First at the North Pole Part 31

"I know he did. Well, I suppose I can only wait and see." And Chet heaved a deep sigh.

While Andy and Chet were ash.o.r.e interviewing Jack Rooney and others who could speak English, Captain Williamson was waited on by three of his hands. The delegation was headed by Pep Loggermore.

"What do you want?" demanded the master of the _Ice King_, briefly. He could readily see that trouble was brewing.

"We came to speak about them boys," replied Loggermore, doggedly. "We been talkin' amongst ourselves, and we don't want to take no more chances."

"What boys?" asked the captain, although he knew perfectly well who were meant.

"The boys that shot them geese and brought us bad luck."

"See here, Loggermore, this is all nonsense."

"Excuse me, Cap'n, but it ain't nonsense at all. We talked it over, and we are sure it was the killin' of them geese----"

"You talk like a fool," interrupted the master of the steamer. "Those boys are no more responsible for our ill luck than you or I. The ice knocked us a bit too hard, that's all."

"We want them boys kept ash.o.r.e!" cried Pep Loggermore. "Ain't that so, mates?" he added, turning to his companions, and they nodded.

"What! Are you going to try to dictate to me?" roared Captain Williamson.

"We ain't asking anything but what's right. We----"

"Not another word, Loggermore. Go for'ard, all of you, and don't let me hear another word of this nonsense," said the captain, sharply.

"But, Cap'n----"

"Not another word, I told you, unless you want the cat!" answered Captain Williamson.

He drew himself up, and his eyes flashed dangerously, and the men silently left him and resumed their work in the forward part of the ship.

"Sailors are queer fellows," was Dr. Blade's comment. "Once they get an idea in their heads, you can't drive it out."

"I'll drive it out, don't fear!" answered the captain.

"It is too bad that the boys have made such enemies," went on the ship's physician. "I am afraid it will spoil a good deal of their pleasure."

When the chums came back to the steamer that evening, they noticed that two of the sailors looked at them darkly. Yet nothing was said to them of what had occurred, the sailors being afraid to speak, and the others not wishing to make the boys uneasy.

But among the sailors there was quite a talk over Andy and Chet.

"We'll make 'em stay ash.o.r.e if we can," said Loggermore. "Just wait until we are ready to sail. I am not going to trust myself with fellows like that to bring me bad luck."

The repairs to the _Ice King_ took the best part of a week to make, but at the end of that time the ship's carpenter p.r.o.nounced the craft as seaworthy as ever.

"She may stay up here for a year now, and never start those seams again," he said.

"Let us hope so," answered Barwell Dawson. "A leaky ship isn't at all to my liking."

Pep Loggermore and a crony watched for a chance to catch Andy and Chet ash.o.r.e. What the sailors might have done, there is no telling, but certainly they would have done all in their power to prevent the boys from returning to the _Ice King_. But the lads kept on the vessel, there being nothing more to visit on land.

"We might heave 'em overboard some night," suggested Loggermore, but the other sailor would not listen to this proposal. He was willing to have the youths left behind, but that was as far as he cared to go.

"Never mind, we can watch them at Upernivik," said the tar. "There will be a better chance to leave them behind there than there was here." And with this proposal the affair rested, although Loggermore declared that if there was any more killing of birds from the ship he would heave the boys overboard sure. This may seem a terrible threat to some of my readers, but they must remember that some sailors, especially ignorant ones, are extremely superst.i.tious, and they deem the killing of a bird at sea the worst kind of a bad omen.

The run up the Greenland coast was made without unusual incident. They pa.s.sed a number of icebergs, but always at a distance, and the small ice did not bother them seriously. The weather moderated a little, so that life on deck proved delightful. The boys saw more wild geese, some ducks, and also some northern petrel, but, warned by Captain Williamson, did no more shooting.

"Upernivik is about the last settlement north of any importance," said Professor Jeffer to the boys. "It can be called the most northern town in the world. It is a trading station for the Esquimaux, and also has a mine, from which large quant.i.ties of cryolite are obtained."

"And what is cryolite?" asked Chet, curiously.

The professor smiled faintly. "It is a substance, found only in Greenland, from which washing soda is made, and also some kinds of baking powder. The metal, aluminum, is obtained from it, and it is also used in the making of certain kinds of gla.s.s. Greenland has a very large stratum or deposit of cryolite, and it is a source of considerable revenue to the mine owners, and also to the Danish government, the latter putting a heavy export tax on it."

It was nightfall when the steamer dropped anchor in the harbor of Upernivik. From the deck of the vessel Barwell Dawson, who had visited the settlement before, pointed out the governor's house, the Moravian church, and other buildings.

"There are quite a number of Esquimaux here, full-blooded and half-breeds," said he. "Most of them live in the stone huts along the mountain side."

"What do you mean by half-breeds?" questioned Andy.

"The half-breeds are the families of the Danish men who have married Esquimaux women," replied the explorer. "Some of the half-breeds are very intelligent, and they are also much cleaner than the full-blooded Esquimaux."

"Are the Esquimaux very dirty?" asked Chet.

"They are the dirtiest people on earth," was the emphatic answer. "And why shouldn't they be? They never wash, and the only thing they rub on their bodies is whale or seal oil, to keep out the cold and to help limber them up."

"Gracious! I shouldn't want to live in the same house with them!" cried Andy.

"You couldn't live with them, that is, not for any great length of time.

The smell would make you sick."

CHAPTER XX

FAST IN THE ICE

"Well, there is one piece of luck," said Barwell Dawson, the next morning. "Our collier is here, so we can take on coal at once, and get away from here inside of three or four days."

"Yes, we want to take advantage of the weather while it lasts," answered the captain of the _Ice King_. And the task of transferring the coal began an hour later.

Andy and Chet asked for permission to go ash.o.r.e, and, after word had been sent to the governor of the place, they entered a steam launch in company with Barwell Dawson and Professor Jeffer. The explorer knew what was on Chet's mind, and aided him to find out if the _Northland_ was at Upernivik.

"She is here," said Barwell Dawson, after making inquiries. "I will have you taken to her."

Chet found Tom Fetjen, a Danish-American, tall and powerful, with a shrewd but kindly face. He listened to the boy's story with interest, and then shrugged his big shoulders.