Chapter 33 Chapter 1 Doctor's Inventory

Captain Hatteras had a daring plan to go north, and leave to England, his native country, the honor of discovering the North Pole of the earth.This brave sailor has just done all that is within the reach of human power.During these nine months, he fought against the tide, fought against the storm, smashed the iceberg, broke through the ice pack, fought against the unprecedented severe winter in the extreme north, and inherited the achievements of his predecessors' expeditions. Wrote and even rewritten the history of the discoveries of the Polar Regions, took the Forward to the outer reaches of the proverbial oceans, and ended up halfway through his mission, only to see his great plans come to naught!The treachery or rather frustration of his ill-tested crew, and the criminal madness of several instigators put him in a dire situation: Eighteen were on board, and four remained , left behind, without resources, without ships, 2500 nautical miles from their country!

The Forward had just exploded right in front of them, taking their last chance for survival. But Hatteras did not lose his nerve in the face of this dreadful calamity.And he has companions, and these are the best crew, heroic men.What he needed to accomplish his career was the perseverance and knowledge of Dr. Crawford, the loyalty of Johnson and Bell, and his own conviction that he dared to speak of liberty in this desperate situation; his brave companions listened to him , these men's steadfast past foretells their future courage. After listening to the captain's firm and forceful words, the doctor wanted to have a clear understanding of the situation. He left his companion who was standing 500 steps away from the ship and walked towards the scene of the accident.

Nothing remained of the Forward, a ship so costly to build, so precious; The cables were burning like the ignition rod of a cannon. In the distance, swirling smoke spread everywhere on the ice field, showing how powerful the explosion was.The cannon on the front forecastle was thrown a few meters away and rested on an iceberg that looked like a cannon mount.The ground was covered with all kinds of remnants, some 200 meters long; the keel of the ship lingered on a heap of ice; part of the iceberg had been melted by the action of the fire, and became as hard as granite again. The doctor thought of his ruined cabin, of his lost collection, of the precious broken instruments, of the books that were torn to pieces and turned to ashes, and how much wealth was lost!He gazed at this huge catastrophe with wet eyes, thinking not of the future, but of the irreparable pain that hit him directly.

Johnson soon followed; the old sailor's face bore the marks of recent suffering; he had no doubt fought his rebellious companions.To protect the ships entrusted to his care. The doctor held out his hand to him, and the bosun took it sadly. "What will happen to us, my friend?" said the Doctor. "Who knows?" Johnson said. "In short," the doctor continued, "we must not despair, we must look like men!" "Yes, Mr. Crawford," continued the old sailor, "you are right; great decisions are made only in times of catastrophe; we are in a difficult position; we must get out of it."

"Poor ship!" sighed the Doctor; "I am bound to it; I love it as I love my home, the home in which I have spent my life, and yet not a single recognizable fragment remains!" "Who would believe, Mr. Croubney, that this pile of beams and planks is so much on our minds!" "And the boat?" said the doctor again, looking round. "Did it not escape the fate of destruction?" "No, Mr. Crawburn. Sandon and his men, leave us behind and take the boat!" "What about the canoe?" "Smashed to pieces! Look, these pieces of tinplate are still warm, and that's what's left."

"Do we only have inflatable boats?" "Yes, thanks to the thought of taking it away during your expedition." "It's minimal," the doctor said. "Those vile traitors have fled!" Johnson shouted. "I hope God punishes them, they really deserve it!" "Johnson," replied the doctor mildly, "don't forget that they suffered a lot! Only the strongest know how to be virtuous in affliction, while the weak are broken! Pity for our fellows They are unlucky, don't curse them!" After saying this.The doctor was silent for a while, watching the place with anxious eyes.

"What has become of the sled?" Johnson asked. "It's a nautical mile away." "Simpson watching?" "No! My friend. Simpson, poor Simpson is exhausted." "Dead!" cried the bosun. "Dead!" replied the doctor. "Unfortunate man!" said Johnson. "Who knows, should we envy his fortune?" "But we leave a dead man behind," went on the doctor, "and bring back a dying man." "A dying man?" "Yes, Captain Altamon." In a few words the doctor related to the boatswain how they had met.

"An American!" Johnson said, thinking for a moment. "Yes, everything leads us to believe that this man is a citizen of the United States. But apparently something has happened to the Perboise. What is she doing in these parts?" "It came to die," said Johnson; "it sent the crew to die, as all daring men do in like circumstances! But at least, Mr. Was the goal achieved?" "Coal mine!" replied the doctor. "Yes," Johnson said. The doctor shook his head sadly. "Nothing?" said the old sailor. "Nothing! We're short of supplies, and we're dying on the road! We haven't even reached the shore that Edward Bilcher appointed!"

"So," continued the old sailor, "there's no fuel?" "No!" "No daily necessities?" "No!" "No ships back to England!" The doctor and Johnson fell silent.What courage it takes to face such a dire situation. "In short," said the bosun, "at least our situation is clear, and we know what to do! Let's do the most urgent work; the temperature is freezing; we should build an igloo." "Yes," answered the doctor, "with Bell's help, it's easy; then we'll go find the sledge, we'll bring the American back, and we'll consult with Hatteras."

"Poor Captain!" said Johnson, "he's quite absorbed in it; how miserable he must be!" The doctor and the bosun approached their companions. Hatteras stood there, motionless, with his arms folded as usual, without saying a word, watching the future in the sky.His face regained its former determination.What is this strange man thinking?Is he thinking of a desperate situation or a plan of death?In the end, what he thought was whether to retreat, because of people and various factors, all of which were against his efforts! No one can know his thoughts.It doesn't show.His faithful Duck stayed by his side, braving the freezing temperatures that dropped to -36°C.

Bell is lying on the ice, motionless; he looks lifeless; his indifference will kill him; he is in danger of being frozen into a block of ice. Johnson shook him vigorously, rubbed him with snow, and with great effort woke him from his torpor. "Come now, Belle, take courage!" he said to him; "don't lie down; get up; let's discuss the situation together, we need a shelter! Have you forgotten how to make an igloo? Come on Help me, Bell! There's an iceberg here, and it's time to chip away! Work! Then we'll have everything here, and courage, and faith!" Bell, moved by these words, did as the old sailor said. "In the meantime," said the latter, "Mr. Crawford, please go to the sledge, and bring back the sledge and the dogs." "I am going," replied the doctor; "I will be back in an hour." "Will you go with him, Captain?" said Johnson, coming up to Hatteras. The latter, though lost in thought, still heard the bosun's proposal, for he replied in a gentle voice: "No, my friend, if the doctor is willing to take the trouble... a decision should be made before today, and I'll be left alone to think about it. Go and do what you think you should do now. I'll think about the future thing." Johnson turned to the doctor. "This is incredible," he said to the doctor. "It seems the captain has forgotten all anger, and I have never found his voice so friendly." "Good!" replied the doctor. "He has regained his sanity. Believe me, Johnson, this man can save us!" After saying these words, the doctor put on the hood as best he could, and with the iron rod in his hand, he went back to the sleigh through the mist shining brightly in the moonlight. Johnson and Bell set to work at once; the old sailor spoke encouragingly to the silent carpenter; there was nothing to build but a large iceberg; the ice was so hard that the knife was hard to use; Firm; and soon Johnson and Bell were at work in the hole, throwing out what they had cut from the ice. Hatteras, pacing up and down now and then, stopped suddenly; evidently he did not want to go where the unfortunate ship had wrecked. He returned at once, as the doctor had promised; he brought back Altamon lying on the sled, wrapped in a tent; the Greenlanders, emaciated, tired, and hungry, could hardly pull the sled, and gnawed at their leashes ; the whole procession, beast and man, had come to feed and rest. As the igloo was dug deeper and deeper, the doctor rummaged around, and fortunately found a small furnace almost intact from the explosion, whose deformed ducts could be easily straightened; The triumphant look took it back.In three hours the igloo was ready for occupancy; they put the stove in; they stuffed wood chips into the stove; The American was carried into the house, and fell asleep under the covers; the four Englishmen took positions by the fire.The last supplies on the sled, some biscuits and hot tea, cheered them up somewhat.Hatteras did not speak, and everyone respected his silence. After eating, the doctor gestured to Johnson to follow outside. "Now," he said to the boatswain, "we shall take stock of what we have left. We should have a definite idea of ​​the state of our property; they are everywhere; they must be brought together; at any moment With snow, we'll probably never find a single piece of the boat again." "Don't waste our time," answered Johnson; "food and wood, that's what we need right now." "Well, we'll split up," said the doctor, "so that we can go over the whole blast site; we'll start in the middle; then we'll go around." The two companions hurried to the ice rink that the Forward had once occupied; each carefully examined the wreck of the ship in the dim moonlight.This is a real hunt.Infused with great zeal, the Doctor, with more than a hunter's joy, made his heart beat fast when he found a few chests almost intact; but most of them were empty, and their remnants The ice rink is full. The force of the explosion was so great that many things turned to dust.Large parts of the machine were here and there, twisted or shattered; propeller blades were thrown 40 meters from the ship; The broken rigging hangs from the top of the cracks, half broken under the weight of the huge iceberg; nails, hooks, shackles, horseshoes of the rudder, iron sheets of the metal shell, all the metal of the ship is piled in the distance. , like broken iron used as cannonballs. But the iron, though a sign of wealth among the Eskimo tribes, is of no use in the present case; the first things to be found are household items, and the doctor has little to gain in this respect. "It's not going well," he thought. "Apparently the pantry next to the powder bay was blown up to nothing. What wasn't burnt was probably in pieces. That would be a bad thing, if it happened to Johnson If it is not better than me, I dare not say what will happen to us." But he extended his search and found what was left of the dried meatloaf, some fifteen pounds, and four stoneware jars, escaped destruction far away on the still soft snow, with And five or six pints of alcohol. Farther on, he found two packets of seeds; this just made up for the loss of lemon juice, which was just right for scurvy. Two hours later, the doctor and Johnson met.They informed each other of their discoveries; unfortunately very little in terms of household supplies; only a few cuts of meat, over 50 pounds of dry meatloaf, 3 cases of biscuits, a small amount of chocolate and alcohol, and about two pounds or so of coffee, which is Picked up one by one on the ice. There were no quilts, no hammocks, no clothes; apparently the fire had destroyed them all. In short, the doctor's and bosun's supplies were, in the most economical case, only enough for three weeks; and very little to satisfy the needs of those who were exhausted.It would appear that, in such harsh conditions, Hatteras saw that food was also on the verge of scarcity, in addition to lack of coal. At least what was left of the ship as fuel, the masts and fragments of the submerged part of the ship, would last about three weeks; but the doctor wanted to know if Johnson could use these fragments before using them for the igloo. build a boat, or even a boat. "No, Mr. Crawburn," answered the bosun, "don't even think about it, there isn't a whole log to use; these will only keep us warm for a few days, and then--" "Then?" said the doctor. "It depends on the arrangement of heaven!" said the honest sailor. When the counting was done, the Doctor and Johnson came back to look for the sledges; and they pulled them, whether the poor weary dogs liked it or not, back to the scene of the explosion, and took what was left of their cargo, so rare and so precious, to the next to the igloo; and then, dragging their frozen bodies, they lay beside their unfortunate companions.