated upon it The plank had probably formed part of a shi+p's stern, as the boatswain requested us to observe