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Steve Young, a fiction by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 20. No Man's Land |
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_ CHAPTER TWENTY. NO MAN'S LAND The cold pierced Steve through and through, as he hurriedly shook himself together; and his first thought now was to help Captain Marsham, who was utterly prostrate from anxiety, want of sleep, and long exposure. "I shall be all right, my lad," he said kindly, "as soon as I've had some hot tea and a nap. It was a long fight, but the storm is over. The wind swept round, and we've been carried north with the ice, which has been ripped up into endless lanes of clear water. As soon as I can take an observation we shall see where we are." Their talking roused the doctor, who sprang up to reproach himself after Steve's fashion. "I am so ashamed, Marsham!" he cried warmly. "For doing your duty as a non-combatant man?" replied the captain, smiling. "Nonsense! You did me the greatest service you could by keeping out of my way." In a short time the sailor who acted the part of steward appeared, to show that the routine of the ship, interrupted by that fearful storm, had been resumed, and that the cook had his galley fire going; for a good breakfast was spread upon the table, after which Steve hurried out on deck, leaving the captain to have an hour or two's rest. He gazed about him wonderingly, his eyes dazzled by the brilliant light; for the sun was shining brightly, and flashing and sparkling from the ice and snow floating in every direction and in motion in the water, which appeared by contrast absolutely black. The _Hvalross_ was under steam, for the ropes and sails were thickly coated with ice and snow; but the aim of the man who was now on the bridge was not to attempt progress so much as to avoid coming in contact with the masses and fields of ice which from time to time threatened to close in around and crush her like a shell. For there were masses of ice from the size of one of the boats right up to detached fields that were hundreds of yards across; and feeling as if they had escaped a horrible danger, and in perfect ignorance of the fact that their position was as perilous as ever, Steve feasted his eyes on the glorious spread of fantastic beauty before him, and felt as if he had just awakened in a world where everything was silver, even to the vessel in which he sailed. There were no towering icebergs such as are encountered floating in the Atlantic, for the ice here consisted of the broken-up surface of the frozen sea, the largest pieces not being twenty feet in height, and looking, from their irregularity, as if one field had been forced over another by the rushing waters, which ripped and tore and broke up the ice barrier at whose edge they had so often sailed. But these pieces exhibited every shade of lovely blue, side by side with the glittering as of crystallised silver, for their inequalities were in places covered with soft powdery snow such as three of the men were scraping up and brushing from the deck and tops of the deckhouses where it lay piled. Forward the sturdy Norsemen were standing armed with hitchers and poles, which they held ready to try and ease off the floating masses of ice, to keep them from driving hard on to the ship's bows, with the result that generally the _Hvalross_ was spared a heavy concussion, and the blocks went scraping along the sides. Every now and then there was a loud crushing up of the smaller pieces between the larger, some being shivered to atoms, while others were forced upward one above another, explaining the noises heard in the cabin; and soon after Steve had another startling experience in the splitting across of a great field of ice, which, consequent upon the undulating motion given by the sea, snapped with a noise like thunder; and this was followed by crashing and splitting of a nature that gave appalling evidence of the power of nature under circumstances like these. "Well, Mr Steve," said the mate, as the lad mounted to the bridge beside him. "Mind; it's very slippery here." "I've found that out," said the boy merrily; for he had hurt his shin in climbing the icy steps of the ladder. "Yes, it is awkward. Well, what do you think of this?" "Wonderful! Grand!" cried the boy. "Never saw anything so beautiful before." "Oh yes, very beautiful," said the mate grimly; and Steve saw how haggard and weary he looked. "But I could do with a little less beauty and more open water, my lad." "Yes; it is awkward to steer amongst all this." "Very," said the mate drily, as there was a sharp concussion against a great floating piece of ice, which the strong prow of the _Hvalross_, cased with iron to meet such contingencies, cut in two as if it had been snow. "You like it, then?" said the mate. "Like it! Why, it's grander than anything I can imagine." "Yes; grand enough to crush up the _Hvalross_ like an eggshell," muttered the mate. "Yes; but you'll take care it does not!" cried Steve, smiling. "She would go to pieces on rocks, but you and the captain will mind that she does not." The mate's grim, weary face brightened into a smile, and he clapped one of his fur-gloved hands on Steve's shoulder. "Bravo, boy!" he said. "It's a fine thing to be your age, full of hope and confidence. Yes, we'll do our best not to get crushed; but it's a very awkward position to be in." "Why?" said Steve. "The storm's over." "Yes, the storm's over; but look where we are drifting north with all this. Suppose we come to the stationary ice, with all these great floes behind us?" "Well, what then?" "What then?" said the mate, with a laugh at this questioner's innocence. "Why, the drifting ice behind us, pressed forward with a power of millions of tons, will force us against the fixed ice, and then we shall either be lifted right out of the water, or go, as I said, like an eggshell." "Ah! but that's only what might happen," said Steve. "I say, though, Mr Lowe, whereabouts are we? Not up by the North Pole?" "No," said the mate, smiling as he gave a look round, shading his eyes with his hand; "I don't see it sticking up out of the snow. We're not anywhere near the North Pole, but I can give a pretty shrewd guess as to where we are." "Can you?" "We've been driven right through the opened-up ice somewhere a long way east and north of Spitzbergen. I should say about where land was sighted in one of the expeditions up beyond Gillis Land, toward where the Austrians saw a coast which they called Franz Josef." "Ah!" "I don't say that's it; but we're somewhere thereabouts, and--" He stopped short to use his glass for a few minutes, Steve watching him impatiently. "Yes," he said at last, "there's land yonder." "Where? amongst that ice?" "Yes; look," said the mate, handing the glass; "right in the nor'-east yonder. There's land miles away. Quite mountainous. See it?" "I can see a glittering pyramid of ice; yes, and a big, heavy mass beside it." "That's right; that's it." "But it's ice and snow, not land." "The land's under it, my lad," said the mate. "The ice and snow don't pile up like that without something to stand on. The captain ought to know this; but he's so done up I wouldn't wake him. He could do no good if he came on deck." "Then shall you make for that land?" "Yes; there's nothing else to be done. We must go forward now, as there's open water. All astern is ice, where we should certainly be nipped. That's safety for us if we can steam there, for we should be sure to find some cove or fiord, and shelter from the pressure of the ice." "But suppose we should get into a fiord, and the ice blocked us in, what then?" said Steve, more anxiously. "Why, then we should have to wait till it opened again and let us out." "But it might be a long time." "Perhaps so; but that's better than getting our ship crushed, eh?" "Of course," said Steve; and soon after he went down to talk to the Norsemen forward, the momentary depression at the idea of being shut in having passed away. There was a low, whimpering muttering as he neared the galley, the door of which was ajar, and he heard the cook say angrily: "Look here, sir, if you don't stop that snivelling, I'll stand you outside to let the tears freeze. I'm not going to have you turning on the rain here. Do you want to put my fire out?" "Aw canna help it," said Watty piteously. "Aw was thenking aboot my mither." "Thinking about your 'mither,' you great calf! Well, other people think about their 'mithers,' but they don't go on blubbering when they've got some potatoes to wash. Hullo! Tut, tut, tut! They'll have to go overboard. Here, take these from close by the stove. Those others are frozen." "She never meant me to come oop here in the cauld to be starved to death." "What?" cried the cook. "Eh? Oh, it's you, Mr Steve. How are you, sir? Managed to get you a good breakfast this morning." "Yes, thank you. It was grand. What's the matter with Watty Links?" "Why, sir, he had a lot of biscuits and fried bacon an hour ago, and a quart of hot coffee to wash it all down, and now he says that his 'mither' never meant him to come up here to be starved." "I didn't!" cried Watty angrily. "I never said a word aboot eatin' and drinkin'. I said 'starved wi' the cauld.'" "Hey, but you're a poor, weak, sappy kind of a fellow," cried the cook. "There's precious little solid meat on you, I'm afraid. Going, Mr Steve, sir?" "Yes, I must be off." "Right, sir. Roast venison for dinner to-day. The deer meat will be prime." Steve nodded, and was turning away, when his eyes encountered those of the boy, who had evidently forgotten all about his "mither," and was grinning at him derisively, and in a way which made Steve's fingers tingle to tighten up into a fist and teach the lad a lesson. But he went out and shut the door, before going forward to where the four Norwegians were fending off the ice. "Morning," he cried; and the great, sturdy fellows greeted him with a pleasant smile on their grave faces. "Glad to see you out and well, Mr Steve," said Johannes; and the others uttered something which was evidently meant as acquiescence in their companion's greeting. "Oh, I'm all right," said Steve, "only a bit cold; but I say, have all you chaps had plenty of breakfast?" "Plenty, sir, plenty!" they cried, as they levelled their poles to meet the charge of a great block which was coming on to them. The concussion staggered them a little, but the mass of ice was turned aside, and they had a few minutes' respite. "What an awful storm!" said Steve. "Yes, sir, it was. The worst we were ever in," replied Johannes; "but it's brought us close up to a grand land for hunting." "What, that land over yonder?" cried Steve, pointing. "Yes, sir. It's many years since any one reached that land, if it ever was reached, and we're thinking all of us that the walrus will be there in herds." "But did Mr Lowe tell you that was land yonder?" "No, sir; we saw him pointing with his glass, and Jakobsen there has wondrous eyes; he could see the tops of the mountains when he looked. There's good coming out of evil, sir; and you'll see we shall load up with oil when we get there." "But do you really think we shall find the sea-horses there. I want to see a walrus." "We feel sure of it, sir, because they have been hunted and driven back farther and farther every year of late; and we all felt that they must have retired to somewhere farther north, and by a great stroke of good fortune the ice has opened enough for us to get there." "Then the storm was all for the best, Johannes?" "Yes, sir, I hope so," said the man, joining another in sending off a great block as he spoke. "But I say," said Steve anxiously, "suppose we get frozen up there, and can't get back." "We don't talk like that, sir, at the beginning of summer out here," said the Norseman. "If it was September, it would be different. We've got nearly three months for the ice to keep on melting and breaking up." "Yes, I see, and a better chance for exploring and searching for the _Ice Blink_!" "Yes, sir, of course," said the man, with a slight change in his voice; and Steve left them to go and talk to Andrew and Hamish, who were both aft, the latter being at the wheel. "They don't think we shall ever find the poor fellows," thought Steve sadly. "I could see it in their looks when I spoke. But they can't tell any more than I can; and, for all we know, they may be frozen-in, waiting for the ice to break up. Yes; as it has broken up, so that we may come across them at any time." Just then he encountered the doctor in a heavy sheep-skin coat. He had been in the cabin. "Captain's sleeping like a top," said the doctor. "I've been to see. Couldn't you and I relieve Mr Lowe here?" He looked up as he spoke, for they were just below the bridge, and the mate leaned over and spoke. "No, thank you, gentlemen," he said. "I can stand it for a couple of hours longer, and then the captain will wake up and relieve me. You could not con the vessel through this ice, and there's only one man on board to whom I'd give up my place--the captain." "We seem very helpless people here. Let's go and talk to our two Scotch friends. But look here, my lad, hadn't you better get on a fur coat?" "I'm not cold," replied Steve; and they went on to the man by the wheel, where Andrew greeted them with a grin. "The pipes are a' recht, Meester Steve," he said. "She'll like to hear them the noo?" "I don't believe they'd go." "She ton't pelief they'd go?" "No. The potatoes were frozen in the cook-house, and I'll be bound to say they're spoiled." Andrew McByle's face was a study as he looked from the speaker forward, and then turned hastily to Hamish. "She'll mind ta wheel her nainsel," he said huskily, "while she goes to see aboot her pipes." He turned to Steve again, and saw the twinkle in the lad's eye. "She's lairfin'!" he cried. "The pipes are quite safe a' wrapped oop in her auld plaidie"; and he shook his head and laughed heartily. "Look!" cried Hamish excitedly, pointing to their right. "What is it?" "A seal. Ay, there's twa bonnie laddies. Look at them watching us, and looking like twa bodies after having a swim." Steve did not see the animals at once, for a piece of ice intervened. The next moment, though, they came into sight, where they lay upon the snow, and raised their round heads to gaze at the ship. "No wonder that some of the old mariners who first saw these large seals fancied that there were mermen and mermaids at sea," said the doctor, as they watched the peculiar semi-human faces of the creatures gazing at them with their great, soft eyes. "You might almost fancy, if you saw one of them looking over a rock at you at a little distance, that it was some kind of savage." "Yes, but it would have to keep its body out of sight." "She has never seen the walrus, then?" said Andrew. "Only a stuffed specimen." "Nay, she tidn't say a stuff spessaman; she said ta walrus, sir." "No, I never saw a live walrus," said the doctor, smiling. "Then she'll just wait a wee till she sees a big bull walrus lift her het oot o' ta watter and look, and she'll say tat she's seen a chiant having a swim." The captain came on deck about an hour after with the haggard, drawn look gone out of his face, and he mounted the bridge at once to the mate, who handed him the glass, and Steve saw him take a long look to the north-east before closing the telescope. Directly after Mr Lowe descended and fetched the instruments to take their observations, with the result that soon after the mate went below for a rest, leaving the captain to direct the movements of the vessel. There was so much open water around them now, and so direct a channel toward the land, while all the rest of the space about them was hemmed in with ice drifting northward, that to go to the north coast was the least perilous course. "I should like to get an observation from the crow's-nest," said the captain, looking upward, "but everything is so coated with ice and slippery that I hardly like to send a man aloft." "I'll go!" cried Steve eagerly. The captain shook his head. "Too dangerous, my lad," he said. "But you did not tell us where you made out we had been driven," said the doctor, as Steve stood looking up at the ratlines thick with ice, and the glassy look of shroud and stay, while great icicles hung from the tops and yards. "I beg your pardon," said the captain. "I was thinking of the land yonder. I make out that we have been driven right up to 82 degrees north latitude and about 45 east longitude." "But what does that mean?" said Steve, laughing. "Not very far from being as near to the North Pole as any one has reached in this direction," said the captain, "and that we are close to land that in all probability man has never set foot upon yet." "Hooray!" cried Steve excitedly. "We have come north at an exceptional time. Generally the icy barrier stops all progress. This year that storm has broken it up in masses, and it is quite possible that we may be able to penetrate farther yet." "To the North Pole?" cried Steve. "No," said the captain, smiling. "My dear boy, you have North Pole on the brain. Would you be ready to go with me if I said that I would try and penetrate the ice as far as I could?" "Of course," cried Steve. "But you have no confidence in me, sir." "What do you mean?" "You will not let me go up even to the crow's-nest to use the glass." "Yes, I will, my lad," replied the captain. "Take the glass and go up. But warily, mind. No excitement. You will be quite cool?" "Yes," cried Steve, snatching at the glass and starting for the main-mast shrouds. "Stop!" cried the captain. "Come here." _ |
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