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twg_000012588500 | are tall and strong. One of them is very grave and seems to think much, like myself. He also spoke of this Nothing--this Nort Pole. They are all mad, I think, about that thing-- that Nothing!" The conversation was interrupted at this point by the sudden entrance of the giant's little sister with the news that the Kablu... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588501 | coming round the great cape, dragging a sledge. "Is not the big oomiak with them?" asked her brother, rising quickly. "No, we see no oomiak--no wings--no fire," answered Oblooria, "only six men dragging a sledge." Chingatok went out immediately, and Oblooria was about to follow when her mother recalled her. "Come here,... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588502 | for you to suck. Tell me, saw you any sign of madness in these white men when they were talking with your brother about this--this--Nort Pole." "No, mother, no," answered Oblooria thoughtfully, "I saw not madness. They laughed much, it is true--but not more than Oolichuk laughs sometimes. Yes--I think again! There was ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588503 | brother thinks to be the son of Blackbeard--Benjay, they call him." "Hah! I thought so," exclaimed Toolooha, evidently pleased at her penetration on this point. "Go, child, I cannot quit the lamp. Bring me news of what they say and do." Oblooria obeyed with alacrity, bolting her strip of half-cooked blubber as she ran;... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588504 | attention to the duties of the lamp. The white men and all the members of the Eskimo band were standing by the sledge engaged in earnest conversation when the little girl came forward. Captain Vane was speaking. "Yes, Chingatok," he said, looking up at the tall savage, who stood erect in frame but with bent head and hi... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588505 | before him, like a modest chief, which in truth he was. "Yes, if you will guide me to your home in the northern lands, I will pay you well--for I have much iron and wood and such things as I think you wish for and value, and you shall also have my best thanks and gratitude. The latter may not | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588506 | indeed be worth much, but, nevertheless, you could not purchase it with all the wealth of the Polar regions." Chingatok looked with penetrating gaze at Anders while he translated, and, considering the nature of the communication, the so-called Brainless One proved himself a better man than the giant gave him credit for... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588507 | thought, "expect to find this Nothing--this Nort Pole, in my country?" "Well, I cannot exactly say that I do," replied the Captain; "you see, I'm not quite sure, from what you tell me, where your country is. It may not reach to the Pole, but it is enough for me that it lies in that direction, and that you tell | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588508 | me there is much open water there. Men of my nation have been in these regions before now, and some of them have said that the Polar Sea is open, others that it is covered always with ice so thick that it never melts. Some have said it is a `sea of ancient ice' so rough that no man can | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588509 | travel over it, and that it is not possible to reach the North Pole. I don't agree with that. I had been led to expect to fall in with this sea of ancient ice before I had got thus far, but it is not to be found. The sea indeed is partly blocked with ordinary ice, but there is nothing | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588510 | to be seen of this vast collection of mighty blocks, some of them thirty feet high--this wild chaos of ice which so effectually stopped some of those who went before me." This speech put such brains as the Brainless One possessed to a severe test, and, after all, he failed to convey its full meaning to Chingatok, who, ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588511 | replied to such portions as he understood. "What Blackbeard calls the sea of old ice does exist," he said; "I have seen it. No man could travel on it, only the birds can cross it. But ice is not land. It changes place. It is here to-day; it is there to-morrow. Next day it is gone. We cannot tell where | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588512 | it goes to or when it will come back. The _very_ old ice comes back again and again. It is slow to become like your Nort Pole--nothing. But it melts at last and more comes in its place--growing old slowly and vanishing slowly. It is full of wonder--like the stars; like the jumping flames; like the sun and moon, which | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588513 | we cannot understand." Chingatok paused and looked upwards with a solemn expression. His mind had wandered into its favourite channels, and for the moment he forgot the main subject of conversation, while the white men regarded him with some surprise, his comrades with feelings of interest not unmingled with awe. "But,... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588514 | ice-blocks is just now. I came past it in my kayak, and can guide you to it by the same way." "That is just what I want, Chingatok," said the Captain with a joyful look, "only aid me in this matter, and I will reward you well. I've already told you that my ship is wrecked, and that the crew, | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588515 | except those you see here, have left me; but I have saved all the cargo and buried it in a place of security with the exception of those things which I need for my expedition. One half of these things are on this sledge,--the other half on a sledge left behind and ready packed near the wreck. Now, I want | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588516 | you to send men to fetch that sledge here." "That shall be done," said Chingatok. "Thanks, thanks, my good fellow," returned the Captain, "and we must set about it at once, for the summer is advancing, and you know as well as I do that the hot season is but a short one in these regions." "A moment more shall | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588517 | not be lost," said the giant. He turned to Oolichuk, who had been leaning on a short spear, and gazing open-mouthed, eyed, and eared, during the foregoing conversation, and said a few words to him and to the other Eskimos in a low tone. Oolichuk merely nodded his head, said "Yah!" or something similarly significant, sh... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588518 | off in the direction of the Cape of Newhope, followed by nearly all the men of the party. "Stay, not quite so fast," cried Captain Vane. "Stop!" shouted Chingatok. Oolichuk and his men paused. "One of us had better go with them," said the Captain, "to show the place where the sledge has been left." "I will go, uncle, i... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588519 | you'll allow me," said Leo Vandervell. "Oh! let me go too, father," pleaded Benjy, "I'm not a bit tired; do." "You may both go. Take a rifle with you, Leo. There's no saying what you may meet on the way." In half-an-hour the party under Oolichuk had reached the extremity of the cape, and Captain Vane observed that his ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588520 | son mounted to the top of an ice-block to wave a farewell. He looked like a black speck, or a crow, in the far distance. Another moment, and the speck had disappeared among the hummocks of the ice-locked sea. CHAPTER SEVEN. DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED AND FACED. They had not quite doubled the Cape of Newhope, and were abo... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588521 | point which concealed the spot that had been named Wreck Bay, when they suddenly found themselves face to face with a Polar bear! Bruin was evidently out for an evening stroll, for he seemed to have nothing particular to do. Surprise lit up alike the countenances of the men and the visage of the bear. It was an unexpec... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588522 | on both sides. The distance between them was not more than thirty feet. Leo was the only one of the party who carried a rifle. More than once during the voyage had Leo seen and shot a bear. The sight was not new to him, but never before had he come so suddenly, or so very close, upon this king | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588523 | of the Arctic Seas. He chanced at the time to be walking a few yards in advance of the party in company with Oolichuk and Benjy. The three stopped, stared, and stood as if petrified. For one moment, then they uttered a united and half involuntary roar. Right royally did that bear accept the challenge. It rose, accordin... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588524 | on its hind legs, and immediately began that slow, but deadly war-dance with which the race is wont to preface an attack, while its upper lip curled in apparent derision, exposing its terrible fangs. Leo recovered self-possession instantly. The rifle leaped to his shoulder, the centre of the bear's breast was covered, ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588525 | Leo had forgotten to load! Benjy gasped with anxiety. Oolichuk, who had held himself back with a sparkling smile of expectation at the prospect of seeing the Kablunet use his thunder-weapon, looked surprised and disappointed, but went into action promptly with his spear, accompanied by Akeetolik. Leo's rifle, being a b... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588526 | party stood leaning on their spears with the evident intention of merely watching the combat, the youth resolved to hold his hand, despite Benjy's earnest recommendation to put one ball between the bear's eyes, and the other into his stomach. It was but a brief though decisive battle. Those Eskimos were well used to su... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588527 | with levelled spears, the two men separated on coming close, so that Bruin was forced to a state of indecision as to which enemy he would assail first. Akeetolik settled the point for him by giving him a prick on the right side, thus, as it were, drawing the enemy's fire on himself. The bear turned towards him with a | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588528 | fierce growl, and in so doing, exposed his left side to attack. Oolichuk was not slow to seize the opportunity. He leaped close up, and drove his spear deep into the animal's heart--killing it on the spot. Next day the party returned to the Eskimo camp with the sledge-load of goods, and the bear on the top. While steak... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588529 | the same were being prepared by Toolooha, Captain Vane and his new allies were busy discussing the details of the advance. "I know that the difficulties will be great," he said, in reply to a remark from the interpreter, "but I mean to face and overcome them." "Ah!" exclaimed Alf, who was rather fond of poetry:-- "To d... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588530 | in a noble cause, Despite an adverse Nature and her tiresome Laws." "Just so, Alf, my boy, stick at nothing; never give in; victory or death, that's my way of expressing the same sentiment. But there's one thing that I must impress once more upon you all--namely, that each man must reduce his kit to the very lowest poi... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588531 | size and weight. No extras allowed." "What, not even a box of paper collars?" asked Benjy. "Not one, my boy, but you may take a strait-waistcoat in your box if you choose, for you'll be sure to need it." "Oh! father," returned the boy, remonstratively, "you are severe. However, I will take one, if you agree to leave yo... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588532 | comforter behind. You won't need that, you see, as long as I am with you." "Of course," said Alf, "you will allow us to carry small libraries with us?" "Certainly not, my lad, only one book each, and that must be a small one." "The only possess is my Bible," said Leo, "and that won't take up much room, for | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588533 | it's an uncommonly small one." "If I only had my Robinson Crusoe here," cried Benjy, "I'd take it, for there's enough of adventure in that book to carry a man over half the world." "Ay," said Alf, "and enough of mind to carry him over the other half. For my part, if we must be content with one book each, | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588534 | I shall take Buzzby's poems." "Oh! horrible!" cried Benjy, "why, he's no better than a maudlin', dawdlin', drawlin', caterwaulin'--" "Come, Benjy, don't be insolent; he's second only to Tennyson. Just listen to this _morceau_ by Buzzby. It is an Ode to Courage-- "`High! hot! hillarious compound of--'" "Stop! stop! man,... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588535 | interrupted Benjy, "let us hear what book Butterface means to take." "I not take no book, massa, only take my flute. Music is wot's de matter wid me. Dat is de ting what hab charms to soove de savage beast." "I wouldn't advise you try to soothe a Polar bear with it," said Leo, "unless you have a rifle handy." | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588536 | "Yes--and especially an unloaded one, which is very effective against Polar bears," put in the Captain, with a sly look. "Ah, Leo, I could hardly have believed it of you--and you the sportsman of our party, too; our chief huntsman. Oh, fie!" "Come, uncle, don't be too hard on that little mistake," said Leo, with a slig... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588537 | was really annoyed by the unsportsmanlike oversight hinted at; "but pray, may I ask," he added, turning sharply on the Captain, "what is inside of these three enormous boxes of yours which take up so much space on the sledges?" "You may ask, Leo, but you may not expect an answer. That is my secret, and I mean to keep | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588538 | it as a sort of stimulus to your spirits when the hardships of the way begin to tell on you. Ask Chingatok, Anders," continued the Captain, turning to the interpreter, "if he thinks we have enough provisions collected for the journey. I wish to start immediately." "We have enough," answered Chingatok, who had been sitt... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588539 | observer--so to speak--of the foregoing conversation. "Tell him, then, to arrange with his party, and be prepared to set out by noon to-morrow." That night, by the light of the midnight sun, the Eskimos sat round their kettles of bear-chops, and went into the _pros_ and _cons_ of the proposed expedition. Some were enth... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588540 | lot with the white men, others were decidedly against it, and a few were undecided. Among the latter was Akeetolik. "These ignorant men," said that bold savage, "are foolish and useless. They cannot kill bears. The one named Lo, (thus was Leonard's name reduced to its lowest denomination), is big enough, and looks very... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588541 | he only stares, makes a little click with his thunder-weapon, and looks stupid." "Blackbeard explained that," said Oolichuk; "Lo made some mistake." "That may be so," retorted Akeetolik, "but if you and me had not been there, the _bear_ would not make a mistake." "I will not go with these Kablunets," said Eemerk with a... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588542 | They are not taught. No doubt they had a wonderful boat, but they have not been able to keep their boat. They cannot kill bears; perhaps they cannot kill seals or walruses, and they ask us to help them to travel--to show them the way! They can do nothing. They must be led like children. My advice is to kill | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588543 | them all, since they are so useless, and take their goods." This speech was received with marks of decided approval by those of the party who were in the habit of siding with Eemerk, but the rest were silent. In a few moments Chingatok said, in a low, quiet, but impressive tone: "The Kablunets are not foolish or ignora... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588544 | are wise--far beyond the wisdom of the Eskimos. It is Eemerk who is like a walrus without brains. He thinks that his little mind is outside of everything, and so he has not eyes to perceive that he is ignorant as well as foolish, and that other men are wise." This was the severest rebuke that the good-natured Chingatok... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588545 | yet administered to Eemerk, but the latter, foolish though he was, had wisdom enough not to resent it openly. He sat in moody silence, with his eyes fixed on the ground. Of course Oolichuk was decidedly in favour of joining the white men, and so was Ivitchuk, who soon brought round his hesitating friend Akeetolik, and ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588546 | Oblooria, being timid, would gladly have sided with Eemerk, but she hated the man, and, besides, would in any case have cast in her lot with her mother and brother, even if free to do otherwise. The fair Tekkona, whose courage and faith were naturally strong, had only one idea, and that was to follow cheerfully whereve... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588547 | she was very modest, and gave no opinion. She merely remarked: "The Kablunets are handsome men, and seem good." As for Toolooha, she had enough to do to attend to the serious duties of the lamp, and always left the settlement of less important matters to the men. "You and yours are free to do what you please," said Chi... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588548 | to Eemerk, when the discussion drew to a close. "I go with the white men to-morrow." "What says Oblooria?" whispered Oolichuk when the rest of the party were listening to Eemerk's reply. "Oblooria goes with her brother and mother," answered that young lady, toying coquettishly with her sealskin tail. Oolichuk's good-hu... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588549 | up--as much as it was possible for such a feature to curl-- with contempt, as he glanced at Eemerk and said-- "I have heard many tales from Anders--the white man's mouthpiece--since we met. He tells me the white men are very brave and fond of running into danger for nothing but fun. Those who do not like the fun of | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588550 | danger should join Eemerk. Those who are fond of fun and danger should come with our great chief Chingatok--huk! Let us divide." Without more palaver the band divided, and it was found that only eight sided with Eemerk. All the rest cast in their lot with our giant, after which this Arctic House of Commons adjourned, a... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588551 | to rest. A few days after that, Captain Vane and his Eskimo allies, having left the camp with Eemerk and his friends far behind them, came suddenly one fine morning on a barrier which threatened effectually to arrest their further progress northward. This was nothing less than that tremendous sea of "ancient ice" which... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588552 | parties. "Chaos! absolute chaos!" exclaimed Alf Vandervell, who was first to recover from the shock of surprise, not to say consternation, with which the party beheld the scene on turning a high cape. "It looks bad," said Captain Vane, gravely, "but things often look worse at a first glance than they really are." "I ho... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588553 | this case," said Leo, in a low tone. "Good-bye to the North Pole!" said Benjy, with a look of despondency so deep that the rest of the party laughed in spite of themselves. The truth was that poor Benjy had suffered much during the sledge journey which they had begun, for although he rode, like the rest of them, on | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588554 | one of the Eskimo sledges, the ice over which they had travelled along shore had been sufficiently rugged to necessitate constant getting off and on, as well as much scrambling over hummocks and broken ice. We have already said that Benjy was not very robust, though courageous and full of spirit, so that he was prone t... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588555 | deepest depths of despair to the highest heights of hope at a moment's notice--or _vice versa_. Not having become inured to ice-travel, he was naturally much cast down when the chaos above-mentioned met his gaze. "Strange," said the Captain, after a long silent look at the barrier, "strange that we should find it here.... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588556 | it considerably to the south and west of this." "But you know," said Leo, "Chingatok told us that the old ice drifts about just as the more recently formed does. Who knows but we may find the end of it not far off, and perhaps may reach open water beyond, where we can make skin canoes, and launch forth on | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588557 | a voyage of discovery." "I vote that we climb the cliffs and try to see over the top of this horrid ice-jumble," said Benjy. "Not a bad suggestion, lad. Let us do so. We will encamp here, Anders. Let all the people have a good feed, and tell Chingatok to follow us. You will come along with him." A few | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588558 | hours later, and the Captain, Leo, Alf, Benjy, Chingatok, and the interpreter stood on the extreme summit of the promontory which they had named Cape Chaos, and from which they had a splendid bird's-eye view of the whole region. It was indeed a tremendous and never-to-be-forgotten scene. As far as the eye could reach, ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588559 | heaped together in some places in the wildest confusion, and so firmly wedged in appearance that it seemed as if it had lain there in a solid mass from the first day of creation. Elsewhere the ice was more level and less compact. In the midst of this rugged scene, hundreds of giant icebergs rose conspicuously above the... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588560 | upwards in every shape and of all sizes, from which the bright sun was flashed back in rich variety of form, from the sharp gleam that trickled down an edge of ice to the refulgent blaze on a glassy face which almost rivalled the sun himself in brilliancy. These icebergs, extending as they did to the horizon, where the... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588561 | with and were lost in the pearl-grey sky, gave an impression of vast illimitable perspective. Although no sign of an open sea was at first observed, there was no lack of water to enliven the scene, for here and there, and everywhere, were pools and ponds, and even lakes of goodly size, which had been formed on the surf... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588562 | the melting ice. In these the picturesque masses were faithfully reflected, and over them vast flocks of gulls, eider-ducks, puffins, and other wild-fowl of the north, disported themselves in garrulous felicity. On the edge of the rocky precipice, from which they had a bird's-eye view of the scene, our discoverers stoo... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588563 | of mingled awe and wonder. Then exclamations of surprise and admiration broke forth. "The wonderful works of God!" said the Captain, in a tone of profound reverence. "Beautiful, beyond belief!" murmured Alf. "But it seems an effectual check to our advance," said the practical Leo, who, however, was by no means insensib... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588564 | effectual, lad; not effectual," returned the Captain, stretching out his hand and turning to the interpreter; "look, Anders, d'ye see nothing on the horizon away to the nor'ard? Isn't that a bit of water-sky over there?" "Ya," replied the interpreter, gazing intently, "there be watter-sky over there. Ya. But not possob... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588565 | "Ask Chingatok what he thinks," returned the Captain. Chingatok's opinion was that the water-sky indicated the open sea. He knew that sea well--had often paddled over it, and his own country lay in it. "But how ever did he cross that ice?" asked the Captain; "what says he to that, Anders?" "I did not cross it," answere... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588566 | Anders. "When I came here with my party the ice was not there; it was far off yonder." He pointed to the eastward. "Just so," returned the Captain, with a satisfied nod, "that confirms my opinion. You see, boys, that the coast here trends off to the East'ard in a very decided manner. Now, if that was only the shore | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588567 | of a bay, and the land again ran off to the nor'ard, it would not be possible for such a sea of ice to have come from _that_ direction. I therefore conclude that we are standing on the most northern cape of Greenland; that Greenland itself is a huge island, unconnected with the Polar lands; that we are now on | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588568 | the shores of the great Polar basin, in which, somewhere not very far from the Pole itself, lies the home of our friend Chingatok--at least so I judge from what he has said. Moreover, I feel sure that the water-sky we see over there indicates the commencement of that `open sea' which, I hold, in common with many learne... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588569 | lies around the North Pole, and which I am determined to float upon before many days go by." "We'd better spread our wings then, father, and be off at once," said Benjy; "for it's quite certain that we'll never manage to scramble over that ice-jumble with sledges." "Nevertheless, I will try, Benjy." "But how, uncle?" a... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588570 | Alf, "_that_ is the question." "Come, come, Alf, let Shakespeare alone," said the pert Benjy, "if you _must_ quote, confine yourself to Buzzby." "Nay, Benjy, be not so severe. It was but a slip. Besides, our leader has not forbidden our carrying a whole library in our heads, so long as we take only one n our pockets. B... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588571 | you have not yet told us how you intend to cross that amazing barrier which Benjy has appropriately styled an ice-jumble." "How, boy?" returned the Captain, who had been gazing eagerly in all directions while they talked, "it is impossible for me to say how. All that I can speak of with certainty as to our future movem... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588572 | the road by which we have come to the top of this cliff will lead us to the bottom again, where Toolooha is preparing for us an excellent supper of bear-steaks and tea. One step at a time, lads, is my motto; when that is taken we shall see clearly how and where to take the next." A sound sleep | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588573 | was the step which the whole party took after that which led to the bear-steaks. Then Captain Vane arose, ordered the dogs to be harnessed to the sledges, and, laying his course due north, steered straight out upon the sea of ancient ice. CHAPTER EIGHT. DIFFICULTIES AND DANGERS INCREASE, AND THE CAPTAIN EXPOUNDS HIS VI... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588574 | journey over the rugged ice was not so difficult as had been anticipated, because they found a number of openings--narrow lanes, as it were--winding between the masses, most of which were wide enough to permit of the passage of the sledges; and when they chanced to come on a gap that was too narrow, they easily widened... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588575 | hatchets and ice-chisels. There was, however, some danger connected with this process, for some of the mighty blocks of ice amongst which they moved were piled in such positions that it only required a few choppings at their base to bring them down in ruins on their heads. One instance of this kind sufficed to warn the... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588576 | dog-sledge was leading the way at the time. Leo drove it, for by that time the Eskimos had taught him how to use the short-handled whip with the lash full fifteen feet long, and Leo was an apt pupil in every athletic and manly exercise. Beside him sat the Captain, Alf, Benjy, and Butterface--the black visage of the lat... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588577 | shining with delight at the novelty of the situation. Behind came the sledge of Chingatok, which, besides being laden with bear-rugs, sealskins, junks of meat, and a host of indescribable Eskimo implements, carried himself and the precious persons of Toolooha and Tekkona. Next came the sledge of the laughter-loving Ool... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588578 | sledges of Ivitchuk and Akeetolik, laden with the rest of the Eskimo women and goods, and last of all came Captain Vane's two English-made sledges, heavily-laden with the goods and provisions of the explorers. These latter sledges, although made in England, had been constructed on the principle of the native sledge, na... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588579 | lashings instead of nails, which last would have snapped like glass in the winter frosts of the Polar regions, besides being incapable of standing the twistings and shocks of ice-travel. All the dogs being fresh, and the floor of the lanes not too rough, the strangely-assorted party trotted merrily along, causing the e... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588580 | to ring to the music of their chatting, and the cracks of their powerful whips. Suddenly, a shout at the front, and an abrupt pull up, brought the whole column to a halt. The Captain's dogs had broken into a gallop. On turning suddenly round a spur of a glacier about as big as Saint Paul's Cathedral, they went swish | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588581 | into a shallow pond which had been formed on the ice. It was not deep, but there was sufficient water in it to send a deluge of spray over the travellers. A burst of laughter greeted the incident as they sprang off the sledge, and waded to the dry ice a few yards ahead. "No damage done," exclaimed the Captain, | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588582 | as he assisted the dogs to haul the sledge out of the water. "No damage!" repeated Benjy, with a rueful look, "why, I'm soaked from top to toe!" "Yes, you've got the worst of it," said Leo, with a laugh; "that comes of being forward, Benjy. You would insist on sitting in front." "Well, it is some comfort," retorted Ben... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588583 | squeezing the water from his garments, "that _Alf_ is as wet as myself, for that gives us an opportunity of sympathising with each other. Eh, _Alf_? Does Buzzby offer no consolatory remarks for such an occasion as this?" "O yes," replied Alf; "in his beautiful poem on Melancholy, sixth canto, Buzzby says:-- "`When trou... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588584 | clouded brain, And worries on the weary head Descend like soaking rain-- Lift up th'umbrella of the heart, Stride manfully along; Defy depression's dreary dart, And shout in gleeful song.'" "Come, Alf, clap on to this tow-rope, an' stop your nonsense," said Captain Vane, who was not in a poetical frame of mind just the... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588585 | exclaimed Butterface, with an immense display of eyes and teeth, as he lent a willing hand to haul out the sledge. "Mos' boosiful. But he's rader a strong rem'dy, massa, don' you tink? Not bery easy to git up a gleefoo' shout when one's down in de mout' bery bad, eh!" Alf's reply was checked by the necessity for remoun... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588586 | the sledge and resuming the journey. Those in rear avoided the pond by going round it. "The weather's warm, anyhow, and that's a comfort," remarked Benjy, as he settled down in his wet garments. "We can't freeze in summer, you know, and--" He stopped abruptly, for it became apparent just then that the opening close ahe... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588587 | narrow for the sledge to pass. It was narrowed by a buttress, or projection, of the cathedral-berg, which jutted up close to a vast obelisk of ice about forty feet high, if not higher. "Nothing for it, boys, but to cut through," said the Captain, jumping out, and seizing an axe, as the sledge was jammed between the mas... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588588 | dogs lay down to rest and pant while the men were at work. "It's cut an' come again in dem regins," muttered the negro steward, also seizing an axe, and attacking the base of the obelisk. A sudden cry of alarm from the whole party caused him to desist and look up. He echoed the cry and sprang back swiftly, | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588589 | for the huge mass of ice having been just on the balance, one slash at its base had destroyed the equilibrium, and it was leaning slowly over with a deep grinding sound. A moment later the motion was swift, and it fell with a terrible crash, bursting into a thousand fragments, scattering lumps and glittering morsels fa... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588590 | causing the whole ice-field to tremble. The concussion overturned several other masses, which had been in the same nicely-balanced condition, some near at hand, others out of sight, though within earshot, and, for a moment, the travellers felt as if the surrounding pack were disrupting everywhere and falling into utter... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588591 | again all was quiet. Fortunately, the obelisk which had been overturned fell towards the north--away from the party; but although it thus narrowly missed crushing them all in one icy tomb, it blocked up their path so completely that the remainder of that day had to be spent in cutting a passage through it. Need we say ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588592 | they were careful how they used their axes and ice-chisels? Soon after the occurrence of this incident, the labyrinths among the ice became more broken, tortuous, and bewildering. At last they ceased altogether, and the travellers were compelled to take an almost straight course right over everything, for blocks, masse... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588593 | such dire confusion, that nothing having the faintest resemblance to a track or passage could be found. "It's hard work, this," remarked the Captain to Leo one evening, seating himself on a mass of ice which he had just chopped from an obstruction, and wiping the perspiration from his brow. "Hard, indeed," said Leo, si... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588594 | it begins to tell upon poor Benjy. You should really order him to rest more than he does, uncle." A grim smile of satisfaction played for a minute on the Captain's rugged face, as he glanced at his son, who, a short distance ahead, was hacking at the ice with a pick-axe, in company with Alf and Butterface and the | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588595 | Eskimo men. "It'll do him good, lad," replied the Captain. "Hard work is just what my Benjy needs. He's not very stout, to be sure, but there is nothing wrong with his constitution, and he's got plenty of spirit." This was indeed true. Benjy had too much spirit for his somewhat slender frame, but his father, being a he... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588596 | did not quite perceive that what was good for himself might be too much for his son. Captain Vane was, however, the reverse of a harsh man. He pondered what Leo had said, and soon afterwards went up to his son. "Benjy, my lad." "Yes, father," said the boy, dropping the head of his pick-axe on the ice, resting his | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588597 | hands on the haft, and looking up with a flushed countenance. "You should rest a bit now and then, Benjy. You'll knock yourself up if you don't." "Rest a bit, father! Why, I've just had a rest, and I'm not tired--that is, not very. Ain't it fun, father? And the ice cuts up so easily, and flies about so splendidly--see | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588598 | here." With flashing eyes our little hero raised his pick and drove it into the ice at which he had been working, with all his force, so that a great rent was made, and a mass the size of a dressing-table sprang from the side of a berg, and, falling down, burst into a shower of sparkling gems. But this | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012588599 | was not all. To Benjy's intense delight, a mass of many tons in weight was loosened by the fall of the smaller lump, and rolled down with a thunderous roar, causing Butterface, who was too near it, to jump out of the way with an amount of agility that threw the whole party into fits of laughter. "What d'ye think | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
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