Part 27 (1/2)

Michael.

Off Nunivak Island, Eric had his first sight of polar ice, but the pack was well broken up and gave little trouble. Norton Sound was comparatively free of ice, however, and the _Bear_ reached St. Michael's ten days later. As St. Michael's Bay was filled with ice-floes, the vessel anch.o.r.ed to await favorable conditions for landing mail. A ”lead”

or opening in the ice having formed between Whale Island and the mainland, after a clear night's work, the Coast Guard cutter dropped her anchors inside the ice. A couple of days later the floes cleared partly away and the _Bear_ crossed over to Nome.

Endeavoring to make St. Lawrence Island, where the head government reindeer herder was to be landed, the _Bear_ struck a heavy ice pack, and the little vessel had to give up the attempt to land. She worked to the northeast, out of the ice, and the captain changed the s.h.i.+p's course for King Island.

This was the first opportunity Eric had to use his U. S.

Commissioners.h.i.+p. One of the natives, who had been a.s.sociated with the white prospectors, was accused of ill-treatment towards his children, a very unusual condition in the Arctic. He had boasted a good deal to the other natives that the United States had no judges so far north, and that the white men could not punish him. In order to teach him a lesson, Eric heard the case, found the man guilty and sentenced the native to a day's imprisonment in the s.h.i.+p's brig, in irons, releasing him shortly before the vessel sailed. A sick native, with his wife and three small children were taken on board, for transportation to the hospital at Nome.

The young lieutenant also made an inspection of Prince of Wales village.

During the entire winter there had not been a single case of disturbance and hardly a case of sickness.

”There are mighty few villages of the same size in the States,” said the surgeon to Eric, as they were returning to the boat, ”which could show as good a record as these Eskimo villages. n.o.body sick, n.o.body living on charity, n.o.body headed for jail!”

Returning to Nome, what was Eric's delight to find Homer Tierre awaiting them! He had been a.s.signed to duty on the _Bear_ to relieve one of the juniors, who had been a.s.signed to another cutter, and the two young officers greeted each other warmly. The head government reindeer-herder was eager to get to his post, so the _Bear_ made a second attempt, this time successfully.

On the island only one case came up before Eric as United States Commissioner, that of a native who had allowed his dogs to run in the reindeer herds, four deer having been killed. Eric, before whom the case was tried, ruled that the native should be made to pay for the deer. As the margin of living in those barren islands is very small, this was quite a heavy punishment, and struck terror into the hearts of the natives. They had been ignoring the government's regulations concerning the corralling of the huskies, believing that there was no one with power to punish infractions of the law.

From there the _Bear_ went to Cape Prince of Wales, and here Eric fell in with Joey Blake, the former first mate of one of the whaling vessels rescued by the famous Overland Expedition in 1897. For the first time Eric heard the whole story of that heroic trip when the Coast Guard sent three men to save the lives of three hundred men, imprisoned in the polar ice. He heard how the men who were now his brother officers had done that which no white man had ever done before, how they had gone from Nome to Point Barrow in the dead of winter, their only base of support in those months of frozen night being their own fort.i.tude and resourcefulness.

Joey Blake, now in charge of the Point Barrow station of one of the commercial whaling companies, waxed eloquent as he told how the Coast Guard men had risked their lives over and over again, to reach the herd of reindeer, who might be driven on the hoof over mountains that had never before been crossed. He told how, thereby, they had saved from starvation and death the crews of several vessels fast in the crus.h.i.+ng grasp of the ice-pack of the Arctic Seas. From one of the men who owed his life to that magnificent piece of daring, Eric learned the tale of the great march across the ice and round the inhospitable sh.o.r.es in the bleak darkness of the Arctic night. He understood why Congress had voted special thanks and medals to the three men who carried to success the greatest rescue in Arctic history, full as that record has been of sacrifice and heroism.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE _BEAR_ IN THE ICE PACK.

Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE _BEAR_ BREAKING FREE FROM THE ICE.

Whaler, still fast, left behind, while Coast Guard cutter forces her way clear.

Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard.]

In November, 1897, word reached the United States that eight whaling vessels, with 287 men on board, were fast in the ice north of Point Barrow. Nothing was known of their condition, save that the provisions of the entire fleet could not be counted upon to give them food beyond the end of January. Possibly hunting and fis.h.i.+ng might enable this to be spun out a month or so, but not more. The way through Bering Straits would not be open until June, at the earliest. Starvation, therefore, was imminent. The United States Government naturally turned to the Coast Guard--then known as the Revenue Cutter Service--well a.s.sured that whatever was possible in the realm of human courage and skill would be done.

Between the marooned whalers and civilization lay a thousand miles and more of the most fearful road that man has ever had to travel, a road untrod, with cold like to the bitterness of death as its constant state and the howl of the blizzard for its sole companion. Not only must this blind and awful trail be conquered, with possible disaster in every mile and a sure heritage of suffering and pain in every step, but food sufficient to last 300 men for over four months had to be taken over those desolate wastes.

The _Bear_, though only three weeks back from a six months' cruise in Arctic waters, was ordered back to the desperate attempt. There was no need to ask for volunteers in the Revenue Cutter Service. Every man in the service, from the most recently enlisted man to the Captain Commandant would have stepped forward. As it was, the expedition contained three of the ablest and most vigorous men in the entire service. It was under the command of Lieutenant Jarvis, with Lieutenant Bertholf (now the Captain Commandant of the Coast Guard) as the second in command. Only one other white man, Surgeon Call, accompanied the expedition.

The _Bear_, under sail and steam, headed for the north. Every mile gained by sea meant a vast help to the expedition. Yet, when Cape Nome was still 85 miles distant, the little vessel ran into thick mush-ice.

Beating around for clearer water the wind began to die down and the _Bear_ was almost caught. Had she been frozen in then, ten miles to the east of Southeast Cape, the expedition would have been frustrated and the whalers left unrescued. It was a narrow escape and the commander of the _Bear_ turned back to Cape Vancouver, and the next morning steamed to within five miles of a native village, not marked on any chart, but visible from the s.h.i.+p.

Minutes counted, and two boats were sent off to the sh.o.r.e. The settlement was found to be the village of Tununak, in which, by good fortune, was a half-breed trader, Alexis, who had dogs. On December 18th the overland expedition started, far south of Nome, with four sleds and forty-one dogs, nine dogs being harnessed to each of the sleds belonging to Alexis and fourteen to the heavy one from the s.h.i.+p. From Tununak they went to Ukogamute, and because a southeast wind had cleared away the ice from the sh.o.r.e, the party was compelled to climb a range of mountains between the two villages.

”Did you ever climb a mountain with a dog team?” queried Joey Blake.

”Take my word, it's some job. You've got to tackle a thing like that to get the heartbreak of it. It's bad enough to have to run ahead of a dog team on the level, but in mountain country it's something fierce.”

”Do you have to run ahead of the dogs?” Eric said in surprise. ”What for? To break a trail?”