Chapter 29 Chapter Thirteen Dirk Peters Jumps into the Sea

The question of wintering was thus decided. Twenty-three of the Halle Brenane's crew of thirty-two reached the land when it set off from the Falkland Islands.Now, among the twenty-three people, thirteen have just escaped in order to return to the fishing area across the ice floes... But fate did not choose them! ……no! . . . in order to escape the dreadful situation of the winter, they deserted in a vile and shameless way! Unfortunately, Hearn didn't just take his accomplices.Two of our men, Sailor Bury and sailmaker Martin Hoot, joined them. ——The fisherman revealed the terrible truth to him, and Martin Holt was so stunned that he probably didn't realize his actions at all! ...

All in all, the situation has not changed for the doomed.There were but nine of us left--Captain Lan Guy, Jem West, first mate, Heligley the boatswain, Hardy the caulker, Endicott the cook, Francis and Stern the two sailors Well, Dirk Peters and me.The terrible polar winter is coming, what kind of test we have to accept to spend the winter here! . . . What bitter cold we have to endure! — six months of long nights surround us, colder than any point on the face of the earth.This kind of environment has exceeded the limit that the human body can bear.What kind of perseverance and physique is needed to withstand these trials, it is really chilling to think about! ...

However, in the final analysis, do those who leave us have a better fate than us? ... From here to the Great Ice Floe, will they encounter the free-flowing sea all the way? ...will they be able to reach the polar circle? ...After crossing the polar circle, will they encounter the last boats of this fishing season? ...The voyage is about a thousand nautical miles. Wouldn't they be short of provisions? ...The small boat is already overloaded with thirteen people crammed into it, so what supplies can we take away? ...yes...who is most at risk, them, or us? ... This question can only be answered by future facts!

After the boat disappeared, Captain Lan Gay led his companions up the headland and went back the same way, walking towards the cave.The night is long, and we shall spend the whole of this time in the cave!I'm afraid I can't go outdoors at all! As we hurried back to the other side of the headland, my first thought was Dirk Peters.He took a shot from Hearne and fell behind. After returning to the cave, there was still no sign of the half-breed.So, is he seriously injured? ...as always to his poor Pym, so the man has been to us.Are we going to mourn his death? ... I hope -- we all hope -- that his injuries are not serious.He had to be healed, but he disappeared without a trace.

"We'll get him, Mr. Geolin," cried the bosun. "Let's go!..." I replied. "Let's go together," said Captain Lan Guy. "Dirk Peters is our man...he never forsook us, and we never will!" "It was thought that only I and he knew about it," I reminded, "Now that everyone knows about it, is this poor guy willing to come back?..." So I told my fellows exactly why Ned Holt's name was changed to Parker in Arthur Pym's account; I.Furthermore, I have highlighted various factors to lessen his responsibility. "Hearn said Dirk Peters killed Ned Hoult," I said solemnly. "Yes! . . . It's true! . . . The younger brother, Martyn Hoult, thought he had died either in a riot or in a shipwreck. But no!... Ned Hoult survived along with August Barnard, Arthur Pym, and the half-breed Came down. Not long after, the four of them were starving and miserable...One of them had to sacrifice...Fate did so...They decided...Ned Holt was out of luck...He died Under the knife of Dirk Peters... But, if fate appointed a half-breed, wouldn't he also have to be a sacrifice for others!"

Captain Lan Guy then made an opinion: "Dirk Peters only told you this secret, Mr. Georin..." "Tell me only one person, Captain..." "You kept it a secret?..." "Absolutely guaranteed." "Then how did this secret reach Hearn's ears, I don't know why..." "At first I thought," I replied, "that Dirk Peters might have told it in his sleep. It happened to be overheard by the fisherman, who learned the secret. Then, thinking it over, I recalled such a situation : The half-breed told me about the scene on the Orca, and told me that Parker was in my cabin when it was none other than Ned Holt, with the side windows propped up... So, I have a reason I believe our conversation was overheard by the man on duty at the helm...that man was Hearne. And he must have dropped the wheel in order to hear our conversation, which caused the Halle Brena to veer suddenly... ..."

"I remember," said Jem West, "I slapped the bastard and sent him under the hold." "And so, Captain," I went on, "Harne and Martin Hoult are getting on better terms from that day on—Heligly drew my attention to that..." "Exactly," replied the bosun, "because Hearne tried to seize the boat and couldn't steer it himself. He needs a master like Martin Hoot..." "So," I went on, "he kept urging Martin Hoult to question the half-breed about his brother's fate, and you know under what circumstances he told Mardin Hoult this terrible secret... Martin Hoot went crazy when he heard that...then they took him away...and now he's with them!"

Everyone thought that must be the case.The truth finally came out.In this state of mind, Dirk Peters wants to avoid our eyes. Aren't we justified in worrying? ...will he agree to come back among us? ... We all left the cave at once.After an hour, we caught up with the half-breed. When he saw us, his first move was to run away.Finally, Heligly and Francis approached him, and he offered no resistance.I spoke to him...the others followed my example...Captain Lan Guy held out his hand to him...he hesitated at first, not daring to take it.Then, without a word, he walked back toward the beach.

From that day on, between him and us, no one mentioned what happened on the "Orca". As for Dirk Peters' injury, there's nothing to worry about.The bullet just entered the upper part of the left arm, and when the hand pressed hard, the bullet came out.Put a piece of canvas over the wound and wear overalls over it.From the second day on, he went back to work as usual, and he didn't have any mobility problems. Organize the resettlement work according to the plan to survive the long winter.Winter has threatened us, and for days the sun has almost disappeared through the mist.The temperature dropped to 36 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees 22 minutes Celsius), and it was not expected to rise again.The sunlight stretches the shadow infinitely on the ground, so it can be said that there is no heat dissipation.Captain Lan Guy told us not to wait for the colder weather, but to put on warm woolen clothes.

During this period, more and more icebergs, ice floes, ice streams, and drift ice came from the south.The coast was already blocked by ice, and some came to the shore and ran aground.Most of them are hidden in the northeast direction. "These pieces," said the bosun to me, "are the stuff that holds up the great ice pack. If the rascal Hearne's boat doesn't get ahead of them, I reckon he and his gang will be turned away. They don't have the key to open the door..." "So, Heligly," I asked, "you think it's less dangerous for us to spend the winter on this coast than to get in a boat and drive away? . . . "

"I think so, and I always think so, Mr. Georyn!" replied the bosun, "and there's one thing, you know? . . . " he added, in his own catchphrase. "Tell me about it, Heligley." "Well, that's why people with boats have more trouble than people who don't. I'll tell you again, even if I had drawn the lottery, I'd have given it up to someone else! . . . You see, It's not easy to feel the solid ground under our feet!...Although we have been abandoned shamelessly, I don't want other people's lives...But if Hearn and those people can't get through the big buoy Ice, forced to spend the winter in a world of ice and snow, living on provisions that should have only been enough for a few weeks, you will understand what fate awaits them!" "Yes... worse than our fate!" I replied. "I repeat," said the bosun, "it is not enough for them to reach the polar circle. If the whaling ship has left the fishing area, a fully loaded or even overloaded small boat sails across the ocean until it reaches the Australian land. impossible!" That's exactly how I see it.So did Captain Lan Guy and Jem West.If the voyage goes well, only as much as it can carry, and a few months' supplies are guaranteed, in short, everything goes well, the boat may still be qualified for this voyage... Does our boat have these conditions? ...Of course not. In the next few days, on February 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th, all personnel and materials have been resettled. On a few hikes inland, the soil was equally barren everywhere, with only prickly cacti growing in the desert sand that abounded. If Captain Lan Guy held out his last hope of finding his brother and the sailors of the Jenny, thinking that the current would carry them all the way to this coast after they had been able to leave Zalar Island in a skiff, Now he has to admit: there is no trace of abandoning the boat and landing here. Once we hiked to the foot of a mountain four miles away.The slope of the hill is gentle and not difficult to climb, with an altitude of about six or seven hundred duwats. Captain Lan Guy, the mate, Francis the sailor, and myself took part in the walk.As a result, nothing was found.Looking to the north and west, the mountains are continuous, winding and undulating, bare and bare, and the shape of the peaks is unpredictable and ingenious.When the big carpet of ice and snow covers them, the severe cold also fixes the icebergs on the sea surface, and it may be difficult to distinguish the two. To the east, however, where we had thought land, we further proved that a coast stretched in this direction.Under the afternoon sun, the high mountains on the shore are clearly revealed in the lens of the nautical telescope. Is this the mainland on this side of the strait, or is it just an island? ... In either case, the mainland or the islands are probably like the land in the west, barren, uninhabited, and uninhabitable. My thoughts turned to Zalar Island again.There are various plants growing on the ground, which are extremely lush.I recall Arthur Pym's description and wonder how I should feel.Obviously, the desolate scenery presented in front of our eyes is more in line with people's concept of the Antarctic region.However, the Zalar Islands, located at almost the same latitude, were fertile and populous before the earthquake almost completely destroyed them. On that day Captain Lan Guy proposed a geographical name for the land upon which the iceberg threw us.We named it Halle Brenad, in honor of our brig.At the same time, for the same commemorative significance, we named the strait that divides the polar continent into two, Jenny Gap. People are busy hunting penguins at this time.Penguins flock in groups on the rocks, everywhere.Amphibians frolicked along the sand and we caught some too.The need for fresh meat is felt now.We find the meat of seals and elephant seals to be very palatable, after Endicott's cooking.In addition, when necessary, the fat of these animals can also be used for heating or cooking in caves.Please don't forget that our most vicious enemy is the cold, and any means that can keep out the cold should be used.Whether these amphibians also go to lower latitudes to find milder climates when winter comes is still unknown... Fortunately, there are hundreds of other animals that can keep our little group from going hungry and, if necessary, from thirst.Lots of Galapagos tortoises crawling on the beach.This was originally the name of an archipelago in the Ecuadorian ocean, from which this turtle got its name.This is the kind of turtle that Arthur Pym was talking about, and the islanders of Zalar Island feed on it.It was the same turtle that Arthur Pym and Dirk Peters had seen in the native boats when they set out from Zalar Island. This kind of turtle has a huge body, slow movement, and unbearable cumbersomeness; the neck is slender, reaching two feet; the head is triangular, similar to a snake; it can go without food for several years.There is no wild celery, parsley, or wild purslane here, and this turtle feeds on the cacti that grow in the crevices of the rocks on the bank. Arthur Pym boldly compared the Antarctic turtle to the camel because, like ruminants such as the camel, the turtle has a bladder at the end of its neck that holds two to three gallons of fresh water.According to Arthur Pym's self-report, before casting lots with straw sticks, the survivors of the "Orca" in distress relied on one of these turtles to survive starvation and thirst.According to him, some of these dry turtles or sea turtles can weigh as much as 1,200 to 1,500 jin.Although the turtles in Halle Brena do not weigh more than seven or eight hundred catties, the nutritious and delicious taste of the turtle meat is probably not inferior. Therefore, although we are about to spend the winter in this place less than five degrees away from the South Pole, no matter how extremely cold the weather is, we have not yet reached the point where we will feel desperate even if we are tenacious.The only problem -- and I do not deny the seriousness of the problem -- was how to get back once the cold season was over.To solve this problem, the following two conditions must be met: first, the companions who set out in the small boat successfully returned to their country; second, their first concern was to send a ship to find us.At this point, aside from others, we can count on Mardin Hoth, who will not forget us.However, can his partner and him reach the land of the Pacific Ocean on a whaling ship? ... Besides, will the summer of next year be conducive to sailing across the Antarctic sea to such a remote place? ... It's all this good and bad luck that we talk about a lot.Of all men, the boatswain, with his merry nature and patience, still had confidence.Chef Endicott shared his confidence, or at least he didn't worry too much about what happened in the future, and cooked every day as carefully as he was at the hearth of the "Blue Heron".Sailors Stern and Francis just listened and said nothing.Who knows, maybe they regretted not being able to go with Hearne and his gang! . . . As for Hardy the caulker, he waited for events to develop, rather than spend his mind guessing how things might be five or six months from now. Captain Lan Guy and the mate were, as usual, united, of one mind, and of one mind.They will try anything that is beneficial to everyone's self-help and should be tried.They were not too sure about the fate of the boat, and were probably considering an attempt to travel north across the ice sheet on foot.If they do, none of us will hesitate to follow them.The time for such an attempt has not yet come, when the seas are frozen to the polar circle, and the resolution will be made. That was the situation at the time, and nothing seemed to change that.But on the nineteenth day of February, an accident happened suddenly—I would say that for those who believe that God intervenes in the affairs of the world, this is the providence of God. Eight o'clock in the morning.The weather was calm, the sky was clear and the thermometer read 32 degrees Fahrenheit (zero Celsius). We were assembled in the cave--the bosun's away--to wait for breakfast.Endicott was just getting ready for breakfast, and we were about to take our seats when we heard a voice calling from outside. Of course it could only be Heligley's voice.He kept barking, and we hurried out of the cave. When he saw us, he cried out: "Come on... Come on!..." He stood on the headland, on a rock at the foot of the hill at the edge of Halle Brenad, pointing out to us out to sea. "What's the matter? . . . " asked Captain Lan Guy. "A boat." "A boat?..." I exclaimed. "Perhaps the boat from the 'Halle Brenale' turned around?..." asked Captain Lan Guy. "No . . . not that! . . . " answered Jem West. Sure enough, a boat, of such shape and size that one would not mistake it for one of our brigantine skiffs, drifted adrift, without oars or sculls. It seems to be drifting with the current, no one controls it... We have only one idea - at all costs, get this ship, maybe it will save our lives... But how can we catch it?How to get it back to this headland in Halle Brenad? The boat was still a mile away from us.In less than twenty minutes it would be coming from behind the hill.Then turn around the hill, because there is no whirlpool at sea.In another twenty minutes we won't be able to see it... We stood there, watching helplessly as the boat drifted on, not near the shore.Instead, the current has a tendency to carry it away from the shore. Suddenly, at the foot of the hill, water splashed, as if someone had fallen into the sea. This is Dirk Peters.He took off his clothes and jumped into the sea from the top of a rock.When we saw him, he was already ten fathoms away.He swam towards the boat. We cheered loudly, this is a heartfelt cheer. The half-breed turned his head, and then, kicking his arms and legs, leaped forward over the bubbling waves—that was the word—like a porpoise.His strength and speed are indistinguishable from that of a porpoise.This is the first time I have seen such a scene in my life.A person with such extraordinary physical strength, why not rely on him! ... Could Dirk Peters get to the boat before the current carried the boat northeast? ... The boat moved farther and farther away from the shore, just as most icebergs recede as they pass the shore.If he could catch up, and without oars, could he get the boat back to shore? ... After we cheered and cheered for the mixed race, we stood there motionless, our hearts beating so violently that they almost jumped out of our chests.Only the bosun shouted from time to time: "Forward... Dirk...forward!" Within a few minutes, the half-breed had swam several chains diagonally toward the boat.His head was seen moving like a tiny black spot on the long, churning water.There was no sign that he was beginning to feel tired, his arms and legs hit the water in an orderly manner.Under the uniform action of these four powerful propellers, he maintained his original speed. yes! ...it seems that there is no need to doubt it.Dirk Peters will be close to the boat...but, later on, will he be swept away with the boat?Unless--he was so strong--he swam and dragged the boat back to shore... "Anyway, why shouldn't there be oars in the boat? . . . " the bosun reminded. Then Dirk Peters will understand when he gets on board.He must be there in a few minutes, and the boat is about to overtake him. "Anyway," said Jem West, "let's go downriver. . . and if the boat can land, it's only far downriver from the hill." "He's over... he's over! ... Ulla... Dirk... Ulla! . . . " cried the bosun, unable to control himself.Endicott echoed him with his sonorous voice. Sure enough, the half-breed boy was already approaching the boat, and he brushed against the side of the boat and straightened up.He seized the skiff in his big, generous hands and leaped onto the gunwale, almost capsizing.He straddled into the boat, sat down, and caught his breath. Suddenly, a loud shout came to our ears, this is the shout from Dirk Peters... What did he find in the bottom of the boat? ...oh, the sculls!I saw him sitting on the bow of the boat, struggling to steer the oars, and rowing towards the shore in order to get out of the current. "Come on!" said Captain Lan Guy. We circled the foot of the hill and ran along the edge of the beach.There are black stones dotted all over the beach, we ignored them and ran wildly among the rocks. After running for four or five hundred Duises, the first officer told us to stop. It happened that there was a small headland in this place, which stretched out into the sea.The boat met the shelter of the headland.Obviously, the boat will automatically dock here. There were only five or six strands to go, and the swirl was bringing the boat closer to shore.Then Dirk Peters dropped his sculls and stooped aft.When he stood up, he held a lifeless human body in his arms.There came a heart-rending cry! "My brother...my brother!..." This was Captain Lan Guy, who had just recognized William Guy from the raised body of the half-breed. "Alive...alive!..." cried Dirk Peters. After a while, the boat docked, and Captain Lan Guy held his brother tightly in his arms... At the bottom of the boat, his three companions lay there, motionless... Of the entire crew of the "Jenny", these four are the only ones left!