Steve Young Part 59

"But suppose its mate comes?"

Johannes paused, and looked dubious.

"Ah!" he said, "then we should have to fight the mate."

"No more fighting this time," said the captain. "And Steve is quite right; the other bear may come in search of its companion. We must not attempt to camp here."

"I should say not," cried the doctor, "if we are likely to have another bear visitor."

"Do you think you can walk a few miles, Steve?" asked the doctor.

"Yes, if you will go slowly," replied the boy. "I'm very stiff now, but I shall get better as we go on."

And risking the destruction and loss of the skin, they started at once for the boat, to reach it after what to Steve was a long and painful walk.

That night he slept so soundly that ten hours had pa.s.sed before he made his appearance in the cabin, a good deal scratched and otherwise marked, but little the worse for his adventure.

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.

SIGNS OF THE COLD.

The skin of the bear was considered to be of too much value to be left to rot, so that next morning a fresh start was made as before, and in due time the place was reached where the roughly-built fireplace stood up blackened against the grey stones. But the bear lay out of sight beyond a ma.s.s of rock.

As they came to where the animal should have been, it did not seem to be there; but directly after Steve pointed, nearly speechless with wonder.

"Look!" he cried. "Come to life again."

Johannes laughed.

"Hardly," he said; "don't you see that it is the bear's mate."

So it proved; and upon the party approaching the dead animal, their coming was savagely resented, and the second bear came on at once to the attack so fiercely that the battle began at once, with the result that the Nors.e.m.e.n, who had all accompanied this expedition, had two bears to skin, and the sledge was heavily laden with the valuable portion of their game.

Certain threatening signs were pointed out by Johannes soon after, and they started back, but did not reach the boat till the ground was covered with snow and a peculiar chill was in the air. This snow in summer was unseasonable, but it made the sleigh run easily, and the boat was reached in less time than had been antic.i.p.ated; but the mountain slopes on either side of the fiord were completely transformed by the snow, an early taste of the winter they might expect to set in before long if they stayed.

As the summer glided on the great rampart of ice was patiently watched for tokens of melting, but these signs were few; and as the sun rose less high day by day, and there were once more hours of darkness, the prospect of their having to bear the winter where they were began to be discussed.

But meanwhile there was a long expedition as often as the men had cleared away the quant.i.ties of seal and walrus blubber that were brought in and rendered down. These expeditions were made to embrace business and investigation; and their knowledge of the lay of the land increasing, they persevered in their search wherever it was possible to penetrate the valleys, while the coast to north and south was explored as far as the boats could go.

But there was no sign of the lost crew, and as the time wore on it became evident that they were not in the region occupied by their friends.

"Let us hope that they may have reached home by now," said the doctor one evening. "I think we have done everything we can to find them."

"Everything," said the captain gravely; "but we cannot fight against fate."

There began to be certain signs now of the short summer nearing its termination, beside the setting of the sun in the far north-west. The birds were not so plentiful, and whenever a flock approached as many ducks and geese as possible were shot, and placed in ice for use in the winter, when no doubt they would all have gone south.

Thanks to the Norwegians, too, who proved to be very ingenious in watching the seals so as to find suitable places, plenty of fish were caught, making a most agreeable addition to their diet.

At last the captain announced to the men that there was no necessity for more walrus or seal hunts to be carried out, for the cargo was sufficient, and that now they were to occupy their time more with hunting and exploring, so as to make their stores of venison and dried and salted fish so ample that they could set the winter at defiance.

"Then you really think that we shall have to stay here all the winter, sir?" cried Steve.

"I have not a doubt about it now, my boy," replied the captain. "We came to help at first; now we are badly in want of help ourselves."

"It doesn't much matter, does it?" said Steve. "We are all very happy and strong; and if we stop through the winter, we shall be here ready for the breaking up of the ice."

"Yes, Steve, quite ready," said the captain, rather sadly; "but I did not mean to be caught like this."

"We've got months yet, haven't we, before the real winter comes?"

"Not up in this lat.i.tude," said the captain, smiling. "According to my calculations, we are as far north as any expedition has been. Did you notice anything this morning when you first got up?"

"No, only that it was rather cold for August."

"Yes, my lad, more than rather, for there was a thin film of ice on the fiord till the sun touched it. Only a very thin film, but a suggestion of how soon winter sets in up here."

But the next day proved to be so glorious, bright, and sunny that Steve could not realise the fact that the winter would be upon them soon.

There were tiny flowers in sunny corners, the sea and sky were of a brilliant blue, and the birds that were sailing round and round, and, chasing each other, made the rocks echo with their joyous cries.

"This place is so sheltered that we ought not to feel the winter so very much," he said to himself; and he walked up to where the Nors.e.m.e.n were seated rebinding the lashing about their lance heads, examining the grommetting round the harpoons, and planing up a fresh shaft for a lance whose handle had been cracked in an encounter with a huge walrus, which gave one vigorous flap and broke away, the lance handle snapping as if it had been a match, at the same time preparing one for Johannes' weapon broken by the bear.

"Morning," he said; and the fair, big, grave-looking fellows returned his salute with a smile.

"Going to be fine weather?" he asked.

"Yes, sir, fine and clear for some days yet. I don't think we shall have any snow."

"I should hope not," said Steve, smiling. "I say, Johannes, didn't we have a bit of a frost this morning?"

"Yes, sir, a slight one."

"You don't think that's a sign of the winter coming, do you?"

"Yes, sir; and very soon."

"What nonsense!" cried Steve. "Why, we often have sharp frosts at home in April and May, and they don't mean that winter is coming. Why do you think it is coming so soon?"

The big Norseman smiled.

"Because, sir, it is not coming; it has already come."

"Come?"

"Yes," said Johannes, raising his hand, and pointing to the dazzling peaks of ice and the glistening snow coming quite low down on the slopes, leading gradually to the lake-like sh.o.r.es of the fiord; "there it is, sir."

"Oh, but ice and snow have been there all the summer."