The Cruise of the Snowbird: A Story of Arctic Adventure
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us the cause of death?"
"Oh! bother the cause of death," said the mate, laughing, as he stoopeddown to undo his sandals. "Do you think I came all this way toascertain the cause of death in a dead fish? But if you really want toknow, I'll tell you. You see from the state of the ice there has been aheavy swell on here, and the ice has been knocked about anyhow; thatshows there has been a gale away out at sea. Well then, the fish,"--here the mate poked his stick at the whale's ribs in a manner that, hadthe monster been alive, must have tickled him immensely--"this fish,look _you_, came nearer land to avoid the broken water, and ran ashorein the dark; he hadn't got any steam, you know, to help him to backastern, and he couldn't hoist sail, so he had to be content to lie onhis little stomach until--"
"Until death relieved him of his sufferings," put in McBain.
The conversation concerning the whale was renewed after dinner thatevening, the mate and Mr Stevenson having been, as was usual whenanything extra was on the _tapis_, invited to partake of that meal.
Since they left the bay the mate had been unusually silent; he had beenthinking, and now his thoughts took the form of speech. He spokeslowly, and with many a pause, as one speaks who well weighs his words,toying with his coffee as he did so, and often changing the position ofthe cup. Indeed, it was the cup he seemed to be addressing when he didspeak.
"Gentlemen," he said, "as man and boy, as harpooner, second officer, ormate, I have been back and fore to Greenland for little less than twentyyears. I've been shipwrecked a time or two, you may easily guess, andI've come through many a strange danger in the wild, mysterious regionsaround the Pole. But it is not of these things I would now speak, it isabout the last sad affair--my poor dear ship _Trefoil_, whose charredribs lie deep in the Arctic Ocean. Oh, gentlemen! oh, men! that was asad blow to me. Had we been a full ship we would have been home erenow, and I would have been wedded to one of the sweetest girls in allEngland. Now she is mourning for me as for one dead. But blessed beour great Protector that sent the _Snowbird_ to our assistance in ourdire extremity! Where, now, would we--the survivors of the _Trefoil_--have been else? Our fate would have been more terrible, than the fateof those that went down in that doomed ship.
"I can assure you, my dear friends," he continued, "I have felt verygrateful, and have longed for some way of showing that gratitude. I cannever prove it sufficiently. But I have a suggestion to make."
"Well, we are willing to hear it," said McBain; "but really, sir, youowe us no gratitude, we only did our duty."
"That `fish,'" said the mate--"what do you reckon its value to be?"
"I know," said McBain, smiling, "that if we could tow it along to Londonit would fetch a long price; but if we could tow an iceberg there aboutten millions of people would come to see it?"
"How romantic that would be?" said Rory; "and fancy the Union Jackfloating proudly from the top of it!"
"Charge them a shilling a head," said Allan, "and land 500,000 pounds!"
"And spoil the romance!" said our boy-bard.
"Oh, bother the romance!" said Ralph, "think of the cash!"
"Well, but," said McBain, laughing, "we can no more tow the whale thanwe can the iceberg."
"That fish," said the mate, "myself and my men can flensh, cut up, andrefine. The produce will be worth three thousand pounds in the Englishmarket; and beside, it will be work for the men for the winter months."
"But you and your men must accept a share," said McBain.
"If," replied the mate of the _Trefoil_, "you but hint at such a thingagain, that fish may lie there till doomsday. No, captain, it is but apoor way of showing our gratitude."
Once convinced of the feasibility of the mate's proposal, McBain lost notime in setting about carrying the plan into execution. It would be asin, he argued, to leave so much wealth to waste, when they had ampleroom for carrying it. Even romantic Rory came to the same conclusion atlast.
"Had it been base blubber now," he said, "you'd have had to excuse me,Captain McBain, from sailing in the same ship with it I'd have asked youto have built me a cot in these beautiful wilds, and here I'd havestopped, sketching and shooting, until you returned with a clean ship totake me back to bonnie Scotland. But refined oil, sweet and pure,--indeed I agree with you, it would be a sin entirely to leave it to thebears."
A busy time now ensued for the officers and men of the _Snowbird_; theyhad to be up early and to work late. Nor was the work free fromhardship. Had the bay where lay the monster leviathan--which the mateof the _Trefoil_ averred was one of the largest "fishes" he had everseen--lain anywhere near them, the task would have been mere play towhat it was. First and foremost, sledges had to be built--large, light,but useful sledges. The building of these occupied many days, but theywere finished at last, and then the working party started on its longjourney to Bear Point, as our heroes had named the place--Bear Point andGood Luck Bay.
As during the flenshing and the landing of the cakes of blubber, the menwould have to remain all night near their work, every precaution wastaken to protect them from cold in the camping-ground. Rory, Allan, andRalph must needs make three of the party, with Seth to guide them in thewoods, where they meant to spend the short day shooting.
By good fortune, the weather all the time remained settled andbeautiful, and the four guns managed easily enough to keep the camp wellsupplied with game of various kinds. The cold at night time, however,was intense, and the roaring fires kept up in the hastily-constructedhuts, could scarcely keep the men warm. This was the only time duringthe whole cruise of the _Snowbird_ that McBain deemed it necessary toserve out to his men a rum ration. The time at which it was partakenmay seem to some of my readers an odd one, but it was, nevertheless,rational, and it was suggested by the men in camp themselves. It wasserved at night, just at that hour when Arctic cold becomes almostinsupportable. They did not require it by day, they could have hotcoffee whenever they cared to partake of it, but at half-past two in themorning all hands seemed to awake suddenly. This was the coldest time,and the fires, too, had died low, and the men's spirits, like thethermometer, were below zero. But when more logs were heaped upon thefires, and the coffee urn heated, and the ration mixed with a smokingbowl of it and handed round, then the life-blood seemed to return totheir hearts, and re-wrapping themselves in their skins, they droppedoff to sleep, and by seven o'clock were once more astir.
Several days were spent in the work of landing the treasure-trove, thenthe tedious and toilsome labour of conveying it to the _Snowbird_commenced. There was in all nearly thirty tons of it to be dragged inthe sledges over a rough and difficult country, yet at last this wassafely accomplished, and the mate of the _Trefoil_ had the satisfactionof seeing it stored in one immense bin, where it could await the processof boiling down and refining, previously to being conveyed into thetanks of the yacht.
"I feel happier now," said Mr Hill, as he quietly contemplated theresult of their labours. "It is a goodly pile, thirty tons there ifthere is an ounce; it will take us two good months' hard work to refineit."
"Meanwhile," said McBain, "we must not forget one thing."
"What is that?" said Mr Hill.
"Why," replied the captain, "that to-morrow is Christmas. You must restfrom your labours for a few days at least, there is plenty of timebefore us. It will be well on to the middle of May ere the ice liftssufficiently to permit us to bear up for the east once more."
"Well," said the mate, "the truth is, I had forgotten the season was sofar advanced."
"You have been thinking about nothing but your `fish,'" said McBain,laughing.
"I have been full of that fish," replied the mate; "full of it, and thatis a curious way to speak. Why, that fish is a fortune in itself. AndI do think, captain, it is a sad thing to go home in a half-empty ship."
"Ah!" McBain added, "thanks to you, and thanks to our own good guns, wewon't do that."
"Talking about fortunes," said Allan, who had just come on deck, "weought to have a small
fortune in skins alone."
"In fur and feather," said Rory.
"There is more of that to come," quoth McBain. "As soon as the daysbegin to lengthen out we will have some glorious hunting expeditions,and the animals our good Seth will lead us against, are never in bettercondition than they are during the early spring months."
Christmas Day came. McBain resolved it should be spent as much aspossible in the same way as if they were at home. There was service inthe morning on shore in the hall. Was there one soul in that rough loghut, who did not feel gratitude to Him who