Part 21 (1/2)
Chapter XXV
”We Were the First”
Two days later not one of the survivors from the two schooners, the Jane and the Halbrane, reion
On the 21st of February, at six o'clock in the , the boat, with us all (we numbered thirteen) in it, left the little creek and doubled the point of Halbrane Land On the previous day we had fully and finally debated the question of our departure, with the understanding that if it were settled in the affirmative, we should start without delay
The captain of the fane was for an immediate departure, and Captain Len Guy was not opposed to it I willingly sided with them, and West was of a similar opinion The boatsas inclined to oppose us He considered it iive up a certainty for the uncertain, and he was backed by Endicott, ould in any case say ”ditto” to his ”Mr Burke” However, when the tiuerly Conforrace, and declared himself quite ready to set out, since ere all of that way of thinking
Our boat was one of those in use in the Tsalal Archipelago for plying between the islands We knew, from the narrative of Arthur Py rafts or flat boats, the other strongly-built pirogues Our boat was of the for, six feet in width, and worked by several paddles
We called our little craft the Paracura, after a fish which abounds in these waters A rough iunwale
Needless to say that the greater part of the cargo of the Halbrane was left in our cavern, fully protected from the weather, at the disposal of any shi+pwrecked people who ht chance to be thrown on the coast of Halbrane Land The boatswain had planted a spar on the top of this slope to attract attention But, our two schooners notwithstanding, what vessel would ever venture into such latitudes?
Nota Bene--We were just thirteen--the fatal nu us We had no longer to dread the rebellion of a Hearne (How often we speculated upon the fate of those whouiled!) At seven o'clock, the extreme point of Halbrahe Land lay five ht of the heights that variated that part of the coast
I desire to lay special stress on the fact that not a single scrap of iron entered into the construction of this boat, not so much as a nail or a bolt, for that metal was entirely unknown to the Tsalal islanders The planks were bound together by a sort of liana, or creeping-plant, and caulked with moss steeped in pitch, which was turned by contact with the sea-water to a substance as hard asthe week that succeeded our departure The breeze blew steadily from the south, and we did not meet with any unfavourable current between the banks of the Jane Sound
During those first eight days, the Paracuts, by paddling when the wind fell, had kept up the speed that was indispensable for our reaching the Pacific Ocean within a short time
The desolate aspect of the land remained the sa drifts, packs of one to two hundred feet in length, sos which our boat passed easily We were made anxious, however, by the fact that thesebarrier, for would they not close the passages, which ought to be still open at this time?
I shall mention here that in proportion as Dirk Peters was carried farther and farther from the places wherein no trace ofhis poor Pyer even answered otten that since our iceberg had passed beyond the south pole, ere in the zone of eastern longitudes counted froree All hopeat the Falklands, or finding whaling-shi+ps in the waters of the Sandwich Islands, the South Orkneys, or South Georgia
Our voyage proceeded under unaltered conditions for ten days Our little craft was perfectly sea-worthy The two captains and West fully appreciated its soundness, although, as I have previously said, not a scrap of iron had a place in its construction It had not once been necessary to repair its seams, so staunch were they To be sure, the sea was s waves were hardly ruffled on their surface
On the loth of March, with the saave 7A 13aE for latitude The speed of the Paracuta had then been thirty ress could be maintained for three weeks, there was every chance of our finding the passes open, and being able to get round the iceberg barrier; also that the whaling-shi+ps would not yet have left the fishi+ng-grounds
The sun was on the verge of the horizon, and the tiion would be shrouded in polar night Fortunately, in re-ascending towards the north ere getting into waters froht was not yet banished Then did itness a phenomenon as extraordinary as any of those described by Arthur Pym For three or four hours, sparks, accoers' ends, our hair, and our beards There was an electric snowstor loosely, and the contact produced this strange luminosity The sea rose so suddenly and tumbled about so wildly that the Paracuta was several tiot through thetempest all safe and sound
Nevertheless, space was thenceforth but ihted Frequent ths Extreme watchfulness and caution were necessary to avoid collision with the floatingmore slowly than the Paracuta
It is also to be noted that, on the southern side, the sky was frequently lighted up by the broad and brilliant rays of the polar aurora
The teer rose above twenty-three degrees
Forty-eight hours later Captain Len Guy and his brother succeeded with great difficulty in taking an approxi results of their calculations: Latitude: 75A 17aE south
Latitude: 118A 3aE east
At this date, therefore (12th March), the Paracuta was distant from the waters of the Antarctic Circle only four hundredcaretted, for it increased the risk of collision with the floating ice Of course fog could not be a surprise to us, being where ere, but what did surprise us was the gradually increasing speed of our boat, although the falling of the wind ought to have lessened it
This increase of speed could not be due to the current for ere going s lasted untilable to account for as happening, when at about ten o'clock the an to disperse in the low zones The coast on the west reappeared--a rocky coast, without aits line
And then, no e ht of three hundred feet, with a circue forreat ht, the paws stretched out, crouching in the attitude of the winged y has placed upon the way to Thebes
Was this a living aniantic monster, a mastodon a thousand times the size of those enormous elephants of the polar seas whose reht have believed that it was such a creature, and believed also that the mastodon was about to hurl itself on our little craft and crush it to ato and unreasonable fright, we recognized that the strange object was only a great ularly shaped, and that theitto stand out and confront us
Ah! that sphinx! I re was overturned and the Halbrane was carried away, I had dreamed of a fabulous animal of this kind, seated at the pole of the world, and froar Poe could only wrest its secrets
But our attention was to be attracted, our surprise, even our alare than the mysterious earth form upon which the mist-curtain had been raised so suddenly
I have said that the speed of the Paracuta was gradually increasing; noas excessive, that of the current rerapnel that had belonged to the Halbrane, and was in the bow of the boat, flew out of its socket as though drawn by an irresistible power, and the rope that held it was strained to breaking point It seerazed the surface of the water towards the shore
”What's the matter?” cried William Guy ”Cut away, boatswain, cut away!” shouted West, ”or we shall be dragged against the rocks”
Hurliguerly hurried to the bow of the Paracuta to cut away the rope Of a sudden the knife he held was snatched out of his hand, the rope broke, and the grapnel, like a projectile, shot off in the direction of the sphinx
At the same moment, all the articles on board the boat that wereutensils, arms, Endicott's stove, our knives, which were torn froht after a similar fashi+on in the saht up against the beach
What was happening? In order to explain these inexplicable things, e not obliged to acknowledge that we had coion of those wonders which I attributed to the hallucinations of Arthur Pym?
No! These were physical facts which we had just witnessed, and not iinary phenomenal!
We had, however, no ti, our attention was turned in another direction by the sight of a boat lying wrecked upon the sand
”The Halbrane's boat!” cried Hurliguerly It was indeed the boat which Hearne had stolen, and it was sie of a craft which has been flung against rocks by the sea, remained
We observed immediately that all the ironwork of the boat had disappeared, down to the hinges of the rudder Not one trace of theof this?
A loud call froht of our stranded boat
Three corpses lay upon the stony soil, that of Hearne, that of Martin Holt, and that of one of the Falklands -master, there remained only these three, who had evidently been dead so men? Had their bodies been carried out to sea?
We searched all along the coast, into the creeks, and between the outlying rocks, but in vain Nothing was to be found, no traces of a ca
”Their boat,” said Willia The rest of Hearne's companions have been drowned, and only these three bodies have come ashore, lifeless”