The Voyages and Adventures of Captain Hatteras Part 20

"Well put," answered Johnson; "Dr. Clawbonny talks of those things like a man who understands them."

"It seems possible," said James Wall.

"Mere conjectures! nothing but hypotheses!" answered Shandon, obstinately.

"Well, Shandon," said Hatteras, "let us consider the two cases; either the sea is free from ice, or it is not, and in neither case will it be impossible to reach the Pole. If it is free, the _Forward_ will take us there without difficulty; if it is frozen, we must try to reach it over the ice by our sledges. You will confess that it is not impracticable; having once come with our brig to lat.i.tude 83, we shall have only about six hundred miles between us and the Pole."

"And what are six hundred miles," said the doctor, briskly, "when it is proved that a Cossack, Alexis Markoff, went along the frozen sea, north of Russia, on sledges drawn by dogs, for a distance of eight hundred miles, in twenty-four days?"

"You hear him, Shandon," answered Hatteras, "and will you say that an Englishman cannot do as much as a Cossack?"

"Never!" cried the enthusiastic doctor.

"Never!" repeated the boatswain.

"Well, Shandon?" asked the captain.

"Captain," answered Shandon, coldly, "I can only repeat what I have said,--I shall obey you."

"Well. Now," continued Hatteras, "let us consider our present situation; we are caught in the ice, and it seems to me impossible for us to reach Smith's Sound this year. This is what we must do."

Hatteras unfolded on the table one of the excellent charts published in 1859 by the order of the Admiralty.

"Be good enough to look here. If Smith's Sound is closed, Lancaster Sound is not, to the west of Baffin's Bay; in my opinion, we ought to go up this sound as far as Barrow Strait, and thence to Beechey Island. This has been done a hundred times by sailing-vessels; we shall have no difficulty, going under steam. Once at Beechey Island, we shall follow Wellington Sound as far northward as possible, to where it meets the channel, connecting it with Queen's Sound, at the place where the open sea was seen. It is now only the 20th of May; if nothing happens, we shall be there in a month, and from there we shall start for the Pole. What do you say to that, gentlemen?"

"Evidently," said Johnson, "it's the only way open to us."

"Well, we shall take it, and to-morrow. Let Sunday be a day of rest; you will see, Shandon, that the Bible is read as usual; the religious exercises do the men good, and a sailor more than any one ought to put his trust in G.o.d."

"Very well, Captain," answered Shandon, who went away with the second officer and the boatswain.

"Doctor," said Hatteras, pointing at Shandon, "there's an offended man, whose pride has ruined him; I can no longer depend upon him."

Early the next day the captain had the launch lowered; he went to reconnoitre the icebergs about the basin, of which the diameter was hardly more than two hundred yards. He noticed that by the gradual pressure of the ice, this s.p.a.ce threatened to grow smaller; hence it became necessary to make a breach somewhere, to save the ship from being crushed; by the means he employed, it was easy to see that John Hatteras was an energetic man.

In the first place he had steps cut, by which he climbed to the top of an iceberg; from that point he saw it would be easy to open a path to the southwest; by his orders an opening was made in the middle of an iceberg, a task which was completed by Monday evening.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Hatteras could not depend on his blasting-cylinders of eight or ten pounds of powder, whose action would have been insignificant against such large ma.s.ses; they were only of use to break the field-ice; hence he placed in the opening a thousand pounds of powder, carefully laying it where it should be of the utmost service. This chamber, to which ran a long fuse, surrounded by gutta-percha, opened on the outside.

The gallery, leading thereto, was filled with snow and lumps of ice, to which the cold of the next night gave the consistency of granite.

In fact, the temperature, under the influence of the east-wind, fell to 12.

The next day at seven o'clock the _Forward_ was under steam, ready to seize any chance of escape. Johnson was charged with lighting the mine; the fuse was calculated to burn half an hour before exploding the powder. Hence Johnson had plenty of time to get back to the ship; indeed, within ten minutes he was at his post.

The crew were all on deck; the day was dry and tolerably clear; the snow was no longer falling; Hatteras, standing on the deck with Shandon and the doctor, counted the minutes on his watch.

At thirty-five minutes after eight a dull explosion was heard, much less deafening than had been antic.i.p.ated. The outline of the mountains was suddenly changed, as by an earthquake; a dense white smoke rose high in the air, and long cracks appeared in the side of the iceberg, of which the upper part was hurled to a great distance, and fell in fragments about the _Forward_.

But the way was by no means free yet; huge lumps of ice were suspended upon the neighboring icebergs, and their fall threatened to close the exit.

Hatteras saw their situation in a flash of the eye.

"Wolston!" he shouted.

The gunner hastened to him.

"Captain!" he said.

"Put a triple charge in the forward gun, and ram it in as hard as possible!"

"Are we going to batter the iceberg down with cannon-b.a.l.l.s?" asked the doctor.

"No," answered Hatteras. "That would do no good. No b.a.l.l.s, Wolston, but a triple charge of powder. Be quick!"

In a few moments the gun was loaded.

"What is he going to do without a ball?" muttered Shandon between his teeth.

"We'll soon see," answered the doctor.

"We are all ready, Captain," cried Wolston.

"Well," answered Hatteras. "Brunton!" he shouted to the engineer, "make ready! Forward a little!"

Brunton opened the valves, and the screw began to move; the _Forward_ drew near the blown-up iceberg.

"Aim carefully at the pa.s.sage!" cried the captain to the gunner.

He obeyed; when the brig was only half a cable-length distant, Hatteras gave the order,--

"Fire!"

A loud report followed, and the fragments of ice, detached by the commotion of the air, fell suddenly into the sea. The simple concussion had been enough.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

"Put on full steam, Brunton!" shouted Hatteras. "Straight for the pa.s.sage, Johnson!"

Johnson was at the helm; the brig, driven by the screw, which tossed the water freely, entered easily the open pa.s.sage. It was time. The _Forward_ had hardly pa.s.sed through the opening, before it closed behind it.

It was an exciting moment, and the only calm and collected man on board was the captain. So the crew, amazed at the success of this device, could not help shouting,--

"Hurrah for John Hatteras!"