An Antarctic Mystery (24 page)

Here we were, then, after three months of this terrible voyage! Was
there now any question of trying to save William Guy, his comrades
on the lane, and Arthur Pym? Was it not for our own safety that any
means at our disposal should be employed? And could it be wondered
at were the sailors of the
Halbrane
to rebel, were they to listen to
Hearne's suggestions, and make their officers, or myself
especially, responsible for the disasters of this expedition?

Moreover, what was likely to take place, since, notwithstanding
their losses, the followers of the sealing-master were still a
majority of the ship's company?

This question I could clearly see was occupying the thoughts of
Captain Len Guy and West.

Again, although the recruits from the Falklands formed only a total
of fourteen men, as against the twelve of the old crew, was it not
to be feared that some of the latter would take Hearne's side?
What if Hearne's people, urged by despair, were already thinking
of seizing the only boat we now possessed, setting off towards the
north, and leaving us on this iceberg? It was, then, of great
importance that our boat should be put in safety and closely watched.

A marked change had taken place in Captain Len Guy since the recent
occurrences. He seemed to be transformed upon finding himself face
to face with the dangers which menaced us. Up to that time he had
been solely occupied in searching for his fellow-countrymen; he had
handed over the command of the schooner to West, and he could not
have given it to anyone more zealous and more capable. But from this
date he resumed his position as master of the ship, and used it with
the energy required by the circumstances; in a word, he again became
sole master on board, after God.

At his command the crew were drawn up around him on a flat spot a
little to the left of the
Halbrane
. In that place the following were
assembled:—on the seniors' side: Martin Holt and Hardy, Rogers,
Francis, Gratian, Bury, Stern, the cook (Endicott), and I may add
Dirk Peters; on the side of the new-comers, Hearne and the thirteen
other Falkland sailors. The latter composed a distinct group; the
sealing-master was their spokesman and exercised a baneful influence
over them.

Captain Len Guy cast a stern glance upon the men and said in a sharp
tone:

"Sailors of the
Halbrane
, I must first speak to you of our lost
companions. Five of us have just perished in this catastrophe."

"We are waiting to perish in our turn, in these seas, where we
have been dragged in spite of—"

"Be silent, Hearne," cried West, pale with anger, "or if
not—"

"Hearne has said what he had to say," Captain Len Guy continued,
coldly. "Now it is said, and I advise him not to interrupt me a
second time!"

The sealing-master might possibly have ventured on an answer, for he
felt that he was backed by the majority of the crew; but Martin Holt
held him back, and he was silent.

Captain Len Guy then took off his hat and pronounced the following
words with an emotion that affected us to the bottom of our hearts:—

"We must pray for those who have died in this dangerous voyage,
which was undertaken in the name of humanity. May God be pleased to
take into consideration the fact that they devoted their lives to
their fellow-creatures, and may He not be insensible to our prayers!
Kneel down, sailors of the
Halbrane
!"

They all knelt down on the icy surface, and the murmurs of prayer
ascended towards heaven.

We waited for Captain Len Guy to rise before we did so.

"Now," he resumed, "after those who are dead come those who
have survived. To them I say that they must obey me, whatever my
orders may be, and even in our present situation I shall not
tolerate any hesitation or opposition. The responsibility for the
general safety is mine, and I will not yield any of it to anyone. I
am master here, as on board—"

"On board—when there is no longer a ship," muttered the
sealing-master.

"You are mistaken, Hearne, the vessel is there, and we will put it
back into the sea. Besides, if we had only a boat, I am the captain
of it. Let him beware who forgets this!"

That day, Captain Len Guy, having taken the height of the sun by the
sextant and fixed the hour by the chronometer (both of these
instruments had escaped destruction in the collision), obtained the
following position of his ship:—

South latitude: 88° 55'.
West longitude: 39° 12'.

The
Halbrane
was only at 1° 5'—about 65 miles—from the south
pole.

"All hands to work," was the captain's order that afternoon,
and every one obeyed it with a will. There was not a moment to lose,
as the question of time was more important than any other. So far
as provisions were concerned, there was enough in the schooner for
eighteen months on full rations, so we were not threatened with
hunger, nor with thirst either, notwithstanding that owing to the
water-casks having been burst in the collision, their contents had
escaped through their staves. Luckily, the barrels of gin, whisky,
beer, and wine, being placed in the least exposed part of the hold,
were nearly all intact. Under this head we had experienced no loss,
and the iceberg would supply us with good drinking-water. It is a
well-known fact that ice, whether formed from fresh or salt water,
contains no salt, owing to the chloride of sodium being eliminated
in the change from the liquid to the solid state. The origin of the
ice, therefore, is a matter of no importance. However, those blocks
which are easily distinguished by their greenish colour and their
perfect transparency are preferable. They are solidified rain, and
therefore much more suitable for drinklng-water.

Without doubt, our captain would have recognized any blocks of this
description, but none were to be found on the glacier, owing to its
being that part of the berg which was originally submerged, and came
to the top after the fall.

The captain and West decided first to lighten the vessel, by
conveying everything on board to land. The masts were to be cleared
of rigging, taken out, and placed on the plateau. It was necessary
to lighten the vessel as much as possible, even to clear out the
ballast, owing to the difficult and dangerous operation of
launching. It would be better to put off our departure for some days
if this operation could be performed under more favourable
circumstances. The loading might be afterwards accomplished without
much difficulty.

Besides this, another reason by no means less serious presented
itself to us. It would have been an act of unpardonable rashness to
leave the provisions in the storeroom of the
Halbrane
, her situation
on the side of the iceberg being very precarious. One shake would
suffice to detach the ship, and with her would have disappeared the
supplies on which our lives depended.

On this account, we passed the day in removing casks of half-salted
meat, dried vegetables, flour, biscuits, tea, coffee, barrels of
gin, whisky, wine and beer from the hold and store-room and placing
them in safety in the hammocks near the
Halbrane
.

We also had to insure our landing against any possible accident,
and, I must add, against any plot on the part of Hearne and others
to seize the boat in order to return to the ice-barrier.

We placed the long boat in a cavity which would be easy to watch,
about thirty feet to the left of the schooner, along with its oars,
rudder, compass, anchor, masts and sail.

By day there was nothing to fear, and at night, or rather during the
hours of sleep, the boatswain and one of the superiors would keep
guard near the cavity, and we might rest assured that no evil could
befall.

The 19th, 20th, and 21st of January were passed in working extra
hard in the unshipping of the cargo and the dismantling of the
Halbrane
. We slung the lower masts by means of yards forming props.
Later on, West would see to replacing the main and mizzen masts; in
any case, we could do without them until we had reached the
Falklands or some other winter port.

Needless to say, we had set up a camp on the plateau of which I have
spoken, not far from the
Halbrane
. Sufficient shelter against the
inclemency of the weather, not unfrequent at this time of the year,
was to be found under tents, constructed of sails placed on spars
and fastened down by pegs. The glass remained set fair; the wind was
nor'-east, the temperature having risen to 46 degrees (2° 78'
C.).

Endicott's kitchen was fitted up at the end of the plain, near a
steep projection by which we could climb to the very top of the berg.

It is only fair to state that during these three days of hard work
no fault was to be found with Hearne. The sealing-master knew he was
being closely watched, and he was well aware that Captain Len Guy
would not spare him if he tried to get up insubordination amongst
his comrades. It was a pity that his bad instincts had induced him
to play such a part, for his strength, skill, and cleverness made
him a very valuable man, and he had never proved more useful than
under these circumstances.

Was he changed for the better? Did he understand that general good
feeling was necessary for the safety of all? I know not, but I had
no confidence in him, neither had Hurliguerly!

I need not dwell on the ardour with which the half-breed did the
rough work, always first to begin and the last to leave off, doing
as much as four men, and scarcely sleeping, only resting during
meals, which he took apart from the others. He had hardly spoken to
me at all since the schooner had met with this terrible accident.

What indeed could he say to me? Did I not know as well as he that it
would be necessary to renounce every hope of pursuing our intended
voyage?

Now and again I noticed Martin Holt and the halfbreed near each
other while some difficult piece of work wasin progress. Our
sailing-masterdid not miss a chance of getting near Dirk Peters, who
always tried his best to escape from him, for reasons well known to
me. And whenever I thought of the secret of the fate of the
so-called Parker, Martin Holt's brother, which had been entrusted
to me, that dreadful scene of the
Grampus
filled me with horror. I
was certain that if this secret were made known the half-breed would
become an object of terror. He would no longer be looked upon as the
rescuerof the sailingmaster; and the latter, learning that his
brother—Luckily, Dirk Peters and myself were the only two
acquainted with the fact.

While the
Halbrane
was being unloaded, Captain Len Guy and the mate
were considering how the vessel might be launched. They had to allow
for a drop of one hundred feet between the cavity in which the ship
lay and the sea; this to be effected by means of an inclined bed
hollowed in an oblique line along the west side of the iceberg, and
to measure two or three hundred perches in length. So, while the
first lot of men, commanded by the boatswain, was unloading the
schooner, a second batch under West's orders began to cut the
trench between the blocks which covered the side of the floating
mountain.

Floating? I know not why I use this expression, for the iceberg no
longer floated, but remained as motionless as an island. There was
nothing to indicate that it would ever move again. Other icebergs
drifted along and passed us, going south-east, whilst ours, to use
Dirk Peters' expression, was "lying to." Would its base be
sufficiently undermined to allow it to detach itself? Perhaps some
heavy mass of ice might strike it and set it free by the shock. No
one could predict such an event, and we had only the
Halbrane
to
rely upon for getting us out of these regions.

We were engaged in these various tasks until the 24th of January.
The atmosphere was clear, the temperature was even, and the
thermometer had indeed gone up to two or three degrees above
freezing-point. The number of icebergs coming from the nor'-west
was therefore increasing; there were now a hundred of them, and a
collision with any of these might have a most disastrous result.
Hardy, the caulker, hastened first of all to mend the hull; pegs had
to be changed, bits of planking to be replaced, seams to be caulked.
We had everything that was necessary for this work, and we might
rest assured that it would be performed in the best possible manner.
In the midst of the silence of these solitudes, the noise of the
hammers striking nails into the side, and the sound of the mallet
stuffing tow into the seams, had a startling effect. Sea-gulls, wild
duck, albatross, and petrels flew in a circle round the top of the
berg with a shrill screaming, and made a terrible uproar.

When I found myself with West and the captain, our conversation
naturally turned on our situation and how to get out of it, and upon
our chances of pulling through. The mate had good hopes that if no
accident occurred the launching would be successfullyaccomplished.
The captain was more reserved on the subject, but at the thought
that he would have to renounce all hope of finding the survivors of
the fane, his heart was ready to break. When the
Halbrane
should
again be ready for the sea, and when West should inquire what course
he was to steer, would Captain Len Guy dare to reply, "To the
south"? No! for he would not be followed either by the new hands,
or by the greater portion of the older members of the crew. To
continue our search in this direction, to go beyond the pole,
without being certain of reaching the Indian Ocean instead of the
Atlantic, would have been rashness of which no navigator would be
guilty. If a continent bound the sea on this side, the schooner
would run the danger of being crushed by the mass of ice before it
could escape the southern winter.