Chapter 36 Chapter 4 The First Tube of Gunpowder

Johnson makes room for exhausted dogs in the igloo; during heavy snowfalls, the snow acts as a blanket for the animal, retaining the animal's natural heat.But in the cold open air at -40°C, it doesn't take long for these poor animals to freeze to death. Johnson, a very good dog trainer, tried to feed his dogs the gray-black seal meat which the travelers could not eat, and to his astonishment, the dogs regarded it as a delicacy; The phenomenon told the doctor. The doctor wasn't surprised at all; he knew that horses in North America depended on fish as their main diet, and horses, as herbivores, could do so, and dogs, carnivores, should have reason to do so.

Before going to bed, although sleep is the paramount need of these men who have dragged 15 nautical miles on the ice, the doctor's need to talk to his companions about the current situation does not lessen its seriousness. "We're still at 82 degrees north latitude," he said, "and we're running out of supplies!" "That's why we can't waste a second!" Hatteras replied! "Go forward! The strongest drags the weakest." "Will we find a boat at the appointed place?" Bell answered, the fatigue of the journey had worn him down, though he did not like it.

"Why doubt it?" replied Johnson; "the salvation of the American people is bound up with our own." To be more certain, the doctor wanted to ask Altamon again.The latter speaks fluently, though in a weak voice; he confirms all the details recently given; he reiterates that the ship is grounded on marble and will not move, that the longitude of the ship is 120°15′ and the latitude 83°35′ . "We cannot doubt the statement," went on the doctor. "The difficulty is not in finding the Perboise, and getting to that place." "What food is left?" asked Hatteras.

"At most three days' worth of food," replied the doctor. "Very well, then, within three days!" said the captain firmly. "As it should, after all," continued the doctor, "if we succeed we should have no complaints, for we have had excellent weather. There has been no snow for fifteen days, and the sledge can easily run Sliding on firm ice. Ah! How difficult it is to pull 200 pounds of food! Our brave dogs can easily do it! Anyway, there is nothing we can do otherwise." "With a little luck and ingenuity," Johnson replied, "couldn't we use the few barrels we have left? If we run into a bear, we'll have food for the rest of our journey."

"Undoubtedly," replied the doctor, "but these beasts are very rare, and flee quickly, and, besides, consider how vital it is to shoot, for the eyes are dazed and the hands shake." "You're a seasoned shooter after all," Bell said. "Yes, when the meal for four does not depend on my quickness, but I will do my best whenever I can. In the meantime, my friends, we'll just eat a patty as a meager treat." Dinner, sleep well, and we will continue our journey tomorrow morning." After a while, excessive fatigue overcame all other considerations, and everyone fell into a deep sleep.

Early Saturday morning Johnson woke his companions; the dogs were harnessed to the sleds and they continued north. The sky is magnificent, the atmosphere is exceptionally pure, and the temperature is very low; when the sun rises above the horizon, it is an elongated ellipse; its horizontal diameter, because of refraction, appears to be twice the vertical diameter; It casts clusters of bright but cold light across vast ice sheets.This return of light, not heat, is exciting. Gun in hand, the doctor walked a mile or two away, ignoring the cold and solitude; there is none left.That's very little, considering that a strong, vital beast like a polar bear usually only takes ten or twelve shots before it goes down.

The ambition of the honest physician has not yet reached such a fearful game; a few hares, and two or three foxes will suffice, and will make a great supplement to the food. But on this day, even if he saw such an animal, he either couldn't get close, or was confused by refraction, he missed, and he spent a day of powder and bullet in vain. His companions trembled with hope at the sound of the shot, only to see him return with his head bowed.They didn't say anything.In the evening they lay down as usual, and put away their two quarters of food for the next two days. The next day, the road became more and more difficult to walk.They didn't go, and the dogs they were dragging ate the seals' guts, and they started swallowing their leashes.

Several foxes ran by at a distance from the sledge, and the doctor fired another shot in vain in pursuit of them, not daring to risk his last bullet and penultimate cartridge. At night they rested at the best hour; the travelers could not advance a step, and they were obliged to stop, though the way was illuminated by the beautiful aurora. The last meal was eaten in a cold tent on a Sunday night, and the atmosphere was very sad.If Heaven does not help these unfortunates, they are broken. Hatteras didn't speak, Bell didn't think anymore, Johnson thought silently, but the doctor wasn't desperate yet.

Johnson thought of digging a few traps during the night; he had no bait to put in them, and therefore had little hope of success with his invention, and he was right, for in the morning when he went to inspect his traps, he saw many Fox tracks, but not a single animal fell into the trap. He came back dejected.At this time, he saw a huge bear sniffing the smell of the sled less than 100 meters away.The old sailor realized that Heaven had sent the unexpected beast to his door to kill; instead of calling his companions, he took the gun from the doctor's hand, and ran towards the bear. He found the proper distance and took aim at it; but, as he pulled the trigger, he felt his arm tremble; his large leather gloves impeded his movement.He dropped them quickly, one hand gripping the gun tightly.

Suddenly, he let out a cry of pain.The skin on his fingers was burned and stuck to the cold barrel, and the gun fell to the ground and flew out with a bump, the last bullet flying into the air. Hearing the noise, the doctor came running; he understood everything.He saw the beast go away quietly; Johnson was so desperate that he forgot the pain. "I'm a real coward!" he cried. "A child who doesn't know how to suffer! Me! Me! At my age!" "Well, don't think about it, Johnson," said the doctor, "you're going to freeze; look, your hands are turning white; come! come!"

"I am outraged at your care, Mr. Crawburn!" replied the bosun. "leave me alone!" "But come on, stubborn man! Before it's too late!" The doctor dragged the old sailor back into the tent, and made him place his hands in a bowl of water, which was kept liquid by the heat of the stove, though cold; . "You see," said the doctor, "it's time to come back, or I'll have to amputate my leg." Thanks to his care, after an hour there was no danger, but it was not easy, requiring constant rubbing to restore circulation to the old sailor's fingers.Doctors specifically told him to keep his hands away from the stove, whose heat could have serious consequences. They had no breakfast this morning; there was nothing left of dry meatloaf, or bacon.Not a single cookie crumb; less than half a pound of coffee; should be satisfied with the piping hot drink, and they're on their way. "No more food!" Bell said to Johnson, with an indescribable desperation in his tone. "Trust in God," said the old sailor, "he is too powerful to save us!" "Ah! this Captain Hatteras!" Bell continued, "he has survived the previous voyages, and he is mad! But he will not return this time, and we shall never see our country again!" "Courage, Bell! I admit that the captain is a brave man, but there is a man with seamanship beside him." "Dr. Crawford?" Bell said. "That's him!" Johnson replied. "What can he do in this situation?" Bell retorted, shrugging his shoulders. "Can he turn ice into meat? Is he a god and can perform miracles?" "Not sure!" answered the bosun to his companion's question. "I believe in him." Bell shook his head, and fell into complete silence again, and he didn't even think about it. They walked less than three nautical miles that day; at night, they didn't eat; the dogs almost killed each other; people felt the pain of hunger intensely. They don't see a single animal.But what's the use?Never hunt with a knife.Only Johnson, a mile to leeward, thought he saw a bear trailing the unfortunate party. "It's spying on us!" thought he. "He certainly has us as prey!" But Johnson said nothing to his companions: in the evening, they rested as usual, with only coffee for dinner.These unfortunates felt that their eyes became alarmed, their minds tightened, they were tortured with hunger, and could not sleep for an hour, while strange and painful dreams occupied their minds. In a latitude where the body desperately needs comfort, unlucky people have not eaten for thirty-six hours when morning comes.But inspired by courage and superhuman will, they hit the road again, pushing the sled that the dogs could no longer pull. Two hours later, they fell.exhausted. Hatteras wanted to go further.Always full of energy, he begged, begged his companions to rise; it was the impossible to ask! So, with Johnson's help, he dug a snow house on an iceberg.The two were working as if they were digging their own graves. "I'd rather starve to death," said Hatteras, "than freeze to death." After brutal and exhausting labor, the igloo was built and the whole team settled in it. Thus passed the day.At night, when his companions were motionless, Johnson had a hallucination; he dreamed of giant bears. The word was repeated by him so often that it attracted the attention of the doctor, who, coming out of his stupor, asked the old sailor why he spoke of bears, and what bears he meant. "Stalking our bear," Johnson replied. "Stalking our bear?" the doctor repeated. "Yes, you have been with us for two days!" "Two days! Did you see it?" "Yes, it's a nautical mile to leeward." "You didn't inform me, Johnson?" "What is the use?" "True," said the doctor, "we were going to shoot him, and there wasn't a single bullet." "Not a single ingot, not a piece of iron, not a single nail!" replied the old sailor. The doctor fell silent and began to think.Presently he said to the boatswain: "Are you sure the beast is following us?" "Yes, Mr. Croubney, it wants to eat human flesh! It knows we can't escape its grasp!" "Johnson!" said the doctor, moved by his companion's tone of desperation. "Food is a certainty, for him!" replied the unfortunate, and he began to babble. "It must be hungry, and I don't know why we keep it waiting!" "Johnson, calm down!" "No, Mr. Crawburn; why prolong the animal's misery when we are dying? It is as hungry as we are; it has no seals to eat! God sent man to it! Well, it does it too Not bad!" Old Johnson was mad; he wanted to get out of the igloo.It was with great difficulty that the doctor held him back, not by strength, but by the confidence with which he uttered the following words: "Tomorrow," he said, "I'll kill the bear!" "Tomorrow!" Johnson said, waking up as if from a nightmare. "tomorrow!" "You have no bullets!" "I make bullets." "You have no lead!" "Yes, but I have mercury!" After saying this, the doctor took the thermometer; the room temperature indicated by the thermometer was 10 degrees above zero.The doctor went out, put the thermometer on a piece of ice, and was back in no time.The temperature outside is minus -47°C. "See you tomorrow!" he said to the old sailor. "Go to bed and wait for the sun to rise." The night passed in pangs of hunger; only the boatswain and the doctor, with some hope, relieved the pain. The next day, at dawn, the doctor rushed outside, followed by Johnson, and ran to the thermometer; all the mercury had gone into the mercury bath, forming a regular cylinder.The doctor broke the instrument, and carefully with gloved fingers removed a nearly inmalloyable but exceptionally strong piece of real metal, a real ingot. "Ah! Mr. Crawburn," cried the bosun, "that's great! You're a great man!" "No, my friend," answered the doctor, "I am only a man born with a good memory, and a wide reader." "What do you want to say?" "I am reminded of a fact that Captain Ross relates when he relates his voyage: He tells of having pierced a plank as thick as a thumb with a gun loaded with quicksilver bullets; if I could get Oil, which is almost the same thing, because he also said that a bullet made of sweet almond oil hit a road sign, passed through, bounced on the ground, and didn't break." "It's unbelievable!" "But it is, Johnson; it's a piece of metal that will save our lives; we'll air it before we use it, and see if the bears don't leave us." At this moment Hatteras came out of the igloo; the doctor showed him the ingot, and told him the plan; the captain took his hand, and the three hunters began to survey the horizon. On a clear day, Hatteras went ahead of his companions and found the bear less than 1,200 meters away. The beast squatted, shaking its head quietly, inhaling the smell of these unfamiliar visitors. "Here!" cried the captain. "Shut up!" said the doctor. But the huge quadruped didn't move when he saw the hunters.It watched them with neither fear nor anger.But getting close to it is difficult. "My friends," said Hatteras, "this is not a vain pleasure, but to save our lives. Proceed with caution." "Yes," answered the doctor, "we can only fire once. The beast must not be let go; if it escapes, we shall lose him, for he can run faster than a harrier." "Okay, you should go straight to it," Johnson replied. "It's life-threatening! So what! I beg to risk my life." "Let me do it!" cried the doctor. "Me!" Hatteras replied decisively. "But," cried Johnson, "don't you save everybody more than an old man my age?" "No, Johnson," continued the captain, "let me do it; I won't risk my life until it's necessary; at most I'll ask you to help me." "Hatteras," asked the Doctor, "you're going up to the bear?" "If I try to knock it down, it'll knock my skull off. I'll do it, Doctor, but it will run away when I approach. The animal is very cunning, and we must be even more cunning than that." "What do you want to do?" "Take ten steps forward without letting it notice my presence." "what to do?" "My method is very dangerous, but very simple. Do you keep the skins of the seals you kill?" "It's on the sled." "Good! Go back to our igloo, and Johnson will stay and observe." The boatswain hid behind a mound of ice that the bear couldn't see at all. The bear stayed where he was, continuing to make grimaces of shaking his head and breathing in through his nose.