The Field of Ice
Page 24
THE ENGLISH FLAG
For a few seconds they seemed stupefied, and then a cry of"Hatteras!" broke from every lip.
On all sides, nothing was visible but the tempestuous ocean. Dukbarked desperately, and Bell could hardly keep him from leaping intothe waves.
"Take the helm, Altamont," said the Doctor, "and let us tryour utmost to find our poor captain."
Johnson and Bell seized the oars, and rowed about for more than anhour; but their search was vain--Hatteras was lost!
Lost! and so near the Pole, just as he had caught sight of the goal!
The Doctor called, and shouted, and fired signals, and Duk madepiteous lamentations; but there was no response. Clawbonny couldbear up no longer; he buried his head in his hands, and fairly weptaloud.
At such a distance from the coast, it was impossible Hatteras couldreach it alive, without an oar or even so much as a spar to helphim; if ever he touched the haven of his desire, it would be as aswollen, mutilated corpse!
Longer search was useless, and nothing remained but to resume theroute north. The tempest was dying out, and about five in themorning on the 11th of July, the wind fell, and the sea graduallybecame calm. The sky recovered its polar clearness, and less thanthree miles away the land appeared in all its grandeur.
The new continent was only an island, or rather a volcano, fixedlike a lighthouse on the North Pole of the world.
Two men in a boat observing a volcano in thedistance.]
The mountain was in full activity, pouring out a mass of burningstones and glowing rock. At every fresh eruption there was aconvulsive heaving within, as if some mighty giant were respiring,and the masses ejected were thrown up high into the air amidst jetsof bright flame, streams of lava rolling down the sides in impetuoustorrents. In one part, serpents of fire seemed writhing andwriggling amongst smoking rocks, and in
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another the glowing liquid fell in cascades, in the midst of purplevapour, into a river of fire below, formed of a thousand igneousstreams, which emptied itself into the sea, the waters hissing andseething like a boiling cauldron.
Apparently there was only one crater to the volcano, out of whichthe columns of fire issued, streaked with forked lightning.Electricity seemed to have something to do with this magnificentpanorama.
Above the panting flames waved an immense plume-shaped cloud ofsmoke, red at its base and black at its summit. It rose withincomparable majesty, and unrolled in thick volumes.
The sky was ash-colour to a great height, and it was evident thatthe darkness that had prevailed while the tempest lasted, which hadseemed quite inexplicable to the Doctor, was owing to the columns ofcinders overspreading the sun like a thick curtain. He remembered asimilar phenomenon which occurred in the Barbadoes, where the wholeisland was plunged in profound obscurity by the mass of cindersejected from the crater of Isle St. Vincent.
This enormous ignivomous rock in the middle of the sea was sixthousand feet high, just about the altitude of Hecla.
It seemed to rise gradually out of the water as the boat got nearer.There was no trace of vegetation, indeed there was no shore; therock ran straight down to the sea.
"Can we land?" said the Doctor.
"The wind is carrying us right to it," said Altamont. "But Idon't see an inch of land to set our foot upon."
"It seems so at this distance," said Johnson; "but we shall besure to find some place to run in our boat at, and that is all wewant."
"Let us go on, then," said Clawbonny, dejectedly.
He had no heart now for anything. The North Pole was indeed beforehis eyes, but not the man who had discovered it.
As they got nearer the island, which was not more than eight or tenmiles in circumference, the navigators noticed a tiny fiord, justlarge enough to harbour their boat, and made towards it immediately.They feared their captain's dead body would meet their eyes on thecoast, and yet it seemed difficult for a corpse to lie on it, forthere was no shore, and the sea broke on steep rocks, which werecovered with cinders above watermark.
At last the little sloop glided gently into the narrow openingbetween two sandbanks just visible above the water, where she wouldbe safe from the violence of the breakers; but before she could bemoored, Duk began howling and barking again in the most piteousmanner, as if calling on the cruel sea and stony rocks to yield uphis lost master. The Doctor tried to calm him by caresses, but invain. The faithful beast, as if he would represent the captain,sprang on shore with a tremendous bound, sending a cloud of cindersafter him.
"Duk! Duk!" called Clawbonny.
But Duk had already disappeared.
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After the sloop was made fast, they all got out and went after him.Altamont was just going to climb to the top of a pile of stones,when the Doctor exclaimed, "Listen!"
Duk was barking vehemently some distance off, but his bark seemedfull of grief rather than fury.
"Has he come on the track of some animal, do you think?" askedJohnson.
"No, no!" said Clawbonny, shuddering. "His bark is toosorrowful; it is the dog's tear. He has found the body ofHatteras."
They all four rushed forward, in spite of the blinding cinder-dust,and came to the far-end of a fiord, where they discovered the dogbarking round a corpse wrapped in the British flag!
"Hatteras! Hatteras!" cried the Doctor, throwing himself on thebody of his friend. But next minute he started up with anindescribable cry, and shouted, "Alive! alive!"
"Yes!" said a feeble voice; "yes, alive at the North Pole, onQueen's Island."
"Hurrah for England!" shouted all with one accord.
"And for America!" added Clawbonny, holding out one hand toHatteras and the other to Altamont.
Duk was not behind with his hurrah, which was worth quite as much asthe others.
For a few minutes the joy of recovery of their captain filled alltheir hearts, and the poor fellows could not restrain their tears.
The Doctor found, on examination, that he was not seriously hurt.The wind threw him on the coast where landing was perilous work,but, after being driven back more than once into the sea, the hardysailor had managed to scramble on to a rock, and gradually to hoisthimself above the waves.
Then he must have become insensible, for he remembered nothing moreexcept rolling himself in his flag. He only awoke to consciousnesswith the loud barking and caresses of his faithful Duk.
After a little, Hatteras was able to stand up supported by theDoctor, and tried to get back to the sloop.
He kept exclaiming, "The Pole! the North Pole!"
"You are happy now?" said his friend.
"Yes, happy! And are not you? Isn't it joy to find yourselfhere! The ground we tread is round the Pole! The air we breathe isthe air that blows round the Pole! The sea we have crossed is thesea which washes the Pole! Oh! the North Pole! the North Pole!"
He had become quite delirious with excitement, and fever burned inhis veins. His eyes shone with unnatural brilliancy, and his brainseemed on fire. Perfect rest was what he most needed, for the Doctorfound it impossible to quiet him.
A place of encampment must therefore be fixed upon immediately.
Altamont speedily discovered a grotto composed ofrocks.--P.234]
Altamont speedily discovered a grotto composed of rocks, which hadso fallen as to form a sort of cave. Johnson and Bell carried inprovisions, and gave the dogs their liberty.
About eleven o'clock, breakfast, or rather dinner, was ready,consisting of pemmican, salt meat, and smoking-hot tea and coffee.
But Hatteras would do nothing till the exact position of the islandwas ascertained; so the Doctor and Altamont set to work with theirinstruments, and found that the exact latitude of the grotto was89 deg. 59' 15". The longitude was of little importance, for allthe meridians blended a few hundred feet higher.
The 90 deg. of lat. was then only about three quarters of a mile off,or just about the summit of the volcano.
When the result was communicated to Hatteras, he d
esired that aformal document might be drawn up to attest the fact, and two copiesmade, one of which should be deposited on a cairn on the island.
Clawbonny was the scribe, and indited the following document, a copyof which is now among the archives of the Royal Geographical Societyof London:--
"On this 11th day of July, 1861, in North latitude 89 deg. 59'15" was discovered Queen's Island at the North Pole, by CaptainHatteras, Commander of the brig Forward of Liverpool, who signsthis, as also all his companions.
"Whoever may find this document is requested to forward it to theAdmiralty.
"(Signed) JOHN HATTERAS, Commander
of the Forward
"DR. CLAWBONNY
"ALTAMONT, Commander of the Porpoise
"JOHNSON, Boatswain
"BELL, Carpenter."
"And now, friends, come to table," said the Doctor, merrily.
Coming to table was just squatting on the ground.
"But who," said Clawbonny, "would not give all the tables anddining-rooms in the world to dine at 89" 59' and 15" N.lat.?"
It was an exciting occasion this first meal at the Pole! Whatneither ancients nor moderns, neither Europeans, nor Americans, norAsiatics had been able to accomplish was now achieved, and all pastsufferings and perils were forgotten in the glow of success.
"But, after all," said Johnson, after toasts to Hatteras and theNorth Pole had been enthusiastically drunk, "what is there so veryspecial about the North Pole? Will you tell me, Mr. Clawbonny?"
"Just this, my good Johnson. It is the only point of the globethat is motionless; all the other points are revolving with extremerapidity."
"But I don't see that we are any more motionless here than atLiverpool."
"Because in both cases you are a party concerned, both in themotion and the rest; but the fact is certain."
Clawbonny then went on to describe the diurnal and annual motions ofthe earth--the one round its own axis, the extremities of which arethe poles, which is accomplished in twenty-four hours, and the otherround the sun, which takes a whole year.
Bell and Johnson listened half incredulously, and
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couldn't see why the earth could not have been allowed to keepstill, till Altamont informed them that they would then have hadneither day nor night, nor spring, summer, autumn, and winter.
"Ay, and worse still," said Clawbonny, "if the motion chancedto be interrupted, we should fall right into the sun in sixty-fourand a half days."
"What! take sixty-four and a half days, to fall?" exclaimedJohnson.
"Yes, we are ninety-five millions of miles off. But when I say thePole is motionless, it is not strictly true; it is only so incomparison with the rest of the globe, for it has a certain movementof its own, and completes a circle in about twenty-six thousandyears. This comes from the precession of the equinoxes."
A long and learned talk was started on this subject between Altamontand the Doctor, simplified, however, as much as possible for thebenefit of Bell and Johnson.
Hatteras took no part in it, and even when they went on to speculateabout the earth's centre, and discussed several of the theoriesthat had been advanced respecting it, he seemed not to hear; it wasevident his thoughts were far away.
Among other opinions put forth was one in our own days, whichgreatly excited Altamont's surprise. It was held that there was animmense opening at the poles which led into the heart of the earth,and that it was out of the opening that the light of the AuroraBorealis streamed. This was gravely stated, and Captain Synness, acountryman of our own, actually proposed that Sir Humphrey Davy,Humboldt, and Arago should undertake an expedition through it, butthey refused."
"And quite right too," said Altamont.
"So say I; but you see, my friends, what absurdities imaginationhas conjured up about these regions, and how, sooner or later, thesimple reality comes to light."
CHAPTER XXIV.