The Cruise of the Snowbird: A Story of Arctic Adventure
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the pane, and this is allhung over with battle-axes and crosses. Jack's a funny fellow."
"Jack _is_," said Rory.
"Poor Seth!" he continued; "d'ye know the trick he played himyesterday?"
"No," said Allan.
"Oh! then," said Rory, "what should John Frost, woe worth him! do but goand freeze the poor man's nose, and sure enough to-day it is as big asthe teapot; there is no looking at him without laughing."
"Poor fellow!" Allan remarked.
Frost-biting was far from a rare accident now, and when on the ice itwas found necessary for both men and officers to keep a sharp look-outon each other's faces; a white spot represented a sudden frost-bite,unfelt by the person most interested, and only visible to his companion.But it had at once to be rubbed with ice to gradually restore thecirculation, else the part, after the lapse of some hours, wouldmortify.
Here is a strange thing. For the first day or two of frost, while theice was still comparatively thin, by lying flat down and gazing beneath,they were in a short time able to perceive fishes and other denizens ofthe deep close underneath them. Even sharks, and creatures with shapesstill more dreadful, at times appeared. There was a strange fascinationin this to Rory, these dark, turning, twisting shapes close under him,that stared at him with their terrible eyes, or mouthed at the ice as ifthey would fain swallow him, appearing and disappearing in the darkwater; it was fascinating, yet fearful.
When coming from the shore on the evening of the second day, "Let usskate for a mile or two in the starlight," said Rory.
"Agreed!" said Allan, and off they went.
They skated quite a mile from the shore.
"Now," said Rory, "let us have a peep through the ice."
"We can't see anything in the dark," replied Allan.
But Rory was of a different opinion, and no sooner had he lain downthan, "Oh, Allan, Allan! look, look!" he cried.
Allan saw it too--a terrible shape, seemingly made of fire, wriggling upfrom the dark depths and approaching the spot where they lay, until theycould see it easily. A gigantic snake apparently, as big as the stem ofthe tallest oak, all quivering and phosphorescent, with crimson eyes anda mouth of awful teeth! The boys felt fear now if they never felt itbefore. They were spellbound, too; they could not remove their gazefrom the apparition, and a kind of nightmare dread took possession oftheir hearts.
But the thing disappeared at last; it vanished as it had come, leavingonly the blackness of darkness. The spell was broken, and they skatedback again towards the yacht in silence, but wondering greatly at whatthey had seen.
The country around them, with its hills and its forests, looked dismalenough now at times. There was no cloud scenery, and consequently nolovely sunrises or sunsets, but just in the gloaming hour, soon afterthe sun had gone down, the lower part of the sky all round, between theimmediate horizon and the upper vault of blue, used to assume a strangesea-green hue, in which the bright stars sparkled and shone likediamonds of the purest water.
"Hallo!" said Rory, one day, "I've got an idea."
The day was one of intensest frost--probably the coldest they had everyet experienced.
"Yes, an idea," he continued--"and that is more than ever you had, youknow, Ralph."
"Well, then, tell us," said Ralph; "but I should think it will getfrozen hard if you attempt to put it into words."
"But I won't," said Rory; "I mean to put it into action."
Rory dived down below, and his two companions remained on deck,wondering what he was going to be up to.
But presently Rory returned, bearing long clay pipes and a basin ofsoapsuds. "The idea is a very ridiculous one," he said, "but a funnyone. Fancy, old sailors like ourselves, and mighty hunters, blowingsoap-bubbles like so many babies! But here, boys, take your pipes andheave round."
Next moment both Ralph and Allan entered into the business with spirit,and everybody looked on astonished, for, strange to say, the beautifulsoap-bubbles were no sooner blown than they were frozen, and instead offloating away and fading shortly, they remained in existence. The boysblew them by the score and by the hundred, until the deck of the yachtand the top of the companion, and even the bulwarks, were laden withthem.
"Now then," cried Rory, in ecstasy; "what d'ye think of that, captain?Troth! there is a beautiful cargo for you."
"It's a very fragile one," said McBain.
"Ah! but," said Rory, "it is poetic in the extreme, and entirely new,and I'm sure nobody ever saw such a sight before."
"Nobody but yourself," said McBain, "could have conceived so verystrange an idea."
"Truly," said Rory, "Jack Frost is a funny fellow."
"Jack Frost and you are a pair then, Rory; but I've got news for you."
"What is it?"
"The glass is going down, and I think we'll soon have a change." McBainwas right. That same day, shortly before sundown, a strange mist or foggathered in the sky all around them, but not close aboard of them; thecountry was nowhere obscured, only the sky itself; and through this mistthe great sun glared ruddy and angry-like.
"It is the snow-mist," said McBain.
But still there was no wind; all nature was hushed, as if she held herbreath and waited expectant.
The powdery snow began to fall as soon as the sun went down, and erenightfall it lay inches deep on the decks, and on all the sea of icebeside them. It soon changed in its character--from being powdery itnow came down in huge flakes; and when the morning broke, so deep wasthe fall, that there was little to be seen of the yacht save her talland tapering masts. She was now, indeed, a _Snowbird_!
The fall had seemingly stopped, however, but the clouds with which thesky was now overcast were dark and threatening.
It was now "all hands on deck to clear the ship of snow," and in lessthan an hour the yacht looked quite herself again, only all around herwas the white waste of snow. There would be no more skating for a time,at least. A look of disappointment crept over Rory's face, and hesighed as he saw Peter restoring the now useless skates to their box andputting them away. He had to fly to his fiddle for relief. That, atall events, was a never-failing source of comfort to thisstrangely-tempered Irish boy.
The men were very busy now for a few days. A road had to be dug throughthe deep snow to the shore, and a clearance made all around the newhall, as well as around the ice-hole. Had Rory had his will, he wouldhave set the men to work on the ice itself, to clear roads all over it,so that he might still enjoy his favourite pastime, skating.
The snow was soft and powdery, and when he got over the side andattempted to walk on it, he almost disappeared entirely, but there was aremedy for even this evil.
From his store-room McBain produced half-a-dozen pairs of snow-shoes,and old Ap and his assistant were invited aft to study theirconstruction, with the intention of imitating them, and making many morepairs, for all hands must be furnished with these curious "garments," asRory called them.
Our heroes felt very awkward in them at first, especially Ralph, butSeth came to the rescue and volunteered a few lessons.
"I guess," he said to Rory, "you imagines you've got a pair ofdancing-pumps on, and you wants to do a hornpipe. It ain't a mortal bitof use trying that. You mustn't lift your feet so high; you must justskoot along as I do, so, and--so."
"Why, I wish I could skoot along like you," said Rory, picking himselfup the best way he could, for in trying to imitate the old trapper hehad gone over and almost disappeared, shoes and all. "Troth, Seth, mybright young boy, these pedal appliances don't suit me at all. Och! mypoor ankles. I do believe the whole lot of the two of them is fairlyout of joint. But one can't learn anything useful without trying, sohere goes again. Come along, Porpy. Cheerily does it. Hullo! Where_is_ Porpy?"
There was at that present moment nothing of Porpy, as Rory oftenfacetiously called his companion Ralph, to be seen except a pair of legswith snow-shoes at the end of them, and these were waggling mostexpressively.
But Ralph soon go
t up and alongside again, and then Rory did not callhim Porpy any longer, because he did not like to have his ears pulled.
"I say, Ralph," he said, slyly, "you've no idea what a pair of elegantlegs you have."
"Indeed!" said Ralph.
"Yes," continued his tormentor, "and eloquent as well as elegant. Theyare a speaking pair. Had you only seen yourself two minutes ago, whenthere was nothing of you visible at all, at all, but just them same pairof beautiful limbs, you'd--"
But Rory never finished his sentence. He had stuck the toe of one ofhis snow-shoes into the snow, and away he went next.
Well, you see this learning to