The Giant of the North: Pokings Round the Pole

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER NINE.

  THE CAPTAIN MAKES A STUPENDOUS EFFORT. DISAPPOINTMENTS AND DISCOVERIES.

  Next morning the ice-plain was crossed at a swinging gallop. Indeed,the dogs were so fresh and frisky after a good rest and a hearty mealthat they ran away more than once, and it became a matter of extremedifficulty to check them. At last the great chain was reached, and theparty came to an abrupt halt at the base of one of the largest of thebergs. Captain Vane gazed up at it as Napoleon the First may besupposed to have gazed at the Alps he had resolved to scale and cross.

  The resemblance to alpine scenery was not confined to mere form--such astowering peaks and mighty precipices--for there were lakelets and pondshere and there up among the crystal heights, from which rivuletstrickled, streams brawled, and cataracts thundered.

  It was evident, however, that the old giant that frowned on them wasverging towards dissolution, for he was honey-combed in all directions.

  "Impossible to scale that," said Alf, with a solemn look.

  Even Leo's sanguine temperament was dashed for a moment. "We dare notattempt to cut through it," he said, "for masses are falling about hereand there in a very dangerous fashion."

  As he spoke, a tall spire was seen to slip from its position, toppleover, and go crashing down into a dark blue gulf of ice below it.

  "No chance of success _now_," said Benjamin Vane, gloomily.

  "None wotsomediver," muttered Butterface, his broad black visageabsolutely elongated by sympathetic despair. For, you must know, as faras his own feelings were concerned, sympathy alone influenced him.Personally, he was supremely indifferent about reaching the North Pole.In fact he did not believe in it at all, and made no scruple of sayingso, when asked, but he seldom volunteered his opinion, being anextremely modest and polite man.

  During these desponding remarks Captain Vane did not seem to be muchdepressed.

  "Anders," he said, turning abruptly to the interpreter, "ask Chingatokwhat he thinks. Can we pass this barrier, and, if not, what would headvise us to do?"

  It was observed that the other Eskimos drew near with anxious looks tohear the opinion of their chief.

  Toolooha and Tekkona, however, seemed quite devoid of anxiety. Theyevidently had perfect confidence in the giant, and poor little Oblooriaglanced up in the face of her friend as if to gather consolation fromher looks.

  Chingatok, after a short pause, said:--

  "The ice-mountains cannot be passed. The white men have not wings; theycannot fly. They must return to land, and travel for many days to theopen water near the far-off land--there."

  He pointed direct to the northward.

  Captain Vane made no reply. He merely turned and gave orders that thelashings of one of the large sledges which conveyed the baggage shouldbe cast loose. Selecting a box from this, he opened it, and tooktherefrom a small instrument made partly of brass, partly of glass, andpartly of wood.

  "You have often wondered, Benjy," he said, "what I meant to do with thiselectrical machine. You shall soon see. Help me to arrange it, boy,and do you, Leo, uncoil part of this copper wire. Here, Alf, carry thislittle box to the foot of the berg, and lay it in front of yon bluecavern."

  "Which? That one close to the waterfall or--"

  "No, the big cavern, just under the most solid part of the berg--the onethat seems to grow bluer and bluer until it becomes quite black in itsheart. And have a care, Alf. The box you carry is dangerous. Don'tlet it fall. Lay it down gently, and come back at once. Anders," headded, turning round, "let all the people go back with dogs and sledgesfor a quarter of a mile."

  There was something so peremptory and abrupt in their leader's mannerthat no one thought of asking him a question, though all were filledwith surprise and curiosity as to what he meant to do.

  "Come here, Leo," he said, after his orders had been obeyed. "Hold thiscoil, and pay it out as I walk to the berg with the end in my hand."

  The coil was one of extremely fine copper wire. Leo let it run as theCaptain walked off. A minute or two later he was seen to enter the darkblue cavern and disappear.

  "My dear dad is reckless," exclaimed Benjy, in some anxiety, "what ifthe roof o' that cave should fall in. There are bits of ice droppingabout everywhere. What _can_ he be going to do?"

  As he spoke, the Captain issued from the cave, and walked smartlytowards them.

  "Now then, it's all right," he said, "give me the coil, Leo, and comeback, all of you. Fetch the machine, Alf."

  In a few minutes the whole party had retired a considerable distancefrom the huge berg, the Captain uncoiling the wire as he went.

  "Surely you're not going to try to blow it up piecemeal?" said Leo.

  "No, lad, I'm not going to do that, or anything so slow," returned theCaptain, stopping and arranging the instrument.

  "But if the box contains gunpowder," persisted Leo, "there's not enoughto--"

  "It contains dynamite," said the Captain, affixing the coil to themachine, and giving it a sharp turn.

  If a volcano had suddenly opened fire under the iceberg the effect couldnot have been more tremendous. Thunder itself is not more deep than wasthe crash which reverberated among the ice-cliffs. Smoke burst in ahuge volume from the heart of the berg. Masses, fragments, domes, andpinnacles were hurled into the air, and fell back to mingle with theblue precipices that tumbled, slid, or plunged in horrible confusion.Only a portion, indeed, of the mighty mass had been actually disrupted,but the shock to the surrounding ice was so shattering that the entireberg subsided.

  "Stu-pendous!" exclaimed Alf, with a look of awe-stricken wonder.

  Benjy, after venting his feelings in a shriek of joyful surprise, seemedto be struck dumb. Anders and Butterface stood still,--speechless. Asfor the Eskimos, they turned with one hideous yell, and fled from thespot like maniacs--excepting Chingatok, who, although startled, stoodhis ground in an attitude expressive of superlative surprise.

  "So,--it has not disappointed me," remarked the Captain, when thehideous din had ceased, "dynamite is indeed a powerful agent whenproperly applied: immeasurably more effective than powder."

  "But it seems to me," said Leo, beginning to recover himself, "thatalthough you have brought the berg down you have not rendered it muchmore passable."

  "That's true, lad," answered the Captain with a somewhat ruefulexpression. "It does seem a lumpy sort of heap after all; but there maybe found some practicable bits when we examine it more closely. Come,we'll go see."

  On closer inspection it was found that the ruined berg still presentedan absolutely insurmountable obstacle to the explorers, who, beingfinally compelled to admit that even dynamite had failed, left the placein search of a natural opening.

  Travelling along the chain for a considerable time, in the hope ofsucceeding, they came at last to a succession of comparatively levelfloes, which conducted them to the extreme northern end of the chain,and there they found that the floes continued onwards in an unbrokenplain to what appeared to be the open sea.

  "That is a water-sky, for certain," exclaimed Captain Vane, eagerly, onthe evening when this discovery was made. "The open ocean cannot now befar off."

  "There's a very dark cloud there, father," said Benjy, who, as we havebefore said, possessed the keenest sight of the party.

  "A cloud, boy! where? Um--Yes, I see something--"

  "It is land," said Chingatok, in a low voice.

  "Land!" exclaimed the Captain, "are you sure?"

  "Yes, I know it well. I passed it on my journey here. We left ourcanoes and oomiaks there, and took to sledges because the floes wereunbroken. But these ice-mountains were not here at that time. Theyhave come down since we passed from the great sea."

  "There!" said the Captain, turning to Leo with a look of triumph, "hestill speaks of the great sea! If these bergs came from it, we _must_have reached it, lad."

  "But the land puzzles me," said Leo. "Can it be part of Greenland?"

  "Scarcely, for Gree
nland lies far to the east'ard, and the latestdiscoveries made on the north of that land show that the coast turnsstill more decidedly east--tending to the conclusion that Greenland isan island. This land, therefore, must be entirely new land--an island--a continent perhaps."

  "But it may be a cape, father," interposed Benjy. "You know that capeshave a queer way of sticking out suddenly from land, just as men's nosesstick out from their faces."

  "True, Benjy, true, but your simile is not perfect, for men's nosesdon't always stick out from their faces--witness the nose of Butterface,which, you know, is well aft of his lips and chin. However, this _may_be Greenland's nose--who knows? We shall go and find out ere long.Come, use your whip, Leo. Ho! Chingatok, tell your hairy kinsmen toclap on all sail and make for the land."

  "Hold on, uncle!" cried Alf, "I think I see a splendid specimen of--"

  The crack of Leo's whip, and the yelping of the team, drowned the restof the sentence, and Alf was whirled away from his splendid specimen,(whatever it was), for ever!

  "It is a piece of great good fortune," said the Captain, as they sweptalong over the hard and level snow, "that the Eskimos have left theirboats on this land, for now I shall have two strings to my bow."

  "What is the other string?" asked Leo, as he administered a flip to theflank of a lazy dog.

  "Ah, that remains to be seen, lad," replied the Captain.

  "Why, what a tyrant you are, uncle!" exclaimed Alf, who had recoveredfrom his disappointment about the splendid specimen. "You won't tell usanything, almost. Who ever before heard of the men of an expedition tothe North Pole being kept in ignorance of the means by which they wereto get there?"

  The Captain's reply was only a twinkle of the eye.

  "Father wants to fill you with bliss, Alf," said Benjy, "according toyour own notions of that sort of thing."

  "What do you mean, Ben?"

  "Why, have we not all heard you often quote the words:--`Where ignoranceis bliss, 'tis folly to be wise.'"

  "Hear, hear! That's it, Benjy," said the Captain, with a nod and ashort laugh, while his son assumed the satisfied gravity of lookappropriate to one who has made a hit; "I won't decrease his bliss byremoving his ignorance yet awhile."

  "Hain't Buzzby got nuffin' to say on that 'ere pint?" whisperedButterface to Benjy, who sat just in front of him.

  "Ah! to be sure. I say, Alf," said the boy with an earnest look,"hasn't your favourite author got something to say about the bliss ofignorance? I'm almost sure I heard you muttering something in yourdreams on that subject the other day."

  "Of course he has. He has a long poem on that subject. Here is a bitof it."

  Alf, whose memory was good, immediately recited the following:

  "How sweet is ignorance! How soothing to the mind, To search for treasures in the brain, and nothing find! Consider. When the memory is richly stored, How apt the victim of redundant knowledge to be bored! When Nothing fills the chambers of the heart and brain, Then negative enjoyment comes with pleasures in her train! Descending on the clods of sense like summer rain.

  "Knowledge, 'tis said, gives power, and so it often does; Knowledge makes sorrow, too, around our pillows buzz. In debt I am, with little cash; I know it--and am sad. Of course, if I were ignorant of this--how glad! A loving friend, whom once I knew in glowing health, Has broken down, and also, somehow, lost his wealth. How sad the knowledge makes me! Better far In ignorance to live, than hear of things that jar, And think of things that are not,--not of things that are.

  "`If ignorance is bliss,' the poet saith--why `if?' Why doubt a fact so clearly proven, stubborn, stiff? The heavy griefs and burdens of the world around, The hideous tyranny by which mankind is ground, The earthquake, tempest, rush of war, and wail of woe, Are all as though they were not--if I do not know! Wrapped in my robe of ignorance, what _can_ I miss? Am I not saved from all--and more than all--of this? Do I not revel in a regal realm of bliss?"

  "Bravo! Buzzby," cried the Captain, "but, I say, Alf, don't it seem tosmack rather too much of selfishness?"

  "Of course it does, uncle. I do not think Buzzby always sound inprinciple, and, like many poets, he is sometimes confused in his logic."

  "You're right, Benjy, the land is clear enough now," remarked theCaptain, whose interest in Buzzby was not profound, and whose feelingstowards logic bordered on the contemptuous, as is often the case withhalf-educated men, and, strange to say, sometimes with highly-educatedmen, as well as with the totally ignorant--so true is it that extremesmeet!

  In the course of a couple of hours the sledges drew near to the island,which proved to be a large but comparatively low one, rising not morethan a hundred feet in any part. It was barren and ragged, with patchesof reindeer moss growing in some parts, and dwarf willows in others.Myriads of sea-birds made it their home, and these received the invaderswith clamorous cries, as if they knew that white men were a dangerousnovelty, and objected to the innovation.

  Despite their remonstrances, the party landed, and the Eskimos hurriedover the rocks to that part of the island where they had left theirkayaks and women's boats in charge of a party of natives who wereresident on the island at the time they passed, and from whom they hadborrowed the dogs and sledges with which they had travelled south.

  Meanwhile the white men took to rambling; Leo to shoot wild-fowl forsupper, Alf to search for "specimens," and Benjy to scramble among therocks in search of anything that might "turn up." Butterface assistedthe latter in his explorations. While the rest were thus engaged, theCaptain extemporised a flag-staff out of two spears lashed together witha small block at the top for the purpose of running up a flag, andformally taking possession of the island when they should re-assemble.This done, he wrote a brief outline of his recent doings, which heinserted in a ginger-beer bottle brought for that very purpose. Then heassisted Anders in making the encampment and preparing supper.

  The two were yet in the midst of the latter operation when a shout washeard in the distance. Looking in the direction whence it came they sawChingatok striding over the rocks towards them with unusual haste. Hewas followed by the other Eskimos, who came forward gesticulatingviolently.

  "My countrymen have left the island," said Chingatok when he came up.

  "And taken the kayaks with them?" asked Captain Vane anxiously.

  "Every one," replied the giant.

  This was depressing news to the Captain, who had counted much on makinguse of the Eskimo canoes in the event of his own appliances failing.

  "Where have they gone, think you?" he asked.

  "Tell Blackbeard," replied Chingatok, turning to Anders, "that no oneknows. Since they went away the lanes of open water have closed, andthe ice is solid everywhere."

  "But where the kayak and the oomiak cannot float the sledge may go,"said the Captain.

  "That is true; tell the pale chief he is wise, yet he knows not allthings. Let him think. When he comes to the great open sea what willhe do without canoes?"

  "Huk!" exclaimed Oolichuk, with that look and tone which intimated hisbelief that the pale chief had received a "clincher."

  The chattering of the other Eskimos ceased for a moment or two as theyawaited eagerly the Captain's answer, but the Captain disappointed them.He merely said, "Well, we shall see. I may not know all things,Chingatok, nevertheless I know a deal more than you can guess at. Comenow, let's have supper, Anders; we can't wait for the wanderers."

  As he spoke, three of the wanderers came into camp, namely Leo, Benjy,and Butterface.

  "What's come of Alf?" asked the Captain.

  Neither Leo nor Benjy had seen him since they parted, a quarter of anhour after starting, and both had expected to find him in camp, butButterface had seen him.

  "Sawd him runnin'," said the sable steward, "runnin' like a mad kangarooarter a smallish brute like a mouse. Nebber sawd nuffin' like Massa Alffor runnin'."

  "Well, we can't wait for him," said the Captain, "I want to takep
ossession of the island before supper. What shall we call it?"

  "Disappointment Isle," said Leo, "seeing that the Eskimos have failedus."

  "No--I won't be ungrateful," returned the Captain, "considering thesuccesses already achieved."

  "Call it Content Isle, then," suggested Benjy.

  "But I am not content with partial success. Come, Butterface, haven'tyou got a suggestion to make."

  The negro shook his woolly head. "No," he said, "I's 'orrible stoopid.Nebber could get nuffin' to come out o' my brain--sep w'en it's knockedout by accident. You's hard to please, massa. S'pose you mix de two,--dis'pintment an' content,--an' call 'im Half-an'-half Island."

  "Home is in sight now," said Chingatok, who had taken no interest in theabove discussion, as it was carried on in English. "A few days more andwe should be there if we only had our kayaks."

  "There's the name," exclaimed the Captain eagerly when this wastranslated, "`Home-in-sight,' that will do."

  Rising quickly, he bent a Union Jack to the halyards of his primitiveflag-staff, ran it up, and in the name of Queen Victoria took possessionof _Home-in-sight Island_. After having given three hearty Britishcheers, in which the Eskimos tried to join, with but partial success,they buried the ginger-beer bottle under a heap of stones, a woodencross was fixed on the top of the cairn, and then the party sat down tosupper, while the Captain made a careful note of the latitude andlongitude, which he had previously ascertained. This latest addition toHer Majesty's dominions was put down by him in latitude 85 degrees 32minutes, or about 288 geographical miles from the North Pole.