Adrift in the Ice-Fields
Page 21
CHAPTER XIX.
THE RING.--THE BURIAL.--A MAUSOLEUM OF ICE.
In the early dawn La Salle started from sleep, as he felt a chill touchupon his forehead, and saw Regnar standing above him, booted andequipped for travel. In one hand he held a cup of hot coffee, and in theother the breast of a roast goose, which he offered to La Salle insilence. Fearful of awaking their companions, nothing was said byeither, until, armed and equipped, they issued from the hut, andhastened towards the scene of last night's strange adventure.
It was the nineteenth of the month, and the ninth day of theirinvoluntary voyage, and La Salle, as usual, gave a sweeping glance atice and sky, to determine as nearly as possible the direction of theirdrift, and the probable state of the weather for the next twelve hours.
"We shall know all that at sunrise," said Regnar; and avoiding thehaunts of the seals, they hurried through the gray light along thedevious windings of the ice-foot, until they reached the murderedsealer. The body lay as it had been landed on the edge of a pool, andwas that of a singularly handsome man, about forty-five years of age. Nobeard, save a well-kept mustache, covered the sharply-moulded features;and even the death-wound--the work of a small-sized bullet--had left buta tiny livid discoloration on the marble forehead.
Turning the body over,--a work of some time and difficulty, for the wetclothes had frozen,--an expression of surprise escaped the lips ofRegnar, for the rear of the skull, from which the missile had issued,was almost blown into pieces.
"How could a bullet have done this?" asked the youth, gravely.
"There is but one kind of missile which produces such a terriblewound--the percussion rifle-shell, perfected years ago by an armyofficer in India, and since then introduced into every part of theglobe. Into the point of a cylindro-conical slug is inserted a thincopper cartridge, loaded with powder, and primed with fulminate ofmercury. This bullet enters the flesh, but explodes when it strikes abone, and a huge mass of bone and muscle is usually driven out in frontof the issuing projectile. Such a bullet has destroyed this man."
A curious ring on the little finger of the right hand attracted thenotice of Regnar, who with a glad cry seized the stiffened hand andtried to remove it, but the swollen flesh baffled his efforts.
"I must have that ring, La Salle," said he, ceasing his futile efforts."I cannot leave that with his body." And taking up his axe, he severedthe finger at the joint, and removed the circlet.
La Salle started back in horror at what he could but consider asenseless and unwarranted profanation; but Orloff, drawing his knife,made a close search of the clothing worn by the deceased, ripping openevery seam and fold which seemed capable of concealing the slightestscrap of paper, while his companion, lost in astonishment and disgust,scorned to question, and awaited an explanation of his conduct.
Beyond the ring, however, little was found, for the larger pockets ofthe deceased were turned inside out, the vest had been opened, and asharp knife had evidently cut through the heavy under-garments ofknitted woolens. No mark of the knife was to be seen on the exposedflesh; and Regnar, breaking the oppressive silence, said,--
"Why was this done, La Salle?"
"Perhaps he had a money-belt around his waist. Many people carry theirmoney and valuables thus," said La Salle, coldly.
Regnar continued the search, finding in a narrow pocket, like that usedby carpenters for their rules, but opening on the inside of the rightpantaloon pocket, a long, slender dagger, with double cutting edges.The handle was curiously carved, of walrus ivory, and represented anancient Danish warrior, in his mail-shirt, and armed with battle-axe andsword. The sheath, slender and flexible, was evidently of more modernmake, formed of rough shark-skin, with richly chased mountings ofsilver.
"That is all," said Regnar. "Let us find him a grave."
"We must hide the body surely," said La Salle, "for if the vesselreturns to get her load, and it is found, we may be charged withmutilating the body, and perhaps with murder. Let us consign it to thesea."
"We have nothing with which to sink it, and the waters have alreadygiven up their trust. There, if I mistake not, we shall find a tombworthy of a better man than this."
A ledge of the iceberg, some forty feet above the wave-worn base, hadreceived a tiny branch of the fresh-water stream, at some time longprevious, and its course could still be traced by the immense icicleformation, which, in fantastical imagery of a lofty cascade, seemedstill to fall from base to summit. Between the ledge and the water wereformed huge irregular pillars and buttresses of opaline ice whosesemi-transparency seemed to indicate the presence of a cave beneath.
Axe in hand, Regnar led the way to the base of the berg, and carefullyexamined every nook and cranny, evidently seeking a concealed opening.A narrow aperture was at last found, some twenty feet above theice-pool; and at the call of his companion, La Salle ascended with thecoil of rope, one end of which he fastened firmly to a projection of theberg.
"Come down here; there is no danger," said the lad; and descending, LaSalle found himself in a cave of large size and almost fairy-likebeauty.
Over their heads the ledge projected some twenty feet above a floor,levelled by the earlier flow of the cascade, which, by some suddenremoval of obstructing ice or snow, had been projected beyond the littlepool, whose surface had frozen into a level floor of crystal. Over this,as upon the roof and back of the cave, had gathered groups of thosebeautiful congelations to be found only on newly-formed ice, and inseasons of intense cold. Among them were to be noticed many minutepatterns of the most delicate star-crystals, and the surface of thefloor was nearly covered with congelations of the purest white,resembling in shape, size, and beauty the leaf of the moss-rose. Afantastic conglomeration of irregular, round, and convoluted pillars,running into each other in indescribable ramifications, formed the outerwall, whose semi-translucent crystal, like opal glass, allowed the raysof the rising sun to shower a mild and silvery radiance upon the hiddenwonders of the spacious grotto.
"Here he will sleep, after a life of crime and treachery, in a tombsuch as few monarchs can boast of, until in some terrible gale, amidtremendous and overwhelming seas, this vast fabric shall strew the oceanwith its ruins, and give his icy form to the monsters of the summerseas."
"Let us then to our task, Regnar," said La Salle, "for our friends mayfollow on our track, and I fear we shall have need of the closestsecrecy concerning the fate of this unhappy man, at least until we aresafely landed on civilized shores."
Carefully descending the slippery way which led up to the aperture, theydescended to the level ice, and seeking the floe, enveloped the body inone of the many seal-skins surrounding them, swathing it closely, andbinding the hairy covering with strong lashings of raw hide, leavingloops at each extremity. Gently drawing it to the ice below theaperture, they ran the cord through the loops, knotting each firmly, sothat nearly half the rope projected from each end.
Taking one end, and setting the shrouded form upright against the smoothslope, the companions ascended to the aperture, and with some difficultymanaged to haul up their unwonted burden.
"We can find no footing here," said Regnar, who no longer affected hispartial ignorance of English. "You, I think, had better descend again,and take a turn of your end around that pinnacle. I will go down intothe grotto and guide its descent."
KNEELING BESIDE IT, THE LAD BOWED HIS HEAD AS IF INSILENT PRAYER. Page 269.]
By this means the closely-swathed body was gently lowered into itslast resting-place, and gathering up the axes and his rifle, La Sallefollowed to assist in in the final rites of sepulture. Regnar pointed tothe centre of the floor.
"That will furnish a pedestal which would befit the sarcophagus of aking."
Among the irregular mounds formed by the dripping of water from the roofabove, was an ice stalagmite, about five feet high, and seven feet inlength, broad at the base, but rapidly narrowing to a sharp point.Attacking this with his axe, Regnar soon split off the point, andcommenced hewing the stalag
mite down to a uniform height of about twofeet. La Salle assisted, and in the course of twenty minutes they hadformed a snowy pedestal, whose irregular outline bore no smallresemblance to that of the burden it was to sustain. Regnar cleared awaythe ice-chips, hurling the larger shards to an obscure corner, andcarrying the smaller ones in his reversed fur cap.
At last the work was completed to his satisfaction; and motioning to LaSalle, he cast off the lashings, and raising the body, they placed it onthe pedestal of ice. Drawing the long, slender dagger from its sheath,Regnar pierced several holes through the corners of the pedestal, andwith the tough cords of raw hide lashed the body firmly to its spotlesssupport; then kneeling beside it, the lad bowed his head as if in silentprayer. La Salle followed his example.
For a moment or two he heard nothing but the ripple and plash of theice-brook descending the side of the berg fifty yards away; but with theburial of his enemy, the lad's self-control had deserted him, and heburst into a passionate outbreak of sobs and tears.