by Jules Verne
The Doctor lost no time in clearing about an acre of ground, in which he sowed the seeds of anti-scorbutic plants. He just had the pleasure of seeing tiny little green leaves begin to sprout, when the cold returned in full force.
In a single night, the thermometer lost nearly 40°; it went down to 8° below zero. Everything was frozen—birds, quadrupeds, amphibia disappeared as if by magic; seal-holes reclosed, and the ice once more became hard as granite.
The change was most striking; it occurred on the 18th of May, during the night. The Doctor was rather disappointed at having all his work to do again, but Hatteras bore the grievance most unphilosophically, as it interfered with all his plans of speedy departure.
[Illustration: ]
"Do you think we shall have a long spell of this weather, Mr. Clawbonny?" asked Johnson.
"No, my friend, I don’t; it is a last blow from the cold. You see these are his dominions, and he won’t be driven out without making some resistance."
"He can defend himself pretty well," said Bell, rubbing his face.
"Yes; but I ought to have waited, and not have wasted my seed like an ignoramus; and all the more as I could, if necessary, have made them sprout by the kitchen stoves."
"But do you mean to say," asked Altamont, "that you might have anticipated the sudden change?"
"Of course, and without being a wizard. I ought to have put my seed under the protection of Saint Paucratius and the other two saints, whose fête days fall this month."
"Absurd! Pray tell me what they have to do with it? What influence can they possibly have on the temperature?"
"An immense one, if we are to believe horticulturists, who call them the patron saints of the frost."
"And for what reason?"
"Because generally there is a periodical frost in the month of May, and it is coldest from the 11th to the 13th. That is the fact."
"And how is it explained?"
"In two ways. Some say that a larger number of asteroids come between the earth and the sun at this time of year, and others that the mere melting of the snow necessarily absorbs a large amount of heat, and accounts for the low temperature. Both theories are plausible enough, but the fact remains whichever we accept, and I ought to have remembered it."
The Doctor was right, for the cold lasted till the end of the month, and put an end to all their hunting expeditions. The old monotonous life in-doors recommenced, and was unmarked by any incident except a serious illness which suddenly attacked Bell. This was violent quinsy, but, under the Doctor’s skilful treatment, it was soon cured. Ice was the only remedy he employed, administered in small pieces, and in twenty- four hours Bell was himself again.
[Illustration: ]
During this compulsory leisure, Clawbonny determined to have a talk with the captain on an important subject—the building of a sloop out of the planks of the Porpoise.
The Doctor hardly knew how to begin, as Hatteras had declared so vehemently that he would never consent to use a morsel of American wood; yet it was high time he were brought to reason, as June was at hand, the only season for distant expeditions, and they could not start without a ship.
He thought over it a long while, and at last drew the captain aside, and said in the kindest, gentlest way—
"Hatteras, do you believe I’m your friend?"
"Most certainly I do," replied the captain, earnestly; "my best, indeed my only friend."
"And if I give you a piece of advice without your asking, will you consider my motive is perfectly disinterested?"
"Yes, for I know you have never been actuated by self-interest. But what are you driving at?"
"Wait, Hatteras, I have one thing more to ask. Do you look on me as a true-hearted Englishman like yourself, anxious for his country’s glory?"
Hatteras looked surprised, but simply said—
"I do."
"You desire to reach the North Pole," the Doctor went on; "and I understand and share your ambition, but to achieve your object you must employ the right means."
"Well, and have I not sacrificed everything for it?"
"No, Hatteras, you have not sacrificed your personal antipathies. Even at this very moment I know you are in the mood to refuse the indispensable conditions of reaching the pole."
"Ah! it is the boat you want to talk about, and that man——"
"Hatteras, let us discuss the question calmly, and examine the case on all sides. The coast on which we find ourselves at present may terminate abruptly; we have no proof that it stretches right away to the pole; indeed, if your present information prove correct, we ought to come to an open sea during the summer months. Well, supposing we reach this Arctic Ocean and find it free from ice and easy to navigate, what shall we do if we have no ship?"
Hatteras made no reply.
"Tell me, now, would you like to find yourself only a few miles from the pole and not be able to get to it?"
Hatteras still said nothing, but buried his head in his hands.
"Besides," continued the Doctor, "look at the question in its moral aspect. Here is an Englishman who sacrifices his fortune, and even his life, to win fresh glory for his country, but because the boat which bears him across an unknown ocean, or touches the new shore, happens to be made of the planks of an American vessel—a cast-away wreck of no use to anyone—will that lessen the honour of the discovery? If you yourself had found the hull of some wrecked vessel lying deserted on the shore, would you have hesitated to make use of it; and must not a sloop built by four Englishmen and manned by four Englishmen be English from keel to gunwale?"
Hatteras was still silent.
"No," continued Clawbonny; "the real truth is, it is not the sloop you care about: it is the man."
"Yes, Doctor, yes," replied the captain. "It is this American I detest; I hate him with a thorough English hatred. Fate has thrown him in my path."
"To save you!"
"To ruin me. He seems to defy me, and speaks as if he were lord and master. He thinks he has my destiny in his hands, and knows all my projects. Didn’t we see the man in his true colours when we were giving names to the different coasts? Has he ever avowed his object in coming so far north? You will never get out of my head that this man is not the leader of some expedition sent out by the American government."
"Well, Hatteras, suppose it is so, does it follow that this expedition is to search for the North Pole? May it not be to find the North-West Passage? But anyway, Altamont is in complete ignorance of our object, for neither Johnson, nor Bell, nor myself, have ever breathed a word to him about it, and I am sure you have not."
"Well, let him always remain so."
"He must be told in the end, for we can’t leave him here alone."
"Why not? Can’t he stay here in Fort Providence?"
"He would never consent to that, Hatteras; and, moreover, to leave a man in that way, and not know whether we might find him safe when we came back, would be worse than imprudent: it would be inhuman. Altamont will come with us; he must come. But we need not disclose our projects; let us tell him nothing, but simply build a sloop for the ostensible purpose of making a survey of the coast."
Hatteras could not bring himself to consent, but said—
"And suppose the man won’t allow his ship to be cut up?"
"In that case, you must take the law in your own hands, and build a vessel in spite of him."
"I wish to goodness he would refuse, then!"
"He must be asked before he can refuse. I’ll undertake the asking," said Clawbonny.
He kept his word, for that very same night, at supper, he managed to turn the conversation towards the subject of making excursions during summer for hydrographical purposes.
"You will join us, I suppose, Altamont," he said.
"Of course," replied the American. "We must know how far New America extends."
Hatteras looked fixedly at his rival, but said nothing.
"And for that purpose," continued Altamont, "we had bet
ter build a little ship out of the remains of the Porpoise. It is the best possible use we can make of her."
"You hear, Bell," said the Doctor, eagerly. "We’ll all set to work to-morrow morning."
[Illustration: The carpenter began his task immediately.—P.154]
CHAPTER XV.
THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE.
Next morning, Altamont Bell and the Doctor repaired to the Porpoise. There was no lack of wood, for, shattered as the old "three-master" had been by the icebergs, she could still supply the principal parts of a new ship, and the carpenter began his task immediately.
In the end of May, the temperature again rose, and spring returned for good and all. Rain fell copiously, and before long the melting snow was running down every little slope in falls and cascades.
Hatteras could not contain his delight at these signs of a general thaw among the ice-fields, for an open sea would bring him liberty. At last he might hope to ascertain for himself whether his predecessors were correct in their assertions about a polar basin.
This was a frequent topic of thought and conversation with him, and one evening when he was going over all the old familiar arguments in support of his theory, Altamont took up the subject, and declared his opinion that the polar basin extended west as well as east. But it was impossible for the American and Englishman, to talk long about anything without coming to words, so intensely national were both. Dr. Kane was the first bone of contention on this occasion, for the jealous Englishman was unwilling to grant his rival the glory of being a discoverer, alleging his belief that though the brave adventurer had gone far north, it was by mere chance he had made a discovery.
[Illustration: ]
"Chance!" interrupted Altamont, hotly. "Do you mean to assert that it is not to Kane’s energy and science that we owe his great discovery?"
"I mean to say that Dr. Kane’s name is not worth mentioning in a country made illustrious by such names as Parry, and Franklin, and Ross, and Belcher, and Penny; in a country where the seas opened the North- West Passage to an Englishman—McClure!"
"McClure!" exclaimed the American. "Well, if ever chance favoured anyone it was that McClure. Do you pretend to deny it?"
"I do," said Hatteras, becoming quite excited. "It was his courage and perseverance in remaining four whole winters among the ice."
"I believe that, don’t I?" said Altamont, sneeringly. "He was caught among the bergs and could not get away; but didn’t he after all abandon his ship, the Investigator, and try to get back home? Besides, putting the man aside, what is the value of his discovery? I maintain that the North-West Passage is still undiscovered, for not a single ship to this day has ever sailed from Behring’s Straits to Baffin’s Bay!"
The fact was indisputable, but Hatteras started to his feet, and said—
"I will not permit the honour of an English captain to be attacked in my presence any longer!"
"You will not permit!" echoed Altamont, also springing erect. "But these are facts, and it is out of your power to destroy them!"
"Sir!" shouted Hatteras, pale with rage.
"My friends!" interposed the Doctor; "pray be calm. This is a scientific point we are discussing."
But Hatteras was deaf to reason now, and said angrily—
"I’ll tell you the facts, sir."
"And I’ll tell you," retorted the irate American.
"Gentlemen," said Clawbonny, in a firm tone; "allow me to speak, for I know the facts of the case as well as and perhaps better than you, and I can state them impartially."
[Illustration: ]
"Yes, yes!" cried Bell and Johnson, who had been anxiously watching the strife.
"Well, go on," said Altamont, finding himself in the minority, while Hatteras simply made a sign of acquiescence, and resumed his seat.
The Doctor brought a chart and spread it out on the table, that his auditors might follow his narration intelligibly, and be able to judge the merits of McClure for themselves.
"It was in 1848," he said, "that two vessels, the Herald and the Plover, were sent out in search of Franklin, but their efforts proving ineffectual, two others were despatched to assist them— the Investigator, in command of McClure, and the Enterprise, in command of Captain Collison. The Investigator arrived first in Behring’s Straits, and without waiting for her consort, set out with the declared purpose to find Franklin or the North-West Passage. The gallant young officer hoped to push north as far as Melville Sound, but just at the extremity of the Strait, he was stopped by an insurmountable barrier of ice, and forced to winter there. During the long, dreary months, however, he and his officers undertook a journey over the ice-field, to make sure of its communicating with Melville Sound."
"Yes, but he did not get through," said Altamont.
"Stop a bit," replied Clawbonny; "as soon as a thaw set in, McClure renewed his attempt to bring his ship into Melville Sound, and had succeeded in getting within twenty miles, when contrary winds set in, and dragged her south with irresistible violence. This decided the captain to alter his course. He determined to go in a westerly direction; but after a fearful struggle with icebergs, he stuck fast in the first of the series of straits
[Illustration: ]
which end in Baffin’s Bay, and was obliged to winter in Mercy Bay. His provisions would only hold out eighteen months longer, but he would not give up. He set out on a sledge, and reached Melville Island, hoping to fall in with some ship or other, but all he found in Winter Harbour was a cairn, which contained a document, stating that Captain Austin’s lieutenant, McClintock, had been there the preceding year. McClure replaced this document by another, which stated his intention of returning to England by the North-West Passage he had discovered, by Lancaster Sound and Baffin’s Bay, and that in the event of his not being heard of, he might be looked for north or west of Melville Island. Then he went back to Mercy Bay with undaunted courage, to pass a third winter. By the beginning of March his stock of provisions was so reduced in consequence of the utter scarcity of game through the severity of the season, that McClure resolved to send half his men to England, either by Baffin’s Bay or by McKenzie River and Hudson’s Bay. The other half would manage to work the vessel to Europe. He kept all his best sailors, and selected for departure only those to whom a fourth winter would have been fatal. Everything was arranged for their leaving, and the day fixed, when McClure, who was out walking with Lieutenant Craswell, observed a man running towards them, flinging up his arms and gesticulating frantically, and on getting nearer recognized him as Lieutenant Prim, officer on board the Herald, one of the ships he had parted with in Behring’s Straits two years before.
Captain Kellett, the Commander, had reached Winter Harbour, and finding McClure’s document in the cairn, had dispatched his lieutenant in search of him. McClure accompanied him back, and arranged with the captain to send him his batch of invalids. Lieutenant Craswell took charge of these and conveyed them safely to Winter Harbour. Leaving them there he went across the ice four hundred and seventy miles, and arrived at Isle Beechy, where, a few days afterwards, he took passage with twelve men on board the Phoenix, and reached London safely on the 7th of October, 1853, having traversed the whole extent between Behring’s Straits and Cape Farewell."
"Well, if arriving on one side and leaving at the other is not going through, I don’t know what is!" said Hatteras.
"Yes, but he went four hundred and seventy miles over ice-fields," objected Altamont.
"What of that?"
"Everything; that is the gist of the whole argument. It was not the Investigator that went through."
"No," replied Clawbonny, "for, at the close of the fourth winter, McClure was obliged to leave her among the ice."
"Well, in maritime expeditions the vessel has to get through, and not the man; and if ever the Northwest Passage is practicable, it will be for ships and not sledges. If a ship cannot go, a sloop must."
"A sloop!" exclaimed Hatteras, discovering a hidden meaning in the words.
"Altamont," said the Doctor, "your distinction is simply puerile, and in that respect we all consider that you are in the wrong."
"You may easily do that," returned the American. "It is four against one, but that will not prevent me from holding my own opinion."
"Keep it and welcome, but keep it to yourself, if you please, for the future," exclaimed Hatteras.
"And pray what right have you to speak to me like this, sir?" shouted Altamont, in a fury.
"My right as captain," returned Hatteras, equally angry.
"Am I to submit to your orders, then?"
"Most assuredly, and woe to you if——"
[Illustration: The Doctor did not allow him to proceed, for he really feared the two antagonists might come to blows.—P.162]
The Doctor did not allow him to proceed, for he really feared the two antagonists might come to blows. Bell and Johnson seconded his endeavours to make peace, and, after a few conciliatory words, Altamont turned on his heel, and walked carelessly away, whistling "Yankee Doodle." Hatteras went outside, and paced up and down with rapid strides. In about an hour he came back, and retired to bed without saying another word.
CHAPTER XVI.
ARCTIC ARCADIA
On the 29th of May, for the first time, the sun never set. His glowing disc just touched the boundary line of the horizon, and rose again immediately. The period was now entered when the day lasts twenty- four hours.
Next morning there was a magnificent halo; the monarch of day appeared surrounded by a luminous circle, radiant with all the prismatic colours. This phenomenon never lost its charm, for the Doctor, however frequently it occurred, and he always noted carefully down all particulars respecting it.
Before long the feathered tribes began to return, filling the air with their discordant cries. Flocks of bustards and Canadian geese from Florida or Arkansas came flying north with marvellous rapidity, bringing spring beneath their wings. The Doctor shot several, and among them one or two cranes and a solitary stork.
The snow was now fast melting, and the ice-fields were covered with "slush." All round the bay large pools had formed, between which the soil appeared as if some product of spring.