Latest / Bernice / Fast in the Ice - R. M. Ballantyne

Transcript

Fast in the Ice - R. M. Ballantyne · Bernice

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter one of Fast in the Ice. This is a
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Fast in the Ice by R. M. Ballantine, Chapter one.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: One day, many years ago a brig cast off from
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: her moorings and sailed from a British port for the
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Polar Seas. That brig never came back. Many a kind
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: wish was uttered, many a handkerchief was waved, and many
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: a tearful eye gazed that day as the vessel left
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Old England and steered her course into the unknown regions
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: of the far North. But no cheer ever greeted her return.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: No bright eyes ever watched her homeward bound sails rising
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: on the far off horizon, battered by the storms of
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: the Arctic Seas, her sails and cordage stiffened by the frosts,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: and her hull rasp and shattered by the ice of
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: those regions. She was forced on a shore where the
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: green grass has little chance to grow, where winter reigns
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: nearly all the year round, where man never sends his
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: merchandise and never drives his plow. There the brig was
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: frozen in there For two long years, she lay, unable
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: to move, and her starving crew forsook her there. Year
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: after year she lay unknown, unvisited by civilized man, and
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: unless the wild Eskimos have torn her to pieces and
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: made spears of her timbers, or the ice has swept
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: her out to sea and whirled her to destruction, there
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: she lies still hard and fast in the ice. The
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: vessel was lost, but her crew were saved, and most
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: of them returned to tell their kinsfolk of the wonders
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: and dangers of the frozen regions, where God has created
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: some of the most beautiful and some of the most
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: awful objects that were ever looked on by the eye
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: of man. What was told by the fireside long ago
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: is now recounted in this book. Imagine a tall, strong
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: man of about forty four, with short, curly black hair
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: just beginning to turn gray. Stern black eyes that look
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: as if they could pierce into your secret thoughts, a
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: firm mouth with lines of good will and kindness lurking
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: about it, a deeply browned skin, and a short, thick
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: beard and mustache. This is the portrait of the commander
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: of the brig His name was Harvey. He stood on
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: the deck close by the wheel, looking wistfully over the stern.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: As the vessel bent before the breeze and cut swiftly
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: through the water, a female hand was raised among the
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: gazers on the pier, and a white scarf waved in
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: the breeze. In the forefront of the throng, and lower down,
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: another hand was raised. It was a little one, but
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: very vigorous. It whirled a cap round a small head
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: of curly black hair, and a shrill hurrah came floating
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: out to sea. The captain kissed his hand and waved
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: his hat in reply. Then, wheeling suddenly around, he shouted
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: in a voice of thunder mind your helm there, let
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: her away a point. Take pull on these fore topsail halliards,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: look alive, lads. Aye aye, Sir, replied the men. There
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: was no occasion whatever for these orders. The captain knew
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: that well enough, but he had his own reasons for
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: giving them. The men knew that too, and they understood
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: his reasons when they observed the increased sternness of his
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: eyes and the compression of his lips. Inclination and duty,
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: What wars go on in the hearts of men high
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: and low, rich and poor. Between these two, what varied
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: fortune follows man according as the one or the other.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Carey's the day, please, sir, said a gruff, broad shouldered,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: an extremely short man with little or no forehead, a hard,
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: vacant face, and a pair of enormous red whiskers. Please, Sir,
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Sam Baker's took very bad, and I think it would
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: be well if you could give him a little physic, Sir,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: a tumbler of epsom or something of that sort. Why,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: mister Dicey, there can't be anything very far wrong with Baker,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: said the captain, looking down at his second mate. He
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: seems to me one of the healthiest men in the ship.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: What's the matter with him? Well, I can't say, sir,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: replied mister Dicey. But he looks horrible bad, all that
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: yellow and green about the gulls, and fearful red about
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: the eyes. But what frightens me most is that I
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: heard him groanin very heavy about a quarter of an
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: hour ago, and then I saw him suddenly fling himself
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: into his ammock and begin blubbering like a child. Now, Sir,
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: I say, when a growed man gives way like that,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: there must be something far wrong with his inside. And
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: it's a serious thing, sir, to take a sick man
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: on such a voyage as this. Does he not say
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: what's wrong with him? Asked the captain. No, Sir, he don't.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: He says it's nutting and he'll be all right off
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: his only let alone. I did hear him once or
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: twice muttering somethink about his wife and child. You know, Sir,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: he's got a young wife, and she had a baby
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: about two months before we came away. But I can't
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: think that's got much to do with it, for I've
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: got a wife myself, sir, and six children, two of
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: em beIN babies. An that don't upset me. And Baker's
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: a much stronger man. You are right, mister Dicey. He
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: is a much stronger man than you, replied the Captain.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: And I doubt not that his strength will enable him
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: to get over this without the aid of physic. Very well, sir,
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: said mister Dicey. The second mate was a man whose
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: countenance never showed any sign of emotion. No matter what
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: he felt. He seldom laughed, or if he did, his
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: mouth remained almost motionless, and the sounds that came out
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: were anything but cheerful. He had light, great eyes which
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: always wore an expression of astonishment, but the expression was accidental.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: It indicated no feeling. He would have said, very well, sir,
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: if the Captain had refused to give poor baker food
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: instead of physic and hark Ye, mister Dicey, said the captain.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Don't let him be disturbed till he feels inclined to move.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Very well, sir, replied the second mate, touching his cap
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: as he turned away. So murmured the captain as he
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: gazed earnestly at the now distant shore. I'm not the
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: only one who carries a heavy heart to see this
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: day and leave sorrowing hearts behind him. End of chapter one,
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: Chapter two of Fast in the Ice. This is a
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: Fast in the Ice by R. M. Balentine. Chapter two,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: at sea, the first storm. It is now hundreds of
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: years since the north Polar regions began to attract general attention.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Men have long felt very inquisitive about that part of
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: the earth, and many good ships, many noble lives, have
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: been lost in trying to force a passage through the
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: ice that encumbers the Arctic seas summer and winter. Britain
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: has done more than other nations in the cause of
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: discovery within the Arctic circle. The last and greatest of
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: our Arctic heroes perished there, the famous Sir John Franklin.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: Were I writing a history of those regions, I would
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: have much to say of other countries as well as
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: of our own. But such is not my object in
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: this book. I mean simply to follow in the wake
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: of one of Britain's adventurous discoverers, and thus give the
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: reader an idea of the fortunes of those gallant men
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: who risk life and limb for the sake of obtaining
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: knowledge of distant land. There have always been restless spirits
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: in this country. There have ever been men who, when boys,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: were full of mischief, and who could settle to nothing
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: when they grew up. Lucky for us, lucky for the world,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: that such is the case. Many of our restless spirits,
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: as we call them, have turned out to be our heroes,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: our discoverers, our greatest men. No doubt many of them
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: have become our drones, our sharpers, our black legs. But
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: that is just saying that some men are good while
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: others are bad. No blame is due to what is
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: called the restlessness of spirit, our restless men. If good,
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: find rest in action in bold energetic toil, If bad,
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: they find rest alas in untimely graves. Captain Harvey was
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: one of our restless spirits. He had a deeply learned
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: friend who said to him one day that he felt
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: sure there was a sea of open water round the
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: North Pole. Hundreds of ships had tried to reach that
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: pole without success, because they always found a barrier of
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: thick ice raised against them. This friend said that if
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: a ship could only cut or force its way through
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: the ice to a certain latitude, north open water would
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: be found. Captain Harvey was much interested in this. He
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: could not rest until he had proved it. He had
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: plenty of money, so had his friend. They resolved to
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: buy a vessel and send it to the seas lying
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: within the Arctic circle. Other rich friends helped them. A
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: brig was bought. It was named the Hope, and as
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: we have seen in the last chapter, it finally set
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: sail under command of Captain Harvey. Many days and nights passed,
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: and the Hope kept her course steadily towards the coast
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: of North America. Greenland was the first land they hoped
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: to see. Baffin's Bay was the strait through which they
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: hoped to reach the open Polar Sea. The Hope left
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: England as a whaler, with all the boats, lances, harpoons, lines,
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: and other apparatus used in the whale fishery. It was
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: intended that she should do a little business in that
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: way if Captain Harvey thought it advisable, But the discovery
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: of new lands and seas was their chief end and aim.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: At first, the weather was fine, the wind fair, and
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: the voyage prosperous. But one night there came a deep calm,
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: not a breath of air, moved over the sea, which
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: was as clear and polished as a looking glass. The
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: captain walked the deck with the surgeon of the ship,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: a nephew of his own named Gregory. Tom Gregory was
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: a youth of about nineteen who had not passed through
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: the whole course of a doctor's education, but who was
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: a clever fellow and better able to cut and carve
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: and physic, poor, suffering humanity than many an older man
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: who wrote m d after his name. He was a fine, handsome,
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: strapping fellow, with a determined manner and a kind heart.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: He was able to pull an oar with the best
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: man aboard, and could even steer the brig in fine
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: weather if need be. He was hearty and romantic, and
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: a great favorite with the men. He too, was a
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: restless spirit. He had grown tired of college life, and
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: had made up his mind to take a year's run
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: into the polar regions by way of improving his knowledge
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: of the outlandish parts of the world. I don't like
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: the look of the sky to day, Tom said the captain,
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: glancing at the horizon, and then at the sails. Indeed,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: said Tom, in surprise, it seems to me the most
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: beautiful afternoon we have had since the voyage began. But
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: I suppose you Seemen are learned in signs which we
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: landsmen do not understand. Perhaps we are, replied the captain,
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: But it does not require much knowledge of the weather
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: to say that such a dead calm as this, and
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: such unusual heat is not likely to end in a
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: gentle breeze. You don't object to a stiff breeze, uncle,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: said the youth. No, Tom, but I don't like a
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: storm because it does us no good and made to
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: us harm. Storms do you no good, uncle, cried Tom.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: How can you say so? Why what is it that
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: makes our sailors such trumps? The British Tar would not
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: be able to face danger as he does if there
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: were no storms, true, Tom, But the British Tar would
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: not require to face danger at all if there were
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: no storms. What says the barometer, mister Mansell, said the captain,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: looking down the skylight into the cabin where the first mate,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: a middle sized man of thirty five or there boats,
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: was seated at the table writing up the ship's log book.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: The glass is gone down an inch, sir, and is
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: still falling, answered the mate. Reef the topsail mister Dicey,
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: cried the captain on hearing this. Why such haste, inquired Gregory.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: Because such a sudden fall in the barometer is a
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: sure sign of approaching bad weather, answered the captain. The
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: first man on the shrouds and out upon the main
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: topsail yard was Sam Baker, whose active movements and hardy
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: manner showed that he had quite recovered his health without
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: the use of physic He was quickly followed by some
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: of his shipmates, all of whom were picked men, able
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: in body and ready for anything. In a few minutes,
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: sail was reduced. Soon after that, clouds began to rise
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: on the horizon and bread over the sky. Before half
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: an hour had passed, the breeze came came far stronger
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: than had been expected, and the order to take in
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: sail had to be repeated. Baker was first again. He
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: was closely followed by Joe Davis and Jim Croft, both
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: of them sturdy fellows, good specimens of the British seamen.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: Davy Butts, who came next, was not so good a specimen.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: He was nearly six feet high, very thin, and loosely
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: put together, like a piece of bad furniture. But his
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: bones were big and he was stronger than he looked.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: He would not have formed one of such a crew
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: had he not been a good man. The rest of
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: the crew, of whom there were eighteen, not including the officers,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: were of all shapes, sizes and complexions. The sails had
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: scarcely been taken in when the storm burst on the
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: brig in all its fury. The waves rose like mountains
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: and followed after her, as if they were eager to
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: swallow her up. The sky grew dark overhead as the
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: night closed in. The wind shrieked through the rigging, and
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: the rag of canvas that they ventured to hoist seemed
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: about to burst away from the yard. It was an
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: awful night, such a night as causes even reckless men
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: to feel how helpless they are, how dependent on the
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: arm of God. The gale steadily increased until near midnight,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: when it blew a perfect hurricane. It's a dirty night,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: observed the captain to the second mate, as the latter
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: came on deck to relieve the watch. It is, sir,
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: replied mister Dicey, as coolly as if he were about
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: to sit down to a good dinner on shore. Mister
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: Dicey was a remarkably matter of fact man. He looked
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: upon a storm as he looked upon a fit of
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: the toothache, a thing that had to be indured and
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: was not worth making a fuss about. Won't last long,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: said the captain. Nowser it won't, answered mister Dicey. As
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: mister Dicey did not seem inclined to say more, The
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: captain went below and flung himself on a locker, having
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: given orders that he should be called if any change
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: for the worse took place in the weather. Soon afterward,
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: a tremendous sea rose high over the stern, and part
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: of it fell on the deck with a terrible crash,
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: washing mister Dicey into the lease keppers and almost sweeping
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: him overboard. On regaining his feet and his position beside
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: the wheel, the second mate shook himself and considered whether
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: he ought to call the captain. Having meditated some time,
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: he concluded that the weather was no worse, although it
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: had treated him very roughly, so he did not disturb
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: the captain's repose. Thus the storm raged all night. It
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: tossed the hope about like a cork. It well nigh
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: blew the sails off the masts, and all almost blew
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: mister Dicey's head off his shoulders. Then it stopped as
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: it had begun suddenly. End of chapter two Chapter three
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: of Fast in the Ice. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot Org. Fast
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: in the Ice by R. M. Ballantine, Chapter three in
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: The Ice Dangers of Arctic Voyaging. Next morning, the hope
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: was becalmed in the midst of a scene more beautiful
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: than the tongue or pen of man can describe. When
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: the sun rose that day, it shone upon what appeared
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: to be a field of glass and a city of crystal.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: Every trace of the recent storm was gone, except a
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: long swell which caused the bridge to roll considerably, but
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: which did not break the surface of the sea. Ice
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: was to be seen all around, as far as the
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: eye could reach, ice in every form and size imaginable.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: And the wonderful thing about it was that many of
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: the masses resembled the buildings of a city. There were
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: houses and churches, and monuments, and spires and ruins. There
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: were also islands and mountains. Some of the pieces were
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: low and flat, no bigger than a boat. Others were
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: tall with jagged tops. Some of the fields, as they
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: were called, were a mile and more in extent, and
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: there were a number of bergs or ice mountains higher
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: than the brigs top masts. These were almost white, but
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: they had in many places a greenish blue color that
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: was soft and beautiful. The whole scene shone and sparkled
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: so brilliantly in the morning sun that one could almost
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: fancy it was one of the regions of fair. When
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: young Gregory came on the quarter deck, no one was
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: there except Jim Croft, a short, thickset man with the
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: legs of a dwarf and the shoulders of a giant.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: He stood at the helm, and although no steering was
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: required as there was no wind, he kept his hands
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: on the spokes of the wheel and glanced occasionally at
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: the compass. The first mate, who had the watch on deck,
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: was up at the mast head observing the state of
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: the ice. How glorious, exclaimed the youth, as he swept
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: his sparkling eye round the horizon. Ah, craft, is it
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: not splendid? So it is, said the seaman, turning the
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: large quid of tobacco that bulged out his left cheek.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: It is very beautiful, no doubt, but it's coming rather
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: thick for my taste, how so, inquired Griggory. There seems
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: to me plenty of open water to enable us to
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: steer clear of these masses. Besides, as we have no wind,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: it matters little I should think whether we have room
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: to sail or not. You've not seed much of the ice,
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: that's plain, said Kroft. Else you'd know that the floes
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: are closing round us and will soon be fast in
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: the pack if a breeze don't spring up to help us.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: As the reader may not perhaps understand the terms used
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: by Arctic voyagers in regard to the ice in its
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: various forms, it may be as well here to explain
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: the meaning of those most commonly used. When ice is
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: seen floating in small, detached pieces and scattered masses, it
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: is called floe ice, and men speak of getting among
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: the floes. When these floes close up so that the
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: whole sea seems to be covered with them, and little
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: water can be seen, it is called pack ice. When
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: pack ice is squeezed together so that lumps of it
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: are forced up in the form of rugged mounds, these
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: mounds are called hummocks. A large mass of flat ice,
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: varying from one mile to many miles in extent, is
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: called a field, and a mountain of ice is called
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: a berg. All the ice here spoken of except the
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: burg is sea ice formed by the freezing of the
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: ocean in winter, the burg is formed in a very
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: different manner. Of this more shall be said in a
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: future chapter. Well, my lad, said Greggory in reply to
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: Jim Croft's last observation. I have not seen much of
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: the ice yet, as you truly remark, so I hope
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: that the wind will not come to help us out
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: of it for some time. You don't think it dangerous
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: to get into the pack, do you? Well? Not exactly dangerous, sir,
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: replied Croft, But I must say that it ain't safe,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: specially when there's a swell on like this, But that'll
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: go down soon. Do you know what a nip is,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: doctor Greggory? I think I do, at least I have
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: read of such a thing, But I should be very
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: glad to hear what you have to say about it.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: No doubt you have felt one, felt one, cried Jim,
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: screwing up his face and drawing his limbs together as
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: if he were suffering horrible pain. No, I've never felt one.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: The man what feels a nip ain't likely to live
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: to tell what his feelin's was. But I've seed one.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: You've seen one? Have you? That must have been interesting?
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: Where was it not very far from the Greenland coast,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: said Croft, giving his quid another turn. This was the
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: way of it. You must know that there was two
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: ships of us in company at the time, whalers we was.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: We got into the heart of a pack somehow, and
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: we thought we'd never get out of it again. There
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: was nothing but ice all round us as far as
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: the eye could see. The name of our ship was
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: the Nancy. Our comrade was the Bullfinch. One morning early
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: we heard a loud noise of ice rubbin again the
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: side of the ship. So we all jumped up and
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: on deck as fast as we could, for there's short
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: time given to save us and them. See sometimes the
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: whole pack we found was in motion, and a wide
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: lead of water opened up before us for all the world,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: like a smooth river or canal winding through the pack.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: Into this. We warped the ship, and, hoisting sails, steered
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: away cheerily. We passed close to the Bullfinch, which was
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: still hard and fast in the pack, and we saw
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: that her crew was sawing and cutting away at the ice,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: trying to get into the lead that we got into.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: So we hailed them and said we'd wait for them
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: outside the pack if we got through, but the words
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: were no sooner spoken. When the wind it died away
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: and we were becalmed about half a mile from the Bullfinch.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: You'd better go down to breakfast, boys, says our captain,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: says he. The breeze won't be long a comin' again,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: So down the men went, And soon after that the
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: steward comes on deck and says he to the captain. Breakfast, sir,
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: very good, says the captain, and down he went to
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: leavin me at the wheel and the mate in charge
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: of the deck. He'd not been gone three minutes when
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: I noticed that the great field of ice on our
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: right was closing in on the field on our left,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: and the channel we was floatin in was closing up.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: The mate noticed it too, but he wouldn't call the captain,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: cause the ice came so slowly and quietly on that
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: for a few minutes we could hardly believe it was moving,
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: and everything around us looked so calm and peaceful that
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: it was difficult to believe our danger was so great.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: But this was only a momentary feeling. Ye see. A
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: minute after that, the mate, he cries down to the captain.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: Ice closin up sir, and the captain he runs on deck.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: By this time there was no mistake about it. The
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: ice was close upon us. It was clear that we
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: were to have a nip. So the Captain roars down
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: the hatchway. Tumble up there, tumble up, every man alive
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: for your lives. And sure enough they did tumble up,
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: as I'd never seed em do it before, or two
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: or three of em was sick. They came up with
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: their clothes in their hands. The ice was now almost
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: touching our sides. And I can tell you, Sir, I
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: never did feel so queerish in all my life before
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: as when I looked over the edge at the side
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: of that great field of ice, which rose three foot
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: out of the water, and was I suppose six foot
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: more below the surface. It came on so slowly that
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: we could hardly see the motion. Inch by inch, the
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: water narrowed between it and our sides. At last it
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: touched on the left side, and that shoved us quicker
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: on to the field on our right. Every eye was
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: fixed on it. Every man held his breath. You might
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: have heard a pin fall on the deck. It touched
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: gently at first, Then there was a low grinding and
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: crunching sound. The ship trembled as if it had been
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: a living creature, and the beams began to crack. Now
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: you must know, sir, that when a nip of this
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: sort takes a ship, the ice usually eases off after
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: giving her a good squeeze, or when the pressure is
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: too much for her, the ice slips under her bottom
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: and lifts her right out of the water. But our
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: nancy was what we call wall sided. She was never
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: fit to sail in them seas. The consequence was that
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: the ice crushed her sides. In the moment the captain
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: heard the beams begin to go, he knew it was
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: all up with the ship. He roared to take to
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: the ice for our lives. You may be sure we
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: took his advice. Over the side. We went, every man,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: jack of us and God on the ice. We did
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: not take time to save an article belonging to us,
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: And it was as well we did not, for the
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: ice closed up with a crash, and we heard the
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: beams and timbers rending like a fire of musketry in
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: the hold. Her bottom must have been cut clean away,
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: for she stood on the ice just as she had
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: floated on the sea. Then the noise stopped, the ice
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: eased off, and the ship began to settle. The lead
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: of water opened up again. In ten minutes after that,
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: the Nancy went to the bottom and left us standing
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: there on the ice. It was the mercy of God
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: that let it happen so near the Bullfinch. We might
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: have been out of sight of that ship at the time,
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: and then every man of us would have been lost.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: As it was, we had a hard scramble over a
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: good deal of loose ice, jumping from lump to lump,
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: and some of us falling into the water several times
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: before we got aboard. Now that was a bad nip, Sir,
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: warn't it? It certainly was, replied Gregory. And although I
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: delight in being among the ice, I sincerely hope that
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: our tight little brig may not be tried in the
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: same way. But she is better able to stand it.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: I should think that she is, sir, replied Croft, with
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: much confidence. I seed her in dock, Sir, when they
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: was a puttin of extra timbers on the bow, and
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: I do believe she would stand twice as much bad
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: usage as the Nancy got, though she is only half
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: the size Jim Croft's opinion on this point was well founded,
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: for the Hope had indeed been strengthened and prepared for
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: her ice battles with the greatest care by men of
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: experience and ability. As some readers may be interested in
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: this subject, I shall give a brief account of the
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: additions that were made to her hull. The vessel was
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: nearly two hundred tons burden. She had originally been built
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: very strongly, and might even have ventured on a voyage
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: to the polar seas just as she was, But Captain
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: Harvey resolved to take every precaution to ensure the success
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: of his voyage and the safety and comfort of his men.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: He therefore had the whole ship's bottom sheathed with thick
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: hardwood planking, which was carried up above her water line
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: as high as the ordinary floe ice would be likely
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: to reach. The hull inside was strengthened with stout cross beams,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: as well as with beams running along the length of
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: the vessel, and in every part that was likely to
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: be subjected to pressure, iron's stanchions were fastened, But the
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: bow of the vessel was the point where the utmost
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: strength was aimed at. Inside just behind the cut water,
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: the whole space was so traversed by cross beams of
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: oak that it almost became a solid mass. And outside
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: the sharp stem was cased in iron, so as to
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: resemble a giant's chisel. The false keel was taken off.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: The whole vessel, in short, was rendered as strong outside
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: and in as wood and iron and skill could make her.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: It need scarcely be said that all the other arrangements
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: about her were made with the greatest care and without
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: regard to expense, For although the owners of the brig
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: did not wish to waste their money, they set too
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: high a value on human life to risk it for
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: the sake of saving a few pounds. She was provisioned
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: for a cruise of two years and a half, but
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: this was in case of accidents, for Captain Harvey did
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: not intend to be absent much longer than one year.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: But to return to our story, Jim Croft's fear that
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: they would be set fast was realized sooner than he
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: had expected. The floes began to close in from no
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: cause that could be seen, for the wind was quite still,
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: and in a short time the loose ice pressed against
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: the hope on all sides. It seemed to young Gregory
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: as if the story that the seaman had just related
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: was about to be enacted over again, and being a
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: stranger to ice, he could not help feeling a little
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: uneasy for some time. But there was in reality little
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: or no danger, for the pressure was light, and the
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: brig had got into a small bay in the edge
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: of an ice field which lay in the midst of
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: the smaller mass. Seeing that there was little prospect of
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: the pack opening up just then, the captain ordered the
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: ice anchors to be got out and fixed. The appearance
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: of the sea from the brig's deck was now extremely wintry,
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: but very bright and cheerful. Not a spot of blue
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: water was to be seen in any direction. The whole
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: ocean appeared as if it had been frozen over. It
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: was now past noon and the sun's rays were warm,
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: although the quantity of ice around rendered the air cold.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: As the men were returning from fixing the anchors, the
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: captain looked over the side and said, it's not likely
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: that we shall move out of this for some hours.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: What say you, lads to a game of football? The
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: proposal was received with a loud cheer. The ball had
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: been prepared by the sail maker in expectation of some
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: such opportunity as this. It was at once tossed over
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: the side. Those men who were not already on the
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: field scrambled out of the brig, and the entire crew
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: went leaping and yelling over the ice with the wild
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: delight of schoolboys let loose for an unexpected holiday. They
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: were in the middle of the game when a loud
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: shout came from the brig, and the captain's voice was
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: heard singing out, all hands, ahoy, come aboard, look alive.
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: Instantly the men turned, and there was a general race
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: toward the brig, which lay nearly a quarter of a
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: mile distant from them. In summer, changes in the motion
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: of the ice pack took place in the most unexpected manner.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: Currents in the ocean are, no doubt the chief cause
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: of these. The action of winds has also something to
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: do with them. One of these changes was now taking
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: place almost before the men got on board. The ice
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: had separated, and long canals of water were seen opening
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: up here and there. Soon after that, a light breeze
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: sprang up. The ice anchors were taken aboard, the sails trimmed,
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: and soon the Hope was again making her way slowly
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: but steadily to the north end of chapter three Chapter
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: four of Fast in the Ice. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Fast
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: in the Ice by R. M. Ballantine. Chapter four Difficulties,
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: troubles and dangers. For some hours, the brig proceeded onward
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: with a freshening breeze, winding and turning in order to
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: avoid the lumps of ice. Many of the smaller pieces
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: were not worth turning out of the way of the
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: mere weight of the vessel being sufficient to push them aside.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: Up to this time they had succeeded in steering clear
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: of everything without getting a thump. But they got one
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: at last, which astonished those among the crew who had
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: not been in the ice before. The Captain, Gregory and
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: Dicey were seated in the cabin at the time, taking
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: tea ned dawkings. The steward, an active little man, was
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: bringing in a tea pot with a second supply of tea.
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: In his left hand, he carried a tray of biscuit.
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: The captain sat at the head of the table, Dicey
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: at the foot, and the doctor at the side. Suddenly,
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: a tremendous shock was felt. The captain's cup of tea
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: leaped away from him and flooded the center of the table.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: The doctor's cup was empty. He seized the table with
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: both hands and remained steady, but Dicey's cup happened to
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: be at his lips at the moment and was quite full.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: The effect on him was unfortunate. He was thrown violently
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: on his back, and the tea poured over his face
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: and drenched his hair. As he lay sprawling on the floor.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: The steward saved himself by dropping the bread tray and
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: grasping the handle of the cabin door. So violent was
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: the shock that the ship's bell was set a ringing beg. Pardon, gentlemen,
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: cried the first mate, looking down the skylight. I forgot
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: to warn you. The ice is getting rather thick around us,
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: and I had to charge a lump of it. It's
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: all very well to beg pardon, said the captain, but
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: that won't mend my crockery or dry my head, growled
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: mister Dicey. It's as bad as if I'd been dipped
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: overboard it is. Before mister Dicey's grumbling remarks were finished,
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: all three of them had reached the deck. The wind
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: had freshened considerably, and the brig was rushing in a
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: somewhat alarming manner among the floes. It required the most
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: careful attention to prevent her striking heavily. If it goes
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: on like this, we shall have to reduce sail, observed
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: the captain. See there is a neck of ice ahead
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: that will stop us. This seemed to be probable, for
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: the lane of water along which they were steering was
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: just ahead of them, stopped by a neck of ice
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: that connected two floe pieces. The water beyond was pretty
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: free from ice, but this neck or mass seemed so
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: thick that it became a question whether they should venture
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: to charge it or shorten sail. Stand by the fore
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: and main topsail braces, shouted the captain. Ay, Ay, sir, Now,
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: mister Mansell, he said, with a smile, we have come
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: to our first real difficulty. What do you advise? Shall
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: we back the topsails or try what our little hope
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: is made of and charge the enemy? Charge? Answered the mate,
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: Just so, said the captain, hastening to the bow to
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: direct the steersman, porch your helm study. The brig was
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: now about fifty yards from the neck of ice, tearing
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: through the water like a race horse. In another moment,
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: she was up to it and struck it fair in
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: the middle. The stout little vessel quivered to her keel
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: under the shock, but she did not recoil. She split
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: the mass into fragments, and, bearing down all before her,
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: sailed like a conqueror into the clear water beyond Well done, hope,
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: said the captain as he walked aft. Well a cheer
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: burst from the men. I think she ought to be
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: called the good Hope after this, said Tom Greggory. If
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: she cuts her way through everything as easily as she
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: has cut through that neck of ice, we shall reach
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: the North Pole itself before winter. If we reach the
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: North Pole at all, observed mister Dicey, I'll climb up
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: to the top of it and stand on my head.
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: I will. The second mate evidently had no expectation of
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: reaching that mysterious pole which men have so long and
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: so often tried to find in vain heavy ice. Ahead,
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: Sir shouted mister Mansell, who was at the mast head
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: with a telescope. Where away on the weather bow, Sir,
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: the pack seems open enough to push through, but the
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: large bergs are numerous. The hope was now indeed getting
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: into the heart of those icy regions where ships are
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: in constant danger from the floating masses that come down
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: with the ocean currents from the far north. In sailing along,
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: she was often obliged to run with great violence against
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: the lumps so large they caused her whole frame to
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: tremble stout though it was Shall we smash in the
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: lump or will it stay in our boughs was a
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: question that frequently ran in the captain's mind. Sometimes ice
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: closed round her and squeezed the side so their beams cracked.
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: At other times, when a large field was holding her fast,
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: the smaller pieces would grind and rasp against her as
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: they went past, until the crew fancied the whole of
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: the outer sheathing of planks had been scraped off. Often
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: she had to press close to icebergs of great size,
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: and more than once a lump as large as a
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: good sized house fell off the ice fields and plunged
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: into the sea close to her side, causing her to
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: rock violently on the waves that were raised by it. Indeed,
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: the bergs are dangerous neighbors, not only from this cause,
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: but also on account of their turning upside down at
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: times and even falling to pieces, so that Captain Harvey
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: always kept well out of their way when he could.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: But this was not always possible. The little Brig had
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: a narrow escape one day from the falling of a berg.
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: It was a short time after that day, on which
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: they had the game of football. They passed in safety
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: through the floes and bergs that had been seen that
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: evening and got into open water beyond, where they made
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: good progress before falling in with ice. But at last
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: they came to a part of Baffin's Bay, where a
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: great deal of ice is always found. Here. The pack
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: surrounded them and compelled them to pass close to a berg,
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: which was the largest they had fallen in with up
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: to that time. It was jagged in form and high
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: rather than broad. Great peaks rose up from it, like
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: the mountain tops of some wild highland region. It was
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: several hundred yards off the weather beam when the brig passed,
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: but it towered so high over the masts that it
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: seemed to be much nearer than it was. There was
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: no apparent motion in this berg, and the waves beat
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: and rolled upon its base, just as they do on
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: the shore of an island. In fact, it was as
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: like an island as possible, or rather like a mountain
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: planted in the sea, only it was white instead of green.
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: There were cracks and rents and caverns in it, just
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: as there are on a rugged mountain side, all of
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: which were of a beautiful blue color. There were also
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: slopes and crags and precipices down which the water of
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: the melted ice constantly flowed in wild torrents. Many of
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: these were equal to small rivulets, and some of the
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: waterfalls were beautiful. The burg could not have measured less
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: than a mile round the base, and it was probably
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: two hundred feet high. It is well known that floating
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: ice sinks deep, and that there is about eight or
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: ten times as much of it below the water as
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: there is above water. The reader may therefore form some
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: idea of what an enormous mass of ice this berg was.
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: The crew of the Hope observed in passing that lumps
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: were continually falling from the cliffs into the sea. The
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: burg was evidently in a very rotten and dangerous state,
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: and the captain ran the brig as close to the
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: pack on the other side as possible in order to
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: keep out of its way. Just as this was done,
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: some great rents occurred, and suddenly a mass of ice
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: larger than the brig fell from the top of a
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: cliff into the sea. No danger flowed from this, but
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: the mass thus thrown off was so large as to
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: destroy the balance of the berg, and to the horror
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: of the sailors, the huge mountain began to roll over.
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: Fortunately it fell in a direction away from the brig.
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: Had it rolled toward her, no human power could have
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: saved our voyagers. The mighty mass went over with a wild,
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: hollow roar, and new peaks and cliffs rose out of
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: the sea as the old ones disappeared, with great cataracts
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: of uplifted brine pouring furiously down their sides. Apart from
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: its danger, this was an awful sight. Those who witnessed
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: it could only gaze in solemn silence. Even the most
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: careless among them must have been forced to recognize the
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: might and majesty of God in the event, as well
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: as his mercy in having led them to the right
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: side of the berg at such a dangerous moment, But
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: the scene had not yet closed. For some time. The
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: ice mountain rocked gradually to and fro raising a considerable
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: swell on the sea, which all around was covered with
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: the foam caused by this tremendous commotion. In a few minutes,
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: several rents took place, sounding like the reports of great guns.
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: Ratten as it was, the bird could not stand the
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: shock of its changing of position, for it had turned
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: fairly upside down. Crack after crack took place, with deafening reports.
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: Lumps of all sizes fell from its sides. There was
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: a roar long continued like thunder. A moment after the
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: whole berg sank down in ruins, and with a mighty crash,
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: fell flat upon the sea. The Hope was beyond the
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: reach of danger, but she rose and sank on the
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: swell caused by the ruin of this berg for some
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: time after. It was on the afternoon of the same
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: day that the brig received her first really severe nip
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: from the ice. She had got deep into the pack
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: and was surrounded on all sides by large bergs, some
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: of these being high, like the one that has just
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: been described. Others low and flat, but of great extent.
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: One not far off, was two miles long, and its
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: glittering walls rose about fifteen feet above the sea. The
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: sky was brighter than usual at the time, and this
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: was owing to one of those strange appearances which one
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: sees of in the Arctic regions than in any other
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: part of the world. The unshone with unclouded splendor, and
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: around it were three mock sons, almost half as bright
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: as the sun itself, one on each side and one
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: directly above it. Learned men called these bright spots perihelia.
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: Sailors called them sun dogs. They were connected together with
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: a ring of light which entirely encircled the sun, but
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: the lower edge of it was partly lost on the horizon.
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: Although this was the first time that these mock suns
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: had been seen by Gregory and some others of the
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: crew of the Hope, little attention was paid to them
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: at the time because of dangerous positions into which the
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: brig had been forced. The pack had again closed all
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: around her, obliging her to take shelter in the lee
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: of a small berg, which from its shape did not
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: seem likely to be a dangerous protector. There was a
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: small bay in the burg. Into this the brig was warped,
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: and for some time she lay safely here. It was
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: just large enough to hold her, and a tongue of
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: ice projecting from the foot of it kept off the
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: pressure of the sea ice. Nevertheless, a look of anxiety
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: rested on the captain's face after the ice anchors had
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: been made fast. You don't seem to like our position, captain,
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: said young Gregory, who had been watching the doings of
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: the men and now and then lent them a hand.
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: I don't, Tom. The plaque is closing tight up, and
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: this berg may prove an enemy instead of a friend
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: if it forces into our harbor. Here. Let us hear
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: what our mate thinks of it. What say you, mister Mansell?
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: Shall we hold on here or warp out and take
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: our chances in the pack? Better hold on, sir, answered
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: the mate gravely. The pack is beginning to grind. We
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: should get a tight embrace. I fear if we went
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: out here we may do well enough. But everything depends
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: on that tongue. He looked as he spoke towards the
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: point of ice, which extended in front of the brig's
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: stern and guarded the harbor from the outer ice in
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: that direction. The tongue was not a large one, and
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: it was doubtful whether it could stand the pressure that
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: was increasing every minute. The pack was indeed beginning to grind,
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: as the mate had said. For while we were looking
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: at it, the edges of two floes came together with
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: a crash about fifty yards from the berg. They ground
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: together for a moment with a harsh growling sound, and
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: then the two edges were suddenly forced up to a
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: height of about fifteen or twenty feet. Next moment they
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: fell on the closed up ice and lay there in
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: a mound or humock of broken masses. That's how a
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: hummock is formed, Doctor Gregory, said, mister Dicey, looking uncommonly wise,
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: you'll see more things here in five minutes by means
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: of your own eyes than he can learn from books
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: and a air. There's nothing like seein. Seein is believing,
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: you know, I wouldn't give an ounce of experience for
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: a ton of hearsay. Come on, mister Dicey, don't run
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: down book learning, said Greggory. If a man only knew
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: about things he had seen, He would know very little.
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: Before the second mate could reply, the captain shouted to
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: the men, bear a hand with the ice poles. The
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: whole crew answered to the call, and each man, seizing
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: a long pole, stood ready for action. The tongue to
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: which I have referred more than once had broken off,
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: and the ice was rushing in. The bay was full
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: in a minute, and although the men used their ice
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: poles actively and worked with a will, they could not
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: shove the pieces past them. The hope was driven bow
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: on to the berg. Then there was a strain, a
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: terrible creaking and groaning of the timbers, as if the
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: good little vessel were complaining of the pressure. All at
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: once there was a loud crack, The bow of the
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: brig lifted a little, and she was forced violently up
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: the sloping side of the burg. Twice this happened, and
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: then she remained stationary, high and dry, out of the water.
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: End of chapter four Chapter five of Fast in the Ice.
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Fast in the Ice by R. M. Ballantine,
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: Chapter five, A gale narrow escapes signs of winter set fast.
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: During the rest of that day and the whole of
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: that night did the brig remain fixed on the burg.
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: Early next morning the ice began to move. It eased off,
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: and the vessel slid gently down the slope on which
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: she had been forced, and was re launched safely into
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: the water. The satisfaction of the crew, and thus being
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: delivered from a position of much danger, was very great.
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: But they had no sooner escaped from one peril than
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: they were overtaken by another. A sharp breeze sprang up
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: from the eastward and drove them out into the pack,
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: which began to heave about in a terrible manner under
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: the influence of the wind. Soon this increased to a gale,
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: and the ice was driven along at great speed by
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: a strong northerly current. While this was going on, land
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: was discovered bearing to the northwest. Here was new danger,
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: for although it was not a lee shore, there was
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: still some risk of the vessel being caught among grounded icebergs,
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: of which a few were seen. The gale increased to
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: such a degree before night that Captain Harvey began to
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: think of taking shelter under the lee of one of
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: these bergs. He therefore stood toward one, But before reaching it,
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: the vessel received one or two severe shocks from passing floes.
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: A large berg lay within half a mile of them.
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: They reached it in safety, and getting under its lee,
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: lowered a boat and fixed their ice anchors. Just after
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: they were fixed, a mass of ice, the size of
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: a ship's long boat and many tons in weight, came
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: suddenly up out of the sea with great violence, the
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: top of it rising above the bulwarks. One corner of
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: it struck the hull just behind the main mast and
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: nearly stove in the bottom of the brig. This lump
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: was what Arctic voyages term a calf. When masses of
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: ice break off from the bergs far below the surface
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: of the water, they rise with extreme violence, and ships
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: run great risk of being destroyed by these calves when
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: they anchor too near to the bergs. Had this calf
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: struck the Hope a fair blow, she must certainly have
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: gone down with all on board. They were not yet
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: freed from their troubles. However, in half an hour the
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: wind shifted a few points but the stream of the
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: loose ice did not change. The brig was therefore blown
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: right in among the rushing masses. The three cables that
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: held her were snapped as if they had been pieces
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: of pack thread, and she was whirled out into the pack,
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: where she drove helplessly, exposed to the fury of the
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: howling storm and the dangers of the grinding ice. Captain
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: Harvey now felt that he could do nothing to save
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: his vessel. He believed that if God did not mercifully
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: put forth his hand to deliver them by a miracle,
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: he and his companions would certainly perish. In this the
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: captain was wrong. Nothing is impossible to the Almighty, He
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: can always accomplish his purpose without the aid of a miracle.
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: There did indeed seem no way of escape, for the
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: driving masses of ice were grinding each other to powder
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: in nearly every direction, and the brig only escaped instant
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: destruction by being wedged between two pieces that held together
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: from some unknown cause. Presently, they were carried down towards
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: a large berg that seemed to be aground, for the
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: loose ice was passing it swiftly. This was not the case, however,
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: an undercurrent far down in the depths of the sea
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: was acting on this berg and preventing it from traveling
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: with the ice that floated with the stream at the surface.
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: In its passing, the mass of ice that held them
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: struck one of the projecting tongues beneath the surface, and
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: was split in two. The brig was at once set free.
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: As they passed, they might almost have leapt upon the berg.
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: Captain Harvey saw and seized his opportunity stand by to
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: heave an anchor. He shouted. Sam Baker, being the strongest
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: man in the ship, sprang to one of the small
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: ice anchors that lay on the deck with a line
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: attached to it, and lifting it with both hands. Stood ready.
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: The brig passed close to the end of the berg,
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: where the lee side formed a long tail of sheltered water.
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: She was almost thrust into this by the piece of
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: ice from which she had just escaped. She grazed the
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: edge of the berg as she drove past. Heave shouted
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: the captain. Sam Baker, swung the anchor round his head
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: as if it had been a feather, and hurled it
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: far upon the ice for a few yards. It rattled
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: over the slippery surface. Then it caught a lump, but
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: the first strain broke it off. Just after that it
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: fell into a crack and held on. The brig was
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: checked and swung round in to the smooth water, but
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: they had to ease off the line lest it should snap.
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: At last, she was brought up and lay safely under
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: the shelter of that berg until the storm was over.
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: Some weeks flew by after this without anything occurring worthy
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: of particular notice. During this time, the Hope made good
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: progress into the polar regions without again suffering severely either
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: from ice or storm. Although much retarded by the thick
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: fogs that prevail in the Arctic regions, she was indeed
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: almost always surrounded by ice, but it was sufficiently open
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: to allow of a free passage through it. Many whales
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: and seals had been seen, also one or two bears,
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: but not in circumstances in which they could be attacked
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: without occasioning much delay. The brief summer had now passed away,
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: and the days began to shorten as winter approached. Still,
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: Captain Harvey hoped to get further north before being obliged
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: to search for winter quarters. One morning, early in September, however,
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: he found to his sorrow that pancake ice was forming
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: on the sea. When the sea begins to freeze, it
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: does so in small needle like spikes, which cross and
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: recross each other until they form a thin ice, which
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: the motion of the waves breaks up into flat cakes
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: about a foot or so across. These, by constantly rubbing
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: against each other, get worn into a rounded shape. Sailors
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: call this pancake ice. It is the first sign of
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: coming winter. The cakes soon become joined together as the
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: frost increases. The place where this occurred was near to
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: those wild cliffs that rise out of the sea in
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: the channels or straits that lie at the head of
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: Baffin's Bay. The vessel was now beyond the farthest point
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: of land that had been discovered at the time of
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: which I am riding, and already one or two of
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: the headlands had been named by Captain Harvey and marked
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: on his chart. I don't like to see pancake ice
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: so early in the season, remarked the captain to mister Mansell.
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: No more do, I, sir, answered the mate, this would
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: be a bad place to winter in. I fear land
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: ahead was shouted at that moment by the lookout at
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: the mast head. Keep her away two points, said the
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: captain to the man at the helm. How does it
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: lie right ahead, sir? Any ice near it? No? All clear.
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: The brig was kept a little more out to sea.
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: Soon she came to more open water, and in the
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: course of four hours was close to the land, which
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: proved to be a low, barren island not more than
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: a mile across. Here, the wind died away altogether, and
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: a sharp frost set in. The pancakes became joined together,
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: and on the following morning, when our friend Gregory came
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: on deck, he found that the whole ocean was covered
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: with ice. It did not indeed look very like ice, because,
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: being so thin, it did not prevent the usual swell
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: from rolling over the sea. A light breeze was blowing,
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: and the brig cut her way through it for some time,
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: but the breeze soon died away, leaving her be calmed
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: within a quarter of a mile of the island for
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: some time. The voyages hoped that a thaw would take place,
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: or that wind would break up the ice, but they
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: were disappointed. This was the first touch of the cold
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: hand of winter. And the last day of the Hope's
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: advance northward. Seeing this, Captain Harvey set energetically to work
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: to cut his way into winter quarters, for it would
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: not do to remain all winter in the exposed position
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: in which his vessel then lay. On his right was
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: the island already referred to, about a quarter mile off.
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: Beyond this, about five miles distant, were the high steep
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: cliffs of the western coast of Greenland. Everywhere else lay
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: the open sea, covered here and there with floes and bergs,
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: and coated with new ice. The ice became so thick
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: in the course of another night that the men could
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: walk on it without danger. By means of saws and
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: chisels made for the purpose, they cut a passage towards
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: the island, and finally moored the brig in a small bay,
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: which was sheltered on all sides except the east. This,
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: being the land side, required no protection. They named the
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: place Refuge Harbor. Everyone was now full of activity. The
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: voyagers had reached the spot where they knew they were
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: destined to spend the winter, and much had to be
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: done before they could consider themselves in a fit state
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: to face that terrible season. Winter in the polar regions
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: extends over eight months of the year, from September to May,
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 1: but so much of ice and snow remains there all
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: the summer that winter can scarcely be said to quit
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: those regions at all. It is difficult to imagine what
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: the Arctic winter is. We cannot properly understand the tremendous
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: difficulties and sufferings that men who go to the polar
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: seas have to fight against. Let the reader think of
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: the following facts, and see if he does not draw
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: his chair closer to the fire, and feel thankful that
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: he has not been born in Eskimo and is not
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: an Arctic seamen. Winter within the Arctic Circle, as I
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: have said, is fully eight months long. During that time,
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: the land is covered with snow many feet deep, and
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: the sea with ice of all degrees of thickness, from
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: vast fields of ten or fifteen feet thick to berghs
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: the size of islands and mountains, all frozen into one
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: solid mass. There is no sunlight there night or day
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: for three out of these eight winter months, and there
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: is not much during the remaining five. In summer, there
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: is perpetual sunlight all night as well as all day
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: for about two months. For many weeks, the sun never
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: descends below the horizon. It is seen every day and
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: every night, sweeping a complete circle in the bright blue sky.
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: Having been so free of his light in summer, the
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: sun seems to think he is a right to absent
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: himself in winter. For the three months of darkness that
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: I have spoken of are not months of partial but
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: of total darkness, as far at least as the Sun
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: is concerned. The moon and stars and the northern lights
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: do indeed give their light when the fogs and clouds
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: will allow them, but no one will say that these
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: make up for the absence of the sun. Then the
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: frost is so intense that everything freeze is solid, except
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: pure spirits of wine. Unless you have studied the thermometer,
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: you cannot understand the intensity of this frost. But for
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: the sake of those who do know something about extreme cold,
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: I give here a few facts that were noted down
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: during the winter that my story tells of. On the
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: tenth of September, these ice bound voyagers had eighteen degrees
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: of frost, and the darkness had advanced on them so
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: rapidly that it was dark about ten at night. By
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: the first of October, the ice round the brig was
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: a foot and a half thick. Up to this time
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: they had shot white hairs on the island, and the
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: hunting parties that crossed the ice to the mainland shot
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: deer and musk oxen and caught white foxes in traps.
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: Gulls and other birds, too, had continued to fly around them,
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: but most of these went away to seek warmer regions
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: further south. Walrus and seals did not leave so soon.
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: They remained as long as there was any open water
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: out at sea. The last birds that left them and
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: the first that returned in spring were the snow birds,
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: little creatures about the sides of a spero, almost white
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: with a few brown feathers here and there. The last
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: of these fled from the darkening winter on the seventh
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: of November and did not return until the first of
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: the following May. When they left, it was dark almost
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: all day, the thermometer could scarcely be read at noon,
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: and the stars were visible during the day. From this
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 1: time forward, thick darkness set in and the cold became intense.
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: The thermometer fell below zero, and after that they never
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: saw it above that point. For months together, twenty degrees,
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: thirty degrees and forty degrees below were common temperatures. The
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: ice around them was ten feet thick. On the first
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: of December, noon was so dark that they could not
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: see fifty yards ahead, and on the fifteenth the fingers
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: could not be counted afoot from the eyes. The thermometer
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: stood at forty degrees below zero. The darkness could not
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: now become greater, but the cold still continued to grow
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: more intense. It almost doubled in severity. In January, it
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: fell to sixty seven degrees below zero. So great was
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: this cold that the men felt impelled to breathe. Gradually,
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: the breath issued from their mouths in white clouds of steam,
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: and instantly settled on their beards and whiskers in hoar frost.
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: In the cabin of the hope, they had the utmost
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: difficulty in keeping themselves moderately warm. At this time things
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: had now reached their worst, and by slow degrees matters
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: began to mend. On the twenty second of Janeyanuary, the
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: first faint sign of returning day appeared, just a blue
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: glimmer on the horizon. By the middle of February, the
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: light tipped the tops of the mountains on shore, and
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: the highest peaks of the icebergs on the sea, And
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: on the first of March it bathed the deck of
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: the Hope. Then the long imprisoned crew began to feel
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: that spring was really coming. But there was little heat
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: in the sun's rays at first, and it was not
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 1: till the month of May that the ice out at
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: sea broke up, and summer could be said to have begun.
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 1: During all this long winter, during all these wonderful changes,
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 1: our Arctic voyagers had a hard fight in order to
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: keep themselves alive. Their life was a constant struggle. They
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: had to fight the bears and the walrusts, to resist
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: the cold and the darkness, to guard against treachery from
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: the natives, and to suffer pains, sicknesses, and trials such
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: as seldom fall to the lot of men in ordinary climates.
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: How they did and suffered all this, I shall try
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 1: to show you in the following pages. In attempting this,
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: I shall make occasional extracts from the journal of our
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: friend Tom Gregory. For Tom kept his journal regularly and
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: was careful to note down only what he heard and
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: saw end of chapter five Chapter six of Fast in
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: the Ice. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. Fast in the Ice by R. M. Ballantine.
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: Chapter six Preparations for wintering Remarkable Adventures with a Bear.
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: The first care of Captain Harvey, after getting his brig
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 1: securely laid up in her icy cradle for the winter,
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 1: was to remove some of the stores to the island,
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: where he had them carefully secured in a little hut
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: which the crew built of loose stones. This relieved the
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: strain on the vessel and permitted the free circulation of air.
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: The fitting up of the interior of the brig was
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: then begun. The wooden partition between the cabin and the
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: hold was taken down, and the whole space thrown into
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: one apartment. The stove was put up in the center
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: of it, and moss was piled round the walls inside.
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: About a foot thick moss was also spread on the
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: deck and above it. The snow was allowed to gather.
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: For snow, although so cold itself, keep things that it
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: covers warm By not permitting the heat to escape. The
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: brig was banked up all round with snow, and a
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 1: regular snowy staircase was built from the ice to her bulwarks.
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: They changed their time now from what is called sea
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: time to that which we follow on land. That is
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 1: to say, they reckoned the day to commence just after
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: twelve midnight, instead of dividing it into watches, as they
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: were wont to do at sea. Journals were begun and
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: careful notes made of everything that occurred or that might
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: in any way further the object for which they had
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: gone there. Every man in the ship had his appointed
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 1: duty and his post. If the native Eskimos should arrive
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 1: in a warlike temper, each man had his cutlass and
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: pistols in readiness. If a bear should pay them a visit,
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: each could lay hands on his musket in an instant,
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: and if a fire should break out on board, every
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: man had his bucket ready and his particular post fixed.
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: Some were to run to the water hole, which it
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: was the duty of one man to keep open. Others
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 1: were to station themselves from the hole to the ship
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: to pass the buckets, while the rest to remain on
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: board to convey them to the point of danger. Captain
• 1:09:04
  Speaker 1: Harvey fixed all the arrangements and superintended the carrying out
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 1: of his orders in a general way, making his two
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 1: officers and the young doctor responsible for the overseeing of details.
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: Each of these foremen furnished him with a report every
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: night of what had been done during the day, and
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: the result was noted down by himself in a journal.
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: Thus everything went smoothly and pleasantly along during the first
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: weeks of their sojourn in their frozen home. In regard
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: to fresh provisions, they were fortunate at first, for the
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: obtained sufficient supplies of deer and other game. This was
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: in the early part of winter, while there was still
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: plenty of daylight. In Tom Gregory's journal, I find it
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: thus written, September tenth. The days are beginning to shorten now,
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: and we are all busily occupied in preparing for the
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 1: law dark winter that is before us. Sam Baker, who
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 1: is the best shot among us, brought in a deer
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 1: to day. This is fortunate, for we stand in need
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 1: of fresh meat. Our greatest enemy this winter, I fear,
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 1: will be scurvy. Unless we obtain a large supply of
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 1: fresh provisions. We cannot hope to escape it. Crofts brought
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 1: in two Arctic hares. They were beautiful creatures, pure white,
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: and each ways about seven pounds. These, with the four
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 1: deer shot by myself last week and the ten hares
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 1: caught by Baker, will keep us going for some time.
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 1: September twelfth, I had an adventure with a polar bear
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: last night, which has amused the men very much and
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 1: given them food for jocularity for a few days. Some
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 1: days back, Davy Butts set up a trap on the
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 1: island in which he hath caught a few foxes. Last night,
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: his long legs were so tired that he did not
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 1: care to visit his trap, so I offered to go
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: instead of him. It was while I was out on
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 1: this errand that I happened to meet with Bruin. Our
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: meeting was sudden and unexpected on both sides. I believe
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: it was midnight when I set off to the trap,
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 1: which was not more than half a mile from the ship,
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: and it was quite dark when I reached it. Davy
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: is an ingenious fellow. His trap is made of four
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: blocks of hard snow, with a sort of wooden trigger
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 1: that goes off the moment the bait is touched and
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 1: allows a heavy lug to fall down on the poor
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 1: fox's back. There was no fox there, however, when I
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: reached it. I went down on my knees and was
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: examining the bait when I heard a low growl. I
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 1: leaped up and felt for the knife, which I usually
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: carried in my belt. It was not there. In the
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 1: haste of my departure from the ship, I had forgotten
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 1: to buckle it on. I had no gun, of course,
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 1: it was too dark to shoot, and I had not
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: counted on meeting with any dangerous enemy. I could only
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 1: crouch down behind a lump of ice and hoped that
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: the bear would go away. But another growl, much louder
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 1: than the first, and close at hand, showed that I
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 1: had been seen. It was so dark that I could
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: hardly see fifty yards ahead. There was a great chasm
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 1: or hole just in front of me. This was the
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: place where the main body of the sea ice had
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 1: been separated from the shore ice that was aground here.
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: Every rise and fall of the tide had broken it afresh,
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 1: so that the rent was twenty yards wide and full
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: of large blocks that had been tossed about in confusion.
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: Across this, I gazed into the gloom and thought I
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 1: saw an object that looked like a large block of
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: rounded ice. Before I could make up my mind how
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: to act, the block of ice rose up with a
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: furious roar and charged me. The chasm checked him for
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: a moment, But for this I should have been caught immediately.
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: While he was scrambling over it, I took to my
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: heels and ran along the edge of the ice. At
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 1: the top of my speed, there was a narrow part
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: of the chasm, which I looked at in daylight and
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 1: wondered whether I might venture to leap across it. I
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: had made up my mind that it was too wide
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 1: and dangerous to be attempted. But it is wonderful how
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 1: quickly a man changes his mind on such a point
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 1: when a polar bear is roaring at his heels. I
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 1: came to the gap in the ice. It was ten
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: feet deep and thirteen or fourteen feet across. The jagged
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: lumps of ice at the bottom lay there in horrible confusion.
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 1: There was barely light enough to see where the hole
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 1: was when I came within ten yards of it, But
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: I did not hesitate a rush a bound and I
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: went over like a cat. Not so the bear. He
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 1: had not measured the place with his eye in daylight
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 1: as I had done. He made a gallant leap, it
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: is true, but fell short, as I knew from the
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 1: bursting sound and the growl of rage with which he
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 1: came against the edge of the ice and fell back
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: among the broken blocks. I did not wait to see
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: how he got out, you may be sure, but ran
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 1: as I never ran before in all my life. I
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 1: reached the brig quite out of breath. The bear had
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 1: not followed me up, for I did not see him
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 1: that night Again long Davy laughed at me a good
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 1: deal and said he was sure I had been frightened
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 1: at a shadow. It gave a wonderfully loud roar for
• 1:14:31
  Speaker 1: a shadow. I hope that Davy himself may get a
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: chase before the winter is over, just to convince him
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: of his error in not believing me. The kind wish
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 1: thus expressed in the Young Doctor's Journal was gratified sooner
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 1: than might have been expected. Only two days after the
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 1: incident above described, poor Davy Butts met with the same
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: bear face to face and had a run for his
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 1: life that turned the laugh from Tom Gregory to himself.
• 1:15:03
  Speaker 1: It was on the afternoon of a clean cold day,
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 1: just about sunset. The men had finished dinner and were
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 1: smoking their pipes on deck, stamping their feet and slapping
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 1: their hands into arms to keep them warm. Hullo, Davy,
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 1: where are you bound for? Inquired the captain, on observing
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 1: that Butts was wrapping himself carefully in his fur coat,
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 1: tightening his belt, and putting on his mittens as if
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 1: bent on a long journey. I'm only going to take
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 1: a look at my fox trap, sir, if you'll allow me, certainly,
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 1: my lad, If you get a fox, it's well worth
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 1: the trouble and hark, ye, Davy, take your axe and
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: make one or two more of these snow traps of yours.
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 1: It will be a well spent hour. Why Butts, exclaimed Gregory,
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 1: what do you mean to do with that big horse pistol?
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 1: Surely you are not afraid of bears after laughing so
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 1: much at the one that chased me. Oh no, not afraid,
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: you know, replied Davy. But there's no harm in being armed, mind,
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 1: Just shoot 'em straight on the eye, or send a
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 1: bullet up his nose. Them's the vulnerable parts of him,
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 1: cried Joe Davis with a laugh, as Butts went down
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: the snow steps and got upon the ice, I say,
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: cried Pepper, as he was moving away. Well, bring his
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: tongue aboard with you, and I'll cook it for supper. Ah,
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: and a bit of fat to fry it in, added
• 1:16:28
  Speaker 1: the steward. There's nothin like tongue fried in bear's grease. No, no, Dawkins,
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: said mister Dicey ill o Davy, bring the ambs. Bears
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: ams are considered frustrate eaten. No, don't bring the hams,
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: shouted Jim Krafft. Fetch the tongue. That's the thing for
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: supper of a cold night. Fetch the tongue, lad, hold
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 1: your own tongue, shouted Davy in reply, as he went
• 1:16:53
  Speaker 1: off admid the laughter of his comrades. The sun sank
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 1: soon after, and before the ingenious seamen had finished two
• 1:17:02
  Speaker 1: new traps, the short twilight had gradually deepened into night. Still,
• 1:17:07
  Speaker 1: there was plenty of light, for the sky was clear
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 1: and studded with a host of stars. In addition to this,
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: the Aurora borealis was sending its beautiful flashes of pale
• 1:17:18
  Speaker 1: green light all across the western sky. The Aurora, which
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 1: also goes by the names of Northern lights and streamers
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 1: and merry dancers, is seen in great splendor in these
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 1: northern skies. When the seaman had finished his traps and
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 1: looked up for a minute or two at the sky
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 1: before starting on his return to the ship, he beheld
• 1:17:41
  Speaker 1: the Aurora extending over the heavens in the form of
• 1:17:45
  Speaker 1: an irregular arch. It was extremely bright, but the brightness
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 1: was not the same in all parts. It moved and
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 1: waved gently about like a band of thin green fire.
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 1: Every now and then long tongues or streamers darted up
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 1: from it, and these were brighter than the rest. They
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 1: were yellowish white, and sometimes became pale pink in color.
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 1: The light from this beautiful object was equal to that
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 1: of the moon in her quarter, and the stars that
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: were behind it shone dimly through, as if they were
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 1: covered with a thin gauze veil. While Davy was gazing
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 1: in wonder at the splendid lights above him, a deep
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: growl fell upon his ear. If the man had been
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 1: a jack in a box, he could not have leaped
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: more quickly round his pistol was out and cocked. In
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 1: a moment. The growl was followed by a roar, which
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 1: drove all the blood back into Davy's heart and seemed
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 1: to freeze it there solid. The man was no coward,
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: as was quite clear, for at first he boldly stood
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 1: his ground, But he would have been more than mortal
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: if he had not felt some strange qualms about his
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 1: heart when he saw a large white rushing furiously toward him.
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 1: The animal came, this time from the interior of the
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 1: small island. The seaman knew well the place over which
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 1: young Gregory had jumped when he had been chased. After
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 1: wavering for a moment or two, he turned and fled.
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 1: Another tremendous roar helped him over the ice like a deer,
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 1: and he took the chasm with a bound like an
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 1: Indian rubber ball. It must certainly have been the same
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 1: animal that chased Gregory, for instead of trying to leap
• 1:19:33
  Speaker 1: the chasm, it went to another part of the rent
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 1: and scrambled across. This gave but time to increase the
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 1: distance between them, but a man is no match for
• 1:19:43
  Speaker 1: a polar bear in a race. The monster was soon
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 1: close up with him, and the ships still far off.
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: The man knew his danger. He turned, took a quick
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 1: aim and fired. He missed, of course, flung the pistol
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: in desperation in the bare face, and ran on. The
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 1: pistol happened to stick in the snow with the butt
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 1: in the air, and when the bear came up to it,
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 1: he stopped to smell it. It is well known nowadays
• 1:20:13
  Speaker 1: that polar bears are full of curiosity and will stop
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 1: for a few minutes to examine anything that comes in
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 1: their way, even when they are in full chase of
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 1: a man. Davy Butts knew nothing of this at the time,
• 1:20:26
  Speaker 1: but he was a quick witted fellow. He observed this
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 1: stopping of the bear and determined to give him something
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 1: more to stop at. When Bruin was close at his heels,
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 1: he threw down his cap. The bear at once pulled up,
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 1: smelt it all around, tossed it into the air with
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 1: his snout, pawed it once or twice, then tore it
• 1:20:46
  Speaker 1: to pieces with one wrench, and continued the chase. Very
• 1:20:51
  Speaker 1: little time was lost in this operation. He was soon
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 1: up on the man again. Then a mitten was thrown
• 1:20:57
  Speaker 1: down for his inspection. After that the other mitten went,
• 1:21:01
  Speaker 1: the cravat followed, and the axe went next. All that
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 1: I have just related happened in a very few minutes.
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 1: Davy was still a good quarter of a mile from
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: the brig. Everything that he could tear off his person
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: in haste and throw down was gone, and the bear
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 1: was once more coming up behind. As a last hope,
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 1: he pulled off his heavy fur coat and dropped it.
• 1:21:26
  Speaker 1: This seemed to be a subject of great interest to
• 1:21:28
  Speaker 1: the bear, for it was longer in inspecting it than
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 1: the other things. And now poor Butts went tearing along
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 1: like a maniac. In his flannel shirt and trousers. He
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 1: was a miserable and curious object, for his body, besides
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 1: being very long, was uncommonly lanky, and his legs and
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 1: arms seemed to go like the wings of a windmill.
• 1:21:52
  Speaker 1: Never since the day of his birth had Davy Butts
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 1: run at such a pace, in such light clothing, and
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 1: in such severe frost. A long line of low hummocks
• 1:22:04
  Speaker 1: hid him from the brig. The moment he passed these,
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 1: he came in sight of her and began to yell,
• 1:22:12
  Speaker 1: what on earth is yon? Exclaimed Joe Davis, who chanced
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 1: to be looking over the gangway when this remarkable object
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 1: appeared the wild men of the north himself, or my
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 1: name ain't Jim, said Crofts, turning pale. Why it's Davy,
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: butts I do believe, cried Sam Paker, who came on
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 1: deck at that moment. Just then the bear came tearing
• 1:22:35
  Speaker 1: round the end of the hummocks in full chase. Hurrah,
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 1: Hallo ho, roared the man who had crowded on deck.
• 1:22:43
  Speaker 1: At the first note of alarm. Sam Baker seized a
• 1:22:47
  Speaker 1: heavy ash handspike about five feet long, and was on
• 1:22:51
  Speaker 1: his way to meet his comrade before the others had
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 1: gained the ice. They were not slow, however, some with muskets,
• 1:23:00
  Speaker 1: some with pistols and cutlasses, and some with nothing but
• 1:23:03
  Speaker 1: their fists. All followed Sam, who was now far ahead.
• 1:23:08
  Speaker 1: Baker passed Davy without a remark and ran straight at
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 1: the bear, which stopped on seeing such a big, powerful
• 1:23:15
  Speaker 1: man running so furiously at him and flourishing a bludheon
• 1:23:20
  Speaker 1: that would almost have suited the hand of a giant,
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 1: But polar bears are not timid. He rose on his
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 1: hind legs at once and paid no attention whatever to
• 1:23:30
  Speaker 1: the tremendous crack that Sam dealt him over the skull.
• 1:23:34
  Speaker 1: The blow broke the handspike in two, and the fool
• 1:23:37
  Speaker 1: hardy seamen would have soon paid for his rashness with
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 1: his life, had not friendly and steady hands been near.
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 1: Nothing daunted. He was about to repeat the blow with
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 1: the peace of the handspike that was still in his grasp,
• 1:23:52
  Speaker 1: and the bear was about to seize him with his claws,
• 1:23:55
  Speaker 1: each of which were full two inches long, when the
• 1:23:59
  Speaker 1: first made and Gregory came running towards him, side by side,
• 1:24:03
  Speaker 1: the first armed with a rifle. The doctor with pistols
• 1:24:08
  Speaker 1: too late, gasped Gregory. We must fire, said Mansell and
• 1:24:13
  Speaker 1: risk hitting Sam. Here, Doctor, you are a good shot.
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 1: Take the rifle. The young man obeyed, dropped on one knee,
• 1:24:21
  Speaker 1: and took aim, but did not fire. Sam was between
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 1: him and the bear. A sudden movement changed their positions.
• 1:24:30
  Speaker 1: The sight of the monster came into view, and in
• 1:24:32
  Speaker 1: another instant it was stretched on the ice with a
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 1: bullet in his brain. End of chapter six Chapter seven
• 1:24:47
  Speaker 1: of Fast in the Ice. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 1:24:52
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 1:24:55
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer. Please visit LibriVox dot or Fast
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 1: in the Ice by R. M. Ballantine, Chapter seven, A
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 1: great battle with the Walrusts. It need scarcely be said
• 1:25:11
  Speaker 1: that there was a jovial face that night at supper.
• 1:25:15
  Speaker 1: The bear's tongue was cooked after all, But the impudent
• 1:25:19
  Speaker 1: tongues of the parties were not silenced, for they almost
• 1:25:22
  Speaker 1: worried the life out of poor Davy for having run
• 1:25:25
  Speaker 1: away from a bear. Soon after this event, the preparations
• 1:25:30
  Speaker 1: for spending the winter were completed, at least as far
• 1:25:33
  Speaker 1: as the fitting up of the vessel was concerned. This morning,
• 1:25:38
  Speaker 1: writes Gregory, in this journal, we finished housing over are
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 1: at a combe. The hope is very snug, lined with
• 1:25:46
  Speaker 1: moss and almost covered with snow. A sail has been
• 1:25:49
  Speaker 1: spread over the quarter deck like an awning. It is
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 1: also covered with moss and snow. This, we hope will
• 1:25:56
  Speaker 1: give much additional warmth to our house below. We all
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 1: live together now, men and officers. It will require our
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 1: united strength to fight successfully against that terrible enemy John Frost.
• 1:26:09
  Speaker 1: John is king of the Arctic regions. Undoubtedly Dawkins got
• 1:26:15
  Speaker 1: a cold bath yesterday that amused them men much and
• 1:26:18
  Speaker 1: did him no harm. For some time past we have
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 1: been carrying moss from the island in large bundles. Dawkin
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 1: got leave to help, as he said he was sick
• 1:26:28
  Speaker 1: tired of always working among stores. He was passing close
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 1: to the fire hole with a great bundle of moss
• 1:26:34
  Speaker 1: on his back, when his foot slipped and down he went.
• 1:26:38
  Speaker 1: This hole is kept constantly open. It is baker's duty
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 1: night and morning to break the ice and have it
• 1:26:45
  Speaker 1: ready in case of fire. The ice on the surface
• 1:26:49
  Speaker 1: was therefore thin. In a moment nothing was to be
• 1:26:52
  Speaker 1: seen of poor Dawkins but his bundle. Fortunately he held
• 1:26:57
  Speaker 1: tight on to it, and we hauled him out so
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 1: to the skin. The thermometer stood at thirty five degrees
• 1:27:04
  Speaker 1: below zero, the coldest day we had had up to
• 1:27:07
  Speaker 1: this time, and in two minutes the unfortunate man's clothes
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 1: were frozen so stiff that he could scarcely walk. We
• 1:27:15
  Speaker 1: had to break the ice on his legs and arms
• 1:27:18
  Speaker 1: at the joints, and even then he had to be
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 1: half hoisted on board and carried below. We all dressed
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 1: in sealskin and fox skin garments. Now Dawkins had on
• 1:27:28
  Speaker 1: a rough coat made of white and gray foxes, trousers
• 1:27:32
  Speaker 1: of the same, boots of seal skin, and mittens. Ditto.
• 1:27:37
  Speaker 1: When all this was soaked and frozen, he was truly
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 1: a humbling sight. The undressing of him was a labor
• 1:27:44
  Speaker 1: of difficulty as well as of love. However, when he
• 1:27:48
  Speaker 1: was rubbed dry and re clothed, he was none the worse. Indeed,
• 1:27:52
  Speaker 1: I am inclined to think he was much the better
• 1:27:55
  Speaker 1: of his ducking. Tomorrow we are to make some curious
• 1:27:59
  Speaker 1: experiments with boats, sledges and kites. The Captain is anxious
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 1: to take our largest boat over the ice as far
• 1:28:06
  Speaker 1: to the south as possible, and leave her there with
• 1:28:09
  Speaker 1: a quantity of provisions, so that we may have her
• 1:28:12
  Speaker 1: to fall back upon if any misfortunes should befall the
• 1:28:15
  Speaker 1: brig which are earnestly prayed that God may forbid. Davy Butts,
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 1: who is an ingenious fellow in his way, says that
• 1:28:25
  Speaker 1: we can sail a boat on the ice almost as
• 1:28:27
  Speaker 1: well as on the water, and that we may drag
• 1:28:30
  Speaker 1: sledges by means of kites if we choose. The captain
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 1: means to attempt a journey to the north with sledges
• 1:28:37
  Speaker 1: in the spring so if the kite answers, Butts will
• 1:28:40
  Speaker 1: have done us good service. But I have my doubts.
• 1:28:44
  Speaker 1: The knights are closing and fast. Very soon we shall
• 1:28:48
  Speaker 1: be without the sun altogether. But the moon is cheering us.
• 1:28:52
  Speaker 1: Last night, twenty eighth October, she swept in a complete
• 1:28:56
  Speaker 1: circle round the sky all day as well as all night.
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 1: She only touched the horizon, and then instead of setting
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 1: she rose again, as if the frozen sea had frightened her.
• 1:29:08
  Speaker 1: October thirtieth, Baker came in to day and reported open
• 1:29:12
  Speaker 1: water about six miles off, and walrus sporting in it.
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 1: I shall set out tomorrow on a hunt. The hunt
• 1:29:20
  Speaker 1: which the young doctor here wrote of came off the
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 1: following day, but it was a very different one from
• 1:29:27
  Speaker 1: what any of the men had expected. Early in the morning, Baker, Davy, Butts,
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 1: and Gregory set off on foot, armed with a rifle
• 1:29:36
  Speaker 1: and two muskets, besides a couple of harpoons, a whale lance,
• 1:29:40
  Speaker 1: and a long line. They also took a small sledge,
• 1:29:44
  Speaker 1: which was intended to be used in hauling home the
• 1:29:46
  Speaker 1: meat if they should be successful. Three hours hard walking
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 1: brought the party to the edge of the solid ice,
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 1: after which They traveled on the floes that were being
• 1:29:56
  Speaker 1: constantly broken by the tides and were only joined together
• 1:30:00
  Speaker 1: by ice of a night or two old. This was
• 1:30:03
  Speaker 1: little more than an inch thick, so they had to
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 1: advance with caution. Presently, the loud mooing of a bull
• 1:30:10
  Speaker 1: walrust was heard. Its roar was something between the lowing
• 1:30:15
  Speaker 1: of a bull and the bark of a large dog,
• 1:30:17
  Speaker 1: but much louder, for the Walrusts resembles an elephant in
• 1:30:21
  Speaker 1: size more than any other animal. Soon after they came
• 1:30:25
  Speaker 1: in sight of their game, five walrusts were snorting and
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 1: barking in a hole which they had broken in the ice.
• 1:30:32
  Speaker 1: The way in which this huge monster opens a hole
• 1:30:35
  Speaker 1: when he wants to get out of the sea is
• 1:30:37
  Speaker 1: to come up from below with considerable violence and send
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 1: his head crashing through the ice. The three men now
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 1: became very wary. They crept on their hands and knees
• 1:30:49
  Speaker 1: behind the ice hummocks until within about a hundred yards
• 1:30:53
  Speaker 1: of the brutes. Then they ascended a small hummock to
• 1:30:56
  Speaker 1: take a look round and decide on their plan of operations.
• 1:31:00
  Speaker 1: While lying there flat on their faces, they took particular
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: care to keep their heads well concealed, just raising them
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 1: high enough to observe the position of the walrusts. There
• 1:31:12
  Speaker 1: was a sheet of flat ice between them and the hole,
• 1:31:15
  Speaker 1: so that it was impossible to advance nearer without being seen.
• 1:31:20
  Speaker 1: This perplexed them much, for although their bullets might hit
• 1:31:24
  Speaker 1: at that distance, they would not be able to run
• 1:31:27
  Speaker 1: in quickly enough to use their lances, and the harpoons
• 1:31:30
  Speaker 1: would be of no use at all. While thus undecided
• 1:31:34
  Speaker 1: what to do, they were unexpectedly taught a lesson in
• 1:31:37
  Speaker 1: walrus hunting that surprised them. Not a little ullo, there's
• 1:31:42
  Speaker 1: a bear, whispered Davy Butts, as a hairy object crawled
• 1:31:46
  Speaker 1: out from behind an ice hummock about two hundred yards
• 1:31:49
  Speaker 1: from the place where they lay, and made towards the
• 1:31:52
  Speaker 1: walrusts in a sly cat like manner. More like a seal,
• 1:31:57
  Speaker 1: observed Baker. A seal. Why it's a man, said Gregory,
• 1:32:02
  Speaker 1: in a low excited whisper. So it is sure enough,
• 1:32:06
  Speaker 1: said Baker. It must be an Eskimaux, though his hairy
• 1:32:09
  Speaker 1: garments make him look more like a bear than a man.
• 1:32:12
  Speaker 1: And as the fellow has got here before us, I
• 1:32:15
  Speaker 1: suppose we must give up our claim to the brutes.
• 1:32:19
  Speaker 1: Time enough to talk of that when the brutes are killed,
• 1:32:21
  Speaker 1: said Gregory with a smile. But lie still, lads, we
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 1: will take a lesson from this fellow, who has been
• 1:32:27
  Speaker 1: so earnestly staring at the walrus that he has not
• 1:32:30
  Speaker 1: noticed us. The three men lay perfectly motionless, watching the native,
• 1:32:37
  Speaker 1: who crept as near to the hole as he could
• 1:32:39
  Speaker 1: without being seen, and then waited for a few minutes
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 1: until the creatures should dive. This they were constantly doing,
• 1:32:47
  Speaker 1: staying down a few moments at a time, and then
• 1:32:49
  Speaker 1: coming up to breathe. For the walrus cannot live without air.
• 1:32:53
  Speaker 1: He is not a fish, and although he can stay
• 1:32:56
  Speaker 1: down a long time, he must come to the surface
• 1:32:59
  Speaker 1: occasionally to breathe. In this he resembled the seal and
• 1:33:03
  Speaker 1: the whale. Presently down they all went with a tremendous splash.
• 1:33:08
  Speaker 1: Now was the moment the Eskimo rose, ran at full
• 1:33:12
  Speaker 1: speed for a few yards, then fell flat on his
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 1: face and lay quite still, as if he had been
• 1:33:18
  Speaker 1: shot dead. The reason of this was soon apparent. He
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 1: understood the habits of the walrus and knew that they
• 1:33:25
  Speaker 1: would rise again. This they did almost the moment after
• 1:33:30
  Speaker 1: and began their snorting, bellowing, and rolling again. Once more,
• 1:33:34
  Speaker 1: they dived up got The eskimo ran a few yards
• 1:33:37
  Speaker 1: further forward and then fell flat down. As before, In
• 1:33:42
  Speaker 1: this way he got near to the hole without being seen.
• 1:33:45
  Speaker 1: The watchers observed that he carried a harpoon and a
• 1:33:48
  Speaker 1: coil of thick line. The next time the walrus dived,
• 1:33:53
  Speaker 1: he ran to the edge of the hole, but now
• 1:33:56
  Speaker 1: instead of falling down, he stood quite still, with the
• 1:33:59
  Speaker 1: harpoon raised above his head, ready to be thrown. In
• 1:34:03
  Speaker 1: a few moments, the monsters reappeared two rows close at
• 1:34:08
  Speaker 1: the edge of the hole. One was a male, the
• 1:34:10
  Speaker 1: other female. They were frighteningly ugly to look at, shaking
• 1:34:15
  Speaker 1: the water from his head and shoulders. The bullet once
• 1:34:18
  Speaker 1: caught sight of the man who had thus suddenly appeared
• 1:34:22
  Speaker 1: at that instant, the Eskimau threw up his left arm.
• 1:34:25
  Speaker 1: This action, instead of frightening the brutes away, caused them
• 1:34:29
  Speaker 1: to raise themselves high out of the water in order
• 1:34:32
  Speaker 1: to have a good look at the strange creature who
• 1:34:35
  Speaker 1: had thus dared to disturb them in their watery home.
• 1:34:39
  Speaker 1: This was just what the native wanted. It gave him
• 1:34:42
  Speaker 1: a chance of driving the harpoon under the flipper of
• 1:34:45
  Speaker 1: the male. The instant this was done, he caught up
• 1:34:48
  Speaker 1: the end of his coil and ran quickly back to
• 1:34:51
  Speaker 1: the full length of the line. The battle that now
• 1:34:55
  Speaker 1: begun was perhaps one of the fiercest that was ever
• 1:34:59
  Speaker 1: fought in the Ark regions. The walrus lashed the water
• 1:35:03
  Speaker 1: furiously for a second or two and dived. This checked
• 1:35:07
  Speaker 1: the native, who at once stopped running, drove the sharp
• 1:35:11
  Speaker 1: point of a little piece of wood into the ice
• 1:35:14
  Speaker 1: and put the loop at the end of his line
• 1:35:16
  Speaker 1: over it. He pressed the loop close down to the
• 1:35:19
  Speaker 1: ice with his feet so that he could hold on
• 1:35:22
  Speaker 1: when it tightened, which it did with great force. But
• 1:35:26
  Speaker 1: the line was a stout one. It had been cut
• 1:35:29
  Speaker 1: from the hide of a walrus and prepared in a
• 1:35:32
  Speaker 1: peculiar way for the purpose of standing a heavy strain.
• 1:35:37
  Speaker 1: The Eskimoux now played the monster as an angler plays
• 1:35:40
  Speaker 1: a trout. At one moment he held on, the next
• 1:35:43
  Speaker 1: he eased off. The line was sometimes like a bar
• 1:35:47
  Speaker 1: of iron. Then it was slackened off as the animal
• 1:35:50
  Speaker 1: rose and darted about. After this had happened once or twice,
• 1:35:55
  Speaker 1: the bowl came to the surface blowing tremendously and began
• 1:35:59
  Speaker 1: to bark and roar in great fury. The female came
• 1:36:03
  Speaker 1: up at the same time. She evidently meant to stick
• 1:36:06
  Speaker 1: by her partner and share his danger. The others had
• 1:36:10
  Speaker 1: dived and made off at the first sign of war.
• 1:36:15
  Speaker 1: The wounded walrus was a little flurried and very angry.
• 1:36:19
  Speaker 1: The female was not at all frightened. She was passionately furious.
• 1:36:24
  Speaker 1: Both of them tore up the ice tables with their
• 1:36:26
  Speaker 1: great ivory tasks and glared at their enemy with an
• 1:36:30
  Speaker 1: expression that there was no mistaking. The walrus is well
• 1:36:35
  Speaker 1: known to be one of the fiercest animals in the world.
• 1:36:38
  Speaker 1: Woe to the poor native if he had been caught
• 1:36:41
  Speaker 1: by these monsters at that time. After some minutes spent
• 1:36:45
  Speaker 1: in uselessly smashing the ice and trying to get at
• 1:36:49
  Speaker 1: the native, they both dived. Now came into play the
• 1:36:53
  Speaker 1: Eskimo's knowledge of the animal's habits and his skill in
• 1:36:56
  Speaker 1: this curious kind of warfare. Before die, they looked steadily
• 1:37:01
  Speaker 1: at the man for a second, and then swam under
• 1:37:04
  Speaker 1: the ice straight for the spot where he stood. The Eskimoux,
• 1:37:08
  Speaker 1: of course, could not see this, but he knew it
• 1:37:11
  Speaker 1: from past experience. He therefore changed his position instantly, ran
• 1:37:16
  Speaker 1: a few yards to one side, and planted his stick
• 1:37:19
  Speaker 1: and loop again. This had hardly been done when the
• 1:37:23
  Speaker 1: ice burst up with a loud crash. A hole of
• 1:37:27
  Speaker 1: more than fifteen feet wide was made on the exact
• 1:37:30
  Speaker 1: spot which the man had quitted, and the walrus appeared
• 1:37:34
  Speaker 1: with a puff like that of a steam engine and
• 1:37:37
  Speaker 1: a roar that would have done credit to a lion.
• 1:37:41
  Speaker 1: The great, lumpish looking heads and square cut faces of
• 1:37:44
  Speaker 1: the creatures looked frightful at this point in the fight.
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 1: There was something like human intelligence in their malicious and
• 1:37:52
  Speaker 1: brutal faces, as the water poured down their cheeks and
• 1:37:56
  Speaker 1: over their bristling beards, mingled with blood and foam. At
• 1:38:01
  Speaker 1: this moment, there was a shout close at hand, and
• 1:38:04
  Speaker 1: two other Eskimos ran out from behind the ice hummocks
• 1:38:07
  Speaker 1: and joined their comrade. They were armed with long lances,
• 1:38:12
  Speaker 1: the handles of which were made of bone, and the
• 1:38:15
  Speaker 1: points of beautiful white ivory tipped with steel. It was
• 1:38:19
  Speaker 1: afterwards discovered that these natives obtained small pieces of iron
• 1:38:23
  Speaker 1: and steel from Eskimos further south, who were in the
• 1:38:27
  Speaker 1: habit of trading at the settlements on the coast off Greenland.
• 1:38:32
  Speaker 1: The strangers at once ran to the edge of the
• 1:38:35
  Speaker 1: pool and gave the bul walrus two deep wounds with
• 1:38:38
  Speaker 1: their lances. They also wounded the female. This seemed to
• 1:38:43
  Speaker 1: render them more furious than ever. They dived again. The
• 1:38:47
  Speaker 1: first eskimo again shifted his position, and the others ran
• 1:38:51
  Speaker 1: back a short distance. They were not a moment too
• 1:38:55
  Speaker 1: soon in these changes, for the ice was again burst
• 1:38:58
  Speaker 1: upward at the spot they had just quitted, and the
• 1:39:01
  Speaker 1: enraged beasts once more came bellowing to the surface and
• 1:39:05
  Speaker 1: vented their fury on the ice. It may seem almost
• 1:39:10
  Speaker 1: incredible to the reader, but it is a fact that
• 1:39:14
  Speaker 1: this battle lasted fully four hours. At the end of
• 1:39:18
  Speaker 1: the third hour, it seemed to the sailors who were
• 1:39:21
  Speaker 1: watching it that the result was still doubtful, for the
• 1:39:25
  Speaker 1: eskimaus were evidently becoming tired, while the monsters of the
• 1:39:28
  Speaker 1: polar seas were still furious. I think we might help
• 1:39:34
  Speaker 1: them with a bullet, whispered Baker. It might frighten them, perhaps,
• 1:39:38
  Speaker 1: but it would save them a good deal of trouble.
• 1:39:40
  Speaker 1: Wait a little longer, replied Gregory, I have it in
• 1:39:44
  Speaker 1: mind to astonish them. You see, they have wounded the
• 1:39:47
  Speaker 1: female very badly. But when the male dies, which she
• 1:39:50
  Speaker 1: cannot now be long of doing, she will dive and
• 1:39:53
  Speaker 1: make off, and so they will lose her. For they
• 1:39:56
  Speaker 1: don't seem to have another harpoon and line. Perhaps they
• 1:40:00
  Speaker 1: have one behind the hummocks, suggested Davy Butts, whose teeth
• 1:40:04
  Speaker 1: were chattering in his head with cold. If they had,
• 1:40:09
  Speaker 1: they would have used it long ago, said Gregory. At
• 1:40:12
  Speaker 1: any rate, I mean to carry out my plan, which
• 1:40:14
  Speaker 1: is this. When the bull is about dead, I will
• 1:40:17
  Speaker 1: fire at the female and try to hit her in
• 1:40:19
  Speaker 1: a deadly part so as to kill her at once. Then, Sam,
• 1:40:23
  Speaker 1: you will run out with our harpoon and dart into
• 1:40:26
  Speaker 1: her to prevent her sinking or diving if she should
• 1:40:29
  Speaker 1: not be killed, and you, Davy, will follow me and
• 1:40:32
  Speaker 1: be ready with a musket. This plan had been settled
• 1:40:35
  Speaker 1: when the bull Walrus began to show signs of approaching death.
• 1:40:39
  Speaker 1: Greggory therefore took a deliberate aim with the rifle and fired.
• 1:40:43
  Speaker 1: The result was startling the female Walruss began to roll
• 1:40:47
  Speaker 1: and lash about furiously, smashing the ice and covering the
• 1:40:50
  Speaker 1: sea around with bloody foam. At first, the Eskimos stood motionless,
• 1:40:56
  Speaker 1: rooted to the spot as if they had been thunderstruck.
• 1:40:59
  Speaker 1: But when they saw sam Baker dart from behind the hummock,
• 1:41:02
  Speaker 1: flourishing his harpoon, followed by Gregory and Butts, their courage
• 1:41:06
  Speaker 1: deserted them. They turned in terror and fled on getting
• 1:41:11
  Speaker 1: behind the hummocks. However, they halted and peered over the
• 1:41:14
  Speaker 1: ledges of ice to see what the seamen did. Sam Baker,
• 1:41:18
  Speaker 1: being an old whaleman, darted his harpoon cleverly and held
• 1:41:22
  Speaker 1: fast the struggling animal. At the same time, Davy Butts
• 1:41:26
  Speaker 1: seized the end of the line which the natives had
• 1:41:28
  Speaker 1: thrown down in terror, and held on to the bull.
• 1:41:31
  Speaker 1: It was almost dead and quite unable to show any
• 1:41:34
  Speaker 1: more fight. Seeing that all was right, Gregory now laid
• 1:41:38
  Speaker 1: down his rifle and advanced slowly to the hummock behind
• 1:41:41
  Speaker 1: which the Eskimos had taken refuge. He knew from the
• 1:41:45
  Speaker 1: reports of previous travelers that holding up both arms is
• 1:41:49
  Speaker 1: a sign of peace with the Eskimos. He therefore stopped
• 1:41:52
  Speaker 1: within a short distance of the hummocks and held up
• 1:41:55
  Speaker 1: his arms. The signal was understood at once. The natives
• 1:41:59
  Speaker 1: leaped upon the top of the hummock and held up
• 1:42:01
  Speaker 1: their arms in reply. Again, Gregory tossed up his and
• 1:42:06
  Speaker 1: made signs to them to draw near. This they did
• 1:42:09
  Speaker 1: without hesitation, and the doctors shook them by the hand
• 1:42:12
  Speaker 1: and patted their hairy shoulders. They were all of them, stout,
• 1:42:16
  Speaker 1: well made fellows, about five feet seven or eight inches high,
• 1:42:20
  Speaker 1: and very broad across the shoulders. They were fat, too,
• 1:42:23
  Speaker 1: and oily faced, jolly looking men. They smiled and talked
• 1:42:27
  Speaker 1: to each other for a few moments, and then spoke
• 1:42:29
  Speaker 1: to Gregory. But when he shook his head as much
• 1:42:32
  Speaker 1: as to say I don't understand you, they burst into
• 1:42:35
  Speaker 1: a loud laugh. Then they suddenly became grave and ran
• 1:42:38
  Speaker 1: at full speed toward the hole where the walrus floated.
• 1:42:42
  Speaker 1: Davy Butts made the usual sign of friendship and handed
• 1:42:46
  Speaker 1: them the end of their line, which they seized and
• 1:42:49
  Speaker 1: set about securing their prize without taking any further notice
• 1:42:52
  Speaker 1: of their new friends. The manner in which these wild
• 1:42:56
  Speaker 1: yet good natured fellows hauled the enormous carcass out of
• 1:43:00
  Speaker 1: the water was simple and ingenious. They made four cuts
• 1:43:04
  Speaker 1: in the neck about two inches apart from each other,
• 1:43:07
  Speaker 1: and raised the skin between these cuts, thus making two bands.
• 1:43:11
  Speaker 1: Through one of these bands, they passed a line and
• 1:43:14
  Speaker 1: carried it to a stick made fast in the ice,
• 1:43:17
  Speaker 1: where they passed it through a loop of well greased hide.
• 1:43:20
  Speaker 1: It was then carried back to the animal, made to
• 1:43:23
  Speaker 1: pass under the second band, and the end was hauled
• 1:43:26
  Speaker 1: in by the eskimaus. This formed a sort of double
• 1:43:30
  Speaker 1: purchase that enabled them to pull out of the hole
• 1:43:33
  Speaker 1: a carcass which double their numbers could not have hauled up.
• 1:43:37
  Speaker 1: Some idea of the bull's weight may be formed when
• 1:43:40
  Speaker 1: I say that the carcass was eighteen feet long and
• 1:43:43
  Speaker 1: eleven feet in circumference. At the thickest part. There were
• 1:43:47
  Speaker 1: no fewer than sixty deep lance wounds in various parts
• 1:43:50
  Speaker 1: of its body. When seen close at hand, the walrus
• 1:43:55
  Speaker 1: is a very ugly monster. It is something like a
• 1:43:58
  Speaker 1: gigantic seal, having two large flippers or fins near its
• 1:44:02
  Speaker 1: shoulders and two others behind that look like its tail.
• 1:44:06
  Speaker 1: It uses these in swimming, but can also use them
• 1:44:09
  Speaker 1: on land so as to crawl, or rather bounce forward
• 1:44:12
  Speaker 1: in a clumsy fashion by means of its fore flippers,
• 1:44:16
  Speaker 1: it can raise itself high out of the water and
• 1:44:19
  Speaker 1: get upon the ice and rocks. It is fond of
• 1:44:22
  Speaker 1: doing this, and is often found sleeping in the sunshine
• 1:44:25
  Speaker 1: on the ice and on the rocks. It has even
• 1:44:28
  Speaker 1: been known to scramble up the side of an island
• 1:44:31
  Speaker 1: to a height of a hundred feet and lie there
• 1:44:33
  Speaker 1: basking in the sun. Nevertheless, the water is the proper
• 1:44:38
  Speaker 1: element of the walrust. All its motions are clumsy and
• 1:44:41
  Speaker 1: slow until it gets into the sea. There it is
• 1:44:44
  Speaker 1: at home. Its upper face has a square, bluff look,
• 1:44:48
  Speaker 1: and its broad muzzlin cheeks are covered by a coarse
• 1:44:51
  Speaker 1: beard of bristles, like quills. The two white tusks point downward.
• 1:44:57
  Speaker 1: In this they are unlike to those of the elephant.
• 1:45:01
  Speaker 1: The tusks of the bull killed on this occasion were
• 1:45:03
  Speaker 1: thirty inches long. The height of the walrus is nearly
• 1:45:07
  Speaker 1: an inch thick and is covered with close short hair.
• 1:45:11
  Speaker 1: Beneath the skin, he has a thick layer of fat,
• 1:45:14
  Speaker 1: and this enables him to resist the extreme cold in
• 1:45:17
  Speaker 1: the midst of which he dwells. The walruses of great
• 1:45:21
  Speaker 1: value to the Eskimos, but for it and the seal.
• 1:45:24
  Speaker 1: These poor members of the human family could not exist
• 1:45:27
  Speaker 1: at all in those frozen regions. As it is, it
• 1:45:31
  Speaker 1: cost them a severe struggle to keep the life in
• 1:45:33
  Speaker 1: their bodies. But they do not complain of what seems
• 1:45:36
  Speaker 1: to us a hard lot. They have been borne to it.
• 1:45:40
  Speaker 1: They know no happier condition of life. They wish for
• 1:45:43
  Speaker 1: no better home, and the old, wise creator has fitted
• 1:45:47
  Speaker 1: them admirably, both in mind and body, to live and
• 1:45:50
  Speaker 1: even to enjoy life in a region where most other
• 1:45:54
  Speaker 1: men could live only in great discomfort. If they could
• 1:45:57
  Speaker 1: exist at all. The Eskimos cut the walrus's thick hide
• 1:46:02
  Speaker 1: into long lines with which they hunt. As we have seen,
• 1:46:05
  Speaker 1: they do not cut these lines in strips and join
• 1:46:08
  Speaker 1: them in many places, but beginning at the one end
• 1:46:11
  Speaker 1: of the skin, they cut round and round without break
• 1:46:14
  Speaker 1: to the center, and thus secure a line of many
• 1:46:17
  Speaker 1: fathoms in length. It is truly said that necessity is
• 1:46:22
  Speaker 1: the mother of invention. These natives have no wood. Not
• 1:46:26
  Speaker 1: a single tree grows in the whole land of which
• 1:46:28
  Speaker 1: I am writing. There are plenty of plants, grasses, mosses,
• 1:46:33
  Speaker 1: and beautiful flowers in summer, growing too close behind ice
• 1:46:37
  Speaker 1: fields that remain unmelted all the year round, but there
• 1:46:41
  Speaker 1: is not a tree large enough to make a harpoon of. Consequently,
• 1:46:45
  Speaker 1: the Eskimos are obliged to make sledges of bones, and
• 1:46:49
  Speaker 1: as the bones and tusks of the walrus are not
• 1:46:51
  Speaker 1: big enough for this purpose, they tie and piece them
• 1:46:54
  Speaker 1: together in a remarkably neat and ingenious manner. Sometimes, indeed,
• 1:47:00
  Speaker 1: they find pieces of driftwood in the sea. Wrecks of
• 1:47:03
  Speaker 1: whale ships, too, are occasionally found by the natives in
• 1:47:06
  Speaker 1: the south of Greenland. A few pieces of the precious
• 1:47:09
  Speaker 1: wood obtained in this way are exchanged from one tribe
• 1:47:13
  Speaker 1: to another, and so find their way north. But the
• 1:47:16
  Speaker 1: further north we go, the fewer pieces of this kind
• 1:47:19
  Speaker 1: of wood do we find. And in the far north,
• 1:47:22
  Speaker 1: where our adventurous voyages where now ice bound, the Eskimos
• 1:47:26
  Speaker 1: have very little wood. Indeed, food is the chief object
• 1:47:31
  Speaker 1: which the Eskimo has in view when he goes out
• 1:47:33
  Speaker 1: to do battle with the walrus. Its flesh is somewhat coarse,
• 1:47:37
  Speaker 1: no doubt, but it is excellent nourishing food, notwithstanding, and
• 1:47:41
  Speaker 1: although a well fed Englishman might turn up his nose
• 1:47:44
  Speaker 1: at it, many starving Englishmen have smacked their lips over
• 1:47:48
  Speaker 1: walrus beef in days gone by, aye, and have eaten
• 1:47:51
  Speaker 1: it raw too, with much delight. Let not my reader
• 1:47:56
  Speaker 1: doubt the truth of this. Well known and truth loving
• 1:47:59
  Speaker 1: men have welt for a time in those regions, and
• 1:48:02
  Speaker 1: some of these have said that they actually came to
• 1:48:05
  Speaker 1: prefer the walrus flesh raw, because it was more strengthening
• 1:48:09
  Speaker 1: and fitted them better for undertaking long and tiring journeys
• 1:48:12
  Speaker 1: in extremely cold weather. One of the most gallant men
• 1:48:16
  Speaker 1: who ever went to the polar seas, doctor Kane, of
• 1:48:19
  Speaker 1: the American Navy, tells us in his delightful book Arctic Explorations,
• 1:48:25
  Speaker 1: that he frequently ate raw flesh and liked it, and
• 1:48:28
  Speaker 1: that the Eskimos often ate it raw. In fact, they
• 1:48:31
  Speaker 1: are not particular. They will eat it cooked or raw,
• 1:48:34
  Speaker 1: just as happens to be most convenient for them. When
• 1:48:39
  Speaker 1: the animals whose killing I have described were secured, the
• 1:48:42
  Speaker 1: Eskimos proceeded to skin and cut them up. The sailors,
• 1:48:46
  Speaker 1: of course assisted and learned a lesson. While this was
• 1:48:49
  Speaker 1: going on, one of their number went away for a
• 1:48:52
  Speaker 1: short time, and soon returned with a sledge drawn by
• 1:48:55
  Speaker 1: about a dozen dogs. This they loaded with the meat
• 1:48:59
  Speaker 1: and hide of the intending evidently to leave the cow
• 1:49:02
  Speaker 1: to their new friends as being their property. But Gregory
• 1:49:06
  Speaker 1: thought they were entitled to a share of it, so
• 1:49:09
  Speaker 1: after loading his sledge with a considerable portion of the meat,
• 1:49:12
  Speaker 1: he gave them the remainder along with the hide. This
• 1:49:16
  Speaker 1: pleased them mightily and caused them to talk much, though
• 1:49:20
  Speaker 1: to little purpose. However, Gregory made good use of the
• 1:49:23
  Speaker 1: language of signs. He also delighted them with the gift
• 1:49:26
  Speaker 1: of a brass ring, an old knife, and a broken
• 1:49:29
  Speaker 1: pencil case, and made them understand that his abode was
• 1:49:33
  Speaker 1: not far distant by drawing the figure of a walrus
• 1:49:36
  Speaker 1: in a hole in the snow, then a thing like
• 1:49:38
  Speaker 1: a bee hive at some distance from it, pointing northward.
• 1:49:42
  Speaker 1: At the same time, he struck a harpoon into the
• 1:49:45
  Speaker 1: outline of the walrus to show that it was the
• 1:49:48
  Speaker 1: animal that had just been killed, and then went and
• 1:49:51
  Speaker 1: laid down in the picture of the beehive to show
• 1:49:53
  Speaker 1: that he dwelt there. The natives understood this quite well.
• 1:49:57
  Speaker 1: They immediately drew another beehive pointed to the south into
• 1:50:01
  Speaker 1: the sun, and held up five fingers from this it
• 1:50:04
  Speaker 1: was understood that their village was five days distant from
• 1:50:07
  Speaker 1: the spot where they then were. He next endeavored to
• 1:50:11
  Speaker 1: purchase three of their dogs, but they objected to this
• 1:50:14
  Speaker 1: and refused to accept of three knives as a price
• 1:50:17
  Speaker 1: for them. They were tempted, however, by the offer of
• 1:50:20
  Speaker 1: a whale, harpoon and a hemp line, and at last
• 1:50:23
  Speaker 1: agreed to let them have three of their best dogs.
• 1:50:27
  Speaker 1: This the young doctor considered a piece of great good fortune,
• 1:50:31
  Speaker 1: and being afraid that they would repent, he prepared to
• 1:50:34
  Speaker 1: leave the place at once. The dogs were fastened by
• 1:50:37
  Speaker 1: lines to the sledge of their new masters. A whip
• 1:50:40
  Speaker 1: was made out of a strip of walrus hide, a
• 1:50:43
  Speaker 1: bone served for the handle, and away they went for
• 1:50:46
  Speaker 1: the brig at a rattling pace, after bidding the natives
• 1:50:50
  Speaker 1: farewell and making them understand that they hoped to meet
• 1:50:53
  Speaker 1: them again in the course of the winter. Thus happily
• 1:50:57
  Speaker 1: ended their first meeting with the Esquimaus. It may well
• 1:51:00
  Speaker 1: be believed that there were both astonishment and satisfaction on
• 1:51:04
  Speaker 1: board the Hope that night, when the hunting party returned
• 1:51:07
  Speaker 1: much sooner than had been expected. With the whip cracking,
• 1:51:11
  Speaker 1: the men cheering, the dogs howling, and the sledge well
• 1:51:15
  Speaker 1: laden with fresh meat. End of chapter seven. Chapter eight
• 1:51:26
  Speaker 1: of Fast in the Ice. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 1:51:31
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 1:51:34
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Fast
• 1:51:39
  Speaker 1: in the Ice by R. M. Ballentine. Chapter eight, The
• 1:51:44
  Speaker 1: Cause of icebergs, Fox chase a bear. One day, long
• 1:51:51
  Speaker 1: after the walrus hunt just described, Joe Davis stood on
• 1:51:55
  Speaker 1: the deck of the Hope, leaning over the side and
• 1:51:57
  Speaker 1: looking out to sea, at least in the direction of
• 1:52:00
  Speaker 1: the sea, for although mid day it was so dark
• 1:52:04
  Speaker 1: that he could not see very far in any direction.
• 1:52:07
  Speaker 1: Joe was conversing with mister Dicey on the appearance of
• 1:52:10
  Speaker 1: things around him. Do you know, mister Dicey, said he
• 1:52:15
  Speaker 1: what it is as causes them their icebergs. Mister Dicey
• 1:52:19
  Speaker 1: looked very grave and wise for a few seconds without answering.
• 1:52:23
  Speaker 1: Then he said, in a rather solemn tone, while davies
• 1:52:27
  Speaker 1: to tell you the truth, I don't know now. As
• 1:52:31
  Speaker 1: this question is one of considerable interest, I shall endeavor
• 1:52:34
  Speaker 1: to answer it for the benefit of the reader. The
• 1:52:37
  Speaker 1: whole of the interior of Greenland is covered with ice
• 1:52:41
  Speaker 1: and snow. This snowy covering does not resemble that soft
• 1:52:45
  Speaker 1: snow which falls on our own hills. It is hard
• 1:52:48
  Speaker 1: and never melts entirely away. The snow there is, in
• 1:52:52
  Speaker 1: some places a thousand feet thick. It covers all the
• 1:52:56
  Speaker 1: hill tops and fills up all the valleys, so that
• 1:52:59
  Speaker 1: the country may be said to be a buried land.
• 1:53:03
  Speaker 1: Since the world began, perhaps snow has been falling on
• 1:53:06
  Speaker 1: it every winter, but the summers there have been so
• 1:53:09
  Speaker 1: short that they could not melt away the snow of
• 1:53:12
  Speaker 1: one winter before that of another came and covered it
• 1:53:15
  Speaker 1: up and pressed it down. Thus, for ages, the snow
• 1:53:19
  Speaker 1: of one year has been added to that which was
• 1:53:22
  Speaker 1: left of the preceding, and the pressure has been so
• 1:53:25
  Speaker 1: great that the masses have been squeezed nearly as hard
• 1:53:28
  Speaker 1: as pure ice. The ice that has been formed in
• 1:53:32
  Speaker 1: this way is called glacier, and the glaciers of Greenland cover,
• 1:53:37
  Speaker 1: as I have said, the whole country, so that it
• 1:53:39
  Speaker 1: can never be cultivated or inhabited by man unless the
• 1:53:43
  Speaker 1: climate change. There are glaciers of this kind in many
• 1:53:47
  Speaker 1: other parts of the world. We have them in Switzerland
• 1:53:50
  Speaker 1: and in Norway, but not on nearly so large a
• 1:53:52
  Speaker 1: scale as in Greenland. Now, although this glacier ice is
• 1:53:57
  Speaker 1: clear and hard, it is not quite so soft as
• 1:54:00
  Speaker 1: pure ice. And when it is pushed down into the
• 1:54:03
  Speaker 1: valleys by the increasing masses above, it actually flows. But
• 1:54:07
  Speaker 1: this flowing motion cannot be seen. It is like the
• 1:54:10
  Speaker 1: motion of the hour hand of a watch, which cannot
• 1:54:13
  Speaker 1: be perceived. However closely it may be looked at. You
• 1:54:17
  Speaker 1: might go to one of the valleys of Greenland and
• 1:54:19
  Speaker 1: gaze at a glacier for days together, but you would
• 1:54:22
  Speaker 1: see no motion whatever. All would appear solid, frozen up
• 1:54:26
  Speaker 1: and still. But notice a block of stone lying on
• 1:54:30
  Speaker 1: the surface of the glacier, and go back many months after,
• 1:54:34
  Speaker 1: and you will find the stone lying a little further
• 1:54:36
  Speaker 1: down the valley than when you first saw it. Thus
• 1:54:39
  Speaker 1: glaciers are formed, and thus they slowly move. But what
• 1:54:44
  Speaker 1: has all this to do with icebergs? We shall see,
• 1:54:48
  Speaker 1: as the great glaciers of the North then are continually
• 1:54:51
  Speaker 1: moving down the valleys. Of course, their ends are pushed
• 1:54:54
  Speaker 1: into the sea. These ends or tongues are often hundreds
• 1:54:58
  Speaker 1: of feet thick. In some places they present a clear,
• 1:55:02
  Speaker 1: glittering wall to the sea of several hundreds of feet
• 1:55:05
  Speaker 1: in height, with perhaps as much again lost to view
• 1:55:09
  Speaker 1: down in the deep water. As the extremities of these
• 1:55:13
  Speaker 1: tongues are shoved further and further out, they chip off
• 1:55:16
  Speaker 1: and float away. These chips are icebergs. I have already
• 1:55:21
  Speaker 1: said that icebergs are sometimes miles in extent, like islands,
• 1:55:25
  Speaker 1: that they sink seven or eight hundred feet below the surface,
• 1:55:29
  Speaker 1: while their tops rise more than a hundred feet above it,
• 1:55:32
  Speaker 1: like mountains. If these, then are the chips of the
• 1:55:36
  Speaker 1: greenland glaciers, what must the old blocks be? Many a
• 1:55:41
  Speaker 1: long and animated discussion the sailors had that winter in
• 1:55:45
  Speaker 1: the cabin of the Hope on the subject of ice
• 1:55:48
  Speaker 1: and icebergs. When the dark nights drew on, little or
• 1:55:52
  Speaker 1: nothing could be done outside by our voyagers, and when
• 1:55:56
  Speaker 1: the ice everywhere closed up, all the animals forsook them
• 1:55:59
  Speaker 1: ex except polar bears, so that they ran short of
• 1:56:03
  Speaker 1: fresh provisions. As months of dreary darkness passed away, the scurvy,
• 1:56:08
  Speaker 1: that terrible disease, began to show itself among the men.
• 1:56:12
  Speaker 1: Their bodies became less able to withstand the cold, and
• 1:56:16
  Speaker 1: it was difficult for them at last to keep up
• 1:56:18
  Speaker 1: their spirits, but they fought against the troubles bravely. Captain
• 1:56:23
  Speaker 1: Harvey knew well that when a man's spirits go, he
• 1:56:26
  Speaker 1: is not worth much. He therefore did his utmost to
• 1:56:30
  Speaker 1: cheer and enliven those around him. One day, for instance,
• 1:56:35
  Speaker 1: he went on deck to breathe a mouthful of fresh air.
• 1:56:38
  Speaker 1: It was about eleven in the forenoon, and the moon
• 1:56:41
  Speaker 1: was shining brightly in the clear sky. The stars too,
• 1:56:45
  Speaker 1: and the Aurora borealis helped to make up for the
• 1:56:48
  Speaker 1: total absence of the sun. The cold air cut like
• 1:56:52
  Speaker 1: a knife against his face when he issued from the hatchway,
• 1:56:56
  Speaker 1: and the cold nose of one of the dogs immediately
• 1:56:59
  Speaker 1: touched his hand as the animal gamboled around him with delight.
• 1:57:04
  Speaker 1: For the extreme severity of the weather began to tell
• 1:57:07
  Speaker 1: on the poor dogs and made them draw more lovingly
• 1:57:10
  Speaker 1: to their human companions. Ho Hallo, shouted the captain down
• 1:57:15
  Speaker 1: the hatchway, A fox chase, a fox chaise. Tumble up
• 1:57:19
  Speaker 1: all hands. The men were sitting at the time in
• 1:57:23
  Speaker 1: a very dull and silent mood. They were much cast down,
• 1:57:28
  Speaker 1: for as it has been cloudy weather for some weeks past,
• 1:57:31
  Speaker 1: thick darkness had covered them night and day, so that
• 1:57:35
  Speaker 1: they could not tell the one from the other, except
• 1:57:38
  Speaker 1: by the help of their watches, which were kept carefully going.
• 1:57:42
  Speaker 1: Their journals also were written up daily, otherwise they must
• 1:57:46
  Speaker 1: certainly have got confused in their time Altogether. In consequence
• 1:57:51
  Speaker 1: of this darkness, the men were confined almost entirely to
• 1:57:54
  Speaker 1: the cabin for a time. Those who had scurvy got worse,
• 1:57:59
  Speaker 1: those who were well became gloomy. Even Pepper, who was
• 1:58:03
  Speaker 1: a tremendous joker, held his tongue, and Joe Davis, who
• 1:58:07
  Speaker 1: was a great singer, became silent. Jim Crofts was in
• 1:58:11
  Speaker 1: his bunk down with the scurvy and stout. Sam Baker,
• 1:58:14
  Speaker 1: who was a capital teller of stories, could not pluck
• 1:58:18
  Speaker 1: up spirits enough to open his mouth. In fact, as
• 1:58:22
  Speaker 1: mister Dicey said, they all had most horrible fit of
• 1:58:25
  Speaker 1: the blues. The captain and the officers were in better
• 1:58:29
  Speaker 1: health and spirits than the men, though they all fared
• 1:58:32
  Speaker 1: alike at the same table and did the same kind
• 1:58:34
  Speaker 1: of work, whatever that might chance to be. The officers, however,
• 1:58:39
  Speaker 1: were constantly exerting themselves to cheer the men, and I
• 1:58:43
  Speaker 1: have no doubt that this very effort of theirs was
• 1:58:46
  Speaker 1: the means of doing good to themselves. He that waterreth
• 1:58:49
  Speaker 1: others shall be watered, says the word of God. I
• 1:58:53
  Speaker 1: take this to mean that he who does good to
• 1:58:55
  Speaker 1: others shall get good to himself. So it certainly was
• 1:58:59
  Speaker 1: with the offer of the hope. When the captain's shout
• 1:59:03
  Speaker 1: reached the cabin, Jim Crofts had just said, I'll tell
• 1:59:07
  Speaker 1: ye what it is, messmates. If this here state of
• 1:59:10
  Speaker 1: things goes on much longer, I'll go out on the floes,
• 1:59:13
  Speaker 1: walk up to the first polar bear I meet, and
• 1:59:16
  Speaker 1: ask him to take his supper off me. There was
• 1:59:19
  Speaker 1: no laugh at this, but Pepper remarked in a quiet
• 1:59:22
  Speaker 1: way that he needn't put himself to so much trouble,
• 1:59:25
  Speaker 1: for he was such a pale faced, disagreeable looking object
• 1:59:29
  Speaker 1: that no bear would eat him unless it was starving. Well,
• 1:59:33
  Speaker 1: then I'll offer myself to a starving bear, to one
• 1:59:36
  Speaker 1: that's a most dead with hunger, retorted Jim gloomily. What's
• 1:59:42
  Speaker 1: ought the cap'n is singing out, said Davy Butts, who
• 1:59:45
  Speaker 1: was mending a pair of canvas shoes. The men roused
• 1:59:49
  Speaker 1: themselves at once, for the hope of anything new turning
• 1:59:52
  Speaker 1: up excited them. Hullo ho, roared the captain again, in
• 1:59:57
  Speaker 1: a voice that might have started a dead walrust tumble.
• 2:00:00
  Speaker 1: Up there a fox chase. I'll give my second best
• 2:00:03
  Speaker 1: fur coat to the man that catches Foxy. In one instant,
• 2:00:08
  Speaker 1: the whole crew were scrambling up the ladder. Even Jim Crofts,
• 2:00:11
  Speaker 1: who was really ill, rolled out of his bunk and
• 2:00:14
  Speaker 1: staggered on deck, saying he would have it go after
• 2:00:18
  Speaker 1: Foxy if she should die for it. The game of
• 2:00:22
  Speaker 1: Fox is simple. One man is chosen to be the Fox,
• 2:00:26
  Speaker 1: he runs off, and the rest follow. They are bound
• 2:00:28
  Speaker 1: to go wherever the Fox leads. In this case, it
• 2:00:31
  Speaker 1: was arranged that the Fox should run round the deck
• 2:00:34
  Speaker 1: until he should be caught. Then the men who caught
• 2:00:37
  Speaker 1: him should become Fox and continue running on with all
• 2:00:40
  Speaker 1: the rest following until he in turn should be caught,
• 2:00:43
  Speaker 1: and so on until the one who could run longest
• 2:00:46
  Speaker 1: and fastest should break down all the rest. The warm
• 2:00:50
  Speaker 1: fur coat was a prize worth running for in such
• 2:00:53
  Speaker 1: a cold climate, so the game began with spirit. Young
• 2:00:57
  Speaker 1: Gregory offered to be Fox first, and away they went
• 2:01:01
  Speaker 1: with a yell mister Mansell was a little lame and
• 2:01:04
  Speaker 1: soon gave in. Mister Dicey fell at the second round
• 2:01:08
  Speaker 1: and was unable to recover distance. Greggory would certainly have
• 2:01:12
  Speaker 1: gained the coat, for he was strong and had been
• 2:01:14
  Speaker 1: a crack racer at school, but he did not want
• 2:01:17
  Speaker 1: the coat, so he allowed Sam Baker to catch him.
• 2:01:20
  Speaker 1: Sam held on like a deer for a few minutes,
• 2:01:23
  Speaker 1: and one after another the man dropped off as they
• 2:01:26
  Speaker 1: were blown. Jim Croft's poor fellow made a gallant burst,
• 2:01:30
  Speaker 1: but his limbs refused to help his spirit. He fell
• 2:01:34
  Speaker 1: and was assisted below by the captain and replaced in
• 2:01:37
  Speaker 1: his bunk, where, however, he felt the benefits of his efforts.
• 2:01:42
  Speaker 1: The race was now kept up by Sam Baker, Joe
• 2:01:45
  Speaker 1: Davis and Butts. These three were struggling on and panting loudly,
• 2:01:50
  Speaker 1: while their comrades danced about, clapped their mittened hands and
• 2:01:54
  Speaker 1: shouted now then Sam go in and win, Joe but forever,
• 2:01:59
  Speaker 1: and such like encouraging cries. To the surprise of everyone,
• 2:02:03
  Speaker 1: Davy Butts came off the winner, and for many a
• 2:02:06
  Speaker 1: day after that enjoyed the warm coat, which he said
• 2:02:09
  Speaker 1: his long legs had gained for him. This effort of
• 2:02:14
  Speaker 1: the captain to cheer the men was very successful, so
• 2:02:17
  Speaker 1: he resolved to follow it up with an attempt at
• 2:02:20
  Speaker 1: private theatricals. Accordingly, this thing was proposed and heartily agreed to.
• 2:02:27
  Speaker 1: Next day every one was busy making preparations. Tom Gregory
• 2:02:31
  Speaker 1: agreed to write a short play. Sam Baker, being the
• 2:02:34
  Speaker 1: healthiest man on board, was willing to act the part
• 2:02:37
  Speaker 1: of an invalid old lady, and Jim Crofts consented to
• 2:02:41
  Speaker 1: become a gay young doctor for that occasion. Meanwhile, the
• 2:02:46
  Speaker 1: captain arranged a piece of real work, for he felt
• 2:02:49
  Speaker 1: that the attempt to keep up the spirits alone would
• 2:02:51
  Speaker 1: not do. They had been for a long time living
• 2:02:55
  Speaker 1: on salt provisions. Nothing could restore the crew but fresh meat.
• 2:03:00
  Speaker 1: Yet fresh meat was not to be had. The walrus
• 2:03:03
  Speaker 1: and deer were all gone, and although foxes and bears
• 2:03:06
  Speaker 1: were still around them, they had failed in all their
• 2:03:09
  Speaker 1: attempts to shoot or trap any of these animals. A
• 2:03:13
  Speaker 1: visit to the Eskimal camp, therefore, if such a camp
• 2:03:16
  Speaker 1: really existed, became necessary. So while the theatricals were in preparation,
• 2:03:22
  Speaker 1: a small sledge was rigged up. Gregory and sam Baker
• 2:03:26
  Speaker 1: were chosen to go with him. The dogs were harnessed,
• 2:03:29
  Speaker 1: and on a fine, starry forenoon away they went to
• 2:03:33
  Speaker 1: the south at full gallop, with three hearty cheers from
• 2:03:36
  Speaker 1: the crew of the brig who were left in charge
• 2:03:39
  Speaker 1: of the first mate. The journey thus undertaken was one
• 2:03:44
  Speaker 1: full of risk. It was not known how far distant
• 2:03:48
  Speaker 1: the natives might be, or when they were likely to
• 2:03:50
  Speaker 1: be found. The weather was intensely cold. Only a small
• 2:03:55
  Speaker 1: quantity of preserved meat could be taken for the rest.
• 2:03:58
  Speaker 1: They trusted in some measure to their guns. But the
• 2:04:02
  Speaker 1: captain's great hope was to reach the Eskimo village in
• 2:04:05
  Speaker 1: a day or two at the furthest If he should
• 2:04:07
  Speaker 1: fail to do so, the prospect of himself and the
• 2:04:10
  Speaker 1: crew surviving the remainder of the long winter was he
• 2:04:13
  Speaker 1: felt very gloomy. Indeed, success attended this expedition at the
• 2:04:19
  Speaker 1: very beginning. They had only been eight hours out when
• 2:04:23
  Speaker 1: they met a bear sitting on its haunches behind a hummock.
• 2:04:26
  Speaker 1: Hallo look out, cried Greggory. On catching sight of him.
• 2:04:30
  Speaker 1: Fire lads said the captain, I'm not quite ready. Greggory fired,
• 2:04:35
  Speaker 1: and the bear staggered. Baker then fired, and it fell.
• 2:04:40
  Speaker 1: This was a blessing which filled their hurts so full
• 2:04:42
  Speaker 1: of thankfulness that they actually shook hands with each other,
• 2:04:46
  Speaker 1: and then gave vent to three hearty cheers. Their next
• 2:04:50
  Speaker 1: thoughts were given to their comrades. In the hope you
• 2:04:54
  Speaker 1: and Baker will camp here, Tom said the captain, and
• 2:04:57
  Speaker 1: I will return to the brig with a sledge load
• 2:04:59
  Speaker 1: of the meat. When I put it aboard, I'll come
• 2:05:02
  Speaker 1: straight back to you. We'll keep a ham for ourselves,
• 2:05:05
  Speaker 1: of course. Now then to work, to work, the three
• 2:05:09
  Speaker 1: men went. A hind leg of the bear was cut off,
• 2:05:12
  Speaker 1: The rest was lashed firmly on the sledge, and the
• 2:05:16
  Speaker 1: dogs enjoyed a feed while this was being done. Then
• 2:05:19
  Speaker 1: the captain cracked his whip. Goodbye, lads, goodbye captain, and
• 2:05:24
  Speaker 1: away he and the dogs and sledge went and were
• 2:05:27
  Speaker 1: soon lost to view among the hummocks of the frozen sea.
• 2:05:32
  Speaker 1: End of chapter eight Chapter nine of Fast in the Ice.
• 2:05:42
  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
• 2:05:46
  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
• 2:05:50
  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Fast in the Ice by R. M. Valentine,
• 2:05:56
  Speaker 1: Chapter nine, A visit to the Eskimos, Wonderful doings a mystery.
• 2:06:03
  Speaker 1: The proceedings of this sledge party were so interesting that
• 2:06:07
  Speaker 1: I give them in the words of Tom Gregory's journal Sunday,
• 2:06:11
  Speaker 1: we have indeed cause to rejoice and to thank God
• 2:06:14
  Speaker 1: for his mercies this morning. Last night we shot a bear,
• 2:06:18
  Speaker 1: and the captain is away with the carcass of it
• 2:06:20
  Speaker 1: to our poor Scurvysmit and friends, and the hope this
• 2:06:24
  Speaker 1: Sunday will be a real day if rest for me
• 2:06:26
  Speaker 1: and Sam Baker, though our resting place is a very
• 2:06:29
  Speaker 1: queer one. After the captain left us, we looked about
• 2:06:33
  Speaker 1: for a convenient place to encamp, and only a few
• 2:06:36
  Speaker 1: yards from the spot where we killed the bear, we
• 2:06:38
  Speaker 1: found the ruins of an old Eskimo hut, made partly
• 2:06:42
  Speaker 1: of stones, partly of ice. We set to work to
• 2:06:45
  Speaker 1: patch it up with snow and made it perfectly air
• 2:06:47
  Speaker 1: tight in about two hours into this, we carried our
• 2:06:51
  Speaker 1: bear skins and things, spread them on the snowy floor,
• 2:06:55
  Speaker 1: put a lump of bear's fat into our tin traveling lamp,
• 2:06:58
  Speaker 1: and prepared supper. We were not particular about the cookery.
• 2:07:02
  Speaker 1: We cut a couple of huge slices off our bear's ham,
• 2:07:06
  Speaker 1: half roasted them over the lamp, and began it was cut,
• 2:07:10
  Speaker 1: roast and come again for the next hour and a half.
• 2:07:14
  Speaker 1: I positively never knew what hunger was until I came
• 2:07:18
  Speaker 1: to this savage country, and I certainly never before had
• 2:07:22
  Speaker 1: any idea of how much I could eat at one sitting.
• 2:07:26
  Speaker 1: This hearty supper was washed down with a swig of
• 2:07:28
  Speaker 1: melted snow water. We had some coffee with us, but
• 2:07:32
  Speaker 1: were too tired to infuse it. Then we blocked up
• 2:07:35
  Speaker 1: the door with snow, rolled our bear skins round us,
• 2:07:39
  Speaker 1: and were sound asleep in five minutes. Lucky for us
• 2:07:44
  Speaker 1: that we were so careful to stop up every hole
• 2:07:46
  Speaker 1: with snow. Forge During the night, the wind rose, and
• 2:07:50
  Speaker 1: it became so intensely cold that Baker and I could
• 2:07:53
  Speaker 1: scarcely keep each other warm enough to sleep. Tired though
• 2:07:56
  Speaker 1: we were at this moment, My fingers are so stiff
• 2:08:00
  Speaker 1: that they will hardly hold the pencil with which I write.
• 2:08:03
  Speaker 1: And the gale is blowing so furiously outside that we
• 2:08:06
  Speaker 1: dare not open the door. This door, by the way,
• 2:08:09
  Speaker 1: is only a hole big enough to creep through. The
• 2:08:13
  Speaker 1: Captain cannot travel to day. He knows we are safe,
• 2:08:16
  Speaker 1: so I will not expect him. I have brought my
• 2:08:18
  Speaker 1: small testament with me. It has hitherto been my constant
• 2:08:22
  Speaker 1: traveling companion. I am thus provided with mental food, but
• 2:08:27
  Speaker 1: in truth I shall not want much of that for
• 2:08:29
  Speaker 1: the next twelve hours. Rest. Rest, rest is what we require.
• 2:08:35
  Speaker 1: No one can imagine how a man can enjoy rest
• 2:08:38
  Speaker 1: after he has been for many months exposed to constant, exhausting,
• 2:08:43
  Speaker 1: heart breaking toil, with the thermometer always below zero, and
• 2:08:47
  Speaker 1: with nothing but salt food to keep him alive. Tuesday night,
• 2:08:52
  Speaker 1: here we are, at last among the Eskimos. And what
• 2:08:55
  Speaker 1: a queer set they are, to be sure, all fat
• 2:08:58
  Speaker 1: and fur they as broad as they are long. They
• 2:09:02
  Speaker 1: wear short fox and sealskin coats or shirts with hoods
• 2:09:06
  Speaker 1: to them. No trousers, but long boots that come up
• 2:09:09
  Speaker 1: and meet the coats. Men, women and babies all dress alike,
• 2:09:14
  Speaker 1: or nearly so. The only difference is that the women's
• 2:09:17
  Speaker 1: boots are longer and wider than those of the men.
• 2:09:20
  Speaker 1: But I forgot, yes, there is another difference. The women
• 2:09:23
  Speaker 1: have tails to their coats. The men have none, real tails,
• 2:09:27
  Speaker 1: not like the broad skirts of our dress coats, but
• 2:09:30
  Speaker 1: long narrow tails, something like the tail of a cow,
• 2:09:33
  Speaker 1: with a broadish flap at the end of it. This
• 2:09:36
  Speaker 1: they evidently look upon as a handsome ornament. For I
• 2:09:40
  Speaker 1: observe that when they go off on a journey, each
• 2:09:42
  Speaker 1: woman buttons her tail up to her waist to keep
• 2:09:45
  Speaker 1: it out of the way, and when she returns, she
• 2:09:48
  Speaker 1: unbuttons it and comes into camp with her tail flowing
• 2:09:51
  Speaker 1: gracefully behind her. We had a terrible journey of it
• 2:09:55
  Speaker 1: down here. The captain returned to us on Monday morning early,
• 2:09:59
  Speaker 1: and the next two days we spent struggling over the
• 2:10:02
  Speaker 1: hummocks and out upon the floes. It was so cold
• 2:10:05
  Speaker 1: that the wind cut into our very marrow. We have
• 2:10:08
  Speaker 1: all had our faces frozen, more or less, but not badly.
• 2:10:12
  Speaker 1: Baker will have an ugly spot on the end of
• 2:10:15
  Speaker 1: his nose for some weeks to come. It is getting
• 2:10:18
  Speaker 1: black now, and as the nose itself is bright red
• 2:10:20
  Speaker 1: and much swelled, his appearance is not improved. I foolishly
• 2:10:25
  Speaker 1: tried to eat a little snow yesterday morning, and the
• 2:10:28
  Speaker 1: consequence is that my lips are sore and bloody. On
• 2:10:31
  Speaker 1: Monday afternoon, the dogs and sledge went head over heels
• 2:10:35
  Speaker 1: into a deep rut in the ice, and it cost
• 2:10:38
  Speaker 1: us two hours to get them out. Luckily no damage
• 2:10:41
  Speaker 1: was done, although the captain was on the sledge at
• 2:10:44
  Speaker 1: the time. We had almost despaired of finding the village
• 2:10:49
  Speaker 1: when we came upon a sledge track that led us
• 2:10:51
  Speaker 1: straight up to it. I shall never forget the beauty
• 2:10:55
  Speaker 1: of the scene. On our arrival, the sky was lighted
• 2:10:58
  Speaker 1: up with the most beautiful aurora I have yet seen
• 2:11:01
  Speaker 1: in these regions. Stars spangled the sky in millions. Great
• 2:11:06
  Speaker 1: icebergs rose in wild confusion in the distance, and all
• 2:11:09
  Speaker 1: along the shore for a hundred yards were clusters of
• 2:11:12
  Speaker 1: snow huts. They looked exactly like bee hives. I have
• 2:11:17
  Speaker 1: seen many a strange house, but the strangest of all
• 2:11:20
  Speaker 1: is certainly a house of snow. To day I was
• 2:11:23
  Speaker 1: fortunate enough to see one belt. It was done very neatly.
• 2:11:27
  Speaker 1: The hard snow was cut into slabs with a wooden knife.
• 2:11:31
  Speaker 1: These were piled one above another in regular order, and
• 2:11:34
  Speaker 1: cemented with snow as bricks are with lime. The form
• 2:11:39
  Speaker 1: of the wall was circular, and the slabs were so
• 2:11:41
  Speaker 1: shaped that they sloped inwards, thus forming a dome or
• 2:11:45
  Speaker 1: a large bee hive with a keystone slab in the
• 2:11:48
  Speaker 1: top to keep all firm. A hole was then cut
• 2:11:52
  Speaker 1: in the side for a door, just large enough to
• 2:11:54
  Speaker 1: admit of a man creeping through. In front of this door,
• 2:11:58
  Speaker 1: a porch or passage of snow was built. The only
• 2:12:01
  Speaker 1: way of getting into the hut is by creeping on
• 2:12:04
  Speaker 1: hands and knees along the passage. A hole was also
• 2:12:08
  Speaker 1: cut in the roof, into which was inserted a piece
• 2:12:10
  Speaker 1: of clear ice to serve for a window. The natives
• 2:12:15
  Speaker 1: received us with wild surprise, and I found my old friends,
• 2:12:19
  Speaker 1: the walrus hunters among them. They were remarkably friendly. One stout,
• 2:12:24
  Speaker 1: middle aged fellow invited us to his hut. I am
• 2:12:28
  Speaker 1: now seated in it, beside the Eskimo wife, who would
• 2:12:31
  Speaker 1: be a good looking woman if she was not so fat,
• 2:12:34
  Speaker 1: dirty and oily. But we cannot expect people living in
• 2:12:37
  Speaker 1: this fashion and in such a country to be very clean.
• 2:12:41
  Speaker 1: Although the hut is white outside, it is by no
• 2:12:44
  Speaker 1: means white inside. They cook all their food over an
• 2:12:48
  Speaker 1: oil lamp, which also serves to heat the place, and
• 2:12:52
  Speaker 1: it is wonderful how warm a house of snow becomes
• 2:12:55
  Speaker 1: the cold outside is so great as to prevent the
• 2:12:58
  Speaker 1: walls melting inside. Besides Miuk, our host and his wife,
• 2:13:03
  Speaker 1: there are two of the men's sisters, two lads, two girls,
• 2:13:07
  Speaker 1: and a baby in the hut, also six dogs. The
• 2:13:10
  Speaker 1: whole of them men, women, children and dogs are as
• 2:13:14
  Speaker 1: fat as they can be, for they have been successful
• 2:13:16
  Speaker 1: in walrus hunting of late. No wonder that the perspiration
• 2:13:20
  Speaker 1: is running down my face. The natives feel the heat, too,
• 2:13:24
  Speaker 1: for they are all half naked, the baby entirely so.
• 2:13:27
  Speaker 1: But they seem to like it. What a chattering to
• 2:13:31
  Speaker 1: be sure. I am trying to take notes, and Miyuk's
• 2:13:34
  Speaker 1: wife is staring at me with her mouth wide open.
• 2:13:37
  Speaker 1: It is a wonder she can open her eyes at all.
• 2:13:40
  Speaker 1: Her cheeks are so fat. The captain is trying, by
• 2:13:43
  Speaker 1: the language of signs, to get our host to understand
• 2:13:47
  Speaker 1: that we are much in want of fresh meat. Sam
• 2:13:50
  Speaker 1: Baker is making himself agreeable to the young people, and
• 2:13:53
  Speaker 1: the plan he has hit upon to amuse them is
• 2:13:56
  Speaker 1: to show them his watch and let them hear it tick. Truly,
• 2:14:00
  Speaker 1: I have seldom seen a happier family group than this
• 2:14:03
  Speaker 1: Eskimo household. Under their snowy roof, there is to be
• 2:14:08
  Speaker 1: a grand walrus hunt. Tomorrow. We shall accompany them and
• 2:14:11
  Speaker 1: see whether our endurance on a long march and our
• 2:14:14
  Speaker 1: powers with the rifle cannot impress them with some respect
• 2:14:17
  Speaker 1: for us. At present they have not much. They seem
• 2:14:21
  Speaker 1: to think us a pale face set of helpless creatures.
• 2:14:26
  Speaker 1: Wednesday night, we have just returned from the hunt, and
• 2:14:29
  Speaker 1: a tremendous hunt. It was six walrus and two bears
• 2:14:32
  Speaker 1: have been killed, and the whole village is wild with delight.
• 2:14:36
  Speaker 1: Cooking is going on in every hut, but they have
• 2:14:39
  Speaker 1: no patience. Nearly everyone is munching away at a lump
• 2:14:42
  Speaker 1: of raw walrus flesh. All their faces are more or
• 2:14:46
  Speaker 1: less greasy and bloody. Even mi Yok's baby, though not
• 2:14:50
  Speaker 1: able to speak, is choking itself with a long stringy
• 2:14:53
  Speaker 1: piece of blubber. The dogs, too, have got their share.
• 2:14:57
  Speaker 1: An Eskimo's chief happiness seems to be an eating, and
• 2:15:00
  Speaker 1: I cannot wonder at it, for the poor creatures have
• 2:15:03
  Speaker 1: hard work to get food, and they are often on
• 2:15:06
  Speaker 1: the verge of starvation. What a dirty set they are.
• 2:15:12
  Speaker 1: I shall never forget the appearance of Miyok's hut when
• 2:15:15
  Speaker 1: we first entered it this evening after returning from the hunt.
• 2:15:19
  Speaker 1: The man's wife had made the wick of her stone
• 2:15:21
  Speaker 1: lamp as long as possible in order to cook a
• 2:15:24
  Speaker 1: large supper. There were fifteen people crowded together in this
• 2:15:28
  Speaker 1: hive of snow, and the heat had induced them to
• 2:15:31
  Speaker 1: throw off the greater part of their clothing. Every hand
• 2:15:35
  Speaker 1: had a greasy lump of bear or walrus meat in it.
• 2:15:38
  Speaker 1: Every mouth was in full occupation, and every fat face
• 2:15:42
  Speaker 1: of man, woman and child was beaming with delight and
• 2:15:46
  Speaker 1: covered with dirt and oil. The Captain and I looked
• 2:15:50
  Speaker 1: at each other and smiled as we entered, and sam
• 2:15:53
  Speaker 1: Baker laughed outright. This set all the natives laughing too.
• 2:15:58
  Speaker 1: We did not much relish the idea of supping and
• 2:16:00
  Speaker 1: sleeping in such a place, but necessity has no law.
• 2:16:05
  Speaker 1: We were hungry as hawks, desperately tired, and the temperature
• 2:16:09
  Speaker 1: outside is thirty five degrees below zero. The first duty
• 2:16:13
  Speaker 1: of the night is now over. We have supped. The
• 2:16:16
  Speaker 1: natives will continue to eat the greater part of the night.
• 2:16:20
  Speaker 1: They eat till they fall asleep. If they chance to awake,
• 2:16:23
  Speaker 1: they eat again. Half of them are asleep now and snoring.
• 2:16:27
  Speaker 1: The other half are eating slowly, for they are nearly full.
• 2:16:31
  Speaker 1: The heat and smell are awful. I am perspiring at
• 2:16:35
  Speaker 1: every pore. We have taken off as much of our
• 2:16:38
  Speaker 1: clothes as decency will permit. Sam has on a pair
• 2:16:41
  Speaker 1: of trousers nothing more. I am in the same state.
• 2:16:45
  Speaker 1: There as little room as may be supposed, we have
• 2:16:48
  Speaker 1: to lie huddled up as best we can, and a
• 2:16:51
  Speaker 1: strange sight we are as the red light of the
• 2:16:54
  Speaker 1: flaring lamp falls on us. At this moment, Miyuk's wife
• 2:16:59
  Speaker 1: is cutting afresh. The youngest boy is sound asleep, with
• 2:17:02
  Speaker 1: a lump of fat between his teeth. The captain is
• 2:17:06
  Speaker 1: also sound, with his legs sprawling over the limbs of
• 2:17:09
  Speaker 1: half a dozen slumbering natives. He is using the baby
• 2:17:13
  Speaker 1: as a pillow. It is curious to think that these
• 2:17:16
  Speaker 1: poor creatures always live in this way, sometimes feasting, sometimes starving,
• 2:17:22
  Speaker 1: freezing out on the floes, stewing under their roofs of snow,
• 2:17:27
  Speaker 1: usually fat for the most part, jolly, always dirty. It
• 2:17:32
  Speaker 1: is sad too to think of this, for it is
• 2:17:35
  Speaker 1: a low condition for human beings to live in. They
• 2:17:38
  Speaker 1: seem to have no religion at all, certainly none that
• 2:17:42
  Speaker 1: is worthy of the name. I am much puzzled when
• 2:17:45
  Speaker 1: I think of the difficulties in the way of introducing
• 2:17:48
  Speaker 1: Christianity among these northern Eskimaus. No missionary could exist in
• 2:17:53
  Speaker 1: such a climate and in such circumstances. It is with
• 2:17:57
  Speaker 1: the utmost difficulty that hardymen can hold out for a year,
• 2:18:02
  Speaker 1: even with a shipload of comforts. But this is too
• 2:18:05
  Speaker 1: deep a subject to write about. To night, I can't
• 2:18:08
  Speaker 1: keep my eyes open. I will therefore close my note
• 2:18:11
  Speaker 1: book and lie down to sleep, perhaps to be suffocated,
• 2:18:15
  Speaker 1: I hope not. Accordingly, our young friend the doctor did
• 2:18:20
  Speaker 1: lie down to sleep and got through the night without
• 2:18:23
  Speaker 1: being suffocated. Indeed, he slept so soundly that Captain Harvey
• 2:18:28
  Speaker 1: could scarcely rouse him. Next morning. Hallo, Tom, Tom, he
• 2:18:33
  Speaker 1: cried loudly, at the same time shaking his nephew's arm violently.
• 2:18:39
  Speaker 1: Aye eh, And a tremendous yawn from Tom. What now, Uncle,
• 2:18:43
  Speaker 1: time to rise? Is it? Where am I time to rise?
• 2:18:47
  Speaker 1: Replied the Captain, I should think it is. Why it's
• 2:18:50
  Speaker 1: past eleven in the forenoon. The stars are bright and
• 2:18:53
  Speaker 1: the sky clear. The Aurora too is shining. Come get up.
• 2:18:57
  Speaker 1: The natives are all outside watching Sam while he packs
• 2:19:00
  Speaker 1: are sledge. The ladies are going about the camp, whisking
• 2:19:03
  Speaker 1: their tails and whacking their babies in great glee, for
• 2:19:06
  Speaker 1: it is not every day they enjoy such a feat
• 2:19:08
  Speaker 1: as they had last night. In half an hour they
• 2:19:12
  Speaker 1: were ready. The whole village turned out to see them start.
• 2:19:15
  Speaker 1: Miyuk and his wife o Mia and the baby, and
• 2:19:18
  Speaker 1: his son Mitek accompanied them to refuge harbor. O MIA's
• 2:19:23
  Speaker 1: baby was part of herself. She could not move without it.
• 2:19:27
  Speaker 1: It was always naked, but being stuffed into the hood
• 2:19:30
  Speaker 1: of its mother's fur coat, it seemed always warm. I say, Tom,
• 2:19:35
  Speaker 1: what's that up in the sky, said Captain Harvey suddenly,
• 2:19:39
  Speaker 1: after they had been driving for a couple of hours.
• 2:19:42
  Speaker 1: It's the strangest looking thing I ever did see, so
• 2:19:45
  Speaker 1: it is, replied Gregory, gazing intently at the object in question,
• 2:19:50
  Speaker 1: which seemed high in the air. It can't be a
• 2:19:53
  Speaker 1: comet because it gives no light. Perhaps not, but it
• 2:19:57
  Speaker 1: has got a tail. That's a fact, said Baker, in
• 2:20:00
  Speaker 1: a voice of surprise. Who ever heard of a dark,
• 2:20:03
  Speaker 1: four cornered star with a tail? If I had seen
• 2:20:06
  Speaker 1: it in daylight and in merry England, I would have
• 2:20:08
  Speaker 1: said it was a kite. A kite nonsense, cried the captain.
• 2:20:13
  Speaker 1: What in the world can it be? Reader, you shall
• 2:20:16
  Speaker 1: find that out in the next chapter. End of chapter nine,
• 2:20:27
  Speaker 1: Chapter ten of Fast in the Ice. This is a
• 2:20:31
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 2:20:35
  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 2:20:40
  Speaker 1: Fast in the Ice by R. M. Valentine, Chapter ten,
• 2:20:45
  Speaker 1: The Tale of a Kite A great bare fight. When
• 2:20:50
  Speaker 1: mister Mansell was left in charge of the brig a
• 2:20:53
  Speaker 1: heavy weight lay on his heart, and he could by
• 2:20:55
  Speaker 1: no means take part in the preparations for the theatricals
• 2:20:59
  Speaker 1: which occupy the rest of the crew. He felt that
• 2:21:02
  Speaker 1: life or death depended on the success of the captain
• 2:21:05
  Speaker 1: in his search for fresh meat. Already most of the
• 2:21:09
  Speaker 1: men were ill with scurvy, and some of them were
• 2:21:11
  Speaker 1: alarmingly low. Nothing could save them but fresh meat. And
• 2:21:16
  Speaker 1: when the first mate thought of the difficulties and dangers
• 2:21:19
  Speaker 1: of a journey on the floes in such weather, and
• 2:21:22
  Speaker 1: the uncertainty of the eskimos being discovered, his heart misgave him.
• 2:21:27
  Speaker 1: About an hour after the departure of Captain Harvey on
• 2:21:30
  Speaker 1: the Monday morning. He took Davy Butts aside. Davy, he said,
• 2:21:35
  Speaker 1: you've been at work on these kites a long time.
• 2:21:38
  Speaker 1: Are they nearly finished? Quite finished, Sir answered Butts. Then
• 2:21:42
  Speaker 1: get them up, for there is a good breeze. I
• 2:21:44
  Speaker 1: shall try them on our small sledges. It will at
• 2:21:47
  Speaker 1: least stir up and amuse the men. Ten minutes after this,
• 2:21:50
  Speaker 1: the crew were summoned on deck to witness an experiment.
• 2:21:54
  Speaker 1: A small dog sledge lay on the hard snow beside
• 2:21:57
  Speaker 1: the vessel, and near to this Davy Butts and mister
• 2:22:00
  Speaker 1: Dicey were holding on to a stout line at the
• 2:22:03
  Speaker 1: end of which an enormous kite was pulling. This kite
• 2:22:07
  Speaker 1: was square in shape, made of the thickest brown paper,
• 2:22:10
  Speaker 1: and nearly six feet across. That its power was great
• 2:22:14
  Speaker 1: was evident from the difficulty with which the two men
• 2:22:17
  Speaker 1: held it. The end of the line was fastened to
• 2:22:20
  Speaker 1: the sledge. Now, boys, ease off the line till it
• 2:22:24
  Speaker 1: is taut, and then wait for the word, said Davy Butts,
• 2:22:27
  Speaker 1: jumping on to the sledge. Now let go away went
• 2:22:32
  Speaker 1: the sledge over the hard snow at the rate of
• 2:22:34
  Speaker 1: three miles an hour, which soon increased to double that rate.
• 2:22:38
  Speaker 1: Davy cheered and waved his arms. The men gave one
• 2:22:42
  Speaker 1: loud hurrah of surprise and delight, and set off in
• 2:22:46
  Speaker 1: mad pursuit. They were soon left behind. Hold on, Davy, goodbye,
• 2:22:51
  Speaker 1: butts luck out mind that ridge. The last warning was needful.
• 2:22:57
  Speaker 1: The sledge was rushing furiously towards a long ridge ice
• 2:23:00
  Speaker 1: which rose in a sharp slope to a height of
• 2:23:03
  Speaker 1: three feet and descended on the other side to an
• 2:23:06
  Speaker 1: equal depth, but without any slope. Davy saw his danger,
• 2:23:10
  Speaker 1: but he did not dare put out a foot or
• 2:23:13
  Speaker 1: hand to check his progress. Even if he had, it
• 2:23:16
  Speaker 1: would have been of no use. Up the slope, he
• 2:23:18
  Speaker 1: went as a sea gull skims over a wave. For
• 2:23:22
  Speaker 1: one moment he was in the air. The next he
• 2:23:25
  Speaker 1: came down with a crash that nearly dislocated all his joints,
• 2:23:29
  Speaker 1: and his teeth came together with a loud snap. By
• 2:23:32
  Speaker 1: good fortune, his tongue was not between them. The sledge
• 2:23:36
  Speaker 1: was a strong one, and the thing was done so
• 2:23:38
  Speaker 1: quickly and neatly that it did not upset. But now
• 2:23:42
  Speaker 1: a large and rugged hummock lay right before him. To
• 2:23:46
  Speaker 1: go against that would have been certain death. So Davy
• 2:23:49
  Speaker 1: made up his mind at once and jumped off. At
• 2:23:51
  Speaker 1: the smoothest part of the floe he could find. The
• 2:23:54
  Speaker 1: lightened sledge sprang away like a rocket, and was brought
• 2:23:58
  Speaker 1: up with a sudden jerk by the hummah. Of course,
• 2:24:01
  Speaker 1: the line broke, and the kite commenced to descend. It
• 2:24:05
  Speaker 1: twirled and circled violently round, and at last went crash
• 2:24:09
  Speaker 1: into an iceberg, where it was broken to pieces. Not
• 2:24:13
  Speaker 1: so bad for a beginning, said Mansell, as poor Davy
• 2:24:17
  Speaker 1: came back looking very crestfallen. Now, Butts, come below. You
• 2:24:22
  Speaker 1: have proved that the thing will do. Mister Dicey, get
• 2:24:25
  Speaker 1: yourself ready for a trip over the ice. Let three
• 2:24:28
  Speaker 1: men prepare to accompany you. I shall send you off tomorrow. Dicey,
• 2:24:33
  Speaker 1: much surprised, went off to obey these orders, and Mancell,
• 2:24:37
  Speaker 1: with the assistance of Butts, fitted the second kite for
• 2:24:40
  Speaker 1: the intended journey. He made a rough guess at the
• 2:24:43
  Speaker 1: strength of its pole, and loaded the sledge accordingly. Two
• 2:24:47
  Speaker 1: tail ropes were fastened to the last bar of the
• 2:24:49
  Speaker 1: sledge for the men to hold on by and check
• 2:24:52
  Speaker 1: its speed. A sort of anchor was made by which
• 2:24:55
  Speaker 1: it could be stopped at any moment, and two stout
• 2:24:58
  Speaker 1: poles with iron claws at the end of them were
• 2:25:01
  Speaker 1: prepared for scraping over the snow and checking the pace.
• 2:25:05
  Speaker 1: Next day all was ready, a trial was made, and
• 2:25:08
  Speaker 1: the thing found to work admirably. The trial trip over,
• 2:25:12
  Speaker 1: they bade their comrades farewell, and away they went due
• 2:25:16
  Speaker 1: south in the direction where the native village was supposed
• 2:25:19
  Speaker 1: to be. It was this remarkable tow horse that had
• 2:25:23
  Speaker 1: filled Captain Harvey and his companions with so much surprise
• 2:25:27
  Speaker 1: the appearance of the sledge immediately after with a shout
• 2:25:30
  Speaker 1: and a cheer from Dicey and the men explained the mystery.
• 2:25:34
  Speaker 1: Being so near the Eskimo camp, they at once returned
• 2:25:37
  Speaker 1: to it in order to allow the newly arrived party
• 2:25:40
  Speaker 1: to rest, as well as to load their sledge with
• 2:25:43
  Speaker 1: as much fresh meat as it could carry. For which
• 2:25:46
  Speaker 1: supplies the captain took care to pay the natives with
• 2:25:49
  Speaker 1: a few knives and a large quantity of hoop iron
• 2:25:52
  Speaker 1: articles that were much more valuable to them than gold.
• 2:25:56
  Speaker 1: As the wind could not be made to turn about
• 2:25:58
  Speaker 1: to suit their convenience, the kite was brought down and
• 2:26:01
  Speaker 1: given to Davy to carry, and a team of native
• 2:26:04
  Speaker 1: dogs were harnessed to the sledge instead. On the following day,
• 2:26:08
  Speaker 1: the United Party set out on their return to the brig,
• 2:26:11
  Speaker 1: which they reached in safety. Tom Greggory's account of the
• 2:26:16
  Speaker 1: Eskimos who accompanied them to their wooden home is amusing.
• 2:26:20
  Speaker 1: His journal runs, thus, the amazement of our visitors is
• 2:26:24
  Speaker 1: very great. Mayuk, his wife and baby, and his son
• 2:26:28
  Speaker 1: Metek are now our guests. When they first came in
• 2:26:31
  Speaker 1: sight of the brig, they uttered a wild shout. The
• 2:26:34
  Speaker 1: men did so at least, and tossed their arms and
• 2:26:37
  Speaker 1: opened their eyes and mouths. They have never shut them since.
• 2:26:41
  Speaker 1: They go all round the vessel, staring and gaping with amazement.
• 2:26:45
  Speaker 1: We have given them a number of useful presents, and
• 2:26:48
  Speaker 1: intend to send them home loaded with gifts for all
• 2:26:52
  Speaker 1: their friends. It is necessary to make a good impression
• 2:26:55
  Speaker 1: on them. Our lives depend very much on the friendship
• 2:26:59
  Speaker 1: of these poor people. We find that they are terrible thieves.
• 2:27:02
  Speaker 1: A number of knives and a hatchet were missed. They
• 2:27:06
  Speaker 1: were found hidden in Miyuk's sledge. We tried to prevail
• 2:27:09
  Speaker 1: on Omeyah to sell her long boots. To our surprise,
• 2:27:13
  Speaker 1: she was quite willing to part with one, but nothing
• 2:27:16
  Speaker 1: would induce her to give up the other. One of
• 2:27:18
  Speaker 1: the men observed her still a knife out of the
• 2:27:21
  Speaker 1: cabin and hide it in the leg of her boot.
• 2:27:24
  Speaker 1: The reason was now plain. We pulled off a boot
• 2:27:27
  Speaker 1: without asking leave, and found there a large assortment of
• 2:27:31
  Speaker 1: articles stolen from us. Two or three knives, a spoon,
• 2:27:36
  Speaker 1: a bit of hoop iron, and a marline spike. I
• 2:27:39
  Speaker 1: have tried to make them understand by signs that this
• 2:27:42
  Speaker 1: is very wicked conduct, but they only laugh at me.
• 2:27:46
  Speaker 1: They are not in the least ashamed, and evidently regard
• 2:27:49
  Speaker 1: stealing as no sin. We have shot a musk ox.
• 2:27:53
  Speaker 1: There are many of these creatures in other parts of
• 2:27:56
  Speaker 1: the Arctic regions, but this is the first we have
• 2:27:58
  Speaker 1: seen here. He fell to my rifle and is now
• 2:28:02
  Speaker 1: being devoured by ourselves and our dogs with great relish.
• 2:28:06
  Speaker 1: He is about the size of a very small cow,
• 2:28:08
  Speaker 1: has a large head and enormously thick horns, which covered
• 2:28:12
  Speaker 1: the whole top of his head, bend down towards his
• 2:28:15
  Speaker 1: cheek and then curve up and outward at the point.
• 2:28:19
  Speaker 1: He is covered with long brown hair which almost reaches
• 2:28:22
  Speaker 1: the ground and has no tail worthy of the name.
• 2:28:26
  Speaker 1: He seems to be an active and angry creature. When
• 2:28:29
  Speaker 1: I wounded him, he came at me furiously, but had
• 2:28:32
  Speaker 1: not pluck to charge home. As he turned away, I
• 2:28:36
  Speaker 1: gave him the shot that killed him. The meat is
• 2:28:39
  Speaker 1: not bad, but it smells strongly of musk walrust is better.
• 2:28:44
  Speaker 1: Miuk and his son Mitek and I have had a
• 2:28:47
  Speaker 1: most exciting bear hunt since we returned. I followed these
• 2:28:51
  Speaker 1: men one day as I thought them bold, active looking
• 2:28:54
  Speaker 1: fellows who would be likely to show me good Eskimo sport,
• 2:28:58
  Speaker 1: and I was not disappointed. About two miles from the brig,
• 2:29:02
  Speaker 1: we came on fresh bear tracks. A glow of the
• 2:29:05
  Speaker 1: aurora gave us plenty of light. What is yon round
• 2:29:09
  Speaker 1: white lump? Thought I a bear? No, it must be
• 2:29:12
  Speaker 1: a snow wreath. Miuk did not think so, for he
• 2:29:16
  Speaker 1: ran behind a lump of ice and became excited. He
• 2:29:20
  Speaker 1: made signs to me to remain there while he and
• 2:29:22
  Speaker 1: his son should go and attack the bear. They were armed,
• 2:29:26
  Speaker 1: each with a long lance. I must say, when I
• 2:29:29
  Speaker 1: remember the size and strength of the polar bear, that
• 2:29:32
  Speaker 1: I was surprised to find these men bold enough to
• 2:29:35
  Speaker 1: attack him with such arms. I had my rifle, but
• 2:29:38
  Speaker 1: determined not to use it except in case of necessity.
• 2:29:43
  Speaker 1: I wished to see how the natives were accustomed to act.
• 2:29:47
  Speaker 1: They were soon ready gliding softly from one lump of
• 2:29:50
  Speaker 1: ice to another. They got near enough to make a rush.
• 2:29:54
  Speaker 1: I was disobedient. I followed, and when the rush was made,
• 2:29:58
  Speaker 1: I was not far behind them. The bear was a
• 2:30:01
  Speaker 1: very large one. It uttered an angry growl on seeing
• 2:30:04
  Speaker 1: the men running toward it, and rose on its hind
• 2:30:07
  Speaker 1: legs to receive them. It stood nearly eight feet high
• 2:30:12
  Speaker 1: when in this position, and looked really a terrible monster.
• 2:30:16
  Speaker 1: I stood still behind a hummock at a distance of
• 2:30:18
  Speaker 1: about fifty yards, with my rifle ready. On coming close up,
• 2:30:23
  Speaker 1: the father and son separated and approached the bear, one
• 2:30:27
  Speaker 1: on each side. This divided his attention and puzzled him
• 2:30:31
  Speaker 1: very much, for when he made a motion as if
• 2:30:33
  Speaker 1: he were going to rush up Miyuk, Mitek flourished his
• 2:30:37
  Speaker 1: spear and obliged him to turn. Then Mieuk made a
• 2:30:40
  Speaker 1: demonstration and turned him back again. Thus they were enabled
• 2:30:45
  Speaker 1: to get close to its side before it could make
• 2:30:48
  Speaker 1: up its mind which to attack, but the natives soon
• 2:30:51
  Speaker 1: settled the question for it. Miyuk was on the bear's
• 2:30:54
  Speaker 1: right side, Mitek on the left. The father pricked it
• 2:30:59
  Speaker 1: with the point of his land. A tremendous roar followed,
• 2:31:02
  Speaker 1: and the enraged animal turned towards him. This was just
• 2:31:06
  Speaker 1: what he wanted, because it gave the sun an opportunity
• 2:31:10
  Speaker 1: of making a deadly thrust. Mitek was not slow to
• 2:31:13
  Speaker 1: do it. He plunged his lance deep into the bear's heart,
• 2:31:17
  Speaker 1: and it fell at once at full length, while a
• 2:31:20
  Speaker 1: crimson stream poured out of the wound upon the snow.
• 2:31:24
  Speaker 1: While this fight was going on, I might have shot
• 2:31:26
  Speaker 1: the animal through the heart with great ease, for it
• 2:31:29
  Speaker 1: was quite near to me, and when it got up
• 2:31:31
  Speaker 1: on its hind legs, its broad chest presented a fine target.
• 2:31:36
  Speaker 1: It was difficult to resist the temptation to fire, but
• 2:31:39
  Speaker 1: I wished to see the native manner of doing the
• 2:31:41
  Speaker 1: thing from beginning to end, so did not interfere. I
• 2:31:46
  Speaker 1: was rewarded for myself denial. Half an hour later, while
• 2:31:50
  Speaker 1: we were dragging the carcass toward the brig, we came
• 2:31:53
  Speaker 1: unexpectedly upon another bear. Miuk and mitech At once grabbed
• 2:31:57
  Speaker 1: their lances and ran forward to attack him. I now
• 2:32:01
  Speaker 1: resolved to play them a trick. Besides my rifle, I
• 2:32:05
  Speaker 1: carried a large horse pistol in my belt. This I examined,
• 2:32:09
  Speaker 1: and finding it all right, I followed close at the
• 2:32:12
  Speaker 1: heels of the Eskimos. Bruin got up on his hind
• 2:32:15
  Speaker 1: legs as before, and the two men advanced close to him.
• 2:32:20
  Speaker 1: I stopped when within thirty yards, cocked my rifle and
• 2:32:23
  Speaker 1: stood ready. Miyuk was just going to thrust his lance.
• 2:32:27
  Speaker 1: When bang went my rifle. The bear fell. It was
• 2:32:31
  Speaker 1: shot right through the heart, but it struggled for some
• 2:32:34
  Speaker 1: time after that. The native seemed inclined to run away
• 2:32:38
  Speaker 1: when they heard the shot, but I laughed and made
• 2:32:41
  Speaker 1: signs of friendship. Then I went close up and shot
• 2:32:44
  Speaker 1: the bear through the head with my pistol. This affair
• 2:32:47
  Speaker 1: has filled my savage companions with deep respect for me.
• 2:32:52
  Speaker 1: These two bears were the last they obtained that winter,
• 2:32:56
  Speaker 1: but as a good supply of meat had been obtained
• 2:32:58
  Speaker 1: from the Eskimos, they were leave from anxiety for the time,
• 2:33:02
  Speaker 1: and the health of the men began to improve a little.
• 2:33:05
  Speaker 1: But this happy state of things did not last till spring.
• 2:33:09
  Speaker 1: These sorely tired men were destined to ensure much suffering
• 2:33:13
  Speaker 1: before the light of the sun came back to cheer
• 2:33:15
  Speaker 1: their drooping spirits. End of chapter ten, Chapter eleven of
• 2:33:26
  Speaker 1: Fast in the Ice. This is a LibriVox recording. All
• 2:33:31
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
• 2:33:35
  Speaker 1: or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Fast in
• 2:33:40
  Speaker 1: the Ice by R. M. Valentine. Chapter eleven Christmas Time, death,
• 2:33:46
  Speaker 1: return of light and hope, disasters and final deliverance. Christmas
• 2:33:53
  Speaker 1: came at last, but with it came no bright sun
• 2:33:55
  Speaker 1: to remind those ice bound men of our Savior, the
• 2:33:59
  Speaker 1: Sun of Righteousness, whose birth the day commemorated. It was
• 2:34:03
  Speaker 1: even darker than usual in Refuge Harbor on that Christmas Day.
• 2:34:08
  Speaker 1: It was so dark at noon that one could not
• 2:34:10
  Speaker 1: see any object more than a few yards distant from
• 2:34:13
  Speaker 1: the eyes. A gale of wind from the northwest blew
• 2:34:17
  Speaker 1: the snow drift in whirling ghost like clouds round the Hope,
• 2:34:22
  Speaker 1: so that it was impossible to face it for a moment.
• 2:34:25
  Speaker 1: So intense was the cold that it felt like sheets
• 2:34:27
  Speaker 1: of fire being driven against the face. Truly, it was
• 2:34:31
  Speaker 1: a day well fitted to have depressed the heartiest of men.
• 2:34:36
  Speaker 1: But man is a wonderful creature, not easy to comprehend.
• 2:34:40
  Speaker 1: The very things that ought to have cast down the
• 2:34:42
  Speaker 1: spirits of the men of the Hope were the things
• 2:34:45
  Speaker 1: that helped to cheer them about this time, As I
• 2:34:48
  Speaker 1: have said, the health of the crew had improved a little,
• 2:34:52
  Speaker 1: so they were prepared to make the most of everything.
• 2:34:55
  Speaker 1: Those feelings of kindness and good will which warmed the
• 2:34:58
  Speaker 1: breasts of all right minded man at this season of
• 2:35:01
  Speaker 1: the year, filled our Arctic voyagers to overflowing thoughts of
• 2:35:05
  Speaker 1: home came crowding on them with a power that they
• 2:35:08
  Speaker 1: had not felt at other times. Each man knew that
• 2:35:12
  Speaker 1: on this day, more than any other day of that
• 2:35:16
  Speaker 1: long dark winter, the talk round a well known hearth
• 2:35:19
  Speaker 1: in Merry England would be of one who was far
• 2:35:22
  Speaker 1: far away in the dark regions of ice and snow.
• 2:35:26
  Speaker 1: A tier or two that could not be forced back,
• 2:35:28
  Speaker 1: tumbled over rough cheeks which were not used to that
• 2:35:32
  Speaker 1: kind of salt water, and many a silent prayer went
• 2:35:35
  Speaker 1: up to call down a blessing on the heads of
• 2:35:37
  Speaker 1: dear ones at home. It blue great guns outside, as
• 2:35:42
  Speaker 1: Baker said, But what of that it was a dead calm.
• 2:35:46
  Speaker 1: In the cabin, it was dark as a coal hole
• 2:35:49
  Speaker 1: on the floes. What then it was bright as noonday
• 2:35:53
  Speaker 1: in the hope. No sun blazed through the skylight, to
• 2:35:57
  Speaker 1: be sure, but a lamp filled with fat glared on
• 2:36:00
  Speaker 1: the table, and a great fire of coal glowed in
• 2:36:03
  Speaker 1: the stove. Both of these together did not make the
• 2:36:06
  Speaker 1: place too warm, but they were fur coats and trousers
• 2:36:10
  Speaker 1: and boots to help defy the cold. The men were
• 2:36:14
  Speaker 1: few in number and not likely to see many friends
• 2:36:17
  Speaker 1: on that Christmas Day, all the more reason why they
• 2:36:20
  Speaker 1: should make the most of each other. Besides, they were
• 2:36:23
  Speaker 1: wrong in their last idea about friends, for it chanced
• 2:36:26
  Speaker 1: on that very day that Mayuk the Eskimo paid them
• 2:36:29
  Speaker 1: a visit, quite ignorant of its being Christmas. Of course,
• 2:36:33
  Speaker 1: Meetek was with him, and so was Omea, and so
• 2:36:37
  Speaker 1: was the baby, that remarkably fat, oily naked baby that
• 2:36:41
  Speaker 1: seemed rather to enjoy the cold than otherwise. They had
• 2:36:45
  Speaker 1: plum pudding that day, but said it was almost as
• 2:36:48
  Speaker 1: big as the head of a walrus. They also had
• 2:36:50
  Speaker 1: a roast of beef walrus beef, of course, and it
• 2:36:53
  Speaker 1: was first rate. But before dinner, the captain made them
• 2:36:57
  Speaker 1: go through their usual morning work of cleaning, airing, making beds,
• 2:37:02
  Speaker 1: posting journals, noting temperatures, opening the fire hole, and redding up.
• 2:37:07
  Speaker 1: For the captain was a great believer in the value
• 2:37:10
  Speaker 1: of discipline. He knew that no man enjoys himself so
• 2:37:13
  Speaker 1: much as he who has got through his work early,
• 2:37:16
  Speaker 1: who has done his duty. It did not take them long,
• 2:37:20
  Speaker 1: and when it was done, the captain said, now, boys,
• 2:37:23
  Speaker 1: we must be jolly to day. As we can't get out,
• 2:37:25
  Speaker 1: we must take some exercise indoors. We shall need extra
• 2:37:29
  Speaker 1: appetite to make away with that plum pudding. So at
• 2:37:32
  Speaker 1: it they went. Every sort of game or feat of
• 2:37:35
  Speaker 1: strength known to sailors was played or attempted. It was
• 2:37:39
  Speaker 1: in the middle of all this that Mayuk and his
• 2:37:41
  Speaker 1: family arrived, so they were compelled to join. Even The
• 2:37:45
  Speaker 1: fat baby was put into a blanket and swung round
• 2:37:48
  Speaker 1: the cabin by jim Croft, to the horror of its mother,
• 2:37:51
  Speaker 1: who seemed to think it would be killed, and to
• 2:37:54
  Speaker 1: the delight of its father, who didn't seem to care
• 2:37:56
  Speaker 1: whether it was killed or not. Then came the dead.
• 2:38:00
  Speaker 1: What a scene that was. To be sure, it would
• 2:38:03
  Speaker 1: take a whole book to describe all that was said
• 2:38:06
  Speaker 1: and done that day. The Eskimos ate till they could
• 2:38:09
  Speaker 1: hardly stand. That was their usual custom. Then they lay
• 2:38:13
  Speaker 1: down and went to sleep. That was their usual custom too.
• 2:38:17
  Speaker 1: The rest ate as heartily poor fellows as it was
• 2:38:20
  Speaker 1: possible for men not yet quite recovered from scurvy. They
• 2:38:24
  Speaker 1: had no wine, but they had excellent coffee, and with
• 2:38:27
  Speaker 1: this they drank to absent friends, sweethearts, and wives, and
• 2:38:31
  Speaker 1: many other toasts, the mere mention of which raised strong
• 2:38:35
  Speaker 1: home feelings in their breasts that some of them almost
• 2:38:38
  Speaker 1: choked in the attempt to cheer. Then came songs and stories,
• 2:38:43
  Speaker 1: all of them old, very old, indeed, but they came
• 2:38:47
  Speaker 1: out on this occasion as good as new. The great
• 2:38:50
  Speaker 1: event of the evening, however, was a fancy ball, in
• 2:38:54
  Speaker 1: which our friends Butts Baker, Gregory, and Pepper distinguished themselves.
• 2:38:59
  Speaker 1: They had a fit, and Dawkins the stewart, could play it.
• 2:39:03
  Speaker 1: He knew nothing but Scotch reels. But what could have
• 2:39:06
  Speaker 1: been better? They could all dance, or if they could not,
• 2:39:10
  Speaker 1: they all tried. Miuk and Metek were made to join,
• 2:39:13
  Speaker 1: and they capered as gracefully as polar bears, which animals
• 2:39:17
  Speaker 1: they strongly resembled in their hairy garments. Late in the
• 2:39:20
  Speaker 1: evening came supper. It was just a repetition of dinner,
• 2:39:24
  Speaker 1: with the remains of the pudding fried in bear's grease.
• 2:39:28
  Speaker 1: Thus pasted Christmas Day much in the same way past
• 2:39:32
  Speaker 1: New Year's Day. Then the men settled down to their
• 2:39:35
  Speaker 1: old style of life, but the time hung so heavy
• 2:39:38
  Speaker 1: on their hands that their spirits began to sink again.
• 2:39:42
  Speaker 1: The long darkness became intolerable, and the fresh meat began
• 2:39:46
  Speaker 1: to fail. Everything with life seemed to have forsaken the place.
• 2:39:51
  Speaker 1: The captain made another trip to the Eskimo village and
• 2:39:53
  Speaker 1: found the huts empty. The whole race had flown. He
• 2:39:57
  Speaker 1: knew not whither. The private theatrical were at first very successful,
• 2:40:02
  Speaker 1: but by degrees they lost their interest and were given up.
• 2:40:05
  Speaker 1: Then a school was started and Gregory became head master.
• 2:40:09
  Speaker 1: Writing and arithmetic were the only branches taunt. Some of
• 2:40:13
  Speaker 1: the men were in much need of instruction, and all
• 2:40:16
  Speaker 1: of them took to school with energy and much delight.
• 2:40:19
  Speaker 1: It lasted longer than the theatricals did, as time wore on,
• 2:40:23
  Speaker 1: the fresh meat was finished, scurvy became worse, and it
• 2:40:27
  Speaker 1: was as much as the men who were not quite
• 2:40:30
  Speaker 1: knocked down could do to attend to those who were.
• 2:40:34
  Speaker 1: Day after day, Tom and Gregory and Sam went out
• 2:40:37
  Speaker 1: to hunt, and each day returned empty handed. Sometimes an
• 2:40:42
  Speaker 1: arctic hare or fox was got, but not often. At last,
• 2:40:46
  Speaker 1: rats were eaten as food. These creatures swarmed in the
• 2:40:50
  Speaker 1: hold of the brig They were caught in traps and
• 2:40:54
  Speaker 1: shot with bow and a blunt headed arrow, but few
• 2:40:57
  Speaker 1: of the men would eat them. The captain urged them
• 2:41:00
  Speaker 1: to do so in vain. Those who did eat kept
• 2:41:03
  Speaker 1: in better health than those who did not. At last
• 2:41:07
  Speaker 1: death came. Mister mansell sank beneath the terrible disease and
• 2:41:12
  Speaker 1: was buried on the island. No grave could be dug
• 2:41:16
  Speaker 1: in that hard, frozen soil. The burial service was read
• 2:41:20
  Speaker 1: by his sorrowing comrades over his body, which was frozen
• 2:41:23
  Speaker 1: quite hard before they reached the grave, and then laid
• 2:41:27
  Speaker 1: it into a tomb of ice. Time hung heavier than
• 2:41:31
  Speaker 1: ever after that. Death is at all a terrible visitant,
• 2:41:35
  Speaker 1: but in such a place and under such circumstances, it
• 2:41:39
  Speaker 1: was tenfold more awful than usual. The blanken. So small
• 2:41:44
  Speaker 1: a band was a great one. It would perhaps have
• 2:41:47
  Speaker 1: depressed them more than it did had their own situation
• 2:41:50
  Speaker 1: been less desperate. But they had too fierce a battle
• 2:41:54
  Speaker 1: to fight, with disease and the midnight gloom and the
• 2:41:57
  Speaker 1: bitter frost to give way to much feeling about him
• 2:42:01
  Speaker 1: who was gone. Thus the long winter passed heavily away.
• 2:42:07
  Speaker 1: The sun came back at last, and when he came,
• 2:42:09
  Speaker 1: his beams shone upon a pale, shattered and heart weary
• 2:42:13
  Speaker 1: band of men. But with his cheering light came also
• 2:42:17
  Speaker 1: hope and health soon followed in his train. Let Young
• 2:42:21
  Speaker 1: Gregory's journal tell the rest of our story, little of
• 2:42:25
  Speaker 1: which now remains to be told. February twenty First, I
• 2:42:30
  Speaker 1: have to record with joy and gratitude that the sun
• 2:42:33
  Speaker 1: shone on the peaks of the icebergs to day, the
• 2:42:36
  Speaker 1: first time it has done so since October last. By
• 2:42:40
  Speaker 1: the end of this month we shall have his rays
• 2:42:42
  Speaker 1: on deck. I climbed to the top of a berg
• 2:42:45
  Speaker 1: and actually bathed in sunshine this forenoon. We are all
• 2:42:49
  Speaker 1: quite excited by the event. Some of us even look jolly, Ah,
• 2:42:54
  Speaker 1: what miserable faces my comrades have so pale, so thin.
• 2:42:59
  Speaker 1: We are all as week as water. The Captain and
• 2:43:02
  Speaker 1: I are the strongest. Baker is also pretty well, Crofts
• 2:43:06
  Speaker 1: and Davis are almost useless, the rest being quite helpless.
• 2:43:10
  Speaker 1: The Captain cook's baker and I hunt. Crofts and Davis
• 2:43:15
  Speaker 1: attend to the sick. Another month of darkness would have
• 2:43:18
  Speaker 1: killed the half of us. March tenth, I shot a
• 2:43:22
  Speaker 1: bear to day. It did my heart good to see
• 2:43:25
  Speaker 1: the faces of the men when I brought them the
• 2:43:27
  Speaker 1: news and a piece of the flesh. The cold is
• 2:43:30
  Speaker 1: not quite so intense now. Our coldest day this year
• 2:43:33
  Speaker 1: has been the seventeenth of January. The glass stood at
• 2:43:37
  Speaker 1: sixty seven degrees below zero on that morning. What a
• 2:43:41
  Speaker 1: winter we have had. I shudder when I think of it.
• 2:43:45
  Speaker 1: But there is no more cause to be anxious about
• 2:43:47
  Speaker 1: what yet lies before us. A single bear will not
• 2:43:51
  Speaker 1: last long. Many weeks must pass before we are free.
• 2:43:55
  Speaker 1: In June we hope to be released from our ice prison.
• 2:43:58
  Speaker 1: Fresh meat we shall then have in abundance. With it,
• 2:44:02
  Speaker 1: strength will return, and then, if God permits, we shall
• 2:44:05
  Speaker 1: attempt to continue our voyage northward. The captain is confident
• 2:44:10
  Speaker 1: on the point of open water round the pole the
• 2:44:13
  Speaker 1: men are game for anything in spite of their sad condition,
• 2:44:18
  Speaker 1: thus wrote Gregory at that date. Many weeks later we
• 2:44:21
  Speaker 1: find him writing as follows, June fifteenth, Free at last.
• 2:44:27
  Speaker 1: The ice has been breaking up out at sea for
• 2:44:29
  Speaker 1: some time past. It gave way in refuge harbor yesterday,
• 2:44:33
  Speaker 1: and we warped out in the night. Everything is ready
• 2:44:37
  Speaker 1: to push north again. We have been feeding heartily for
• 2:44:40
  Speaker 1: many weeks on walrus, seals, wild fowl, and last but
• 2:44:44
  Speaker 1: not least, on some grasses which make bad greens. But
• 2:44:48
  Speaker 1: they have put scurvy to flight. All the men are
• 2:44:51
  Speaker 1: well and strong, and fit for hard work, though nothing
• 2:44:55
  Speaker 1: like what they were when we first came here. Could
• 2:44:57
  Speaker 1: it be otherwise? There are some us who will carry
• 2:45:01
  Speaker 1: the marks of this winter to our graves. The bright,
• 2:45:04
  Speaker 1: beautiful sunshine shines now all day and all night, cheering
• 2:45:09
  Speaker 1: our hearts and inspiring hope. June sixteenth, All is lost,
• 2:45:15
  Speaker 1: how little we know what a day may bring forth.
• 2:45:18
  Speaker 1: Our good little brig is gone, and we are here
• 2:45:21
  Speaker 1: on the ice without a thing in the world except
• 2:45:24
  Speaker 1: the clothes on our back. I have saved my note book,
• 2:45:28
  Speaker 1: which chance to be in my breast pocket. When the
• 2:45:30
  Speaker 1: nip took place. How awfully sudden it was. We now
• 2:45:34
  Speaker 1: appreciate the wise forethought of Captain Harvey in sending the
• 2:45:38
  Speaker 1: large boat to forlorn Hope Bay. This boat is our
• 2:45:42
  Speaker 1: last and only hope. We shall have to walk forty
• 2:45:45
  Speaker 1: miles before we reach it. Our brig went down at
• 2:45:49
  Speaker 1: three o'clock this afternoon. We had warped out into the
• 2:45:52
  Speaker 1: floes to catch a light breeze that was blowing outside.
• 2:45:56
  Speaker 1: For some time. We held on steadily to the northward,
• 2:46:00
  Speaker 1: but had not got out of sight of our winter
• 2:46:02
  Speaker 1: quarters when a stream of ice set down upon us
• 2:46:05
  Speaker 1: and closed in all around. At first we thought nothing
• 2:46:09
  Speaker 1: of this, having escaped so many dangers of the kind
• 2:46:12
  Speaker 1: last autumn. But by degrees the pressure increased alarmingly. We
• 2:46:18
  Speaker 1: were jammed against a great ice field, which was still
• 2:46:21
  Speaker 1: fast to the shore. In a few moments, the sides
• 2:46:25
  Speaker 1: of our little vessel began to creak and groan loudly.
• 2:46:29
  Speaker 1: The men labored like tigers at the ice poles, but
• 2:46:32
  Speaker 1: in vain we heard a loud report in the cabin.
• 2:46:36
  Speaker 1: No one knows what it was, but I suppose it
• 2:46:38
  Speaker 1: must have been the breaking of a large bolt. At
• 2:46:41
  Speaker 1: any rate, it was followed by a series of crashes
• 2:46:44
  Speaker 1: and reports that left no doubt in our minds as
• 2:46:47
  Speaker 1: to what was going on. The ice was cracking the
• 2:46:51
  Speaker 1: brig as if she had been a nutshell. Save yourselves, lads,
• 2:46:55
  Speaker 1: cried the captain. One or two of the men made
• 2:46:58
  Speaker 1: a rush to the hatchway in ten to run below
• 2:47:00
  Speaker 1: and save some of their things. I ran to the
• 2:47:03
  Speaker 1: cabin ladder in the hope of saving our log book
• 2:47:06
  Speaker 1: and journals, but we all started back in horror, for
• 2:47:10
  Speaker 1: the deck at that moment burst open almost under our feet.
• 2:47:14
  Speaker 1: I cast one glance down through the opening into the hold.
• 2:47:18
  Speaker 1: That glance was sufficient. The mass of timbers and beams
• 2:47:22
  Speaker 1: were being crushed together, doubled up, split and shivered as
• 2:47:26
  Speaker 1: if they had been rotten straws. In another moment, I
• 2:47:29
  Speaker 1: was on the ice where the whole crew were assembled,
• 2:47:32
  Speaker 1: looking on at the work of destruction in solemn silence.
• 2:47:38
  Speaker 1: After bursting in the vessel's sides, the ice eased off,
• 2:47:42
  Speaker 1: and she at once began to settle down. We could
• 2:47:45
  Speaker 1: hear the water rushing furiously into the hold. Ten minutes
• 2:47:48
  Speaker 1: later she was gone. Thus and our hopes of further discovery,
• 2:47:53
  Speaker 1: and we are now left to fight away in an
• 2:47:56
  Speaker 1: open boat to the settlements on the south coast of Greenland.
• 2:48:00
  Speaker 1: We have little time to think. Prompt action must be
• 2:48:04
  Speaker 1: our watchword now if we would escape from this world
• 2:48:07
  Speaker 1: of ice. July twentieth I have not entered a line
• 2:48:11
  Speaker 1: in this journal since our vessel was lost. Our work
• 2:48:14
  Speaker 1: has been so severe and our sufferings so great, that
• 2:48:17
  Speaker 1: I have had no heart for writing. Our walk to
• 2:48:21
  Speaker 1: the place where we left the boat was a hard one,
• 2:48:23
  Speaker 1: but we were cheered by finding the boat all safe,
• 2:48:26
  Speaker 1: and the provisions and stores just as we left them.
• 2:48:31
  Speaker 1: There was not enough to last out the voyage, but
• 2:48:33
  Speaker 1: we had guns and powder. It is in vain to
• 2:48:36
  Speaker 1: attempt to describe the events of the last few weeks.
• 2:48:40
  Speaker 1: Constant and hard and cold work at the oars with
• 2:48:44
  Speaker 1: the ice poles, warping, hauling and shoving, be set by ice,
• 2:48:49
  Speaker 1: driving before storms, detained by thick fogs, often wet to
• 2:48:54
  Speaker 1: the skin, always tired, almost starving. Such has been our
• 2:48:59
  Speaker 1: fate that sad day when our brig went down. And
• 2:49:03
  Speaker 1: yet I think there is one of our party who
• 2:49:06
  Speaker 1: would not turn about on the spot and renew our
• 2:49:09
  Speaker 1: voyage of discovery, if only he got a chance of
• 2:49:12
  Speaker 1: going in a well appointed vessel as it was, we
• 2:49:15
  Speaker 1: must push on home. Home is now our cry. August first,
• 2:49:22
  Speaker 1: we are in Clover, after having been reduced to think
• 2:49:25
  Speaker 1: of roasting our shoes for breakfast. For three days. Last
• 2:49:29
  Speaker 1: week we ate nothing at all. Our powder has been
• 2:49:31
  Speaker 1: expended for some weeks past. On Monday we finished our
• 2:49:35
  Speaker 1: last morsel of the gull that Pepper managed to bring
• 2:49:38
  Speaker 1: down with a stone. Tuesday was a terrible day. The
• 2:49:42
  Speaker 1: agony of hunger was worse than I had expected it
• 2:49:44
  Speaker 1: to be. Nevertheless, we tried hard to cheer each other
• 2:49:49
  Speaker 1: as we labored at the oars. Our only hope was
• 2:49:52
  Speaker 1: to fall in with natives. Signs of them were seen everywhere,
• 2:49:56
  Speaker 1: and we expected to hear their shouts at every point
• 2:49:59
  Speaker 1: of land we double. The captain suggested that we should
• 2:50:02
  Speaker 1: try shoe soup on Wednesday morning. He was more than
• 2:50:06
  Speaker 1: half in earnest, but spoke as if he were jesting.
• 2:50:10
  Speaker 1: Pepper cocked his ears, as if there was some hope
• 2:50:12
  Speaker 1: still of work for him to do in his own line.
• 2:50:15
  Speaker 1: Jim Crofts pulled off his shoe, and, looking at it earnestly,
• 2:50:19
  Speaker 1: wondered if the soul would make a very tough chop.
• 2:50:22
  Speaker 1: We all laughed, but I cannot say that the laugh
• 2:50:25
  Speaker 1: sounded hearty. On the Thursday, I began to feel weak,
• 2:50:29
  Speaker 1: but the pangs of hunger were not so bad. Our
• 2:50:32
  Speaker 1: eyes seemed very large and wolfish. I could not help
• 2:50:36
  Speaker 1: shuddering when I thought of the terrible things that men
• 2:50:39
  Speaker 1: have done when reduced to this state. That evening, as
• 2:50:44
  Speaker 1: we rounded a point, we saw an Eskimo boy high
• 2:50:47
  Speaker 1: on a cliff with a net in his hand. He
• 2:50:50
  Speaker 1: did not see us for some time, and we were
• 2:50:53
  Speaker 1: so excited that we stopped rowing to watch him in
• 2:50:55
  Speaker 1: breathless silence. Thousands of birds were flying round his head
• 2:50:59
  Speaker 1: among the cliffs. How often we had tried to kill
• 2:51:02
  Speaker 1: some of these with sticks and stones in vain. The
• 2:51:06
  Speaker 1: net he held was a round one with a long handle.
• 2:51:10
  Speaker 1: Suddenly he made a dashing sweep with it and caught
• 2:51:12
  Speaker 1: two of the birds as they passed. We now saw
• 2:51:16
  Speaker 1: that a number of dead birds lay at his feet.
• 2:51:18
  Speaker 1: In one moment, our boat was ashore, and we scrambled
• 2:51:21
  Speaker 1: up to the cliffs in eager haste. The boy fled
• 2:51:25
  Speaker 1: in terror, but before he was well out of sight,
• 2:51:28
  Speaker 1: every man was seated on a ledge of a rock
• 2:51:31
  Speaker 1: with a bird at his mouth, sucking the blood. Hunger
• 2:51:34
  Speaker 1: like ours, despises cookery. It was fortunate that there were
• 2:51:38
  Speaker 1: not many birds, else we should have done ourselves harm
• 2:51:41
  Speaker 1: by eating too much. I have eaten many a good
• 2:51:44
  Speaker 1: meal in my life, but never one so sweet or
• 2:51:48
  Speaker 1: for which I was so thankful as that meal of
• 2:51:51
  Speaker 1: raw birds devoured on the cliffs of Greenland. That night
• 2:51:56
  Speaker 1: we reached the Eskimo village where we now lie. We
• 2:51:59
  Speaker 1: find that it is only two days journey from this
• 2:52:01
  Speaker 1: place to the Danish settlements. There we mean to get
• 2:52:05
  Speaker 1: on board the first ship that is bound for Europe,
• 2:52:08
  Speaker 1: no matter what port she sails. For Meanwhile, we rest
• 2:52:12
  Speaker 1: our weary limbs in peace, for our dangers are past,
• 2:52:15
  Speaker 1: and thanks be to God, we are saved. Reader, my
• 2:52:20
  Speaker 1: tale is told. A little book cannot be made to
• 2:52:23
  Speaker 1: contain a long story. Else I would have narrated many
• 2:52:27
  Speaker 1: more of the strange and interesting events that befell our
• 2:52:31
  Speaker 1: adventurers during that voyage. But enough has been written to
• 2:52:35
  Speaker 1: give some idea of what is done and suffered by
• 2:52:38
  Speaker 1: those daring men who attempt to navigate the polar seas.
• 2:52:43
  Speaker 1: The end end of chapter eleven, an end of Fast
• 2:52:48
  Speaker 1: in the Ice read for LibriVox dot org by Esther