Chapter 40 CHAPTER VIII JOURNEY NORTH OF VICTORIA BAY

The next day, before the first rays of the sun, Crowburne climbed over the steep slope of the rocky wall upon which the doctor's house leaned;The Doctor had not climbed easily to the top, and from there he looked down at a heaving land that looked like the result of some volcanic shaking; a vast white curtain covered land and sea, so that it was almost impossible to tell them apart. Realizing that this highest point dominates all the surrounding plains, the doctor had an idea, which did not surprise anyone who knew him. His idea, he matured it, mulled it over, racked his brains, and when he got back to the igloo it had taken hold in his consciousness, and he told his companions.

"I want," he said to them, "to build a lighthouse on top of the cone that stands above us." "A lighthouse?" everyone shouted. "Yes, a lighthouse! It has the double good of showing us our way in the dark when we return from a long journey, and illuminating the plain during the eight months of winter." "Obviously," replied Altamon, "such a device would be a useful thing, but how would you set it up?" "Using one of the lanterns on board the Perle Boise." "No problem, but what do you supply your lighthouse with? Seal oil?"

"No! The light produced by this oil is not bright enough that it can barely pass through the fog." "Do you want to extract hydrogen from coal and use gas to light us?" "That's right! This kind of light is not strong enough, and it has a big disadvantage, which is that it consumes part of our fuel." "Then," said Altamon, "I don't know..." "It seems to me," replied Johnson, "that since mercury bullets, ice lenses, and building God's fortresses, I believe Mr. Crowburny can do anything." "Well!" continued Altamon, "can you tell us what kind of lighthouse you intend to build?"

"Very simple," replied the doctor, "a lighthouse." "A lighthouse!" "No doubt you didn't have a good Bunsen battery on board the Perle Boise?" "Yes," the American replied. "Obviously, with them, you can see how an experiment is done, because there is nothing missing, not a perfectly insulated wire, nor the acid necessary to make the components work, and we have easy access to electro-optic. We see Things are clearer, and it takes less effort." "That's good," said the bosun, "and we'll waste less time..."

"Well, there's the material," replied the doctor, "and we'll have an icicle ten feet high in an hour, and that will be enough." The doctor went out; his companion accompanied him all the way to the top of the icicle, which was soon erected, bearing the lantern of the "Pere Boise." So the doctor connected the wires connected to the dry battery to it, and the dry battery was placed in the living room of the snow house to prevent freezing with the heat of the fire.From there the wires go up to the navigation lights. All this was quickly settled, and they waited for the sunset to enjoy the fruits of this.At night, the coals of the two headlands kept at a suitable distance, contained in the lamp, were drawn closer, and from the lantern shot out a powerful beam which the wind could neither dampen nor extinguish.It was a majestic sight, a quivering light that rivaled the whiteness of the ice fields, outlining sharply all the raised shadows around it.Johnson couldn't help clapping his hands.

"Look, Mr. Croubney," he said, "make sunshine, right now!" "It's better to have a little of everything," replied the doctor modestly. Due to the cold, everyone stopped praising and everyone went back to wrap up in the quilt. Life goes on as planned.In the next few days, from April 15th to 20th, the weather was unpredictable, the temperature suddenly changed by more than 20 degrees, and the atmosphere changed unexpectedly. Sometimes it snowed heavily, and sometimes it was cold and dry. If you are not careful, you will not be able to go outside. On Saturday, however, the wind died away; a long journey could be made under such conditions; and they decided to spend the day hunting for a change of taste.

In the morning, Altamon, the doctor, and Bell each took a two-shot long gun, enough ammunition, a small hatchet, and a snow knife for when they needed to camp, and they set off. The weather was overcast. . In their absence, Hatteras surveyed the coast and made a few statistics.The doctor turned on the lamp carefully; its light was in harmony with the splendor of the stars; for electric light is equal to the light of 3,000 candles or 300 flows of gas, and it alone can be compared with sunlight. The weather was unseasonably cold, dry and sunny.The hunters headed for Cape Washington; the solid snow was good for them.In half an hour they were three nautical miles from God's Fortress, Duck bouncing around them.

The coast curves eastward, and the high peaks of Victoria Bay tend to descend on the northern coast.It makes one feel that New America is just an island; but its outline cannot yet be decided. The hunters walked along the seashore, advancing quickly.There was no trace of any dwelling, no remnant of an igloo; they walked on virgin ground where no human footstep had trod. They traveled about 15 nautical miles in three hours, without stopping to eat.But they run the risk of missing any prey.For, they could hardly see the tracks of hares, foxes, or wolves, but a few snowbirds flew about, heralding spring and the return of arctic animals.

The three hunters were obliged to penetrate further into the land, skirting the ravines and precipices that meet Bell's Mountain, and whereupon, after a delay, they returned to the coast; the ice pack was not parted yet.Far from it, the seas are still frozen over; but the tracks of the seals show that these mammals have begun to appear, they have come to the ice to breathe, and it is evident from the large tracks and new cracks in the ice floes that many The seals have recently come ashore. These animals are very sun-needed, and they like to lie on the bank and let the warm sun shine on them.

The doctor called his companion's attention to these peculiar phenomena. "Watch this place carefully," he said to them, "it is likely that in the summer we will encounter hundreds of seals here; they are easily accessible and easy to catch in this inaccessible area. Take care not to frighten them, for they will disappear as if by magic, never to return; so that, instead of hunting individually, the stupid hunters often attack in groups, making great noise, Make a lot of noise and get nothing or very little." "Do people hunt them for their hides and oil?" Bell asked.

"The Europeans do, but, sure enough, the Eskimos eat them, they live off them, and their seal meat mixed with blood and fat is not tasty at all. But there is always a way, and I put The delicate rib meat is cut, and those who care about gray and black meat have nothing to complain about." "We've seen you," answered Bell, "and I've decided, out of confidence, to eat seal meat, if you please, do you hear, Mr. Crawburn?" "My honour, Bell, you may say so if you please. But it's no good for you, and you'll never be as good as the Greenlanders, who eat 10 or 15 pounds of this meat a day." "Fifteen pounds!" Bell said. "What kind of stomach!" "The stomach of the North Pole," answered the doctor, "a marvelous stomach, voluntarily inflated, and, I may add, equally constricted enough to endure a great lack of food. Eskimos start eating thin, and by the end they think Leave him alone! He usually eats all day, that's absolutely true." "Obviously," said Altamon, "a large appetite is characteristic of people in cold regions?" "I think so," answered the doctor, "in the Pole, where you eat a lot, not just for strength but for survival. Likewise, the officers stationed at Hudson's Bay issued each man eight pounds of meat a day." , or twelve pounds of fish, or two pounds of dried meatloaf." "It's a recipe for strength," Carpenter said. "Not as you might imagine, my friend, that an Indian with such a full stomach does no more work than an Englishman who eats a few pounds of beef and a few pints of beer." "Then, Mr. Crawburn, everything has to be right." "No doubt, but an Eskimo's meal is enough to astonish us. Likewise, Sir John Ross, when he wintered in Portia Dominion, always marveled at the enormous appetite of his guide, where did he say that two men, Two, you listen, ate a whole quarter of musk-meat in one morning; Pass it on to his companions, or, these gluttons let the pieces hang down to the floor and devour them bit by bit, like a boa constrictor digests a cow, and lie on the ground like it!" "Bah!" said Bell, "a loathsome savage!" "Everyone has a way of eating," the American replied philosophically. "Fortunately!" the doctor replied. "Then," continued Altamon, "since the necessity of feeding at these latitudes is of the utmost importance, it is not surprising that my journals of polar voyagers always refer to the subject of feeding." "You are right," replied the doctor, "and I have noticed it too; it is due to the fact that food is not only required in great quantities, but is often difficult to obtain. Thus one is constantly thinking, next, People talk about it a lot." "But," says Altamon, "if I remember correctly, in Norway, in the coldest regions, farmers don't need that much food: a little dairy, eggs, birch bark bread, sometimes salmon, but They never eat meat, which does not prevent them from having a strong body." "The anatomical matter," replied the doctor, "is not for me to explain. But, I believe, the second or third generation of Norwegians, after migrating to Greenland, ended up following the Greenlandic diet. Ourselves, I My friends, if we stay in this Promised Land, we'll end up living like Eskimos too. If we don't use the moniker of abominable gluttons." "Mr. Crowburn," Bell said, "I'm getting hungry." "I'm absolutely not," answered Altamon, "it makes me sick, and makes me sick of eating seal meat. Ah, but, I believe we'll stand the test. If I'm not mistaken, I saw there, a bunch of living things that seemed to be hiding on the ice." "A walrus!" cried the Doctor. "Be quiet and move on!" Indeed, a gigantic mammal was playing 200 yards from the hunters, stretching and rolling merrily in the dim sunlight. The three hunters separated from each other, surrounded the animal, cut off its retreat, came a few meters away from it, hid behind the ice mound, and shot. The walrus fell on his back, still jumping, and crushed the ice, and tried to escape, but Altamon struck him with the ax, and severed the fin on his back.As the walrus attempted a desperate defense, another burst of gunfire killed it, lying lifeless on an ice field stained red by its blood. The massive beast, nearly 15 feet long from nose to tip, was sure to pump out many vats of oil. The doctor cut off the tastiest part of it, leaving the carcass to a few crows that had been gliding through the sky at that time of year. Night began to fall.They considered going back to God's stronghold, the sky was perfectly clear, and the stars were shining brightly before the moon rose. "Come on, let's go," said the doctor, "it's too late, and on the whole we haven't had much luck with the hunt, but a hunter has nothing to complain about, so long as he brings home something for supper. Only, we shall Take the shortest route, try not to get lost, the stars will show us the way." But in those regions where the North Star shines just above the traveller's head, it is inconvenient to use it as a guide; for, when the north is at the zenith, other cardinal points are difficult to ascertain; thanks to the moon and the great constellations Help doctors determine the route. In order to shorten the distance, he decided to avoid the crooked coast and cut directly by land; this was more direct, but less sure; They were indecisive about spending the night in the igloo, resting, and waiting for dawn to get their bearings, or returning to the coast and crossing the ice field, but the doctor, afraid of Hatteras and Johnson, insisted on going on. "Dark will lead us," he said. "Dark can't be mistaken. He has an instinct that surpasses the compass and the stars. Follow him." Duck walked ahead, and they believed in its intelligence.They had a point in their thinking, and soon there appeared a ray of light on the far horizon, which they could not have mistaken for a star, which does not flicker in the low mist. "There's our lighthouse!" cried the doctor. "You believe it, Mr. Crawburn?" said the carpenter. "I'm sure. Let's go." As the travelers approached, the light grew stronger, and soon they were surrounded by a bright lane of dust; they walked in the glare, and behind them were their huge shadows, clearly outlined , stretched disproportionately across the snow field. They quickened their pace, and in half an hour they climbed the slope of God's fortress.