Part 4 (1/2)

”I merely mention this as the feeling which oppressed me, and which I could not shake off. Indeed, the feeling grew upon me rather than decreased. The fog came on very thick, settling over us as if it were our funeral shroud. Some snow also fell, which made the air still more gloomy. The noises were multiplying, and we could no longer tell whence they came, so thick was the air. We were groping about like a traveller who has lost his way in a vast forest, and has been overtaken by the dark night.

”It seemed to me now that our doom was sealed,--that all our hope was left behind us when we pa.s.sed the opening to this vast wilderness of icebergs; and the more I thought of it, the more it seemed to me that the figure standing on the corner of the iceberg where we entered, whether it was ice or whatever it was, had been put there as a warning.

How far my fears were right you shall see presently.

”The fog, as I have said, kept on thickening more and more, until we could scarcely see anything at all. I have never, I think, seen so thick a fog, and it was with the greatest difficulty that the s.h.i.+p was kept from striking the icebergs. Then, after a while, the wind fell away steadily, and finally grew entirely calm. The current was moving us about upon the dead waters; and in order to prevent this current from setting us against the ice, we had to lower the boats, and, making lines fast to the s.h.i.+p and to the boats, pull away with our oars to keep headway on the s.h.i.+p, that she might be steered clear of the dangerous places. Thus was made a slow progress, but it was very hard work. At length the second mate, who was steering the foremost boat, which I was in, cried out, 'Fast ice ahead.' Now 'fast ice' is a belt of ice which is attached firmly to the land, not yet having been broken up or dissolved by the warmth of the summer. This announcement created great joy to everybody in the boats, as we knew that land must be near, and we all supposed that we would be ordered to make a line fast to the ice, that we might hold on there until the fog cleared up and the wind came again. But instead of this we were ordered by the mate to pull away from it. And then, after having got the vessel, as was supposed, into a good, clear, open s.p.a.ce of water,--at least, there was not a particle of ice in sight,--we were all ordered, very imprudently, as it appeared to every one of us, to come on board to breakfast.

”We had just finished our breakfast, and were preparing to go on deck, and then into the boats again, when there was a loud cry raised. 'Ice close aboard! Hurry up! Man the boats!' were the orders which I heard among a great many other confusing sounds; and when I got on deck, I saw, standing away up in the fog, its top completely obscured in the thick cloud, an enormous iceberg. The side nearest to us hung over from a perpendicular, as the projecting tongue on which I had before seen the man's face. It was very evident that we were slowly drifting upon this frightful object,--directly under this overhanging tongue. It was a fearful sight to behold, for it looked as if it was just ready to crumble to pieces; and indeed, at every instant, small fragments were breaking off from it, with loud reports, and falling into the sea.

”We were but a moment getting into the boats. The boat which I was in had something the start of the other two. Just as we were pulling away, the master of the s.h.i.+p came on deck, and ordered us to do what, had the red-faced mate done an hour before, would have made it impossible that this danger should have come upon us. 'Carry your line out to the fast ice,' was the order we received from the master; and every one of us, realizing the great danger, pulled as hard as he could. The 'fast ice'

was dimly in sight when we started, for we had drifted while at breakfast towards it, as well as towards the berg. Only a few minutes were needed to reach it. We jumped out and dug a hole, and planted the ice-anchor. The s.h.i.+p was out of sight, buried in the fog. A faint voice came from the s.h.i.+p. It was, 'Hurry up! we have struck.' They evidently could not see us. The line was fastened to the anchor in an instant, and the second mate shouted, 'Haul in! haul in!' There was no answer but 'Hurry up! we have struck.' 'Haul in! haul in!' shouted the second mate, but still there was no answer. 'They can't hear nor see,' said he, hurriedly; and then, turning to me, said, 'Hardy, you watch the anchor that it don't give way. Boys, jump in the boat, and we'll go nearer the s.h.i.+p so they can hear.' The boat was gone quickly into the fog, and I was then alone on the ice by the anchor,--how much and truly alone you shall hear.

”Quick as the lightning flash, sudden as the change of one second to another, there broke upon me a sound that will never leave my ears. It was as if a volcano had burst forth, or an earthquake had instantly tumbled a whole city into ruins. A fearful shock, like a sudden explosion, filled the air. I saw faintly through the thick mists the masts of the s.h.i.+p reeling over, and I saw no more;--vessel and iceberg and the disappearing boat were buried in chaos. The whole side of the berg nearest the vessel had split off, hurling thousands and hundreds of thousands of tons of ice, and thousands of fragments, cras.h.i.+ng down upon the doomed s.h.i.+p. Escape the vessel could not, nor her crew, the shock came so suddenly. The spray thrown up into the air completely hid everything from view; but the noise which came from out the gloom told the tale.

”Presently there was a loud rush. Great waves, set in motion by the crumbling iceberg, with white crests that were frightful to look upon, came tearing out of the obscurity, and, perceiving the danger of my situation, I ran from it as fast as I could run. And I was just in time; for the waves broke up the ice where I had been standing into a hundred fragments, and crack after crack opened close behind me.

”I had not, however, far to run before I had reached a place of safety, for the force of the waves was soon spent. And when I saw what had happened, I fell down flat upon the ice, crying, 'Saved, but for what?

to freeze or starve! O that I had perished with the rest of them!'

”So now you see that I was really and truly _cast away in the cold_. In almost a single instant the s.h.i.+p which had borne me through what had seemed great perils was, so far as appeared to me, swallowed up in the sea,--crushed and broken into fragments by the falling ice, and every one of my companions was swallowed up with it. And there I was on an ice-raft, in the middle of the Arctic Sea, without food or shelter, wrapped in a great black, impenetrable fog, with the prospect of a lingering death staring me in the face.”

The Captain here paused as if to take breath, for he had been talking very fast, and had grown somewhat excited as he recalled this terrible scene. The eyes of the children were riveted upon him, so deeply were they interested in the tale of the s.h.i.+pwreck; and it was some time before any one spoke.

”Well!” exclaimed William at last, ”that was being cast away in the cold for certain, Captain Hardy. I had no idea it was so frightful.”

”Nor I,” said Fred, evidently doubting if Captain Hardy was really the s.h.i.+pwrecked boy; but Alice said not a word, for she was lost in wonder.

”I should not have believed it was you, Captain Hardy,” continued William, ”if you had not been telling the story yourself, this very minute; for I cannot see how you should ever have got out of that sc.r.a.pe. It's ever so much worse than going into the sea on the seal's back.”

The Captain smiled at these observations of the boys, and said: ”It was a pretty bad sc.r.a.pe to get into, and no mistake; but through the mercy of Providence I got out of it in the end, as you see; otherwise I shouldn't have been here to tell the tale; but how I saved myself, and what became of the rest of the crew, you shall hear to-morrow, for it is now too late to begin the story. The evening is coming on, and your parents will be looking for you home; so good by, my dears. To-morrow you must come down earlier,--the earlier the better, and if there's any wind we'll have a sail.” And now the children once more took leave of the ancient mariner, with hearts filled with thanks, which they could never get done speaking, and with heads filled with astonishment that the Captain should be alive to tell the tale which they had heard.

CHAPTER VI.

The Old Man meets the Little People under Peculiar Circ.u.mstances, and relates to them how the Young Man, being cast away in the Cold, rescued a s.h.i.+pmate, and also other Matters, which, if put into this t.i.tle, would spoil the Story altogether.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

This time Captain Hardy was not to be caught napping, as on the previous day. Indeed, he was out looking for his young friends even before the time. ”If they don't come soon,” said he to himself, ”I'll go after them”;--and they did not come soon, at least the Captain thought they were a long time in coming, and he started off, if not after them, at least to look after them. When he had reached the brow of the hill from which both the Captain's and Mr. Earnest's houses could be seen, the old man discovered the children coming down one of the winding paths which led through Mr. Earnest's grounds. It was some moments before they saw the Captain, and when they did see him there was much wondering what had happened to bring him up so far on the hill.

”Why, what's the matter with him?” exclaimed William. ”Look, he's flinging up his hat!”--and the little people set off upon a rapid run.

Meanwhile the Captain stood on the brow of the hill, whirling round his tarpaulin hat with the long blue ribbons flying wildly in the wind. When the children came nearer, they heard the old man calling loudly to them, ”Come, my hearties, you are slow to-day. Be lively, or we'll lose the chance.”

”What chance?” asked William, when they had come up with him.

”The wind, the wind,--why, don't you see there's a spankin' breeze? I was afraid we'd lose our sail, so I came to hurry you up.”