North-Pole Voyages Part 11

The wind was high, the floe full of hummocks, the cold intense, and altogether the journey was not unlike in its dangers that already endured. Whipple, ere they had reached the end, began to whisper that he was not cold, and finally fell from the rear sledge, benumbed and senseless, and was not missed until he was a hundred yards behind. He was lifted again to the sledge, but others gave signs of the approach of the same insensibility.

But the track becoming smoother, the drivers cracked their whips and shouted fiercely, goading onward their teams to their utmost speed in the fearful race for life. Now old familiar landmarks are pa.s.sed; the hull of the dismantled ship opens in the distance, and its outlines grow clearer until we shout with feeble voices, but in gladness of heart, "_Back again!_" During the last forty hours we had been in almost continual exposure, with the thermometer eighty degrees below zero, in which time we had traveled a hundred and fifty miles. During the run of ninety-one miles from Etah to the "Advance" we encamped once only, but failing to light our lamp, or to secure any protection from the cold, we immediately decamped and finished our run of forty-one miles.

CHAPTER XVIII.

SCARES.

WHEN the Esquimo arrived with Bonsall and Petersen, Dr. Kane resolved at once to send them back with supplies for the remaining portion of Dr.

Hayes's company, supposed to be, if living, at the miserable old hut.

Petersen and Bonsall were utterly unable to accompany them. Of the scanty ship's store he caused to be cleaned and boiled a hundred pounds of pork; small packages of meat-biscuit, bread-dust, and tea were carefully sewed up, all weighing three hundred and fifty pounds; and the whole was intrusted to the returning convoy, who gave emphatic a.s.surances that these treasures, more precious than gold to those for whom they were intended, should be promptly and honestly delivered. But this promise, we have seen, they did not keep, and, probably, did not intend to keep; they ate or wasted the whole. This untrustworthy trait of the Esquimo character goes far to show that nothing but Dr. Hayes's "boom" could have a.s.sured their help in his desperate necessities.

When Dr. Hayes arrived it was midnight. Dr. Kane met him at the gangway and gave him a brother's welcome. All were taken at once into the cabin.

Ohlsen was the first to recognize Hayes as he entered, and, kissing him, he threw his arms around him and tossed him into the warm bed he had just left. The fire was set ablaze, coffee and meat-biscuit soup were prepared, and, with wheat bread and mola.s.ses, were set before them.

In the mean time their Esquimo apparel was removed and hung up to dry.

They ate and slept; but many weary days pa.s.sed, under skillful treatment by Dr. Kane, and kind care by all, before they fully recovered from the strain of their terrible exposures and fearful journey.

When the returned comrades were duly cared for, Dr. Kane turned his attention to the conciliation of the Esquimo who had accompanied them back. They, of course, had their complaints to make, and, may be, meditated revenge, though they were, as usual, full of smiles. It was the white chief's policy to impress them with his great power and stern justice. He a.s.sembled both parties, the Hayes men and their Esquimo, in conference on deck. Both were questioned as if it were a doubt who had been the offenders. This done, he graciously declared to the savage members of the council his approval of their conduct, which he made emphatic, in the Esquimo way, by pulling their hair all around.

The great Nalekok having thus expressed his good will, showed it still further by introducing his guests, now to be considered friends, into the mysterious _igloe_ below where they had not before been permitted to enter. Their joy was that of indulged children during a holiday. They were seated in state on a red blanket. Four pork-fat lamps burned brilliantly; ostentatiously paraded were old worsted damask curtains, hunting knives, rifles, chronometers, and beer-barrels, which, as they glowed in the light, astonished the natives. With a princely air, which, no doubt, seemed to the recipients almost divine, he dealt out to each five needles, a file, and a stick of wood. To the two head men, Kalutunah and Shunghu, knives and other extras were given. A roaring fire was then made and a feast cooked. This eaten, buffaloes were spread about the stove, and the guests slept. They awoke to eat, and ate to sleep again. When they were ready to go, the white chief explained that the sledges, dogs, and some furs, which his men had taken, had been taken to save life, and were not to be considered as stolen goods, and he then and there restored them. They laughed, voted him in their way a good fellow, and, in fine spirits, dashed away, shouting to their wolfish dogs. They had taken special care, however, to add to the treasures so generously given, a few stolen knives and forks.

As the whole company are now crowded into the little cabin, and the darkness is without, so that the days pa.s.s without much incident, except that all are crowded with heavy burdens upon mind and body, we will listen to a few of the yet untold stories of the earlier winter.

At one time Dr. Kane attempted a walrus hunt. Morton, Hans, Ootuniah, Myouk, and "a dark stranger," Awahtok, accompanied him. He took a light sledge drawn by seven dogs, intending to reach the farthest point of Force Bay by daylight. But as the persistency of the Esquimo had overladen the sledge, they moved slowly, and were overtaken by the night on the floe in the midst of the bay. The snow began to drift before an increasing storm. While driving rapidly, they lost the track they had been following; they could see no landmarks, and in their confusion, turned their faces to the floating ice of the sound.

The Esquimo, usually at home on the floe, whether by night or by day, were quite bewildered. The dogs became alarmed, and spread their panic to the whole party. They could not camp, the wind blew so fiercely, so they were compelled to push rapidly forward, they knew not whither.

Checking, after a while, their speed, Dr. Kane gave each a tent-pole to feel their way more cautiously, for a murmur had reached his ear more alarming than the roar of the wind. Suddenly the noise of waves startled him. "Turn the dogs!" he shouted, while at the same moment a wreath of frost smoke, cold and wet, swept over the whole party, and the sea opened to them with its white line of foam, about one fourth of a mile ahead. The floe was breaking up by the force of the storm. The broken ice might be in any direction. They could now guess where they were, and they turned their faces toward an island up the bay. But the line of the sea, with its foaming waves, followed them so rapidly that they began to feel the ice bending under their feet as they ran at the sides of the sledge. The hummocks before them began to close up, and they run by them at a fearful risk as they hurried cautiously forward, stumbling over the crushed fragments between them and the sh.o.r.e. It was too dark to see the island for which they were steering, but the black outline of a lofty cape was dimly seen along the horizon, and served as a landmark. As they approached the sh.o.r.e edge of the floe they found it broken up, and its fragments surging against the base of the ice-foot to which they desired to climb. Being now under the shadow of the land, it was densely dark.

Dr. Kane went ahead, groping for a bridge of ice, having a rope tied round his waist, the other end of which was held by Ootuniah, who followed, at whose heels came the rest of the party. The doctor finally succeeded in clambering upon the ice-foot, and the rest one after another followed with the dogs.

The joy of their escape broke out into exultation when they ascertained that the land was Anoatok, only a short distance from the familiar Esquimo huts. G.o.d had guided them with his all-seeing eye to where they would find needed refreshment! In less than an hour they were feasting on a smoking stew of walrus meat.

Having eaten their stew and drank their coffee they slept--slept eleven hours! Well they might "after an unbroken ice-walk of forty-eight miles, and twenty haltless hours!" The Esquimo sung themselves to sleep with a monotonous song, in compliment to the white chief, the refrain of which was, "Nalegak! nalegak! nalegak! soak!"--"Captain! captain! great captain!"

Without further special incident the party returned to the brig.

At one time an alarm was brought to Dr. Kane that a wolf was prowling among the meat barrels on the floe. Believing that a wolf would be more profitably added to their store of meat than to have him take any thing from it, he seized a rifle and ran out. Yes, there he is, a wolf from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail! Bang goes the rifle, whiz goes the ball, making the hair fly from the back of--one of the sledge-dogs! He was not hurt much, but he came near paying with his life for the crime of running away from Morton's sledge.

The fox-traps made occasion for many long walks, great expectations of game, and grievous disappointment. Dr. Kane and Hans were at one time examining them about two miles from the brig. They were, unfortunately, unarmed. The doctor thought he heard the bellow of a walrus. They listened. No, not a walrus, but a bear! Hark, hear him roar! They sprung to the ice-foot, about ten feet above the floe. Another roar, round and full! He is drawing nearer! He has a fine voice, and, no doubt, is large, and fat, and savory! But then a bear must be killed before he is eaten, and that is just where the difficulty lies. It don't do for two men to run, for that is an invited pursuit, and bears are good runners.

"Hans!" exclaimed Dr. Kane, "run for the brig, and I will play decoy!"

Hans is a good runner, and this time he did "his level best."

Dr. Kane remains on the ice-foot alone. It is too dark to see many yards off, and the silence is oppressive, for the bear says nothing, and so Kane makes no reply. He queries whether, after all, there is any bear.

How easy it is for the imagination to be excited amid these shadowy hummocks, and this dreary waste through which the wind roars so dismally! He gets down from his comparatively safe elevation upon the floe, puts his hand over his eyes, and peers into the darkness. No bear after all! But what's that rounded, shadowy thing? Stained ice? Yes, stained ice! But the stained ice speaks with a voice which wakes the Arctic echoes, and charges on our explorer. It is a hungry bear! Dr.

Kane's legs are scurvy-smitten affairs, but this time they credit the fleetness of those of the deer. He drops a mitten, and his pursuer stops to smell of it, to examine it carefully, and to show his disgust at such game, by tearing it to pieces. These bears are famous for losing the bird by stopping to pick up his feathers. The man stops not, but drops another mitten as he flies. Before these articles are duly examined he has reached the brig. Dr. Kane has escaped, and the bear has lost his supper.

It is now bruin's turn to run, for fresh hunters and loaded rifles are after him. He does run, and escapes!

But if there were fears without the brig, there were fightings with a fearful enemy within. The crowded condition of the cabin, after the Hayes party returned, made it necessary for the pork-fat lamps to be set up outside the avenue, in a room parted off in the hold for their use. A watch was set over them, but he deserted his post, the fat flamed over and set the room ablaze. Eight of the men lay in their berths at the time helplessly disabled. The fire was only a few feet from the tinder-like moss which communicated with the cabin. The men able to work seized buckets, and formed a line to the well in the ice always kept open. In the mean time Dr. Kane rushed into the flames with some fur robes which lay at hand, and checked it for the moment. The water then came, and the first bucket full thrown caused a smoke and steam which prostrated him. Fortunately, in falling he struck the feet of the foremost bucket-man. He was taken to the deck, his beard, forelock, and eyebrows singed away, and sad burns upon his forehead and palms. Nearly all received burns and frost-bites, but in a half hour the fire was extinguished. The danger was horrid, and the escape wonderful! Neither wild beasts nor the flames hurt whom G.o.d protects!

CHAPTER XIX.

SEEKING THE ESQUIMO.

DECEMBER twenty-fifth came, and our ice-bound, darkness-enshrouded, sick, or, in a measure, health-broken explorers tried to make it a merry Christmas. They all sat down to dinner together. "There was more love than with the stalled ox of former times, but of herbs none." They tried, at least, to forget their discomforts in the blessings they still retained, and to look hopefully on the long distance, and the many conflicts between them and their home and friends.

Immediately after Christmas a series of attempts were commenced to open a communication with the Esquimo at Etah, ninety-one miles away. The supply of fresh meat was exhausted. The traps yielded nothing, and Hans's hunting could not go on successfully in the dark. The scurvy-smitten men were failing for the want of it, and so every thing must be periled to make the journey. The first thing to be done was to put the dogs, if possible, into traveling order. They were now few in number, for fifty had died, and the survivors had been kept on short rations. Their dead companions, which had been preserved in a frozen state, were boiled and fed to them for fresh food. Dog _did_ eat dog, and relished and grew stronger on the diet.

Dr. Kane and Petersen made the first attempt, starting on the twenty-ninth of December. They had scarcely reached the forsaken huts of Anoatok, "the wind-loved spot," so often used as a resting place, when the dogs failed. A storm, with a bitter, pelting snow-drift, confined them awhile. An incident occurred here--one of the many which happened to the explorers--which shows plainly the unseen, but ever present, eye and hand which attended them.

They were just losing themselves in sleep when Petersen shouted: "Captain Kane, the lamp's out!" His commander heard him with a thrill of horror! The storm was increasing, the cold piercing, and the darkness intense. The tinder had become moist and was frozen solid. The guns were outside, to keep them from the moisture of the hut. The only hope of heat was in relighting the lamp. A lighted lamp and heat they _must_ have. Petersen tried to obtain fire from a pocket-pistol, but his only tinder was moss, and after repeated attempts he gave it up. Dr. Kane then tried. He says:--

"By good luck I found a bit of tolerably dry paper in my jumper; and, becoming apprehensive that Petersen would waste our few percussion caps with his ineffectual snappings, I took the pistol myself. It was so intensely dark that I had to grope for it, and in doing so touched his hand. At that instant the pistol became distinctly visible. A pale, bluish light, slightly tremulous but not broken, covered the metallic parts of it, the barrel, lock, and trigger. The stock too was clearly discernible, as if by the reflected light, and, to the amazement of both of us, the thumb and two fingers with which Petersen was holding it, the creases, wrinkles, and circuit of the nails, clearly defined upon the skin. The phosph.o.r.escence was not unlike the ineffectual fire of the glowworm. As I took the pistol my hand became illuminated also, and so did the powder-rubbed paper when I raised it against the muzzle.

"The paper did not ignite at the first trial, but the light from it continuing, I was able to charge the pistol without difficulty, rolled up my paper into a cone, filled it with moss sprinkled over with powder, and held it in my hand while I fired. This time I succeeded in producing flame, and we saw no more of the phosph.o.r.escence."

When the storm subsided they made further experiment to reach Etah. But dogs and men found the wading impossible, and they returned to the brig, the dogs going ahead and the men walking after them. They made the forty-four miles of their circuitous route in sixteen hours!

Thus closed the year 1854.

The three following weeks were mainly occupied by Dr. Kane in a careful preparation for another attempt to reach Etah, this time with Hans. Old Yellow, one of the five dogs on which success in a measure depended, stalked about the deck with "his back up," as much as to say, "I must have more to eat if I am going." Jenny, a mother dog, had quite a family of little ones. Yellow being very hungry, and not seeing the use of such young folks, gobbled one of them down before his master could say, "Don't you." Dr. Kane taking the hint, and thinking that the puppies would not be dogs soon enough for his use, shared with Yellow the rest of the litter. So both grew stronger for the journey.

The new year, 1855, came in with a vail of darkness over the prospects of our explorers. The sick list was large, and threatened to include the whole party. A fox was caught occasionally, and beyond this stinted supply there was no fresh meat. On Tuesday, January twenty-third, the commander and Hans, with the dog-team, turned their faces toward the Esquimo. All went well for a while, until hope rose of accomplishing the journey, getting savory walrus, and cheering their sinking comrades.

Suddenly, Big Yellow, in spite of nice puppy soup, gave out, and went into convulsions. Toodla, the next best animal, failed soon after. The moon went down, and the dark night was upon the beset but not confounded heroes. Groping for the ice-foot, they trudged fourteen wretched hours, and reached the old _igloe_ at Anoatok. The inevitable storm arose, with its burden of snow driven by a strange, moistening southeast wind, burying the hut deep and warm. The temperature rose seventy degrees! An oppressive sensation attacked Dr. Kane and Hans, and alarming symptoms were developed. Water ran down from the roof, the doctor's sleeping bag of furs was saturated, and his luxurious eider down, G.o.d's wonderful cold defier, was "a wet swab."

After two days in this comfortless hut, the storm having subsided, they once again pushed toward Etah! Their sick, failing comrades were the spur to this desperate effort. But it was in vain, for the deep, moist snow, the hummocks and the wind, defied even desperate courage. They returned to the hut and spent another wretched night.

In the morning, in spite of short provisions, exhaustion, continued snowing, they climbed the ice-foot, and for four haltless hours faced toward the Esquimo! But in vain. Dr. Kane says: "My poor Esquimo, Hans, adventurous and buoyant as he was, began to cry like a child. Sick, worn out, strength gone, dogs fast and floundering, I am not ashamed to admit that, as I thought of the sick men on board, my own equanimity was at fault."

Dr. Kane scrambled up a familiar hill that was near and reconnoitered.

He was delighted to see, winding among the hummocks, a level way! He called Hans to see it. With fresh dogs and fresh supplies, they could certainly reach Etah. So, after another night at the hut, they returned to the brig, comforting the sick with the a.s.surance that success would come on the next trial.

The month closed with only five effective men, including the commander, and of these some were about as much sick as well. Dr. Kane could not be spared from his patients, so, February third, Petersen and Hans tried another Etah adventure. In three days they returned, with a sorrowful tale from poor Petersen of heroic efforts ending in exhaustion and defeat.

But G.o.d always sent many rays of light through the densest darkness besetting our explorers to cheer them and inspire hope. The yellow tints of coming sunlight were at noonday faintly painted on the horizon. The rabbits prophesied the spring by appearing abroad, and two were shot.

They yielded a pint of raw blood, which the sickest drank as a grateful cordial. Their flesh was also eaten raw, and with great thankfulness.

Following these moments of comfort came a dismal and anxious night.

Thick clouds over-spread the sky, a heavy mist rendered the darkness appalling, followed by a drifting snow and a fearful storm. The wind howled and shrieked through the rigging of the helpless, battered brig, as if in mockery of her condition and the sufferings of her inmates.

Goodfellow had gone inland with his gun during the brief day, and had not returned. Roman candles and bluelights were burned to guide him homeward. Altogether it was a night to excite the superst.i.tious fears of the sailors, and they proved to be not beyond the reach of such fears.

Tom Hickey, the cook, having been on deck while the gale was in its full strength, to peer into the darkness for him, ran below declaring that he had seen Goodfellow moving cautiously along the land-ice and jump down on the floe. He hurried up his supper to give the tired messmate a warm welcome, but no one came. Dr. Kane went out with a lantern, looked carefully around for some hundreds of yards, but found no fresh footsteps. Tom seriously insisted that he had seen Goodfellow's apparition!