Part 20 (1/2)
”After this we fell again into conversation about the _Oomeaksuaks_, or s.h.i.+ps, as I have explained before; and, having learned more and more of the language which Eatum spoke, we got to comprehend him better, so we fixed clearly in our minds where the place was that the s.h.i.+ps came to, and were fully satisfied that Eatum told the truth about it. We now offered to give him everything we had if he would take us there, and stay with us until the s.h.i.+ps should come along and take us off his hands. About this we had several conversations; but just when we thought the treaty was complete, and Eatum was going to carry out the plan we had fixed upon, this singular savage disappeared very suddenly,--dogs, sledge, and all,--without saying a single word to us about it.
”When we made the discovery that he was gone, we were filled with astonishment and dismay. We hoped, at first, that he had gone off hunting; but, finding that he did not return, we tried to follow the tracks of his sledge, but the wind had drifted snow over them, and we could not.
”We now made up our minds that Eatum was nothing more than a treacherous savage; and we were afraid that he would come back with more savages and murder us, in order that he might get the furs and other things that we had; so for a while we were much alarmed, and were more heartbroken I believe, than ever before, for our hopes of rescue had been raised very high by hearing of Eatum's people and the s.h.i.+ps. The suddenness with which all our expectations were thus dashed to the ground quite overcame us, and we pa.s.sed the next five days very miserably, hardly stirring out of the hut during all that time. But at length we saw the folly of giving way to despair.
”One thing we quickly determined upon, and that was to leave the island, one way or another; for now we were so afraid of the savages coming to murder us, that we would suffer any risk and hards.h.i.+p rather than remain there longer. So once more we began to devise means for our safety.
”It was no longer what we should do for food and fuel, or clothing, but how we should escape. The s.h.i.+ps we had given up long ago, and with the s.h.i.+ps had vanished every hope of rescue. But now a wild man had come to us out of the ice-desert, and had told us that s.h.i.+ps came in the summer not far from where we were, and through this intelligence we had obtained a glimpse of home and our native country, as it were; and this too at the very time when we had become most reconciled to our condition, and had made up our minds to live as best we could on the Rock of Good Hope for the remainder of our days.
”But now our minds were wholly changed. 'We are worse off than ever,'
said the Dean, 'for this little hope the savage gave us, and the fear, besides, that he has put into us,'--which was true enough.
”Stimulated now by the memory of that hope and the presence of that fear, we prepared to undertake the bold task of rescuing ourselves. The savage had pointed out to us the direction of the place where the s.h.i.+ps pa.s.sed, 'And now,' we thought, 'if we can only reach the land there before the summer comes we shall be all right.' But if we should not get to the proper place, or if the s.h.i.+ps did not come along, then the chances were that we might starve or freeze to death. Nothing daunted, however, by the contemplation of that gloomy side of the picture, we went earnestly to work, and very soon had contrived a plan.
”Of course we must have a sledge, as we were obliged to travel a long distance, and must carry not only food to eat by the way, but blubber for a lamp with which to melt water from the snow, and furs to keep us warm while we slept. Eatum had taught us how to construct a snow hut, so that we felt sure of being able to shelter ourselves from the storms.
”But the sledge was the great difficulty. How should we make a sledge?
was the question which most occupied our thoughts, and taxed our ingenuity. Apparently we had nothing to make it of, nor tools to make it with. To fasten together pieces of bone in the manner that Eatum had done, and thus construct a runner, was not possible, as we had no drill to make holes with,--and besides, if we had, the work would have required too long a time for our present necessities. Our purpose was to get away from the island with all possible haste.
”We made a sledge, however, at last, and in a very ingenious way as we thought, though not a particularly good way as we afterwards discovered.
First we cut two strips of seal-skin, and sewed them into tubes. Then we filled the tubes with hair, and pieces of meat chopped very fine, and also bits of moss. Then we poured water into the tubes, and flattened them down by stamping upon them. Very soon the whole froze together, solid as a board, and these we soon fas.h.i.+oned into the proper shape for runners. We found no difficulty in fastening the two together with cross-ties of bone, which we lashed firmly to the runners. Thus, in seven days from the time of beginning to work upon it, our sledge was complete.
”Very much rejoiced over this triumph, we put a load on the sledge, and set out to give it a trial. But one runner gave way before we had gone a dozen fathoms, and we were in a state of great perplexity. We resolved now to bundle up everything we needed in a bear-skin, and drag that over the snow after us, so great was our haste to get away. We would drag the bear-skin head-foremost, so that the fur would slip more easily over the snow. But when we had done this, we discovered that, to say nothing of dragging the load, we could not even start it. Our united efforts were wholly unequal to the task of moving it even so much as an inch; and, like Robinson Crusoe with his boat, we had wholly miscalculated the means, thinking only of the end. And so it is sometimes, even with wiser heads than ours.
”We were now in even greater trouble than ever; but being at length fully satisfied of the utter hopelessness of proceeding in this manner, we went back next day to the sledge, and began to work upon it again; all the while looking out for the savages, and expecting them every minute to come and murder us.”
CHAPTER XVIII.
A Number of Peculiar People appear, and the Castaways disappear from the Rock of Good Hope.
”We worked away at the sledge as fast as possible, being bent upon having it finished and getting off from the island as quickly as we could.
”At last it was completed, and we dragged it down to the beach and out upon the ice. Finding that it went better than we had dared to expect, we returned to our hut, and, bundling together such of our furs and other things as we thought we should require on the long journey before us, carried them down and stowed them on the sledge. Among them were included one lamp, one pot, and one cup. We could not drag a very heavy load, even if the sledge would bear up under it, so we had to limit ourselves to the least possible allowance of everything. Food was, of course, more important to us than anything else, and of this we determined to take all that we could put upon the sledge with safety.
”All this time we felt very sad, and we worked in a very gloomy spirit.
Everything appeared so uncertain before us; the journey we were about to undertake, at first seeming to promise so hopefully, had become a very doubtful undertaking; and, since day after day pa.s.sed by without bringing the savages upon us, we got to be less afraid of them, and in this same proportion was reduced our confidence in the propriety of leaving the island in this manner for an unknown place, and in utter ignorance as to whether the savage had told us truth about the s.h.i.+ps.
”However, as you have seen before, when the Dean and I got an idea in our heads we did not easily abandon it. Once determined to make the trial, we had persevered until we had obtained a sledge; and now, as I have told you, it was already half loaded.
”But we might have saved ourselves all this trouble, as you will soon see.
”While in the very midst of our packing, we were suddenly startled by a loud noise. Looking up from our work, and turning in the direction whence the sound proceeded, there, to our horror and dismay, were the very savages we had been for so long a time expecting. They were just rounding a point of the island, and were nearing us at a rapid pace.
”We soon discovered them to be five in number, each riding upon a sledge, drawn by wild and fierce-looking dogs, that made a great outcry as soon as they saw us, as did also the savages on the sledges.
”'At last,' thought I, 'our time has come. We shall be murdered now for certain, and then be given to the dogs for food.'
”'Oh!' exclaimed the Dean, 'if our poor mothers only knew where we were!'