Chapter 35 Chapter 3 Walking for 17 days

This new event, Altamon's first utterances, completely changed the situation of these wrecks; formerly, feeling no possibility of salvation, no hope of returning to Baffin Sea, dragging their weary bodies on the long road, Lack of food, and now, less than 400 nautical miles from their igloo, there is a ship that can provide them with abundant supplies, and may also have a way to realize their audacious plan to march to the North Pole.Hatteras, Doc, Johnson, Bell hope after near despair; it's a gratifying thing, almost ecstatic! But Altamon's news was not complete, and after a few minutes' rest the doctor resumed his valuable conversation; the questions he asked him needed only to be answered by a gesture of the head or the movement of the eyes.

He soon learned that the "Palboise" was a three-masted ship from New York, USA, in distress in the ice floes, with plenty of food and fuel; although the ship rolled, it could probably hold on, Maybe salvage the cargo above. Altamon and his crew left it for two months, and took the skiff away in sledges; they thought of going through Smith Strait, and waited for some whaling ship to take them to America; but gradually, These unfortunate people fell on the road one by one due to fatigue and disease.In the end, only the captain and two sailors were left in the crew of 30.If Altamon survived by chance, it would really be a miracle from heaven.

Hatteras wanted to know from the Americans why the "Perboise" came to such a high latitude. Altamon meant that he had been dragged here by the ice floes, and he could not resist. Hatteras was eager to question him about the purpose of his voyage. Altamon claimed he wanted to find the Northwest Passage. Hatteras stopped insisting and asked no more similar questions. The doctor said: "Now," said he, "all our efforts are directed toward finding the Pere Boise; instead of venturing into the Baffin Sea, we shall travel a third less way to find that ship." , so that we can get all the resources we need to survive the winter.”

"There's no other way," Bell replied. "I will add," said the bosun, "that we must not waste a second; we should count our journeys according to how many days our food will last us, which is the reverse of the usual calculation, so that we may go as soon as possible. " "You are right, Johnson," said the doctor; "starting tomorrow, February 26th, we will reach the Perboise on March 15th, and are in danger of starvation. You see, Hatteras?" "Let us make preparations at once," said the captain, "and we set off. Perhaps the journey will be longer than we think."

"Why?" retorted the doctor. "The man seemed quite sure of his ship's condition." "But," replied Hatteras, "what if the Perboise drifted off the ice, as did the Forward?" "Anyway," said the doctor, "it might happen!" Johnson and Bell made no refutation of the possibility of drift, and were themselves victims of it. But Altamon listened intently to the conversation, and he made it clear to the doctor that he was going to speak.The latter granted the wish of the American, who, after a quarter of an hour of devious and hesitant talk, gained a certainty that the "Pere Boise" was stranded on a stretch of coast, unable to leave the bedrock.

The news relieved the four Britons; but it deprived them of all hope of returning to Europe, unless Bell built a boat out of the fragments of the Perle Boise.In any case, the most important thing is to go to the scene of the accident. The doctor asked the American one final question: did he see an unimpeded sea at 83° north latitude? "No," replied Altamon. That's all for the conversation.Soon the preparations for departure began; Bell and Johnson put their energies first on the sled; Knowing the weak point of this transport, it needs a lot of deep snow, and the skids have an elevated undercarriage.

Bell put a cot with tent-cloths in the sledges, which were for the Americans; a little food would not weigh the sledges down; Load capacity is made up. The doctor put away the provisions, and counted them with considerable precision; by his calculations, the food intake of the travelers was reduced to three-quarters of the food for each person during the three-week journey.They kept a whole ration for the four sled dogs.If Duck pulls with them.There are also whole servings. These preparations were interrupted by the eager sleep and desire for rest from seven o'clock in the evening; but, before going to bed, the wrecks gathered around the fire, and they did not have to save fuel; The accustomed luxury of heat; dry meatloaf, a few biscuits, and many cups of coffee soon satisfied them, equal to the hopes that had come so quickly and out of reach.

At seven o'clock in the morning, work started again, and it was all finished by nearly three o'clock in the evening. The sky had darkened; the sun had reappeared on the horizon since January 31, but it had only a faint, brief brilliance; fortunately, the moon rose at half-past six, and in clear weather its Bright enough to light the way.The temperature has dropped significantly over the past few days, reaching -37°C. The time to go has come.Altamon was very pleased with the idea of ​​going on the road, though the jolts of the sled would increase his pain; he made it clear to the doctor that he would find on board the "Perboise" the most important cure for his ailment. Anti-scurvy medicine.

He was loaded onto the sled; he was made as comfortable as possible; the dogs, including Duck, were harnessed; and the travelers took a last look at the ice rink where the Forward stood.For a moment Hatteras looked maddened with anger, but he quickly got himself under control, the little team in unusually dry weather.Deep into the north-north-west fog. Each took his usual place, Bell at the head, directing the doctor and boatswain beside the sled, supervising and pushing the sled when necessary, Hatteras behind, walking in a straight line, keeping the whole procession along Bell's the route to go.

They were walking fairly fast; for the cold weather, the ice was hard and slippery, good for the skateboards; and the five dogs pulled with ease what wasn't a 900-pound load.But people and animals quickly become out of breath and often stop to catch their breath. Just before seven o'clock in the evening, the moon rose a reddish disk from the mist on the horizon.Its pale radiance pierced through the atmosphere, casting a few rays, and the icebergs reflected its clear light; the ice field showed to the northwest the great plain of perfect white.No ice packs, no ice mounds.The placid sea seemed to have frozen as quietly as a placid lake.

It is a vast desert, flat and monotonous. Such was the impression this sight made on the doctor's mind, and he communicated it to his companion. "You're right, Mr. Crawburn," answered Johnson; "it's a desert, but we're not afraid to die of thirst here!" "That is an obvious advantage," continued the doctor; "but this immensity proves one thing to me; that we are very far from any land; and that approach to the coast is generally marked by the presence of many icebergs." , while not seeing an iceberg around us." "The horizon is covered in fog," Johnson replied. "Undoubtedly, but since we set out, we have been unable to set foot on a plain, and are in danger of being unable to get out." "You know, Mr. Croubney, what this perilous walk of ours means? We're used to it, we don't think about it any more, but after all, there's a bottomless pit beneath the surface of the ice we're walking on!" "You have a point, my friend, but we don't have to worry about being engulfed; this white crust is very resistant at -33°C! Note that it gradually increases in thickness, because at these latitudes ten It snows nine days a day, even in April, even in May, even in June, and I reckon it can't be less than 30 or 40 feet where it's at its best." "That's for sure," Johnson replied. "Because we are not, like the skaters on the Serpentina, who are in constant fear of the insecure ground under our feet; we need not be afraid of such dangers." "Do people know the resistance of ice?" asked the old sailor, always eager to learn something when he walked with the doctor. "Knowing perfectly," replied the latter, "there is nothing in the world that can be measured that people don't know at present, except human ambition! Is it not for this reason that we are pushed to this North Pole that man will finally know?" But, coming back to your question, here is my answer. Two inches of ice can support a man; three and a half inches of ice can support a horse and its rider; five inches An 8mm cannon on the ice; eight inches of ice, a cannon; finally, an army on ten inches of ice, an army beyond count! Where we're going, Liverpool can be built Customs House or the Houses of Parliament in London." "It's hard to imagine such a resistance," said Johnson; "but just now, Mr. Crowburny, you said that nine out of ten days in these districts it snows; it's an obvious fact; and I can't Objection; but where does this snow come from, since, the seas are frozen, I don't quite know how these large quantities of water vapor which form the clouds are produced." "Your observation is correct, Johnson; and, it seems to me, that most of the rain and snow we see in the polar regions is formed by water in temperate oceans; A drop of water rises into the sky in the form of water vapor, forms a cloud, and finally condenses here; only when we drink water, that is, this kind of snow water, do we quench our thirst with the river water of our own country." "Always," replied the bosun. At this moment, the voice of Hatteras correcting the wrong way came, interrupting the conversation.The fog was getting thicker, making it difficult to walk in a straight line. At last the little party stopped about eight o'clock in the evening, having covered fifteen miles; the weather was still dry; tents were pitched; fires were lighted; supper was passed, and the night passed peacefully. Hatteras and his companions did catch the fine weather.Their voyage met with little difficulty in the days that followed, though the weather was so cold that mercury froze in the thermometers.No traveler could tolerate a similar temperature if it was windy.The doctor in this case confirmed the correctness of Barry's observations made during his expedition to Melville Island.The famous sailor preached that a well-dressed man could walk without injury in very cold weather, so long as the atmosphere was calm; Severely severe, it will soon lead to death.The doctor has nothing to worry about, because a gust of wind will freeze them all to the marrow of their bones. On March 5, he saw a strange phenomenon at this latitude: the sky was very calm, the stars were shining, the snow fell heavily, but there were no clouds; the stars twinkled through the snowflakes, and the snowflakes carried A rule of grace fell on the rink.The snow fell for about two hours and then stopped. The doctor has not yet found a reasonable explanation for the snowfall. The last crescent is hidden; 17 hours of the day are deep darkness; travelers have to be connected by a long rope so as not to separate from each other; it is almost impossible to walk in a straight line. But although these brave men were supported by an iron conviction, they were beginning to feel tired; the number of stops was increasing, but not a moment was wasted, because the food had been significantly reduced. Hatteras often determined his location by observing the moon and stars.Seeing the days go by and the goal of the journey out of reach, he sometimes asked himself if the Perle Boise really existed, if the American hadn't been out of his head with pain, or out of love for the British. The hatred of men, seeing himself in a predicament, he is unwilling to bring them into a situation where certain death is certain. He told his thoughts to the doctor; the latter was flatly against it, but he understood that there had been an unpleasant rivalry between the English captain and the American captain. "Those are going to be two difficult people to get along with," he thought to himself. On March 14th, after 16 days of travel, the travelers were still at 82° north latitude; they were exhausted, and they were still 100 nautical miles away from the ship; what was more painful was that people could only eat a quarter food, in order for the dog to eat the entire food. Unfortunately they could not hope to hunt, for there were only seven powders and six bullets left; and they shot in vain at the few white rabbits and foxes which were few, but missed a single one. But on Friday the 15th, the doctor was lucky enough to catch a seal lying on the ice; it cost him many bullets to wound it; Killed; it had a massive body; Johnson cut it deftly, but the mammal was too thin to do much good to these people who couldn't drink seal oil like the Eskimos. But the doctor bravely tried the viscous liquid; in spite of his good intentions he could not drink it.He left the sealskin, not quite knowing why, but by a hunter's instinct, put it on the sled. The next day, the 16th, they saw several icebergs and mounds on the horizon, marking the next coast, or just the rise and fall of the ice field?It's hard to know what point of view to take. The travelers came to an ice mound and used it to dig a shelter more comfortable than a tent. With the help of snow knives, after another three hours of tenacious labor, they finally lay down beside the lighted stove.