Bruin felt impelled to tryto follow the notes, though I am bound to say he did not always keepeven in the key-note. Surely such a duet was never heard before in thisworld. There was a small open space of water not far from the hummockon which the piper of the _Arrandoon_ had stationed himself; it was soonalive with the heads of hundreds of seals who had come up to listen; so,upon the whole, Peter had a most appreciative audience. But see yonder,is that a seal on the ice that is creeping closer and closer up behindthe bear? Nay, for seals don't carry rifles; and now the newcomerlevels his gun just for a moment, there is a puff of blue-white smoke,the bear springs high in the air, then falls prostrate on the snow. Hisululations are over for ever and ay; the piper plays a merrier air, andadvances with speed to meet old Seth and the rest of the sportsmen, who,glad as they are to see him alive, greet him with uproarious cheers andlaughter. Then a procession is formed, and with Peter and his pipesstriding on in front, thus do the seal-stalkers return to the_Arrandoon_.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
THE COMING FROST--SILAS WARNS THE "ARRANDOON" OF DANGER--FORGING THROUGHTHE ICE--BESET--A STRANGE AND ALARMING ACCIDENT.
So willingly and merrily worked all hands on the ice, that in less thanthree days the _Canny Scotia_ was almost a full, though by no means abumper ship, and poor Silas began to see visions of future happiness inhis mind's eye, when he should return to his native land and completethe joy of his family. Unfortunately, however, his good fortune did notlast for the present. How seldom, indeed, good luck does last in thisworld of ours! One day, towards midnight, the sky apparently assumed abrighter blue. This seemed to concern Silas considerably. The good manwas walking the deck at the time with his inseparable companion thefirst mate, neither of whom ever appeared now to court sleep or rest.
"Matie," said Silas, pointing skywards, "do you see any difference inthe colour yonder?"
"That do I!" replied the mate.
"And hasn't it got much colder?"
"Well, both of us have been walking," the chief officer returned, "atthe rate of several knots, just to keep the dear life in us, and I neversaw you, sir, with your hands so deep in your pockets before."
Down rushed the captain to consult his glass; he was speedily up again,however. "It is just as I thought," he said. "Now come up into thenest with me; there's room for both of us. Look!" he added, as soon asthey had reached their barrel of observation, "the rascals know what iscoming. They are taking the water, and before ten minutes there won'tbe a seal with his nose on that bit of pack. Heigho, matie! heigho!that is just like my luck. If I'd been born a tailor, every man wouldhave been born a Highlander, and made his own kilts. But hi! up, matie,Silas doesn't mean to let his heart down yet for a bit. A black frostis on the wing. There is no help for that, but the _Arrandoon's_ peopledon't seem to know it. I must off over and tell them;" and even as hespoke Silas began descending the Jacob's ladder. "Call all hands!" hecried, as he disappeared over the side; "we must work her round as longas the pieces are anything loose-like."
It was not a long journey to the big sister ship, and the sturdy legs ofthis ancient mariner would soon get him there. But he would not waittill alongside; he needs must hail her while still many yards from herdark and stately sides.
"What ho, there!" he bawled. "_Arrandoon_ ahoy!"
That voice of his was a wonderful one. It might have awakened the dead;it was like a ten-horse power speaking-trumpet lined with the roughestemery-paper. Seals heard it far down beneath the ice, and came to thesurface to listen and to marvel. A great bear was sitting not twentyyards from Silas. He thought he should like to eat Silas, but he couldnot swallow that voice, so he went across the ice instead. Then thevoice rolled in over the vessel's bulwarks, startled the officer onduty, and went ringing down below through the state-rooms, causing oursleeping heroes to tumble out of their bunks with double-quick speed,even the usually late and lazy Ralph evincing more celerity than ever hehad done in his life before.
They met, rubbing their eyes and looking cold and foolish, all in a knotin the saloon. Cold and foolish, and a little bit frightened as well,for the words of Silas sounded terribly like "the _Arrandoon_ on fire!"
Not a bit of it, for there came the hail again, and distinct enough thistime.
"_Arrandoon_ ahoy! Is everybody dead on board?"
"What _is_ the matter?" cried McBain, as soon as he got on deck, dressedas he was in the garments of night.
"Black frost, Captain McBain," answered Silas, springing up the side,"and you'll soon find that matter enough, or my name ain't Grig, nor myluck like a bad wind, always veering in the wrong direction. The sealsare gone, sir--every mother's son o' them! My advice is--but, dear me,gentlemen! go below and rig out. Why, here's four more of you! Thatain't the raiment for a black frost! You look like five candidates fora choking good influenza!" This first bit of advice being taken in goodpart, "Now," continued Silas, "your next best holt, Captain McBain, willbe to get up steam, and get her head pointed away for the blue water,else there is no saying we may not leave our bones here."
"Ah!" exclaimed McBain, "we've no wish to do that. And here comes ourworthy engineer. The old question, chief--How soon can you get us underway?"
"With the American hams, sir," was the quiet reply, "in about twentyminutes; with a morsel of nice blubber that I laid in especially for thepurpose of emergencies, in far less time than that."
"Thanks!" said McBain, smiling; "use anything, but don't lose time."
The ships lay far from the open sea. They had been "rove" a long way inthrough the pack, to get close to the seals, but, independently of that,floating streams of ice, one after another, had joined the outer edge ofthis immense field of bergs, placing them at a greater distance from thewelcome water.
Steam was speedily roaring, and ready for its work. Then, not withoutconsiderable difficulty, the vessel was put about, and the voyageseaward was commenced. Slow and tedious this voyage was bound to be,for there was so little wind it was useless to shake the sails loose, sothe duty of towing her consorts devolved upon the _Arrandoon_. Insteadof remaining on his own ship, Silas Grig came on board the steamer,where his services as iceman were fully appreciated.
As yet the frost had made no appreciable difference to the solidity ofthe pack; a very gentle swell was moving the pieces--a swell that rolledin from seaward, causing the whole scene around to look like a tract ofsnow-clad land, acted on by the giant force of an earthquake. Forgingahead through such ice, even by the aid of steam, is hard, slow work;and, assisted as the _Arrandoon_ was by men walking in front of her andpushing on the bergs with long poles, hardly could she make a headway ofhalf a mile an hour, and there were twenty good miles to traverse! Itwas a weary task, but the men bent their backs cheerfully to it, asBritish sailors ever do to a duty that has to be performed.
[Light lie the earth on the breast of the gallant Captain Brownrigg,R.N., and green be the grass on his grave. My young readers know thestory; it is such stories as his they ought to read; such men as heought to be enshrined in their memory. Betrayed by treacherous Arabs,with a mere handful of men he fought their powerful dhow and guns; andeven when hope itself had fled he made no attempt to escape, but foughton and fought on, till he fell pierced with twenty wounds. He was aheroic sailor, and _he was doing his duty_!]
Even had it been possible to keep up the men's strength, forty hoursmust have elapsed ere the _Arrandoon_ would be rising and falling onblue water. But many hours had not gone by ere the men got a rest theylittle cared for--for down went the swell, the motion among the bergswas stilled, and frost began its work of welding them together.
"Just like my luck, now, isn't it?" said Silas, when he found the shipcould not be budged another inch, and was quite surrounded by heavy ice.
"I don't believe in luck," said Captain McBain; "and, after all, thingsmight have turned out even worse than they have."
"Oh!" said Silas, "I'm not the man to grumble or growl. We arecomfortable and jolly, and
we have plenty to eat."
"We won't have much sport, though," said Rory, with a sigh, "if we haveto remain here long, for the bears will follow the seals, won't they?"
"That they will," replied Silas, "and small blame to them; it is exactlywhat I should like to do myself."
"Well, you can, you know," said McBain, laughing. "We have a splendidballoon. De Vere will take you for a fly I'm sure, if you'll ask him."
"What! trust myself up in the clouds!" cried Silas; "thank you very muchfor the offer, but if ill-luck has kept following my footsteps all mylife, ill-luck
Wild Adventures round the Pole Page 35