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twg_000012589600 | when Pingasuk is cooking, or arranging, things may seem in disorder to the eye of my little boy Meltik and the small one, (referring to baby), but when Meltik and the small one grow older and wiser, they will see that it is not so." While Chingatok was speaking, a gust of wind more furious than ever struck the hut | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589601 | and shook it to its foundations. At the same time a loud rumbling sound was heard outside. Most of the men leaped up, caught hold of spears or knives, and rushed out. Through the driving drift they could just see that the observatory, which was a flimsy structure, had been swept clean away, and that the more solid hut ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589602 | following it. Even as they gazed they saw its roof caught up, and whirled off as if it had been a scroll of paper. The walls fell immediately after, and the stones rolled down the rocky cone with a loud rattling, which was partially drowned by the shrieking of the tempest. For three days the storm lasted. During that t... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589603 | it was almost impossible to show face in the open air. On the night of the third day the fury of the wind abated. Then it suddenly became calm, but when Butterface opened the door, and attempted to go out, he found himself effectually checked by a wall of snow. The interior of the hut was pitch dark, and it | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589604 | was not until a lamp had been lighted that the party found they were buried alive! To dig themselves out was not, however, a difficult matter. But what a scene presented itself to their view when they regained the upper air! No metamorphosis conceived by Ovid or achieved by the magic lantern; no pantomimic transformati... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589605 | equalled it! When last seen, the valley was clothed in all the rich luxuriance of autumnal tints, and alive with the twitter and plaintive cry of bird-life. Now it was draped in the pure winding-sheet of winter, and silent in the repose of Arctic death. Nothing almost was visible but snow. Everything was whelmed in whi... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589606 | a few of the sturdier clumps of bushes held up their loads like gigantic wedding-cakes, and broke the universal sameness of the scene. One raven was the only living representative of the birds that had fled. It soared calmly over the waste, as if it were the wizard who had wrought the change, and was admiring its work.... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589607 | upon us fairly now, friends," said Captain Vane as he surveyed the prospect from the Pole, which was itself all but buried in the universal drift, and capped with the hugest wedding-cake of all; "we shall have to accommodate ourselves to circumstances, and prepare for the campaign." "I suppose the first thing we shall ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589608 | a snow-house," said Benjy, looking ruefully round, for, as usual, he was depressed by first appearances. "Just so, Benjy; and the sooner we go to work the better." Now, the reader must not hastily conclude that we are about to inflict on him or her a detailed narrative of a six months' residence at the North Pole. We h... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589609 | such fell design. Much though there is to tell,--much of suffering, more of enjoyment, many adventures, numerous stirring incidents, and not a few mishaps--we shall pass over the most of it in total silence, and touch only on those points which are worthy of special notice. Let us leap, then, into the very middle of th... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589610 | continuously dark now. There is no day at all at the Pole; it is night all round. The last glimmer of the departing sun left them months ago; the next glimmer of his return will not reach them for months to come. The northern Eskimos and their English visitors were well aware of that, nevertheless there was nothing of ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589611 | or depressed spirits among them. They were too busy for that. Had not meat to be procured, and then consumed? Did not the procuring involve the harnessing of dogs in sledges, the trapping of foxes and wolves, the fighting of walruses, the chasing of polar bears; and did not the consuming thereof necessitate much culina... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589612 | and frequent attention and labour on the part of the whole community, not to mention hours, and sometimes days, of calm repose? Then, as to light, had they not the Aurora Borealis, that mysterious shimmering in the northern sky which has puzzled philosophers from the beginning of time, and is not unlikely to continue p... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589613 | they not the moon and the stars, which latter shone with a brilliancy almost indescribable, and among them the now doubly interesting Pole star, right overhead, with several new and gorgeous constellations unknown to southern climes? Besides all this, had not Captain Vane his scientific investigations, his pendulum exp... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589614 | besides what Benjy styled his kiteometric pranks? These last consisted in attempts to bring lightning down from the clouds by means of a kite and cord, and in which effort the Captain managed to knock himself down, and well-nigh shattered the North Pole itself in pieces! Moreover, had not Leo to act the part of physici... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589615 | community? a duty which he fulfilled so well that there never had been before that time such a demand for physic in Flatland, and, it is probable, there never will be so many sick people there again. In addition to this, Leo had to exercise his marvellous powers as a huntsman. Benjy, of course, played his wonted _role_... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589616 | and jack-of-all-trades to the entire satisfaction of everybody, especially on that great occasion when he succeeded in killing a polar bear single-handed, and without the aid of gun or spear or any lethal weapon whatever;--of which great event, more hereafter. Anders, the southern Eskimo, made himself generally agreeab... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589617 | of fun and good humour, coupled with his fine musical qualities. We have not said much on this latter point hitherto, because we have been unwilling to overwhelm the reader with too sudden a disclosure of that marvellous magazine of power which was latent in our band of heroes; but we feel it to be our duty now to stat... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589618 | that the negro sang his native melodies with such pathos that he frequently reduced, (perhaps we should say elevated), the unsophisticated Eskimos to floods of tears, and sometimes to convulsions of laughter. As, at Benjy's suggestion, he sometimes changed his moods abruptly, the tears often mingled with the convulsion... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589619 | Butterface's strong point was the flute! No one who had not witnessed it could adequately conceive the poutings of thick red lips and general contortions of black visage that seemed necessary in order to draw the tones out of that simple instrument. The agonies of expression, the hissing of wind, and the turning up of ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589620 | is past belief! The fruitless efforts of the Eskimos to imitate him were as nothing to the great original, and their delight at the sound was only equalled by their amazement at the sight. Alf assisted the Captain scientifically and otherwise. Of course he was compelled, during the long winter, to lay aside his geologi... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589621 | then, had he not the arrangement and naming of his specimens? His chief work, however, was to act the unwonted, and, we may add, unexpected work of a lawgiver. This duty devolved on him thus: When Grabantak recovered health--which he was very long in doing--his spirit was so far subdued that he agreed--somewhat sulkily... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589622 | his prime minister had done while he held the reins of government. Then he was induced to visit Great Isle, where he was introduced to his mortal foe Amalatok, whom he found to be so much a man after his own heart that he no longer sighed for the extraction of his spinal marrow or the excision of his liver, | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589623 | but became a fast friend, and was persuaded by Alf to agree to a perpetual peace. He also took a great fancy to Chingatok, who begged of Alf to read to the chief of Flatland some of the strange and new ideas contained in his little book. Alf willingly complied, and for hours these northern savages sat in rapt attention | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589624 | listening to the Bible story. "My son," said Grabantak one evening to Chingatok, "if we are henceforth to live in peace, why not unite and become one nation?" "Why not?" echoed Chingatok. When Amalatok and Makitok heard the question propounded, they also said, "Why not?" and, as nobody objected, the thing was settled o... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589625 | prime minister of Flatland, starting a difficulty, "who is to be _greatest_ chief?" Amalatok, on whose mind the spirit of Christianity had been gradually making an impression, said promptly, "Let Grabantak be chief. He is wise in council and brave in war." Grabantak had instantly jumped to the conclusion that _he_ ough... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589626 | say so, when Amalatok's humility struck him dumb. Recovering himself he replied-- "But there is to be no mere war! and I have been a warrior. No, let Amalatok be great chief. He is old, and wisdom lies with age." "I am not so sure of _that_!" muttered Captain Vane to himself in English; then to the giant in Eskimo, | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589627 | "What says Chingatok?" "May I speak, my father?" said the giant, dutifully, to Amalatok. "You may speak, my son." "Then," continued Chingatok, "I would advise that there should be three chiefs, who shall be equal--my father, Grabantak, and Makitok. Let these consult about our affairs. Let the people appoint twelve men ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589628 | of them agree to shall be done." After some further talk this compromise was agreed to. "But the laws of Poloeland and those of Flatland are different," said Amalatok, starting another objection. "We must have the same laws." "My brother chief is wise," said Grabantak. "Let us have new laws, and let that wise young Kab... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589629 | my brother chiefs are wise," said Makitok. "Let it be done, and let him take the laws out of the little thing that speaks to him." (Thus they referred to the Bible, having no word in their language by which to name it.) Great was the surprise of Alf at the honour and labour thus thrust upon him, but he | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589630 | did not shrink from it. On the contrary, he set to work at once with notebook and pencil, and set down the two "Great Commandments:" "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind;" and, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," as the first law in the | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589631 | new code. He set down as the second the golden rule, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them." Proceeding from these as a basis, he worked his way gradually down the code till he had embraced nearly all the possibilities of Eskimo life--a work which kept him busy all the winter, and | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589632 | was not quite finished when "time and tide" obliged him and his companions to quit the land. Now, not long after this eventful council, Benjy Vane burst rather irreverently into his father's hut with excited looks, holding what looked like an old n his hand. "What have you got there, lad?" "I've got it at last, father!... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589633 | been trying to wheedle old Makitok into letting me open his mysterious bundle. Well, I prevailed on him to let me do it this afternoon. After unrolling bundle after bundle, I came at last to the centre, and found that it contained nothing whatever but this book, wrapped up in an old cotton pocket-handkerchief. The s _v... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589634 | on the first page. I did not take time to glance at more than that, but brought it straight away to you." "Hand it over, Benjy," said the Captain eagerly. "This accounts for the mysterious `buk' that we've heard so much about." He received the little book with a look of tender curiosity and opened it carefully, while L... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589635 | and his son looked on over his shoulder. ", sure enough," he said, "though not very legible. The characters are queer, too. Try, Alf, what you can make of it." Alf took the book. As he did so old Makitok entered, somewhat anxious as to what they were doing with his treasure. Being quieted by the Captain with a draught | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589636 | of cold tea, and made to sit down, the examination of the book proceeded. "It is much worn, and in places is almost illegible, as might be expected," said Alf. "Let me see. `Coast of Labrador, (something illegible here), . This day the mutineers took possess ... (can't make out what follows), and put Captain Hudson, wi... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589637 | the carpenter, and five sick men into the dinghy, casting us, (blank), with some, (blank), and one cask of water. I begin this diary to-day. It may never be seen by man, but if it does fall into the hands of any one who can read it, he will do a service to ... by conveying ... England.--John Mackintosh, _seaman_.' | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589638 | "Can it be possible?" said Alf, looking up from the relic with an expression of deep solemnity, "that we have found a record of that great Arctic explorer, the unfortunate Henry Hudson?" "It seems like it, Alf; read on," said Leo, eagerly. We will not further trouble the reader with Alf's laboured deciphering of this c... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589639 | was not only stained and worn, but in many places rudely torn, as if its owner had seen much hard service. We will merely run over a few of the chief points which it cleared up. Unfortunately, it threw no additional light on the fate of poor Hudson. Many of the first pages of the book which no doubt treated | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589640 | of that, had been destroyed and the legible portion began in the middle of a record of travelling with a sledge-party of Eskimos to the north of parallel degrees minutes--a higher northern latitude, it will be observed, than had been reached by any subsequent explorer except Captain Vane. No mention being made of Engli... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589641 | had all been killed or had died--at all events that Mackintosh had been separated from them, and was the only survivor of the party travelling with the Eskimos. Further on the journal, which was meagre in detail, and kept in the dry form of a log-book, spoke of having reached a far northern settlement. Reference was al... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589642 | wife and family, leading to the conclusion that the seaman had permanently cast in his lot with the savages, and given up all hope of returning to his native land. One sentence near the end caused a considerable sensation, and opened their eyes to a fact which they might have guessed if they had not been too much taken... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589643 | with the spelling out of the faded pencilling to think of it at first. Alf read it with difficulty. It ran thus:-- "Another boy born to-day. His name is Igluk. It is only the eldest boy of a family, in this tribe, who bears his father's surname. My eldest alone goes by the name of Mackintosh. His eldest will bear | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589644 | the same name, and so on. But these Eskimos make a sad mess of it. I doubt if my Scotch kinsmen would recognise us under the name of Makitok which is the nearest--" "Makitok!" shouted Benjy, gazing open-eyed at the white-bearded wizard, who returned the gaze with some astonishment. "Why, old boy," cried the boy, jumpin... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589645 | wizard's hand, "you're a Scotsman!" "So he is," said the Captain with a look of profound interest. "And I say," continued Benjy, in a tone so solemn that the eyes of all the party were turned on him, "we _did_ find him _sitting on the North Pole_!" "And what of that, you excitable goose?" said the Captain. "Goose, fath... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589646 | I a goose for recognising the fulfilment of an ancient prophecy? Has it not been a familiar saying, ever since I was born, that when the North Pole was discovered, a Scotsman would be found sitting on the top of it?" "Unfortunately, Ben," returned Alf with a laugh, "the same prophecy exists in other lands. Among the Ge... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589647 | it is held that a Bohemian and a Jew will be found on the top of it." "That only confirms the correctness of prophecy in general," retorted Benjy, "for this man unites all these in his own person. Does not this notebook prove him to be a Scot? Have we not just _found_ him? which proves him to be one | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589648 | of a `lost tribe'--in other words, a Jew; and, surely, you'll admit that, in appearance at least, he is Bohemian enough for the settlement of any disputed question. Yes, he's a Scotch Bohemian Jew, or I'm a Dutchman." This discovery seemed almost too much for Benjy. He could not think or talk of anything else the remai... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589649 | Among other things he undertook to explain to Makitok something of his origin and antecedents. "Ancient one," he said earnestly, through the medium of Anders, when he had led the old man aside privately, "you come of a grand nation. They are called Scots, and are said to be remarkably long-headed and wonderfully cautio... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589650 | arts of peace. And the fellow you call your _first father_ was a Mackintosh, (probably chief of all the Mackintoshes), who sailed nearly years ago to search for this very `North Pole' that _we_ have got hold of at last. But your first father was not the leader, old boy. He was only a seaman. The leader was Henry Hudson... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589651 | man who ranks among the foremost of Arctic explorers. He won't be able to understand what that means, Anders, but no matter--translate it the best way you can. This Henry Hudson was one of the most thorough and extensive searchers of these regions that ever sailed the northern seas. He made many important discoveries, ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589652 | voyage intending to sail right over the North Pole to China, which I daresay he would have done, had not his rascally crew mutinied and cast him and his little son, with seven other men, adrift in a little boat--all of whom perished, no doubt, except your first father, Makitok, my ancient tulip!" He wound up this summa... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589653 | and shaking the wizard's hand, and then flung off, to expend his feelings on other members of the community. CHAPTER TWENTY NINE. A RUNAWAY JOURNEY AND A TREMENDOUS EXPERIMENT. As winter advanced, Captain Vane continued to keep up the interest of the Eskimos, and to increase their respect for the Kablunets, by graduall... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589654 | were at his command. He did this judiciously, just giving them a taste of the marvellous now and then to whet their appetites. He was particularly careful, however not to practise on their credulity or to pass himself off as a conjuror. He distinctly stated that all his powers were derived from God,--_their_ father and... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589655 | them in some matters because of having had better opportunities of acquiring knowledge. Among other things, he effected an adaptation of his kites which produced results so surprising that we feel bound to describe them particularly. During the winter he found, as he had expected, that the average temperature at the Po... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589656 | in lower latitudes. As far as mere feeling went, indeed, the cold seemed severe enough; nevertheless it was not sufficiently intense to freeze the great ocean, which remained an "open basin" all the year round,--a result which was doubtless owing to the upflow of the warm under-currents from the equator, referred to in... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589657 | apply to the waters lying directly around the Poloe and Flatland groups. In these archipelagos the waters being shallow, the frost was quite intense enough to cool them to the bottom. Hence the sea immediately round the islands was covered with a thick coat of solid ice, which resembled in all respects the ordinary Arc... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589658 | places, comparatively smooth in others, with a strong iceberg here and there caught and imprisoned amongst it. As this ice surrounded all the Polar land, and stretched out to sea far beyond the reach of vision, it followed that there was little or no difference between the winter experience of our discoverers and that ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589659 | realm of what we may style island-ice stretched away, all round, in the direction of the Arctic circle, getting thinner and thinner towards its outer margin, until at last it became sludgy, and, finally, melted away into the open sea. This open sea, in its turn, stretched southward, all round, to the known Arctic regio... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589660 | found to be a zone of open water, surrounded by ice on the south, and with a patch of ice and land in its centre. Now, it was a strong desire on the part of Captain Vane to visit the southern edge of this central ice-patch on which he dwelt, that induced him to try the kite adaptation before referred | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589661 | to. "Benjy, my boy," said he, one fine winter day, when the galaxy of stars, the full moon, and an unusually brilliant aurora, diffused a strong light over the undulations of Cup Valley, "I have a notion of taking a trip to the s'uth'ard soon." "Which s'uth'ard d'you think of going to, father?" asked the boy. In case a... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589662 | should hastily exclaim, "What a ridiculous question; there can be only _one_ southward!" we beg leave to point out that at the North Pole _every_ direction lies to the southward, and that, as there is necessarily no east or west at all, there is therefore no possibility of stating by compass to what part of the south o... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589663 | go. Of course it was open to the Captain to have said he intended to descend south on one of the degrees of longitude, or between any two of them, and then, immediately on quitting the Pole the old familiar east and west would, as it were, return to him. But he found it more convenient, on the whole, having | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589664 | got beyond all latitude, to indicate his intended route by well-known objects of the land. "I'm going to steer for the starboard side of Poloeland," he said, "pay a short visit to Grabantak and Amalatok in passing, and then carry on south to the open water." "It'll be a longish trip, father." "Not so long as you expect... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589665 | for I mean to go by express." Benjy's eyes twinkled, for he knew that some new device was working in his father's brain, which brain never failed to bring its plans to maturity. "What is it to be, father?" "You go and fetch two of the kites, Benjy, and you'll soon find out. Overhaul them well and see that everything | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589666 | is taut and shipshape. Let Butterface help you, and send Alf and Chingatok to me. I suppose Leo is off after musk-oxen, as usual." "Yes; he pretends that the camp wants a supply of fresh meat. He'd pretend that as an excuse for hunting even if we were all dying of surfeit." Soon afterwards the Captain was seen, followe... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589667 | his usual companions and a company of Eskimos, dragging two sledges to the upper ridge of Cup Valley. One sledge was lightly, the other heavily, laden. "You've brought plenty of supplies, I hope, Alf?" asked the leader. "Yes, enough for three weeks. Will that do?" "Quite enough, lad; but it may not be wanted, as I'm go... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589668 | direction we've not yet tried, where I expect to find the open water close to us. It's well, however, to have enough of meat at all times." "No fear of its being too much, father," said Benjy. "When Butterface goes with us, a three weeks' allowance usually disappears in a fortnight." "Nebber mind, Massa," said the negr... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589669 | for tree weeks dis time, 'cause I's off my feed. Got Polar dimspepsy, or suffin' o' dat sort, I tink." "You've brought the electrical machine, of course, and the dynamite, Alf?" asked the Captain. "Of course. I never prepare for a trip without these. There's no saying, you see, when we may require them--either to blow ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589670 | the natives." "The natives are past astonishing now," remarked Benjy; "nothing short of a ten thousand jar battery would astonish Chingatok, and I'm quite sure that you couldn't rouse a sentiment of surprise in Oolichuk, unless you made him swallow a dynamite cartridge, and blew him inside out. But, I say, daddy, how l... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589671 | in the dark about your plans? Don't you see that we are in agonies of suspense?" "Only till we gain the ridge, Benjy. It will be down-hill after that, and the snow-crust comparatively smooth as well as hard." Arrived at the ridge, one of the kites was unfolded and sent up. The breeze was steady, and sufficiently strong... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589672 | twenty Eskimos to hold it when allowed full play, and even these it jerked about in a manner that highly diverted them. These Eskimos were very fond of kite-flying, for its own sake, without reference to utility! "I knew you were going to try it on the sledge," exclaimed Benjy, with sparkling eyes. "Why did you ask me ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589673 | then?" returned the Captain. "Do let _me_ make the first trial, father!" Captain Vane was fastening the drag-line to the fore part of the light sledge, and refused, at first, to listen to the boy's entreaties, fearing that some accident might befall him. "You know how accustomed I am to manage the kites, father. There'... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589674 | I'll be superhumanly cautious." There was no resisting Benjy's tone and eyes. He was allowed to take his place on the sledge as manager. Butterface sat behind to steer. Steering was to be managed by means of a stout pole, pressed varyingly on the snow on either side. "Don't go more than a mile or so, my boy," said the | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589675 | Captain, in a serious tone. "It's only a trial, you know. If it succeeds, we'll divide the loading of the sledges, and make a fair start in company." Benjy promised to manipulate the check-string with care. The struggling natives were ordered to let the kite straighten the slack of the line gradually. "Are you ready, B... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589676 | your hand on the check-string? Mind, it will pull hard. Now--let go!" The natives obeyed. Benjy at the same instant hauled sharply on the check-string, intending to tilt the kite well forward, and start in a slow, stately manner, but there was a hitch of some sort somewhere, for the string would not act. The kite acted... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589677 | full force. Up went the fore part of the sledge as it flew off like an arrow from a bow, causing Butterface to throw a back somersault, and leaving him behind. Benjy held on to the head of the sledge, and made violent efforts to free the check-string. Fortunately, the surface of the snow was smooth. "After him, lads," ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589678 | the Captain, setting a brave example, and for some time heading the natives in the chase; but a few moments sufficed to prove the hopelessness of the race. Tug as Benjy would at the regulator, it refused to act. Fortunately, being made of silk, it did not break. By this time the kite had attained its maximum speed, equ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589679 | the Captain said, to a twenty-knot breeze. At first the surface of the snow was so smooth and hard, that Benjy, being busy with the obdurate regulator, did not appreciate the speed. When he gave up his attempts with a sigh of despair, he had leisure to look around him. The sledge was gliding on with railway speed. One ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589680 | two solitary hummocks that looked like white sentinels on the level plain, went past him with an awful rush, and several undulations caused by snow-drift were crossed in a light leap which he barely felt. Benjy was fully aware of his danger. To meet with a hummock no bigger than a wheelbarrow, would, in the circumstanc... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589681 | therefore seized a pole which formed part of the sledge-gear, and tried steering. It could be done, but with great difficulty, as he had to sit in the front of the sledge to keep it down. Recklessly jovial though he was, the boy could not contemplate his probable fate without misgiving. Nothing was visible in all the w... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589682 | save a hummock here and there, with a distant berg on the horizon. He could not expect the level character of the ice to extend far. Whither was he going? South he knew; but in that direction, his father had often told him, lay the open sea. The moon seemed to smile on him; the aurora appeared to dance with | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589683 | unwonted vigour, as if in glee; the very stars winked at him! "What if a chasm or a big hummock should turn up?" thought Benjy. The thought seemed to produce the dreaded object, for next moment a large hummock appeared right ahead. Far away though it was, the awful pace brought it quickly near. The poor boy struggled--... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589684 | the pole. His efforts were successful. The hummock went past like a meteor, but it was a horribly close shave, and Benjy felt his very marrow shrink, while he drew himself up into the smallest possible compass to let it go by. A bump soon after told that the ice was getting more rugged. Then he saw a ridge before | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589685 | him. Was it large or small? Distance, the uncertain light, and imagination, magnified it to a high wall; high as the wall of China. In wild alarm our hero tugged at the regulator, but tugged in vain. The wall of China was upon him--under him. There was a crash. The sledge was in the air. Moments appeared minutes! Had t... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589686 | vehicle been suddenly furnished with wings? No! Another crash, which nearly shut up his spine like a telescope, told him that there were no wings. His teeth came together with a snap. Happily his tongue was not between them! Happily, too, the sledge did not overturn, but continued its furious flight. "Oh, you villain!"... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589687 | the airy monster which was thus dragging him to destruction. If Benjy had been asked to state the truth just then, he would have found it hard to say whether consternation or delight were uppermost. It _was_ such a glorious rush! But then, how was it to end? Well, he did not dare to think of that. Indeed he had | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589688 | not time to think, for troubles came crowding on him. A violent "swish!" and a sudden deluge told him that what he had taken for glassy ice was open water. It was only a shallow pool, however. Next moment he was across it, and bumping violently over a surface of broken ice. The water suggested the fear that he must | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589689 | be nearing the open sea, and he became supernaturally grave. Fortunately, the last crash had been passed without dislocating the parts of either sledge or rider. A long stretch of smooth ice followed, over which he glided with ever-increasing speed. Thus he continued to rush over the frozen sea during a considerable pa... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589690 | half-mad with excitement at last. The exaltation of his little spirit at the risky neck-or-nothing dash, coupled with horror at the certainty of a terrible climax, was almost too much for him. He gave vent to his feelings in a wild cheer or yell, and, just then, beheld an iceberg of unusual size, looming up on the hori... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589691 | Knowing by experience that he would soon be up to it, he used his pole with all his might, hoping to steer clear of it. As he drew nearer, he saw a dark line on either side of the berg. A feeling of deadly alarm filled him. It was the open sea! and he had to choose between being plunged | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589692 | into it or dashed against the berg. It occurred to him then, for the first time, that a third resource was open--he might cut the rope, and let the kite go free! Amazed at his stupidity in not thinking of this before, he took out his clasp-knife, but before applying it, made a last effort to move the regulator. Strange | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589693 | to say, the silken cord yielded to the first pull, as if nothing had been wrong with it at all! The head of the runaway kite was thrown forward, and it came wavering down in eccentric gyrations, while the sledge gradually lost way, and came to a standstill not fifty yards from the berg. Up to this point what may | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589694 | be termed the northern island-ice continued unbroken, but beyond the berg it was broken up into floes, and, not six hundred yards out, it tailed away to the southward in what whalers term stream-ice. The berg itself was obviously aground. The first object that met Benjy's eyes, after coming to a halt, was an enormous p... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589695 | strange sight to the boy by that time, but it was awkward in the circumstances, for he had neither gun nor spear. Even if he had possessed the latter he was too young and light to cope successfully with the shaggy white king of Arctic beasts. From the attitude of the animal it appeared to be watching something. In trut... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589696 | it was so intently engaged with a sleeping seal that it had not observed the approach of the sledge. Profiting by this, Benjy quietly moved away round a colossal buttress of the berg, and took refuge in an ice-cave. But such refuge, he knew, could avail him nothing if the bear should scent him out and search for him. L... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589697 | hastily round and up into the dark blue cavern, he espied a projecting ledge of ice about thirteen feet above the level of the floor. On this he resolved to perch himself. His first care was to examine the contents of the sledge. We have said it had been lightly laden at starting, which was the reason of the tremendous | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589698 | pace at which it travelled. Although there was neither spear nor gun, the anxious boy was somewhat comforted to find an axe strapped in its accustomed place; also a blanket, sleeping-bag, and musk-ox skin, besides a mass of frozen blubber, but there was nothing else of an eatable nature. There was, however, a box conta... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012589699 | machine, and a packet of dynamite cartridges. Regarding these latter objects with a sigh of disappointment, Benjy seized the axe and hastened towards the ledge of ice, muttering to himself in a confidential tone-- "You see, old boy, if that bear takes a fancy to call on you, it will be as well to be able to say, `Not a... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
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