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Photografiric

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LONDON

T.|sJEL5orvl &SON5
LONDON, £DIN8UffOH & NSW YQPH

THE

World of Ice

The Whaling Cruise of "The Dolphin"

AND

The Adventures of Her Crew in the Polar Regions

IRobcrt ^icbacl JSallantgne

Author of " The Dor Crusoe and his Master." " The Younfj I-ur-Traders.'

" The Gorilla-Hunters," " Ungava,"

" The Coral Island,"

&c.

NEW EDITION

T. NELSCN AND SONS

LONDON ■ EDINBURGH
NEW YORK

1894

165980

PREFACE.

-♦♦-

Dear Reader, most people prefer a short to a long
preface. Permit me, therefore, to cut this one short"
by simply expressing an earnerjt hope that my book
may afford you much profit and amusement.

R. M. BALLAXTYNi:.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Some of the "dramatis pcrsojiw " introduced— Retrospective glances— Causes
of future effects — Our hero's carlt/ life at sea — A pirate — A terrible fight
and its consequences — Buzzby's helm lashed amidships— A tchaliwj-
cruisebegun !)

CHAPTER II.

Departure of the "Pole Star" for the Frozen Seas— Sage reflections of Mrs.
Bright, aiui sagacious remarks of Buzzby — Anxieties, fears, surmises,
and resolutions — Isabel — A search proposed — Departure of the " Dol-
phin" for the Far Iforth 27

CHAPTER III.

The voyage— The "Dolphin" and her crcio-Icc ahead— Polar scenes— Mast-
head observations — The first ivhalc — Great excitement 35

CHAPTER IV.

The chase and the battle— The chances and dangers of whaling war-Buzzbi/
dives for his life and saves it — So does the whale and loses it— An
anxious night, which terminates happily, tb:,uyh with a heavy loss... Ad

CHAPTER V.

Miscellaneous reflections— The coast of Greenland — Upernavik — News of
the " Pole Star "— Midnight-day-Scientific facts and fairy-like seems—
Tom Singleton's opinion of poor old ivomen — In danger of a squeeze —
Escape 66

i !

Vi CONTENTS.

CH AI'TKK VI.

The f/nle — Anchored to n hcvj which proves to be a treiicherous onc—Danyera
of the *'pack" — Jicnct in the ice—Mirins shows an inquiring mind-
Walruses— OaJe freshens— Chains and cables— Unldiny on for life — An
unexfxcted discover ji— A "nip" and its terrible consequences— Yoked
to an iccbcrif 70

CHAI'TKR VII.

Nao characters introduced— An old (jamc under novel circumstances — Re-
markable appearances in the sky — O'Jiilcy meets icith a mishap 85

CIIAPTi;il VIII.

Fred and the doctor f/o on an excursion in n'kich, a,aonij other strange
things, they meet ivifh red snow and a white bear, and Fred makes his
first essay as a sport:^man 91)

CHAPTER IX.

The " Dolphin'' gets beset in the ice— Preparations for wintering in the ice —
Captain Guy's code of laivs 112

chaptp:r X.

Beginning of winter— Mcetuck effects a remarkable chan/je in the men's
appearance-Mossing, and working, and plans for a winter cam-
paign 125

CHAPTER XI.

A hunting-expedition, in the course of which the hunters meet with many
interesting, dangerous, peculiar, and remarkable experiences, and vutkc
acquaintance ivith seals, walruses, deer, and rabbits 140

CHAPTER XII.

A dangerous sleep interrupted— A night in a snow-hut, and an unpleasant
visitor — Snowed up 155

CHAPTER XIII.

Journey resumed— The hunters meet xcith bears and have a great fight, in
which the dogs are sufferers — A bear's dinner— Mode in which Arctic
rocks travel— The ice-belt 109

roNTKNTs. vii

cir.vrTEU XIV.

DrpdHurc of the sun— Effects of Uarkncaa on dojs— Winter arramjemcntt in
the interior of the *' Dolphin.'' 170

CHATTKU W.

Strunitcr.i npjuitr on the scene— The Esquimaux are hospitaUii cntcrtctincd
bi/ the sailors— A spirited traj)ic-—ThieviH(j propensitiis and suinmarii
justice IIM)

C'HAI'TER XVI.

The Arctic Theatre cnlanicd upon — f/rcnt success of the jirst plaif—The
Esquimaux submit, and become fast friends 210

CIIAI'TER XVII.

Expeditions on foot— Effects of darkness on drxjs and men — The first death —
Caiujht in a trap — The Emjuiinau camp 228

ClIAPTKR XVIII.

2Vic huntimj-party— Reckless drivinij—A desperate encounter toith a ical-
rus, etc 242

CHAPTER XIX.

The northern ixtrty—A narrow escape, and a yreat discovery— Esquimauy.
aya in, and a joyful surprise 253

CHAPTER XX.

Keepiny it doivn— Mutual explanations — I'he true comforter — Death — New-
Year's day 262

CHAPTER XXI.

First gleam of liyht—Trip to icelcomc the sun — Bean and strange dis-
coveries— O'Hiley is reckless -First view of the »un 270

CHAPTER XXII.

The "Arctic Sun"— Bats.' rats! rats.' — A huntiwj-party—Out on the
floes— Hardships 280

CHAPTER XXIII.

Unexpected arrivals— The rescue party— Lost and found— Return to the
ship 289

viii CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Winter ends — The first insect— Preparations for departure — Harrow escape
— Cuttiny out— Once mor" afloat— Ship on fire — Crcio take to the
boats 298

CHAPTER XXV.

Escape to Upernavik — Letter from home — Mectuck's grandmother — Dumps
and Poker a/jain 309

CHAPTER XXVI.

The return — The surprise — Buzzby's saijimjs and doings— The narrative —
Fighting battles o'er again — Conclusion 316

THE WORLD OF ICE.

CHAPTER I.

Some of the " dramatis personcs " introduced— Retrospective glances — Causes
of future effects — Our hero's early life at sea — A pirate — A terrible fight
and its consequences — Buzzby's helm, lashed amidships— A whaliwj-
cruise begun.

NOBODY ever caught John Buzzby asleep by any
chance whatever. No weasel was ever half
so sensitive on that point as he was. Wherever he
happened to be (and in the course of his adventurous
life he had been to nearly all parts of the known
world) he was the first awake in the morning and the
last asleep at night ; he always answered promptly to
the first call ; and was never known by any man living
to have been seen with his eyes shut, except when he
winked, and that operation he performed less fre-
quently than other men.

John Buzzby was an old salt — a regular true-blue
Jack tar of the old school, who had been bcrn and
bred at sea ; had visited foreign ports innumerable ;
had weathered more storms than he could count, and
had witnessed more strange sights than he could re-

THE WORLD OF ICE.

member. He was tough, and sturdy, and grizzled,
and broad, and square, and massive — a first-rate
specimen of a John Bull, and according to himself,
" always kept his weather-eye open." This remark of
his was apt to create confusion in the minds of his
hearers ; for John meant the expression to be under-
stood figuratively, while, in point of fact, he almost
always kept one of his literal eyes open and the other
partially closed, but as he reversed the order of
arrangement frequently, he might have been said to
keep his lee-eye as much open as the weather one.
This peculiarity gave to his countenance an expression
of earnest thoughtfulness mingled with humour.
Buzzby was fond of being thought old, and he looked
much older than he really was. Men guessed his age
at fifty-five, but they were ten years out in their
reckoning ; for John had numbered only forty-five
summers, and was as tough and muscular as ever he
had been — although not quite so elastic.

John Buzzby stood on the pier of the sea-port town
of Grayton watching the active operations of the crew
of a whaling-ship which was on the point of starting
for the ice-bound seas of the Frozen Regions, and
making sundry remarks to a stout, fair-haired boy of
fifteen, who stood by his side gazing at the ship with
an expression of deep sadness.

•' She's a trim-built craft and a good sea-boat, I'll
be bound, Master Fred," observed the sailor ; " but
sheV too small by half, accordin' to my notions, and I
have seen a few whalers in my day. Them bow-

THE WORLD OF ICE.

timbers, too, are scarce thick enough for goin' bump
asrin the ice o' Davis' Straits. Howsom'iver, I've seen
worse craft drivin' a good trade in the Polar Seas."

" She's a lirst-rate craft in all respects ; and you
have too high an opinion of your own judgment,"
replied the youth indignantly. " Do you suppose that
my father, who is an older man than yourself and as
good a sailor, would buy a ship, and lit her out, and
go oft' to the whale-fishery in her, if he did not think
her a good one ? "

" Ah ! Master Fred, you're a chip of the old block
— neck or nothing — carry on all sail till you tear the
masts out of her ! Reef the t'gallant sails of your
temper, boy, and don't run foul of an old man who
has been all but a wet-nurse to ye — taught ye to
walk, and swim, and pull an oar, and build ships,
and has hauled ye out o' the sea when ye fell in
— from the time ye could barely stump along on
two legs, lookin' like as if ye was more nor half-seas-
over."

" Well, Buzzby," replied the boy, laughing, " if
yo'i've been all that to me, I think you have been a
i(;c^-nurse too ' But why do you run down my
father's ship ■ Do you think I'm going to stand
that ? No ! not even from you, old boy."

" Hallo ! youngster," shouted a voice from the deck
of the vessel in question, " run up and tell your father
we're all ready, and if h« d^n't make haste he'll lose
the tide, so he will, and that'll make us have to start
on a Friday, it will, an' that'll not do for me, nohow

THE WORLD OF ICE.

II i

it won't ; so make sail and look sharp about it, do —
won't you ? "

" What a tongue he's got ! " remarked Buzzby.
" Before I'd go to sea with a first mate who jawed
like that I'd be a landsman. Don't ever you git to
talk too much, Master Fred, wotever ye do. My
maxim is — and it has served me through life, un-
common — * Keep your weather-eye open and your
tongue housed 'xcept when you've got occasion to use
it.' If that fellow'd use his eyes more and his tongue
less, he'd see your father comin' dowm the road there,
right before the wind, with his old sister in tow."

" How I wish he would have let me go with him ! "
muttered Fred to himself sorrowfully.

" No chance now, I'm afeard," remarked his com-
panion. " The gov'nor's as stiff as a nor'-wester,
Nothin' in the world can turn him once he's made up
his mind but a regular sou'-easter. Now, if you had
been my son, and yonder tight craft my ship, I would
have said, ' Come at once.' But your father knows
best, lad ; and you're a wise son to obey orders cheer-
fully, without question. That's another o' my maxims,
* Obey orders, an' ax no questions.' "

Frederick Ellice, senior, who now approached, whis-
pering words of consolation into the ear of his weep-
ing sister, might, perhaps, have just numbered fifty
years. He was a fine, big, bold, hearty Englishman,
with a bald head, grizzled locks, a loud but not harsh
voice, a rather quick temper, and a kind, earnest,
enthusiastic heart. Like Buzzby, he had spent nearly

THE WORLD OF ICE.

us-
|ep-

[an,
fsh
jst,
rly

all his life at sea, and had become so thoroughly
accustomed to walking on an unstable foundation
that he felt quite uncomfortable on solid ground, and
never remained more than a few months at a time
on shore. He was a man of good education and
gentlemanly manners, and had worked his way up in
the merchant service step by step u^Ml he obtained
the command of a West India trader.

A few years previous to the period in which our
tale op( ns, an event occurred which altered the course
of Captain Ellice's life, and for a long period plunged
him into the deepest affliction. This was the loss of
his wife at sea under peculiarly distressing circum-
stances.

At the age of thirty Captain Ellice had married a
pretty blue-eyed girl, who resolutely refused to become
a sailor's bride unless she should be permitted to ac-
company her husband to sea. This was without much
diflSculty agreed to, and forthwith Alice Bremner be-
came Mrs. Ellice, and went to sea. It was during her
third voyage to the "West Indies that oar hero Fred
was born, and it was during this and succeeding
voyages that Buzzby became " all but a wet-nurse "
to him.

Mrs. Ellice was a loving, gentle, seriously-minded
woman. She devoted herself heart and soul to the
training of her boy, and spent many a pleasant hour
in that little, unsteady cabin in endeavouring to instil
into his infa.nt mind the blessed truths of Christianity,
and in making the name of Jesus familiar to his ear.

ill '

!' I

THE WORLD OF ICE.

ill

* '
(

As Fred grew older his mother encouraged him to
hold occasional intercourse with the sailors — for her
husband's example taught her the value of a bold,
manly spirit, and she knew that it was impossible for
her to instil thcd into him — but she was careful to
guard him from the evil that he might chance to learn
from the men, by committing him to the tender care
of Buzzby. To do the men justice, however, this was
almost unnecessary, for they felt that a mother's
watchful eye was on the child, and no unguarded
word fell from their lips while he was romping about
the forecastle.

When it was time for Fred to go to school, Mrs.
EUice gave up her roving life and settled in her native
town of Grayton, where she resided with her widowed
sister, Amelia Bright, and her niece Isobel. Here
Fred received che rudiments of an excellent education
at a private academy. At the age of twelve, how-
ever, Master Fred became restive, and during one of
his father's periodical visits home, begged to be taken
to sea. Captoin Ellice agreed ; Mrs. Ellice insisted on
accompanying them ; and in a few weeks they were
once again on their old home, the ocean, and Fred was
enjoying his native air in company with his friend
Buzzby, who stuck to the old ship like one of her own
stout timbers.

But this was destined to be a disastrous voyage.
One evening, after crossing the line, they descried a
suspicious-looking schooner to windward, bearing
down upon them under a cloud of canvas.

THE WORLD OF ICE.

)wn

" What do you think of her, Buzzby ? " inquired
Captain Ellice, handinj]j his glass to the seaman.

Buzzby gazed in silence and with compressed lips
for some time ; then he returned the glass, at the
same time muttering the word, " Pirate."

" I thought so," said the captain in a deep, unsteady
voice. " There is but one course for us, Buzzby," he
continued, glancing towards his wife, who, all uncon-
scious of their danger, sat near the taftrail employed
with her needle ; " these fellows show no mercy, be-
cause they expect none either from God or man. We
must fight to the last. Go, prepare the men and get
out the arms. I'll tell my wife."

Buzzby went forward ; but the captain's heart failed
him, and he took two or three rapid, hesitating turns on
the quarter-deck ere he could make up his mind to speak.

" Alice," he said at length abruptly, " yonder vessel
is a pirate."

Mrs. Ellice looked up in surprise, and her face grew
pale as her e} e met the troubled gaze of her husband.

" Are you quite sure, Frederick ? "

" Yes, quite. Would God that I were left alone to
— but — nay, do not be alarmed ; perhaps I am wrong,
it may be a — a clipper-built trading-vessel. If not,
Alice, we must make some show of fighting, and try
to frighten them. Meanwhile you must go below."

The captain spoke encouragingly'' as he led his wife
to the cabin ; but his candid countenance spoke too
truthfully, and she felt that his look of anxious con-
cern bade her fear the worst

■?.

THE WORLD OF ICE.

Pressing her fervently to his heart, Captain Ellice
sprang on deck.

.^ By this time the news had spread through the ship,
and the crew, consisting of upwards of thirty men,
were conversing earnestly in knots of four or five
while they sharpened and buckled on cutlasses, or
loaded pistols and carbines.

•' Send the men aft, Mr. Thompson," said the cap-
tain, as he paced the deck to and fro, casting his eyes
occasionally on the schooner, which was rapidly near-
ing the vessel. " Take another pull at these main-
topsail-halyards, and send the steward down below
for my sword and pistols. Let the men look sharp ;
w'e've no time to lose, and hot work is before us."

" I will go for your sword, father," cried Fred, who
had just come on deck.

" Boy, boy, you must go below ; you can be of no
use here."

" But, father, you know that I'm not afraid."

" I know that, boy — I know it well ; but you're
too young to fight — you're not strong enough. Besides,
you must comfort and cheer your mother; she may
want you."

" I'm old enough and strong enough to load and fire
a pistol, father ; and I heard one of the men say we
would need all the hands on board, and more if we
had them. Besides, it was my mother who told me
what was going on, and sent me on deck to help you
to fight"

A momentary gleam of pride lit up the countenance

THE WORLD OF ICE.

of the captain as he said hastily, " You may stay,
then," and turned towards the men, who now stood
assembled on the quarter-deck.

Addressing the crew in his own blunt, vigorous
style, he said, " Lads, yon rascally schooner is a pirate,
as you all know well enough. I need not ask you if
you are ready to fi' 'it ; I see by your looks you are.
But that's not enough — you nmst make up your minds
to fight well. You know that pirates give no quarter.
I see the decks are swarming with men. If you don't
go at them like bull-dogs, you'll walk the plank before
sunset every man of you. Now, go forward, and
double-shot your muskets and pistols, and stick as
many of the latter into your belts as they will hold.
Mr. Thompson, let the gunner double-shot the four big
guns, and load the little carronade with musket-balls
to the muzzle. If they do try to board us, they'll get
a warm reception."

"There goes a shot, sir," said Buzzby, pointing
towards the piratical schooner, from the side of which
a white cloud burst, and a round shot ricochetted over
the sea, passing close ahead of the ship.

" Ay, that's a request for us to lay-to," said the cap-
tain bitterly, " but we won't. Keep her away a point."

" Ay, ay, sir," sung out the man at the wheel. A
second and a third shot were fired, but passed unheeded,
and the captain, fully expecting that the next would
be fired into them, ordered the men beloM\

" We can't afford to lose a man, Mr. Thompson ;
send them all down." *-

'■"s<^

THE WORLD OF ICE.

t •' I'

\''

" Please, sir, may I remain ? " said Buzzby, touching
his hat.

" Obey orders," answered the captain sternly. The
sailor went below with a sulky Hing.

For nearly an hour the two vessels cue through the
water before a steady breeze, during which time the
fast-sailing schooner gradually overhauled the heavy
West Indiaman, until she approached within speaking
distance. Still Captain El lice paid no attention to
her, but stood with compressed lips beside the man at
the wheel, gazing alternately at the sails of his vessel
and at the windward horizon, where he fancied he saw
indications that led him to hope the breeze would fail
ere long.

As the schooner drew nearer, a man leaped on the
hammock-nettings, and, putting a trumpet to his
mouth, sang out lustily, " Ship ahoy ! where are you
from, and what's your cargo ? "

Captain Ellice made no reply, but ordered four of
his men on deck to point one of the stern-chasers.

Again the voice came harshly across the waves, as
if in passion, " Heave to, or I'll sink you." At the
same moment the black flag was run up to the peak,
and a shot passed between the main and fore masts.

" Stand by to point this gun," said the captain in a
subdued voice.

" Ay, ay, sir ! "

" Fetch a red-hot iron ; luff*, luff" a little — a little
more steady — so." At the last word there was a pufF
and a roar, and an iron messenger flew towards the

■ I '*

TIIK WORLD OF ICE.

schooner. The gun had been fired more as a reply of
defiance to tlie pivate than with tlie hope of doing liini
any damage; but the sliot had been well aimed — it cut
the scliooner's main-sail-yard in two and brought it
rattling down on deck. Instantly the pirate yawed
and delivered a broadside , but in the confusion on
deck the guns were badly aimed, and none took efl'ect.
The time lost in this manaaivre, added to the crippled
condition of the schooner, enabled the West Indiaman
to gain considerably on her antagonist ; but the pirate
kept up a well-directed Hre with his bow-cl asers, and
many of the shots struck the hull and cut the rigging
seriously. As the rAin descended towards the horizon
the wind fell gradually, and ceased at length altogether,
so that both vessels lay rolling on the swell with their
sails flapping idly against the masts.

" They're a-gittin' out the boats, sir," remarked John
Buzzby, who, unable to restrain himself any longer,
had crept upon deck at the risk of another reprimand ;
"and, if my eyes be'n't deceiving me, there's a sail
on the horizon to wind'ard — leastways, the direction
which IV08 wind'ard afore it fell calm."

" She's bringing a breeze along with her," remarked
the captain, " but I fear the boats will come up before
it reaches us. There are three in the water and
manned already. There they come. Now, then, call
up all hands."

In a few seconds the crew of the West Indiaman
were at their stations ready for action, and Captain
Ellice, with Fred at his elbow, stood beside one of the

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Hl.:

stern -cliasers. Meanwhile, the boats of the pirate,
five in number, pulled away in difterent directions,
evidently with the intention of attacking the ship at
diHurent points. They were full of men armed to the
teeth. While they rowed towards the ship the schooner
resumed its fire, and one bai- cut away the spanker-
boom and slightly wounded two of the men with
splinters. The guns of the ship were now brought to
bear on the boats, but without effect, although the
shot plunged into the water all round them. As they
drew nearer a brisk fire of nuisketry was opened on
them, and the occasional falling of an oar and con-
fusion on board showed that the shots told. The
pirates replied vigorously, but without effect, as the
men of the ship were sheltered by the bulwarks.

" Pass the word to load and reserve fire," said the
captain ; " and hand me a musket, Fred. Load again
as fast as I fire." So saying, the captain took aim
and fired at the steersman of the largest boat, which
pulled towards the stern. " Another, Fred — "

At this moment a withering volley was poured upon
the boat, and a savage yell of agony followed, while
the rowers who remained unhurt paused for an in-
stant as if paralyzed. Next instant they recovered,
and another stroke would have brought them almost
alongside, when Captain EUice pointed the little car-
ronade and fired. There was a terrific crash ; the gun
recoiled violently to the other side of the deck ; and
the pirate boat sank, leaving the sea covered "with
dead and wounded men. A number, however, who

TTIK WORLD OF ICE.

sncmcd to lietir clmrnied lives, seized their cutlasses
with tlieif toetli, and swam boKUy for the ship. This
incident, unfortunately, attracted too much of the
attention ot the crew, and ere they could prevent it
another boat reached the bow of the ship, the crew of
which sj)ran«jf up the side like cats, formed on the
forecastle, and poured a volley up(jn the men.

" Follow me, lads!" shouted the captain, as lie spranpf
forward like a tij^er. The first man he reached fell
by a ball from his pistol ; in another moment the
opposing parties met in a hand-to-hand conflict.
Meanwhile Fred, having been deeply inipressed with
the effect of the shot from the little carronado,
succeeded in raising and reloading it. lie had
scarcely accomplished this when one of the boats
reached the larboard quarter, and two of the men
sprang up the side. Fred observed them, and felled
the first with a handspike before he reached the deck ;
but the pirate who instantly followed would have
killed him had he not been observed by the second
mate, who had prevented several of the men from
jo' ling in the "^telec on the forecastle in order to
meet such an emergency as this. Rushing to the
rescue with his party, he drove the pirates back into
the boat, which was immediately pulled towards the
bow, where the other two boats were now grappling
and discharging their crews on the forecastle. Al-
though the men of the West Indiaman fought with
desperate courage, they could not stand before the
increasing numbers of pirates who now crowded the

1 1

fil

f 1

.»tli!i

I :

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fore part of the ship in a dense mass. Gradually they
were beaten back, and at length were brought to bay
on the quarter-deck.

" Help, father ! " cried Fred, pushing through the
struggling crowd, " here's the carronade ready loaded."

" Ha ! boy, well done ! " cried the captain, seizing
the gun, and, with the help of Buzzby, who never
left his side, dragging it forward. " Clear the way,
lads ! "

In a moment the little cannon was pointed to the
centre of the mass of men, and fired. One awful
shriek of agony rose above the din of the fight, as a
wide gap was cut through the crowd ; but this only
seemed to render the survivors more furious. With
a savage yell they charged the quarter-deck, but were
hurled back again and again by the captain and a
few chosen men who stood around him. At length
one of the pirates, who had been all along conspicuous
for his strength and daring, stepped deliberately up,
and pointing a pistol at the captain's breast, fired.
Captain EUice fell, and at the same moment a ball
laid the pirate low ; another charge was made ; Fred
rushed forward to protect his father, but was thrown
down and trodden under foot in the rush, and in
two minutes more the ship was in possession of the
pirates.

Being filled with rage at the opposition they had
met with, these villains proceeded, as they said, to
make short work of the crew, while several of them
sprang into the cabin, where they discovered Mrs.

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Ellice almost dead with terror. Dragging her violently
on deck, they were about to cast her into the sea,
when Buzzby, who stood with his hands bound,
suddenly burst his bonds and sprang towards her.
A blow from the butt of a pistol, however, stretched
him insensible on the deck.

" Where is my husband ? my boy ? " screamed Mrs.
Ellice wildly.

" They've gone before you, or they'll soon follow,"
said a savage fiercely, as he raised her in his powerful
arms and hurled her overboard. A loud shriek w^as
followed by a heavy plunge. At the same moment
two of the men raised the captain, intending to throw
him overboard also, when a loud boom arrested their
attention, and a cannon-shot ploughed up the sea
close in front of their bows.

While the fight was raging, no one had observed
the fact that the breeze had freshened, and a large
man-of-war, with American colours at her peak, was
now within gunshot of the ship. No sooner did the
pirates make this discovery than they rushed to their
boats, with the intention of pulling to their schooner ;
but those who had been left in charge, seeing the
approach of the man-of-war, and feeling that there
was no chance of escape for their comrades, or, as is
more than probable, being utterly indifferent about
them, crowded all sail and slipped away, and it was
now hull-down on the horizon to leeward. The men
in the boats rowed after her with the energy of
despair ; but the Americans gave chase, and we need

THE WORLD OF ICE.

scarcely add that, in a very short time, all were cap-
tured.

When the nian-oi'-war rejoined the West Indiaman,
the night had set in and a stiff breeze had arisen, "o
that the long and laborious search that wl,s made for
the body of poor Mrs. Ell ice proved utterly fruitless.
Captain Ellice, whose wound was very severe, was
struck down as if by a thunderbolt, and for a long
time his life was despaired of. During his illness
Fred nursed him with tlie utmost tenderness, and in
seeking to comfort his father, found some relief to
his own stricken heart.

Months passed away. Captain Ellice was conveyed
to the residence of his sister in Gray ton, and, under
her care, and the nursing of his little niece Isobel, he
recovered his wonted health and strength. To the
eyes of men Captain Ellice and his son were themselves
again ; but those who judge of men's hearts by their
outward appearance and expressions, in nine cases out
of ten judge very wide of the mark indeed. Both had
undergone a great change. The brilliancy and glitter
of this world had been completely and rudely dispelled,
and both had been led to inquire whether there was
not something better to live for than mere present
advantage and happiness — something that would stand
by them in those hours of sickness and sorrow which
must inevitably, sooner or later, come upon all men.
Both sought, and discovered what they sought, in the
Bible, the only book in all the world where the jewel
of great price is to be found.

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.he
thfe

was
jsent
Itand
Ihich

men

iwel

But Captain Ellice could not be induced to resume
the command of his old ship, or voyage again to the
West Indies. He determined to change the ccene of
his future labours and sail to the Frozen Seas, where
the aspect oi every object, even the ocean itself,
would be very unlikely to recall the circumstances cf
his loss.

Some time after his recovery, Captain Ellice pur-
chased a brig and fitted her out as a whaler, deter-
mined to try his fortune in the Northern Seas. Fred
pleaded hard to be taken out, but his father felt
that he had more need to go to school than to sea ;
so he refused, and Fred, after sighing very deeply
once or twice, gave in with a good grace. Buzzby,
too, who stuck to his old commander like a leech, was
equally anxious to go ; but Buzzby, in a sudden and
unaccountable fit of tenderness, had, just two months
before, married a wife, who might be appropriately
described as " fat, fair, and forty," and Buzzby 's wife
absolutely forbade him to go. Alas I Buzzby was
no longer his own master. At the age of forty-five
he became — as he himself expressed it — an abject
slave, and he w^ould as soon have tried to steer in
a slipper-bath right in the teeth of an equinoctial
hurricane, as have opposed the will of his wife. He
used to sigh gruffly when spoken to on this subject,
and compare himself to a Dutch galliot that made
more leeway than headway, even with a wind on
the quarter. " Once," he would remark, " I was
clipper-built, and could sail right in the wind's eye ;

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but ever since I tuck this craft in tow, I've gone to
leeward like a tub. In fact, I find there's only one
way of going ahead with my Poll, and that is right
before the wind ! I used to yaw about a good deal
at first, but she tuck that out o' me in a day or two.
If I put the helm only so much as one stroke to
starboard, she guv' a tug at the tow rope that brought
the wind dead aft again ; so I've gi'n it up, and lashed
the tiller right amid-ships."

So Buzzby did not accompany his old commander ;
he did not even so much as suggest the possibility of
it ; but he shook his head with great solemnity, as he
stood with Fred, and Mrs. Bright, and Isobel, at the
end of the pier, gazing at the brig, with one eye very
much screwed up, and a wistful expression in the
other, while the graceful craft spread out her canvas
and bent over to the breeze.

CHAPTER II.

Departure of the " Pole Star " for the Frozen Seas— Sage reflections of Mrs.
Briyht, and sagacious rcvutrks of Buzzby — Anxieties, fears, surmincs,
and resolutions— Isabel — A search proposed — Departure of the *^ Dol-
phin "for the Far North.

DIGRESSIONS are bad at the best, and we feel
some regret that we shoidd have been com-
pelled to begin our book with one ; but they are
necessary evils sometimes, so we must ask our reader's
forgiveness, and beg him, or her, to remember that we
are still at the commencement of our story, standing
at the enci of the pier, and watching the departure of
the Pole Siar w^hale-ship, which is now a scarcely
distinguishable speck on the horizon.

As it disappeared Buzzby gave a grunt, Fred and
Isobel uttered a sigh in unison, and Mrs. Bright re-
sumed the fit of weeping which for some time she
had unconsciously suspended.

" I fear we shall never see him again," sobbed Mrs.
Bright, as she took Lsobel by the hand and sauntered
slowly home, accompanied by Fred and Buzzby, the
latter of '«,i^hom seemed to regard himself in the light
of a shaggy Newfoundland or mastiff, who had been
left to protect the family. " We are always hearing

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\^ H

J H

of whale-ships being lost, and, somehow or other, we
never hear of the crews being saved, as one reads of
when ships are wrecked in the usual way on the sea-
shore."

Isobel squeezed her mother's hand, and looked up
in her face with an expression that said plainly,
" Don't cry so, mamma ; I'm sitre he will co.:ie back,"
but she could not find v/ords to express herself, so she
glanced towards the mastiff for help.

Buzzby felt that it devolved upon him to afford
consolation under the circumstances; but Mrs. Bright's
mind was of that peculiar stamp which repels advances
in the way of consolation unconsciously, and Buzzby
was puzzled. He screwed up first the right eye and
then the left, and smote his thigh repeatedly ; and
assuredly, if contorting his visage could have comforted
Mrs. Bright, she would have returned home a happy
woman, for he made faces at her violently for full
five minutes. But it did her no good, perhaps because
she didn't see him, her eyes being suffused with tears,

" Ah ! yes," resumed Mrs. Bright, with another
burst, " I knoiu they will never come back, and your
silence shows that you think » too. And to think of
their taking two years' provisions with them in case
of accidents ! — doesi^'t that prove that there are going
to be accidents ? And didn't I hear one of tlie sailors
say that she was a crack ship, A number one ? I
don't know what he meant by A number one, but
if she's a cracked ship I know she will never come
back ; and although I told my dear brother of it, and

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[your

ik of

case

^oing

dlors

i? I

but

jome

and

advised him not to go, he only laughed at me, which
was very unkind, I'm sure."

Here Mrs. Bright's feelings overcame her again.

" Why, aunt," said Fred, scarce able to restrain a
laugh, despite the sadness that lay at his heart, " when
the sailor said it was a crack ship, he meant that it
was a good one, a first-rate one."

" Then why did he not say what he meant ? But
you are talking nonsense, boy. Do you think that I
will believe a man means to say a thing is good when
he calls it cracked ? and I'm sure nobody would say a
cracked tea-pot was as good as a whole one. But tell
me, Buzzby, do you think they ever luill come back ? "

" Why, ma'am, in coorse I do," replied Buzzby,
vehemently ; " for why, if they don't, they're the
first that ever went out o' this port in my day as
didn't. They've a good ship and lots o' grub, and it's
like to be a good season ; and Captain Ellice has, for
the most part, good luck ; and they've started with a
fair wind, and kep' clear of a Friday, and what more
could ye wish ? I only wish as I was aboard along
with them, that's all."

Buzzby delivered himself of this oration with the
left eye shut and screwed up, and the right one open.
Having concluded, he shut and screwed up the right
eye, and opened the left — he reversed the engine, so
to speak, as if he wished to back out from the scene
of his triumph and leave the course clear for others
to speak. But his words were thrown away on Mrs.
Bright, who was emphatically a weak-minded woman.

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)

and never exercised her reason at all, except in a spas-
modic, galvanic sort of way, when she sought to defend
or to advocate some unreasonable conclusion of some
sort, at which her own weak mind had arrived some-
how. So she shook her head, and sobbed good-bye to
Buzzby, as she ascended the sloping avenue tluxt led
to her pretty cottage on the green hill that overlooked
the harbour and the sea beyond.

As for John Buzzby, having been absent from home
full half-an-hour beyond his usual dinner-hour, he felt
that, for a man who had lashed his helm amid-ships,
he was yawing alarmingly out of his course ; so he
spread all the canvas he could carry, and steered
right before the wind towards the village, where, in
a little whitewashed, low-roofed, one-doored and two
little-windowed cottage, his spouse (and dinner)
awaited him.

To make a long story short, three years passed
away, but the Pole Star did not return, and no news
of her could be got from the various whale-ships that
visited the port of Grayton. Towards the end of the
second year Buzzby began to shake his head despond-
ingly ; and as the third drew to a close, the expression
of gloom never left his honest, weather-beaten face.
Mrs. Bright, too, whose anxiety at first was only half
genuine, now became seriously alarmed, and the fate
of the missing brig began to be the talk of the neigh-
bourhood. Meanwhile, Fred Ellice and Isobel grew
and improved in mind and body ; but anxiety as to
his father's fate rendered the former quite unable to

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issed
lews
that
the
lond-
Ission
Iface.
half
fate

pursue his studies, and he determined at last to
procure a passage in a whale-ship, and go out in
search of the brig.

It happened that the principal merchant and ship-
owner in the town, Mr. Singleton by name, was an
intimate friend and old school-fellow of Captain EUice,
so Fred went boldly to him and proposed that a vessel
should be fitted out immediately, and sent oft" to search
for his father's brig. Mr. Singleton smiled at the
request, and pointed out the utter impossibility of
his agreeing to it ; but he revived Fred's sinking
hopes by saying that he was about to send out a
whaler to the Northern Seas at any rate, and that
he would give orders to the captain to devote a
portion of his time to the search, and, moreover,
agreed to let Fred go as a passenger in company
with his own son Tom.

Now, Tom Singleton had been Fred's bosom friend
and companion during his first year at school ; but
during the last two years he had been sent lo the
Edinburgh University to prosecute his medical studies,
and the two friends had only met at rare intervals.
It was with unbounded delight, therefore, that he
found his old companion, now a youth of twenty,
was to go out as surgeon of the ship, and he could
scarce contain himself as he ran down to Buzzby's
cottage to tell him the good news, and ask him to
join. •

Of course Buzzby was ready to go, and, what was
of far greater importance in the matter, his wife threw

V:.}
i,

')!

! ik Bi '

i'l

iii

THE WORLD OF ICE.

no obstacle in the way. On the contrary, she undid
the lashings of the helm with her own hand, and told
her wondering partner, with a good-humoured but
firm smile, to steer where he chose, and she would
content herself with the society of the two young
Buzzbys (botli miniature fac-similes of their father)
till he came back.

Once again a whale-ship prepared to sail from the
port of Grayton, and once again Mrs. Bright and
Isobel itood on the pier to see her depart. Isobel
was about thirteen now, and as pretty a girl, accord-
ing to Buzzby, as you could meet with in any part of
Britain. Her eyes were blue and her hair nut-brown,
and her charms of face and figure were enhanced im-
measurably by an air of modesty and earnestness that
went straight home to your heart, and caused you to
adore her at once. Buzzby doated on her as if she
were his only child, and felt a secret pride in being in
some indefinable way her protector. Buzzby philoso-
phized about her, too, after a strange fashion. " You
see," he would say to Fred, " it's not that her figure-
head is cut altogether after a parfect pattern — by no
means, for I've seen pictur's and statues that wos
better — but she carries her head a little down, d'ye
see, Master Fred ? and there's where it is ; that's the
way I gauges the worth o' young women, jist accordin'
as they carry their chins up or down. If their brows
come well for'ard, and they seems to be lookin' at the
ground they walk on, I knows their brains is firm
stuff, and in good workin' order ; but when I sees

■-.{■■

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them carryin' their noses high out o' the water, as if
they wos at'eard o' catchin' sight o' their own feet, and
their chins elewated, so that a little boy standin' in
front o' them couldn't see their faces nohow, I
make pretty sure that t'other end is filled with a
sort o' onush that's fit only to think o' dress and
dancing."

On the present occasion Isobel's eyes were red and
swollen, and by no means improved by weeping. Mrs.
Bright, too, although three years had done little to
alter her character, seemed to be less demonstrative
and much more sincere than usual in her grief at
parting from Fred.

In a few minutes all was ready. Young Singleton
and Buzzby having hastily but earnestly bade Mrs.
Bright and her daughter farewell, leaped on board.
Fred lingered for a moment.

" Once more, dear aunt," said he, " farewell. With
God's blessing we shall come back soon. — Write to me,
darling Isobel, won't you ? to Upernavik, on the
coast of Greenland. If none of our ships are bound
in that direction, write by way of Denmark. Old
Mr. Singleton will tell you how to address your
letter ; and see that it be a long one."

" Now then, youngster, jump aboard," shouted the
captain ; " look sharp ! "

"Ay, ay," returned Fred, and in another moment
he was on the quarter-deck, by the side of his friend
Tom.

The ship, loosed from her itnocrings, spread her

I '

*v.

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canvas, and plunged forward on lier adventurous
voyage.

But this time she does not grow smaller as she
advances before the freshening breeze, for you and I,
reader, have embarked in her, and the land now fades
in the distance, until it sinks from view on the distant
horizon, while nothing meets our gaze but the vault of
the bright blue sky above, and the plane of the darlc
blue sea below.

CHAPTER III.

The voyarjc — The *'lolphin'* and her crew — Tec ahead — Polar mcjics— Mast-
head observations — The first whale — ilrcat excitement.

ND now we have fairly got into blue water-
the sailor's delight, the landsman's dread, —

*' The soa ! the wea ! tlie open sea ;
The bhie, the fresh, the ever free."

"It's my opinion," remarked Buzzby to S:ngleton
one day, as they stood at the weather gangway
watching the foam that spread from the vessel's bow
as she breasted the waves of the Atlantic gallantly —
" it's my opinion that our skipper is made o' the right
stuff. He's entered quite into the spirit of the thing,
and I heard him say to the first mate yesterday he'd
made up his mind to run right up into Baffin's Bay and
make inquiries for Captain Ell ice first, before goin' to
his usual whalin' -ground. Now that's wot I call
doin' the right thing ; for, ye see, he runs no small
risk o' getting beset in the ice, and losing the fish in'
season altogether by so doin*."

" He's a fine fellow," said Singleton ; " I like him
better every day, and I feel convinced he will do his

t^T

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M J

utmost to discover the whereabouts of our missing
friend ; but I fear much that our chances are small,
for, although we know the spot which Captain Ellice
intended to visit, we cannot tell to what part of the
frozen ocean ice and currents may have carried him."

" True," replied Buzzby, giving to his left eye and
cheek just that peculiar amount of screw which indi-
cated intense sagacity and penetration ; " but I've a
notion that, if they are to be found. Captain Guy is
the man to find 'em."

" I hope it may turn out as you say. Have you
ever been in these seas before, Buzzby ? "

" No, sir — never ; but I've got a half-brother wot
has bin in the Greenland whale-fishery, and I've bin
in the South Sea line myself."

" What line was that, Buzzby ? " inquired David
Summers, a sturdy boy of about fifteen, who acted as
assistant steward, and was, in fact, a nautical maid-of-
all-work. " Was it a log-line, or a bow-line, or a cod-
line, or a bit of the equator, eh ? "

The old salt deigned no reply to this passing sally,
but continued his converse with Singleton.

" I could give ye many a long yarn about the South
Seas," said Buzzby, gazing abstractedly down into the
deep. " One time when I was about fifty miles to
the sou'- west o' Cape Horn, I — "

" Dinner's ready, sir," said a thin, tall, active man,
stepping smartly up to Singleton, and touching his

cap.

We must talk over that some other time, Buzzby.

THE WORLD OF ICE.

The captain loves punctuality." So saying, the young
surgeon sprang down the companion ladder, leaving
the old salt to smoke his pipe in solitude.

And here we may pause a few seconds to describe
our ship and her crew.

The Dolphin was a tight, new, barque-rigged vessel
of about three hundred tons burden, built expressly
for the northern whale-fishery, and carried a crew of
forty-five men. Ships that have to battle with the
ice require to be much more poweifully built than
those that sail in unencumbered seas. The Dolphin
united strength with capacity and buoyancy. The
under part of her hull and sides Wb-'e strengthened
with double timbers, and fortified externally with
plates of iron, while, internally, stanchions and cross-
beams were so arranged a^s to cause pressure on any
part to be supported by the ^ "hole structure ; and on
her bows, where shocks from the ice might be ex-
pected to be most frequent and severe, extra planking,
of immense strength and thickness, was secured. In
other respects, the vessel was fitted up much in the
same manner as ordinary merchantmen. The only
other peculiarity about her worthy of notice was the
crow's-nest, a sort of barrel-shaped structure fastened
to the fore-mast-head, in which, when at the whaling-
ground, a man is stationed to look out for whales.
The chief men in the ship were Captain Guy, a vigor-
ous, earnest, practical American ; Mr. Bolton, the first
mate, a stout, burly, off-hand Englishman ; and Mr.
Saunders, the second mate, a sedate, broad-shouldered;

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V}i

I , ■

raw-boned Scot, whose opinion of himself was un-
bounded, whose power of argument was extraordinary,
not to say exasperating, and who stood six feet three
in his stockings. Mivins, the steward, was, as we
have ah'eady remarked, a tall, thin, active young
man, of a brisk, lively disposition, and was somewhat
of a butt among the men, but being in a position of
power and trust, he was respected. The young sur-
geon, Tom Singleton, whom we have yet scarcely in-
troduced to the reader, was a tall, slim, but firmly-knit
youth, with a kind, gentle disposition. He wm always
open, straightforward, and polite. He never ludulged
in broad humour, though he enjoyed it much, seldom
ventured on a witticism, was rather shy in the com-
pany of his companions, and spoke little ; but for a
quiet, pleasant telte-d-tete there was not a man in the
ship equal to Tom Singleton. His countenance was
Spanish-looking and handsome, his hair black, short,
and curling, and his budding moustache was soft and
dark as the eyebrow of an Andalusian belle.

It would be unpardonable, in this catalogue, to oinil;
the cook, David Mizzle. He was round, and fat, und
oily, as one of his own " duff'' puddings. To look at
him you could not help suspecting that he purloined
and ate at least half of the salt pork he cooked, and
his sly, dimpling laugh, in which every feature par-
ticipated, from the point of his broad chin to the top
of his bald head, rather tended to favour this suppo-
sition. Mizzle was prematurely bald — being quite a
young man — and when questioned on the subject, he

^'"

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orail

usually attributed it to the fact of his having been so
long employed about Lhe cooking coppers, that the
excessive heat to which he was exposed had stewed
all the hair off his head ! The crew was made up of
stout, active men in the prime of life, nearly all of
whom had been more or less accustomed to the whale-
fishing, and some of the harpooners were giants in
muscular development and breadth of shoulder, if not
in height.

Chief among these harpooners was Amos Parr, a
short, thick -set, powerful man of about thirty-five,
who had been at sea since he was a little boy, and
had served in the fisheries of both the Northern and
Southern Seas. No one knew what country had the
honour of producing him — indeed, he was ignorant of
that point himself ; for, although he had vivid recol-
lections of his childhood having been spent among green
hills, and trees, and streamlets, he was sent to sea
with a strange captain before he was old enough to
care about the name of his native land. Afterwards
he ran away from his ship, and so lost all chance of
ever discovering who he was ; but, as he sometimes
remarked, he didn't much care who he was, so long as
he was himself; so it didn't matter. From a slight
peculiarity in his accent, and other qualities, it was
surmised that he must be an Irishman — a supposition
which he rather encouraged, being partial to the sons,
and particularly partial to the daughters, of the Emerald
Isle, one of which last he had married just six months
before setting put on this whaling expedition.

THE WORLD OF ICE.

Such were the Dolphin and her crew, and merrily
they bowled along over the broad Atlantic with
favouring winds, and without meeting ^mth anything
worthy of note until they neared the coast of Green-
land.

One fine morning, just as the party in the cabin
had finished breakfast, and were dallying with the
last few morsels of the repast, as men who have
more leisure than they desire are wont to do, there
was a sudden shock felt, and a slight tremor passed
through the ship as if something had struck her.

" Ha ! " exclaimed Captain Guy, finishing his cup of
chocolate, " there goes the first bump."

" Ice ahead, sir," said the first mate, looking down
the skylight.

" Is there much ? " asked the captain, rising and
taking down a small telescope from the hook on
which it usually hung.

" Not much, sir — only a stream ; but there is an ice-
blink right ahead all along the horizon."

" How's her head, Mr. Bolton ? "

" Nor'-west and by north, sir."

Before this brief conversation came to a close, Fred
EUice and Tom Singleton sprang up the companion lad-
der, and stood on the deck gazing ahead with feelings
of the deepest interest. Both youths were well read in
the history of Polar Seas and Regions ; they were well
acquainted, by name at least, with floes, and bergs, and
hummocks of ice, but neither of them had seen such
in reality. These objects were associated in their

THE WORLD OF ICE.

i^red
llad-

lings

young minds with all that was romantic and wild,
hyperborean and polar, brilliant and sparkling, and
light and white — emphatically tvhite. To behold ice
actually floating on the salt sea was an incident of
note in their existence ; and certainly the impressions
of their first day in the ice remained sharp, vivid, and
prominent, long after scenes of a much more striking
nature had faded from the tablets of their memories.

At first the prospect that met their ardent gaze was
not calculated to excite excessive admiration. There
were only a few masses of low ice floating about in va-
rious directions. The wind w^as steady, but light, and
seemed as if it would speedily fall altogether. Gradu-
ally the hlinh on the horizon (as the light haze always
distinguishable above ice, or snow-covered land, is
called; resolved itself into a long white line of ice,
which seemed to grow larger as the ship neared it,
and in about two hours more they were fairly in the
midst of the pack, which was fortunately loose enough
to admit of the vessel being navigated through the
channels of open water. Soon after, the sun broke
out in cloudless splendour, and the wind fell entirely,
leaving the ocean in a dead calm.

" Let's go to the fore- top, Tom," said Fred, seizing
his friend by the arm and hastening to the shrouds.

In a few seconds they were seated alone on the
little platform at the top of the fore-mast, just where
it is connected with the fore-top-mast, and from this
elevated position they gazed in silent delight upon
the fairy-like scene.

THE WORLD OF ICE.

h 1

Those who have never stood at the mast-head of a
ship at sea in a dead cahii cannot comprehend the
fcclinf]f of intense solitude that fills the mind in such
a position. There is nothing analogous to it on land.
To stand on the summit of a tower and look down
on the busy multitude below is not the same, for
there the sounds are quite different in tone, and signs
of life are visible all over the distant country, while
cries from afar reach the ear, as well as those from
below. But from the mast-head you hear only the
few subdued sounds under your feet — all beyond is
silence ; you behold only the small, oval-shaped plat-
form that is your world — beyond lies the calm deso-
late ocean. On deck you cannot realize this feeling,
for there sails and yards tower above you, and masts,
and boats, and cordage intercept your view ; but from
above you take in the intense minuteness of your
home at a single glance — you stand aside, as it were,
and in some measure comprehend the insignificance
of the thing to which you have committed your life.

The scene witnessed by our friends at the mast-
head of the Dolphin on this occasion was surpassingly
beautiful. Far as the eye could stretch the sea was
covered with islands and fields of ice of every con-
ceivable shape. Some rose in little peaks and pin-
nacles, some floated in the form of arches and domes,
some were broken and rugged like the ruins of old
border strongholds, while others were flat and level
like fields of white marble ; and so calm was it, that
the ocean in which they floated seemed like a ground-

THE WORLD OF ICE.

work of polished steel, in which the sun shone with
dazzling brilliancy. The tops of the icy islets were
pure white, and the sides of the higher ones of a
delicate blue colour, which gave to the scene a trans-
parent lightness that rendered it pre-eminently fairy-
like.

" It far surpasses anything I ever conceived," ejac-
ulated Singleton after a long silence. *' No wonder
that authors speak of scenes being indescribable.
Does it not seem like a dream, Fred ? "

" Tom," replied Fred earnestly, " I've been trying to
fancy myself in another world, and I have almost
succeeded. When I look long and intently at the
ice, I get almost to believe that these are streets, and
palaces, and cathedrals. I never felt so strong a
desire to have wings that I might fly from one island
to another, and go floating in and out and round
about those blue caves and sparkling pinnacles."

" It's a curious fancy, Fred, but not unnatural."

" Tom," said Fred after another long silence, " has
not the thought occurred to you that God made it
all ? "

" Some such thought did cross my mind, Fred, for
a moment, but it soon passed away. Is it not vei^
strange that the idea of the Creator is so seldom and
so slightly connected with his works in our minds ? "
' Again there was a long silence. Both youths had
a desire to continue the conversation, and yet each
felt an unaccountable reluctance to renew it. Neither
of them distinctly understood that the natural heart

THE WORLD OF ICE.

Ml^

is enmity against God, and that, until he is converted
by the Holy Spirit, man neither loves to think of his
Maker nor to speak of him.

While they sat thus musing, a breeze dimmed the
surface of the sea, and the Dolphin, which had hither-
to lain motionless in one of the numerous canals,
began slowly to advance between the islands of ice.
The breeze freshened, and rendered it impossible to
avoid an occasional collision with the floating masses ;
but the good ship was well armed for the fight, and,
although she quivered under the blows, and once or
twice recoiled, she pushed her way through the pack
gallantly. In the course of an hour or two they were
once more in comparatively clear water.

Suddenly there came a cry from the crow's-nest —
" There she blows ! "

Instantly every man in the ship sprang to his feet
as if he had received an electric shock.

" Where away ? " shouted the captain.

" On the lee-bow, sir," replied the look-out.

From a state of compa-rative quiet and repose the
ship was now thrown into a condition of the utmost
animation, and, apparently, unmeaning confusion.
The sight of a whale acted on the spirits of the men
like wild-fire.

" There she blows ! " sang out the man at the mast-
head again.

" Are we keeping right for her ? " asked the captain.

" Keep her away a bit ; steady ! " replied the look-
out.

THE WORLD OF ICE.

" Steady it is ! " answered the mai> at the wheel.

" Call all hands and get the boats out, Mr. Bolton,"
said the captain.

" All hands ahoy ! " shouted the mate in a tempest-
uous voice, while the men rushed to their respective
stations.

" Boat-steerers, get your boats ready."

" Ay, ay, sir."

" There go flukes," cried the look-out, as the whale
dived and tossed its flukes — that is, its tail — in the
air, not more than a mile on the lee-bow j *' she's head-
ing right for the ship."

" Down with the helm ! " roared the captain. " Mr.
Bolton, brace up the mizzen-top-sail ! Hoist and
swing the boats ! Lower away ! "

In another moment three boats stri ok the water,
and their respective crews tumbled tumultuously into
them. Fred and Singleton sprang into the stern-
sheets of the captain's boat just as it pushed off, and,
in less than five minutes, the three boats were bound-
ing over the sea in the direction of the whale like
race-horses. Every man did his best, and the tough
oars bent like hoops as each boat's crew strove to out-
strip the others.

: 't

CHAPTER IV.

The chase and the battle — The chances and dawjcrs of whaling war — Buzzhy
dives fur his life and saves it — So does the whale and loses it — An
anxious niyht, which terminates happily, thowjh with a hcanj loss.

THE chase was not a long one, for, while the boats
were rowing swiftly towards the whale, the whale
was, all unconsciously, swimming towards the boats.

" Give way now, lads, give way," said the captain
in a suppressed voice ; " bend your backs, boys, and
don't let the mate beat us."

The three boats flew over the sea, as the men
strained their muscles to the utmost, and for some time
they kept almost in line, being pretty equally matched ;
but gradually the captain shot ahead, and it became
evident that his harpooner, Amos Parr, was to have
the honour of harpooning the first whale. Amos
pulled the bow-oar, and behind him was the tub with
the line coiled away, and the harpoon bent on to it.
Being an experienced whaleman, he evinced no sign
of excitement, save in the brilliancy of his dark eye
and a very slight flush on his bronzed face. They
had now neared the whale and ceased rowing for a
moment, lest they should miss it when down.

THE WORLD OF ICE.

" There she goes ! " cried Fred in a tone of intense
excitement, as he canf,dit sight of the whale not more
than fifty yards nhead of the boat.

" Now, boys," cried the captain, in a hoarse whisper,
" spring hard — lay back hard, I say — stand uj) ! "

At the last word Amos Parr sprang to his feet and
seized the harpoon, the boat ran right on to the
whale's back, and in an instant Parr sent two irons to
the hitches into the fisli.

" Stern all ! " The men backed their oars w^ith all
their might, in order to avoid the flukes of the wounded
monster of the deep, as it plunged down headlong into
the sea, taking the line out perpendicularly like light-
ning. This was a moment of great danger. The
friction of the line as it passed the loggerhead was so
great that Parr had to keep constantly pouring water
on it to prevent its catching fire. A hitch in the line
at that time, as it flew out of the tub, or any accidental
entanglement, would have dragged the boat and crew
right down: many such fatal accidents occur to whalers,
and many a poor fellow has had a foot or an arm torn
off", or been dragged overboard and drowned, in conse-
quence of getting entangled. One of the men stood
ready with a small hatchet to cut the line in a moment,
if necessary ; for whales sometimes run out all that is
in a boat at the first plunge, and should none of the
other boats be at hand to lend a second line to attach
to the one nearly expended, there is nothing for it
but to cut. On the present occasion, however, none of
these accidents befell the men of the captain's boat.

THE WORLD OF ICE.

The line ran all clear, and long before it was exhausted
the whale ceased to descend, and the slack was hauled
rapidly in.

Meanwhile the other boats pulled up to the scene
of action, and pi -spared to strike the instant the fish
should rise to the surface. It appeared, suddenly, not
twenty yards from the mate's boat, where Buzzby,
who was harpooner, stood in the bow ready to give it
the iron.

" Spring, lads, spring ! " shouted the mate, as the
whale spouted into the air a thick stream of water.
The boat dashed up, and Buzzby planted his harpoon
vigorously. Instantly the broad flukes of the tail
were tossed into the air, and, for a single second,
spread like a canopy over Buzzby's head. '^re was

no escape. The quick eye of the whaleman saw at a
glance that the effort to back out was hopeless. He
bent his head, and the next moment was deep down
in the waves. Just as he disappeared the flukes
descended on the spot which he had left, and cut the
bow of the boat completely away, sending the stern
high into the air with a violence that tossed men, and
oars, and shattered planks, and cordage, flying over
the monster's back into the seething caldron of foam
around it. It was apparently a scene of the most
complete and instantaneous destruction, yet, strange to
say, not a man was lost. A few seconds after, the
white foam of the sea was dotted with black heads as
the men rose one by one to the surface, and struck out
for floating oars and pieces of the wrecked boat.

TTIK AVORLD OF ICK.

*• They're lost!" cried Fred EUice in n voice of horror.

" Not a hit of it, youngster ; they're safe enough,
I'll warrant," replied the captain, as his own hoat Hew
past the spot, towed by the whale. — " Pay out, Amos
Parr ; give him line, or he'll tear the bows out of us."

" Ay, ay, sir," sang out Amos, as he sat coolly pour-
ing water on the loggerhead round which a coil of
the rope was whizzing like lightning ; " all right.
The mate's men are all safe, sir ; I counted them as
wc shot past, and I seed Buzzby come up last of all,
blowin' like a grampus ; and small wonder, considerin'
the dive he took."

" Take another turn of the coil, Amos, and hold on,"
said the captain.

The harpooner obeyed, and away they went after
the whale like a rocket, with a tremendous strain on
the line and a bank of Vvhite foam gurgling up to the
edge of the gunwale, that every moment threatened to
fill the boat and sink her. Such a catastrophe is of
not unfrequent occurrence, when whalemen thus towed
by a whale are tempted to hold on too long; and
many instances have happened of boats and their
crews being in this way dragged under water and lost.
Fortunately the whale dashed horizontally through
the water, so that the boat was able to hold on and
follow, and in a short time the creature paused ar^d
rose for air. Again the men bent to their ours, and
the rope was hauled in until they came quite ^lose
to the fish. This time a harpoon was thrown and a
deep lance-thrust given which penetrated to the vital

^-^r

THE WORLD OF ICE.

parts of its huge carcass, as was evidenced by the
blood which it spouted and the convulsive lashing of
its tremendous tail.

While the captain's crew were thus engaged, Saun-
ders, the second mate, observing from the ship the
accident to the first mate's boat, sent off a party of
men to the rescue, thus setting free the third boat,
which was steered by a strapping fellow named Peter
Grim, to follow up the chase. Peter Grim was the
ship's carpenter, and he took after his name. He was,
as the sailors expressed it, a " grim customer," being
burnt by the sun to a deep rich brown colour, besides
being covered nearly up to the eyes with a thick coal-
black beard and moustache, which completely con-
cealed every part of his visage except his prominent
nose and dark, fiery-looking eyes. He was an im-
mense man, the largest in the ship, probably, if we
except the Scotch second mate Saunders, to whom
he was about equal in all respects — except argument.
Like most big men, he was peaceable and good-
humoured.

" Look alive now, lads," said Grim, as the men pulled
towards the whale ; " we'll get a chance yet, we shall,
if you give way like tigers. Split your sides, boys —
do — that's it. Ah! there she goes right down. Pull
away now, and be ready when she rises."

As he spoke the whale suddenly souvded — that is,
went perpendicularly down, as it had done when first
struck — and continued to descend until most of the line
in the captain's boat was run out.

THE WORLD OF ICE.

blled
Ishall,

[ys—
Pull

iai is,
first
line

" Hoist an oar ! " cried Amos Parr, as he saw the coil
diminishing. Grim observed the signal of distress,
and encouraged his men to use their utmost exertions.
" Another oar ! — another ! " shouted Parr, as the whale
continued its headlong descent.

' Stand by to cut the line," said Captain Guy with
compressed lips. " No ! hold on, hold on ! "

At this moment, having drawn down more than a
thousand fathoms of rope, the whale slackened its
speed, and Parr, taking another coil round the logger-
head, held on until the boat was almost dragged under
water. Then the line became loose, and the slack was
hauled in rapidly. Meanwhile Grim's boat had reached
the spot, and the men now lay on their oars at some
distance ahead, ready to pull the instant the whale
should show itself. Up it came, not twenty yards
ahead. One short, energetic pull, and the second boat
sent a harpoon deep into it, while Grim sprang to the
bow and thrust a lan( with deadly force deep into
the carcass. The monster sent up a stream of mingled
blood, oil, and water, and whirled its huge tail so
violently that the sound could be heard a mile off.
Before it dived again, the captain's boat came up, and
succeeded in making fast another harpoon, while several
additional lance-thrusts were given with effect, and it
seemed aa if the battle were about to terminate, when
suddenly the whale struck the sea with a clap like
thunder, and darted away once more like a rocket to
windward, tearing the two boats after it as if they had
been egg-shells. -

THE WORLD OF ICE.

■i '.

Meanwh"le a change had come over the scene. The
sun had set, red and lowering, behind a bank of dark
clouds, and there was every appearance of stormy-
weather ; but as yet it was nearly calm, and the ship
was unable to beat up against the light breeze in the
wake of the tw^o boats, which were soon far away on
the horizon. Then a furious gust arose and passed
away, a dark cloud covered the sky as night fell, and
soon boats and whale were utterly lost to view.

" Wae's me ! " cried the big Scotch mate, as he ran up
and down the quarter-deck wringing his hands, " what
is to be done noo ? "

Saunders spoke a mongrel kind of language — a
mixture of Scotch and English — in which, although
the Scotch words were sparsely scattered, the Scotch
accent was very strong.

* How's her head ? "

" Nor'-nor'-west, sir."

" Keep her there, then. Maybe, if the wind holds
stiddy, we may overhaul them before it's quite dark."

Although Saunders was really in a state of the
utmost consternation at this unexpected termination
to the whale-hunt, and expressed the agitation of his
feelings pretty freely, he was too thorough a seaman
to neglect anything that was necessary to be done
under the circumstances. He took the exact bearings
of the point at which the boats had disappeared, and
during the night, which turned out gusty and threaten-
ing, kept making short tacks, while lanterns were hung
at the mast-heads, and a huge torch, or rather a small

THE WORLD OF ICE.

bonfire, of tarred materials was slung at the end of a
spar and thrust out over the stern of the ship. But
for many hours there was no sign of the boats, and
the crew of the Dolpliin began to entertain the most
gloomy forebodings regarding them.

At length, towards morning, a small speck of light
was noticed on the weather-beam. It flickered for a
moment, and then disappeared.

" Did ye see yon ? *' said Saunders to Mivins in an
agitated whisper, laying his huge hand on the shoulder
of that worthy, " Down your helm " (to the steers-
man).

"Ay, ay, sir!"

" Stiddy ! "

" Steady it is, sir/'

Mivins's face, which for some hours had worn an
expression of deep anxiety, relaxed into a bland smile,
and he smote his thigh powerfully, as he exclaimed,
" That's them, sir, and no mistake ! What's your
opinion, Mr. Saunders ? "

The second mate peered earnestly in the direction
in which the light had been seen ; and Mivins, turning
in the same direction, screwed up his visage into a
knot of earnest attention so complicated and intense,
that it seemed as if no human power could evermore
unravel it.

" There it goes again ! " cried Saunders, as the light
flashed distinctly over the sea.

"Down helm; back fore -top- sails !" he shouted,
springing forward ; " lower away the boat there I "

THE WORLD OF ICE.

In a few seconds the ship was hove to, and a boat,
with a lantern fixed to an oar, was plunging over the
swell in the direction of the light. Sooner than was
expected they came up with it, and a hurrah in the
distance told that all was right.

" Here we are, thank God," cried Captain Guy,
"safe and sound. We don't require assistance, Mr.
Saunders ; pull for the ship."

A short pull sufficed to bring the three boats along-
side, and in a few seconds more the crew were con-
gratulating their comrades with that mingled feeling
of deep heartiness and a disposition to jest which is
characteristic of men who are used to danger, and
think lightly of it after it is over.

" We've lost our fish, however," remarked Captain
Guy, as he passed the crew on his way to the cabin ;
" but we must hope for better luck next time."

" Well, well," said one of the men, wringing the
water out of his wet clothes as he walked forward,
" we got a good laugh at Peter Grim, if we got nothin'
else by our trip."

" How was that. Jack ? "

" Why, ye see, jist before the whale gave in, it sent
up a spout o' blood and oil as thick as the main-mast,
and, as luck would have it, down it came slap on the
head of Grim, drenchin' him from head to foot, and
makin' him as red as a lobster."

" 'Ow did you lose the fish, sir ? " inquired Mivins,
as our hero sprang up the side, followed by Singleton.

" Lost him as men lose money in railway specula-

THE WORLD OF ICE.

[ns,

Ila-

»*S|

tions now-a-days. We sank him, and that was the
last of it. After he had towed us I don't know how
far — out of sight of the ship at any rate — he sud-
denly stopped, and we pulled up and gave him some
tremendous digs with the lances, until he spouted jets
of blood, and we made sure of him, when all at once
down he went head-foremost like a cannon ball, and
took all the line out of both boats, so we had to cut,
and he never came up again. At least, if he did it
became so dark that we never saw him. Then we
pulled to where we thought the ship was, and, after
rowing nearly all night, caught sight of your lights j
and here we are, dead tired, wet to the skin, and minus
about two miles of whale-line and three harpoons."

CHAPTER V.

Miscellaneous reflections — The coast of Greenland — Upernavik—Ncivs oj
the ^^ Pole fJtar" — Midnight-day — Scientific fac ■* and fairy-like scenes —
Tom Singleton^s opinion of poor old women — in danyer of a squeeze —
Escape.

IN pursuance of his oiiginal intention, Captain Guy-
now proceeded through Davis' Straits into
Baffin's Bay, at the head of which he intended to
search for the vessel of his friend Captain Ellice,
and afterwards prosecute the whale-fishery. Off the
coast of Greenland many whalers were seen actively
engaged in warfare with the giants of the Polar Seas,
and to several of these Captain Guy spoke, in the
faint hope of gleaning some information as to the fate
of the Pole Star, but without success. It was now
apparent to the crew of the Dolphin that they were
engaged as much on a searching as a whaling expedi-
tion ; and the fact that the commander of the lost
vessel was the father of " young Mr. Fred," as they
styled our hero, induced them to take a deep interest
in the success of their undertaking.

This interest was further increased by the graphic
account that honest John Buzzby gave of the death of
poor Mrs. Ellice, and the enthusiastic way in which he

THE WORLD OF ICE.

bhe

Idi-

)St

lie

I of

spoke of his old eaptain. Fred, too, had, by his frank,
affable manner and somewhat reckless disposition,
rendered himself a general favourite with the men.
and had particularly recommended himself to Mivins
the steward (who was possessed of an intensely roman-
tic spirit), by stating once or twice very emphatically
that he (Fred) meant to land on the coast of Baffin's
Bay, should the captain fail to find his father, and
continue the search on foot and alone. There w^as no
doubt whatever that poor Fred was in earnest, and
had made up his mind to die in the search rather thiin
not find him. He little knew the terrible nature of
the country in which for a time his lot was to be cast,
and the hopelessness of such an undertaking as he
meditated. With boyish inconsiderateness he thought
not of how his object was to be accomplished ; he
cared not w^at impossibilities lay in the way ; but,
with manly determine ,tion, he made up his mind to
quit the ship and search for his father through the
length and breadta of the land. Let not the reader
smile at what he may perhaps style a childish piece
of enthusiasm. Many a youth at his age has dreamed
f attempting as great if not greater impossibilities.
All honour, we say,* to the boy who dreams impossi-
bilities, and greater honour to him who, like Fred,
resolves to attempt theioi ! James Watt stared at an
iron tea-kettle till his eyes w^ere dim, and meditated
the monstrous impossibility . making that kettle
work like a horse ; and men might (perhaps did)
smile at James Watt then, but do men smile at James

k ni;

THE WORLD OF ICE.

Watt nowf — now that thousands of iron kettles are
dashing like dreadful comets ovor tlie length and
breadth of the land, not to mention the sea, with
long tails of men and women and children behind
them !

" That's 'ow it is, sir," Mivins used to say, when
spoken to by Fred on the subject ; " I've never bin in
cold countries myself, sir, but I've bin in 'ot, and I
knows that with a stout pair o' legs and a will to
work, a man can work 'is way hanywhere. Of course
there's not much of a pop'lation in them parts, I've
heerd ; but there's Heskimos, and where one man can
live so can another, and what one man can do so can
another — that's bin my hexperience, and I'm not
ashamed to hown it, I'm not, though I do say it as
shouldn't, and I /ionour you, sir, "^ your fiUeral de-
tarmination to find your father, s. ^nd — "

" Steward ! " shouted the captain down the cabin
skylight.

" Yes, sir ! "

" Bring me the chart."

" Yes, sir," and Mivins disappeared like a Jack-in-
the-box from the cabin just as Tom. Singleton entered
it.

" Here we are, Fred," he said, seizing a telescope
that hung over the cabin door, " within sight of the
Danish settlement of Upernavik ; come on deck and
see it.

Fred needed no second bidding. It was here that
the captain had hinted there would, probably, be some

THE WORLD OF ICE.

information obtained regarding the Pole Star, and it
was with feelings of no common interest that the
two friends examined the low-roofed houses of this
out-of-the-way settlement.

In an hour afterwards the captain and first mate
with our young friends landed amid the clamorous
greetings of the entire population, and proceeded to
the residence of the governor, who received them with
great kindness and hospitality ; but the only informa-
tion they could obtain was that, a year ago. Captain
EUice had been driven there in his brig by stress of
weather, and after refitting and taking in a supply of
provisions, had set sail for England.

Here the Dolphin laid in a supply of dried fish,
and procured several dogs, besides an Esquimau in-
terpreter and hunter, named Meetuck.

Leaving this little settlement, they stood out once
more to sea, and threaded their way among the ice,
with which they were now well acquainted in all its
forms, from the mighty berg, or mountain of ice, to
the wide field. They passed in succession one or two
Esquimau settlements, the last of which, Yotlik, is
the most northerly point of colonization. Beyond
this all was terra incognita. Here inquiry was again
made through tt medium of the Esquimau inter-
preter who had been taken on board at Upernavik,
and they learned that the brig in question had been
last seen beset in the pack, and driving to the north-
ward. Whether or not she had ever returned they
could not tell.

THE WORLD OF ICE.

A consultation was now held, and it was resolved to
proceed north, as far as the ice would permit, towards
Smith's Sound, and examine the coast carefully in that
direction.

For several weeks past there had been gradually
coming over the aspect of nature a change, to which
we have not yet referred, and which filled Fred Ellice
and his friend, the young surgeon, with surprise and
admiration. This was the long-continued daylight,
which now lasted the whole night round, and in-
creased in intensity every day as they advanced
north. They had, indeed, often heard and read of it
before, but their minds had utterly failed to form a
correct conception of the exquisite calmness and
beauty of the midnight-day of the north.

Every one knows that, in consequence of the axis
of the earth not being perpendicular to the plane of
its orbit round the sun, the poles are alternately
directed more or less towards that great luminary
during one part of the year, and away from it during
another part. So that far north the days during the
one season grow longer and longer until at last there
is one long day of many weeks' duration, in which
the sun does not set at all ; and during the other
season there is one long night, in which the sun is
never seen. It was approaching the height of the
summer season when the Dolphin entered the Arctic
Regions, and, although the sun descended below the
horizon for a short time each night, there was scarcely
any diminution of the light at all, and, as far as one's

THE WORLD OF ICE.

axis
le of
tely
nary
[iring
the
here
hich
ther
n is
the
ctic
the
cely
ne's

sensations were concerned, there was but one long
continuous day, which grew brighter and brighter at
midnight as they advanced.

" How thoroughly splendid this is ! " remarked Tom
Singleton to Fred one night, as aey sat in their
favourite outlook, the main-top, ^'azing down on the
glassy sea, which was covered, with snowy icebergs
and floes, and bathed in the rays of the sun ; " and
how wonderful to think that the sun will only set
for an hour or so, and then get up as splendid as
ever ! "

The evening was still as death. Not a sound broke
upon the ear save the gentle cries of a few sea-birds
that dipped ever and anon into the sea, as if to kiss it
gently while asleep, and then circled slowly into the
bright sky again. The sails of the ship, too, flapped
very gently, and a spar creaked plaintively, as the
vessel rose and fell on the gentle undulations that
seemed to be the breathing of the ocean. But such
sounds did not disturb the universal stillness of the
hour ; neither did the gambols of yonder group of
seals and walruses that were at play round some fan-
tastic blocks of ice ; nor did the soft murmur of the
swell that broke in surf at the foot of yonder iceberg,
whose blue sides were seamed with a thousand water-
courses, and whose jagged pinnacles rose up like
needles of steel into the clear atmosphere.

There were many bergs in sight, of various shapes
and sizes, at some distance from the ship, which caused
much anxiety to the captain, although they were only

THE WORLD OF ICE.

a source of admiration to our young friends in the
main-top.

** Tom," said Fred, breaking a long silence, " it may
seem a strange idea to you, but, do you know, I cannot
help fancying that heaven must be something like this."

" I'm not sure that that's such a strange idea, Fred,
for it has two of the characteristics of heaven in it —
peace and rest."

" True ; that didn't strike me. Do you know, I
wish that it were always calm like this, and that we
had no wind at all."

Tom smiled. " Your voyage would be a long one
if that were to happen. I daresay the Esquimaux
would join with you in the wish, however, for their
kayaks and oomiaks are better adapted for a calm
than a stormy sea."

" Tom," said Fred, breaking another long silence,
" you're very tiresome and stupiu to-night, why don't
you talk to me ? "

" Because this delightful dreamy evening inclines
me to think and be silent."

" Ah, Tom ! that's your chief fault. You are always
inclined to think too much and to talk too little. Now
I, ou the contrary, am always — "

" Inclined to talk too much and think too little — eh,
Fred?"

"Bah! don't try to be funny, man; you haven't
it in you. Did you ever see such a miserable set of
creatures as the old Esquimau women are at Uper-
navik ? "

THE WORLD OF ICE.

lines

rays
[ow

-eh,

[en't
It of
)er-

" Why, what put them into your head ? " inquired
Tom laughing.

" Yonder iceberg ! Look at it ! There's the nose and
chin exactly of the extraordinary hag you gave your
silk pocket-handkerchief to at parting. Now, I never
saw such a miserable old woman as that before, did

you?"

Tom Singleton's whole demeanour changed, and his
dark eyes brightened as the strongly-marked brows
frowned over them, while he replied, " Yes, Fred, I
have seen old women more miserable than that. I
have seen women so old that their tottering limbs
could scarcely support them, going about in the
bitterest November winds, with clothing too scant to
cover their wrinkled bodies, and so ragged and filthy
that you would have shrunk from touching it — I have
seen such groping about among heaps of filth that
the very dogs looked at and turned away from as if
in disgust."

Fred was inclined to laugh at his friend's sudden
change of manner ; but there was something in the
young surgeon's character — perhaps its deep earnest-
ness — that rendered it impossible, at least for his
friends, to be jocular when he was disposed to be
serious. Fred became grave as he spoke.

" Where have you seen such poor wretches, Tom ? "
he asked, with a look of interest.

"In the cities, the civilized cities of our own
Christian land. If you have ever walked about the
streets of some of these cities before the rest of

THE WORLD OF ICE.

the world was astir, at gray dawn, you must have
seen them shivering along and scratching among the
refuse cast out by the tenants of the neighbouring
houses. O Fred, Fred ! in my professional career,
short though it has been, I have seen much of these
poor old women, and many others whom the world
never sees on the streets at all, experiencing a slow,
lingering death by starvation, and fatigue, and cold.
It is the foulest blot on our country that there is no
sufficient provision for the aged 'poor!'

" I have seen those old women too," replied Fred,
" but I never thought very seriously about them be-
fore."

" That's it — that's just it ; people don't think, other-
wise this dreadful state of things would not continue.
Just listen noiu, for a moment, to what I have to say.
But don't imagine that I'm standing up for the poor
in general. I don't feel — perhaps I'm wrong," con-
tinued Tom thoughtfully — " perhaps I'm wrong — I
hope not — but it's a fact, I don't feel much for the
young and the sturdy poor, and I make it a rule
never to give a farthing to young beggars, not even
to little children, for I know full well that they are
sent out to beg by idle, good-for-nothing parents. I
stand up only for the aged p^/or, because, be they good
or wicked, they cannot help themselves. If a man
fell down in the street, struck with some dire disease
that shrunk his muscles, unstrung his nerves, made his
heart tremble, and his skin shrivel up, would you look
upon him and then pass him by without thinking ? "

THE WORLD OF ICE.

ei^

lie

Lre

m
Lse
lis

" No," cried Fred in an emphatic tone, " I would
not ! I would stop and help him."

" Then, let me ask you," resumed Tom earnestly,
" is there any difference between the weakness of
muscle and the faintness of heart which is produced
by disease, and that which is produced by old age,
except that the latter is incurable ? Have not these
women feelings like other women ? Think you that
there are not amongat them those who hav^e ' known
better times ' ? They think of sons and daughters
dead and gone, perhaps, just as other old women in
better circumstances do. But they must not indulge
such depressing thoughts ; they must reserve all the
energy, the stamina they have, to drag round the city
— barefoot, it may be, and in the cold — to beg for
food, and scratch up what they can find among the
cinder heaps. They groan over past comforts and
past times, perhaps, and think of the days when their
limbs were strong and their cheeks were smooth ; for
they were not always ' hags.' And remember that
once they had friends who loved them and cared for
them, although they are old, unknown, and desolate
now."

Tom paused and pressed his hand upon his flushed
forehead. ;

I "Yon may think it strange," he continued, "that I
speak to you in this way al)out poor old women, but
I feel deeply for tluir forlorn condition. The young
can help themselves, more or less, and they have
strength to stand their sorrows, with hope, blessed

■■

• I

THE WORLD OF ICE.

hope, to keep them up ; but poor old men and old
women cannot help themselves, and cannot stand their
sorrows, and, as far as this life is concerned, they have
no hope, except to die soon and easy, and, if possible,
in summer time, when the wind is not so very cold
and bitter."

" But how can this be put right, Tom ? " asked Fred
in a tone of deep commiseration. " Our being sorry
for it and anxious about it (and you've made me
sorry, I assure you) can do very little good, you
know."

" I don't know, Fred," replied Tom, sinking into his
usual quiet tone. " If every city and town in Great
Britain would start a society, whose first resolution
should be that they would not leave one poor old man
or woman unprovided for, that would do it. Or if the
Government would take it in hand honestly, that would
do it."

" Call all hands, Mr. Bolton," cried the captain in a
sharp voice. " Get out the ice-poles, and lower away
the boats."

" Hallo ! what's wrong ? " said Fred, starting up.

" Getting too near the bergs, I suspect," remarked
Tom. " I say, Fred, before we go on deck, will you
promise to do what I ask you ? "

« Well— yes, I will."

" Will you promise, then, all through your life,
especially if you ever come to be rich or influential,
to think of and for old men and women who are
poor ? "

]

THE WORLD OF ICE.

j-ked
you

life,

Itial,

are

" I will," answered Fred ; " but I don't know that
I'll ever be rich, or influential, or able to help them
much."

" Of course you don't. But when a thought about
them strikes you, will you always think it out, and,
if possible, act it out, as God shall enable you ? "

" Yes, Tom, I promise to do that as well as I can."

" That's right ; thank you, my boy," said the young
surgeon, as they descended the shrouds and leaped on
deck.

Here they found the captain walking up and down
rapidly, with an anxious expression of face. After
taking a turn or two he stopped short, and gazed out
astern.

" Set the stun'-sails, Mr. Bolton. The breeze will
be up in a little, I think. Let the men pull with a
will."

The order was given, and soon the ship was under
a cloud of canva.s, advancing slowly as the boats towed
her between two large icebergs, which had been grad-
ual!^ drawing; near to each other the whole after-
noon.

" Is there any danger, Buzzby ? " in(|uired Fred, as
the sturdy sailor stood looking at the larger berg,
with an ice-pole in his hands.

" Danger ? ay, that there is, lad, more nor's agree-
able, d'ye see. Hero we are without a breath o' wind
to gpt us on. riirht between two bei^s as could crack
us like a walnut. We can't get to .starboard of 'em
for the current, nor to larboard of 'em for the pack,

THE WORLD OF ICE.

OS ye see, so we must go between them, neck or
nothing."

The clanger was indeed imminent. The two bergs
were within a hundred yards of each other, and the
smaller of the two, being more easily moved by the
current probably, was setting down on the larger at a
rate that bade fair to decide the fate of the Dolphin
in a few minutes. The men rowed lustily, but their
utmost exertions could move the ship but slowly.
Aid was coming, however, direct from the hand of
Him who is a refuge in the time of danger. A
breeze was creeping over the calm sea right astern,
and it was to meet this that the studding-sails had
been set a-Iow and aloft, so that the wide-spreading
canvas, projecting far to the right and left, had, to
an inexperienced eye, the appearance of being out of
all proptortion to the little hull by which it was
supported.

With breathless anxietv those on board stood watch-
ing the two bergs and the approaching breeze.

At last it came. A few cat's-paws ruffled the
surface of the sea, distending the sails for a moment,
then leaving them flat and loose as before. This, how-
ever, was sufficient ; another such puff, and the ship
was almwt out of danger ; but befoix* it came the pro-
jecting summit of the smaller berg was overhanging
the deck. At this critical moment the wind began to
blow steadily, and soon the Dolphin was in the open
water beyond. Five minutes after she had passed,
the moving mountains struck with a noise louder

THE WORLD OF ICE.

than thunder ; the summits and large portions of the
sides fell with a succession of crashes like the roarinsf
of artillery, just above the spot where the ship had
lain not a quarter of an hour before ; and the vessel,
for some time after, rocked violently to and fro in
the surges that the plunge of the falling masses had
raised.

CHAPTER VI.

The ijale— Anchored to a ben/ which proves to he a treacherous onc—Danr/crs
of the ^^pack " — Beset in the ice — Mivins shows an inquiriiuf mind —
Walruses — Gale freshens— Chains and cables — Holdimj on for life — An
unexpected discovery — A "jt<J/;" aiid its terrible consequences — Yoked
to an iceberg.

THE narrow escape related in the last chapter
was but the prelude to a night of troubles.
Fortunately, as we have before mentioned, night did
not now add darkness to their difficulties. Soon after
passing the bergs, a Stiff breeze sprang up off shore,
between which and the Dolphin there was a thick
belt of loose ice, or sludge, while outside, the pack
was in motion, and presented a terrible scene of
crashing and grinding masses under the influence of
the breeze, which soon freshened to a gale. •

*' Keep her away two points," said Captain Guy to
the man at the wheel ; " we'll make fast to yonder
berg, Mr. Bolton. If this gale carries us into the pack,
we shall be svv^ept far out of our course, if, indeed, we
escape being nipped and sent to the bottom."

Being nipped is one of the numberless dangers to
which Arctic navigators are exposed. Should a vessel
get between two moving fields oi floes of ice, there is

^j.
ly-

bo
"■I

THE WORLD OF ICE.

a chance, especially in stormy weather, of the ice
being forced together and squeezing in the sides of
the ship ; this is called nipping.

" Ah ! " remarked Buzzby, as he stood with folded
arms by the capstan, " many and many a good ship
has been sent to the bottom by that same. I've see'd
a brig, with my own two eyes, squeezed together
a'most flat by two big floes of ice, and after doin' it
they jist separated agin and let ujr go plump down to
the bottom. Before she was nipped, the crew saved
themselves by jumpin' on to the ice, and they wos
picked up by our ship that wos in company."

" There's no dependin' on the ice, by no means,"
remarked Amos Parr ; " for I've see'd the self-same sort
of thing that ye mention happen to a small steamer
in Davis' Straits, only instead o' crushin' it flat, the ice
lifted it right high and dry out^' the water, and then
let it down again, without more ado, as sound as iver."

" Get out the warps and ice-anchors there ! " cried
the captain.

In a moment the men were in the boats and busy
heaving and planting ice-anchors, but it was not until
several hours had been spent in this tedious process
that they succeeded in making fast to the berg.
They had barely accomplished this when the berg
gave indications of breaking up, so they cast off again
in great haste, and not long afterwards a mass of ice,
many tons in weight, fell from the edge of the berg
close to where they had been moored.

The captain now beat up for the land in the hope

iiii

m THE WORLD OF ICE.

of finding anchoring -ground. At first the ice pre-
sented an impenetrable barrier, but at length a load
of open water was found, through which they passed
to within a few hundred yards of the shore, which at
this spot showed a front of high precipitous cliffs.

•* Stand by to let go the anchor ! " shouted the
captain.

" Ay, ay, sir."

" Down your helm ! Let go ! "

Down went the anchor to the music of the rattling
chain-cable- -a sound which had not been heard since
the good ship left the shores of Old England.

" If we were only a few yards farther in, sir,"
remarked the first-mate, " we should be better. I'm
afraid of the stream of ice coming round yonder point."

" So am I," repxied the captain ; " but we can
scarcely manage it, I fear, on account of the shore
ice. Get out a boat, Mr. Saunders, and try to fix an
anchor. We may warp in a few yards."

The anchor was fixed, and the men strained at the
capstan with a will, but, notwithstanding their utmost
efforts, they could not penetrate the shore ice. Mean-
while the wind increased, and snow began to fall in
large flakes. The tide, too, as it receded, brought a
stream of ice round the point ahead of them, which
bore right down on their bows. At first the concus-
sions were slight, and the bow of the ship turned the
floes aside ; but heavier masses soon came down, and
at last one fixed itself on the cable, and caused the
anchor to drag with a harsh, grating sound.

THE WORLD OF ICE.

Fred Ellice, who stood beside the second raate near
the companion hatch, looked inquiringly at him.

" Ah ! that's bad," said Saunders, shaking his head
slowly ; " I dinna like that sound. If we're carried
out into the pack there, dear knows where we'll turn
up in the long run."

" Perhaps we'll turn bottom up, sir," suggested the
fat cook as he passed at the moment with a tray of
meat. Mizzle could not resist a joke — no matter
how unsuitable the time or dreadful the consequences.

" Hold your tongue, sir ! " exclaimed Saunders indig-
nantly. " Attend to your business, and speak only
when you're spoken to."

With some difficulty the mass of ice that had got
foul of the cable was disengaged, but in a few
moments another and a larger mass fixed upon it,
and threatened to carry it away. In this extremity
the captain ordered the anchor to be hove up ; but
this was not easily accomplished, and when at last it
was hove up to the bow both f.ukes were found to
have been broken off, and the shank was polished
bright with rubbing on the rocks.

Ice now came rolling down in great quantities and
with irresistible force, and at last the ship was whirled
into the much-drer.ded pack, where .\he became firmly
embedded, and drifted along with it before the gale
into the unl'nown regions of the North all that night.
To add to their distress and danjjer a thick fofj over-
spread the sea, so that they could not tell whither the
ice was carrying them, and to warp out of it was

THE WORLD OF TPE.

impossible. There was nothing for it therefore hut
to drive before the gale, and take advantage of the
first opening in the ice that should afford them a
chance of escape.

Towards evening of the following day the gale
abated, and the sun shone out bright and clear ; but
the pack remained close as ever, drifting steadily to-
wards the north.

" We're far beyond the most northerly sea that has
ever yet been reached," remarked Captain Guy toFn d
and Singleton, as he ^ aned on the weather bulwarks,
and gazed wistfully over the fields of ice in which they
were embedded.

" I beg your pardon or differing. Captain Guy, but 1
think that Captain Parry was farther north than this
when he attempted to reach the Pole," remarked Saun-
ders, with the air of a man who was prepared to defend
his position to the last.

" Very possibly, Mr. Saunders; but I think we are at
least farther north in thiH direction than any one has
yet been ; at least I make it out so by the chart."

"I'm no sure o' that," rejoined the second mate posi-
tively; "charts are not always to be depended on, and I've
heard that whalers have been up hereabouts before now."

" Perhaps you ar(3 right, Mr. Saunders," replied the
captain, smiling ; " nevertheless, I shall take observa-
tions, and name the various headlands, until I find
that others have been here before me. — Mivins, hand
me the glass ; it seems to me there's a water-sky to
the northward."

THK WORLD OF ICE.

" What is a wnter-sky, captain ?" inquirod Fre*!.

" It is a peculiar, dark appearance of tlic sky on
the horizon, wliich indicates open water; just the
reverse of that bright apptarance which you have
often seen in the distance, and which we call the ice-
blink."

" We'll have open water soon," remarked the second
mate authoritatively.

" Mr. Saunders," said Mivins, who, ^laving just
finished clearing away and washing up the debris
and dishes of one meal, was enjoying in complete
idleness the ten minutes of leisure that intervened
between that and preparations for the next — " Mr.
Saunders, sir, can you //.inform me, sir, 'ow it is that
the sea don't freeze at 'ome the same as it does /tout
'ere?"

The countenance of the second mate brightened, for
he prided himself not a little on his vast and varied
stores of knowledge, and nothing pleased him so
much as to be questioned, particularly on knotty
subjects.

" Hem ! yes, Mivins, I can tell 'ee that. Ye must
know that before fresh water can freeze on the sur-
face the whole volume of it must be cooled down to
40 degrees, and sdlt water nmst he cooled down to 45
degrees. Noo, frost requires to be very long continued
and very sharp indeed before it can cool the deep sea
from the top to the bottom, and until it is so cooled it
canna freeze."

" Oh 1 " remarked Mivins, who only half understood

THE WORLD OF ICE

the meaning of the explanation, " 'ow very hodd. But
can you tell me, Mr. Saunders, 'ow it is that them 'ere
/iicebergs is made ? Them's wot I don't comprehend
no'ow."

" Ay," replied Saunders, " there has been many a
wiser head than yours puzzled for a long time about
icebergs. But if ye'U use yer eyes you'll see how they
are formed. Do you see the high cliff's yonder away
to the nor'-east ? Weel, there are great masses o* ico
that have been formed against them by the melting
and freezing of the snows of many years. When these
become too heavy to stick to the cliffs, they tumble
into the sea and float away as icebergs. But the big-
gest bergs come from the foot of glaciers. You know
what glaciers are, Mivins ? "

" No, sir, I don't."

The second mate sighed. " They are immense ac-
cumulations of ice, Mivins, that have been formed by
the freezings and meltings of the snows of hundreds
of years. They cover the mountains of Norway and
Switzerland, and many other places in this world, for
miles and miles in extent, and sometimes they flow
down and fill up whole valleys. I once saw one in
Norway tha*-. filled up a valley eight miles long, two
miles broad, and seven or eight hundred feet deep ; and
that was only a wee bit of it, for I was told by men
who had travelled over it that it covered the moun-
tains of the interior, and made them a level field of
ice, with a surface like rough, hard snow, for more than
twenty miles in extent."

THE WOULD OF ICE.

" You flon'fc say so, sir ! " said Mivins in surprise.
" And don't tlioy never melt ? "

" No, nevor. Wluvt tlioy lose in suninior tlicy more
than *(fiin in winter. Moi'eover, tlioy are iihvjiys in
motion ; but they move so slow that you may look at
them ever so closely and so long, you'll not be able
to observe the motion — just like the hour hand of
a watch — but wc know it by observing the changes
from year to year. There are innnense glaciers here
in the Arctic Regions, and the lumps which they are
constantly shedding off into the sea are the icebergs
that one sees and hears so nmch about."

Mivins seemed deeply impressed with this explana-
tion, and would probably have continued the conversa-
tion much longer, had he not been interrupted by the
voice of his mischievous satellite, Dn^ic Sunuaers, who
touched his forelock and said, " Please, Mr. Mivins,
shall I lay the table-cloth ? or would it be better to
slump dinner with tea this afternoon ? "

Mivins started. " Ha ! caught me napping ! Down
below, you young dog ! "

The boy dived instantly, followed, first by a dish-
clout, rolled tightly up and well aimed, and afterwards
by his active-limbed superior. Both reached the region
of smells, cruets, and crockery at the same moment,
and each set energetically to work at their never-
ending duties.

Soon after this the ice suddenly loosened, and the
crew succeeded, after a few hours' hard labour, in
warping the Dolphin once more out of the pack ; tut

THE WORLD OF ICE.

scarcely had this been accomplished when another storm,
which had been gradually gathering, burst upon them,
and compelled them once more to seek the shelter of
the land.

Numerous walruses rolled about in the bays here, and
they approached much nearer to the vessel than they
had yet done, affording those on board a good view of
their huge, uncouth visages, as they shook their shaggy
fronts and ploughed up the waves with their tusks.
These enormous creatures are the elephants of the
Arctic Ocean. Their aspect is particularly grim and
fierce, and being nearly equal to elephants in bulk
they are not less terrible than they appear. In form
they somewhat resemble seals, having barrel-shaped
bodies, with round, or rather square, blunt heads and
shaggy bristling moustaches, and two long ivory tusks
which curve downwards instead of upwards, serving
the purpose frequently of hooks, by means of which
and their fore-flippers they can pull themselves up on
the rocks and icebergs. Indeed, they are sometimes
found at a considerable height up the sides of steep
cliffs, basking in the sun. "-^^

Fred was anxious to procure the skull of one of
these monstrous animals, but the threatening appear-
ance of the weather rendered any attempt to secure
one at that time impossible. A dark sinister scowl
overhung the blink under the cloud-bank to the south-
ward, and the dovkies which had enlivened their pro-
gress hitherto forsook the channel, as if they distrusted
the weather. Captain Guy made every possible pre-

THE WORLD OF ICE.

re
rl

paration to meet the coming storm, by warping down
under the shelter of a ledge of rock, to which he made
fast with two good hawsers, while everything w^
made snug on hoard.

" We are going to catch it, I fear," said Fred, glanc-
ing at the black clouds that hurried across the sky to
the northward, while he walked the deck with his
friend, Tom Singleton.

" I suspect so," replied Tom, " and it does not raise
my spirits to see Saunders shaking his huge visage so
portentously. Do you know, I have a great belief in
that fellow. He seems to know everything and to
have gone through every sort of experience, and I
notice that most of his prognostications come to
pass/]^ *

" So they do, Tom," said Fred ; " but I wish he would
put a better face on things till they do come to pass.
His looks are enough to frighten one."

" I think we shall require another line out, Mr.
Saunders," remarked the captain, as the gale freshened,
and the two hawsers were drawn straicjht and rif;id
like bars of iron ; " send ashore and make a whale-line
fast immediately."

The second mate obeyed with a grunt that seemed
to insinuate that he would have had one out long ago.
In a few minutes it was fast ; and not a moment too
soon, for immediately after it blew a perfect hurricane.
Heavier and heavier it came, and the ice began to
drift more wildly than ever. The captain had just
given orders to make fast another line, when the

THE WORLD OF ICE.

sharp, twanging snap of a cord was heard. The six-
inch Imwser liad parted, and they were swinging by
tlie two others, with tlie gale roaring Hke a lion
through the spars and rigging. Half a minute more
and '' twang, twang ! " came another report, and the
whiile-'iine was gone. Only one rope now held them
to the land, and prevented them being swept into the
turmoil of ice, and wind, and water, from which the
rocky ledge protected them. The hawser was a good
one — a new ten-inch rope. It sang like the deep
tones of an organ, loud above the rattle of the rigging
and the shrouds ; but that was its death-song. It gave
way with the noise of a cannon, and in the smoke
that followed its recoil they were dragged out by
the wild ice, and driven hither and thither at its
mercy.

With some difficulty the ship was warped into a
place of comparative security in the rushing drift, but
it was soon thrown loose again, and severely squeezed
by the rolling masses. Then an attempt was made to
set the sails and beat up for the land ; but the rudder
was almost iniMianageable owing to the ice, and nothing
could be made of it, so they were compelled to go right
before the wind under close -reefed top-sails, in order
to keep some command of the ship. All hands were
on deck watching in silence the ice ahead of them,
which presented a most formidable aspect.

Away to the north the strait could be seen growing
narrower, with heavy ice-tables grinding up and clog-
ging it from cliff to cliff on either side. About seven

»>

THE WORLD OF ICE.

ft
Ir

in the evening they were close upon the piling masses,
to enter into which seemed certain destruction.

" Stand by to let go the anchor ! " cried the captain,
in the desperate hope of being able to wind the ship.

" What's that ahead of us ? " exclaimed the first
mate suddenly.

" Ship on the starboard bow, right in-shore ! " roared
the look-out.

The attention of the crew was for a moment called
from their own critical situation towards the strange
vessel which now came into view, having boen pre-
viously concealed from them by a large grounded
berg.

" Can you make her out, Mr. Bolton ? "

" Yes, sir ; I think she's a large brig, but she seems
mt^ch chafed, and there's no name left on the stern, if
ever there w^as one."

As he spoke, the driving snow and fog cleared up
partially, and the brig was seen not three hundred
yards from them, drifting slowly into the loose ice.
There was evidently no one on board ; and although
one or two of the sails were loose, they hung in shreds
from the yards. Scarcely had this been noted when
the Dolphin struck against a large mass of ice, and
quivered under the violence of the shock.

" Let go ! " shouted the captain.

Down went the heaviest anchor they had, and for
two minutes the chain flew out at the hawse-hole.

" Hold on ! "

The chain was checked, but the strain was awful.

■ini

■■

THE WORLD OF ICE.

A mass of ice, hundreds of tons weight, was tearing
down towards the bow. There was no hope of resist-
ing it. Time was not even afforded to attach a buoy
or log to the cable, so it was let slip, and thus the
Dolphin's best bower was Jost for ever.

But there was no time to think of or regret this,
for the ship was now driving down with the gale,
scraping against a lee of ice which was seldom less
than thirty feet thick. Almost at the same moment
the stran ^e vessel was whirled clo, . to them, not more
,han titty yards distant, between vro driving masses
of thick ice.

" What if it should be my father's brig ? " whispered
Fred Elh'ce, as he grasped Sircdeton's arm and turnetl
to him a face of ashy paleness.

" No fear of that, lad," said Buzzby, who stood near
the larboard gangway and had overheard _.. j remark.
" I'd know your father's brig among a thousand — "

As he spoke, the two masses of ice closed, and the
brig was nipped between them. For a few seconds
she seemed to tremble like a living creature, and every
timber creaked. Then she was turned slowly on one
side, until the crew of the Dolphin could see down
into her hold, where the beams were giving way and
cracking up as matches might be crushed in the grasp
of a strong hand. Then the larboard bow was ob-
served to yield as if it were made of soft clay, the
starbonrd bow was pressed out, and the ice was forced
into the forecastle. Scarcely three miimtes had passed
since the nip commenced ; in one mirato more the

THE WORLD OF ICE.

brig went down, and the ice was rolling wildly, as if
in triumph, over the spot where she had disappeared.

The fuf.e of this vessel, which might so soon he their
own, threw a momentary gloom over the crew of the
Dolphin, but their position left them no time for
thought. One upturned mass rose above the gunwale,
smashed in the bulwarks, and deposited half a ton of
ice on deck. Scarcely had this danger passed when a
new enemy appeared in sight ahead. Directly in their
way, just beyond the line of floe-ice against which
they were alternately thumping and grinding, lay a
group of bergs. There was no possibility of avoiding
them, and the only question was, whether tho}'- were
to be dashed to pieces on their hard blun .sides, or,
perchance, in some providential nook to find a refuge
from the storm.

" There's an open lead between them and the floe-
ice," exclaimed Bolton in a hopeful tone of voice, .seiz-
ing an ice-pole and leaping on the gunwale.

" Look alive, men, with your poles," cried the cap-
tain, " and shove with a will ! "

The " Ay, ay, sir," of the men was uttered with a
heartiness that showed how powerfully this gleam of
hope acted on their spirits ; but a new damp was cast
over them when, on gai/iing the open passage, they
discovered thnt the bergs were not at rest, but were
bearing down on the floe-ice with slow but awful
momentum, and threatening to crush the ship between
the two. Just then a low berg came driving up from
the southward, dashing the spray over its sid'js, and

THE WORLD OF JE.

I i

with its forolicad ploughing up the smaller ice as if in
scorn. A happy thought flashed across the captain's
mind.

" Down the quarter boat," he cried.

In an instant it struck the water, and four men
were on the thwarts.

" Cast an ice- anchor on that berg."

Peter Grim obeyed the order, and, with a swing
that Hercules would have envied, planted it securely.
In another moment the ship was following in the
wake of this novel tug I It was a moment of great
danger, for the bergs encroached on their narrow canal
as they advanced, obliging them to brace the yards to
clear the impending ice-walls, and they shaved the
large berg so closely that the port quarter-boat would
have been crushed if it had not been taken from the
davits. Five minutes of such travelling brought them
abreast of a grounded berg, to w^nch they resolved to
make fast. The order was given to cast off' the rope.
Away went their white tug on his race to the far
north, and the ship swung round in safety under the
lee of the berfx, where the crew acknowledi^ed with
gratitude their merciful deliverance from imminent
danger.

CHAPTER VII.

Nao characters introduced— An old fjamc under novel circumstances— JRe'
maykable appearances in the sky— 0' Riley meets with a mishap.

DUMPS v,'as a vemarkably grave and sly character,
and Poker was a wag — an incorrigible wag —
in every sense of the term. Moreover, although they
had an occasional fight, Dumps and Poker were ex-
cellent friends, and great favourites with the crew.

We have not yet introduced these individuals to
our reader, but as they will act a conspicuous part in
the history of the Dolpliin's adventurous career in the
Arctic Regions, we think it right now to present them.

While at Upernavik, Captain Guy had purchas<'d
a team of six good, tough Esquimau dogs, being
desirous of taking them to England, and there present-
ing them to several of his friends who were anxious
to possess specimens of those nniiunls, Two of these
dogs stood out conspicuous from theii- fellow.M, tint only
in regard to personal appearance, but nhd in rch'rfhi >i
to peculiarities of cliaracter. One was piire white,
with a lively expression of countenance, a large shaggy
body, two erect, sharp-pointed ears, and a short pro-
jection that once had been a tail. Owing to soma

THE WORLD OF ICE.

cause unknown, liowever, his tail had been cut or
bitton off* and nothing save the stump remained. But
this stump did as niucli duty as if it had been fifty
tails in one. It was never at rest for a moment, and
its owner evidently believed that wagging it was the
true and only way to touch the Iieart of man ; there-
fore tlie dog wagged it, so to speak, doggedly. In
consequence of this animal's thieving propensities,
which led him to be constantly iHAlnj into every hole
and corner of the ship in search of something to steal,
he was named Poker. Poker had three jet-bluek
spots in his white visage — one was the point of his
nose, the other two were his eyes.

Poker's bosom friend, Dumps, was so named because
he had the sulkiest expression of countenance that
ever fell 'to the lot of a dog. Hopelessly inciu-able
melancholy seemed tO''*^have taken possession of his
mind, for he never by any chance smiled — and dogs
do smile, you know, just as evidently as human beings
do, although not exactly with their mouths. Dumps
never romped either, being old, but he sat and allowed
hif^^ friend Poker to romp round him with a sort of
sulky satisfaction, as if he experienced the greatest
enjoyment his nature was capable of in witnessing the
aiiticH of his youthful companion — for Poker was
young. The prevailing colour of Dumps's shaggy hide
was a dirty brown, with black spots, two of which
had fixed themselves rather awkwardly round his
eyes, like a pair of spectacles. Dumps, also, was a
thief, and, indeed, so were all his brethren. Dumps

THE WORLD OF ICE.

and Poker were botli of them larger and stronj^v'r, and
in every way better, than their comrades ; and they
afterwards were the sturdy, steady, iniH inching leaders
of the team during many a toilsome journey over the
frozen sea.

On(> magnificent afternoon, a few days after the
escape of the Dolphin just related, Dumjis and Pojier
lay side by side in the Ire MCUjipers, calmly sleeping
ort' the ett'eets of a surfeit pi-oduecil by the eating of a
large piece of pork, for which the cook had searched
in vain for three-quarters of an hour, and of which he
at last found the bare bone sticking in the hole of the
larboard pump.

" Bad luck to them dogs," exclaimed David Mizzle,
stroking his chin as he surveycMl the bone. " If I
could only find out, now, which of ye it was, I'd have
ye slaughtered right ofij and cooked for the mess. 1
would."

" It was Dumps as did it, I'll bet you a month's
pay," said Peter Grim, as he sat on the end of the
windlass refilling his pipe, which he had just smokfsd
out.

"Not a bit of it," remarked Amos Parr, who was
squatted on the deck busily engaged in constjucting a
rope mat, while several of the men sat round him en-
gaged in mending sails, or stitching canvas slippers,
etc. — "not a bit of it. Grim ; Dumps is too honest by
half to do sich a thing. Twas Poker as did it, I can
see by the roll of his eye below the skin. The black-
guard's only sharamin' sleep."

THE WORLD OF ICE.

On hearing his name mentioned, Poker gently
opened his right eye, but did not move. Dumps, on
the contrary, lay as if he heard not the base aspersion
on his character.

" What'll ye bet it was Dumps as did it ? " cried
Davie Summers, who passed at the moment with a
dish of some sort of edible towards the galley or
cooking-house on deck,

" I'll Let you over the 'ead, I will, if you don't
mijid your business," said Mivins.

" You'd 6e^ter not," retorted Davie with a grin.
" It's as much as your situation's worth to lay a
finger on me."

" That's it, youngster, give it 'im," cried several of
the men, while the boy confronted his superior, taking
good care, however, to keep the fore-mast between them.

" What do you mean, you young rascal ? " cried
Mivins with a frown.

" Mean ! " said Davie, " why, I mean that if you
touch me I'll resisijn office : and if I do that, vou'll
have to go out, for every one knows you can't get on
without me."

" I say, Mivins," cried Tom Green, the carpenter's
mate, " if you were asked to say, * Hold on Aard to
this /<a,ndspike here, my Aearties,' how would ye go
ab^/oiit?"

" Hf/4 It you a pretty 'ard crack hover the 'ead
with it, e would," remarked one of the men, throw-
ing a ball of yarn at Davie, who stood listening to
the conversation with a broad grin.

THE WORLD OF ICE.

89v

In stepping back to avoid the blow, the lad trod
on Dunips's paw, and instantly there came from the
throat of that excellent dog a roar of anguish tliat
caused Pokor to leap, as the cook expressed it, nearly
out of his own skin. Dogs are l»y nature extremely
sympathetic and remarkably iiKjuisitivc; ; and no
sooner was Dumps's yeK heard than it was vigorously
responded to by every dog in the ship, as the whole
pack rushed each from his respective sleeping-place
and looked round in amazement.

" Hallo 1 what's wrong there for'ard ? " inquired
Saunders, who had been pacing the quarter-deck with
slow giant strides, arguing mentally with himself in
default of a better adversary.

" Only trod on Dumps's paw, sir," said Mivins, as ho
hurried aft ; " the men are sky-larking."

" Sky-larking, are you ? " said Saunders, going for-
ward. " Weel, lads, you've" had a lot o' hard work of
late, ye may go and take a run on the ice."

Instantly the men, like boys set free from school,
sprang up, tumbled over the side, and were scamper-
ing over the ice like madmen.

" Pitch over the ball — the football ! " they cried.
In a second the ball was tossed over the ship's side,
and a vigorous game was begun.

For two days past the Lolj)hin had been sailing
with difficulty through large fields of ice, sometimes
driving against narrow necks and tongues that inter-
rupted her passage from one lead or canal to another ;
at other times boring with difficulty through compact

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23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, N.Y. MSSO

(716) 872-4S03

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THE WORLD OF ICE.

masses of sludge ; or occasionally, when unable to
advance farther, making fast to a large berg or a
field. They were compelled to proceed north, how-
ever, in consequence of the pack having become fixed
towards the south, and thus rendering retreat impos-
sible in that direction until the ice should be again
set in motion. Captain Guy, however, saw, by the
steady advance of the larger bergs, that the current
of the ocean in that place flowed southward, and
trusted that in a short time the ice which had been
forced into the strait by the late gales would be
released, and open up a passage. Meanwhile he
pushed along the coast, examining every bay and
inlet in the hope of discovering some trace of the
Pole Star or her crew.

On the day about which we arc writing, the ship
was beset by large fields, the snow-white surfaces of
which extended north and south to the horizon, while
on the east the clitts rose in dark, frowning precipices
from the midst of the glaciers that encumber them all
the year round.

It was a lovely Arctic day. The sun shone with
unclouded splendour, and the bright air, which trem-
bled with that liquidity of appearance that one occa-
sionally sees in very hot weather under peculiar
circumstances, was vocal with the wild music of
thousands of gulls, and auks, and other sea-birds,
which clustered on the neighbouring cliffs and flew
overhead in clouds. All round the pure surfaces of
the ice-fields were broken by the shadows which the

THE WORLD OF ICE.

is,
w

)t'

hummocks and bergs cast over them, and by the pools
of clear water which shone like crystals in their
hollows, while the beautiful beryl blue of the larger
bergs gave a delicate colouring to the dazzling scene.
Words cannot describe the intense glitter that charac-
terized everything. Every point seemed a diamond,
every edge sent forth a gleam of light, and many of
the masses reflected the rich prismatic colours of the
rainbow. It seemed as if the sun himself had bee*i
multiplied in order to add to the excessive brilliancy,
for he was surrounded by 2)rt?7ie^irt, or siin-dof/s, as
the men called them. This peculiarity in the sun's
appearance was very striking. The great orb of day
was about ten degrees above the horizon, and a
horizontal line of white passed completely through
it, extending to a considerable distance on either
hand, while around it were two distinct halos, or
circles of light. On the inner halo were situated
the mock-suns, which were four in number — one
above and one below the sun, and one on each side
of him.

Not a breath of wind stirred the little flag that
drooped from the mizzen-peak, and the clamorous,
ceaseless cries of sea-birds, added to the merry shout i
and laughter of the men as they followed the restless
football, rendered the whole a scene of life, as it was
emphatically one of beauty.

" Ain't it glorious ? " panted Davie Summers vehe-
mently, as he stopped exhausted in a headlong race
beside one of his comrades, while the ball was kicked

THE WORLD OF ICE.

1,1 1

hopelessly beyond his reach by a comparatively fresh
member of the party.

" Ah ! then, it bates the owld country intirely, it
does," replied O'Riley, wiping the perspiration from
his forehead.

It is needless to say that O'Riley was an Irishman.
We have not mentioned him until now, because up to
this time he ha^l not done anything to distinguish
himself beyond his messmates ; but on this partic^ilur
day O'Riley's star was in the ascendant, and fortune
seemed to have singled him out as an object of her
special attention. He was a short man, and a broad
man, and a particularly mrjgecl man — so to speak.
He was all angles and comers. His hair stuck about
his head in violently rigid and entangled tufts, render-
ing it a matter of wonder how anything in the shape
of a hat could stick on. His brow was a countless
mass of ever-varying wrinkles, which gave to his sly
visage an aspect of humorous anxiety that was highly
diverting — and all the more diverting when you came
to know that the man had not a spark of anxiety in
his composition, though he often said he had. His
dress, like that of most Jack tars, was naturally
rugged, and he contrived to make it more so than
usual.

" An' it's hot, too, it is," he continued, applying his
kerchief again tx) his pate. " If it warn't for the ice
we stand on, we'd be melted down, I do belave, like
bits o' whale blubber."

" Wot a jolly game football is, ain t it ? " said Davie

le
in
lis

THE WORLD OF ICE. 03

seating himself on a hummock, and still panting
hard.

" Ay, boy, that's jist what it is. The only objiction
I have agin it is, that it makes ye a'most kick the
left leg clane off yer body."

" Why don't you kick with your right leg, then,
stupid, like other people ? " inquired Summers.

" Why don't I, is it ? Troth, then, I don't know
for sartin. Me father lost his left leg at the great
battle o' the Nile, and I've sometimes thought that
had somethin' to do wid it. But then me mother was
lame o' the right leg intirely, and wint about wid a
crutch, so I can't make out how it was, d'ye see ? "

" Look out, Pat," exclaimed Summers, starting up,
"here comes the ball."

As he spoke, the football came skinmiing over the
ice towards the spot on which they stood, with about
thirty of the men running at full speed and shouting
like maniacs after it.

" That's your sort, my hearties ! another like that
and it's home ! Pitch into it, Mivins. You're the
boy for me ! Now then, Grim, trip him up ! Hallo !
Buzzby, you bluff-bowed Dutchman, luff! luff! or I'll
stave in your ribs ! Mind your eye. Mizzle ! there's
Green, he'll be into your larboard quarter in no time.
Hurrah ! Mivins, up in the air with it. Kick, boy,
kick like a spanker-boom in a hurricane 1 "

Such were a few of the expressions that showered
like hail round the men as thej'' rushed hither and
thither after the ball. And here we may remark that

THE WORLD OF ICE.

ti\

the crew of the Dolpldn played football in a somewhat
different style from the way in which that noble game
is played by boys in England. Sides, indeed, were
cliosen, and boundaries were marked out, but very
little, if any, attention was paid to such secondary
matters ! To kick the ball, and keep on kicking it in
front of his companions, was the ambition of each man ;
and so lonq; as he could q-et a kick at it that caused
it to fly from the ground like a cannon-shot, little
regard was had by any one to the direction in which
it was propelled. But, of course, in this effort to get
a kick, the men soon became scattered over the field,
and ever and anon the ball would fall between two
men, who rushed at it simultaneously from opposite
directions. The inevitable result was a collision, by
which both men were suddenly and violently arrested
in their career. But generally the shock resulted in
one of the men beinof sent stacrtreriuG: backwards, and
the other opettinjx the kick. When the two were
pretty equally matched, both were usually, as they
expressed it, " brought up all standing," in which case
a short scuffle ensued, as each endeavoured to trip
up the heels of his adversary. To prevent undue
violence in such struggles, a rule was laid down that
hands were not to be used on any account. They
might use their feet, legs, shoulders, and elbows, but
not their hands.

In such rough play the men were more equally
matched than might have been expected, for the want
of weight among the smaller men was often more than

THE WORLD OF ICE.

lue
lat

Lnt
Ian

countcrhalonced by tliuir activity, and frequently a
sturdy little fellow launched himself so vigorously
against a heavy tar as to send him rolling head over
heels on the ice. This was not always the case, how-
ever, and few ventured to come into collisi(Mi with
Peter Grim, whose activity was on a par with his
immense size. Buzzby contented himself with gallop-
ing on the outskirts of the fight, and putting in a kick
when fortune sent the ball in his way. In this species
of warfare he was supported by the fat cook, whose
oily carcass could neither stand the shocks nor keep up
with the pace of his messmates. Mizzle was a particu-
larly energetic man in his way, however, and frequently
kicked with such goodwill that he missed the ball
altoijether, and the tremendous swin^j of his leg lifted
him from the ice and laid him sprawling on his back.

" Look out ahead ! " shouted Green, the carpenter's
mate : " there's a sail bearing down on your larboard
bow."

Mivins, who had the ball before him at the moment,
saw his own satellite, Davie, coming down towards
him with vicious intentions. He quietly pushed the
ball before him for a few yards, then kicked it far
over the boy's head, and followed it up like an antelope.
Mivins depended for success on his almost superhuman
activity. His tall, slight frame could not stand the
shocks of his - omrades, but no one could equal or come
near to him in speed, and he was quite an adept at
dodging a charcfe, and allowing his opponent to rush
far past the ball by the force of his own momentum.

THE WORLD OF TOE.

Such a cbarnjo did Peter Grim make at liim at this
moment.

" Starboard liard ! " yelled Davie Summers, as he
observed his master's danger.

" Starboard it is ! " replied Mivins, and leaping aside
to avoid the shock, he allowed Grim to pass. Grim
knew his man, however, and had held himself in hand,
so that in a moment he pulled up and was following
close on his heels.

" It's an ill wind that blows no good," cried one of
the crew, towards whose foot the ball rolled, as he
quietly kicked it into the centre of the mass of men.
Grim and Mivins turned back, and for a time looked
on at the general melee that ensued. It seemed as
though the ball must inevitably be crushed among
them as they struggled and kicked hither and thither
for five minutes, in their vain efforts to get a kick ;
and during those few exciting moments many tremen-
dous kicks, aimed at the ball, took effect upon shins,
and many shouts of glee terminated in yells of anguish.

" It can't last much longer ! " screamed the cook,
his face streaming with perspiration and beaming
with glee, as he danced round the outside of the
circle. " There it goes ! "

As he spoke, the ball flew out of the circle like a
shell from a mortar. Unfortunately it went directly
over Mizzle's head. Before he could wink he went
down before them, and the rushing mass of men passed
over him like a mountain torrent over a blade of grass.

Meanwhile Mivins ran ahead of the others, and

THE WORLD OF ICE.

i>3

gave the ball a kick that nearly burst it, and down it
came exactly between O'Riley and Grim, who chanced
to be far ahead of the others. Grim dashed at it.
" Och ! ye big villain," muttered the Irishman to him-
self, as he put down his head and rushed against the
carpenter like a battering-ram.

Big though he was. Grim staggered back from the
impetuous shock, and O'Riley following up his advan-
tage, kicked the ball in a side direction, away from
every one except Buzzby, who happened to have been
steering rather wildly over the field of ice. Buzzby,
on being brought thus unexpectedly within reach of
the ball, braced up his energies for a kick ; but seeing
O'Riley coming down towards him like a runaway
locomotive, he pulled up, saying quietly to himself,
" Ye may take it all yer own way, lad ; I'm too old
a bird to go for to make my carcass a buffer for a
madcap like you to run agin."

Jack Mi V ins, however, was troubled by no such
qualms. He happened to be about the same distance
from the ball as O'Riley, and ran like a deer to reach
it first. A pool of water lay in his path, however,
and the necessity of going round it enabled the Irish-
man to gain on him a little, so that it became evident
that both would come up at the same moment, and a
collision be inevitable.

" Hold yer wind, Paddy," shouted the men, who
paused for a moment to watch the result of the race.
" Mind your timbers, Mivins ! Back your top-sails,
O'Riley ; mind how he yaws ! "

THE WORLD OF ICE.

Then there v:as a momentary silence of breathless
expectation. The two men seemed about to meet
with a shock that would annihilate both, when Mivins
bounded to one side like an indiarubber ball. O'Riley
shot past him like a rocket, and the next instant went
head foremost into the pool of water.

This unexpected termination to the affair converted
the intended huzzah of the men into a yell of mingled
laughter and consternation as they hastened in a body
to the spot ; but before they reached it, O'Riley's head
and shoulders reappeared, and when they came up he
was standing on the margin of the pool blowing like
a walrus.

" Oh ! then, but it is cowld ! " he exclaimed, wring-
ing the water from his garments. " Och ! where's the
ball ? give me a kick or I'll freeze ! so I will."

As he spoke the drenched Irishman seized the ball
from Mivins's hands and gave it a kick that sent it
high into the air. He was too wet and heavy to fol-
low it up, however, so he ambled off towards the ship
as vigorously as his clothes would allow him, followed
by the whole crew.

CHAPTER VIII.

Fred and the doctor go on an excursion in which, among other strange
tilings, they meet icith red snow and a tvhite bear, and Fred makes hia
first essay as a sportsman,

BUT where were Fred Ellice and Tom Singleton
all this time ? the reader will probably ask.

Long before the game at football was suggested
they had obtained leave of absence from the captain,
and, loaded with game-bag, a botanical box and geo-
logical hammer, and a musket, were off along the coast
on a semi-scientific cruise. Young Singleton carried
the botanical box and hammer, being an enthusiastic
geologist and botanist, while Fred carried the game-
bag and musket.

" You see, Tom," he said as they stumbled along
over the loose ice towards the ice-belt that lined the
cliffs — " you see, I'm a great dab at ornithology, espe-
cially when I've got a gun on my shoulder. When
I haven't a gun, strange to say, I don't feel half so
enthusiastic about birds ! "

"That's a very peculiar style of regarding the
science. Don't you think it would be worth while
communicating your views on the subject to one of

100

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the scientific bodies when we get home again. They
might elect you a member, Fred."

" Well, perhaps I shall," replied Fred gmvely ,
" but I say, to bo serious, I'm really going to screw
up my energies as much as possible, and make col-
oured drawings of all the birds I can get hold of in
the Arctic Regions. At least, I would like to try."

Fred finished his remark with a sigh, for just then
the object for which he had gone out to those regions
occurred to him ; and although the natural buoyancy
and hopefulness of his feelings enabled him generally
to throw off anxiety in regard to his father's fate, and
join in the laugh, and jest, and game as heartily as
any one on board, there were times when his lieart
failed him, and he almost despaired of ever seeing liis
father again, and these feelings of despondency had
been more frequent since the day on which he wit-
nessed the sudden and utter destruction of the strange
brig.

" Don't let your spirits down, Fred," said Tom,
whose hopeful and earnest disposition often reani-
mated his friend's drooping spirits ; " it will only
unfit you for doing any good service. Besides, I think
we have no cause yet to despair. We know that
your father came up this inlet, or strait, or what-
ever it is, and he had a good stock of provisions
with him, according to the account we got at Uper-
navik, and it is not more than a year since he was
there. Many and many a whaler and discovery ship
has wintered more than a year in these regions. And

TIIK WOULD OF ICE.

101

then, consider the immense amount of animal life all
roiuul us. They might have laid up provisions for
many months long before winter set in."

" I know all that," replied Fred, with a shake of
his head ; " but think of yon brig that wc saw go
down in about ten minutes."

" Well, so I do think of it. No doubt the brig was
lost very suddenly, but there was ample time, had
there been any one on board, to have leaped upon the
ice, and they might have got to land by jumping from
one piece to another. Such things have happened be-
fore frequently. To say truth, at every point of land
wc turn, I feel a sort of expectation amounting almo.st
to certainty that we shall find your father and his
party travelling southward on their way to the Danish
settlements."

" Perhaps you are right. God grant that it may
be so I "

As he spoke, they reached the fixed ice which ran
along the foot of the precipices for some distance like
a road of hard white marble. Many large rocks lay
scattered over it, some of them several tons in weight,
and one or two balanced in a very remarkable way
on the edge of the cliffs.

" There's a curious-looking gull I should like to
shoot," exclaimed Fred, pointing to a bird that
hovered over his head, and throwing forward the
muzzle of his gun.

" Fire away, then," said his friend, stepping back a
pace.

102

THE WORLD OF ICE.

Fred, being unaccustomed to the use of fire-arms,
took a wavering aim and fired.

" What a bother ! I've missed it ! "

" Try again," remarked Tom with a quiet smile, as
the whole cliff vomited forth an innumerable host of
birds, whose cries were perfectly deafening.

" It's my opinion," said Fred with a comical grin,
" that if I shut my eyes and point upwards I can't
help hitting something ; but I particularly want yon
fellow, because he's beautifully marked. Ah ! I see
him sitting on a rock yonder, so here goes once
more."

Fred now proceeded towards the coveted bird in
the fashion that is known by the name of stalking —
that is, creeping as close up to your game as possible,
so as to get a good shot ; and it said much for his
patience and his future success the careful manner in
which, on this occasion, he wound himself in and out
among the rocks and blocks of ice on the shore in the
hope of obtaining that sea-gull. At last he succeeded
in getting to within about fifteen yards of it, and
then, resting his musket on a lump of ice, and taking
an aim so long and steadily that his companion began
to fancy he must have gone to sleep, he fired, and
blew the gull to atoms ! There was scarcely so much
as a shred of it to be found.

Fred bore his disappointment and discomfiture man-
fully. He formed a resolution then and there to be-
come a good shot, and although he did not succeed
exactly in becoming so that day, he nevertheless man-

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103

aged to put several fine specimens of gulls and an
auk into his bag. The last bird amused him much,
being a creature with a dumpy little be ;^.y and a beak
of preposterously large size and comical aspect. There
were also a great number of eider-ducks flying about,
but they failed to procure a specimen.

Singleton was equally successful in his scientific re-
searches. He found several beautifully green mosses,
one species of which was studded with pale yellow
flowers, and in one place, where a stream trickled down
the steep sides of the cliffs, he discovered a flower-
growth which was rich in variety of colouring. Amid
several kinds of tufted grasses were seen growing
a small purple flower and the white star of the
chickweed. The sight of all this richness of vegeta-
tion growing in a little spot close beside the snow,
and amid such cold Arctic scenery, would have de-
lighted a much less enthusiastic spirit than that of
our young surgeon. He went quite into raptures
with it, and stuffed his botanical box with mosses and
rocks until it could hold no more, and became a bur-
den that cost him a few sighs before he got back to
the ship.

The rocks were found to consist chiefly of red
sandstone. There was also a good deal of green-stone
and gneiss, and some of the spires of these that shot
up to a considerable height were particularly striking
and picturesque objects.

Bui. the great sight of the day's excursion was that
which unexpectedly greeted their eyes on rounding a

104

THE WORLD OF ICE.

I i'

cape towards which they had been walking for sev-
eral hours. On passing this point they stopped with
an exclamation of amazement. Before them lay a
scene such as the Arctic Regions alone can produce.

In front lay a vast reach of the strait, which at
this place opened up abruptly and stretched away
northward, laden with floes, and fields, and hummocks,
and bergs of every shade and size, to the horizon,
where the appearance of the sky indicated open water.
Ponds of various sizes and sheets of water whose
dimensions entitled them to be styled lakes spangled
the white surface of the floes ; and around these were
sporting innumerable flocks of wild-fov/l, many of
which, being pure white, glanced like snow-flakes in
the sunshine. Far off' to the west the ice came down
with heavy uniformity to the water's edge. On the
right there was an array of cliffs whose frowning
grandeur filled them with awe. They varied from
twelve to fifteen hundred feet in height, and some of
the precipii.es descended sheer down seven or eight
hundred feet into the sea, over which they cast a
dark shadow.

Just at the feet of our young discoverers — for such
we may truly call them — a deep bay or valley trended
away to the right, a large portion of which was filled
with the spur of a glacier, whose surface was covered
with pink snoiv ! One can imagine with what feelings
the two youths gazed on this beautiful sight. It
seemed as if that valley, instead of forming a portion
of the sterile region beyond the Arctic Circle, were one

1"^-.

THE WORLD OF ICE.

105

of the sunniest regions of the south, for a warm glow
rested on the bosom of the snow, as if the sun were
shedding upon it his rosiest hues. A little farther to
the north the red snow ceased, or only occurred here
and there in patches ; and beyond it there appeared
another gorge in the cliffs, within which rose a tall
column of rock, so straight and cylindrical that it
seemed to be a production of art. The whole of the
back country was one great rolling distance of glacier,
and, wherever a crevice or gorge in the riven cliffs
afforded an opportunity, this ocean of land-ice sent
down spurs into the sea, the extremities of which
were constantly shedding off huge bergs into the
water.

" What a scene ! " exclaimed Tom Singleton, when
he found words to express his admiration. " I did
not think that our world contained so grand a sight.
It surpasses my wildest dreams of fairy -land."

" Fairy-land ! " ejaculated Fred, with a slight look
of contempt ; " do you know since I came to this part
of the world, I've come to the cor elusion that fairy
tales are all stuff, and very inferior stuff too ! Why,
this reality is a thousand million times grander than
anything that was ever invented. But wiiat surprises
me most is the red snow. What can be the cause
of it?"

" I don't know," replied Singleton , "it has long
been a matter of dispute among learned men. But we
must examine It 2^, ourselves, so come along."

The remarkable colour of the snow referred to.

106

THE WORLD OF ICE.

although a matter of dispute at the period of the
Dolphin's visit to the Arctic Seas, is generally admitted
now to be the result of a curious and extremely
minute vegetable growth, which spreads not only
over its surface, but penetrates into it sometimes to a
depth of several feet. The earlier navigators who
discovered it, and fii-st told the astonished world that
the substance whicli they had been accustomed to
associate with the idea of the purest and most radiant
whiteness had been seen by them lying red upon the
ground, attributed the phenomenon to innumerable
multitudes of minute creatures belonging to the order
Radiata ; but the discovery of red snow among the
central Alps of Europe, and in the Pyrenees, and on
the mountaias of Norway, where marine animalcula
could not exist, effectually overturned this idea. The
colouring matter has now been ascertained to result
from plants belonging to the order called Algw, which
have a remarkable degree of vitality, and possess the
power, to an amazing extent, of growing and spread-
ing with rapidity even over such an ungenial soil as
the Arctic snow.

While Singleton was examining the red snow, and
vainly endeavouring to ascertain the nature of the
minute specks of matter by which it was coloured,
Fred continued to gaze with a look of increasing
earnestness towards the tall column, around which a
bank of fog was spreading, and partially concealing
it from view. At length he attracted the attention
of his companion towards it.

THE WORLD OF ICE.

107

" I say, I'm half inclined to believe that yon is no
work of nature, but a monument set up to attract the
attention of ships. Don't you think so ? "

Singleton regarded the object in question for some
time. " I don't think so, Fred ; it is larger than you
suppose, for the fog-bank deceives us. But let us go
and see; it cannot be far *"

As they drew near to the tall rock, Fred's hopes
began to fade, and soon wer3 utterly quenched by the
fog clearing away, and showing that the column was
indeed of nature's own constructing. It was a single,
solitary shaft of green limestone, which stood on the
brink of a deep ravine, and was marked by the slaty
limestone that once encased it. The length of the
column was apparently about five hundred feet, and
the pedestal of sandstone on which it stood was itself
upwards of two hundred feet high.

This magnificent column seemed the flag-staff of a
gigantic crystal fortress, which was suddenly revealed
by the clearing away of the fog-bank to the north.
It was the face of the great glacier of the interior,
which here presented an unbroken perpendicular
front — a sweep of solid glassy wall, which rose three
hundred feet above the water-level, with an unknown
depth below it. The sun glittered on the crags and
peaks and battlements of this ice fortress, as if the
mysterious inhabitants of the Far North had lit up
their fires and planted their artillery to resist further
invasion.

The effect upon the minds of the two youths, who

108

THE WORLD OF ICE.

were probably the first to gaze upon those wondrous
visions of the Icy Regions, was tremendous. For a
long time neither of them could utter a word, and it
would be idle to attempt to transcribe the language
in which, at length, their excited feelings sought to
escape. It was not until their backs had been for
some time turned on the scene, and the cape near the
valley of red snow had completely shut it out from
view, that they could condescend to converse again in
their ordinary tones on ordinary subjects.

As they hastened back over the ice-belt at the foot
of the cliffs, a loud boom rang out in the distance and
rolled in solemn echoes along the shore.

" There goes a gun," exclaimed Tom Singleton,
hastily pulling out his watch. " Hallo ! do you know
what time it is ? "

" Pretty late, I suppose. It was afternoon, I know,
when we started, and we must have beer, out a good
while now. What time is it ? "

" Just two o'clock in the morning ! "

" What ! do you mean to say it was yesterday
when we started, and that we've been walking all
night, and got into to-morrow morning without
knowing it ? "

" Even so, Fred. We have overshot our time, and
the captain is signalling us to make haste. He said
that he would not fire unless there seemed some
prospect of the ice moving, so we had better run,
unless we wish to be left behind ; come along."

They had not proceeded more than half-a-mile

THE WORLD OF ICE.

109

when a Polar bear walked leisurely out from behind
a lump of ice, where it had been regaling itself on a
dead seal, and sauntered slowly out towards the
icebergs seaward, not a hundred yards in advance of
them.

" Hallo ! look there ! what a monster ! " shouted
Fi-ed, as he cocked his musket and sprang forward.
" What'll yon do, Tom, you've no gun ? "

" Never mind, I'll do what I can with the hammer.
Only make sure you don't miss. Don't fire till you
are quite close to him."

They were running after the bear at top speed
while they thus conversed in hasty and broken
sentences, when suddenly they came to a yawning
crack in the ice, about thirty feet wide, and a mile
long on either hand, with the rising tide boiling at the
bottom of it. Bruin's pursuers came to an abrupt
halt.

" Now, isn't that disgusting ? "

Probably it was, and the expression of chagrin on
Fred's countenance as he said so evidently showed
that he meant it ; but there is no doubt that this
interruption to their hunt was extremely fortunate,
for to attack a Polar bear with a musket charged
only with small shot, and a geological hammer, would
have been about as safe and successful an operation
as trying to stop a locomotive with one's hand.
Neither of them had yet had experience of the
enormous strength of this white monarch of the
Frozen Regions and his tenacity of life, although both

THE WORLD OF ICE.

were reckless enough to rush at him with any arms
they chanced to have.

" Give him a long shot — quick ! " cried Singleton.

Fred fired instantly ; and the bear stopped, and
looked round, as much as to say, " Did you speak,
gentlemen ? " Then, not receiving a reply, he walked
away with dignified indifference, and disappeared
among the ice-hummocks.

An hour afterwards the two wanderers were seated
at a comfortable breakfast in the cabin of the Dolphin,
relating their adventures to the captain and mates,
and, although unwittingly, to Mivins, who generally
managed so to place himself, while engaged in the
mysterious operations of his little pantry, that most
of the cabin talk reached his ear, and travelled thence
through his mouth to the forecastle. The captain was
fully aware of this fact, but he winked at it, for there
was nothing but friendly feeling on board the ship,
and no secrets. When, however, matters of serious
import had to be discussed, the cabin door was closed,
and Mivins turned to expend himself on Davie Sum-
mers, who, in the capacity of a listener, was absolutely
necessary to the comfortable existence of the worthy
steward.

Having exhausted their appetites and their infor-
mation, Fred and Tom were told that, during their
absence, a bear and two seals had been shot by
Meetuck, the Esquimau interpreter, whom they had
taken on board at Upernavik ; and they were fur-
ther informed that the ice was in motion to the

THE WORLD OF ICE. m

westward, and that there was every probability of
their being released by the falling tide. Havin^r
duly and silently weighed these facts for a few
minutes, they simultaneously, and as if by a common
impulse, yawned, and retired to bed.

CHAPTER IX.

The " Dolphin^' i/ds beset in the ice— Preparations forivintci'hig in the ice-
Captain Guy's code of laws.

AN accident now befell the Dolphin which effec-
tually decided the fate of the ship and her
crew, at least for that winter. This was her getting
aground near the ravine of the giant flagstaff before
mentioned, and being finally beset by ice, from which
all efforts on the part of the men to extricate her
proved abortive, and in which she was ultimately
frozen in, hard and fa.st.

The first sight the crew obtained of the red snow
filled them with unbounded amazement, and a few
of the more superstitious amongst them with awe
approaching to fear. But soon their attention was
attracted from this by the wonderful column.

" Och, then ! may I niver ! " exclaimed O'Riley, the
moment he caught sight of it, " if there ben't the north
pole at long last — sure enough ! "

The laugh that greeted thiri remark was almost
immediately checked, partly from the feelings of
solemnity inspired by the magnificent view which
opened up to them, and partly from a suspicion on

■a

THE WORLD OF ICE.

113

z—
!C-

™g
re

the part of the more ignorant among the men that
there might bo some trutli in O'Riley's statement
after all.

But their attention and energies were speedily
called to the dangerous position of the ship, which
unexpectedly took the ground in a bay where the
water proved to be unusually shallow, and before
they could warp her ott' the ice closed round her in
compact, immovable masses. At first Captain Guy
was not seriously alarmed by this untoward event,
although he felt a little chagrin ir: consequence of the
detention, for the summer was rapidly advancing, and
it behoved him to return to Baffin's Bay and prose-
cute the whale-fishing as energetically as possible ; but
when day after day passed, and the ice round the
ship still remained immovable, he became alarmed,
and sought by every means in his power to extricate
himself.

His position was rendered all the more aggravating
by the fact that, a week after he was taset, the main
body of the ice in the strait opened up and drifted
to the southward, leaving a comparatively clear sea
through which he could have pushed his way without
much difficulty in any direction ; but the solid masses
in which they lay embedded were fast to the ground
for about fifty yards beyond the vessel, seaward, and
until these should be floated away there was no
chance of escape.

" Get up some powder and canisters, Mr. Bolton," he
exclaimed, one morning after breakfast, " I'll try what

114

THE WORLD OF ICE.

can bo done by blasting the ice. The highest spring
tide will occur to-morrow, and if the ship don't move
then we slmll — "

He did not finish the sentence, but turned on Ids
lieel and walked forward, where he found Buzzby
and some of the men preparing the ice-saws.

" Ay, ay," muttered the mate, as he went below to
give the necessary directions, " you don't need to
conclude your speech, captain. If we don't get out
to-morrow, we're locked up for one winter, at least, if
not more."

" Ay, and ye'll no get oot to-morrow," remarked
Saunders, with a shake of his head as he looked up
from the log-book in which he was making an entry.
" We're hard and fast, so we'll just have to make the
best o't."

Saunders was right, as thv^. efforts of the next day
proved. The ice lay around the vessel in solid masses,
as we have said, and with each of the last three tides
these masses had been slightly moved. Saws and ice
chisels, therefore, had been in constant operation, and
the men worked with the utmost energy, night and
day, taking it by turns, and having double allowance
of hot coffee served out to them. We may mention
here that the Dolphin carried no spirits, except what
was needed for medicinal purposes, and for fuel to
several small cooking lamps that had been recently
invented. It had now been proved by many voyagers
of experience that in cold countries, as well as hot,
men work harder, and endure the extremity of hard-

THE WORLD OF ICE.

115

ship better, without strong drink than with it, and
the Dolphins crew were engaged on the distinct un-
derstanding that cofiee, and tea, and chocolate were
to be substituted for rum, and that spirits were never
to bo given to any one on board, except in cases of
extreme necessity.

But, to return — although the men worked as only
those can who toil for liberation from long imprison-
ment, no impression worth mentioning could be made
on the ice. At length the attempt to rend it by means
of gunpowder was made.

A jar containing about thirty pounds of powder
was sunk in a hole in an immense block of ice which
lay close against the stern of the ship. Mivins, being
light of foot, was set to fire the train. He did so,
and ran — ran so fast that he missed his footing in
leaping over a chasm, and had well-nigh fallen into
the water below. There was a whiz and a loud
report, and the enormous mass of ice heaved upwards
in the centre, and fell back in huge fragments. So
far the result was satisfactory, and the men were
immeuiately set to sink several charges in various
directions around the vessel, to be in readiness for the
highest tide, which was soon expected. Warps and
hawsers were also got out and fixed to the seaward
masses, ready to heave on them at a moment's notice ;
the ship was lightened as much as possible by lifting
her stores upon the ice ; and the whole crew — captain,
mates, and all — worked and heaved like horses, until
the perspiration streamed from their faces, while

I '

116

THE WORLD OF ICE.

Mizzle kept supplying them with a constant deluge
of hot coffee. Fred and the young surgeon, too,
worked like the rest, with their coats off, handker-
chiefs bound round their heads, and shirt -sleeves
tucked up to their shoulders.

At last the tide rose — inch by inch, and slowly, as
if it grudged to give them even a chance of escape.

Mivins grew impatient and unbelieving under it.
" I don't think it'll rise another hinch," he remarked
to O'Riley, who stood near him.

" Niver fear, boy. The cap ting knows a sight
better than you do, and he says it'll rise a fut yit."

" Does he ? " asked Grim, who was also beginning
to despond.

" Ov coorse he does. Sure he towld me in a con-
fidintial way, just before he wint to turn in last
night — if it wasn't yisturday forenoon, for it's meself
as niver knows an hour o' the day since the sun be-
came dissipated, and tuck to sitting up all night in
this fashion."

" Shut up yer tatie-trap and open yer weather-eye,"
muttered Buzzby, who had charge of the gang; "there'll
be time enough to speak after we're off."

Gradually, as the tide rose, the ice and the ship
moved, and it became evident that the latter was almost
afloat, though the former seemed to be only partly
raised from the ground. The men were at their
several posts ready for instant action, and gazing in
anxious expectation at the captain, who stood, watch
in hand, ready to give the word.

THE WORLD OF ICE.

117

" Now, then, fire ! " he said in a low voice.

In a moment the ice round the ship was rent, and
upheaved, as if some leviathan of the deep were rising
from beneath it, and the vessel swung slowly round.
A loud cheer burst from tne men.

" Now, lads, heave with a will ! " roared the
captain.

Round went the capstan, the windlass clanked, and
the ship forged slowly ahead, as the warps and
hawsers became rigid. At that moment a heavy
block of ice, which had been overbalanced by the
motion of the vessel, fell with a crash on the rudder,
splitting off a large portion of it, and drawing the
iron bolts that held it completely out of the stern-
post.

" Never mind ; heave awa,y — for your lives ! " cried
the captain. " Jump on board, all of you ! "

The few men who had until now remained on the
ice scrambled up the side. There was a sheet of ice
right ahead which the ship could not clear, but which
she was pushing out to sea in advance of her.
Suddenly this took the ground and remained motion-
less.

" Out there with ice-chisels ! Sink a hole like
lightning ! Prepare a canister, Mr. Bolton — quick ! "
shouted the captain in desperation, as he sprang over
the side and assisted to cut into the unwieldy obstruc-
tion. The charge was soon fixed and fired, but it
only split the block in two and left it motionless as
before. A few minutes after the ship again grounded ;

1 —

118

THE WORLD OF ICE.

tho ice settled round her ; the spring tide was lost, and
they were not delivered.

Those who know the bitterness of repeated dis-
appointment and of hope deferred, may jud^^e of the
feelings with which the crew of the Dolphin now
regarded their position. Little, indeed, was said, but
the grave looks of most of the men, and the absence
of the usual laugh, and jest, and disposition to sky-
lark, which, on almost all other occasions characterized
them, showed too plainly how heavily the prospect of
a winter in the Arctic Regions weighed upon their
spirits. They continued their exertions to free the
ship, however, for several days after the high tide,
and did not finally give in until all reasonable hope
of moving her was utterly annihilated. Before this,
however, a reaction began to take place ; the prospects
of the coming winter were discussed ; and some of the
more sanguine looked even beyond the winter, and
began to consider how they would contrive to get the
ship out of her position into deep water again.

Fred Ellice, too, thought of his father, and this
abrupt check to the search, and his spirits sank again
as his hopes decayed. But poor Fred, like the others,
at last discovered that it was of no use to repine, and
that it was best to face his sorrows and difficulties
" like a man ! "

Alas ! poor human nature ; how difficult do we
find it to face sorrows and difficulties cheerfully, even
when we do conscientiously try ! Well would it be
for all of us could we submit to such, not only because

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119

they are inevitable, but because they are the will of
God — of him who has asserted in his own Word that
" he afflicteth no<- the children of men willingly,"

Among so many men there were all shades of char-
acter, and the fact that they were doomed to a year's
imprisonment in the Frozen Regions was received in
very different ways. Some looked grave and thought
of it seriously ; others laughed and treated it lightly ;
a few grumbled and spoke profanely; but most of them
became quickly reconciled, and in a week or two
nearly all forgot the past and the future in the duties,
and cares, and amusements of the present. Captain
Guy and his officers, however, and a few of the more
sedate men, among whom were Buzzby and Peter
Grim, looked forward with much anxiety, knowing
full well the dangers and trials that lay before them.

It is true the ship was provisioned for more than
a year, but most of the provisions were salt, and Tom
Singleton could have told them, had the}'^ required to
be told, that without fresh provisions they stood a
poor chance of escaping that dire disease scurvy, before
which have fallen so many gallant tars whom nothing
in the shape of dangers or difficulties could subdue.
There were, indeed, myriads of wild-fowl flying about
the ship, on which the men feasted and grew fat
every day; and the muskets of Meetuck and those
who accompanied him seldom failed to supply the
ship with an abundance of the flesh of seals, walruses,
and Polar bears, portions of all of which creatures
were considered very good indeed by the men, and

120

THE WORLD OF ICE.

particularly by the dogs, which grew so fat that they
began to acquire a very disrepatable waddle in their
gait as they w^alked the deck for exercise, which they
seldom did, by the way, being passionately fond of
sleep ! But birds, and perchance beasts, might be ex-
pected to take themselves off when the winter arrived,
and leave the crew without fi sh. food.

Then, althougn the Dolphin was supplied with
every necessary for a whaling-expedition, and with
many luxuries besides, she was ill provided with the
supplies that men deem absolutely indispensable for a
winter in the Arctic Regions, where the cold is so
bitterly intense that, after a prolonged sojourn, men's
minds become almost entirely engrossed by two
clamant demands of nature — food and heat. They
had only a small quantity of coal on board, and
nothing except a few extra spars that could be used
as a substitute, while the bleak shores afforded neither
shrub nor tree of any kind. Meanwhile, they had a
sufficiency of everything they required for at least
two or three months to come, and for the rest, as
Grim said, they had " stout hearts and strong arms."

As soon as it became apparent that they were to
winter in the bay, which the captain named the Bay
of Mercy, all further attempt to extricate the ship
was abandoned, and every preparation for spending
the winter was begun and carried out vigorously. It
was now that Captain Guy's qualities as a leader be-
gan to be displayed. He knew, from long experience
and observation, that in order to keep up the morale

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121

of any body of men it was absolutely necessary to
maintain the strictest discipline. Indeed, this rule is
so universa,l in its aj^plication, that many men find it
advantageous to impose strict rules on themselves in
the regulation of tb;:ir time and affairs, in order to
keep their own spints under command. One of the
captain's first resolves therefore was, to call the men
together and address them on this subject ; and he seized
the occasion of the first Sabbath morning they spent
in the Bay of Mercy, when the crew were assembled
for prayers on the quarter-deck, to speak to ihcm.

Hitherto we have not mentioned the Sabbath day
in this story, because, while at sea, and while strug-
gling with the ice, there was little to mark it from
other Jays, except the cessation of unnecessary labour,
and the reading of prayers to those who chose to
attend ; but as necessary labour preponderated at all
times, and the reading of prayers occupied scarce half-
an-hour, there was little perceptible difference between
the Sabbath and any other day. We would not be
understood to speak lightly of this difference. Little
though it was in point of time and appearance, it was
immeasurably great in fact, as it involved the great
principle that the day of rest ought to be observed,
and that the Creator should be honoured in a special
manner on that day.

On the Sabbath in question — and it was an ex-
ceedingly bright, peaceful one — Captain Guy, having
read part of the Church of England service as usual,
stood up, and in an earnest, firm tone said : —

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THE WORLD OF ICE.

" My lads, I consider it my duty to say a few plain
words to you in reference to our present situation and
prospects. I feel that the responsibility of having
brought you here rests very rauch upon myself, and I
deem it my solemn duty, in more than the ordinary
sense, to do all I can to get you out of the ice again.
You know as well as I do that this !:• impossible at
the present time, and that we are compelled to spend
a winter here. Some of you know what that means,
but the most of you know it only by hearsay, and
that's much the same as knowing nothing about it at
all. Before the winter is done your energies and en-
durance will probably be taxed to the uttermost. I
think it right to be candid with you. The life before
you will not be child's play, but I assure you that it
may be mingled with much that will be pleasant and
hearty if you choose to set about it in the right w&y.
Well, then, to be short about it. There is no chance
whatever of our getting through the winter in this
ship comfortably, or even safely, unless the strictest
discipline is maintained aboard. I know, for I've
been in similar circumstances before, that when cold
and hunger, and, it maj 'te, sickness press upon us —
should it please the Almighty to send these on us in
great severity- -you will feel duty to be irksome, and
you'll think it useless, and perhaps be tempted to
mutiny. Now, I ask you solemnly, while your minds
are clear from all prejudices, each individually to sign
a written code of laws, and a written promise that
you will obey the same, and help me to enforce them

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123

even with the punishment of death, if need be. Now,
lads, will you agree to that ? "

•' Agreed ! agreed ! " cried the men at once, and in a
tone of prompt decision that convinced their leader he
had their entire confidence — a matter of the highest
importance in the critical circumstances in which they
were placed.

" Well, then, I'll read the rules. They are few, hut
sufficiently comprehensive : —

" 1st. Prayers shall be read every morning before
breakfast, unless circumstances render it impossible to
do so."

The captain laid down the paper, and looked earn-
estly at the men.

" My lads, I have never felt so strongly as I now do
the absolute need "'e have of the blessing and guid-
ance of the Almighty, and I am persuaded that it is
our duty as well as our interest to begin, not only the
Sabbath, but every day with prayer.

" 2nd. The ordinary duties of the ship shall be
carried on, the watches regularly set and relieved,
regular hours observed, and the details of duty at-
tended to in the usual way, as when in harbour.

" 3rd. The officers shall take watch and watch
about as heretofore, except when required to do other-
wise. The log-books, and meteorological observations,
etc., shall be carried on as usual.

"4th. The captain shall have supreme and ab-
solute command as when at sea ; but he, on his part,
promises that, should any peculiar circumstance arise

v^*5f;

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THE WORLD OF ICE.

in which the safety of the crew or ship shall be im-
plicated, he will, if the wen are so disposed, call a
council of the whole crew, in whic^ case the decision
of the majority shall become law, but the minority,
in that event, shall have it in their option to separate
from the majority and carry along with them their
share of the general provisions.

" 5th. Disobedience to orders shall be punishable
according to the decision of a council to be appointed
specially for the purpose of framing a criminal code,
hereafter to be subuiitted for the approval of the
crew."

The rules above laid down were signed by every
man in the ship. Several of them could not write,
but these affixed a cross ( x ) at the foot of the page,
against which their names were written by the cap-
tain in presence of witnesses, which answered the
same purpose. And from that time, until events
occurred which rendered all such rules unnecessary,
the work of the ship went on pleasantly and well.

CHAPTER X.

Beginning of pointer — Mectuck effects a remarkable change in the men's
appearance— Moisaimj, and icorkintj, and plans for a winter campaign.

IN August the first frost came and formed " young
ice " on the sea, but this lasted only for a brief
hour or two, and was broken up by the tide and
melted. ^y the 10th of September the young ice
cemented the floes of last year's ice together, and soon
rendered the ice round the ship immovable. Hum-
mocks clustered round several rocky islets in the
neighbourhood, and the rising and falling of the tide
covered the sides of the rocks with bright crystals.
All the feathered tribes took their departure for less
rigorous climes, with the exception of a small white
bird about the size of a sparrow^ called the snow-bird,
which is the last to leave the icy North. Then a
tremendous storm arose, and the sea became choked
up with icebergs and floes, which the frost soon locked
together into a solid mass. Tow^ards the close of the
storm snow fell in great abundance, and when the
mariners ventured again to put their heads up the
opened hatchways, the decks were knee-deep, the drift
to windward was almost level with the bulwarks, every

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THE WORLD OF ICE.

1 I

yard was edged with white, every rope and cord had
a light side and a dark, every point and truck had a
white button on it, and every hole, corner, crack, and
crevice was choked up.

The land and the sea were also clothed with this
spotless garment, which is indeed a strikingly ap-
propriate emblem of purity, and the only dark objects
visible in the landscape were those precipices which
were too steep for the snow to lie on, the towering
forn of the giant flagstaff, and the leaden clouds that
rolled angrily across the sky. But these leaden clouds
soon rolled off", leaving a blue wintry sky and a bright
sun behind.

The storm blew itself out early in the morning, and
at breakfast-time on that day, when the sun was just
struggling with the la,st of the clouds. Captain Guy
remarked to his friends who were seated round the
cabin table, " Well, gentlemen, we must begin hard
work to-day."

" Hard work, captain ! " exclaimed Fred Ellice,
pausing for a second or two in the hard work of
chewing a piece of hard salt junk ; " why, what do
you call the work we've been engaged in for the last
few weeks ? "

" Play, my lad ; that was only play — just to bring
our hands in, before setting to work in earnest ! —
What do you think of the health of the men, doctor?"

" Never was better; but I fear the hospital will soon
fill if you carry out your threat in regard to work."

" No fear," remarked the second mate ; " the more

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127

work the better health is my experience. Busy men
have no time to git seek."

" No doubt of it, sir," said the first mato> bolting a
large mouthful of pork. " Nothing so good for 'em as
work;"

" There are two against you, doctor," said the
captain.

" Then it's two to two," cried Fred, as he finished
breakfast; " for I quite agree with Tom, and with that
excellent proverb which says, ' All work and no play
makes Jack a dull boy.' "

The captain shook his head as he said, " Of all the
nuisances I ever met with in a ship a semi-passenger
is the worst. I think, Fred, I must get you bound
apprentice and give you regular work to do, you
good-for-nothing."

We need scarcely say that the captain jested, for
Fred was possessed of a spirit that cannot rest, so to
speak, unless at work. He was able to do almost
anything after a fashion, and was never idle for a
moment. Even when his hands chanced to be un-
employed, his brows were knitted, busily planning
what to do next.

" Well now, gentlemen," resumed the captain, " let
us consider the order of business. The first thing
that must be done now is to unstow the hold and
deposit its contents on the small island astern of us,
which we shall call Store Island, for brevity's sake.
Get a tent pitched there, Mr. Bolton, and bank it up
with snow. You can leave Grim to superintend the

128

THE WORLD OF ICE.

unloading. — Then, Mr. Saunders, do you go and set a
gang of men to cut a canal through the young ice
from the ship to the island. Fortunately the Hoes
there are wide enough apart to let our quarter-boats
float between them. The unshipping won't take long.
Toll Buzzby to take a dozen men with him and
collect moss ; we'll need a large quantity for fuel, and
if another storm like this comes it'll be hard work to
get down to it. Send Meetuck to me when you go
on deck ; I shall talk to him as to our prospects of
finding doer hereabouts, and arrange a hunt. — Doctor,
you may either join the hunting-party, or post up the
observations, etc., which have accumulated of late."

" Thank you, captain," said Singleton ; " I'll accept
the latter duty, the more willingly that I wish to
have a careful examination of my botanical speci-
mens."

" And what am I to do, captain ? " inquired Fred.

" What you please, lad."

" Then I'll go and take care of Meetuck ; he's apt
to get into mischief when left — "

At this moment a tremendous shout of laughter,
long continued, came from the deck, and a sound as if
numbers of men dancing overhead was heard.

The party in the cabin seized their caps and sprang
up the companion ladder, where they beheld a scene
that accounted for the laughter, and induced them to
join in it. At first sij^ht it seemed as if thirty Polar
bears had boarded the vessel, and were executing a
dance of triumph before proceeding to make a meal of

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129

the crew ; but on closer inspection it l>ecanie Mpparent
tliat the men had iin(lerLj<)n(> a stranj^c transt'oiniation,
and were caperini:; witli deh;j;l»t at the ridiculous
appc^arance they presented. Tli(»y wei'c clad from
head to foot in Esquimau costume, and now hore as
stroniij a resemblance to Polar bears as man ce!!lfl
attain to.

Meetuck was the pattern and the chief instrument
in jtlecting this change. 'At Upernavik Captain
Guy had been induced to purchase a large number of
fox-skins, deer-skins, seal-skins, and other furs, as a
speculation, and had them tightly packe<l and stowed
away in the hold, little imagining the purpose they
were ultimately destined to serve. Meetuck had come
on board in a mongrel sort of worn-out seal-skin
dress ; but the instant the cold weather set in lie drew
from a bundle which he had brought with him a dress
made of the fur of the Arctic fox, some of the skins
beinc: white and the others blue. It consisted of a
loose coat, somewhat in the form of a shirt, with a
large hood to it, and a short elongation behind like
the commencement of a tail. The boots were made of
white bear-skin, which, at the end of the foot, were
made to terminate with the claws of the animal ; and
they were so long that they came up the thigh under
the coat, or "jumper," as the men called it, and thus
served instead of trousers. He also wore fur mittens,
with a bag for the fingers, and a separate little bag
for the thumb. The hair on these garments was long
and soft, and worn outside, so that when a man

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THE WORLD OF ICE.

enveloped himself in them, and put up the hood,
which well-nigh concealed the face, he became very
much like a bear or some such creature standing on
its hind legs.

Meetuck was a short, fat, burly little fellow by
nature ; but when he put on his winter dress he
became such a round, soft, squat, hairy, and comical-
looking creature, that no one could look at him with-
out laughing, and the shout with which he was
received on deck the first time he made his appear-
ance in his new costume was loud and prolonged.
But Meetuck was as good-humoured an Esquimau as
ever speared a walrus or lanced a Polar bear. He
joined in the laugh, and cut a caper or two to show
that he entered into the spirit of the joke.

When the ship was set fast, and the thermometer
fell pretty low, the men found that their ordinary
dreadnoughts and pea-jackets, etc., were not a suffi-
cient protection against the cold, and it occurred to
the captain that his furs might now be turned to
good account. Sailors are proverbially good needle-
men of a rough kind. Meetuck showed them how to
set about their work. Each man made his own gar-
ments, and in less than a week they were completed.
It is true, the boots perplexed them a little, and the
less ingenious among the men made very rare and
curious-looking foot-gear for themselves ; but they
succeeded after a fashion, and at last the whole crew
appeared on deck in their new habiliments, as we
have already mentioned, capering among the snow

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131

like bears, to their own entire satisfaction and to the
intense delight of Meetuck, who now came to regard
the white men as brother? -so true is it that " the
tailor makes the man ! '

" 'Ow 'orribly 'eavy it is, /iain't it ? " gasped Mivins,
after dancing round the main-hatch till he was nearly
exhausted.

" Heavy ! " cried Buzzby, whose appearance was
such that you would have ' hesitated to say whether
his breadth or length was greater — "heavy, d'ye say?
It must be your sperrits wot's heavy, then, for I feel
as light as 'x fe&^ther myself."

" O morther ! then may 1 niver sleep on a bed
made o' sich feathers ! " ciied O'Riley, capering up to
Green, the carpt)nter's mate, and throwing a mass of
snow in his face. The frost rendered it impossible to
form the snow into balls, but the men made up for
this by throwing i'j about each other's eyes and ears
in handfuls.

" What d'ye mean by insultin' my mate ? — take
that ! " said Peter Grim, giving the Irishman a twirl
that tumbled him on the deck.

" Oh, bad manners to ye ! " spluttered O'Riley, as he
rose and ran away : " why don't ye hit a man o' yer
own size ? "

" 'Deed, then, it must be because there's not one o'
my own size to hit," remarked the carpenter with a
broad grin.

This was true. Grim's colossal proportions were
increased so much by !iis hairy dress that he seemed to

132

THE WORLD OF ICE.

have spread out into the dimensions of two large men
rolled into one. But O'Riley was not to be overturned
with impunity. Skulking round behind the crew,
who were laughing at Grim's joke, he came upon the
giant in the rear, and seizing the short tail of his
jumper, pulled him violently down on the deck.

" Ah, then, give it him, boys ! " cried O'Riley, push-
ing the carpenter flat down, and obliterating his black
beard and his whole visage in a mass of snow.
Several of the wilder spirits among the men leaped
on the prostrate Grim, and nearly smothered him
before he could gather himself up fo:' :\ struggle ;
then thev fled in all directions while their victim
regained his feet, and rushed wildly after them. At
last he caught O'Riley, and grasping him by the two
shoulders c^avo him a heave that was intended and
" calc'lated," as Amos Parr afterwards remarked, " to
pitch him over the foretop -sail- yard !" But an
Irishman is not easily overcome. O'Riley suddenly
straightened himself and held his arms up over his
head, and the violent heave, which, according to Parr,
was to have sent him to such an uncomfortable clava-
tion, only pulled the jumper completely off his ho'ly,
and left him free to laugh in the face of his big friend,
and run away.

At this point the captain deemed it prudent to
interfere.

" Come, come, my lads ! " he cried, " enough o' this.
That's not the morning work, is it ? I'm glad to find
that your new dresses," he added with a significant

THE WORLD OF ICE.

133

smile, " make you fond of rough work in the snow ;
there's plenty of it before us. — Come down below
with me, Meetuck ; T wish to talk with you."

As the captain descended to the cabin the men
gave a final cheer, and in ten minutes they were
working laboriously at their various duties,

Buzzby and his party were the first ready and off
to cut moss. They drew a sledge after them towards
the red-snow valley, which' was not more than two
miles distant from the ship. This " mossing," as it
was termed, was by no means a pleasant duty. Be-
fore the winter became severe, the moss could be cut
out from the beds of the snow streams with compara-
tive ease ; but now the mixed turf of willows, heaths,
grasses, and moss was frozen solid, and had to be
quarried with crowbars and carried to the ship like
so much stone. However, it was prosecuted vigor-
ously, and i« sufficient quantity was soon procured to
pack on the deck of the ship, and around its sides,
so as to keep out the cold. At the same time, the
operation of discharging the stores was carried on
briskly ; and Fred, in company with Meetuck, O'Riley,
and Joseph West, started with the dog-sledge on a
hunting-expedition.

In order to enable the reader better to understand
the condition of the Dolphin and her crew, we will
detail the several arrangements that were made at
this time and during the succeeding fortnight. As a
measure of precaution, the ship, by means of blasting,
sawing, and warping, was with great labour got into

134

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V <

deeper water, where one night's frost set ?ier fast with
a sheet of ice three inches thick round her. In a few
weeks this ice became .several feet Ih^^k ; and the snow
drifted up her hull so much that it seemed as if she
were resting on the land, and had taken final leave
of her native element. Strong hawsers were then
secured to Store Island, in order to guard against the
possibility of her being carried away by any sudden
disruption of the ice. The disposition of the masts,
yards, and sails wa.s next d'jtermined on. The top-
gallant-masts were .struck, the lower yards got down
to the housings. The top-sail-yards, gaff, and jib-
boom, however, were left in their places. The top-
sails and courses were kept bent to the yards, the
sheets being unrove and the clews tucked in. The
rest of the binding-sails were stowed on deck to pre-
vent their thawing during winter ; and the spare spars
were lashed over the ship's sides, to leave a clear
space for taking exercise in bad weather.

The stores, in order to relieve the strain on the
ship, were removed to Store Island, and snugly housed
under the tent erected there, and then a thick bank
of snow was heaped up round it. After this was
accomplished, all the boats were hauled up beside the
tent, and covered with .snow, except the two quarter-
boats, which were left hanfjinjx at the davits all winter.
When the thermometer fell below zero, it was found
that the vapours below, and the breath of the men,
condensed on the beams of the lower deck and in the
cabin near the hatchway. It was therefore resolved

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THE WORLD OF ICE.

135

to convert some sheet-iron, which they fortunately
possessed, into pipes, which, being conducted from the
cooking-stove through the length of the ship, served
in some degree to raise the temperature and ventilate
the cabins. A regular daily allowance of coal was
served out, and four steady men appointed to attend
to the fire in regular watches, for the double purpose
of seeing that none of the fuel should be wasted and
of guarding against fire. .They had likewise charge
of the fire-pumps and buckets, and two tanks of water,
all of which were kept in the hatchway in constant
readiness in case of accidents. In addition to this, a
fire-brigade was formed, with Joseph West, a steady,
quiet, active young seaman, as its captain, and their
stations in the event of fire were fixed beforehand ;
also, a hole was kept constantly open in the ice
alongside to insure at all times a sufficient supply of
water.

Strict regulations as to cleanliness and the daily
airing of the hammocks were laid down, and adhered
to throughout the winter. A regular allowance of
provisions was appointed to each man, so that they
should not run the risk of starving before the return
of the wild-fowl in spring. But those pi-ovisions
were all salt, and the captain trusted much to their
hunting-expeditions for a supply of fresh food, with-
out w^hich there would be little hope of their con-
tinuing in a condition of good health. Coffee was
served out at breakfast and cocoa at supper, besides
being occasionally supplied at other times to men who

136

THE WORLD OF ICE.

had been engaged in exhausting work in extremely cold
weather. Afterwards, when the dark season set in,
and the crew were confined by the intense cold more
than formerly within the ship, various schemes were set
afoot for passing the time profitably and agreeably.
Among others, a school was started by the captain for
instructing such of the crew as chose to attend in
reading, writing, and arithmetic, and in this hyper-
borean academy Fred Ellice acted as the writing
master, and Tom Singleton as the accountant. The
men were much amused at first at the idea of " goin'
to school," and some of them looked rather shy at it ;
but O'Riley, after some consideration, came boldly
forward and said, " Well, boys, bad luck to me if I
don't think I'll be a scholard afther all. My old
gran'mother used to tell me, whin I refused to go to
the school that was kip be an owld man as tuck
his fees out in murphies and potheen, — says she,
' Ah ! ye spalpeen, ye'll niver be cliverer nor the pig,
ye won't.' * Ah, then, I hope not,' says I, ' for sure
she's far the cliverest in the house, an' ye wouldn't
have me to be cliverer than me own gran'mother,
would ye ? ' says I. So I niver wint to school, and
more be token, I can't sign me name, and if it was
only to larn how to do that, I'll go and jine ; indeed
I will." So O'Riley joined, and before long every
man in the ship was glad to join, in order to have
something to do.

The doctor also, twice a-week, gave readings from
Shakespeare, a copy of which he had fortunately

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THE WORLD OF ICE.

137

brouj^ht with liiin. He also read extracts from the
few other books they liappened to liave on board ; and
after a time, finding unexpectedly that he had a
talent that way, he began to draw upon his memory
and his imagination, and told long stories (which
were facetiously called lectures) to the men, who
listened to them with creat delioht. Then Fred
started an illustrated newspaper once a-week, which
was named the Arctic Sw)!, and which was in great
favour during the whole course of its brief existence.
It is true, only one copy was issued each morning of
publication, because, besides supplying the greater
proportion of the material himself, and executing the
illustrations in a style that W'ould have made Mr.
Leech of the present day envious, he had to transcribe
the various contributions he received from the men
and others in a neat, legible hand. But this one
copy was perused and re-perused, as no single copy
of any paper extant — not excepting The Times or
Punch — has ever yet been perused ; and w^hen it was
returned to the editor, to be carefully placed in the
archives of the Dolphin, it was emphatically the
worse for wear. Besides all this, a theatre was set
agoing, of which we shall have more to say here-
after.

In thus minutely recounting the various expedients
which these banished men fell upon to pass the long
dark hours of an Arctic winter, we may, perhaps,
give the reader the impression that a great deal of
thought and time were bestowed upon amusement, as

138

THE WOULD OF ICE.

if that were the chief end and object of their life in
those regions. But we must remind him that though
many more pages might be filled in recounting all
the particulars, but a small portion of their time was,
after all, taken up in this way ; and it would liave
been well for tliem had they been able to find more
to amuse them than they did, for the depressing
influence of the long-continued darkness, and the
want of a sufficiency of regular employment for so
many months added to the rigorous nature of the
climate in which they dwelt, well-nigh broke their
spirits at last.

In order to secure warmth during winter, the deck
of the ship was padded with moss about a foot deep,
and down below the walls were lined with the same
material. The floors were carefully plastered with
common paste and covered with oakum a couple of
inches deep, over which a carpet of canvas was
spread. Every opening in the deck was fastened
down and covered deeply over with moss, with the
exception of one hatch, which was their only entrance,
and this was kept constantly closed except when it
was desirable to ventilate. Curtains were hung up
in front of it to prevent draughts. A canvas awning
was also spread over the deck from stem to stern, so
that it was confidently hoped the Dolphin would
prove a snug tenement even in the severest cold.

As has been said before, the snow-drift almost
buried the hull of the ship, and as snow is a good
non-conductor of lieat, this further helped to keep up

TITE WOULD OF ICE. ujg

the temperature within. / staircase of snow was
built up to tlie bulwarks on the larboard quarter, and
on tlie starboard side an inclined plane of snow was
sloped down to the ice to facilitate the launchino-
of the sledges when they had to be pulled on deck. '^
Such were the chief arrangements and preparations
that were made by our adventurers for spending the
wniter; but although we have described them at this
point in our story, many oi; them were not completed
until a much later period.

CHAPTER XL

A huntinij -expedition, in the course of which the hunters meet ivith many
interestiwj, dawjerous, pecidiar, and remarkaUc experiences, and make
acquaintance ivith seals, walruses, deer, and rabbits.

WE must now return to Fred Ellice and his
companions, Meetuck the Esquimau, O'Riley,
and Joseph West, whom we left while they were on
the point of starting on a hunting-expedition.

They took the direction of the ice-hummocks out to
sea, and, seated comfortably on a large sledge, were
dragged by the team of dogs over the ice at the rate
of ten miles an hour.

" Well ! did I iver expect to ride a carriage and
six ? " exclaimed O'Riley in a state of great glee as
the dogs dashed forward at full speed, while Meetuck
flourished his awful whip, making it crack like a
pistol-shot ever and anon.

The sledge on which they travelled was of the
very curious and simple construction peculiar to the
Esquimaux, and was built by Peter Grim under the
direction of Meetuck. It consisted of two runners of
about ten feet in length, six inches high, two inches
broad, and three feet apart. They were made of

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141

tough liickory, slightly curved in front, niul were
attached to each other by cross-bars. At the stern of
the vehicle there was a low back composed of two
uprights and a single bar across. The whole machine
was fastened together by means of tough lashings of
raw seal-hide, so that, to all appearance, it was a
rickety affair, ready to fall to pieces. In reality,
however, it was very strong. No metal nails of any
kind could have held in the keen frost — they would
have snapped like glass at the first jolt — but the seal-
skin fastenings yielded to the rude shocks and twist-
ings to which the sledge was subjected, and seldom
gave way, or if they did, were easily and speedily
renewed without the aid of any other implement than
a knife.

But the whip was the most remarkable part of
the equipage. The handle was only sixteen inches in
length, but the lash was twenty feet long, made of
the toughest seal-skin, and as thick as a man's wrist
near the handle, whence it tapered off to a fine
point. The labour of using such a formidable weapon
is so great that Esquimaux usually, when practicable,
travel in couples, one sledge behind the other. The
dogs of the last sledge follow mechanically and require
no whip, and the riders change about so as to relieve
each other. When travelling, the whip trails behind,
and can be brought wuth a tremendous crack that
makes the hair fly from the wretch that is struck ;
and Esquimaux are splendid shots, so to speak. They
can hit any part of a dog with certainty, but usually

142

THE WORLD OF ICE.

i-ost satisfiod witli simply cracking the whip — a soiiinl
that produces an answering yell of terror, whether
the lash takes efi'ect or not.

Our hunters were clothed in their Esquimau
garments, and cut the oddest imaginable figures.
They had a soft, rotund, cuddled-up appearance, that
was powerfully suggestive of comfort. The sledge
carried one day's provisions, a couple of walrus
harpoons with a sufficient quantity of rope, four
muskets with the requisite ammunition, an E,squimau
cooking -lamp, two stout spears, two tarpaulins to
spread on the snow, and four blanket sleeping-bags.
These last were six feet long, and just wide enough
for a man to crawl into at night, feet f "st.

" What a jolly style of travelling, '♦•. it ? " cried
Fred, as the dogs sprang wildly forward, tearing the
sledge behind them, Dumps and Poker leading and
looking as lively as crickets.

" Well now, isn't it true that wits jump ? — that's
jist what I was sayin' to meself," remarked O'Riley,
grinning from ear to ear as he pulled the fur-hooil
farther over his head, crossed his arms more firmly
on his breast, and tried to double himself up as he sat
there like an overgrown rat. " I wouldn't exchange
it wid the Lord Mayor o' London and his coach an'
six — so I wouldn't. — Arrah ! have a care, Meetuck,
ye baste, or ye'll have us kilt."

This last exclamation was caused by the reckless
driver dashing over a piece of rough ice that nearly
capsized the sledge. Meetuck did not answer, but he

THE WORLD OF IC'i:.

143

looked over his shoukler with a quiet smile on his
oilv countenance.

" Ah, then, ye may laugli," said Olliley with menac-
ing look, " hut av ye break a bone o' me body I'll — "

Down went the dogs into a crack in th • ice as ho
spoke, over went the sledge and hurled then all out
upon the ice.

" Musha ! but ye've done it ! "

•' Hallo, West ! are you hurt ? " cried Fred anxiously,
as he observed the sailor fall heavily on the ice.

*• Oh no, sir ; all right, thank you," replied the man,
rising alertly and limping to the sledge. " Only
knocked the skin ofl" my shin, sir."

West was a quiet, serious, polite man, an American by
birth, who was much liked by the crew in consequence
of a union of politeness and modesty with a disposition
to work far beyond his strength. He was not very
robust, however, and in powders of physical endurance
scarcely fitted to engage in an Arctic expedition.

" An' don't ye think it's worth makin' inquiries
about me ? " cried O'Kiley, who had been tossed into
a crevice in the hummock, where he lay jammed and
utterly unable to move.

Fred and the Esquimau laughed heartily while
O'Riley extricated himself from his awkward position.
Fortunately no damage was done, oiid in five minutes
they were flying over the frozen sea as madly as ever
in the direction of the point at the opposite side of
Red-Snow Valley, w^here a cloud of frost-smoke in-
dicated open water.

144

THE WORLD OF ICE.

" Now, look you, Mr. Meetuck, av ye do that again
yell better don't, let me tell ye. Sure the back o'
me's brack entirely," said O'Riley, as he re-arranged
himself with a look of comfort that belied his words.
" Och, there ye go again," he cried, as the sledge sud-
denly fell about six inches from a higher level to a
lower, where the floe had cracked, causing the teeth
of the whole party to come together with a snap. " A
man durs'n't spake for fear o' bitin' his tongue off."

" No fee," said Meetuck, looking over his shoulder
with a broader smirk.

" No fee, ye lump of pork ! it's a double fee I'll
have to pay the dacter an ye go on like that."

No fee was Meetuck's best attempt at the words no
fear. He had picked up a little English during his
brief sojourn with the sailors, and already understood
much of what was said to him ; but words were as yet
few, and his manner of pronouncing them peculiar.

" Holo ! look ! look ! " cried the Esquimau, suddenly
checking the dogs and leaping off the sledge.

" Eh ! what ! where ? " ejaculated Fred, seizing his
musket.

" I think I see something, sir," said West, shading
his eyes with his hand, and gazing earnestly in the
direction indicated by Meetuck.

" So do I, be the mortial," said O'Riley in a hoarse
whisper. " I see the mountains and the sky, I do, as
plain as the nose on me face ! "

" Hush ! stop your nonsense, man," said Fred. " I
see a deer, I'm certain of it."

I '

THE

WORLD

ICE.

145

Meetuck

nodded

violently

indicate that

Fred

was right.

" Well, w

hat's

be done ?

Luckily

we are

well

to leeward,

and

has neither

sighted

nor scented

us.

Meetuck replied by gestures and words to the effect
that West and O'Riley should remain with the dogs,
and keep them quiet under the shelter of a hummock,
while he and Fred should ^o after the reindeer. Ac-
cordingly, away they went, making a pretty long
detour in order to gain the shore, and come upon it
under the shelter of the grounded floes, behind which
they might approach without being seen. In hurrying
along the coast they observed the footprints of a
musk-ox, and also of several Arctic hares and foxes ;
which delighted them much, for hitherto they had
seen none of these animals, and were beginning to be
fearful lest they should not visit that part of the
coast at all. Of course Fred knew not what sort of
animals had made the tracks in question, but he was
an adept at guessing, and the satisfied looks of his
companion gave him reason to believe that he was
correct in his surmises.

In half-an-hour they came within range, and Fred,
after debating witli himself for some time as to the
propriety of taking the first shot, triumphed over
himself, and stepping back a pace, motioned to the
Esquimau to fire. But Meetuck was an innate gentle-
man, and modestly declined ; so Fred advanced, took
a good aim, and fired.

146

THE WORLD OF ICE.

The deer bounded away, but stumbled as it went,
showing that it was wounded.

" Ha ! ha ! Meetuck," exclaimed Fred, as he re-
charged in tremendous excitement (taking twice as
long to load in consequence), " I've improved a little,
you see, in my shoot — oh bother this — ramrod ! —
tut ! tut ! there, that's it."

Bang went Meetuck's musket at that moment, and
the deer tumbled over upon the snow.

" Well done, old fellow ! " cried Fred, springing
forward. At the same instant a white hare darted
across his path, at which he fired, without even put-
ting the gun to his shoulder, and knocked it over, to
his own intense amazement.

The three shots were the signal for the men to
come up with the sledge, which they did at full
gallop, O'Riley driving, and flourishing the long whip
about in a way that soon entangled it hopelessly with
the dogs' traces.

" Ah, then, ye've done it this time, ye have, sure
enough. Musha ! what a purty crature it is. Now,
isn't it, West ? Stop, then, won't ye (to the restive
dogs) ; ye've broke my heart entirely, and the whip's
tied up into iver so many knots. Arrah, Meetuck !
ye may drive yer coach yerself for me, you may ; I've
had more nor enouijh of it."

In a few minutes the deer and the hare were lashed
to the sledge — which the Irishman asserted was a
great improvement, inasmuch as the carcass of the
former made an excellent seat — and they were off

THE WORLD OF ICE.

147

again at full gallop over the floes. They travelled
without further interruption or mishap, until they
drew near to the open water, when suddenly they
came upon a deep fissure or crack in the ice about
four feet wide, with water in the bottom. Here they
came to a dead stop.

" Arrah ! what's to be done now ? " inquired
O'Riley.

" Indeed I don't know," replied Fred, lo^oking toward
Meetuck for advice.

" Hup, cut-up ice, mush, hurroo ! " siJd that fat
individual. Fortunately he followed his advice with
a practical illustration of its meaning. Seizing an
axe, he ran to the nearest hummock, and chopping it
down, rolled the heaviest pieces he could move into
the chasm. The others followed his example, and in
the course of an hour the place was bridged across,
and the sledge passed over. But the dogs required
a good deal of coaxing to get them to trust to this
rude bridge, which their sagacity taught them was
not to be depended on like the works of nature.

A quarter of an hour's drive brought them to a
place where there was another crack of little more
than two feet across. Meetuck stretched his neck
and took a steady look at this as they approached it
at full gallop. Being apparently satisfied with his
scrutiny, he resumed his look of self-satisfied placidity.

" Look out, Meetuck — pull up ! " cried Fred in
some alarm ; but the Esquimau paid no attention.

" O morther ! we're gone now for iver," exclaimed

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THE WORLD OF ICE.

O'Riley, shutting his eyes and clenching his teeth as
he laid fast hold of the sides of the sledge.

The feet of the dogs went faster and faster until
they pattered on the hard surface of the snow like
rain. Round came the long whip, as O'Riley said,
"like the shot of a young cannon," and the next
moment they were across, skimming over the ice on
the other side like the wind.

It happened that there had been a break in the
ice at this point on the previous night, and the floes
had been cemented by a sheet of ice only an inch
thick. Upon this, to the consternation even of
Meetuck himself, they now passed, and in a moment,
ere they were aware, they were passing over a smooth,
black surface that undulated beneath them like the
waves of the sea, and crackled fearfully. There was
nothing for it but to go on. A moment's halt would
have allowed the sledge to break through, and leave
them strugdinj? in the water. There was no time
for remark. Each man held his breath. Meetuck
sent the heavy lash with a tremendous crack over
the backs of the whole team ; but just as they neared
the solid floe the left runner broke through. In a
moment the men flung themselves horizontally upon
their breasts, and scrambled over the smooth surface
until they gained the w^hite ice, while the sledge and
the dogs nearest to it were sinking. One vigorous
pull, however, by dogs and men together, dragged the
sledge upon the solid floe, even before the things in
it had got wet.

I !

THE WORLD OF ICE.

149

" Safe ! " crie'^ Fred, as he hauled on the sledge rope
to drag it farth out of danger.

" So we are," replied O'Riley, breathing very hard ;
" and it's meself thought to have had a wet skin at
this minute. — Come, West, lind a hand to fix the dogs,
will ye ? "

A few minutes sufficed to put all to rights and
enable them to start afresh. Being now in the neigh-
bourhood of dangerous ice, they advanced with a little
more caution ; the possibility of seals being in the
neighbourliood also rendered them more circumspect.
It was well that they were on the alert, for a band
of seals were soon after descried in a pool of open
water not far ahead, and one of them was lying on
the ice.

There were no hummocks, however, in the neigh-
bourhood to enable them to approach unseen ; but the
Esquimau was prepared for such a contingency. He
had brought a small sledge, of about two fe£\; in
length by a foot and a half in breadth, which he
now unfastened from the large sledge, and proceeded
quietly to arrange it, to the surprise of his compa-
nions, who had not the least idea what he was about
to do, and watched his proceedings with much interest.

" Is it to sail on the ice ye're goin', boy ? " inquired
O'Riley at last, when he saw Meetuck fix a couple of
poles, about four feet long, into a hole in the little
sledge, like two masts, and upon these spread a piece
of canvas upwards of a yard square, with a small hole
in the centre of it.

L50

THE WORLD OF ICE.

But Meetuck answered not. He fastened the can-
vas " sail " to a cross -yard abovo and below. Then
placing a hc^rpoon and coil of rope on the sledge,
and taking up his musket, he made signs to the
party to keep under the cover of 9 hummock, and,
pushing the sledge before him, advanced towards the
seals in a stooping posture, so as to be completely
hid behind the bit of canvas.

"O the hay then ! I see it - ...v!" exclaimed O'Riley,
his face puckering up with fun. " Ah, but it's a
cliver trick, no doubt of it."

" What a capital dodge ! " said Fred, crouching be-
hind the hummock, and watching the movements of
the Esquimau with deep interest.

" West, hand me the little telescope ; you'll find it
in the pack."

"Here it is, sir," said the man, pulling ort a
glass of about six inches long, and handing it to
Fred.

*' How many is there, an ye plaze ? "

" Six, I think ; yes — one, two, three — I can't make
them out quite, but I think there are six, besides the
one on the ice. Hist ! there he sees him. Ah, Mee-
tuck, he's too quick for you."

As he spoke the seal on the ice began to show
symptoms of alarm. Meetuck had approached to
within shot, but he did not fire ; the wary Esquimau
had caught sight of another object which a lump of
ice had hitherto concealed from view. This was no
less a creature than a walrus, who chanced at that

THK WORLD OF ICE.

151

time to come up to take a gulp of fresh air and lave
his shaggy front in the brine, before going down
again to the depths of his ocean home. Meetuck,
therefore, allowed the seal to glide quietly into the
sea, and advanced towards this new object of attack.
At length he took a steady aim through the hole
in the canvas screen, and fired. Instantly the
seals dived, and at the same time the water round
the wdrus was lashed into foam and tinged with
red. It was evidently badly wounded, for had it
been only slightly hurt it would probably have
dived.

Meetuck immediately seized his harpoon, and rushed
towards the struggling monster ; while Fred grasped
a gun and O'Riley a harpoon, and ran to his assist-
ance. West remained to keep back the dogs. As
Mee^'ick gained the edge of the ice the walrus recov-
ered partially; and tried, with savage fury, to reach
his assailant, who planted the harpoon deep in its
breast, and h(;id on to the rope while the animal
dived.

" Whereabouts is he ? " cried O'Riley, as he came
panting to the scene of action.

As he spoke the walrus ascended almost under his
nose, with a loud bellow, and the Irishman started
back in terror, as he surveyed at close quarters, for
the first time, the colossal and horrible countenance
of this elephant of th^ Northern Seas. O'Riley was
no coward, but the suddenness of the apparition was
too much for him, and we need not wonder that in

if"

152

THE WORLD OF ICE.

his haste he darted the harpoon far over the animal's
head into the sea beyond. Neither need we feel sur-
prised that when Fred took aim at its forehead, the
sight of its broad muzzle fringed with a bristling
moustache, and defended by huge tusks, caused him
to miss it altogether. But O'lliley recovered, hauled
his harpoon back, and succeeded in planting it deep
under the crerture's left flipper; and Fred, reloading,
lodged a ball in its head, which finished it. With
great labour the four men, aided by the dogs, drew it
out upon the ice.

This was a great prize, for walrus-flesh is not much
inferior to beef, and would be an acceptable addition
of fresh meat for the use of the Dolphi.t's crew ; and
there was no chance of it spoiling, for the frost was
now severe enough to freeze ry animal solid almost
immediately after it was kiL a.

The body of this walrus was not less than eighteen
feet long and eleven in circumference. It was more
like an elephant in bulk and rotundity than any other
creature. It partook very much of the form of a
seal, having two large paw-like flippers, with which,
when struggling for life, it had more than once nearly
succeeded in getting upon the ice. Its upper face
had a square, bluff aspect, and its broad muzzle and
cheeks were completely covered by a coarse, quill-like
beard of bristles, which gave to it a peculiarly fero-
cious appearance. The notion that the walrus re-
sembles man is very much overrated. The square,
bluff shape of the head already referred to destroys

THE WORLD OF ICE.

153

the resemblance to humanity when distant, and its
colossal size does the same when near. Some of the
seals deserve this distinction more, their drooping
shoulders and oval faces being strikingly like to those
of man when at a distance. The white ivory tusks
of this creature were carefully measured by Fred, and
found to be thirty inches long.

The resemblance of the walrus to our domestic
land-animals has obtained for it, among sailors, the
names of the sea-horse and sea-cow; and the records
of its ferocity when attacked are numerous. Its hide
is nearly an inch thick, and is put to many useful
purposes by the Esquimaux, who live to a great extent
on the flesh of this creature. They cut up his hide
into long lines to attach to the harpoons with which
they catch himself, the said harpoons being pointed
with his own tusks. This tough hide is not the only
garment the walrus wears to protect him from the
cold. He also wears under-flannels of thick fat and
a top-coat of close hair, so that he can take a siesta
on an iceberg without the least inconvenience. Talk-
ing of siestas, by the way, the walrus is sometimes
"caught napping." Occasionally, when the weather
is intensely cold, the hole through which he crawls
upon the ic^ gets frozen over so solidly that, on wak-
ing, he finds it beyond even his enormous power to
break it. In this extremity there is no alternative
but to go to sleep again, and — die ! which he does as
comfortably as he can. The Polar bears, however,
are quick to smell him out, and assembling round his

154

THE WORLD OF ICE.

carcass for a feast, they dispose of him, body and
bones, without ceremony.

As it was impossible to drag this unwieldy animal
to the ship that night, for the days had now short-
ened very considerably, the hunters hauled it towards
the land, and having reached the secure ice, prepared
to encamp for the night under the lee of a small
iceberg.

■4

CHAPTER XII.

A danycrous sleep intimipkd -A nnjht in a sinnv-liut, and an uiipliamnt

visitor — Snoivcd up.

" "V T OW, then," cried Fred, as they drew up on a
1 \l level portion of the ice-floe, where the snow
on its surface was so hard that the runners of the
sledge scarce made an impression on it, " let us to
work, lads, and get the tarpaulins spread. We shall
have to sleep to-night under star-spangled bed-cur-
tains."

" Troth," said O'Riley, gazing round towards the
land, where the distant cliffs loomed black and heavy
in the fading light, and out upon the floes and hum-
mocks, where the frost-smoke fi-om pools of open
water on the horizon circled round the pinnacles of
the icebergs — " troth, it's a cowld place intirely to
go to wan's bed in, but that fat-faced Exqueemaw
seems to be settin' about it quite coolly; so here goes!"

" It would be difficult to set about it otherwise
than coolly with the thermometer forty-five below
zero," remarked Fred, beating his hands together,
and stamping his feet, while the breath issued from
his mouth like dense clouds of steam, and fringed the

156

THE WORLD OF ICE.

edj^es of his hood and the breast of his jumper with
hoar-frost.

" It's quite purt}*", it is," remarked 0'RiU?y, in refer-
ence to tliis wreath of lioar-frost, which covered the
upper parts of each of them ; " it's jist hke tlie ermine
that kings and queens wear, so I'm towhi, and it's
chaper a long way."

" I don't know that," said Joseph West. " It has
cost us a rough voyage and a winter in the Arctic
Regions, if it doesn't cost us more yet, to put that
ermine fringe on our jumpers. I can make nothing
of this knot ; try what you can do with it, messmate,
will you ? "

" Sorra wan o' me'll try it," cried O'Riley, suddenly
leaping up and swinging both arms violently against
his shoulders ; " I've got two hands, I have, but niver
a finger on them — leastwise I feel none, though it is
some small degrae o' comfor*- to see them."

" My toes are much in the same condition," said
West, stampin^^ vigorously until he brought back the
circulation.

" Dance, then, wid me," cried the Irishman, suiting
his action to the word. " I've a mortial fear o' bein*
bit wid the frost — for it's no joke, let me tell you.
Didn't I see a whole ship's crew wance that wos
wrecked in the Gulf o' St. Lawrence about the be-
ginnin' o' winter, and before they got to a part o' the
coast where there was a house belongin' to the fur-
traders, ivery man-jack o' them was frost-bit more or
less, they wor. Wan lost a thumb, and another the

THE WORLD OF ICE.

jint of a Hnger or two, and most o' them had two or
three toes oH", an' tliero wos wan pool* fellow who lost
the front half o' wan fut an' the heel o' the other,
an' two inches o' the bone; was stickin' out. Sure
it's truth I'm tellin' ye, for I .seed it wid me own two
eyes, I did."

The earnest tones in which the last words were
spoken convinced his conu'ades that O'Rilcy was tell-
ing the truth, so having a decided ohjection to bo
placoil in similar circumstances, they danced and beat
each other until ^hey were quite in a glow.

" Why, what are you at there, Meetuck ?" exclaimed
Fred, pausing.

" Igloe make," replied t'.ie Esquimau.

" Ig — what ? " inquired O'Riley.

" Oh, I see ! " .shouted Fred, " he's going to make a
snow-hut — igloes they call them here. Capital ! — I
never thonght of that. Come along ; let's help him !"

Meetuck was indeed about to erect one of those
curious dwellings of snow in which, for the greater
part of the year, his primitive countrymen dwell.
He had no tjiste for star-spangled bed-curtains, when
solid Avails, whiter than the purest dimity, were to be
had for nothing. His first operation in the erection
of this hut was to mark out a circle of about seven
feet diameter. From the inside of this circle the
snow was cut by means of a long knife in the form of
slabs nearly a foot thick, and from two to three feet
long, having a .slight convexity on the outside. These
slabs were then so cut and arranged that, when they

158

THE WORLD OF ICE.

wore piled upon each other round the margin of the
circle, they formed a dome-shaped structure like a
bee-hivo, which was six feet high inside, and remark-
ably solid. The slabs were cemented together with
loose snow, and every accidental chink or crevice
filled up with the same material. The natives some-
times insert a block of clear ice in the roof for a
window, but this was dispensed with on the present
occasion — first, because there was no light to let in ;
and, secondly, because if there had been, they didn't
want it.

The building of the hut occupied only an hour,
for the hunters were cold and hungry, and in their
case the old proverb might have been paraphrased,
" No luorh, no supper." A hole, just large enough
to permit a man to creep through on his hands and
knees, formed the door of this bee-hive. Attached
to this hole, and cemented to it, was a low tunnel of
about four feet in length. When finished, both ends
of the tunnel were closed up with slabs of hard snow,
which served the purpose of double doors, and effec-
tually kept out the cold.

While this tunnel was approaching completion, Fred
retired to a short distance, and sat down to rest a few
minutes on a block of ice.

A great change had come over the scene during
the time they were at work on the snow-hut. The
night had settled down, and now the whole sky was
lit up with the vivid and beautiful coruscations of
the aurora borealis — that magnificent meteor of the

THE WORLD OF ICE.

159

North which, in some measure, makes up to the in-
liabitants for the absence of the sun, It spread over
the whole extent of the sky in the form of an irreguhxr
arch, and was intensely brilliant. But the brilliancy
varied, as the green ethereal fire waved mysteriously
to and fro, or shot up long streamers toward the
zenith. These streamers, or " merry dancers," as they
are sometimes termed, were at tim.es pccuiini-ly bright.
Their colour was most frequently yellowish white,
sometimes greenish, and once or tv/ice of' a lilac tinge.
The streno'th of the light was something greater than
that of the moon in her quarter, and the stars were
dimmed when the aurora passed over them as if they
liad been covered with a delicate gauze veil.

But that which struck our hero as being most re-
markable was the magnitude and dazzling brightness
of the host of stars that covered the black firmament.
It seemed as if they were magnified in glory, and
twinkled so nmch that the skv seemed, as it were, to
tremble with light. A feeling of deep solemnity filled
Fred's heart as he gfized upwards ; and as he thought
upon the Creator of these mysterious worlds, and re-
membered that he came to this little planet of ours
to work out the miracle of our redemption, the words
that he had often read in the Bible, " Lord, W'hat is
man, that thou art mindful of him ? " came forcibly
to liis remembrance, and he felt the appropriateness
of that sentiin<'nt which the sweet sino-er of Israel has
expressed in tlie words, " Praise ye him. sun and moon ;
praise him, all ^e stars of light."

160

THE WORLD OF ICE.

There was a deep, solemn stillness all around — a
stillness widely different from that peaceful compo-
sure which characterizes a calm day in an inhabited
land. It was the death-like stillness of that most
peculiar and dreary desolation which results from
the total absence of animal existence. The silence
was so oppressive that it was with a feelino" of relief
he listened to the low, distant voices of the men as
they paused ever and anon in their busy task to note
and remark on the progress of their work. In the
intense cold of an Arctic night the sound of voices
can be heard at a much greater distance than usual,
and although the men were far off, and hummocks of
ice intervened between them and Fred, their tones
broke distinctly, though gently, on his ear. Yet these
sounds did not interrupt the unusual stillness. They
served rather to impress him more forcibly with the
vastness of that tremendous solitude in the midst of
which he stood.

Graduallv his thoujjhts turned homeward, and he
thought of the dear ones who circled round his own
fireside, and perchance talked of him — of the various
companions he had left behind, and the scenes of
life and beauty where he used to wander. But such
memories led him irresistibly to the Far North again ;
for in all home-scenes the figure of his father started
up, and he was back again in an instant, searching
toilsomely among the floes and icebergs of the Polar
Seas. It was the invariable ending of poor Fred's
meditations, and, however successful he mijjht be in

THE WORLD OF ICE.

161

entering for a time into the spirit of fun that char-
acterized most of the doings of his shipmates, and in
following the bent of his own joyous nature, in the
hours of solitude and in the dark night, when no one
saw him, his mind ever reverted to the one engrossing
subject, like the oscillating needle to the Pole.

As he continued to gaze up long and earnestl}'^
into the starry sky, his thoughts began to wander
over the past and the present at random, and a cold
shudder warned him that it was time to return to
the hut. But the wandering thoughts and fancies
seemed to chain him to the spot, so that he could not
tear himself away. Then a dreamy feeling of rest and
comfort began to steal over his senses, and he tho Jght
how pleasant it would be to lie down and slumber ; but
he knew that would be dangerous, so he determined
not to do it.

Suddenly he felt himself touched, and heard a
voice whispering in his ear. Then it sounded loud.
" Hallo, sir ! Mr. Ellice ! Wake up, sir ! d'ye hear
me ? " and he felt himself shaken so violently that
nis teeth rattled together. Opening his ej^es reluc-
tantly, he found that he was stretched at full length
on the snow, and Joseph West was shaking him by
the shoulder as if he meant to dislocate his arm.

" Ha'Jo. West ! is that you ? Let me alone, man,
I want to sleep." Fred sank down again instantly :
that i H V Aeep produced by cold, and from which
those who indulge in it never awaken, was upon
him.

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THE WORLD OF ICE.

" Sleep ! " cried West frantically ; " you'll die, sir, if
you don't roase up. — Hallo ! Meetuck ! O'Riley ! help!
here.'

" I tell you," murmured Fred faintly, " I want to
sleep — only a moment or two — ah ! I see ; is the
hut finished ? Well, well, go, leave me. I'll follow —
in_a— "

His voice died away again, just as Meetuck and
O'Riley came running up. The instant the former saw
how matters stood, he raised Fred in his powerful arms,
set him on his feet, and shook him v/ith such vigour
that it seemed as if every bone in his body must be
forced out of joint.

" What mane ye by that, ye blubber-bag ? " cried
the Irishman wrathfully, doubling his mittened fists
and advancing in a threatening manner towards the
Esquimau ; but seeing that the savage paid not the
Icaist attention to him, and kept on shaking Fred
violently with a good-humoured smile on his coun-
tenance, he wisely desisted from interfering.

In a few minutes Fred was able to stand and look
about liim with a stupid expression, and immediately
the Esquimau drags^ed and pushed and shook him
along towards the snow-hut, into which he was finally
thrust, though with some trouble, in consequence of
the iowness of the tunnel. Here, by means of rubbing
and chafinjr, with a little more buffeting, he was
restored to some degree of heat, on seeing which,
Meetuck utteied a quiet grunt and immediately set
about preparing supper.

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163

" I do believe I've been asleep," said Fred, rising
and stretching himself vigorously as the bright flame
of a tin lamp shot forth and shed a yellow lustre on
the white walls.

" Aslaap is it ! be me conscience an' ye have jist.
Oh, then, may I niver indulge in the same sort o'
slumber ! "

" Why so ? " asked Fred in some surprise.

" You fell asleep on the ice, sir," answered West,
while he busied himself in spreading the tarpaulin
and blanket-bags on the floor of the hut, "and you
were very near frozen to death."

" Frozen, musha ! I'm not too sure that he's melted
yit !" said O'Riley, taking him by the arm and looking
at him dubiously.

Fred laughed. " Oh yes ; I'm melted now ! But
let's have supper, else I shall faint for hunger. Did
I sleep many hours ? "

" You slept only five minutes," said West, in some
surprise at the question. " You were only gone about
ten minutes altogether."

This was indeed the case. The intense desire for
sleep which is produced in Arctic countries when the
frost seizes hold of the frame soon confuses the
faculties of those who come under its influence. As
long as Fred had continued to walk and work he felt
quite warm ; but the instant he sat down on the lump
of ice to rest, the frost acted on him. Being much
exhausted, too, by labour and long fasting, he was
more susceptible than he would otherwise have been

164

THE WORLD OF ICE.

to the influence of cold, so that it chilled him at once,
and produced that deadly lethargy from which, but
for the timely aid of his companions, he would never
have recovered.

The arrangements for supping and spending the
night made rapid progress, and, under the influence of
fire and animal heat — for the dogs were taken in
beside them — the igloe became comfortably warm.
Yet the snow-walls did not melt, or become moist, the
intense cold without being sufficient to counteract and
protect them from the heat within. The fair roof,
however, soon became very dingy, and the odour of
melted fat rather powerful. But Arctic travellers are
proof against such trifles.

The tarpaulin was spread over the floor, and a tin
lamp, into which several fat portions of the walrus
were put, was suspended from a stick thrust into the
wall. Round this lamp the hunters circled, each
seated on his blanket-bag, and each attended to the
duty which devolved upon him. Meetuck held a tin
kettle ever the flame till the snow with which it was
filled melted and became cold water, and then gradu-
ally heated until it boiled ; and all the while he em-
ployed himself in masticating a lump of raw walrus-
flesh, much to the amusement of Fred, and to the
disgust, real or pretended, of O'Riley. But the Irish-
man, and Fred too, and every man on board the
Dolphin, came at last to relish raw meat, and to long
for it ! The Esquimaux prefer it raw in these parts
of the world (although some travellers assert that in

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165

more southern latitudes they prefer cooked meat) ;
and with good reason, for it is much more nourishing
than cooked flesh, and learned, scientific men who
have wintered in the Arctic Regions have distinctly
stated that in those cold countries they found raw
meat to be better for them than cooked meat, and
they assure us that they at last came to prefer it !
We would not have our readers to begin forthwith
to dispense with the art of cookery, and cast Soyer to
the dogs ; but we would have them henceforth refuse
to accept that common opinion and vulgar error that
Esquimaux eat their food raw because they are savages.
They do it because nature teaches them that, under
the circumstances, it is best.

The duty that devolved upon O'Riley was to roast
small steaks of the walrus, in which operation he
was assisted by West ; while Fred undertook to get
out the biscuit-bag and pewter plates, and to infuse
the coffee when the water should boil. It was a
strange feast in a strange place, but it proved to be a
delightful one, for hunger requires not to be tempted,
and is not fastidious.

"Oh, but it's good, isn't it?" remarked O'Riley,
smacking his lips, as he swallowed a savoury morsel
of the walrus and tossed the remnant, a sinewy bit, to
Dumps, who sat gazing sulkily at the flame of the
lamp, having gorged himself long before the bipeds
began supper.

" Arrah ! ye won't take it, won't ye ? — Here,
Poker 1 "

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;

Poker sprang forward, wagging the stump of his
tail, and turned his head to one side, as if to say,
" Well, what's up ? Any fun going ? "

" Here, take that, old boy ; Dumps is sulky."

Poker took it at once, and a single snap caused it
to vanish. He, too, had finished supper, and evidently
ate the morsel to please the Irishman.

" Hand me the coffee, Meetuck," said Fred. — " The
biscuit lies beside you. West ; don't give in so soon,

man.

>»

" Thank you, sir ; I have about done."

" Meetuck, ye hay then, try a bit o' the roast ; do
now, av it was only to plaze me."

Meetuck shook his head quietly, and, cutting &> fif-
teenth lump off the mass of raw walrus that lay beside
him, proceeded leisurely to devour it.

"The dog3 is nothin' to him," muttered O'Riley.
" Isn't it a curious thing, now, to think that we're
all at sea a-eatin', and drinkin', and slaapin' — or goin'
to slaap — jist as if we wor on the land, and the great
ocean away down below us there, wid whales, and
seals, and walruses, and mermaids, for what I know,
a-swimmin' about jist under whare we sit, and maybe
lookin' through the ice at us this very minute. Isn't
it quare ? "

" It is odd," said Fred, laughing, " and not a very
pleasant idea. However, as there is at least twelve
feet of solid ice between us and the company you
mention, we don't need to care much."

" Ov coorse not," replied O'Riley, nodding his head

THE WORLD OF ICE.

167

approvingly as he lighted his pipe ; " that's my mind
intirely — in all cases o' danger, when ye don't need to
be afeard, you needn't much care. It's a good chart
to steer by, that same."

This last remark seemed to afford so much food for
thought to the company that nothing further was said
by any one until Fred rose and proposed to turn in.
West had already crawled into his blanket-bag, and
was stretched out like a mummy on the floor, and the
sound of Meetuck's jaws still continued as he winked
sleepily over the walrus-meat, when a scraping was
heard outside the hut.

" Sure, it's the foxes ; I'll go and look," whispered
O'Riley, laying down his pipe and creeping to the
mouth of the tunnel.

He came back, however, faster than he went, with
a look of consternation, for the first object that con-
fronted him on looking out was the enormous head
of a Polar bear. To glance round for their fire-arms
was the first impulse, but these had unfortunately been
left on the sledge outside. What was to be done ?
They had nothing but their clasp-knives in the
igloe. In this extremity Meetuck cut a large hole
in the back of the hut, intending to creep out and
procure one of the muskets ; but the instant the open-
ing was made the bear's head filled it up. With a
savage yell O'Riley seized the lamp and dashed the
flaming fat in the creature's face. It w^as a reckless
deed, for it left them all in the dark ; but the bear
seemed to think himself insulted, for he instantly re-

168

THE WORLD OF ICE.

treated, and when Meetuck emerged and laid hold of a
gun ho had disappeared.

They found, on issuing into the open air, that a
stiff breeze was blowing, which, from the threatening
appearance of the sky, promised to become a gale ;
but as there was no apprehension to be entertained
in regard to the stability of the floe, they returned
to the hut, taking care to carry in their arms along
with them. Having patched up the hole, closed the
doors, rekindled the lamp, and crept into their re-
spective bags, they went to sleep ; for, however much
they might drt .d the return of Bruin, sleep was a
necessity of nature that would not be denied.

Meanwhile tho gale freshened into a hurricane,
and was accompanied with heavy snow, and when
they attempted to move next morning, they found
it impossible to face it for a single moment. There
was no alternative, therefore, but to await the ter-
mination of the gale, which lasted two days, and kept
them close prisoners all the time. It was very weari-
some, doubtless, but they had to submit, and sought
to console themselves and pass the time as pleasantly
as possible by sleeping, and eating, and drinking cofi'ee.

CHAPTER XIII.

Journey rrtumcd — The hunters meet with beam nni' have a great fitjht, in
which the doi/s are sufferers — A bears dinner- Mode in xehich Arctic
rocks travel— The ice-belt.

ON the abating of the great storm referred to in
the last chapter, the hunters sojght to free
themselves from their snowy prison, and succeeded in
burrowing, so to speak, upwards after severe labour,
for the hut was buried in drift which the violence of
the gale had rendered extremely compact.

O'Riley was the first to emerge into the upper
world. Having dusted the snow from his garments,
and shaken himself like a Newfoundland dog, he made
sundry wry faces, and gazed round him with the look
of a man that did not know very well what to do with
himself.

" It's a quare place, it is, intirely," he remarked,
with a shake of the head that betokened intense saga-
city, while he seated himself on a mound of snow and
"watched his comrades as they busied themselves in
dragging their sleeping-bags and cooking utensils from
the cavern they had just quitted. O'Riley seemed to
be in a contemplative mood, for he did not venture

170

THE WORLD OF ICE.

any furthur remark, although ho looked unutterable
things as he proceeded quietly to fill his little black pipe.

" Ho ! O'Riley, lend a hand, you lazy fellow," cried
Fred ; " work first and play afterwards, you skulker."

" Sure that same is what I'm doin'," replied O'Riley
with a bland smile, which he eclipsed in a cloud of
smoke. " Haven't I bin workin' like a naagur for two
hours to git out of that hole, and ain't I playin' a tune
on me pipe now ? But I won't be cross-grained. Ill
lind ye a hand av ye behave yerself. It's a bad thing
to bo cross-grained," he continued, pocketing his pipe
and assisting to arrange the sledge ; " me owld grand-
mother always towld me that, and she wos wise, she
wos, beyand ordn'r. More like Salomon nor anything
else."

" She must have directed that remark specially to
you, I think," said Fred — "(Let Dumps lead. West,
he's tougher than the others) — did she not, O'Riley?"

" Be no manes. It wos to the pig she said it. Most
of her conversation (and she had a power of it) wos
wid the pig ; and many's the word o' good advice she
gave it, as it sat in its usual place beside the fire fore-
nint her. But it wos all thrown away, it wos, for
there wosn't another pig in all the length o' Ireland as
had sich a will o' its own ; and it had a screech, too,
when it wosn't plaazed, as bate all the steam whistles
in the world, it did. I've often moralated on that
same, and I've noticed that, as it is wid pigs, so it is
wid men and women — some of them at laste — the
more advice ye give them, the less they take."

^Sk

THE WORLD OF ICE.

171

" Down, Poker ! quiet, good dog ! " .said West, ns he
endeavoured to restrain the ardour of the team, wliich,
being fresh and full fed, could scarcely be held in by
the united eHbrts of himself and Aleetuck, while their
companions laslu'd their provisions, etc., on the sledge.

" Hold on, lads ! " ci'ied Fred, as ho fastened the last
hushing. " We'll \)C ready in a second. Now, then,
jump on, two of you ! Catch hold of the tail-line,
Meetuck ! All right ! "

" Hall right ! " yelled the Es(|uimau, a.« he let go the
dogs and sprang upon the sledge.

The team struggled and strained violently for a few
seconds in their efforts to overcome the vis inerticv of
the sledge, and it seemed as if the traces would part ;
but they were made of tough walrus-hide, and held
on bravely, while the heavy vehicle gradually fetched
way, and at length flew over the floes at the rate of
seven or eight miles an hour. Travelling, however,
was not now quite so agreeable as it had been when
they set out from the .ship ; for the floes were swept
bare in some places by the gale, while in other places
large drifts had collected, so that the sledge was either
swaying to and fro on the smooth ice, and swinging
the dogs almost ofl* their feet, or it was plunging
heavilv through banks of soft snow.

As the wind was .still blowing fresh, and would
have been dead against them had they attempted to
return by a direct route to the ship, they made for
the shore, intending to avail themselves of the shelter .
aflorded by the ice-belt. Meanwhile the carcass of

172

THE WORLD OF ICE.

the walrus — at least as much of it as could not be
packed on the sledge — was buried in the hut, and a
spear planted above it to mark the spot.

" Ha ! an' it's cowld," said O'Riley, wrapping him-
self more closely in his fur juniper as they sped along.
" I wish we wos out o' the wind, I do."

" You'll have your wish soon, then," answered West,
" for that row of icebergs we're coming to will shelter
us nearly all the way to the land."
'• " Surely you are taking us too much off to the
right, Meetuck," said Fred ; " we are getting farther
away from the ship."

" No fee, De win' too 'trong. We turn hup 'long
shore very quick, soon — ha ! "

Meetuck accompanied each word with a violent nod
of his head, at the same time opening and shutting his
mouth and winking with both eyes, being apparently
impressed with the conviction that such contortions of
visage rendered his meaning more apparent.

" Look ! look ! ho ! Nannook, nannook ! " (a bear, a
bear !) whispered the Esquimau with sudden anima-
tion, just as they gained the lee of the first iceberg.

The words were unnecessary, however, for the whole
party were looking ahead with the most intense eager-
ness at a bear which their sudden advent had aroused
from a nap in the crevice of the iceborg. A little cub
was discerned a moment after standing by her side,
and gazing at the intruders with infantine astonish-
ment. While the muskets were being loosened ana
drawn out, Meetuck let .slip all the dogs, and in a few

anipmavvrii

THE WORLD OF ICE.

173

seconds they were engaged in active warfare with the
enemy.

"Oh ! musha ! Dumps is gone intirely ! " The quad-
ruped referred to was tossed to a height of about
thirty feet, and alighted senseless upon the ice. The
bear seized him with her teeth and tossed him with
an incredibly slight effort. The other dogs, nothinf
daunted by the fate of their comrade, attacked the
couple in the rear, biting their heels, and so distract-
ing their attention that they could not make an ener-
getic attack in any direction. Another of the dogs,
however, a young one, waxing reckless, ventured too
near the old bear, and was seized by the back, and
hurled high into the air, through which it wriggled
violently, and descended with a sounding whack upon
the ice. At the same moment a volley from the
hunters sent several balls into the carcass of both
mother and cub ; but, although badly wounded, neither
of them evinced any sign of pain or exhaustion as they
continued to battle with the remaining dogs.

The dogs that had already fallen in the fray had
not been used to bear-hunting ; hence their signal
defeat. But this was not the case with the others, all
of which were old campaigners ; and Poker especially,
although not old in years, was a practical fighter, hav-
ing been trained not to attack but to harass. The
systematic and steady way in which they advanced
before the bear, and retired, right and left, leading her
into a profitless pursuit, was very interesting to wit-
ness. Another volley from the hunters caused them

ill

174

THE WORLD OF ICE.

■i

to make off more rapidly, and wounded the cub
severely, so much so that in a few minutes it began
to flag. Seeing this, the mother placed it in front of
her, and urged it forward with her snout so quickly
that it was with the utmost difficulty the men could
keep up with them. A well-directed shot, however,
from Fred Ellice brought the old bear to the ground ;
but she rose instantly, and again advanced, pushing
her cub before her, while the dogs continued to em-
barrass her. They now began to fear that, in spite of
dogs and men, the wounded bears would escape, when
an opportune crack in the ice presented itself, into
which they both tumbled, followed by the yelping,
and we may add limping, dogs. Before they could
scramble up on the other side, Meetuck and Fmd,
being light of foot, gained upon them sufficiently to
make sure shots.

" There they go," cried Fred, as the she-bear bounced
out of the crack with Poker hanging to her heels.
Poker's audacity had at last outstripped his sagacit}",
and the next moment he was performing a tremendous
somersault. Before he reached the ice, Meetuck and
Fred fired simultaneousl}^ and when the smoke cleared
away the old bear was stretched out in death. Hitherto
the cub had acted exclusively on the defensive, and
intrusted itself entirely to the protection of its dam ;
but now it seemed to change its character entirely. It
sprang upon its mother's body, and, assuming an attitude
of extreme ferocity, kept the dogs at bay, snapping
and snarling right and left until the hunters came up.

THE WORLD OF ICE.

175

For the first time since tlie chase began a feeling
of intense pity touched Fred's heart, and he would
have rejoiced at that moment had the mother risen
up and made her escape with her cub. He steeled
his heart, however, by reflecting that fresh provisions
were much wanted on board the Dolph in ; still, neither
he nor his shipmates could bring themselves to shoot
the gallant little animal, and it is possible that they
might have made up their minds to allow it to escape
after all, had not Meetuck quietly ended their difficulty
by putting a ball through its heart.

" Ah ! then, Meetuck," said O'Riley, shaking his
head as they examined their prize, " ye'ie a hard-
hearted spalpeen, ye are, to kill a poor little baby like
that in cowld blood. Well, well, it's yer natur', an'
yer trade, so I s'pose it's all right."

The weight of this bear, which was not of the
largest size, was afterwards found to be above five
hundred pounds, and her length was eight feet nine
inches. The cub weighed upwards of a hundred
pounds, and was larger than a Newfoundland dog.

The operation of cutting out the entrails, prepara-
tory to packing on the sledge, was now commenced by
Meetuck, whose practised hand applied the knife with
the skill, though not with the delicacy, of a surgeon.

" She has been a hungry bear, it seems," remarked
Fred, as he watched the progress of the work, " if wo
may judge from the emptiness of her stomach."

" Och ! but she's had a choice morsel, if it was a
small ^;mj' exclaimed O'Riley in surprise, as he picked

ill

1;!

176

THE WORLD OF ICE.

up a plug of tobacco. On further examination being
made, it was found that this bear had dined on raisins,
tobacco, pork, and adhesive plaster ! Such an extraor-
dinary mixture of articles, of course, led the party to
conclude that either she had helped herself to the stores
of the Dolphin placed on Store Island, or that she had
fallen in with those of some other vessel. This sub-
ject afforded foo^l for thought and conversation during
the next hour or two, as t^ey drove towards the ship
along the ice-belt of the shi 1 3.

The ice-belt referred to a zone of ice which ex-
tends along the .shore from the unknown regions of
the North. To the south it breaks up in summer and
disappears altogether, birt in the latitude which our
travellers had now reached, it was a permanent feature
of the scenery all the year round, f ^' wing the curva-
tures and indentations of bays and nvers, and increas-
ing in winter or diminishing in summer, but never
melting entirely away. The surface of this ice-belt
was covered with immense masses of rock many tons
in weight, which had fallen from the cliffs above,
Pointing to one of these as they drove along, West
remarked to Fred,—

" There is a mystery explained, sir. I have often
wondered how huge, .solitary stones, that no machinery
of man's making could lift, have come to be placed on
sandy shores where there were no other rocks of any
kind within many miles of them. The ice must have
done it, I see."

"True, West. The ine, if it covld sT)eak, would ex-

THE WORLD OF ICE.

177

plain many things that now seem to us mysterious ;
and yonder goes a big rock on a journey that may
pe^^aps terminate at a thousand miles to the south of
this."

The rock referred to was a large m.ass that became
detached from the cliffs and fell, as he spoke, with a
tremendous crash upon the ice-belt, along which it
rolled for fifty yards. There it would lie all winter,
and in spring the mass of ice to which it was attached
would probably break off and float away with it to
the south, gradually melting until it allowed the rock
to sink to the bottom of the sea, or depositing it, per-
chance, on some distant shore, where such rocks are
not wont to lie — there to remain an object of specu-
lation and wonderment to the unlearned of all future
ages.

Some of the bergs close to which they passed on
the journey were very fantastically formed, and many
of them were more than a mile long, with clear, blue,
glassy surfaces, indicating that they had been but
recently thrown off from the great glacier of the
North. Between two of these they drove for some
time, before they found that they were going into a
sort of blind alley.

" Sure the road'^ gittin' narrower," observed O'Riley,
as he glanced up at the blue walls, which rose perpen-
dicularly to a height of sixty feet on either hand.
" Have a care, Meetuck, or ye'll jam us up, ye will."

" 'Tis a pity we left the ice-belt," remarked Fred,
" for this rough work among the bergs is bad for man

' t

4 !

178

THE WORLD )F ICE.

and dog. How say you, Meetuck — shall we take to it
again when we get through this place ? "

" Faix, then, we'll niver git through," said O'Riley,
pointing to the end of the chasm, where a third ice-
berg had entirely closed the opening.

The Esquimau pulled up, and after advancing on
foot a short way to examine, returned with a rueful
expression on his countenance.

•' Ha I no passage, I suppose ? " said Fred.

" Bad luck to ye !" cried O'Riley, " won't ye spaak?"

" No rod — muss go bock," replied Meetuck, turn-
ing the dogs in the direction whence they had come,
and resuming his place on the sledge.

The party had to retrace their steps half-a-mile in
consequence of this unfortunate interruption, and re-
turn to the level track of the ice-belt, which they had
left for a time and taken to the sea-ice, in order to
avoid the sinuosities of th-> land. To add to their
misfortunes, the dogs began to flag, so that they were
obliged to walk behind the sledge at a slow pace, and
snow began to fall heavily. But they pressed for-
ward manfully, and having regained the shore-ice,
continued to make their way northward towards the
ship, which was now spoken of by the endearing
name of home.

■

CHAPTER XIV.

Departure of the aun— Effects of darkness on do(js--Wuiter arrangements m
the interior of the *^ Dof phi n."

IT is sa-u to part with an old Triend, especially if he
be one of the oldest and best friends we ever
had. When the day of departure arrives, it is of no
avail that he tells us kindly he will come back again.
That assurance is indeed a comfort after he is gone,
and a sweet star of hope that shines brighter and
brighter each day until he comes back ; but it is poor
consolation to us at the time of parting, when we are
squeezing his hand for the last time, and trying to
crush back the drops that w/ll overflow.

The crew of the Dolphin had, in the course of that
winter, to part with one of their best friends ; one
whom they regarded with the most devoted attach-
ment ; one who was not expected to return agnin
till the following spring, and one, therefore, wiioin
some of them might, perhaps, never see again.

Mivins became quite low-spirited about it, and said
"as 'ow 'e'd 'ave a 'envy 'eart for Aever and hever,
/iamen," after he was gone. O'Riley remarked, in
reference to his departure, that every man in the ship

180

THE WORLD OF ICE.

1 1

was about to lose a son ! Yes, indeed he did ; he
perpetrated that atrocious pun, and wasn't a bit
ashamed of it. O'Riley had perpetrated many a
worse pun than that before ; it's to be hoped for the
credit of his country he has perpetrated a few better
ones since !

Yes, the period at length arrived when the great
source of light and heat was about to withdraw his
face from these Arctic navigators for a long, long time,
and leave them in unvarying night. It was a good
while, however, before he went away altogether, and
for many weeks after winter set in in all its intensity,
he paid them a daily visit which grew gradually
shorter and shorter, until that sad evening in which
he finally bade them farewell.

About the middle of October the dark months over-
spread the Bay of Mercy, and the reign of perpetual
night begun. There was something terribly depress-
ing at first in this uninterrupted gloom, and for some
time after the sun ceased to show his disk above the
horizon the men of the Dolpldn used to come on deck
at noon, and look out for the faint streak of light
that indicated the presence of the life-giving lumin-
ary with all the earnestness and longing of Eastern
fire- worshippers.

The dogs, too, became sensibly affected by the con-
thiued absence of light, and seemed to draw more
sympathetically than ever to their human companions
in banishment. A curious and touching instance of
this feeling was exhibited when the pack were sent

THE WORLD OF ICE.

181

to sleep on Store Island. A warm kennol had been
erected for them there, partly in order that the ship
might be kept more thoroughly clean, and partly that
the dogs might act as a guard over the stores, in case
bears or wolves should take a fancy to examine them.
But nothing would induce the poor arimals to keep
away from the ship nnd nmiain hcyond th«' soiind of
human voices, Tlu'V deserted their comfortable abode
with one consent the first time they were sent to it,
preferring to spend the night by the side of the ship
upon the bare snow. Coaxing them was of no use.
O'Riley tried it in vain.

" Ah I then," said he to Dumps with a wheedling
air and expression of intense affection that would have
taken by storm the heart of any civilized dog, " luon't
ye come now an' lay in yer own kennel ? Sure it's
a beautiful wan, an' as warm as the heart of an ice-
berg. Doo come now, avic, an' I'll .show ye the way."

But Dumps's heart was marble ; he wouldn't budge.
By means of a piece of walrus, however, he was at
length induced to go with the Irishman to the kennel,
and was followed by the entire pack. Here O'Riley
endeavoured to make them comfortable, and prevailed
on them to lie down and go to .sleep ; but wh»!nover
he attempted to leave them, they were up and at his
heels in a moment.

" Och ! but ye're too fond o' me intirely. Doo He
down agin, and I'll sing ye a ditty I "

True to his word, O'Riley sat down by the dog-
kennel, and gave vent to a howl which his "owld

182

THE WORLD OF ICE.

grandmother," he said, " used to sing to the pig ; " and
whether it was the effects of this lullaby, or of the
cold, it is impossible to say, but O'Riley at length suc-
ceeded in slipping away and regaining the ship, unob-
served by his canine friends. Half-an-hour later he
went on deck to take a mouthful of fresh air before
supper, and on looking over the side he saw the whole
pack of dogs lying in a circle close to the ship, with
Dumps comfortably asleep in the middle, and using
Poker's back for a pillow.

" Faix, but ye must be fond of the cowld to lie there
all night when ye've got a palace on Store Island."

" Fond of society, rather," observed Captain Guy,
who came on deck at the moment ; " the poor creatures
cannot bear to be left alone. It is a strange quality
in dogs which I have often observed before."

" Have ye, cap ting ? Sure I thought it was all
owin' to the bad nianners o' that baste Dumps, which
is for iver leadin' the other dogs into mischief."

" Supper's ready, sir," said Mivins, coming up the
hatchway, and touching his cap.

" Look here, Mivins," said O'Riley, as the captain
went below, " can you point out the mornin' star to
me, lad ? ''

" The morning star ? " said Mivins slowly, as he
Ifcrust his hands into the breast of his jumper, and
gSBssed upwards into the dark sky, where the starry
host blazed in Arctic majesty. " No, hoi course, I
can't. Why, don't you know that there /lain't no
morning star when it's night all round ? "

THE WORLD OF ICE.

183

" Faix ye're right. I niver thought o' that."

Mivins was evidently a little piiHed up witli a feel-
ing of satisfaction at the clever way in whicli he had
got out of the difficulty, without displaying his igno-
rance of astronomy, and was even venturing, in the
pride of his heart, to make some speculative and
startling assertion in regard to the " 'eavenly bodies "
generally, when Buzzl v ] it his head up the hatch-
way.

" Hallo ! messmates, wot's ado now ? Here's the
supper awaitin', and the tea bilin' like blazes ! "

Mivins instantly dived down below, as the sailors
express it ; and we may remark, in passing, that the
expression, in this particular case, was not inappro-
priate, for Mivins, as we have elsewhere said, was re-
markably agile and supple, and gave beholders a sort
of impression that he went head-foremost at every-
tliing. O'Riley followed at a more reasonable rate,
and in a few minutes the crew of the Dolphin were
seated at supper in the cabin, eating with as much
zest, and laughing and chatting as blithely, as if they
w^ere floating calmly on their ocean home in temperate
climes. Sailors are proverbially light-hearted, and in
their moments of comfort and social enjoyment they
easily forget their troubles. The depression of spirits
that followed the first disappearance of the sun soon
wore oflf, and they went about their various avocations
cheerfully by the light of the aurora borealis and the
stars.

The cabin, in which they now all lived together.

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WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580

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184

THE WORLD OF ICE.

had undergone considerable alterations. After the re-
turn of Fred Ellice and the hunting-party, whom we
left on the ice-belt in the last chapter, the bulk-head,
or partition, which separated the cabin from the hold
had been taken down, and the whole was thrown into
one large apartment, in order to secure a freer circu-
lation of air and warmth. All round the walls inside
of this apartment moss was piled to the depth of
twelve inches to exclude the cold, and this object was
further gained by the spreading of a layer of moss on
the deck above. The cabin hatchway was closed, and
the only entrance was at the farther end, through the
hold, by means of a small doorway in the bulk-head,
to which was attached a sort of porch, with a curtain
of deer-skins hung in front of it. In the centre of
the floor stood an iron cooking-stove, which served at
once the purpose of preparing food and warming the
cabin, which was lighted by several small oil lamps.
These were kept burning perpetually, for there was
no distinction between day and night in mid-winter,
either in the cabin or out of doors.

In this snug-looking place the officers and men of
the ship messed, and dwelt, and slept together ; but,
notwithstanding the apparent snugness, it was with
the greatest difficulty they could keep themselves in
a sufficient degree of warmth to maintain health and
comfort. Whenever the fire was allowed to get low,
the beams overhead became coated with hoar-frost;
and even when the temperature was raised to the
utmost possible pitch, it was cold enough, at the ex»

THE WORLD OF ICE.

185

treme ends of the apartment, to freeze a jug of water
solid.

A large table occupied the upper end of the cabin
between the stove and the stern, and round this the
officers and crew were seated when O'Riley entered
and took his place among them. Each individual had
his appointed place at the mess-table, and with un-
varying regularity these places were filled at the
appointed hours.

" The dogs seem to be disobedient," remarked Amos
Parr, as his comrade sat down ; " they'd be the better
of a taste o' Meetuck's cat, I think."

" It's truth ye're sayin'," replied O'Riley, commenc-
ing a violent assault on a walrus-steak ; " they don't
obey orders at all, at all. An' Dumps, the Haggard,
is as cross-grained as me grandmother's owld pig — "

A general laugh here interrupted the speaker, for
O'Riley could seldom institute a disparaging compari-
son without making emphatic allusion to the pig that
once shared with him the hospitalities of his grand-
mother's cabin.

" Why, everything you speak of seems to be like
that wonderful pig, messmate," said Peter Grim.

" Ye're wrong there intirely," retorted O'Riley. " I
niver seed nothing like it in all me thravels except
yerself, and that only in regard to its muzzle, which
was black and all kivered over with bristles, it wos.
I'll throuble you for another steak, messmate ; that
walrus is great livin'. — We owe ye thanks for killin'
it, Mister Ellice."

186

THE WORLD OF ICE.

" You're fishing for compliments, but I'm afraid I
have none to give you. Your first harpoon, you
know, was a little wide of the mark, if I recollect
right, wasn't it ? "

" Yis, it wos — about as wide as the first bullet. I
mis-remember exactly who fired it — wos it you, Mee-
tuck ? "

Meetuck, being deeply engaged with a junk of fat
meat at that moment, expressed all he had to say in a
convulsive gasp without interrupting his supper.

" Try a >)it of the bear," said Fred to Tom Single-
ton ; " it's better than the walrus to my taste."

" I'd rather not," answered Tom, with a dubious
shake of the head.

" It's a most unconscionable thing to eat a beast o'
that sort," remarked Saunders gravely.

" Especially one who has been in the habit of living
on raisins and sticking-plaster," said Bolton with a
grin.

" I have been thinking about that," said Captain
Guy, who had been for some time listening in silence
to the conversation, " and I cannot help thinking that
Esquimaux must have found a wreck somewhere in
this neighbourhood and carried away her stores, which
Bruin had managed to steal from them."

" May they not have got some of the stores of the
brig we saw nipped some months ago ? " suggested
Singleton.

'* PossiWy they may."

*' I dinna think that's likely," said Saunders, shaking

THE WORLD OF ICE.

187

his head. " Yon brig had been deserted long ago,
and her stores must have been consumed, if they
were taken out of her at all, before we thought o'
comin' here."

For some time the party in the cabin ate in silence.

" We must wait patiently," resumed the captain, as
if he were tired of following up a fruitless train of
thought. " What of your theatricals, Fred ? we must
get them set a-going as soon as possible."

The captain spoke animatedly, for he felt that, with
the prospect of a long dark winter before them, it was
of the greatest importance that the spirits of the men
should be kept up.

" I find it difficult to beat up recruits," answered
Fred, laughing ; " Peter Grim has flatly refused to act,
and O'Riley says he could no more learn a part off by
heart than — "

" His grandmother's pig could," interrupted David
Mizzle, who, having concluded supper, now felt himself
free to indulge in conversation.

" Och ! ye spalpeen," whispered the Irishman.

" I have written out the half of a play which I hope
to produce in a few days on the boards of our Arctic
theatre with a talented company, but I must have one
or two more men — one to act the part of a lady.
Will you take that part, Buzzby ? "

" Wot ! me ? " cried the individual referred to with
a stare of amazement.

" Oh yes ! do, Buzzby," cried several of the men
with great delight. " You're just cut out for it."

188

THE WORLD OF ICE.

" Blue eyes," said one.

" Fair hair," cried another.

" And plump," said a third.

" Wid cheeks like the hide of a wah'us," cried
O'Riley ; " but, sure, it won't show wid a veil on."

" Come, now, you won't refuse."

But Buzzby did refuse , not, however, so deter-
minedly but that he was induced at last to allow
his name to be entered in Fred's note-book as a
supernumerary.

" Hark ! " cried the captain ; *' surely the dogs must
have smelt a bear."

There was instantly a dead silence in the cabin,
and a long, loud wail from the dogs was heard out-
side.

" It's not like their usual cry when game is near,"
said the second mate.

" Hand me my rifle, Mivins," said the captain,
springing up and pulling forward the hood of his
jumper, as he hurried on deck followed by the crew.

It was a bright, still, frosty night, and the air felt
intensely sharp, as if needles were pricking the skin,
while the men's breath issued from their lips in white
clouds and settled in hoar-frost on the edges of their
hoods. The dogs were seen galloping about the ice-
hummocks as if in agitation, darting off to a consider-
able distance at times, and returning with low whines
to the ship.

" It is very strange," remarked the captain. " Jump
down on the ice, boys, and search for footprints. Ex-

< ! (.

THE WORLD OF ICE.

189

tend as far as Store Island, and see that all is right
there."

In a few seconds the men scattered themselves right
and left, and were lost in the gloom, while the vessel
was left in charge of Mivins and four men. A strict
search was made in all directions, but no traces of
animals could be found ; the stores on the island were
found undisturbed ; and gradually the dogs ceased
their agitated gyrations, and seemed inclined to resume
their slumbers on the ice.

Seeing this, and supposing that they were merely
restless. Captain Guy recalled his men, and not long
after every man in the cabin of the Dolphin was
buried in profound slumber.

CHAPTER XV.

Strangers appear on the scene— The Esquimaux are hospitabli/ entertained
by the sailors— A spirited traffic— Thieviiif/ propensities and summary
justice.

DUMPS sat on the top of a hummock, about
quarter of a mile from the ship, with an
expression of subdued melancholy on his countenance,
and thinking, evidently, about nothing at all. Poker
sat in front of him gazing earnestly and solemnly
right into his eyes with a look that said, as plain
as if he had spoken, " What a tremendously stupid
old fellow you are, to be sure ! " Having sat thus
for full five minutes. Dumps wagged his tail. Poker,
observing the action, returned the compliment with
his stamp. Then Poker sprang up and barked
savagely, as much as to say, " Play, won t you ? "
but Dumps wouldn't ; so Poker endeavoured to relieve
his mind by gambolling violently round him.

We would not have drawn your attention, reader,
to the antics oi' our canine friends, were it not for the
fact that these antics attracted the notice of a person-
age who merits particular description. This was no
other than one of the Esquimau inhabitants of the

THE WORLD OF ICE.

191

land — a woman, and such a woman ! Most people
would have pronounced her a man, for she wore pre-
cisely the same dress — fur jumper and long boots —
that was worn by the men of the Dolphin. Her lips
were thick and her nose was blunt ; she wore her hair
turned up, and twisted into a knot on the top of her
head ; her hood was thrown back, and inside of this
hood there was a baby — a small and a very fat baby!
It was, so to speak, a conglomerate of dumplings.
Its cheeks were two dumplings, and its arms were
four dumplings — one above each elbow and one below.
Its hands, also, were two smaller dumplings, with ten
extremely little dumplings at the end of them. This
baby had a nose, of course, but it was so small that it
might as well have had none ; and it had a mouth,
too, but that was so capacious that the half of it
would have been more than enough for a baby double
the size. As for Hs eyes they were large and black
— black as two coals — and devoid of all expression
save that of astonishment.

Such were the pair that stood on the edge of the
ice-belt gazing down upon Dumps and Poker. And
no sooner did Dumps and Poker catch sight of them
than they sprang hastily towards them, wagging their
tails — or, more correctly speaking, their tail and a
quarter. But on a nearer approach those sagacious
animals discovered that the woman and her child were
strangers, whereupon they set up a dismal howl, and
fled towards the ship as fast as they could run.

Now, it so happened that, at this very time, the

192

THE WORLD OF ICE.

howl of the dogs fell upon the ears of two separate
parties of travellers — the one was a band of Esqui-
maux who were moving about in search of seals and
walruses, to which band this woman and her baby
belonged ; the other was a party of men under com-
mand of Buzzby, who were returning to the ship after
an unsuccessful hunt. Neither party saw the other,
for one approached from the east, the other from the
west, and the ice-belt, on the point of which the
woman stood, rose up between them.

" Hallo I what's yon ? " exclaimed Peter Grim, who
was first to observe the woman.

"Dun'no','' said Buzzby, halting; "it looks like a bear."

" Faix an' it is, then, it's got a young wan on its
back," cried O'Riley.

" We had better advance and find out," remarked
West, as he led the way, while several of the men
threw up their arms in token of their friendly inten-
tions. O'Riley capered somewhat extravagantly as he
drew near, partly with the intention of expressing his
feelings of good-will towards the unknown, and partly
in order to relieve the excitement caused by the un-
expected apparition.

These demonstrations, however, had the eflfect of
terrifying the woman, who wheeled suddenly round
and made off.

" Och ! it ^8 a man. Hooray, boys ! give chase."

" Men don't usually carry babies on their backs and
tie their hair up into top-knots," remarked Grim, as he
darted past in pursuit.

THE WORLD OF IC"E.

103

A few seconds sufficed to enable Grim to overtake
the woman, who fell on her knees the instant she felt
the sailor's heavy hand on her shoulder.

" Don't be afcard, we won't hurt y«>/' said Buzzby
in a soothing tone, patting the woman on the head
and raising her up.

" No, avic, we's yer frinds ; well not harm a hair
o' yer beautiful head, we won't Ah! then, it's a
swate child, it is, bless its fat fiaee/ said O'Riley,
stroking the baby's head tenderly with his big
hand.

It was with difficulty that the p(Xj»r creature's fears
were calmed at first, but the genuine tenderness dis-
played by the men towards the baby, and the perfect
complacency with which that conglomerate of dump-
lings received their caresses, soon relieved her mind,
and she began to regard her captors with much
curiosity, while they endeavoured by signs and words
to converse with her. Unfortuna-telv Meetuck was
not with the party, he having been left on board ship
to assist in a general cleaning of the cabin that had
been instituted that day.

" Sure, now, ye don't know how to talk with a girl
at all, ye don't ; let me try," cried O'Riley, after several
of the party had made numerous int-ffectnal attempts
to convey their meaning. " Listen to wxi^, darlint, and
don't mind them stupid grampuses. \nDere have ye
comed from, now ? tell me, dear, doo now,"

O'Riley accompanied the question with a smile of

ineffable sweetness and a great deal of energetic panto-

194

THE WORLD OF ICE.

mime, which, doubtless, explained much of his meaning
to himself, but certainly to no one else.

" Ah ! then, ye don't onderstand me ? Well, well,
now, isn't that strange ? Look you, avic, have ye
seen a brig or a brig's crew anywhere betune this and
the north pole ? — tr^^, now, an' reniimber." He illus-
trated this question by holding up both arms straight
above his head to represent the masts of a brig, and
sticking his right leg straight out in front of him, to
represent the bowsprit ; but the woman gazed at him
with an air of obtuse gravity that might have damped
the hopes even of an Irishman. O'Riley prided him-
self, however, on not being easily beat, and despite his
repeated failures, and the laughter of his messmates,
was proceeding to make a third effort, when a loud
shout from the cliffs caused the whole party to start
and turn their eyes in that direction. The cry had
been uttered by a figure whose costume bore so close
a resemblance to that which they themselves wore,
that they thought for a moment it was one of their
own shipmates; but a second glance proved that
they were mistaken, for the individual in question
carried a spear, which he brandished with exceedingly
fierce and warlike intentions.

" Faix it must be her husband," said O'Riley.

" Hallo ! lads, there's more on 'em," cried Grim, as
ten or twelve Esquimaux emerged from the rents and
caverns of the ice-belt, and scrambling to the top of
surrounding hummocks and eminences, gazed towards
the party of white men, while they threw about their

THE WOULD OF ICE.

arms and legs, and accompaniod their uncouth and
violent gesticulations with loud, excited cries. " I've
a notion," he added, " that it was the scont o' them
chaps set the dogs off after yon strange fashion t'other
night."

It was evident that the Esquimaux were not only
filled with unbounded astonishment at this unexpected
meeting with strangers, but were also greatly alarmed
to see one of their own women in their power.

" Let's send the woman over to them," suggested
one of the men.

" No, no ; keep her as a hostage," said another.

" Look out, lads," cried Buzzby, hastily examining
the priming of his musket, as additional numbers of
the wild inhabitants of the North appeared on the
scene, and crowned the ice-belt and the hummocks
around them. " Let's show a bold front. Draw up
in single line and hold on to the woman. West, put
her in front."

The men instantly drew up in battle array, and
threw forward their muskets ; but as there were only
a dozen of them, they presented a very insignificant
group compared with the crowds of Esquimaux who
appeared on the ice in front of them.

" Now, then, stand fast, men, and I'll show ye wot's
the way to manage them chaps. Keep yer weather-
eyes open, and don't let them git in rear of ye."

So saying, Buzzby took the woman by the arm and
led her out a few yards in front of his party, while
the Esquimaux drew closer together, to prepare either

196

THE WORLD OF ICE.

to receive or make an attack, as the case might be.
He then hiid his nuisket down on the ice, and, still
holding the woman l>y the arm, advanced boldly to-
wards the natives unarmed. On approaching to within
about twenty yards of them he halted, and raised both
arms above his Ih^ad as a sign of friendship. The
signal was instantly understood, and one big fellow
leaped boldly from his elevated position on a lump of
ice, threw down his spear, tind ran to meet the stranger.

In a few minutes Biizzby and the Esquimau leader
came to a mutual understandincf as to the friendly
disposition of their respective parties, and the woman
was delivered up to this big fellow, who turned out
to be her husband after all, as O'lliloy had correctly
guessed. The other Esquimaux, seeing the amicable
terms on which the leaders met, crowded in and
surrounded them.

" Leave the half o' ye to guard the arms, and come
on the rest of ye without 'em," shouted Buzzby.

The men obeyed, and in a few minutes the two
parties mingled together with the utmost confidence.
The sailors, however, deemed it prudent to get posses-
sion of their arms again as soon as possible ; and after
explaining as well iis they could by signs that their
home was only at a short distance, the whole band
started ott' for the ship. The natives were in a most
uproarious state of hilarity, and danced and yelled as
they ambled along in their haiiy dresses, evidently
filled with delight at the prospect of forming a friend-
ship with the white strangers, as ihey afterwards

THE WORLD OF ICE.

197

termed the crew of the Dolphin, ftlthouj^li some of the
siiitl crew were, from exposure, only a f»'vr .shades
liixhter than themselves.

Captain Guy was busily engaged with Fred Kllico
and Tom Singleton in measuring and registering the
state of the tide, when this riotous baml turned the
pi>int of the iee-belt to the northward, and came
suddenly into view\

" Jump down below, Fred, and fetch my rifle and
sword ; there are the natives ! " cried the captain, seizing
his telescope. — "Call all hands, Mivins, and let them
anu ; look alive ! "

" All 'ands, ahoy ! " shouted the steward, looking
down the hatchway ; " tumble up there, tumble up,
ere come the Heskimows. Bring your harms with
ye. Look alive ! "

" Ay, ay I " shouted the men from K'low, antl in a
few minutes they crowded up the hatchway, pulling
up their hoods and haiding on their mittens, for it
was intensely cold.

•* Why, captain, there are some of our men with
them," exclaimed Tom Singleton, as he lcH)ke«l through
his pocket-glass at them.

"So there are, — I see Buzzby and (Irim. Come,
that's fortunate, for thev must have matle friends
with them, which it is not alwavs ea-v to cio. Hide
your muskets, men, but keep on your cutlasses ; it's
as well to be prepared, though I don't expect to find
those people troublesome. Is the soup in the coppers,
David Mizzle I "

■■

198

THE WORLD OF ICE.

" Yes, sir, it is."

"Then put in an extra junk of pork, and fill it up
to the brim."

While the cook went below to obey this order, the
captain and half of the crew descended to the iee,
and advanced unarmed to meet the natives. The
remainder of the men stayed behind to guard the
ship, and be ready to afford succour if need be. But
the precaution was unnecessary, for the Esquimaux
met the sailors in the most frank and confiding
manner, and seemed quite to understand Captain Guy
when he drew a line round the ship, and stationed
sentries along it to prevent them from crossing. The
natives had their dogs and sledges with them, and the
former they picketed to the ice, while a few of their
number, and the woman, whose name was Aninga, were
taken on board and hospitably entertained.

It was exceedingly interesting and amusing to ob-
serve the feelings of amazement and delight expressed
by those barbarous but good-humoured and intelligent
people at everything they saw. While food was pre-
paring for them, they were taken round the ship, on
deck and below, and the sailors explained, in panto-
mime, the uses of everything. They laughed, and
exclaimed, and shouted, and even roared with delight,
and touched everything with their fingers, just as
monkeys are wont to do when let loose. Captain
G iy took Aninga and her tall husband, Awatok, to
i\e cabin, where, through the medium of Meetuck, he
explained the object of their expedition, and ques-

THE WORLD OF ICE.

199

tioned the chief as to his knowledge of the country.
Unfortunately Awatok and his band had travelled
from the interior to the coast, and never having been
more than twenty or thirty miles to the north of the
Bay of Mercy, could give no information either in
regard to the formation of the coast or the possibility
of Europeans having wintered there. In fact, neither
he nor his countrymen had ever seen Europeans before,
and they were so much excited that it was difficult to
obtain coherent answers to questions. The captain,
therefore, postponed further inquiries until they had
become somewhat accustomed to the novelty of their
position.

Meanwhile, David Mizzle furnished them with a
large supply of pea-soup, which they seemed to relish
amazingly. Not so, however, the salt pork with
which it had been made. They did, indeed, con-
descend to eat it, but they infinitely preferred a
portion of raw walrus-flesh, which had been reserved
as food for the dogs, and which they would speedily
have consumed had it not been removed out of their
reach. Having finished this, they were ordered to
return to their camp on the ice beside the ship, and a
vigorous barter was speedily begun.

First of all, however, a number of presents were
made to them, and it would really have done your
heart good, reader, to have witnessed the extravagant
joy displayed by them on receiving such trifles as bits
of hoop-iron, beaus, knives, scissors, needles, etc. Iron
is as precious among them as gold is among civilized

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THE WORLD OF ICE.

people. The small quantities they possessed of it had
been obtained from the few portions of wrecks that
had drifted ashore in their ice-bound land. They
used it for pointing th?ir spear-heads and harpoons,
which, in default of iron, were ingeniously made of
ivory from the tusks of the walrus and the horn of
the narwal. A bit of iron, therefore, was received
with immense glee, and a penny looking-glass with
shouts of delight.

But the present which drew forth the most up-
roarious applause was a Union Jack, which the captain
gave to their chief, Awatok. He was in the cabin
when it was presented to him. On seeing its gaudy
colours unrolled, and being told that it was a gift to
himself and his wife, he caught his breath, and stared,
as if in doubt, alternately at the flag and the captain ;
then he gave vent to a tremendous shout, seized the
flag, hugged it in his arms, and darted up on deck
literally roaring with delight. The sympathetic
hearts of the natives on the ice echoed the cry be-
fore they knew the cause of it ; but when they beheld
the prize, they yelled, and screamed, and danced, and
tossed their arms in the air in the most violent manner.

"They're all mad, ivery mother's son o' them,"
exclaimed O'Riley, who for some time had been
endeavouring to barter an old rusty knife for a pair
cf seal-skin boots.

" They looks like it," said Grim, who stood looking
on with his legs apart and his arms crossed, and
grinning from ear to ear.

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201

To add to the confusion, the dogs became affected
with the spirit of excitement that filled their masters,
and gave vent to their feelings in loud and continuous
howling which nothing could check. The imitative
propensity of these singular people was brought rather
oddly into play during the progr'^-'s of traffic. Buzzby
had produced a large roll of . ibacco — which they
knew the use of, having been already shown how to
use a pipe — and cut off portions of it, which he gave
in exchange for fox-skins, and deer-skins, and seal-skin
boots. Observing this, a very sly, old Esquimau
began to slice up a deer-skin into little pieces, which
he intended to offer for the small pieces of tobacco I
He was checked, however, before doing much harm
to the skin, and the principles of exchange were more
perfectly explained to him.

The skins and boots, besides walrus and seal flesh,
which the crew were enabled to barter at this time,
were of the utmost importance, for their fresh provi-
sions had begun to get low, and their boots were almost
worn out, so that the scene of barter was exceedingly
animated. Davie Summers and his master, Mivins,
shone conspicuous as bargain makers, and carried to
their respective bunks a large assortment of native
articles. Fred, and Tom Singleton, too, were extremely
successful, and in a few hours a sufficient amount of
skins were bartered to provide them with clothing for
the winter. The quantity of fresh meat obtained,
however, was not enough to last them a week, for the
Esquimaux lived from hand to mouth, and the crew

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THE WORLD OF ICE.

felt that they must depend on their own exertions in
the hunt for this indispensable article of food, without
which they could not hope to escape the assaults of
the sailors' dread enemy, scurvy.

Meetuck's duties were not light upon this occasion,
as you may suppose.

" Arrah ! then, don't ye onderstand me ? " cried
O'Riley, in an excited tone, to a particularly obtuse
and remarkably fat Esquimau, who was about as
sharp at a bargain as himself. — " Hallo ! Meetuck,
come here, do, and tell this pork-faced spalpeen what
I'm sayin'. Sure I couldn't spake plainer av I wos
to try."

" I'll never get this fellow to understand," said
Fred. — ** Meetuck, my boy, come here and explain to
him."

" Ho ! Meetuck," shouted Peter Grim, " give this
old blockhead a taste o' your lingo. I never met his
match for stupidity."

" I do belie'"^o that this rascal wants the 'ole of
this ball o' twine for the tusk of a sea-'oss. — Meetuck !
w'ere's Meetuck ? I say, give us a 'and 'ere, like a
good fellow," cried Mivins ; but Mivins cried in vain,
for at that moment Saunders had violently collared
the interpreter and dragged him towards an old
Esquimau woman, whose knowledge of Scotch had
not proved sufficient to enable her to understand the
energetically -expressed words of the second mate.

Durinff all this time the stars had been twinkling
brightly in the sky, and the aurora shed a clear light

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203

upon the scene, while the air was still calm and cold i
but a cloud or two now began to darken the horizon
to the north-east, and a puff of wind blew occasionally
over the icy plain, and struck with such chilling
influence on the frames of the traffickers, that with
one consent they closed their business for that doy,
and the Esquimaux prepared to return to their snow
village, which was about ten miles to the southward,
and which village had been erected by them only
three days previous to their discovery of the ship.

" I'm sorry to find," remarked the captain to those
who were standing near him, " tliat these poor crea-
tures have stolen a few trifling articles from below.
I don't like to break the harmonious feeling which
now exists between us for the sake of a few worthless
things, but I know that it does more harm than good
to pass over an offence with the natives of these
regions, for they attribute our forbearance to fear."

" Perhaps you had better tax them with the theft,"
suggested the surgeon ; " they may confess ic, if we
don't look very angry."

A few more remarks were made by several of those
who stood on the quarter-deck, suggesting a treatment
of the Esquimaux which was not of the gentlest
nature, for they felt indignant that their hospitality
had been abused.

" No, no," replied the captain to such suggestions,
"we must exercise forbearance. These poor fellows
do not regard theft in the same light that we do ;
besides, it would be foolish to risk losing their

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THE WORLD OF ICE.

friendship. Go down, Mcctuck, and invite Awatok
and his wife, and half-a-dozen of the cliief men,
into the cabin. Say I wish to have a talk with
them."

The interpreter obeyed, and "in a few minutes tho
officers of the ship and the chiefs of the Esquimaux
were assembled in solemn conclave round the cabin
table.

" Tell them, Meetuck," said the captain, " that I
know they have stolen two pieces of hoop-iron and a
tin kettle, and ask them why they were so ungrateful
as to do it."

The Esquimaux, who were becoming rather alarmed
at the stern looks of those around them, protested
earnestly that they knew nothing about it, and that
they had not taken the things referred to.

"Say that I do not believe them," answered the
captain sternly. " It is an exceedingly wicked thing
to steal and to tell lies. White men think those who
are guilty of such conduct to be very bad."

" Ah, ye villain ! " cried Saunders, seizing one of the
Esquimaux named Oosuck by the shoulder, and draw-
ing forth an iron spoon which he observed projecting
from the end of his boot.

An exclamation of surprise and displeasure burst
from the officers, but the Esquimaux gave vent to a
loud laugh. They evidently thought stealing to be
no sin, and were not the least ashamed of being
detected. Awatok, however, was an exception. He
looked grave and annoyed, but whether this was at

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205

being found out, or at the ingratitude of his people,
they could not decide.

" Tell them," said the captain, " that I am much
displeased. If they promise to return the stolen goods
immediately, I will pass over their offence this time,
and we will trade together, and live like brothers, and
do each other good ; but if not, and if any more
articles are taken, I will punish them."

Having had this translated to them, the chiefs were
dismissed, but the expression of indifference on some
of their faces proved that no impression had been
made upon them.

In a quarter of an hour the articles that had been
mentioned as missing were returned ; and in order to
restore harmony, several plugs of tobacco and a few
additional trinkets were returned by the messenger.
Soon after, the dogs were harnessed, the sledges
packed, and, with many protestations of good-will on
both sides, the parties separated. A few cracks of
their long whips, a few answering howls from the
dogs, and the Esquimaux were off and out of sight,
leaving the Dolphin in her former solitude under the
shadow of the frowning cliffs.

" Fetch me the telescope, Mivins," said the captain. ^
calling down the hatchway.

" Ay, ay, sir," answered the steward.

" Where's my hatchet ? " cried Peter Grim, striding
about the deck and looking into every corner in search
of his missing implement. " It's my best one, and I
can't get on without it, nohow."

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THE WORLD OF ICE.

The captain bit his lip, for he knew full well the
cause of its absence.

" Please, sir," said the steward, coming on deck
with a very perturbed expression of countenance,
" the— the— a—"

" Speak out, man ! what's the matter with
you ? "

" The glass ain't nowhere to be seen, sir."

" Turn up all hands ! " shouted the captain, jumping
down the hatchway. "Arm the men, Mr. Bolton,
and order the largest sledge to be got ready instantly.
This will never do. Harness the whole team."

Instantly the Dolphin's deck was a scene of bustling
activity. Muskets were loaded, jumpers and mittens
put on, dogs caught and harnessed, and every prepara-
tion made for a sudden chase.

" There, that will do," cried the captain, hurrying on
deck with a brace of pistols and a cutlass in his belt,
" six men are enough ; let twelve of the remainder
follow on foot. Jump on the sledge, Grim and Buzzby ;
O'Riley, you go too. Have a care, Fred ; not too near
the front. Now, Meetuck — "

One crack of the long whip terminated the sentence
as if with a full stop, and in another moment the
.sledge was bounding over the snow like a feather at
the tails of twelve dogs.

It was a long chase, for it was a " stern " one, but
the Esquimaux never dreamed of pursuit, and as their
dogs were not too well fed they had progressed rather
slowly. In less than two hours they were distin-

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207

guished on the horizon far off to the southward,
winding their way among the hammocks.

" Now, Meetuck," said the captain, " drive like the
wind, and lay me alongside of Awatok's sledge ; — and
be ready, men, to act."

" Ay, ay, sir," was the prompt reply, as the heavy
whip fell on the flanks of the ]ea<<k-rs.

A few minutes brought them up with Awatok's
sledge, and Captain Guy, leaping: upon it with a
clasp-knife in his hand, cut the traces in a twinkling,
set the dogs free, and turning round, seized the
Esquimau by the collar. The bi:^ chief at first
showed a disposition to resent this unceremonious
treatment, but before he could move Grim seized his
elbows in his iron grasp, and tied them adroitly to-
gether behind his back with a cord. At the same
time poor Aninga and her baby were swiftly trans-
ferred to the sailors' sledge.

Seeing this, the whole band of natives turned back
and rushed in a body to the rescue, flourishing their
lances and yelling fiercely.

" Form line ! " shouted the captain, handing Awatok
and Aninga over to the care of O'Riley. " Three of
you on the right fire over their heads, and let the
rest reserve their fire. I will kill one of their dogs,
for it won't do to let them fancv that nothing but
noise comes out of our muskets. Ready — present ! "

A rattling volley followed, and at the same moment
one of the dogs fell with a death-yell on the ice, and
dyed it with its blo^-'.

206

THE WORLD OF ICE.

" Forward ! " shouted the captain.

The men advanced in a body at a smart run ; but
the terrified Esquimaux, who had never heard the
report of fire-arms before, did not wait for them.
They turned and fled precipitately ; but not before
Grim captured Oosuck, and dragged him forcibly to
the rear, where he was pinioned and placed on the
sledge with the others.

" Now, then, lads, that will do ; get upon the sledge
again. Away with you, Meetuck. — Look after Awatok,
Grim ; O'Riley will see that Aninga does not jump
off."

" That he will, darlint," said the Irishman, patting
the woman on the back.

" And I shall look after the baby," said Fred,
chucking that series of dumplings under the chin — an
act of familiarity that seemed to afford it immense
satisfaction, for, notwithstanding the melancholy posi-
tion of its father and mother as prisoners, it smiled
on Fred benignly.

In five minutes the party were far on their way
back to the ship, and in less than five hours after
the Esquimaux had closed their barter and left for
their village, four of their number, including the baby,
were close prisoners in the Dolphin's hold. It was not
Captain Guy's intention, however, to use unneces-
sarily harsh means for the recovery of the missing
articles. His object v\^as to impress the Esquimaux
with a salutary sense of the power, promptitude, and
courage of Europeans, and to check at the outset their

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209

propensity for thie\ \ng;. Having succeeded in making
two of their chief men prisoners, he felt assured that
the lost telescope and hatchet would soon make their
appearance ; and in this he was not mistaken. Going
to the hold where the prisoners sat with downcast
looks, he addressed to them a lengthened speech as to
the sin and meanness of stealing in general, and of
stealing from those who had been kind to them in
particular. He explained to them the utter hopeless-
ness of their attempting to deceive or impose upon
the white men in any way whatever, and assured
them that if they tried that sort of thing again he
would punish them severely ; but that if they behaved
well, and brought plenty of walrus-flesh to the ship,
he would give them hoop-iron, beads, looking-gla,sses,
etc. These remarks seemed to make a considerable
impression on his uncouth hearers.

" And now," said the captain in conclusion, " I shall
keep Awatok and his wife and child prisoners here,
until my telescope and hatchet are returned [Awatok's
visage fel., and his wife looked stolid], and I shall
send Oosuck to his tribe [Oosuck's face lit up amaz-
ingly] to tell them what I have said."

In accordance with this resolve Oosuck was set
free, and, making use of his opportunity, with prompt
alacrity he sped away on foot over the ice to the
southward, and was quickly lost to view.

CHAPTER XVI.

The Arctic Theatre enlarged upon — Great success of the first play— The
Esquimaux submit, ai\d become fast friends.

1"^HE 1st of December was a great day on board
the Dolphin, for on that day it was announced
to the crew that " The Arctic Theatre " would be
opened, under the able management of Mr. F. Ellice,
with the play of " Blunderbore ; or, the Arctic Giant."
The bill, of which two copies were issued gratis to the
crew, announced that the celebrated Peter Grim, Esq.,
who had so long trodden the boards of the Dolphin,
with unparalleled success, had kindly consented to
appear in the character of Blunderbore for one winter
only. The other parts were as follows : — WhacJcinta,
a beautiful Esquimau widow, who had been captured
by two Polar bears, both of which were deeply in
love with her, by Frederick Ellice, Esq. First Bear,
a big one, by Terrence O'Riley, Esq. Second Bear, a
little one, by David Summers, Esq. Ben Bolt, a brave
British seaman, who had been wrecked in Blunder-
bore's desolate dominions, all the crew having per-
ished except himself, by John Buzzby, Esq. These
constituted the various characters of the piece, the
name of which had been kept a profound secret from

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211

the crew until the morning of the day on which it
was acted.

Fred's duties, as manager and author, upon this
occasion were by no means Hght, for his troop, being
unaccustomed to study, found the utmost difficulty in
committing the simplest sentences to memory. O'Riley
turned out to be the sharpest among them, but having
agreed to impersonate the First Bear, and having to
act his part in dumb show — bears not being supposed
capable of speech — his powers of memory had not to
be exerted. Grim was also pretty goo<l ; but Davie
Summers could not be got to remember even the
general arrangements of the piece ; and as for Buzzby,
he no sooner mastered a line than he forgot the one
before it, and almost gave it up in despair. But by dint
of much study and many rehearsals in secret, under
the superintendence of Fred, and Tom Singleton, who
undertook to assist, they succeeded at la<;t in going
through it with only a few mistakes.

On the morning of the 1st Deceml^jr, while the
most of the crew were away at Red-Snow Valley
cutting moss, Fred collected his corps dramatiqve
for a last rehearsal in the forecastle, where they were
secure from interruption, the place being so cold that
no one would willingly go into it except under the
force of necessity. A dim lantern lit up the apart-
ment faintly.

" We must do it without a mistake this time," said
Fred Ellice, opening his book, and calling upon Grim
to begin.

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THE WORLD OF ICE.

" 'Tis cold," began Grim.

" Stop, you're wrong."

" Oh ! so I am," cried Grim, slapping his t^igh,
" I'll begin again."

It may be remarked here, that although Blunder-
bore was supposed to be an Esquimau monarch, he
was compelled to speak English, being unfortunately
ignorant — if we may so speak — of his native tongue \

" Oh ! 'tis a dismal thing," began Grim again, " to
dwell in solitude and cold ! 'Tis very cold [Grim
shuddered here tremendously], and — and — (what's
next ?) "

" Hunger," said Fred.

" Hunger gnaws my vitals. My name is Blunder-
bore. 'Twere better had I been born a Blunderbuss,
'cause then I'd have gone off and dwelt in climes more
shootable to my tender constitoosion. Ha ! is that a
bear I sees before me ? "

" It's not sees" interrupted Fred.

At this moment a tremendous roar was heard, and
O'Riley bounded from behind a top-sail, which repre-
sented an iceberg, dressed from head to foot in the
skin of a white bear which had been killed a few
days before.

" Stop, O'Riley," cried Fred ; " you're too soon, man.
1 have to come on first as an Esquimau woman, and
when Grim says to the woman he wishes he could
see a bear, then you are to come."

" Och ! whirra, but me brains is confuged intirely
wid it all," said O'Riley, rising on his hind legs, and

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213

walking off with his tail, literally as well as figura-
tively, between hip legs.

" Now, Buzzby, now ; it's your time. When you
hear the word ' misery,' come on and fight like a
Trojan with the bears. The doctor will remind you."

Fred was remarkably patient and painstaking, and
his pupils, though not apt scholars, were willing, so
that the morning rehearsal was gone through with
fewer mistakes than might have been expected ; and
when the crew came back to dinner about mid-day,
which, however, was as dark as midnight, their parts
were sufficiently well got up, and nothing remained
to be done but to arrange the stage and scenery for
the evening's entertainment — it having been resolved
that the performance should commence after supper.
The stage was at the after part of the cabin, and
raised about a foot above the deck ; and its manage-
ment had been intrusted to the doctor, who, assisted
by Peter Grim, transformed that portion of the ship
into a scene so romantically beautiful that the first
sight of it petrified the crew with surprise. But
until the curtain should rise all arrangements were
carefully concealed from every one except the dramatis
personce. Even the captain and officers were for-
bidden to peep behind the sail that formed a curtain
to the stage ; and this secrecy, besides being necessary,
was extremely useful, inasmuch as it excited the
curiosity of the men, and afforded them food for con-
verse and speculation for a week before the great day
arrived.

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THE WORLD OF ICE.

The longed-for hour came at last. The cabin tables
having been removed, and rows of seats placed in
front of the stage, the men weve admitted from the
deck, to which they had been expelled an hour previous
in order not to impede preliminary arrangements.
There was great joking, of course as they took their
seats and criticised the fittings up. David Mizzle
was of opinion that the foot-lights " wos oncommon
grand," which was an unquestionable fact, for they
consisted of six tin lamps filled with seal-oil, from the
wicks of which rose a compound of yellow flame and
smoke that had a singularly luminous effect. Amos
Parr guessed that the curtain would be certain sure
to get jammed at the first haul, and several of the
others were convinced that O'Riley would stick his
part in one way or another. However, an end was
put to all remarks and expectation raised on tip-toe
by the ringing of a small hand-bell, and immediately
thereafter a violent pulling at the curtain which con-
cealed the stage. But the curtain remained immov-
able (they always do on such occasions), and a loud
whispering was heard behind the scenes.

" Clap on extra tackle and call all hands to hoist
away," suggested one of the audience.

The laugh with which this advice wa.s received was
checked in the bud by the sudden rising of the curtain
with such violence that the whole framework of the
theatre shook again.

For a few seconds a dead silence reigned, for the
men were stricken dumb with genuine amazement at

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215

the scene before them. The stage was covered with
white sheets arranged in such a manner as to repre-
sent snow, and the more effectually to carry out the
idea several huge blocks of real ice and a few patches
of snow were introduced here and there, the cold in
the after part of the cabin being too great to permit
of their melting. A top-gallant-sail, on which were
painted several blue cracks, and some strong white
lights did duty for an iceberg, and filled up the whole
back of the scene. In front of this, in the centre of
the stage, on an extemporized hummock, sat Peter
Grim, as the Giant Blunderbore. His colossal pro-
portions were enhanced by the addition of an entire
white bear-skin to his ordinary hairy dress, and which
was thrown round his broad shoulders in the form of
a tippet. A broad scarlet sash was tied round his
waist, and a crown of brown paper painted in alternate
diamonds of blue, red, and yellow sat upon his brow.
Grim was in truth a magnificent-looking fellow, with
his black beard and moustache ; and the mock-heroic
frown with which he gazed up (as one of the audience
suggested) at the aurora borealis, while he grasped an
enormous club in his right hand, became him well.

The first few seconds of dead silence with which
this was received were succeeded by a long and loud
burst of applause, the heartiness of which plainly
showed that the scene far exceeded the expectations
of the men.

" Bravo ! " cried the captain, " excellent ! nothing
could be better."

216

THE WORLD OF ICE.

Il'it!

" It beats natur', quite," said one.

" All to sticks," cried another.

" And wot a <>'ec-mendous giant iz makes. Three
cheers for Peter Grim, lads ! "

Three cheers were promptly given with right good-
will, but the giant did not move a muscle. He was
far too deeply impressed with the importance of play-
ing his part well to acknowledge the compliment.
Having gazed long enough to enable the men to get
rid of their first flow of enthusiasm, Blunderbore rose
majestically, and coming forward to the foot-lights,
looked straight over the heads of the men, and
addressed himself to the opposite bulk-head.

" Oh ! 'tis a dismal thing," he began, and continued
to spout his part with flashing eyes and considerable
energy, unt'l he came to the word Blunderbuss, when,
either from a mistaken notion as to when it was his
time to go on, or nervous forgetfulness of the plan of
the piece, the Little Bear sprang over the edge of the
iceberg and alighted on the middle of the stage.

" Oh ! bad luck to yees intirely," said the Big Bear
from behind the scenes in r^ angry whisper, which
was distinctly heard by the audience, " ye've gone and
spoiled it all, ye have. Come off, will ye, and take
yer turn at the right time, won't ye ? "

In the midst of the shout of delight caused by this
mistake, O'Riley, forgetting that he was a bear, rushed
on the stage on his hind legs, seized the L:^tle Bear
hy the fore leg, and dragged him off at the other side
amid loud applause. Blunderbore, with admirable

THE WORLD OF ICE.

217

self-possession, resumed his part the instant there was
a calm, and carried it successfully to a close.

Just as he ended, Fred waddled on, in the guise of
an Esquimau woman ; and so well was he got up that
the crew looked round to see if Aninga (who, with
her husband, had been allowed to witness the play)
was in her place. Fred had intentionally taken
Aninga as his model, and had been very successfid in
imitating the top-knot of hair. The baby, too, was
hit off to perfection, having been made by Mivins,
who proved himself a genius in such matters. Its
head was a ball of rags covered with brown leather,
and two white bone buttons with black spots in the
centre did duty for its eyes.

The first thing Whackinta did on coming forv/ard
was to deposit the baoy on the snow with its head
downwards by mistake, whereat it began to scream
vociferously. This scream was accomplished by Davie
Summers creeping below the stage and putting his
mouth to a hole in the flooring close to which the
baby's head lay. Davie's falsetto was uncommonly
like to a child's voice, and the effect was quite start-
ling. Of course Whackinta tried to soothe it, and
failing in this she whipped it, which caused it to yell
with tenfold violence. Thereafter losing all patience,
she covered its face and stuffed its mouth with a
quantity of snow, and laying it down on its back,
placed a large block of ice on its head. This, as
might b*^ expected, had the desired effect, and the
baby was silenced — not, however, until Whackinta

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THE WORLD OF ICE.

I 1:

had twice called down the hole in a hoarse whisper
" That'll do, Davie ; stop, man, stop ! " Then, sitting
down on the hummock which Blunder^oore had just
left — and from behind which he was now eagerly
watching her — she began to weep.

Having given full vent to her feelings in a series
of convulsive sobs, Whackinta addressed a lengthened
harangue, in a melancholy tone of voice, to the
audience, the gist of which was that she was an un-
fortunate widow ; that two bears had fallen in love
with her, and stolen her away from her happy home
in Nova Zembla ; and, although they allowed her to
walk about as much as she chose, they watched her
closely and prevented her escaping to her own country.
Worst of all, they had told her that she must agree
to become the wife of one or other of them, and if
she did not make up her mind and give them an
answer that very day, she was to be killed and eaten
by both of them. In order the more strongly to
impress the audience with her forlorn condition,
Whackinta sang a tender and touching ditty, com-
posed by herself expressly for the occasion, and sang
it so well that it was encored twice.

To all this Blunderbore listened with apparent rap-
ture, and at length ventured to advance and discover
himself ; but the instant Whackinta saw him she fell
on her knees and trembled violently.

" Spare me, good king," she said ; " do not slay me.
I am a poor widow, and have been brought here by
two bears against my will."

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219

" Woman," said the giant, " my name is Blunder-
bore. I am, as you perceive by my crown, a king ;
and I am a lonely man. If I kill the two bears you
speak of, will you marry me ? "

" Oh, do not ask me, good Blunderbore ! I cannot ;
it is impossible. I cannot love you — you arc —
forgive me for saying it — too big, and fierce, and ugly
to love."

Blunderbore frowned angrily, and the audience ap-
plauded vociferously at this.

" You cannot love me ! ha ! " exclaimed the giant,
glaring round with clenched teeth.

At this moment the Big Bear uttered an awful
roar, Whackinta gave a piercing scream and fled, and
Blunderbore hid himself hastily behind the hummock.
The next moment the two bears bounded on the stage
and began to gambol round it, tossing up their hind
legs and roaring and leaping in a manner that drew
forth repeated plaudits. At length the Little Bear
discovered the baby, and, uttering a frantic roar of
delight, took it in its fore paws and held it up. The
Big Bear roared also, of course, and rushing forward
caught the baby by the leg, and endeavoured to tear
it away from the Little Bear, at which treatment the
poor baby again commenced to cry passionately. In
the struggle the baby's head came off, upon which the
Little Bear put the head into its mouth and swallowed
it. The Big Bear immediately did the same with the
body ; but its mouth was too small, and the body
stuck fast and could not be finally disposed of until

220

THE WORLD OF ICE.

the Little Bear came to the rescue and pushed it
forcibly down its throat. Having finished this delicate
little morsel tlie two bears rose on their hind legs and
danced a hornpipe together — Tom Singleton playing
the tune for them on a flute behind the scenes. When
this was done they danced ofl* the stage, and immedi-
ately, as if in the distance, was heard the voice of a
man singing. It came gradually nearer, and at last
Buzzby, in the character of Ben Bolt, swaggered up to
the foot lights with his hands in his breeches pockets.

" I'm a jolly, jolly tar,
Wot has corned from afar,
An' it's all for to seek my fortin "—

sang Buzzby. " But I've not found it yit," he con-
tinued, breaking into prose, " and there don't seem
much prospect o' findin' it here anyhow. Wot an
'orrible cold place it is, ugh ! "

Buzzby was received with enthusiastic cheers, for
he was dressed in the old familiar blue jacket, white
ducks, pumps, and straw hat set jauntily on one side
of his head — a costume which had not been seen for
so many months by the crew of the Dolphin, that
their hearts warmed to it as if it were an old friend.

Buzzby acted with great spirit, and was evidently a
prime favourite. He could scarcely recollect a word
of his part, but he remembered the general drift of it,
and had ready wit enough to extemporize. Having
explained that he was the only survivor of a ship-
wrecked crew, he proceeded to tell some of his adven-

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221

tures in foreign lands, and afterwards described part
of his experiences in a song, to which the doctor
played an accompaniment behind the scenes. The
words were composed by Iiimself. .sung to the well-
known Scotch air, " Corn Riggs ," and ran as follows : —

THE JOLLY TAR.

My comrades, you must know

It was many years ago
I left my daddy's cottage in tbf gmtnmmjd O I

And I jined a man-o'-war

An' became a jolly tar,
An' fought for king and countrj- oo ttlu* high 3«w O I
Pull, boys, cheerily, our LomiDie' w on the sea.
Pull, boys, merrily and ligijiJly OI
Pull, boys, cheerily, the vind i* iMWHing free
An' whirling up the fuam *i»' wraser sky-high O !

There's been many a noT)!*^ fight.

But Trafalgar was the sight
That beat the Greeks and Romans in timt glory O I

For Britain's jolly sons

Worked the thunder-blazing gTaia»v,
And Nelson stood the bravest in tite lfic«e-fron.t O !
Pull, boys, etc.

A roaring cannon shot

Came an' hit the very spot
Where my leg goes click -an'- jumble m thtfi- soclcet O !

And swept it overboard

With the precious little hoard
Of pipe an' tin an' baccy in the jjodtiei O I
Pull, boys, etc.

They took me down below,

An' they laid me with a row
Of killed and wounded messmates cm a. Jaibte O I

Then up comes Dr. Keg,

An' says, Here'ti a livir ' leg-
Ill sew upon the stamp if T am able O !
Pull, boys, etc.

222 THE WORLD OF ICE.

This good and sturdy limb

Had belong(>d to fightin' Tim,
An' Mcarcely had they H»'wnd it on the socket !

Wh«'Ti up tho liatcli I flew,

An' dashed among tho crew,
An' sprang on b»jard tlie Frenchman like a rocket !
Pull, boys, etc.

'Twas thiH that gained the day,

For that leg it cleared thc^ way —
And the battle raged like fury while it lasted O !

Then ceased the shot and ahell

To fall iiiKin tho swell,
And the Union Jack went bravely to the mast-head O !
Pull, boys, etc.

We need scarcely say that this song was enthusi-
astically encored, and that the chorus was done full
justice to by the audience, who picked it up at once
and sang it with lusty vehemence. At the last word
Ben Bolt nodded familiarly, thrust his hands into his
pockets, and swaggered oti' whistling " Yankee Doodle."
It was a matter of uncertainty where he had swaggered
off to, but it was conjectured that he had gone on his
journey to anywhere that might turn up.

Meanwhile, Blunderbore had been bobbing his head
up and down behind the hummock in amazement at
what he heard and saw, and when Ben Bolt made his
exit he came forward. This was the signal for the
two bears to discover him and rush on with a terrific
roar. Blunderbore instantly fetched them each a
sounding whack on their skulls, leaped over both
their backs, and bounded up the side ot the iceberg,
where he took refuge, and turned at bay on a little
ice pinnacle constructed expressly for that purpose.

THE WORLD OF ICE.

223

An awful fight now ensued between the giant and
the two bears. The pinnacle on which Blunderboro
stood was so low that the Big Bear, by standing up on
its hind legs, could just scratch his toes, which caused
the giant to jump about continually ; but the sides of
the iceberg were so smooth that the boars could not
climb up it. This difficulty, indeed, constituted the
great and amusing feature of the fight ; for no sooner
did the Littlo Bear creep up to the edge of the pin-
nacle, than the giant's tremendous club came violently
down on its snout (which had been made of hard
wood on purpose to resist the blows), and sent it
sprawling back on the stage, where the Big Bear in-
variably chanced to be in the way, and always fell
over it. Then they both rose, and, roaring fearfully,
renewed the attack, while Blunderbore laid about him
with the club ferociously. Fortune, however, did not
on this occasion favour the brave. The Big Bear at
last caught the giant by the heel and pulled him to
the ground ; the Little Bear instantly seized him by
the throat ; and, notwithstanding his awful yells and
struggles, it would have gone ill with Blunderbore
had not Ben Bolt opportunely arrived at that identical
spot at that identical moment in the course of his
travels.

Oh ! it was a glorious thing to see the fear-nothing,
dare-anything fashion in which, when he saw how
matters stood, Ben Bolt threw down his stick and
bundle, drew his cutlass, and attacked the two bears
at once, single-handed, crying, " Come on," in a voice

224

THE WORLD OF ICE.

of thunder. And it was a satisfactory thing to behold
ihe way in which he cut and slashed at their heads
(the heads having been previously prepared for such
treatment), and the agility he displayed in leaping
over their backs and under their legs, and holding on
by their tails, while they vainly endeavoured to catch
him. The applause was frequent and prolonged, and
the two Esquimau prisoners rolled about their burly
figures and laughed till the tears ran down their fat
cheeks. But when Ben Bolt suddenly caught the two
bears by their tails, tied them together in a double
knot, and fled behind a hummock, which the Big Bear
passed on one side and the Little Bear on the other,
and so, as a matter of course, stuck hard and fast, the
laughter was excessive ; and when the gallant British
seaman again rushed forward, massacred the Big Bear
with two terrific cuts, slew the Little Bear with one
tremendous back -bander, and then sank down on one
knee and pressed his hand to his brow as if he were
exhausted, a cheer ran from stem to stern of the
Dolphin, the like of which had not filled the hull of
that good ship since she was launched upon her ocean
home !

Jt was just at this moment that Whackinta chanced,
curiously enough, to return to this spot in the course
of her wanderini^s. She screamed in horror at the
sight of the dead bears, which was quite proper and
natural, and then she started at the sight of the ex-
hausted Bolt, and smiled sweetly — which was also
natural — as she hastened to assist and sympathize

THE WORLD OF ICE.

225

with him. Ben Bolt fell in love with her at once,
and told her so oft-hand, to the unutterable raixe of
Blunderbore, who recovered fiom his wounds at that
moment, and seizing the sailor by the throat, vowed
he would kill and quarter, and stew and boil, and
roast and eat him in one minute if he didn't take
care what he was about.

The audience felt some fears for Ben Bolt at this
point, but their delight knew no bounds when, shak-
ing the giant off and springing backwards, he buttoned
up his coat and roared, rather than said, that though
he were all the Blunderbores and blunderbusses in the
world rolled together and clt.ngod into one innnortal
hiunder-cannon, he didn't ca.re a pinch of bad snuff
for him, and would knock all the teeth in his hea<l
down his throat. This valorous threat he followed up
by shaking his fist close under the giant's nose and
crying out, " Come on ! "

But the giant did not con»e on. He fortunately

recollected that he owed his life to tlie l^rave sailor ;

so he smiled, and saying he would be his friend

through life, insisted on seizing him !>y the hand and

shaking it violently. Thereafter he trK)k Ben Bolt

and Whackinta by their right hands, and leading them

forward to the foot-lights, made them a long speech

to the effect that he owed a debt of gmtitude to tlie

former for saving his life which he couM never repay,

and that he loved the latter too sincerely to stand in

the way of her happiness. Then he joined their right

hands, and they went ciown on one knee, and he

226

THE WORLD OF ICE.

placed his hands on their heads, and looked up at the
audience with a benignant smile, and the curtain fell
amid rapturous cheers.

In this play it seemed somewhat curious and un-
accountable that Whackinta forgot to inquire for her
demolished baby, and appeared to feel no anxiety
whatever about it. It was also left a matter of un-
certainty whether Ben Bolt and his Esquimau bride
returned to live happily during the remainder of their
lives in England, or took up their permanent abode
with Blunderbore. But it is not our province to criti-
cise ; we merely chronicle events as thty oc«2urred.

The entertainments were to conclude with a horn-
pipe from Mivins ; but just as that elastic individual
had completed the first of a series of complicated
evolutions, and was about to commence the second, a
vociferous barking of the dogs was heard outside,
accompanied by the sound of human voices. The
benches were deserted in a moment, and the men
rushed upon deck, catching up muskets and cut-
lasses, which always stood in readiness, as they vent.
The sounds proceeded from a party of about t^^'tnLy
Esquimaux who had been sent from the camp wi ii
the stolen property, and with a humble request that
the offence might be forgiven, and their chief and his
wife returned to them. They were all unarmed ; and
the sincerity of their repentance was further attested
by the fact that they brought back, not only the
hatchet and telescope, but a large assortment of minor
articles that had not been missed.

THE WORLD OF ICE.

227

Of course the apology was accepted ; and, after
speeches were delivered, and protestations of undying
friendship made on both sides, the party were pre-
sented with a few trinkets and a plug of tobacco each,
and sent back in a state of supreme happiness to their
village, where for a week Awatok kept the men of
his tribe, and Aninga the women, in a state of intense
amazement by their minute descriptions of the remark-
able doings of the white strangers.

The friendship thus begun between the Esquimaux
and the Dolphin's crew was never once interrupted by
any unpleasant collision during the months that they
afterwards travelled and hunted in company. Strength
of muscle and promptitude in action are qualities which
all nations in a savage state understand and respect ^
and the sailors proved that they possessed these
qualities in a higher degree than themselves during
the hardships and dangers incident to Arctic life,
while at the same time their seemingly endless re-
sources and contrivances impressed the simple natives
with the belief that white men could accomplish any-
thing ihey chose to attempt.

CHAPTER XVII.

Expeditions on foot — Effects of darkness on do(/s and men — The first death—
Caught in a trap— The Esquimau camp.

DON'T know how it is, an' I can't tell wot it is,
but so it is," remarked Buzzby to Grim, a week
after the first night of the theatricals, " that that 'ere
actin' has done us all a sight o' good. Here we are
as merry as crickets every one, although we're short
o' fresh meat, and symptoms o' scurvy are beginning
to show on some of us."

" It's the mind havin' occupation, an' bein' pre-
wented from broodin' over its misfortins," replied
Grim, with the air of a philosopher.

Grim did not put this remark in turned commas,
although he ought to have done so, seeing that it was
quoted from a speech made by the captain to Singleton
the day before.

" You see," continued Grim, " we've been actin'
every night for a week past. Well, if we hadn't been
actin*, we should ha' been thinkin' an' sleepin' ; too
much of which, you see, ain't good for us, Buzzby, and
would never pay."

Buzzby was not quite sure of this, but contented

THE WORLD OF ICE.

229

las,
raa
ton

tin'
ben
boo
Ind

himself by saying, " Well, mayhap ye're right. I'm
sorry it's to come to an end so soon ; but there is no
doubt that fresh meat is ondispensable. An' that
reminds me, messmate, that I've not cleaned my
musket for two days, an' it wouldn't do to go on a
hunt with a foul piece, nohow. AVe start at ten
o'clock, A.M., don't we ? "

Grim admitted that they did — remarking that it
might just as well be ten p.m. for all the difference the
sun would make in it — and went below with Buzzby.

In the cabin active preparations were making for an
extended hunting-expedition, which the empty state
of the larder rendered absolutely necessary. For a
week past the only fresh provisions they had pro-
cured were a white fox and a rabbit, notwithstanding
the exertions of Meetuck, Fred, and the doctor, who
with three separate parties had scoured the country
for miles round the ship. Scurvy was now beginning
to appear among them, and Captain Guy felt that
although they had enough of salt provisions to last
them the greater part of the winter, if used with
economy, they could not possibly subsist on these
alone. An extended expedition in search of seals and
walruses was therefore projected.

It was determined that this should consist of two
parties, the one to proceed north, the other to travel
south in the tracks of the Esquimaux, who had left
their temporary village in search of walruses, they
also being reduced almost to a state of starvation.

The plan of the expedition was as follows : —

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THE WORLD OF ICE.

One party, consisting of ten men, under Bolton, the
first mate, was to take the largest sledge, and the
whole team of dogs, on which, with twelve days' pro-
visions and their sleeping-bags, they were to proceed
northward along the coast as fai as possible ; and, in
the event of being unsuccessful, they were to turn
homeward on the eighth day, and make the best of
their way back on short allowance.

The other party, consisting of fifteen men, under
Saunders, the second mate, was to set off to the south-
ward on foot, dragging a smaller sledge behind them,
and endeavour to find the Esquimaux, who, it was
supposed, could not be far off, and would probably
have fresh meat in their camp.

It was a clear, cold, and beautiful star-light day
when the two parties started simultaneously on their
separate journeys. The coruscations of the aurora
were * .ore than usually vivid, and the snow gave forth
that sharp, dry, crunching sound, under the heels of
the men as they moved about, that denotes intense frost.

" Mind that you hug the land, Mr. Bolton," said the
captain at parting ; " don't get farther out on the
floes than you can help. To meet with a gale on the
ice is no joke in these latitudes."

The first mate promised obedience ; and the second
mate having been also cautioned to hug the land, and
not to use their small supply of spirits for any other
purpose than that of lighting the lamp, except in
cases of the most urgent need, they set off with three
hearty cheers, which were returned by Captain Guy

■

THE WORLD OF ICE.

231

and those who remained with him in the ship. All
the able and effective men were sent on these expedi-
tions ;' those v^ho remained behind were all more or
less affected with scurvy, except the captain himself,
whose energetic nature seemed invulnerable, and whose
flow of spirits never failed. Indeed, it is probable
that to this hearty and vigorous temperament, under
God, he owed his immunity from disease ; for, since
provisions began to fail, he along with all his officers
had fared precisely like the men — the few delicacies
they possessed having been reserved for the sick.

Unfortunately, their stock of lime-juice was now
getting low, and the crew had to be put on short
allowance. As this acid is an excellent anti-scorbutic,
or preventive of scurvy, as well as a cure, its rapid
diminution was viewed with much concern by all on
board. The long-continued absence of the sun, too,
now began to tell more severely than ever on men
and dogs. On the very day the expeditions took their
departure one of the latter, which had been left be-
hind on account of illness, was attacked with a strange
disease, of which several of the team eventually died
before the winter came to an end. It was seized
with spasms, and, after a few wild paroxysms, lapsed
into a lethargic state. In this condition the animal
functions went on apparently as well as usual, the
appetite continued not only good but voracious. The
disease was clearly mental. It barked furiously at
nothing, and walked in straight or curved lines per-
severingly ; or, at other times, it remained for hours

232

THE WORLD OF ICE.

in moody silence, and then started off howling as if
pursued. In thirty-six hours after the first attack
the poor animal died, and was buried in the snow on
Store Island.

This was the first death that had occurred on board,
and although it was only a dog, and not one of the
favourites, its loss cast a gloom over the crew for
several days. It was the first blow of the fell de-
stroyer in the midst of their little community, which
could ill spare the life even of one of the lower ani-
mals, and they felt as if the point of the wedge had
now been entered, and might be driven farther hom.e
ere long.

The expressive delight of the poor dogs on being
admitted to the light of the cabin showed how ardently
they longed for the return of the sun. It was now
the beginning of December, and the darkness was
complete. Not the faintest vestige of twilight ap-
peared even at noon. Midnight and noonday were
alike. Except when the stars and aurora were bright,
there was not light enough to distinguish a man's form
at ten paces distant, and a blacker mass than the
surrounding darkness alone indicated where the high
cliffs encompassed the Bay of Mercy. When there-
fore any one came on deck, the first thing he felt on
groping his way about was the cold noses of the dogs
pushed against his hands, as they frisked and gam-
bolled round him. They howled at the appearance
of an accidental light, as if they hoped the sun, or at
least the moon, were going to rise once more, and they

■

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233

rejoiced on being taken below, c\nd leaped up in the
men's faces for sympathy, and whined, and all but
spoke with excess of satisfaction.

The effect of the monotony of long-continued dark-
ness and the absence of novelty had much to do also
with the indifferent health of many of the men. After
the two expeditions were sent out, those who remained
behind became much more low spirited, and the symp-
toms of scurvy increased. In these circumstances
Captain Guy taxed his inventive genius to the utmost
to keep up their spirits and engage their minds. He
assumed an air of bustling activity, and attached a
degree of importance to the regular performance of
the light duties of the ship that they did not in reality
possess ppart from their influence as discipline. The
cabin was swept and aired, the stove cleaned, the
fittings dusted, the beds made, the tides, thermometers,
and barometers registered ; the logs posted up, clothes
mended, food cooked, traps visited, etc., with the regu-
larity of clockwork, and every possible plan adopted
to occupy every waking hour, and to prevent the men
from brooding over their position. When the labours
of the day were over, plans were proposed for getting
up a concert, or a new play, in order to surprise the
absentees on their return. Stories were told over and
over again, and enjoyed if good, or valued far beyond
their worth if bad. When old stories failed, and old
books were read, new stories were invented ; and here
the genius of some was drawn out, while the varied
information of others became of great importance.

THE WORLD OF ICE.

.^.-

Tom Singleton, in particular, entertained the men with
songs and lively tunes on the flute, and told stories, as
one of them remarked, " like a book." Joseph West,
too, was an invaluable comrade in this respect. He
had been a studious boy at school, and a lover of
books of all kinds, especially books of travel and
adventure. His memory was good, and his inventive
powers excellent, so that he recalled wonderful and
endless anecdotes from the unfathomable stores of his
memory, strung them together into a sort of story,
and told them in a soft, pleasant voice that captivated
the ears of his audience ; but poor West was in deli-
cate health, and could not speak so long as his mess-
mates vvould have wished. The rough life they led,
and the frequent exposure to intense cold, had con-
siderably weakened a frame which had never been
robust, and an occasional cough, when he told a long
story, sometimes warned him to desist. Games, too,
were got up. " Hide and seek " was revived with all
the enthusiasm of boyhood, and " fox-chase " was got
up with tremendous energy. In all this the captain
was the most earnest and vigorous, and in doing good
to others he unconsciously did the greatest possible
amount of good to himself ; for his forgetf ulness of self,
and the activity of his mind in catering for the wants
and amusements of his men, had the eftect of impart-
ing a cheerfulness to his manner, and a healthy tone
to his mind, that tended powerfully to sustain and
invigorate his body. But despite all this, the men
grew worse, and a few of them showed such alarming

THE WORLD OF ICE.

235

symptoms that the doctor began to fear there would
soon be a breach in their numbersL

Meanwhile Saunders and his fifteen men trudged
steadily to the southward, dragging: their sledge behind
them. The ice-floes, however, turned out to be very
rugged and hummocky, and retarded them so much
that they made but slow progress until they passed
the Red-Snow Valley, and doubled the point beyond it.
Here they left the floes, and took to the natural high-
way afforded by the ice-belt, alon^ which they sped
more rapidly, and arrived at the Esquimau village in
the course of about Ave hours.

Here all was deserted and silent Bits of seal and
walrus hide and bones and tusks were scattered about
in all directions, but no voices issued from the dome-
shaped huts of snow.

" They're the likest things to bee-skeps I ever saw,"
remarked Saunders, as he and hi?* party stood contem-
plating the little group of hutsL "And they don't
seem to care much for big doors."

Saunders referred here to the low tnnnels, varying
from three to twelve feet, that formed the entrance to
each hut.

" Mayhap there's some o' them smleep inside," sug-
gested Tom Green, the carpenters mate ; " suppose we
go in and see."

" I daresay ye're no far wrong," replied the second
mate, to whom the idea seemed to be a new one.
" Go in, Davie Summers, ye're a wee chap, and can
bend your back better than the most o' us."

236

THE WORLD OF ICE.

Davio laughed as he went down on his hands and
knees, and creeping in at the mouth of one of the
tunnels, which barely permitted him to enter in that
position, disappeared.

Several of tha party at the same time paid similar
visits to the other huts, but they all returned with
the same remark — " empty." The interiors were be-
grimed with lamp-black and filth, and from their
appearance seemed to have been deserted only a short
time before.

Buzzby, who formed one of the party, rubbed his
nose for some time in great perplexity, until he drew
from Davie Summers the remark that his proboscis
was red enough by nature and didn't ' \ rubbing.
" It's odd," he remarked ; " they seem .^ ha' bin
here for some time, and yit they've niver looked near
the ship but once. Wot's become on 'em / don't
know."

" Don't you ? " said Davie in a tone of surprise ;
" now that is odd. One would have thought that a
fellow who keeps his weather-eye so constantly open
should know everything."

" Don't chaff, boy, but lend a hand to undo the
sled-lashings. I see that Mr. Saunders is agoin' to
anchor here for the night."

The second mate, who had been taking a hasty
glance at the various huts of the village, selected two
of the largest as a lodging for his men, and having
divided them into two gangs, ordered them to turn in
and sleep as hard as possible.

THE WORLD OF ICE.

237

" S'pose we may sup first ? " said SunimorH in a
whining tone of mock humility.

'• In coorso you may," answered Tom Green, giving
the lad a push that upset him in the snow.

"Come here, Buzzhy, I want to speak to 'c\" said
Saunders, leading liim aside. " It set-ms to mt that
the Esquimaux canna be very far off', and I ob.servo
their tracks are quite fresh in the .snow leadin' to the
southwaril, so I mean to have a night march after
them ; but as the men .seem pretty weel tired I'll only
take two o' the .strongest. Who d'ye think might
go?"

" I'll go n^ yself, sir."

" Very good ; and who else, think *ee ? Amos Parr
seems freshest."

" I think Tom Green's the man wot can do it. I
seed him capsize Davie Summers jist now in the .snow ;
an' when a man can skylark, I always know he's got
lots o* wind in 'im."

" Very good. Then go, Buzzby, and order him to
get ready, and look sharp about it."

" Ay, ay, sir," cried Buzzby, as he turned to prepare
Green for the march.

In pursuance of this plan, an hour afterwards Saun-
ders and his two followers left the camp with their
sleeping-bags and a day's provisions on iiieir shoulders,
having instructed the men to follow with the sledge
at the end of five hours, which period was deemed
suflBcient time for rest and refreshment.

For two hours the trio plodded silently onward over

238

THE WORLD OF ICE.

the ice-belt by the light of a clear, starry sky. At
the end of that time clouds began to gather to the
westward, rendering the way less distinct, but still
leaving sufficient light to render travelling tolerably
easy. Then they came to a part of the coast where
the ice-belt clung close to a line of perpendicular
cliffs of about three miles in extent. The ice-belt
here was about twenty feet broad. On the left the
cliffs referred to rose sheer up several hundred feet ;
on the right the ice-belt des<!ended only about three
feet to the floes. Here our three adventurous travel-
lers weie unexpectedly caught in a trap. The tide
rose so high that it raised the sea-ice to a level with
the ice-belt, and, welling up between the two, com-
pletely overflowed the latter.

The travellers pushed on as quickly as possible, for
the precipices on their left forbade all hope of escape
in that direction, while the gap between the ice-belt
and the floes, which was filled with a gurgling mix-
ture of ic'3 and water, equally hemmed them in on
the right. Worse than all, the tide continued to
rise, and when it reached half-way to their knees,
they found it dangerous to advance for fear of stepping
into rents and fissures which were no longer visible.

" What's to be done noo ?" inquired Saunders,
coming to a full stop, and turning to Buzzby with
a look of blank despair.

" Dun'no'," replied Buzzby, wii-h an equally blank
look of despair, as he stood with his legs apart and
his arms hanging down by his side — the very per-

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289

sonification of imbecility. "It* I wos a fly I'd know
wot to do. I'd walk up the side o' that cliff till I
got to a dry bit, and then I'd stick on. But, not
bein' a fly, in coorse I can't."

Buzzby said this in a recklessly facetious tone, and
Tom Green followed it up with a remark to the effect
that " he'd be blowed if he ever wos in sich a fix in
his life ;" intimating his belief, at the same time, that
his " toes wos freezin'."

" No fear o' that," said the second mate ; " they'll
no freeze as lang as they're in the water. We'll just
have to stand here till the tide goes doon."

Saunders said this in a dogged tone, and immediately
put his plan in force by crossing his arms and plant-
ing his feet firmly on the submerged ice and wide
apart. Buzzby and Green, however, adopted the
wiser plan of moving constantly about within a
small circle, and after Saunders had argued for half-
an-hour as to tbe advantages of his plan, he followed
their example. The tide rose above their knees, but
they had fortunately on boots made by the Esqui-
maux, which were perfectly waterproof ; their feet,
therefore, although very cold, were quite dry. In
an hour and three-quarters the ice-lx-lt was again
uncovered, and the half-frozen travellers resumed
their march with the utmost energy.

Two hours later and they came to a wide expanse
of level ground at the foot of the high cliffs, where a
group of Esquimau huts, similar to those they had
left, was descried.

240

THE WORLD OF ICE.

•' They're all deserted too," remarked Buzzby.

But Buzzby was wrong, for at that moment a very
small and particularly fat little boy in a fox-skin
dress appeared at the mouth of one of the low tunnels
that formed the entrance to the nearest hut. This
boy looked exactly like a lady's muif with a hairy
head above it and a pair of feet below. The instant
he observed the strangers he threw up his arms,
uttered a shrill cry of amazement, and disappeared in
the tunnel. Next instant a legion of dogs rushed
out of the huts barking furiously, and on their heels
came the entire population, creeping on their hands
and knees out of the tunnel mouths like dark hairy
monsters issuing from their holes. They had spears
and knives of ivory with them ; but a glance showed
the two parties that they were friends, and in a few
moments Awatok and his comrades were chattering
vociferously round the sailors, and endeavouring by
word and sign to make themselves understood.

The Esquimaux received the three visitors and the
rest of the sledge party, who came up a few hours
later, with the utmost hospitality. But we have not
space to tell of how they dragged them into their
smoky huts of snow ; and how they offered them
raw seal-flesh to eat ; and how, on the sailors ex-
pressing disgust, they laughed, and added moss mixed
with oil to their lamps to enable them to cook their
food ; and how they managed by signs and otherwise
to understand that the strangers had come in search
of food, at which they (the Esquimaux) were not sur-

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241

prised ; and how they assured their visitors (also by
means of signs) that they would go a-hunting with
them on the following day, whereat they (the sailors)
were delighted, and shook hands all round. Neither
have we space to tell of how the visitors were obliged
to conform to custom, and sleep in the same huts
with men, women, children, and dogs, and how they
felt thankful to be able to sleep anywhere and any-
how without being frozen. All this, and a great deal
more, we are compelled to skip over here, and leave
it, unwillingly, to the vivid imagination of our reader.

•ma

;1'

CHAPTER XVIII.

The hunting-party — Reckless driving— A desperate encounter viith a

walrus, etc.

LATE in the day, by the bright light of the stars,
the sailors and the Esquimaux left the snow-
huts of the village, and travelling out to seaward on
the floes, with dogs and sledges, lances and spears,
advanced to do battle with the walrus.

The northern lights were more vivid than usual,
making the sky quite luminous ; and there was a sharp
freshness in the air, which, while it induced the
hunters to pull their hoods more tightly round their
faces, also sent their blood careering more briskly
through their veins, as they drove swiftly over the
ice in the Esquimau sledges.

" Did ye ever see walruses afore, Davie ?'* in-
quired Buzzby, who sat beside Summers on the lead-
ing sledge.

" None but what I've seed on this voyage."

" They're remarkable creeturs," rejoined Buzzby,
slapping his hand on his thigh. " I've seed many a
one in my time, an' I can tell ye, lad, they're ugly
customers. They fight like good uns. and give the

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243

Esquimaux a deal o' trouble to kill them — they
do."

" Tell me a story about em, Buzzby — do, like a
good chap," said Davie Summers, burying his nose
in the skirts of his hairy garment to keep it warm.
" You're a capital hand at a yarn ; now, fire away."

" A story, lad ; I don't know as how I can exactly
tell ye a story, but I'll give ye wot they calls a han-
ecdote. It wos about five years ago, more or less, I
wos out in Baffin's Bay, becalmed off one o' the
Esquimau settlements, when we wos lookin' over the
side at the lumps of ice floatin' past, up got a walrus
not very far off shore, and out went half-a-dozen
kayaks, as they call the Esquimau men's boats, and
they all sot on the beast at once. Well, it wos one
o' the brown walruses, which is always the fiercest ;
and the moment he got the first harpoon he went
slap at the man that threw it. But the fellow backed
out ; and then a cry was raised to let it alone, as it
wos a brown wrhiis. One young Esquimau, howsiver,
would have another slap at it, and went so close that
the brute charged, upset the kayak, and ripped the
man up with his tusks. Seein' this, the other Esqui-
maux made a dash at it, and wounded it badlj'' ; but
the upshot wos that the walrus put them all to flight
and mede off, clear away, with six harpoons fast in
its hide.'

" Buzzby's tellin' ye gammon," roared Tom Green,
who rode on the second sledge in rear of that on
which Davie Summers sat. '• What is't all about ?"

I 5
t

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THE WORLD OF ICE.

" About gammon, of coorse," retorted Davie. " Keep
yer mouth shut for fear your teeth freeze."

" Can't ye lead us a better road ? " shouted Saun-
ders, who rode on the third sledge ; " my bones are
rattlin' about inside o' me like a bag r' ninepins."

" Give the dogs a cut, old fellow," said Buzzby, with
a chuckle and a motion of Ins arm to the Esquimau
who drove his sledge.

The Esquimau did not miuerstand the words, but
he quite understood the sly chuckle and the motion of
the arm, so he sent the lash of the heavy whip with
a loud crack over the backs of the team.

" Hold on for life ! " cried Davie, as the dogs sprang
forward with a bound.

The part they were about to pass over was exceed-
ingly rough and broken, and Buzzby resolved to give
his shipmates a shake. The pace was tremendous.
The powerful dogs drew their loads after them with
successive bounds, which caufied a succession of crashes,
as the sledges sprang from lump to lump of ice, and
the men's teeth snapped in a truly savage manner.

" B-a-ck ye-r t-to-p-sails, will ye ? " shouted Amos
Parr.

But the delighted Esquimau leader, who entered
quite into the joke, had no intention whatever of
backing his top-sails ; he administered another crack
to the team, which yelled madly, and, bounding over
a wide chasm in the ice, came down with a crash,
which snapped the line of the leading dog and set it
free. Here Buzzby caused the driver to pull up.

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245

" Stop, ye varmint. Come to an anchor," said he.
•' Is that a way to drive the poor dogs ? "

" Ye might have stopped him sooner, I think," jried
the second mate in wrath.

" Hai ! " shouted the band of Esquimaux, pointing
to a hummock of ice a few hundred yards in advance
of the spot on which they stood.

Instantly all were silent, and gazing intently ahead
at a dark object that burst upwards through the ice.

" A walrus ! " whispered Buzzby.

" So it is," answered Amos Parr.

" I've my doobts on that point," remarked Saun-
ders. •

Before the doubts of the second mate could be re-
solved, the Esquimaux uttered another exclamation,
and pointed to another dark object a quarter of a
mile to the righl. It was soon found that there were
several of these )cean elephants sporting about in the
neighbourhood, j.nd bursting up the young ice that
had formed, on several holes, by using their huge
heads as battering-rams. It was quickly arranged
that the party should divide into three, and while a
few remained behind to watch and restrain the dogs,
the remainder were to advance on foot to the attack.

Saunders, Buzzby, Amos Parr, Davie Summers, and
Awatok formed one party, and advanced with two
muskets and several spep'^s towards the walrus that
had been first seen, the Sdilors taking care to keep in
rear of Awatok in order to follow his lead, for they
were as yet ignorant of the proper mode of attack.

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THE WORLD OF ICE.

Awatok led the party stealthily towards a hum-
mock, behind which he cau.^ed them to crouch until
the walrus should dive. This it did in a few minutes,
and then they all rushed from their place of conceal-
ment towards another hummock that lay about fifty
yards from the hole. Just as they reached it and
crouched, the walrus rose, snorting the brine from its
shaggy muzzle, and lashing the water into foam with
its flippers.

" Losh, what a big un ! " exclaimed Saunders in
ama/ ement ; and well he might, for this was an un-
usually large animal, more like an elephant in size
than anything else.

It had two enormous ivory tusks, with which it tore
and pounded large fragments ""om the ice-tables, v hile
it barked like a gigantic t and rolled its heavy
form about in sport.

Awatok now whispered to his comrades, and at-
tempted to get them to understand that they must
follow him as fast as possible at the next run. Sud-
denly the walrus dived. Awatok rushed forward,
and in another instant stood at the edge of the hole
with his spear in readiness in his right hand and the
coil of line in his left. The others joined him in-
stantly, and they had scarcely come up when the
huge monster again rose to the surface.

Saunders and Buzzby fired at his head the moment
it appeared above water, and Awatok at the same
time planted a spear in his breast, and ran back with
the coil. The others danced about in an excited state,

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247

throwing their spears and missing their mark, although
it was a big one, frequently.

" Give him a lance-thrust, Amos," cried Saunders,
reloading his piece.

But Amos could not manage it, for the creature
lashed about so furiously that, although he made re-
peated attempts, he failed to do more than prick its
tough sides and render it still more savage. Buzzby,
too, made several daring efforts to lance it, but failed,
and nearly slipped into the hole in his recklessness.
It was a wild scene of confusion — the spray was
dashed over the ice round the hole, and the men, as
they ran about in extreme excitement, slipped and
occasionally tumbled in their haste ; while the mad-
dened brute glared at them like a fiend, and bellowed
in its anger and pain.

Suddenly it dived, leaving the men staring at each
other. The sudden cessation of noise and turmoil had
a very strange effect.

" Is't away ? " inquired Saunders, with a look of
chagrin.

He was answered almost instantly by the walrus
reappearing, and making furious efibrts by means of
its flippers <^nd tusks to draw itself out upon the ice,
while it roe;ed with redoubled energy. The shot
that was instantly fired seemed to have no effect, and
the well-directed harpoon of Awatok was utterly dis-
regarded by it. Amos Parr, however, gave it a lance-
thrust that caused it to howl vehemently, and dyed
the foam with its blood.

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THE WORLD OF ICE.

"Hand me a spear, Buzzby," cried Saunders; "the
musket-balls seem to hurt him as little as peas. Oot
o' ray gait."

The second mate made a rush so tremendous that
something awful would infallibly have resulted, had
he not struck his foot against a bit of ice and fallen
violently on his breast. The impetus with which he
had started shot him forward till his head was within
a foot of the walrus's grim muzzle. For one moment
the animal looked at the man, as if it were surprised
at his audacity, and then it recommenced its frantic
struggles, snorting blood, and foam, and water into
Saunders's face as he scrambled out of its way. Im-
mediately after, Awatok fixed another harpoon in its
side, and it dived again.

The struggle that ensued was tremendous, and the
result seemed for a long time to be doubtful. Again
and again shots were fired and spear-thrusts made
with effect, but the huge creature seemed invulnerable.
Its ferocity and strength remained unabated, while
the men — sailors and Esquimau alike — were nearly
exhausted. The battle had now lasted three hours ;
the men were panting from exertion ; the walrus, still
bellowing, was clinging to the edge of the ice, which
for several yards round the hole was covered with
blood and foam.

" Wot a brute it is ! " said Buzzby, sitting down on
a lump of ice and looking at it in despair.

" We might hav^e killed it lang ago had I not wet
my gun," growled Saunders, regarding his weapon,

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249

which was completely drench<?<l, with a look of con-
tempt.

" Give it another poke, Awatok " crierl Amos Parr ;
"you'll know best whereaUi>ut» it* life lies; I can
make nothin' o't."

Awatok obeyed, and gave it a thruit under the left
flipper that seemed to reach its heart, for it fell back
into the water and strui^gled violently. At the same
moment Davie Summers mounted to the top of a
hummock, part of which overhung the pool, and
launched a harpoon down upon its back. This latter
blow seemed to revive its ferocity, for it again essayed
to clamber out on the ice, and looked up at Davie
with a glance of seeming indignation ; while Buzzby,
who had approached, fell backward as he retreated
from before it. At the same time Saunders succeeded
in getting his musket to go off The ball struck it
in the eye, and entering the brain, caused instant
death, a result which was greeted with three enthusi-
astic cheers.

The getting of this enormou* creature out of the
water would have been a matter of no small difiiculty
had there not been such a la^'ge party present. Even
as it was it took them a considerable time to accom-
plish this feat, and to cut it up and pack it on the
sledges.

While the battle above described was going on, two
smaller walruses had been kille-fl and secured, and the
Esquimaux were in a state of great glee, for previous
to the arrival of the sailors they had been unsuccessful

2.50

THK WOULD OF KJE.

in their hunts, and luid been living on short allow-
ance. On returning home there was a general feast-
ing and merrymaking, and Saunders felt that if he
remained there long tliey would not only eat up their
own meat, but his also. He therefore resolved to
return immediately to the ship with his prize, and
leave part of his men behind to continue the hunt
until he should return with the sledge.

But he was prevented from putting this intention
into practice by a hurricane which burst over the
Arctic Regions with inconceivable bitterness, and for
two days kept all the inhabitants of the snow-village
confined to their huts. This hurricane was the fiercest
that had swept over these bleak regions of ice since
the arrival of the Dolphin. The wind shrieked as it
swept round the cliffs, and down the ravines, and out
upon the frozen sea, as if a legion of evil spirits were
embodied and concentrated i.i each succeeding blast.
The snow-drift rose in solid masses, whirled madly
round for a few seconds, and then was caught by the
blast and swept away like sheets of white flame.
The thermometer stood at 25° below zero, a temper-
ature that was mild compared with what it usually
l.id been of late, but the fierce wind abstracted
heat from everything exposed to it so rapidly that
neither man nor beast could face it for a moment.
Buzzby got a little bit of his chin frozen while he
merely put his head out at the door of the hut to see
how the weather looked ; and Davie Summers had
one of his fingers slightly frozen while in the act of

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251

carrying in one of the muskets that had been left out-
side by mistake.

As for the Esquimaux, they recked not of the
weatlier. Their snow-huts were warm, and their
mouths were full, so like wise men and women they
waited patiently within doors till the storm should
blow itself out. The doings of these poor people were
very curious. They ate voraciously, and evidently
preferred their meat raw. But when the sailors
showed disgust at +his, they at once made a small
fire of moss mingled with blubber, over which they
half-cooked their food.

Their mode of procuring fire was curious. Two
small stones were taken — one a piece of white quartz,
the other a piece of iron-stone — and struck together
smartly. The few sparks that flew out were thrown
upon a kind of white down, found on the willows,
under which was placed a lump of dried moss. It
was usually a considerable time before they succeeded
in catching a spark ; but, once caught, they had no
difficulty in blowing it into a flame.

They had also an ingenious contrivance for melting
snow. This was a flat stone, supported by two other
stones, and inclined slightly at one end. Upon this flat
stone a lump of snow was placed, and below it was
kindled a small fire of moss and blubber. When the
stone became heated, the snow melted and flowed
down the incline into a small seal-skin cup placed
there to catch it.

During the continuance of the storm the sailors

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THE WORLD OF ICE.

shared the food and lodging of those Esquimaux.
They were a fat, oily, hospitable, dirty race, and vied
with each other in showing kindness to those who
had been thus thrown into their society. As Davie
Summers expressed it, " they were regular trumps ; "
and according to Buzzby's opinion, " they wos the
jolliest set o' human walruses wot he had ever comed
across in all his travels ; and he ought to know, for he
had always kep' his weather-eye open, he had, and
wouldn't give in on that p'int, he wouldn't, to no man
livin'."

CHAPTER XIX.

The northern p-xrty — A narrow escape, and a (irmt dincovcry — Esquimaux

again, and ajoi/ful ifurpritc.

IT is interesting to meditate, sometimes, on the
deviousness of the paths by which men are led
in earthly affairs — even when the starting-point and
the object of pursuit are the; same. The two parties
which left the Dolphin had for their object the pro-
curing of fresh food. The one went south and the
other north ; but their field was the same — the sur-
face of the frozen sea and the margin of the ice -girt
shore. Yet how different their experiences and re-
sults were the sequel will show.

As we have already said, the northern party was
in command of Bolton, the first mate, and consisted
of ten men, among whom were our hero, Fred, Peter
Grim, O'Riley, and Meetuck, with the whole team of
dogs and the large sledge.

Being fine weather when they set out, they travelled
rapidly, making twenty miles, a.s near as they could,
calculate, in the first six hours. The dogs pulled
famously, and the men stepped out well at first,
being cheered and invigorated mentally by the pros-

254

THE WORLD OF ICE.

pect of an adventurous excursion and fresh meat. At
the end of the second day they buried part of their
stock of provisions at the foot of a conspicuous cliff,
intending to pick it up on their return ; and thus
lightened, they advanced more rapidly, keeping farther
out on the lioes, in hopes of falling in with walruses
or seals.

Their hopes, however, were doomed to disappoint-
ment. They got only one seal, and that was a small
one — scarcely sufficient to afford a couple of meals to
the dogs.

They were " misfortunate entirely," as O'Riley re-
marked ; and to add to their misfortunes, the floe-ice
became so rugged that they could scarcely advance
at all.

" Things grow worse and worse," remarked Grim, as
the sledge, for the twentieth time that day, plunged
into a crack in the ice, and had to be unloaded ere it
could be got out. " The sledge won't stand much o'
sich work, and if it breaks — good-bye to it, for it
won't mend without wood, and there's none here."

" No fear of it," cried Bolton encouragingly ; " it's
made of material as tough as your own sinews. Grim,
and won't give way easily, as the thumps it has with-
stood already prove. — Has it never struck you, Fred,"
he comitinued. turning to our hero who was plodding
forward in silence — " has it never struck you that
when things in this world get very bad, and we begin
to feel inclined to give up, they somehow or other
begin to get better ?"

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255

" Why, yes, I have noticed that ; but I have a vague
sort of feeling just now that things are not going to
get better. I don't know whether it's this long-
continued darkness, or the want of good food, but I
feel more downcast than I ever was in my life before."

Bolton's remark had been intended to cheer, but
Fred's answer proved that a discussion of the merits
of the question was not likely to have a good effect
on the men, whose spirits were evidently very much
cast down, so he changed the subject.

Fortunately, at that time an incident occurred which
effected the mate's purpose better than any efforts man
could have made. It has frequently happened that
when Arctic voyagers have, from sickness and long
confinement during a monotonous winter, become so
depressed in spirits that games and amusements of
every kind failed to rouse them from their lethargic
despondency, sudden danger has given to their minds
the needful impulse, and efi'ected a salutary change,
for a time at least, in their spirits. Such was the
case at the present time. The men were so worn
A ith hard travel and the want of fresh food, and de-
pressed by disappointment and long-continued dark-
ness, that they failed in their attempts to cheer each
other, and at lencrth relapsed into moody silence.
Fred's thoughts turned constantly to his father, and
he ceased t remark cheerfully, as was his wont, on
passiiij < bjt'cis. Even O'Riley .s jests became few and
far bfcfween, and at last ceased altogether. Bolton
alone kept up his spirits, and sought to cheer his

256

THE WORLD OF ICE.

men, the feeling of responsibility being, probably, the
secret of his superiority over them in this respect.
But even Bolton's spirits began to sink at last.

While they were thus groping sadly along among
the hummocks, a large fragment of ice was observed
to break off from a berg just over their heads.

" Look out ! follow me, quick !" shouted the first
mate in a loud, sharp voice of alarm, at the same time
darting in towards the side of the berg.

The startled men obeyed the order just in time,
for they had barely reached the side of the berg when
the enormous pinnacle fell, and was shattered into a
thousand fragments on the spot they had just left.
A reboundinj; emotion sent the blood in a crimson
flood to Fred's forehead, and this was followed by a
feelini: of gratitude to the Almighty for the preserva-
tion of himself and the party. Leaving the danger-
ous vicinity of the bergs, they afterwards kept more
in-shiore.

" What can yonder mound be ?" said Fred, point-
ing to an object that was faintly seen at a short dis-
tance otf upon the bleak shore.

" An Esquimau hut, maybe," replied Grim. — " What
think'ee, Mt-ctuek ?"

Meetuck shook his head and looked grave, but made
mm reply.

" Why donl }x>u answer?" said Bolton. " But come
along, we'll soon see."

Meetuck now made various ineffectual attempts to
dissuade the party from examining the mound, which

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257

turned out to be composed of stones heaped upon each
other ; but as all the conversation of which he was
capable failed t > enlighten his companions as to what
the pile was, they instantly set to work to open a
passage into the interior, believing that it might con-
tain fresh provisions, as the Esquimaux were in the
habit of thus preserving their superabundant food
from bears and wolves. In half-an-hour a hole, large
enough for a man to creep through, was formed, and
Fred entered, but started back with an exclamation
of horror on finding himself in the presence of a
human skeleton, which was seated on the ground in
the centre of this strange tomb, with its head and
arms resting on the knees.

" It must be an Esquimau grave," said Fred, as
he retreated hastily ; " that must be the reason why
Meetuck tried to hinder us."

" I should like to see it," said Grim, stooping and
thrusting his head and shoulders into the hole. ,

" What have you got there ?" asked Bolton, as
Grim drew back and held up something in his hand.

" Don't know exactly. It's like a bit o' cloth."
On examination the article was found to be a shred
of coarse cloth, of a blue or black colour ; and being
an unexpected substance to meet with in such a place,
Bolton turned round with it to Meetuck in the hope
of obtaining some information. But Meetuck waa
gone. While the sailors were breaking into the grave,
Meetuck had stood aloof with a displeased expression
of countenance, as if he were angry at the rude dese-

258

THE WORLD OF ICE.

oration of a countryman's tomb ; but the moment his
eye fell on the shred of cloth an expression of mingled
surprise and curiosity crossed his countenance, and,
without uttering a word, he slipped noiselessly into
the hole, from which he almost immediately issued
bearing several articles in his hand. These he held
up to view, and with animated words and gesticula-
tions explained that this was the grave of a white
man, not of a native.

The articles he brought out were a pewter plate
and a silver table-spoon.

" There's a name of some kind written here," said
Bolton, as he carefully scrutinized the spoon. " Look
here, Fred, your eyes are better than mine, see if you
can make it out."

Fred took it with a trembling hand, for a strange
feeling of dread had seized possession of his heart,
and he could scarcely bring himself to look upon it.
He summoned up courage, however ; but at the first
glance his hand fell down by his side, and a dimness
came over his eyes, for the word " POLE STAR "
was engraven on the handle. He would have fallen
to the ground had not Bolton caught him.

" Don't give way, lad, the ship may be all right.
Perhaps this is one o' the crew that died."

Fred did not answer, but recovering himself with
a strong effort, he said, " Pull down the stones, men."

The men obeyed in silence, and the poor boy sat
down on a rock to await the result in trembling
anxiety. A few minutes sufficed to disentomb the

r'lMfcwiirriiiiaiM

THE WORLD OF ICE.

259

skeleton, for the men sympathized with their young
comrade, and worked with all their energies.

" Cheer up, Fred," said Bolton, coming and laying
his hand on the youth's shoulder ; " it's not your
father. There is a bit of black hair sticking to the
scalp."

With a fervent expression of thankfulness Fred
rose and examined the skeleton, which had been
placed in a sort of sack of .kin, but was destitute of
clothing. It was quite dry, and must have been there
a long time. Nothing else was found, but from the
appearance of the skull and the presence of the plate
and spoon, there could be no doubt that it was that
of one of the Pole Star's crew.

It was now resolved that they should proceed
along the coast and examine every creek and bay for
traces of the lost vessel.

" Bolton ! my heart misgives me," said Fred,
as they drove along ; " I fear that they have all
perished."

" Niver a bit, sir," said O'Riley, in a sympathizing
tone ; " yon chap must have died and been buried
here be the crew as they wint past."

" You forget that sailors don't bury men under
mounds of stone, with pewter plates and spoons be-
side them."

O'Riley was silenced, for the remark was un-
answerable.

" He may ha* bin left or lost on the shore, and
been found by the Esquimaux," suggested Peter Grim.

260

THE WORLD OF ICE.

" Is that not another tomb ? " inquired one of the
men, pointing towards an object which stood on the
end of a point or cape towards which they were ap-
proaching.

Ere any one could reply, their ears were saluted by
the well-known bark of a pack of Esquimau dogs.
In another moment they dashed into the midst of a
snow •illage, and were immediately surrounded by
the excited natives. For some time no information
could be gleaned from their interpreter, who was too
excited to make use of his meagre amount of English.
They observed, however, that the natives, although
much excited, did not seem to be so much surprised
at the appearance of white men amongst them as
those were whom they had first met with near the
ship. In a sh jrt time Meetuck, apparency, had ex-
pended all he had to «!ay to his friends, and turned to
make explanations to Bolton in a very excited tone ;
but little more could be made out than that what he
said had some reference to n'liite men. At length,
in desperation, he pointed to a large hut, which seemed
to be the principal one of the village, and dragging
the mate towards it, made signs to him to enter.

Bolton hesitated an instant.

"He wants you to see the chief of the tribe, no
doubt," said Fred ; " you'd better go in at once."

A loud voice shouted something in the Esquimau
language from within the hut. At the sound Fred's
heart beat violently, and pushing past the mate he
crept through the tunnelled entrance and stood within.

THE WORLD OF ICE.

261

There was little furniture in this rude dwcllinff. A
dull flame flickered in a stone lamp which hung from
the roof, and revealed the figure of a large Esquimau
reclining on a couch of skins at the raised side of the
hut.

The man looked up hastily as Fred entered, and
uttered a few unintelligible words.

" Father ! " cried Fred, gasping for breath, and
springing forward.

Captain Ellice, for it was indeed he, started with
apparent difficulty and pain into a sitting posture,
and throwing back his hood revealed a face whose
open, hearty, benignant expression shone through a
coat of dark brown which long months of toil and ex-
posure had imprinted on it. It was thin, however,
and careworn, and wore an expression that seemed to
be the result of long-continued suflering.

" Father ! " he exclaimed in an earnest tone ; " who
calls me father?"

" Don't you know me, father ? — don't you remember
Fred?— look at—"

Fred checked himself, for the wild look of iiis father
frightened him.

" Ah ! these dreams," murmured the old man ; " I
wish they did not come so — "

Placing his hand on his forehead, he fell backwards
in a state of insensibility into the arms of his son.

CHAPTER XX.

Keeping it down— Mutual explanations— The true comforter— Death— NeW'

Year's day.

IT need scarcely be said that the sailors outside did
not remain long in ignorance of the unexpected
and happy discov ^-y related in the last chapter. Bol-
ton> who had crepu in after Fred, with proper delicacy
of feeling retired the moment he found how matters
stood, and left father and son to expend, in the privacy
of that chamber of snow, those feelings and emotions
which can be better imagined than described.

The first impulse of the men was to give three
cheers, but Bolton checked them in the bu<l.

" No, no, lads. Ye must hold on," he said, in an
eager but subdued voice. " Dou])tless it would be
pleasant to vent our feelings in a hearty cheer, but it
would startle the old gentleman inside. Get along
with you, and let us get ready a good supper."

" O morther ! " exclaimed O'Riley, holding on to his
sides as if he believed what he said, " me biler'll bust
av ye don't let me screech."

" Squeeze down the safety-valve a bit longer, then,"
cried Bolton, as they hurried along with the whole

THE WORLD OF ICE.

26;^

population to tlie outskirts of the village. " Now,
then, ye inuy fire away, they won't hear ye —
huzza ! "

A long enthusiastic cheer mstantly burst from the
sailors, and was immediately followed by a howl of
deli«^ht from the Esquimaux, who capered round
their visitors with uncouth gestures and gi-inning
faces.

Entering one of the lai^gest huts, preparations for
supper were promptly b^un. The Esquimaux hap-
pened to be well supplied with walrus-tlesh, so the
lamps were replenished, and the hiss of the frying
steaks and dropping fat speedily rose above all other
sounds.

Meanwhile, Fred and his father, having mutually
recovered somewhat of their wonted composure, began
to tell each other the details of their adventures since
they last met, while the former prepared a cup of
coffee and a steak for their motual comfort.

"But, father," said Fred, Wsying himself at the
lamp, " you have not yet told me how you came here,
and what has become of the Pole Star, and how it
was that one of your men came to be buried in
the Esquimau fashion, and how you got your leg
broken."

" Truly, Fred, I have not told you all that, and to
give it you all in detail wili a£r>rd us many a long
hour of converse hereafter, if it please God, whose
tenderness and watchful care of me has never failed.
But I can give you a brief outline of it thus : —

264

THK WORLD OF ICE.

" I got into Baffin's Bay and made a good fishing of
it the first year, but was beset in the ice, and com-
pelled to spend two winters in these regions. The
third year we were liberated, and had almost got
fairly on our homeward voyage when a storm blew us
to the north and carried us up liere. Then our good
brig was nipped and went to the bottom, and all the
crew were lost except myself and one man. We
succeeded in leaping from one piece of loose ice to
another until we reached the solid floe and gained the
land, where we were kindly received by the Esqui-
maux. But poor Wilson did not survive long. His
constitution had never been robust, and he died of
consumption a week after we landed. The Esquimaux
buried him after their own fashion, and, as I after-
wards found, had buried a plate and a spoon along
with him. These, with several other articles, had
been washed ashore from the wreck. Since then I
have been living the life of an Esquimau, awaiting
an opportunity of escape either by a ship making its
appearance or a tribe of natives travelling south. I
soon picked up their language, and was living in
comparative comfort, when, during a sharp fight I
chanced to have with a Polar bear, I fell and broke
my leg. I have lain here for many months, and have
suffered much, Fred ; but, thank God, I am now almost
well, and can walk a little, though not yet without
pain."

" Dear father," said Fred, " how terribly you must
have felt the want of kind hands to nurse you during

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265

those dreary months, and how lonely you must have
been I "

" Nny, boy, not quite so lonely as you think. I
have learned the truth of these words, ' I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee ' — ' Cull upon Me in the
time of trouble, and I will deliver thee.' This, Fred,
has been my chief comfort during the long hours of
sickness."

Captain Ellice drew forth a soiled pocket Bible
from his breast as he spoke.

" It was yuur beloved mother's, Fred, and is the
only thing I brought with me from the wreck ; but it
was the only thing in the brig I would not have ex-
changed for anything else on earth. Blessed Bible !
It tells of Him whose goodness I once, in my igno-
rance, thought I knew, but whose lovo I have since
been taught ' passeth knowledge.' It has been a
glorious sun to me, which has never set in all the
course of this long Arctic night. It has been a com-
panion in my solitude, a comfort in my sorrows, and
even now is an increase to my joy; for it tells me
that if I commit my way unto tho Lord, he will bring
it to pass, and already I see the beginning of the end
fulfilled."

Fred's eyes filled with tears as his father spoke ;
but he remained silent, for he knew that of late he
had begun to neglect God's blessed Word, and hi?
conscience smote hini.

It were impossible here to enter minutely into the
details of all that Captain Ellice related to Fred dur-

266

THE WORLD OF ICE.

ing the next few days, while they remained together
in the Esquimau village. To tell of the dangers, the
adventures, and the hair-breadth escapes that the crew
of the Pole Star went through before the vessel finally
went down, would require a whole volume. We must
pass it all ovor, and also the account of the few days
that followed, during which sundry walruses were cap-
tured, and return to the Dolphin, to which Captain
Ellice had been conveyed on the sledge, carefully
wrapped up in deer-skins, and tended by Fred.

A party of the Esquimaux accompanied them, and
as a number of the natives from the other village had
returned with Saunders and his men to the ship, the
scene she presented, when all parties were united, was
exceedingly curious and animated.

The Esquimaux soon built quite a little town of
snow-huts all round the Dolphin, and the noise of
traffic and intercourse was peculiarly refreshing to the
ears of those who had long been accustomed to the
death-like stillness of an Arctic winter. The bene-
ficial eflfect of the change on men and dogs was
instantaneous. Their spirits rose at once, and this,
with the ample supply of fresh meat that had been
procured, soon began to drive scurvy away.

There was one dark spot, however, in this otherwise
pleasant scene-— one impending event that cast a gloom
over all. In his narrow berth in the cabin Joseph
West lay dying. Scurvy had acted more rapidly on
his delicate frame than had been expected. Despite
Tom Singleton's utmost efforts and skill, the fell disease

THE WORLD OF ICE.

267

gained the mastery, and it soon hjecame evident that
this hearty and excellent man was to be taken away
from them.

During the last days of his illness, Captain Ell ice
was his greatest comfort and his constant companion.
He read the Bible to him, and when doubts and fears
arose, as they sometimes did, he pointed him to Jesus,
and spoke of that love from which nothing could
separate him.

It was on Christmas day that West died.

" O sir," said he to Captain Ellice just an hour
before he breathed his last, " how much I regret the
time that I have lost ! How I wish now that I had
devoted more of my precious time to the study of the
Word and to prayer ! How many opportunities of
speaking a word for Jesus I have neglected. Once,
everything seemed of importance ; now, but one thing
is worthy of a thought."

" True," answered the captain, " ' the one thing
needful.' It is strange that we will .scarce permit
ourselves to think or speak of that till we come to
die. But you have thought on Jesus long ere now,
have you not ? "

" Yes," answered West faintly, " I have ; but I take
no comfort from that thought. When I think of my
past life it is only with regret. My hope is in the
Lord. What I have been, or might have been, is
nothing. One thing I know — I am a sinner; and
this I also know — ' Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners ! ' "

268

THE WORLD OF ICE.

These were the last words the dying man spoke.
Shortly after, he fell asleep.

Next day the body of Joseph West was put in a
plain deal coffin, and conveyed to Store Island, where
it was placed on the ground. They had no instru-
ments that could penetrate the hard rock, so were
obliGfed to construct a tomb of stones, after the man-
ner of the Esquimaux, under which the coffin was
laid and left in solitude.

New-Year's day came, and preparations were made
to celebrate the day with the usual festivities. But
the recent death had affected the crew too deeply to
allow them to indulge in the unrestrained hilarity of
that season. Prayers were read in the morning, and
both Captain Guy and Captain Ellice addressed the
men feelingly in allusion to their late shipmate's death
and their own present position. A good dinner was
also prepared, and. several luxuries served out, among
which wei'O the materials for the construction of a
largo plum-pudding. But no grog was allowed, and
they needed it not. As the afternoon advanced, stories
were told, and even songs were sung ; but these were
of a quiet kind, and the men seemed, from an innate
feeling of propriety, to suit them to the occasion.
Old friends were recalled, and old familiar scenes
described. The hearths of home were spoken of with
a depth of feeling that showed how intense was the
longing to be seated round them again, and future
prospects were canvassed with keen interest and with
hopeful voices. New- Year's day came and went, and

THE WORLD OF ICE.

269

when it was gone the men of the Dolphin did not
say, " what a jolly day it was." They said little or
nothing, but long after they thougJd of it as a bright

spot in their dreary winter in the Bay of Mercy as

a day in which they had enjoyed earnest, glad, and
sober communings of heart.

CHAPTER XXI.

First ffkam of light — Trip to welcoTrf the sun — Bears and strange dis-
coteries— O'ltilcy Is recides, Fii'st vicio of the sun.

THE wisest of men ha. told us that " it is a
pleasant thing for the eyes to behold the sun,"
but only those who spend a winter in the Arctic
Regions can fully appreciable the import of that inspired
saying.

It is absolutely essential to existen hat the bright
beams of the great luminary should fall on animal as
well as plant. Most of the poor dogs died for want
of this blessed light, and had it been much longer
withheld, doubtless our navigators would have sunk
also.

About the 20th of January a faint gleam of light
on the horizon told of the coming day. It was hailed
with rapture, and long before the bright sun himself
appeared on the southern horizon the most of the
men made daily excursions to the neighbouring hill-
tops to catch sight of as much as possible of his faint
ray.3. Day by day those rays expanded, and at last
a sort of daivn enlightened a distant portion of their
earth, which, faint though it was at ur^^t, rnd much the

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271

appearance in their eyes of a bright day. But time
wore on, and real day appeared. The red sun rose
in ~iil its glory, showed a rim of its glowing disk above
the frozen sea, and then sank, leaving a long gladsome
smile of twilight behind. This great event happened
on the lOtli of February, and would have occurred
sooner, but for the high cliffs to the southward which
intervened between the ship and the horizon.

On the day referred to, a large party was formed
to go to the top of the cliffs at Red-Snow Valley to
welcome back the sun.

" There's scarce a man left behind," remarked Cap-
tain Guy, as they started on this f uly joyous expedi-
tion

" Only Mizzle, sir," said Buzzby, slapping his hands
together, for the cold was intense ; " he said as how
he'd stop and have dinner ready agin our return."

There v/as a generr.l laugh from the men, who knew
that the worthy c lok had other reasons for not going
— namely, his shortness of wind, and his inveterate
dislike to ascend hills.

" Come, Fred," cried Captain Eliice, who had com-
pletely recovered from his accident, " I siiall be quite
jealous of your i-'i-nd Singleton if you bestow so
much of your company on him. Walk with me,
sirrah, I command you, as I wish to have a chat."

" You ave unjust to me," replied Fred, taking his
father's arm, and falling with him a little to the rear
of the party ; " Tom complains that I have quite
given him up of late."

272

THE WORLD )F ICE.

" Och ! isn't it a purty sight," remarked O'Riley to
Mivins, " to see us all goin' out like good little
childers to see the sun rise of a beautiful mornin' like
this ? "

" So it his," answered Mivins ; " but I wish it wasn't
quite so cold."

It was indeed cold — so cold that the men had to
beat their hands together, and stamp their feet, and
rush about like real children, in order to keep their
bodies warm. This month of February was the coldest
they had yet experienced. Several times the ther-
mometer fell to the unexampled temperature of 75"
below zero, or 107° below the freezing-point of water.
When we remind our young readers that the ther-
mometer in England seldom falls so low as zero,
except in what we term weather of the utmost
severity, they may imagine — or rather, they may
try to imagine — what 75^ below zero must have
been.

It was not quite so cold as that upon this occa-
sion, otherwise the men could not have shown face
to it.

" Let's have leap-frog," shouted Davie ; " we can
jump along as well as walk along. Hooray ! Imp ! "

The " hup " was rather an exclamation of necessity
than of delight, inasmuch as that it was caused by
Davie coming suddenly down flat on the ice in the act
of vainly attempting to go leap-frog over Mivins's head.

" That's your sort," cried Amos Parr ; " down with
you, Buzzby."

THE WORLD OF ICE.

273

Buzzby obeyed, and Amos, being heavy and past
the agile time of life, leaped upon, instead of over, his
back, and there stuck.

" Not so high, lads," cried Captain Guy. " Come,
Mr. Saunders, give us a back."

" Faix he'd better go on his hands an' knees."
" That's it ! over you go ! hurrah, lads ! "
Tn five minutes nearly the whole crew were pant-
ing from their violent exertions, and those who did
not or could not join panted as much from laughter.
The desired result, however, was speedily gained.
They were all soon in a glow of heat, and bade de-
fiance to the frost.

An hour's sharp climb brought the party almost to
the brow of the hill, from which they hoped to see
the sun rise for the first time for nearly five months.
Just as they were about to pass over a ridge in the
cliffs, Captain Guy, who had pushed on in advance
with Tom Singleton, was observed to pause abruptly
and make signals for the men to advance with caution.
He evidently saw something unusual, for he crouched
behind a rock and peeped over it. Hastening up as
silently as possible, they discovered that a group of
Polar bears were amusing themselves on the other
side of the cliffs, wathin long gunshot. Unfortunately
not one of the party had brought fire-arms. Intent
only on catching a sight of the sun, they had hurried
off unmindful of the possibility of their catching
sight of anything else. They had not even a spear;
and the few oak cudgels that some carried, however

274

THE WORLD OF ICE.

effectual they might have proved at Donnybrook, were
utterly worthless there.

There were four large bears and a young one, and
the gambols they performed were of the most start-
linfj as well as amusing kind. But that which in-
terested and surprised the crew most was the fact
that these bears were playing with barrels, and casks,
and tent-poles, and sails. They were engaged in a
regular frolic with these articles, tossing them up in
the air, pawing them about, and leaping over them
like kittens. In these movements they displayed
their enormous strength several times. Their leaps,
although performed with the utmost ease, were so
great as to prove the iron nature of their muscles.
They tossed the heavy ca.sks, too, high into the air
like tennis-balls, and in two instances, while the
crew were watching them, dashed a cask in pieces
with a slight blow of their paws. The tough can-
vas yielded before them like sheets of paper, and
the liavoc they committed was wonderful to be-
hold.

" Most extraordinary ! " exclaimed Captain Guy,
after watching them for some time in silence. " I
cannot imagine where these creatures can have got
hold of such things. Were not the goods at Store
Island all right this morning, Mr. Bolton ? "

" Yes, sir, they were."

" Nothing missing from the ship ? "

" No, sir, nothing."

" It's most unaccountable."

THE WORLD OF ICE.

276

" Captain Guy," said O'Riley, addressing his com-
mander with a solemn face, " haven't ye more nor
wance towld me o' the queer thing in the deserts they
calls the mirage ? "

" T have," answered the captain, with a puzzled look.

" An' didn't ye say there was somethin' like it in
the Polar Seas, that matle ye hoc* IlitgH, an' HliipH, an'
things o' that Hort when there was no sich things
there at all ? "

" True, O'Riley, I did."

" Faix, then, it's my opinion that yon hears is A
mirage, an' the sooner we git out o' their way the
better."

A smothered laugh greeted this solution of the
difficulty.

" I think I can give a better explanation — begging
your pardon, O'Riley," said Captain Ellice, who had
hitherto looked on with a sly ;jmile. " More than a
year ago, when I was driven past this place to the
northward, I took advantage of a calm to land a
supply of food, and a few stores and niedieiiu's, to ])e
a stand-by in case my ship should be wreckf^d to the
northward. Ever since the wreck actually took place
I have looked forward to this cache of provisions as a
point of refuge on my way south. As I have already
told you, I have never been able to commence tlia
southward journey ; and now 1 don't require these
things, which is lucky, for the bears seem to have
appropriated them entirely."

" Had I known of them sooner, captain," said

276

THE WORLD OF ICE.

Captain Guy, " the bears should not have had a
chance."

" That accounts for the supply of tobacco and
sticking-plaster we found in the bear's stomach," re-
marked Fred, laughing.

" True, boy ; yet it surprises me that they suc-
ceeded in breaking into my cache, for it was made of
heavy masses of stone, many of which required two
and three men to lift them, even with the aid of
handspikes."

" What's wrong with O'Riley ? " said Fred, point-
ing to that eccentric individual, who was gazing in-
tently at the bears, muttering between his teeth, and
clinching his cudgel nervously.

" Sure it's a cryin' shame," he soliloquized in an
undertone, quite unconscious that he was observed,
" that ye should escape, ye villains. Av I only had a
musket now — but I han't. Arrah ! av it was only
a spear. Be the mortial ! I think I could crack the
skull o' the small wan ! Faix, then, I'll try ! "

At the last w^ord, before any one was aware of his
intentions, this son of Erin, whose blood was now up,
sprang down the cliffs towards the bears, flourishing
his stick, and shouting wildly as he went. The bears

tantly paused in their game, but showed no dis-
ion to retreat.

"^ Come back, you madman ! " shouted the captain ;
but the captain shouted in vain.

" Stop ! halt ! come back ! " chorused the crew.

Bat O'Riley was deaf. He had advanced to within

THE WORLD OF ICE.

277

a few yards of the tx ars, and was rushing forward to
make a vigorous attack on the little one.

" He'll be killed ! " exclaimed Fred in dismay.

" Follow ine, men," shouted the captain, a.s he leaped
the ridge ; " make all the n' -^ you can."

In a moment th^^ surroundinff cliffs were reverberat-
ing with the loud iiall' os ind frantic yells of the men,
as they burst suddenly o%-er the ridge, and poured
down upon the bears like a torrent of maniacs.

Bold though they were, they couldn't stand this.
They turned tail and fle«ii, followed by the disap-
pointed howls of O'Riley, and also by his cudgel, which
he hurled violently afk-r them as he pulled up.

Having thus triumphantly put the enemy to flight,
the party continued their ascent of the hill, and soon
gained the .summit.

" There it is ! " shouted Fred, who, in company
with Mivins, first cros.sed the ridge, and tossed his
arms in the air.

The men cheered loudly as they hurried up and
one by one emerged into a red glow of sunshine. It
could not be termed uurm, for it had no power in
that frosty atmosphere, and only a small portion of
the sun's disk was visible- But his lif/ht was on
every crag and peak around ; and as the men sat
down in groups, and, as it werfr, bathed in the sun-
shine, winking at the bright gleam of light with half-
closed eyes, they declared that it felt warm, and
wouldn't hear anything to the contrary, although
Saunders, true to his nature, endeavoured to prove to

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278

THE WORLD OF ICE.

them that the infinitely small degree of heat imparted
by such feeble rays could not by any possibility be
felt except in imagination. But Saunders was out-
voted. Indeed, under the circumstances, he had not
a chance of proving his point; for the more warm
the dispute became, the greater was the amount of
animal heat that was created, to be placed, falsely, to
the credit of the sun.

Patience, however, is a virtue which is sure to meet
with a reward. The point which Saunders failed to
prove by argument, was pretty well proved to every
one (though not admitted) by the agency of John
Frost. That remarkably bitter individual nestled
round the men as they sat sunning themselves, and
soon compelled them to leap up and apply to other
sources for heat. They danced about vigorously, and
again took to leap-frog. Then they tried their powers
at the old familiar games of home. Hop-step-and-
jump raised the animal thermometer considerably,
and the standing leap, running leap, and high leap
sent it up many degrees. But a general race brought
them almost to a summer temperature, and at the
same time, most unexpectedly, secured to them a hare!
This little creature, of which very few had yet been
procured, darted in an evil hour out from behind a
rock right in front of the men, who, having begun
the race for sport, now continued it energetically for
profit. A dozen sticks were hurled at the luckless
hare, and one of these felled it to the ground.

After this they returned home in triumph, keeping

THE WORLD OF ICE,

279

up all tho way an animated dispute as to the amount
of heat shed upon them by the sun, and upon that
knotty question, " Who killed the hare ? "

Neither point was settled when they reached the
Dolphin, and, we may add, for the sake of the curious
reader, neither point is settled yet.

III

CHAPTER XXII.

Tkc ^'Arctic Sun"—Itats/ rats/ rats! — A hvMiwj -party- -Out on the

floes — Hi rdsh ips.

AMONG the many schemes that were planned and
carried out for lightening the long hours of
confinement to their wooden home in the Arctic
Regions, was the newspaper started by Fred Ellice,
and named, as we have already mentioned, the Arctic
Sun.

It was so named because, as Fred stated in his
first leading article, it was intended to throw light on
many things at a time when there was no other sun
to cheer them. We cannot help regretting that it is
not in our power to present a copy of this well-
thumbed periodical to our readers; but being of
opinion that something is better thnn nothing, we
transcribe the following extract as a specimen of the
contributions from the forecastle. It was entitled —

JOHN BUZZBY'S OPPINYUNS O* THINGS IN GIN'RAL.

Mr. Editer, — As you was so good as to ax from me
a contribootion to your waluable peeryoddical, I beg
heer to stait that this heer article is intended as a

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281

gin'ral summery o' the noos wots agoin'. Your reeders
will be glad to no that of late the wether's bin gittin'
colder, but they'll be better pleased to no that before
the middle o' nixt sumer it's likely to git a, long chawk
warmer. There's a gin'ral complaint heer that Mivins
has bin eatin' the shuger in the pantry, an' that's wots
makin' it needfull to put us on short allowance. Davie
Summers sais he seed him at it, an' it's a dooty the
guvermint owes to the publik to have the matter in-
vestigated. It's gin'rally expected, howsever, that the
guvermint won't trubble its hed with the matter.
There's bin an onusual swarmin' o' rats in the ship of
late, an' Davie Summers has had a riglar hunt after
them. The lad has becum more than ornar expert
with his bow an' arrow, for he niver misses now —
exceptin', always, when he dusn't hit — an' for the
most part takes them on the pint on the snowt with
his blunt-heded arow, which he drives in — the snowt,
not the arow. There's a gin'ral wish among the crew
to no whether the north pole is a pole or a dot.
Mizzle sais it's a dot, and O'Riley swears (no, he don't
do that, for we've gin up swearin' in the fog -sail),
but he sais that it's a real post, 'bout as thick again
as the main-mast, an' nine or ten times as hy. Grim
sais it's nother wun thing nor anuther, but a hydeear
that is sumhow or other a fact, but yit don't exist at
all. Tom Green wants to no if there's any conexshun
between it an* the pole that's conected with elections.
In fact, we're all at sea, in a riglar muz abut this, an'
as Dr. Singleton's a syentiffick man, praps he'll give

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us a leadin' article in your nixt — so no more at
present from —

Yours to command,

John Buzzby.

This contribution was accompanied with an outline
illustration of Mivins eating sugar with a ladle in the
pantry, and Davie Summers peeping in at the door —
both likenesses being excellent.

Some of the articles in the Arctic Sun were grave
and some were gay, but all of them were profitable,
for Fred took care that they should be charged either
with matter of interest or matter provocative of mirth.
And, assuredly, no newspaper of similar calibre was
ever looked forward to with such expectation, or read
and re-read with such avidity. It was one of the
expedients that lasted longest in keeping up the
spirits of the men.

The rat-hunting referred to in the foregoing " sum-
mary " was not a mere fiction of Buzzby 's brain. It
was a veritable fact. Notwithstanding the extreme
cold of this inhospitable climate, the rats in the ship
increased to such a degree that at last they became a
perfect nuisance. Nothing was safe from their attacks
— whether substances were edible or not, they were
gnawed through and ruined — and their impudence,
which seemed to increase with their numbers, at last
exceeded all belief. They swarmed everywhere —
under the stove, about the beds, in the lockers, be-
tween the sofa cushions, amongst the moss round the

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283

walls, and inside the boots and mittens (when empty)
of the men. And they became so accustomed to hav-
ing missiles thrown at them, that they acquired to
perfection that art which Buzzby described as " keep-
ing one's weather-eye open."

You couldn't hit one if you tried. If your hand
moved towards an object with which you intended to
deal swift destruction, the intruder paused, and turned
his sharp eyes towards you, as if to say, " What! going
to try it again ? — come, then, here's a chance for you."
But when you threw, at best you could only hit the
empty space it had occupied the moment before. Or,
if you seized a stick, and rushed at the enemy in
wrath, it grinned fiercely, showed its long white teeth,
and then vanished with a fling of its tail that could
be construed into nothing but an expression of con-
tempt.

At last an expedient was hit upon for destroying
these disagreeable inmates. Small bows and arrows
were made, the latter having heavy, blunt heads, and
with these the men slaughtered hundreds. Whenever
any one was inclined for a little sport, he took up his
bow and arrows, and retiring to a dark corner of the
cabin, watched for a shot. Davie Summers acquired
the title of Nimrod in consequence of his success in
this peculiar field.

At first the rats proved a capital addition to the
dogs' meals, but at length some of the men were glad
to eat them, especially when fresh meat failed alto-
gether, and scurvy began its assaults. White or

■^»

2Si

THE WORLD OF ICE.

Arctic foxes, too, came about the ship sometimes in
greai numbers, and proved an acceptable addition to
their fresh provisions ; but at one period all these
sources failed, and the crew were reduced to the
utmost extremity, having nothing to eat except salt
provisions. Notwithstanding the cheering influence
of the sun, the spirits of the men fell as their bodily
energies failed. Nearly two-thirds of the ship's com-
pany were confined to their berths. The officers re-
tained much of their wonted health and vigour, partly
in consequence, no doubt, of their unwearied exertions
in behalf of others. They changed places with the
men at last, owing to the force of circumstances —
ministering to their wants, drawing water, fetching
fuel, and cooking their food — carrying out, in short,
the divine command, " By love serve one another."

During the worst period of their distress a party
was formed to go out upon the floes in search of
walruses.

" If we don't get speedy relief," remarked Captain
Guy to Tom Singleton in reference to this party,
" some of us will die. I feel certain of that. Poor
Buzzby seems on his last legs, and Mivins is reduced
to a shadow."

The doctor was silent, for the captain's remark was
too true.

"You must get up your party at once, and set off"
after breakfast, Mr. Bolton," he added, turning to the
first mate. " Who can accompany you ? "

"There's Peter Grim, sir; he's tough yet, and not

■

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285

much affected by scurvy. And Mr. Saunders, I think,
may — "

" No," interrupted the doctor, " Saunders must not
go. He does not look very ill, and I hope is not, but
I don't like some of his symptoms."

" Well, doctor, we can do without him. There's
Tom Green and O'Riley. Nothing seems able to bring
down O'Riley. Then there's — '

" There's Fred Ellice," cried Fred himself, joining
the group ; " I'll go with you if you'll take me."

" Most happy to have you, sir. Our healthy hands
are very short, but we can muster sufficient, I think."

The captain suggested Amos Parr and two or three
more men, and then dismissed his first mate to get
ready for an immediate start.

" I don't half like your going, Fred," said his father.
" You've not been well lately, and hunting on the floes,
I know from experience, is hard work."

"Don't fear for me, father; I've quite recovered
from my recent attack, which was but slight after all,
and I know full well that those who are well must
work as long as they can stand."

" Ho, lads ! look alive there ! are you ready ? "
shouted the first mate down the hatchway.

" Ay, ay, sir," replied Grim, and in a few minutes
the party were assembled on the ice beside the small
sledge with their shoulder-belts on, for most of the
dogs were either dead or dying of that strange com-
plaint to which allusion has been made in a previous
chapter.

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THE WORLD OF ICE.

They set out silently, but ere they had got a dozen
yards from the ship Captain Guy felt the impropriety
of permitting them thus to depai't.

" Up, lads, and give them thi\^e cheers ! " he cried,
mounting the ship's side and setting the example.

A hearty, generous spirit, when vigorously displayed,
always finds a ready response from human hearts.
The few sailors who were on deck at the time, and
one or two of the sick men who chanced to put their
heads up the hatchway, rushed to the side, waved
their mittens — in default of caps — and gave vent to
three hearty British cheers. The effect on the droop-
ing spirits of the hunting-pai*t3' was electrical. They
pricked up like chargers that had felt the spur, wheeled
round, and returned the cheer with interest. It was
an apparently trifling incident, but it served to lighten
the way and make it seem less dreary for many a
long mile.

" I'm tired of it intirely," cried O'Riley, sitting
down on a hummock, on the evening of the second
day after setting out on the hunt ; " here we is, two
days out, an' not a sign o' life nowhere."

" Come, don't give in," said Bolton cheerfully; " we're
sure to fall in with a walrus to-day."

" I think so," cried Fred; " we have come so far out
upon the floes that there must be open water near."

" Come on, then," cried Peter Grim ; " don't waste
time talking."

Thus urged O'Riley rose, and throwing his sledge-
strap over his shoulder, plodded on wearily with the rest.

j -
-

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287

Their provisions were gettinjjf low now, and it was
felt that if they did not soon fall in with walruses or
bears they must return as quickly as possible to the
ship in order to avoid starving. It was therefore a
matter of no small satisfaction that, on turning the
edge of an iceberg, they discovered a large bear walk-
ing leisurely towards them. To drop their sledge-
lines and seize their muskets was the work of a
moment. But, unfortunately, long travelling had
filled the pans with snow, and it required some time
to pick the touch-holes clear. In this extremity Peter
Grim seized a hatchet and ran towards the bear, while
O'Riley charged it with a spear. Grim delivered a
tremendous blow at its head with his weapon ; but his
intention was better than his aim, for he missed the
bear and smashed the corner of a hummock of ice.
O'Riley was more successful. He thrust the spear
into the animal's shoulder ; but the shoulder-blade
turned the head of the weapon, and caused it to run
along at least three feet just under the skin. The
wound, although not fatal, was so painful that Bruin
uttered a loud roar of disapproval, wheeled round, and
ran away ! — an act of cowardice so unusual on the
part of a Polar bear that the whole party were taken
by surprise. Several shots were fired after him, but
he soon disappeared among the ice-hummocks, having
fairly made off with O'Riley's spear.

The disappointment caused by this was great, but
they had little time to think of it, for soon after a
stiflf breeze of wind sprang up, which freshened into a

288

THE WORLD OF ICE.

galo, compelling them to seek the shelter of a cluster
of icebergs, in the midst of which they built a snow-
hut. Before night a terrific storm was raging, with
the thermometer 40" below zero. The sky became
black as ink, drift whirled round them in horrid tur-
moil, and the wild blast came direct fro)n the north,
over the frozen sea, shrieking and howling in its
strength and fury.

All that night and the next day it continued. Then
it ceased, and for the first time that winter a thaw set
in, so that ere morning their sleeping-bags and socks
were thoroughly wetted. This was of short duration,
however. In a few hours the frost set in again as
intense as ever, converting all their wet garments and
bedding into hard cakes of ice. To add to their mis-
fortunes their provisions ran out, and they were
obliged to abandon the hut and push forward towards
the ship with the utmost speed. Night came on them
while they were slowly toiling through the deep drifts
that the late gale had raised, and to their horror they
found they had wandered out of their way, and were
still but a short distance from their snow-hut. In
despair they returned to pass the night in it, and
spreading their frozen sleeping-bags on the snow, they
lay down, silent and supperless, to rest till morning.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Unexpected arrivals— The vcaruc part;/— Lost and found— Return

to the ship.

THE sixth night after the hunting-party had left
the ship, Grim and Free Ellice suddenly made
their appearance on board, ^t was quite dark, and
the few of the ship's company who were able to quit
their berths were seated round the cabin at their
meagre evening meal.

" Hallo, Fred ! " exclaimed Captain Ellice, as his son
staggered rather than walked in and sank down on a
locker. " What's wrong, boy ? where are the rest of

your

Fred could not answer ; neither he'iibr Grim was
able to utter a word at first. It was evident that
they laboured under extreme exhaustion and hunger.
A mouthful of hot soup administered "by Tom Single-
ton rallied them a little, however. .^ •' ...

"Our comrades are lost, I fear." .... .;

" Lost !" exclaimed Captain Guy. " How so? Speak,

my boy ; but hold, take another mouthful before you

speak. Where did you leave them, say you ? "

Fred looked at the captain with a vacant stare.

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THE WORLD OF ICE.

" Out upon the ice to the north ; but, I say, what a
comical dream I've had ! " Here he burst into a loud
laugh. Poor Fred's head was evidently affected, so
his father and Tom carried him to his berth.

All this time Grim had remained seated on a locker
swaying to and fro like a drunken man, and paying
no attention to the numerous questions that were put
to him by Saunders and his comrades.

** This is bad ! " exclaimed Captain Guy, pressing
his hand on his forehead.

" A search must be made," suggested Captain EUice.
" It's evident that the party have broken down out on
the floes, and Fred and Grim have been sent to let us
know."

" I know it," answered Captain Guy. " A search
must be made, and that instantly, if it is to be of any
use ; but in which direction are we to go is the ques-
tion. These poor fellows cannot tell us. ' Out on the
ice to the north ' is a wide word. — Fred, I'red, can
you not tell us in which direction we ought to go to
search for them ? "

" Yes, far out on the floes — among hummocks — far
out/* murmured Fred, half unconsciously.

" We must be satisfied with that. Now, Mr. Saun-
ders, assist me to get the small sledge fitted out. I'll
go to look after them myself."

"An' I'll go with 'ee, sir/' said the .second mate
promptly.

" I fear you are hardly able."

"No fear o' me, sir. I'm better than 'ee think."

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291

" I must go too," added Captain Ell ice ; " it is quite
evident that you cannot muster a party without me."

" That's impossible," interrupted the doctor. " Your
leg is not strong enough nearly for such a trip; besides,
my dear sir, you must stay behind to perform my
duties, for the ship can't do without a doctor, and I
shall go with Captain Guy, if he will allow me."

" That he won't," cried the captain. " You say
truly the ship cannot be left without a doctor. Neither
you nor my friend Ellice shall leave the ship with my
permission. But don't let us waste time talking. —
Come, Summers and Mizzle, you are well enough to
join, and, Meetuck, you must be our guide. Look
alive and get yourselves ready."

In less than half-an-hour the rescue party were
equipped and on their way over the floes. They were
six in all — one of the freshest among the crew having
volunteered to join those already mentioned.

It was a very dark night, and bitterly cold ; but
they took nothing with them except the clothes on
their backs, a supply of provisions for their lost com-
rades, their sleeping-bags, and a small leather tent.
The captain also took care to carry with them a flask
of brandy.

The colossal bergs, which stretched like well-known
land-marks over the sea, were their guides at first;
but after travelling ten hours without halting, they
had passed the greater number of those with which
they were familiar, and entered upon an unknown
region. Here it became necessary to use the utmost

292

THE WORLD OF ICE.

caution. They knew that the lost men must be
within twenty miles of them, but they had no means
of knowing the exact spot, and any footpiints that
had been made were now obliterated. In these cir-
cumstances Captain Guy had to depend very much on
his own sagacity.

Clambering to the top of a hummock, he observed
a long stretch of level floe to the northward.

" I think it likely," he remarked to Saunders, who
had accompanied him, " that they may have gone in
that direction. It seems an attractive road among
this chaos of ice-heaps."

" I'm no sure o' that," objected Saunders ; " yonder's
a pretty clear road away to the west, maybe they took
that."

" Perhaps they did, but as Fred said they had gone
far out on the ice to the north, I think it likely they've
gone in that direction."

" Maybe ye're right, sir, and maybe ye're wrang,"
answered Saunders, as they returned to the party.
As this was the second mate's method of intimating
that he felt that he ought to give in (though he didn't
give in, and never would give in absolutely), the
captain felt more confidence in his own opinion.

" Now, Meetuck, keep your eyes open," he added,
as they resumed their rapid march.

After journeying on for a considerable distance, the
men were ordered to spread out over the neighbour-
ing ice-fields, in order to multiply the chances of dis-
covering tracks ; but there seemed to be some irresist-

■\-~:

THE WORLD OF ICE.

293

ible power of attraction which drew them gradually
together again, however earnestly they might try to
keep separate. In fact, they were beginning to be
affected by the long-continued march and the extremity
of the cold.

This last was so great that constant motion was
absolutely necessary in order to prevent them from
freezing. There was no time allowed for rest — life
and dei»th were in the scale. Their only hope lay
in a continuous and rapid advance, so as to reach
the lost men ere they should freeze or die of star-
vation.

" Holo ! look eer ! " shouted Meetuck, as he halted
and went down on his knees to examine some marks
on the snow.

" These are tracks ! " cried Captain Guy eagerly.
" What thmk you, Saunders ? "

" They look like it"

" Follow them up, Meetuck. Go in advance, my
lad, and let the rest of you scatter again."

In a few minutes there was a cry heard, and as the
party hastened towards the spot whence it came, they
found Davie Summers pointing eagerly to a little
snow-hut in the midst of a group of bergs.

With hasty steps they advanced towards it, and
the captain, with a terrible misgiving at heart, crept
in.

'* Ah ! then, is it yerself, darlint ? " were the first
words that greeted him.

A loud cheer from those without told that they

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THE WORLD OF ICE.

heard and recognized the words. Immediately two
of them crept in, and striking a light, kindled a lamp,
which revealed the care-worn forms of their lost com-
rades stretched on the ground in their sleeping-bags.
They were almost exhausted for want of food, but
otherwise they were uninjured.

The first congratulations over, the rescue party
immediately proceeded to make arrangements for
passing the night. They were themselves little better
than those whom they had come to save, having per-
formed an uninterrupted march of eighteen hours
without food or drink.

It was touching to see the tears of joy and grati-
tude that filled the eyes of the poor fellows, who had
given themselves up for lost, as they watched the
movements of their comrades while they prepared
food for them; and the broken, fitful conversation
was mingled strangely with alternate touches of fun
and deep feeling, indicating the conflicting emotions
that struggled in their breasts.

" I knowed ye would come, captain ; bless you, sir,"
said Amos Parr, in an unsteady voice.

" Come ! Av coorse ye knowed it," cried O'Riley
energetically. " Och, but don't be long wid the mate,
darlints, me stummik's shut up intirely."

" There won't be room for us all here, I'm afraid,"
remarked Bolton.

This was true. The hut was constructed to hold
six, and it was impossible that ten could sleep in it,
* although ti^ey managed to squeeze in.

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295

" Never mind that," cried the captain. " Here, take
a drop of soup ; gently, not too much at a time."

" Ah, then, it's cruel of ye, it is, to give me sich a
small taste."

It was necessary, however, to give men in their
r "idition a " small taste " at first, so O'Riley had to
re^t content. Meanwhile, the rescue party supped
heartily, and after a little more food had been ad-
ministered to the half -starved men, preparations were
made for spending the night. The tent was pitched,
and the sleeping-bags spread out on the snow. Then
Captain Guy offered up fervent thanks to God for
his protection thus far, and prayed shortly but earn-
estly for deliverance from their dangerous situation ;
after which they all lay down and slept soundly till
morning — or at least as soundly as could be expected
with a temperature at 65" below zero.

Next morning they prepared to set out on their
return to the ship. But this was no easy task. The
exhausted men had to be wrapped up carefully in
their blankets, which were sewed closely round their
limbs, then packed in their sleeping-bags and covered
completely up, only a small hole being left opposite
their mouths to breathe through, and after that they
were lashed side by side on the small sledge. The
larger sledge, with the muskets, ammunition, and
spare blankets, had to be abandoned. Then the rescue
party put their shoulders to the tracking-belts, and
away they went briskly over the floes.

But the drag was a fearfully heavy one for men ,

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THE WORLD OF ICE.

who, besides having walked so long and so far on the
previous day, were, most of them, much weakened by
illness, and very unfit for such laborious work. The
floes, too, were so rugged that they had frequently to
lift the heavy sledge and its living load over deep
rents and chasms which, in circumstances less despe-
rate, they would have scarcely ventured to do. Work
as they would, however, they could not make more
than a mile an hour, and night overtook them ere
they reached the level floes. But it was of the utmost
importance that they should continue to advance, so
they pushed forward until a breeze sprang up that
pierced them through and through.

Fortunately there was a bright moon in the sky,
which enabled them to pick their way among the
hummocks. Suddenly, without warning, the whole
party felt an alarming failure of their energies.
Captain Guy, who was aware of the imminent danger
of giving way to this feeling, cheered the men to
greater exertion by word and voice, but failed to
rouse them. They seemed like men walking in their
sleep.

" Come, Saunders, cheer up, man ! " cried the captain,
shaking the mate by the arm ; but Saunders stood
still, swaying to and fro like a drunken man. Mizzle
begged to be allowed to sleep, if it were only for two
minutes, and poor Davie Summers deliberately threw
himself down on the snow, from which, had he been
left, he would never more have risen.

The case was now desperate. In vain the captain

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297

shook and buffeted the men. They protested that
they did not feel cold — " they were quite warm, and
only wanted a little sleep." He saw that it was
useless to contend with them, so there was nothing
left for it but to pitch the tent.

This was done as quickly as possible, though with
much difficulty, and the men were unlashed from the
sledge and placed within the tent. The others then
crowded in, and falling down beside each other were
asleep in an instant. The excessive crowding of the
little tent was an advantage at this time, as it tended
to increase their animal heat. Captain Guy allowed
them to sleep only two hours, and then roused them
in order to continue the journey ; but short though the
period of rest was, it proved sufficient to enable the
men to pursue their journey with some degree of spirit.
Still it was evident that their energies had been over-
taxed ; for when they neared the ship next day, Tom
Singleton, who had been on the look-out, and advanced
to meet them, found that they were almost in a state
of stupor, and talked incoherently — sometimes giving
utterance to sentiments of the most absurd nature
with expressions of the utmost gravity.

Meanwhile, good news was brought them from the
ship. Two bears and a walrus had been purchased
from the Esquimaux, a party of whom — sleek, fat,
oily, good-humoured, and hairy — were encamped on
the lee side of the Dolphin, and were busily engaged
in their principal and favourite occupation — eating I

CHAPTER XXIV.

WitUfr aids — The first insect — Preparations for departure — Narrow escape
— Cuttiny out— Once more afloat— Ship on fire— Crew take to the boats.

WINTER passed away, with its darkness and
its frost, and, happily, with its sorrows ; and
summer — blight, glowing summer — came at last, to
gladden the heart of man and beast in the Polar Regions.

We have purposely omitted to make mention of
spring, for there is no such season, properly so called,
within the Arctic Circle. Winter usually terminates
with a gushing thaw, and summer then begins with a
blaze of fervent heat. Not that the heat is really so
intense as compared with that of southern climes, but
the contrast is so great that it seems as though the
Torrid Zones had rushed towards the Pole.

About the beginning of June there were indications
of the coming heat. Fresh water began to trickle
from the rocks, and streamlets commenced to run
down the icebergs. Soon everything became moist,
and a marked change took place in the appearance of
the ice-belt, owing to the pools that collected on it
everywhere and overflowed.

Seals now became more numerous in the neigh-

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299

bourhood, and were frequently killed near the atluka,
or holes, so that fresh meat was secured in abundance,
and the scurvy received a decided check. Reindeer,
rabbits, and ptarmigan, too, began to frequent the bay.
so that the larder was constantly full, and the mess-
table presented a pleasing variety — rats being no
longer the solitary dish of fresh meat at every meal.
A few small birds made their appearance from the
southward, and these were hailed as harbingers of
the coming summer.

One day O'Riley sat on the taffrail, basking in the
warm sun, and drinking in health and gladness from
its beams. He had been ill, and was now convales-
cent. Buzzby stood beside him.

" I've bin thinkin'," said Buzzby, " that we don't
half know the blessin's that are given to us in this
here world till we've had 'em taken away. Look,
now, how we're enjoyin' the sun an' the heat, just as
if it wos so much gold ! "

" Goold I " echoed O'Riley, in a tone of contempt ;
" faix I niver thought so little o' goold before, let me
tell ye. Goold can buy many a thing, it can, but it
can't buy sunshine. Hallo ! what's this ? "

O'Riley accompanied the question with a sudden
snatch of his hand.

" Look here, Buzzby ! Have a care, now ! jist
watch the openin' o' my fist."

" Wot is it ? " inquired Buzzby, approaching, and
looking earnestly at his comrade's clinched hand with
some curiosity.

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" There he comes ! Now, then, not so fast, ye
spalpeen ! "

As he spoke, a small Hy, ^Yhich had been captured,
crept out from between his lingers, and sought to
escape. It was the fii'st that had visited these frozen
regions for many, many months, and the whole crew
were summoned on deck to meet it as if it were an
old and valued friend.

" Let it go, poor thing ! " cried half-a-dozen of the
men, gazing at the little prisoner with a degree of in-
terest that cannot be thoroughly understood by those
who have not passed through experiences similar to
those of our Arctic voyagers.

" Ay, don't hurt it, poor thing ! You're squeezin'
it too hard ! " cried Amos PaiT.

" Squaazing it ! no, then, I'm not. Go, avic, an' me
blessin' go wid ye."

The big, rough hand opened, and the tiny insect,
spreading its gossamer wings, buzzed away into the
bright atmosphere, where it was soon lost to view.

" Rig up the ice-saws, Mr. Bolton ; set all hands at
them, and get ovt the powder-cmiisters," cried Captain
Guy, coming hastily on deck.

" Ay, ay, sir," responded the mate. " All hands to
the ice-saws ! Look alive, bovs ! Ho ! Mr. Saunders !
Where's llr. Saunders ? "

" Here 'am," answered the worthy second mate in a
quiet voice.

" Oh, you're there I Get up some powder, Mr.
Saunders, and a few canistei's."

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301

There was a heartiness in the tone and action with
which these orders were given and obeyed that proved
they were possessed of more than ordinary interest ;
as, indeed, they were, for the time had now come for
making preparations for cutting the sliip out of winter-
quarters, and getting ready to take advantage of any
favourable opening in the ice that might occur.

" Do you hope to effect much ? " inquired Captain
Ellice of Captain Guy, who stood at the gangway
watching the men as they leaped over the side and
began to cut holes with ice-chisels preparatory to
fixing the sav/s and powder-canisters.

" Not much," replied the captain ; " but a little in
these latitudes is worth fighting hard for, as you are
well aware. Many a time have I seen a ship's crew
strain and heave on warps and cables for hours to-
gether, and only gain a yard by all their efforts ; but
many a time, also, have I seen a single yard of head-
way save a ship from destruction."

" True," rejoined Captain Ellice ; " I have seen a
little of it myself. There is no spot on earth, I think,
equal to the Polar Regions for bringing out into bold
relief two great and apparently antagonistic truths —
namely, man's urgeuv. need of all his powers to accom-
plish the work of his own deliverance, and man's utter
helplessness and entire dependence on the sovereign
will of God."

" When shall we sink the canisters, sir ? ' asked
Bolton, coming up and touching his hat.

" Tn an hour, Mr. Bolton ; the tide will be full

802

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then, and we shall try what effect a blast will
have."

" My opeenion is," remarked Saunders, who passed
at the moment with two large bags of gunpowder
under his arms, " that it'll liave no effect at a'. It'll
just loosen the ice roond the ship."

The captain smiled as he said, " That is all the
effect I hope for, Mr. Saundei*s. Should the outward
ice give way soon, we shall then be in a better posi-
tion to avail ourselves of it."

As Saunders predicted, the effect of powder and
saws was merely to loosen and rend the ice-tables in
which the Dolphin was imbedded ; but deliverance
was coming sooner than any of those on board ex-
pected. That night a storm arose, which, for intensity
of violence, equalled, if it did not surpass, the severest
gales they had yet experienced. It set the great
bergf of the Polar Seas in motion, and these moving
mountains of ice slowly and majestically began their
voyage to southern climes, crashing through the floes,
overturning the hummocks, and ripping up the ice-
tables with quiet but irresistible momentum. For two
days the war of ice continued to rage, ana sometimes
the contending forces, in the shape of huge tongues
and corners of bergs, were forced into the Bay of
Mercy, and threatened swift destruction to the little
craft, which was a mere atom that might have been
crushed and sunk and scarcely missed in such a wild
scene.

At one time a table of ice was forced out of the

• ^' I iimiim

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ao3

water and reared up, like a slopin*,' wall of glass,
close to the stern of the Dolphin, where all the crew
were assembled with ice-poles ready to do their ut-
most ; but their feeble efforts could have availed them
nothing had the slowly-moving mass continued its
onward progress.

" Lower away the quarter-boat," cried the captain,
as the sheet of ice six feet thick came grinding down
towards the starboard quarter.

Buzzby, Grim, and several others sprang to obey,
but before they could let go the fall- tackles, the mass
of ice rose suddenly high above the deck, over which
it projected several feet, and caught the boat. In
another moment the timbers yielded, the thwarts
sprang out or were broken across, and slowly, yet
forcibly, as a strong hand might crush an egg-shell,
the boat was squeezed flat against the .ship's side.

" Shove, lads ! if it comes on we're lost," cried the
captain, seizing one of the long poles with which the
men were vainly straining every nerve and muscle.
They might as well have tried to arrest the progress
of a berg. On it came, and crushed in the starboard
quarter bulwarks. Providentially at that moment it
grounded and remained fast ; but the projecting point
that overhung them broke oflf and fell on t!ie' deck
with a crash that shook the good ship from stem to
stem. Several of the men were thrown violently down,
but none were seriously hurt in this catastrophe.

When the storm ceased the ice out in the straic
was all in motion, and that round the ship had

304

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loosened so much that it seemed as if the Dolphin
might soon get out into open water, and once more
float upon its natural element. Every preparation,
therefore, was made. The stores were re-shipped from
Store Island ; the sails were shaken out, and those of
them that had been taken down were bent on to the
yards ; tackle was overhauled ; and, in short, every-
thing was done that was possible under the circum-
stances. But a week passed away ere they succeeded
in finally warping out of the bay into the open sea
beyond.

It was a lovely morning when this happy event
was accomplished. Before the tide was quite full,
and wliile they were waiting until the command to
heave on the warps should be given, Captain Guy
assembled the crew for morning prayers in the cabin.
Having concluded, he said : —

" My lads, through the great mercy of God we have
been all, except one, spared through the trials and
anxieties of a long and dreary winter, and are now, I
trust, about to make our escape from the ice that has
held us fast so long. It becomes me at such a time
to tell you that, if I am spared to return home, I shall
be able to report that every man in this ship has done
his duty. You have never flinched in the hour of
danger, and never grumbled in the hour of trial.
Only one man — our late brave and warm-hearted
comrade, Joseph West — has fallen in the struggle.
For the mercies that have never failed us, and for
our success in rescuing my gallant friend. Captain

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305

Ellice, we ought to feel the deepest gratitude to the
Almighty. We have need, however, to pray for a
blessing on the labours that ure yet before us, for
you are well aware that we shall probably have many
a struggle with the ice beforS' we are once more
afloat on blue water. And now, lads, away with
you on deck, and man the capstan, for the tide is
about full."

The capstan was manned, and the hawsers were
hove taut. Inch by inch the tide rose, and the Dol-
phin floated. Then a lusty cheer was given, and
Amos Parr struck up one of those hearty songs inter-
mingled with " Ho !" and " Yo heave ho I" that seem
to be the life and marrow of '>11 nautical exertion.
At last the good ship forged ahead, and; boring
through the loose ice, passed slowly out of the Bay
of Mercy.

" Do you know I feel quite sad at quitting this
dreary spot ? " said Fred to his father, as they stood
gazing backward over the taffrail. " I could not
have believed that I should have become so much
attached to it."

" We become attached to any spot, Fred, in which
incidents have occurred to call forth frequently our
deeper feelings. These rocks and stones are inti-
mately associated with many events that have caused
you joy and sorrow, hope and fear, pain and happi-
ness. Men cherish the memory of such feelings,
and love the spots of earth with which they are
associated."

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" Ah, father, yonder stands one stone, at least, that
calls forth feelings of sorrow."

Fred pointed as he spoke to Store Island, which
was just passing '^ut of view. On this lonely spot the
men hac raised a large stone over the grave of Joseph
West. O'Riley, whose enthusiastic temperament had
caused him to mourn over his comrade more, perhaps,
than any other man in the ship, had carved the name
and date of his death in rude characters on the stone.
It was a conspicuous object on the low island, and
every eye in the Dolphin was fixed on it as they
passed. Soon the point of rock that had sheltered
them so long from many a westerly gale intervened
and shut it out from view for ever.

When man's prospects are at the worst, it often
happens that some unexpected success breaks on his
path like a bright sunbeam. Alas ! it often happens,
also, that when his hopes are high and his prospects
brightest, a dark cloud overspreads him like a funeral
pall. We might learn a lesson from this — the lesson
of dependence on that Saviour who careth for us, and
of trust in that blessed assurance that " all things
work together for good to them that love God."

A week of uninterrupted fair wind and weather
had carried the Dolphin far to the south of their
dreary wintering ground, and all was going well,
when the worst of all disasters befell the ship — she
caught fire! How it happened no one could tell.
The smoke was first seen rising suddenly from the
hold. Instantly the alarm was spread.

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907

" Firemen, to your posts i" shouted the captain,
" Man the water-buckets ! Steady, men ; no hurry.
Keep order."

" Ay, ay, sir," was the short, prompt response, and
the most perfect order was kept. Every command
was obeyed instantly with a degree of vigour that is
seldom exhibited save in cases of life and death.

Buzzby was at the starboard and Peter Grim at
the larboai*d gangway, while the men stood in two
rows, extending from each to the main hatch, up
which ever thickening clouds of dark smoke were
rolling. Bucket after bucket of water was passed
along and dashed into the hold, and everything that
could be done was done, but without effect. The
fire increaseil. Suddenly a long tongue of flame
issued from the smoking cavern, and lapped round
the mast and rigging with greedy eagerness.

" There's no hope," said Captain El lice in a low
voice, lajing his hand gently on Captain Guy's
shoulder.

The captain did not reply, but gazed with an ex-
pression of the deepest regret, for one moment, at the
work of destruction.

Next instant he sprang to the falls of the larboard
quarter-boat.

" Now, lads," he cried energetically, " get out the
boats. Bring up provisions, Mr. Bolton, and a couple
of spare sails. — Mr. Saunders, see to the ammunition
and muskets. Quick, men. The cabin will soon be
too hot to bold you."

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Setting the example, the captain sprang below,
followed by Fred and Tom Singleton, who secured
the charts, a compass, chronometer, and quadrant ;
/ilso the log-book and the various journals and records
of the voyage. Captain EUice also did active service,
and being cool and self-possessed he recollected and
secured several articles which were afterwards of the
greatest use, and which, but for him, would in such
a trying moment have probably been forgotten.

Meanwhile, the two largest boats in the ship were
lowered. Provisions, masts, sails, and oars, etc., were
thrown in. The few remaining dogs, among whom
were Dumps and Poker, were also embarked ; and
the crew hastily leaping in pushed off'. They were
not a moment too soon. The fire had reached the
place where the gunpowder was kept, and although
there was not a great quantity of it, there was enough
when it exploded to burst open the deck. The wind,
having free ingress, fanned the fire into a furious
blaze, and in a few moments the Dolphin was wrapped
in flames from stem to stern. It was a little after
sunset when the fire was discovered. In two hours
later the good ship was burned to the water's edge.
Then the waves swept in, and while they extinguished
thj fire they sank the blackened hull, leaving the two
crowded boats floating in darkness on the bosom of
the ice-laden sea.

CHAPTER XXV.

Escape to Upernavik— Letter from home — Mcctuck's grandmother— Duvxps

and Poker again.

FOR three long weeks the shipwrecked mariners
were buffeted by winds and waves in open
boats, but at last they were guided in safety through
all their dangers and vicissitudes to the colony of
Upernavik. Here they foTind several vessels on the
point of setting out for Europe, one of which was
bound for England, and in this vessel the crew of the
Dolphin resolved to ship.

Nothing of particular interest occurred at this
solitary settlement except one thing, but that one
thing was a great event, and deserves very special
notice. It was nothing less than the receipt of a
letter by Fred from his cousin Isobel ! Fred and
Isobel, having been brought up for several years to-
gether, felt towards each other like brother and sister.

Fred received the letter from the pastor of the
settlement shortly after landing, while his father and
the captain were on board the English brig making
arrangements for their passage home. He could
scarcely believe his eyes when he beheld the well-

Lfl

310

THE WORLD OF ICE.

known hand ; but having at last come to realize the
fact that he actually held a real letter in his hand, he
ddi ^ed behind one of the curious, primitive cottages to
read it. Here he was met by a squad of inquisitive
natives, so with a gesture of impatience he rushed to
another spot; but he was observed and followed by
half-a-dozcE Esquimau boys, and in despair he sought
refuge in the small church near which he chanced to
be. He had not been there a second, however, when
two old women came in, and, approaching him, began
to scan him with critical eyes. This was too much, so
Fred thrust the letter into his bosom, darted out, and
was instantly surrounded by a band of natives, who
began to question him in an unknown tongue. See-
ing that there was no other resource, Fred turned
round and fled towards the mountains at a pace that
defied pursuit, and, coming to a halt in the midst of a
rocky gorge that might have served as an illustration
of what chaos was, he sat down behind a big rock
to peruse Isobel's letter.

Having read it, he re-read it ; having re-read it, he
read it over again. Having read it over again, he
meditated a little, exclaiming several times emphati-
cally, " My darliTig Isobel," and then he read bits of
it here and there ; having done which, he read the
other bits, and so got through it again. As the letter
was a pretty long one, it took him a considerable
time to do all this. Then it suddenly occurred to him
that he had been thus selfishly keeping it all to him-
self instead of sharing it with his father ; so he started

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311

up and hastened back to the village, where he found
Captain Ellice in earnest confabulation with the pastor
of the place. Seizing his parent by the arm, Fred led
him into a room in the pastor's house, and, looking
round to make sure that it was empty, he sought to
bolt the door. But the uoor was a primitive one and
had no bolt, so Fred placed a huge old-fashioned chair
against it, and sitting down therein, while his father
took a seat opposite, he unfolded the letter, and yet
once again read it through.

The letter was about twelve months old, and ran
thus: —

" Gbayton, 25th July.

" My Darling Fred, — It is now two months since
you left us, and it seems to me two years. Oh, how
I do wish that you were back ! When I think of the
terrible dangers that you may be exposed to amongst
the ice my heart sinks, and I sometimes fear that we
shall never see you or your dear father again. But
you are in the hands of our Father in heaven, dear
Fred, and I never cease to pray that you may be suc-
cessful and return to us in safety. Dear, good old
Mr. Singleton told me yesterday that he had an
opportunity of sending to the Danish settlements in
Greenland, so I resolved to write, though I very much
doubt whether this will ever find you in such a wild
far-oflfland.

" Oh, when I think of where you are, all the
romantic stories I have ever read of Polar Regions
spring up before me, and you seem to be the hero of

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them all. But I must not waste my paper thus ; I
know you will be ar^'ious for news. I have very
little to give you, however. Good old Mr. Singleton
has been vei'y kind to us since you went away. He
comes constantly to see us, and comforts dear mamma
very much. Your friend, Dr. Singleton, will be glad
to hear that he is well and strong. Tell my friend
Buzzby that his wife sends her ' compliments ! ' I
laugh while I write the word. Yes, she actually
sends her * compliments ' to her husband. She is a
very stern but a really excellent woman. Mamma
and I visit her frequently when we chance to be in
the village. Her two boys are the finest little fellows
I ever saw. They are both so like each other that we
cannot tell which is which when they are apart, and
both are so like their father that we can almost fancy
we see him when looking at either of them.

" The last day we were there, however, they were
in disgrace, for Johnny had pushed Freddy into the
washing-tub, and Freddy, in revenge, had poured a
jug of treacle over Johnny's head ! I am quite sure
that Mrs. Buzzby is tired of being a widow — as she
calls herself — and will be very glad when her hus-
band comes back. But I must reserve chit-chat to
the end of my letter, and first give you a minute
account of all your friends."

Here followed six pages of closely-written quarto,
which, however interesting they might be to those
concerned, cannot be expected to afford much enter-

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313

tainment to our readers, so we will cut Isobel's letter
short at this point.

"Cap'n's ready to go aboord, sir," said O'Riloy,
touching his cap to Captain Ellice while he was yet
engaged in discussing the letter with his son. .

" Very good."

" An', plaze sir, av ye'll take the throuhle to look
in at Mrs. Meetuck in passin', it'll do yer heart good,
it will."

" Very well, we'll look in," replied the captain as he
quitted the house of the worthy pastor.

The personage whom O'Riley chose to style Mrs.
Meetuck was Meetuck's grandmother. That old lady
was an Esquimau, whose age might be algebraically
expressed as an unknown quantity. She lived in a
boat turned upside down, with a small window in the
bottom of it, and a hole in the side for a door. When
Captain Ellice and Fred looked in, the old woman,
who was a mere mass of bones and wrinkles, was
seated on a heap of moss beside a fire, the only
chimney to which was a hole in the bottom of the
boat. In front of her sat her grandson Meetuck, and
on a cloth spread out at her feet were displayed all
the presents with which that good hunter had been
loaded by his comrades of the Dolphin. Mjeetuck's
mother had died many years before, and all the affec-
tion in his naturally warm heart was transferred to,
and centred upon, his old grandmother. Meetuck's
chief delight in the gifts he received was in sharing
them, as far as possible, with the old woman. We say

814

THE WORLD OF ICE.

as far aa poaaihle, because some things could not be
shared with her, such as a splendid new rifle and a
silver-mounted hunting-knife and powder-horn, all of
which had been presented to him by Captain Guy
over and above his wages, as a reward for his valu-
able services. But the trinkets of every kind which
had been given to him by the men were laid at the
feet of the old woman, who looked at everything in
blank amazement, yet with a smile on her wrinkled
visage that betokened much satisfaction. Meetuck's
oily countenance beamed with delight as he sat puffing
his pipe in his grandmother's face. This little atten-
tion, we may remark, was paid designedly, for the old
woman liked it, and the youth knew that.

" They have enough to make them happy for the
winter," said Captain Ellice, as he turned to leave the
hut.

" Faix they have. There's only two things wantin'
to make it complate."

" What are they ? " inquired Fred.

'* Murphies and a pig, sure. That's all they need."

" Wot's come o' Dumps and Poker?" inquired Buzzby,
as they reached the boat

"Oh, I quite forgot them!" cried Fred. "Stay
a minute, I'll run up and find them. They can't be
far off."

For some time Fred searched in vain. At last he
bethought him of Meetuck's hut as being a likely spot
in which to find them. On entering he found the
couple as he had left them, the only difference being

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315

that the poor old woman seemed to be growing sleepy
over her joys.

" Have you seen Dumps or Poker anywhere ? " in-
quired Fred.

Meetuck nodded, and pointed to a corner, where,
comfortably rolled up on a mound of dry noss, lay
Dumps ; Poker, as usual, making use of him as a
pillow.

" Thems is go bed," said Meetuck.

" Thems must get up then and come aboard," cried
Fred, whistling.

At first the dogs, being sleepy, seemed indisposed to
move ; but at last they consented, and following Fred
to the beach, were soon conveyed aboard the ship.

Next day Captain Guy and his men bade Meetuck
and the kind, hospitable people of Upemavik fare-
well, and spreading their canvas to a fair breeze, set
sail for England.

CHAPTER XXVI.

The return— The surprise— Bu::f)it's saiiinr/s ami doin;/s—The narrative —
Fiiihtinij battles o'er ayain — Conclusion.

ONCE again we are on the end of the quay at
Grayton. As Fred stands there, all that has
occurred during the past year seems to him but a
vivid dream.

Captain Guy is there, and Captain Elliee, and
Buzzby, and Mrs. Buzzby too, and the two little
Buzzbys also, and Mrs. Bright, and Isobel, and Tom
Singleton, and old Mr. Singleton, and the crew of the
wrecked Dolphin, and, in short, the " whole world " —
of that part of the country.

It was a great day for Grayton that. It was a
wonderful day — quite aTi indescribable day ; but there
were also some things about it that made Captain
EUice feel, somehow, that it was a mysterious day,
for, while there were hearty congratulations, and
much sobbing for joy, on the part of Mrs. Bright,
there were also whisperings which puzzled him a good
deal.

" Come with me, brother," said Mrs. Bright, at
length, taking him by the arm, *' I have to tell you
something."

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817

Isobel, who was on the watch, joined them, and Fred
also went with them towards the cottage.

"Dear brother," said Mrs. Bright, "I -I—
Isobel, tell him. / cannot."

" What means all this mystery ? " said the captain
in an earnest tone, for he felt that they had something
serious to communicate.

" Dear uncle," said Is ^bt I " you remember the time
when the pirates attacked — "

She paused, for her uncle's look frightened her. -

" Go on, Isobel," he said quickly.

" Your dear wife, uncle, ivaa not lost at that time — "

Captain Ellice turned pale. " What mean you, girl ?
How came you to know this ? " Then a thought
flashed across him. Seizing Isobel by the shoulder
ho gasped, rather than said, " Speak quick — is — is she
alive ? "

" Yes, dear uncle, she — "

The captain heard no more. He would have fallen
to the ground had not Fred, who was almost as much
overpowered as his father, supported him. In a few
minutes he recovered, and he was told that Alice was
alive — in England — in the cottage. This was said as
they approached the door. Alice was aware of her
husband's arrival. In another moment husband and
wife and son were reunited.

Scenes of intense joy cannot be adequately described,
and there are meetings in this world which ought not
to be too closely touched upon. Such was the present.
We will therefore leave Captain Ellice and his wife

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and son to pour out the deep £eelin<;s of their hearts
to each other, and follow the footsteps of honest John
Buzzby, as he sailed down the village with his wife
and children, and a host of admiring friends in tow.

Buzzby's feelings had been rather powerfully stirred
up by the joy of all around, and a tear would occa-
sionally tumble over his weather-beaten cheek, and
hang at the point of his sunburnt and oft frost-bitten
nose, despite his utmost efforts to subdue such out-
rageous demonstrations.

" Sit down, John dear," said Mrs. Buzzby in kind
but commanding tones, when she got her husband
fairly into his cottage, the little parlour of which was
instantly crowded to excess. " Sit down, John dear,
and tell us all about it."

" Wot ! begin to spin the whole yarn o' the voyage
afore I've had time to say, * How d'ye do ? ' " exclaimed
Buzzby, at the same time grasping his two uproarious
sons, who had, the instant he sat down, rushed at his
legs like two miniature midshipmen, climbed up them
as if they had been two masts, and settled on his knees
as if they had been their own favourite cross-trees !

" No, John, not the yarn of the voyage," replied his
wife, while she spread the board before him with
bread and cheese and beer, "but tell us how you
found old Captain Ellice, and where, and what's
comed of the crew."

"Werrygood! then here goes "

Buzzby was a man of action. He screwed up his
weather-eye (the one next his wife, of course, that

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319

being the quarter from which squalls might be expected)
and began a yarn which lasted the better part of two
hours.

It is not to be supposed that Buzzby spun it off
without interruption. Besides the questions that
broke in upon him from all quarters, the two Buzzbys
junior scrambled, as far as was possible, into his
pockets, pulled his whiskers as if they had been
hoisting a main-sail therewith, and, generally, behaved
in such an obstreperous manner as to render coherent
discourse all but impracticable. He got through with
it, however ; and then Mrs. Buzzby intimated her wish,
pretty strongly, that the neighbours should vacate the
premises, which they did laughingly, pronouncing
Buzzby to be " a trump," and his better half " a true
blue."

" Good day, old chap," said the last who made his
exit ; " tiller's fixed agin — nailed amid-ships, eh ? "

" Hard and fast," replied Buzzby, with a broad grin,
as he shut the door and returned to the bosom of his
family.

Two days later a grand feast was given at Mrs.
Bright's cottage, to which all the friends of the family
were invited to meet with Captain Ell ice and those
who had returned from their long and perilous voyage.
It was a joyful gathering that, and glad and grateful
hearts were there.

Two days later still, and another feast was given.
On this occasion Buzzby was the host, and Buzzby's
cottage was the scene. It was a joyful meeting, too,

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and a jolly one to boot, for O'Riley was there, and
Peter Grim, and Amos Parr, and David Mizzle, and
Mivins — in short, the entire crew of the lost Dolphin —
captain, mates, surgeon, and all. Fred and his father
were also there, and old Mr. Singleton, and a number
of other friends, so that all the rooms in the house
had to be thrown open, and even then Mrs. Buzzby
had Jjarely room to move. It was on this occasion
that Buzzby related to his shipmates how Mrs. Ellice
had escaped from drowning on the night they were
attacked by pirates on board the West Indiaman.
He took oc^ri /n to relate the circumstances just before
the " people from the house " arrived, and as the reader
may perhaps prefer Buzzby's account to ours, we give
it as it was delivered.

" You see, it happened this way," began Buzzby.

" Hand us a coal, Buzzby, to light my pipe, before
ye begin," said Peter Grim.

" Ah ! then, howld yer tongue, Blunderbore," cried
O'Riley, handing the glowing coal demanded, with as
much nonchalance ^s if his fingers were made of
cast-iron.

" Well, ye see," rtsa* iied Buzzby, " when poor Mrs.
Ellice wos pitched overboard, as I seed her with my
own two eyes — "

" Stop, Buzzby," said Mivins ; " 'ow was 'er *ead at
the time ? " .

" Shut up, Mivins," cried several of the men ; " go
on, Buzzby."

" Well, I think her 'ead wos sou'-west, if it warn't

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321

■ .

nor'-east. Anyhow it wos pintin' somewhere or other
round the compass. But, as I wos sayin', when Mrs.
EUiee struck the water (an' she told me all about it
liei*self, ye must know) she sank, and then she corned
up, and didn't know how it wos, but she caught liold
of an oar that wos floatin' close beside her, and
screamed for help ; but no help came, for it wos dark,
and the ship had disappeared, so she gave herself up
for lost. But in a little the oar struck agin a big piece
o' the wi*eck o' the pirate's boat, and she managed to
clamber upon it, and lay there, a'most dead with cold,
till mornin'. The lirst thing she saw when day broke
forth wos a big ship, bearin' right down on her, and
she wos jist about run down when one o' the men
observed her from the bow.

" ' Hard a-port ! ' roared the man.

" ' Port it is/ cried the man at the wheel, an' round
went the ship like a duck, jist missin' the bit of
wreck as she passed. A boat wos lowered, and Mrs.
EUice wos took aboard. Well, she found that the
ship wos bound for the Sandwich Islands, and as
they didn't mean to touch at any port in passin', Mrs.
Ellice hatl to go on with her. Misfortins don't come
single, howsiver. The ship wos wrecked on a coral
reef, and the crew had to take to their boat."?, which
they did, an' got safe to land ; but the land they got
to wos an out-o'-the-way island among the Feejees,
and a spot where ships never come, so they had to
make up their minds to stop there."

" I thought," said Amos Parr, " that the Feejees

322

THE WORLD OF ICE.

were cannibals, and that whoever was wrecked or cast
ashore on their coasts was killed and roasted, and eat
up at once."

" So y ij're right," rejoined Buzzby ; " but Providence
sent the crew to one o' the islands that had bin visited
by a native Christian missionary from one o' the other
islands, and the people had gin up some o' their worst
practices, and wos thinkin' o' turnin' over a new leaf
altogether. So the crew wos spared, and took to
livin' among the natives, quite comfortable like. But
they soon got tired and took to their boats agin, and
left. Mrs. Ellice, however, determined to remain and
help the native Christians, till a ship should pass that
way. For three years nothin' but canoes hove in
sight o' that lonesome island ; then, at last, a brig
came, and cast anchor off shore. It wos an Australian
trader that had been blown out o' her course on her
way to England, so they took poor Mrs. Ellice aboard,
and brought her home — and that's how it wos."

Buzzby's outline, although meagre, is so comprehen-
sive that we do not think it necessary to add a word.
Soon after he had concluded, the guests of the even-
ing came in, and the conversation became general.

" Buzzby's jollification," as it was called in the
village, was long remembered as one of the most
interesting events th«it had occurred for many years.
One of the chief amusements of the evening was the
spinning of long yarns about the incidents of the
late voyage, by men who could spin them well.

Their battles in the Polar Seas were all fought over

THE WORLD OF ICE.

323

again. The wondering listeners were told how Esqui-
maux were chased and captured ; how walruses were
lanced and harpooned ; how bears were speared and
shot ; how long and weary journeys were undertaken
on foot over immeasurable fields of ice and snow ;
how icebergs had crashed around their ship, and
chains had been snapped asunder, and tough anchors
had been torn from the ground or lost ; how schools
had been set agoing and a theatre got up ; and how,
provisions having failed, rats were eaten — and eaten,
too, with gusto. All this and a great deal more was
told on that celebrated night — sometimes by one,
sometimes by another, and sometimes, to the con-
fusion of the audience, by two or three at once, and,
not unfrequently, to the still greater confusion of
story-tellers and audience alike, the whole proceed-
ings were interrupted by the outrageous yells and tur-
moil of the two indomitable young Buzzbys, as they
romped in reckless joviality with Dumps and Poker.
But at length the morning light broke up the party,
and stories of the World of Ice came to an end.

And now, reader, our tale is told. But we cannot
close without a parting word in regard to those with
whom we have held intercourse so long.

It must not be supposed that from this date every-
thing in the affairs of our various friends flowed on
in a tranquil, uninterrupted course. This world is a
battle-field, on which no warrior finds rest until he
dies ; and yet, to the Christian warrior on that field,

324

THE WORLD OF ICE.

tho hour of death is the hour of victory. '•' Change "
is written in broad letters on everything connected
with Time ; and he who would do his duty w^ell, and
enjoy the greatest possible amount of happiness here,
must seek to prepare himself for every change. Men
cannot escape the general law. The current of their
particular stream may long run smooth, but sooner or
later the rugged channel and the precipice will come.
Some streams run quietly for many a league, and only
at the last are troubled. Others burst from their very
birth on rocks of difficulty, and rush, throughout their
course, in tortuous, broken channels.

So was it with the actors in our story. Our hero's
course was smooth. Having fallen in love with his
friend Tom Singleton's profession, he studied medicine
and surgery, became an M.D., and returned to practise
in Gray ton, which was a flourishing sea-port, and,
during the course of Fred's career, extended consider-
ably. Fred also fell in love with a pretty young girl
in a neighbouring town, and married her. Tom
Singleton also took up his abode in Grayton, there
being, as he said, " room for two." Ever since Tom
had seen Isobel on the end of the quay, on the day
when the Dolphin set sail for the Polar Regions, his
heart had been taken prisoner. Isobel refused to give
it back unless he, Tom, should return the heart which
he had stolen from her. This he could not do, so it
was agreed that the two hearts should be tied to-
gether, and they two should be constituted joint
guardians of both. In short, they were married, and

THE WORLD OF ICE.

325

took Mrs. Bright to live with them, not far from the
residence of old Mr. Singleton, who was the fattest
and jolliest old gentleman in the place, and the very-
idol of dogs and boys, who loved him to distraction.

Captain Ellice, having had, as he said, " more than
his share of the s6a," resolved to live on shore, and,
being possessed of a moderately comfortable income,
he purchased Mrs. Bright's cottage on the green hill
that overlooked the harbour and the sea. Here he
became celebrated for his benevolence, and for the
energy with which he entered into all the schemes
that were devised for the benefit of the town of
Grayton. Like Tom Singleton and Fred, he became
deeply interested in the conaition of the poor, and
had a special weakness for jpoor old ivomen, which
he exhibited by searching up, and doing good to,
every poor old woman in the parish. Captain Ellice
was also celebrated for his garden, which was a re-
markably fine one ; for his flagstaflf, which was a
remarkably tall and magnificent one ; and for his tele-
scope, which constantly protruded from his drawing-
room window, and pointed in the direction of the sea.

As for the others — Captain Guy continued his
career at sea as commander of an East Indiaman.
He remained stout and true-hearted to the last, like
one of the oak timbers of his own good ship.

Bolton, Saunders, Mivins, Peter Grim, Amos Parr,
and the rest of them, were scattered in a few years,
as sailors usually are, to the four quarters of the
globe. O'Riley alone was heard of again. He wrote

326

THE WORLD OF ICE.

to Buzzby " by manes of the ritin' he had larn'd
aboord the Dolfin," informing him that he had for-
saken the "say" and become a small farmer near
Cork. He had plenty of murphies and also a pig —
the latter " bein' " he said, " so like the wan that
belonged to his owld grandmother, that he thought it
must be the same wan eomed alive agin, or its darter."

And Buzzby — poor Buzzby — he also gave up the
sea, much against his will, by command of his wife,
and took to miscellaneous work, of which there was
plenty for an active man in a sea-pori like Grayton.
His rudder, poor man, was again (and this time per-
manently) lashed amid-ships, and whatever breeze Mrs.
Buzzby chanced to blow, his business was to sail right
before it. The two little Buzzby s were the joy of
their father's heart. They were genuine little true-
blues, both of them, and went to sea the moment
their legs were long enough, and came home, voyage
after voyage, with gifts of curiosities and gifts of
money to their worthy parents.

Dumps resided during the remainder of his days
with Captain Ellice, and Poker dwelt with Buzzby
These truly remarkable dogs kept up their attach-
ment to each other to the end. Indeed, as time passed
by, they drew closer and closer together, for Poker
became more sedate, and, consequently, a more suit-
able companion for his ancient friend. The dogs
formed a connecting link between the Buzzby and
Ellice families — constantly reminding each of the
other's existence by the daily interchange of visits.

THE WORLD OF ICK.

327

Fred and Tom sooj came to be known as the best
doctors with which that part of the country had ever
been blessed. And the secret of their success lay-
in this, that while they ministered to the diseased
bodies of men, they also ministered to their diseased
souls. With skilful hands they sought to arrest the
progress of decay ; but when all their remedies failed,
they did not merely cease their efforts and retire —
they turned to the pages of divine truth, and directed
the gaze of the dying sufferers to Jesus Christ, the
Great Physician of souls. When death had done its
work, they did not quit the mourning household as
if they were needed ihere no longer, but kneeling
down with the bertaved, they prayed to Him who
alone can bind up the broken heart, and besought the
Holy Spirit to comfort the stricken ones in their deep
I Miction.

Thus Fred and his friend went hand in hand to-
gether, respected and blessed by all who knew them
— each year as it passed cementing closer and closer
that undying friendship which had first started into
being in the gay season of boyhood, and had bloomed
and ripened amid the adventures, dangers, and vicis-
situdes of the World of Ice.

THE END.

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General Grant's Life. (From the
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General Grant's Life. (From the
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7%e gnat priHciiiles of action which,
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No Cross no Crown. A Tale of
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Masters of the Situation ; or.
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JS.

or, Tha
iiices. A
r E. Van

" Lionel
By Uphill
Jvo, cloth

li Without
rHUR. II-
oth extra.

cannot he
> are engaged
ing duties of

Work for

i for Boys.

Foolscap

s. 2s.
s and adven-
ircumstances
stormy coa^t.

of Trials
lie Author
Sequel to,
1 lUustra-
loth extra,

iiel to "Culm
oil Trafford,
fair promise

quest; or,
o ? Fools-

a lad under
oriant lesson
is the victory

Boyhood.

tra. 2s.
, in spite of
the contrary,
)les in which
^ Christian

)nK.