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Steve Young, a fiction by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 26. The Doctor's Shot |
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_ CHAPTER TWENTY SIX. THE DOCTOR'S SHOT Captain Marsham had given his orders over-night, and hence the steam was up by breakfast time, and directly after that meal the vessel was gliding northward with her propeller churning up the deep water into a silvery foam, while two ever-extending waves ran toward the sides of the fiord, and broke upon the perpendicular rocks which ran down into deep water. Steve felt a little regret at quitting their anchorage, till he recalled that there was an equally beautiful one at the foot of the frozen fall; and he had just come to the conclusion that it was a very wise change, for it suggested imprisonment to be shut in on three sides by the towering rocks and the piled-up ice-floes, when the captain said to Mr Handscombe: "This will be a wonderful change for the better." "But you will not go on loading the vessel with oil now?" said the doctor. "Why not? We shall have grand opportunities to do that, and make expeditions inland as well, on the chance of finding that our friends may also have been driven up here." "But the vessel--we can never extricate her, so why load her?" "Because the chances here are so many. It looks at the first blush as if the vessel is bound to stay here till she has rotted and the engine rusted away, but we are not going to despair. Who could, in weather like this, eh, Steve?" "Of course not," said the boy. "Why, we can set to work and build a ship big enough to carry us back to Norway out of the planks, if the ice behind us does not melt." The captain nodded, and then he resumed his task of keeping a sharp look-out forward in search of rocks, but his search was vain, for the water was immensely deep and clear, and they reached the open part of the fiord, and cast anchor a short distance away from the mouth of the black chasm and in full view of the glacier. This promised to give them shelter from the first northern gale which blew, though one of the lateral valleys looked threatening, and as if the wind could rush along it like a blast roaring through a pipe; but as that was below their anchorage, it was not likely to affect them much. The anchor then went down in deep water, and as if they had only to sail out up the fiord at any time they liked, the captain had two boats lowered, and giving the mate charge of one, he led the way in the other to the mouth of the chasm, while the men, with their lances and harpoons on board, tugged eagerly at the oars, ready and willing for their first attack upon the oil-yielding animals of the northern seas. Success attended them on getting to the more open water at the end of the chasm, for, after a little searching, the continuation was found right at the back of a huge mass of rock, and, clearing this obstacle, the men rowed on, to plunge into brief darkness again beneath the long stretch of ice arches. Then came a good, steady pull and a cheer, for the boats were out in clear water in the wide channel which ran up between the ice-bound shore and the floe. As they rowed out in the open water the men looked disappointed, and Steve, who was in the bows of the first boat with Johannes and Jakobsen, had to listen to the Scotch sailors' banter, spoken to the Norwegians sometimes, but more often at the lad himself. "Hahmeesh laddie," said Andrew McByle, "if she hadna baith hands at the oar, she'd get out ta sneeshin'. Gie me a pinch. Hah! Ferry goot, laddie, ferry goot," he continued, after helping himself to a pinch of snuff, and being able to use his hands for that. "She'll hae chust ane more wee bit. Hah! Tak' the box back, as she'll pe for finishing it a'." They rowed on for a little while, with Hamish staring about and Andrew giving an occasional snort of contempt. "See annything, Hahmeesh?" "Na, naething." "Naething it is, laddie. Hech! And I thocht after a' she'd heard tell tat the sea was chust alive wi' the walrus and seal, and bear lived a' along like wee birdies on the rocks." "Hey, to hear a' they said," grumbled Hamish, "she'd think sae. Ant there's as many walrus coos and bulls here as ye see in ta Firth o' Clyde if ye gang oop ta Glasgie." "Ye're recht, laddie," said Andrew, "chust as many. Why, it's petter in ta Clyde, for she can see a porpoise pig, and there's naething here but watter and ice. Wha are we gaen?" "She canna tell," said Hamish. "She's thinkin' it's to pring the lang tyke oot for a ride." "If you call my collie a 'lang tyke,' Hamish, I'll set him at you. Here, Skeny. Css!" The dog started up from where he had been lying in the bows, looked in his master's face, and uttered a low growl. "Na, she wadna set the tog at a man, Hahmeesh," said Andrew with a sly grin. "Not that there's muckle bite spout the tog. What made ye pring her to sea at a', Meester Steve?" "To bite impudent people's legs," said Steve gruffly. "Na, she wadna dae tat," cried Andrew. "Put, Meester Steve, wha' are a' the walrus gane tae?" "To sleep, perhaps." Andrew chuckled. "Look here, laddie, she winna say a wort to anny one, but ye'll chust tell the truth to a man. She tidna see anny walrus yesterday at a'?" "I'm not going to try and make you believe if you don't care to," said Steve. "Put she chust wants to know. Come noo, ye tidna see anny, and it was a chust flim-flam and mak'-believe." "There were plenty here yesterday," said Steve. "Then where are they gane the?" "Why didn't you bring your pipes and play? You'd have soon seen where they were." "Ay!" said Andrew seriously. "Chust a wee lilt o' the pipes might pring the creatures oot o' their holes. There was a man ance, Apollo they ca'd him, as played on the pipes, an' a' the bit beasties cam' roond to listen; and she'll pe thenking that a' that time back the pipes would pe ferry safage like, and a mon like tat not aple to play like we play the noo." This was said so innocently and in such good faith that Steve could hardly keep his countenance. "Chah! She's ferry sorry she tidna pring the pipes. There was plenty room in ta poat." "But there's no room out here for the noise," cried Steve, laughing. "Tid she hear tat?" said Andrew, turning his head to speak to Hamish. "She ca'd the music noise. Ah, laddie, ye'll ken mair spout the music when ye're a muckle bit more auld. It's a ferry crant thing the music, and she'll pe ferry sorry some tay that she crinned at the pipes." "R-r-r-r-ra!" growled Skene, leaping upward so as to place his paws on Steve's shoulders; and then he barked loudly as he gazed at the ice-floe on their left. "Keep that dog quiet, Steve," said the captain; "he'll scare the walrus." Andrew's head went down with his chin upon his breast, and he gave Steve an exasperating, sly look as the lad tried to quiet the dog. "Do you hear? Keep him quiet! We ought not to have brought him." "She winna skear ta walrus," whispered Andrew, "for there are nane." "The dog sees something yonder," said Johannes. "Yes, there! He sees a bear close up in that break in the ice." "A bear!" cried the captain excitedly. "Well done, dog! We should have passed it." The rifles were seized, and their eyes shaded to catch a glimpse of the white-furred animal hiding in one of the crevices of the ice cliff until the boat had passed. But the glitter of the snow made the task difficult till they were much nearer, and then it was seen to be lying at full length just clear of the water, and with its head well up, apparently enjoying the warm sunshine and seizing a favourable opportunity for a good sleep. Rifles were held ready for a shot as the men rowed in till they were within a hundred yards, without the bear, which was a monster, taking the slightest notice of the boat, and then the captain said: "Cease rowing the moment I hold up my hand. Johannes, Jakobsen, have your spears ready; the brute may swim off and attack the boat when it is wounded." "We are quite ready, sir," said the Norwegian in a whisper; and he and his companion gently raised the heads of their spears from where the weapons were lying along the thwarts. "Good. Now, Steve, we'll get in another fifty yards if we can, and then rest on our oars. You shall have the first shot. Do you know where to aim?" "About six inches behind his eye, sir." "Nonsense, boy!" cried the captain sharply. "Fire right at the brute's shoulder, sending the bullet through the shoulder-blade to the heart." "Yes, sir," said Steve; and he turned to Johannes. "You told me to shoot six inches behind the eye," he whispered. "At a walrus, sir; not at a bear." By this time they were about fifty yards away from the bear, which had not stirred. The captain raised his hand, and the men ceased dipping their oars, the boat gliding forward a short distance, and then coming to a stand. "Now, Steve! Quick!" "I--I don't care to fire," whispered the lad. "Bah! What do you mean?" "The bear's asleep, and it seems so cowardly." "I'm not so particular about a dangerous beast," said the doctor; and, kneeling in the stem of the boat, he rested his elbows on the gunwale, took a long aim, and fired, the bullet striking the bear's shoulder with a dull thud. "Well done! splendid shot!" cried the captain. "Right to the heart. The brute hardly moved." But, all the same, as the smoke rose he stood ready to send another shot at the monster if it should prove only to be stunned. "Here, doctor," he said, "give him the other barrel, so as to make sure. I don't want any one to be clawed." The doctor, nothing loth, took aim again, and fired his second cartridge, this bullet also taking effect; but the bear did not move. "Dead enough," said the captain. "Give way, my lads." The men pulled, and the boat was rowed right up to a tiny valley in the ice, which just gave them room to land and group round the monstrous bear, the gentlemen with their guns ready for a shot, the two Norwegians with their spears over their shoulders. The doctor's eyes sparkled with delight, for this bear also was a magnificent specimen, with enormously long, fine hair, decidedly whiter than the coat of the brute they had destroyed at Jan Mayen. "I did not know that you were such a shot, Handscombe," said the captain. "Oh, a mere accident," said the doctor modestly. "Wasn't it a pity you let your chance go, Steve?" "Oh, I don't mind," said the lad, planting his foot on the bear's shoulder, and stooping to look for the wound. Then he started, and glanced at Johannes, who, like Jakobsen, stood leaning on his spear. He read confirmation in the man's quiet eyes, and he turned round excitedly to his companions. "Why, the bear's dead!" he cried. "Of course it is," said the captain, laughing. "We should not be standing here if it were not." "But I mean dead before Mr Handscombe fired!" "What!" cried the doctor, flushing red, while the captain went down on one knee to raise a paw. "Yes," he cried, "and frozen stiff. It must have been dead for many hours, eh, Johannes?" "Yes, sir," said the man, kneeling down to part the fur, "many hours. Yes, here it is! Look! in the chest. The walrus got his tusk well home." "Eh? What?" cried the captain, as the Norseman pointed to a great gaping wound; from which the blood had been washed by the sea. The wound was in the upper part of the animal's chest, in a position where a dagger-like stroke would penetrate to the heart; and the bear had evidently swum for some distance, crawled there, and, after drawing itself up, quietly died. "But I don't quite understand," said the captain. "It is the walrus we saw tumble the bear off the cliff into the sea yesterday." "What!" cried the doctor excitedly. "Then I did not kill it?" "No," said the captain, laughing. "You cannot kill a dead thing." "But--but--" stammered the doctor. "You see, doctor, your profession is curing, not killing," cried the captain, laughing. "Never mind: better luck next time." "But it is so absurd. The idea of shooting at a dead beast!" "I'm glad I didn't, Mr Handscombe!" cried Steve merrily. "Now, look here, don't you begin to joke me, sir," said the doctor, "because I will not have it." He spoke laughingly, but he was evidently greatly chagrined. "So utterly ridiculous," he said. "I say, Johannes, you ought not to have let me waste ammunition over a dead beast." "I'm very sorry, sir, but I did not know till you fired the first shot, the animal lay so naturally. Then I began to think it was our bear wounded. Of course, sir, I would not have let you fire if I had known." "Never mind," said the captain, laughing. "But I say, Steve, my lad, your scruples saved you from a--from a--" "There, say it; don't hesitate," said the doctor. "Saved him from a very ridiculous action. I don't mind." "Well, we have got a magnificent bear anyhow," cried the captain. "His skin is finer than that of the other, and he is tremendously fat." "There'll pe plenty more pear's grease for Watty's hair," whispered Hamish; and Andrew uttered a dry laugh, which sounded like the rattling together of pieces of wood. "I don't think there can be any tide to rise here and sweep the animal away," said the captain, "so we'll leave it till we return." He led the way to the boat, leaving the bear untouched, and the next minute they were rowing north, with the whole party keeping a sharp look-out for the walrus, which seemed to have forsaken the coast. _ |
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