CHAPTER III
AN ALARMING SITUATION
The boldness of the proposition fairly took away the breath of thehonest sailor. He stared at Rob as though doubting whether he hadheard aright. He looked at the smiling youth from head to foot, andstared a full minute before he spoke.
"By the horned spoon, you're crazy, younker!"
"What is there so crazy about such an idea?" asked Fred, as eager togo on the excursion as his friend.
Jack removed his tarpaulin and scratched his head in perplexity. Hevoided a mouthful of tobacco spittle over the taffrail, heaved aprodigious sigh, and then muttered, as if to himself:
"It's crazy clean through, from top to bottom, sideways,cat-a-cornered, and every way; but if the captain says 'yes' I'll takeyou."
Rob stepped to where the skipper stood, some paces away, and said:
"Captain McAlpine, being as this is the first time Fred and I ever hada good look at an iceberg, we would be much obliged if you will allowJack to row us out to it. We want to get a better view of it than wecan from the deck of the ship. Jack is willing, and we will be muchobliged for your permission."
Fred was listening breathlessly for the reply, which, like Rob, heexpected would be a curt refusal. Great, therefore, was the surpriseof the two when the good-natured commander said:
"The request doesn't strike me as very sensible, but, if your heartsare set on it, I don't see any objection. Yes, Jack has my permissionto take you to that mass of ice, provided you don't stay too long."
"He's crazy, too!" was the whispered exclamation of the sailor, who,nevertheless, was pleased to gratify his young friends.
The preparations were quickly made. Fred had heard that polar bearsare occasionally found on the icebergs which float southward from theArctic regions, and he insisted that they ought to take their riflesand ammunition along. Rob laughed, but fortunately he followed hisadvice, and thus it happened that the couple were as well supplied inthat respect as if starting out on a week's hunt in the interior ofthe country.
When Jack was urged to do the same he resolutely shook his head, andthen turned about and accepted a weapon from the captain, who seemedin the mood for humoring every whim of the youths that afternoon.
"Take it along, Jack," he said; "there may be some tigers, leopards,boa-constrictors, and hyenas prowling about on the ice. They may be onskates, and there is nothing like being prepared for whatever comes.Good luck to you!"
Rob placed himself in the bow of the small boat, and Fred in thestern, while the sailor, sitting down near the middle, grasped theoars and rowed with that long, steady stroke which showed his masteryof the art. There was little wind stirring, and the waves were soslight that they were easily ridden. The sea was of a deep greencolor, and when the spray occasionally dashed over the lads it was ascold as ice itself. By this time the iceberg had drifted somewhat tothe southward, but its progress was so slow as to suggest that the twocurrents which swept against it were nearly of the same strength. Hadit been earlier in the day it would probably have remained visible tothe "Nautilus" until sunset.
Meanwhile, a fourth mass rose to sight in the rim of the easternhorizon, so that there seemed some truth in Rob's suggestion that theyhad run into a school of them. They felt no interest, however, in anyexcept the particular specimen before them.
How it grew upon them as they neared it! It seemed to spread right andleft, and to tower upward toward the sky, until even the reckless Robwas hushed into awed silence and sat staring aloft, with feelingsbeyond expression. It was much the same with Fred, who, sitting at thestern, almost held his breath, while the overwhelming grandeur hushedthe words trembling on his lip.
The mass of ice was hundreds of feet in width and length, while thehighest portion must have been, at the least, three hundred feet abovethe surface of the sea. What, therefore, was the bulk below. Itscolossal proportions were beyond imagination.
The part within their field of vision was too irregular and shapelessto admit of clear description. If the reader can picture a mass ofrock and _debris_ blown from the side of a mountain, multiplied amillion times, he may form some idea of it.
The highest portion was on the opposite side. About half-way from thesea, facing the little party, was a plateau broad enough to allow acompany of soldiers to camp upon it. To the left of this the iceshowed considerable snow in its composition, while, in other places,it was as clear as crystal itself. In still other portions it was darkor almost steel blue, probably due to some peculiar refraction oflight. There were no rippling streams of water along and over itsside, for the weather was too cold for the thawing which would beplentiful when it struck a warmer latitude.
But there were caverns, projections, some sharp, but most of themblunt and misshapen, steps, long stretches of vertical wall as smoothas glass, up which the most agile climber could never make his way.
Courageous as Rob Carrol unquestionably was, a feeling akin to terrortook possession of him when they were quite near the iceberg. Heturned to suggest to Jack that they had come far enough, when heobserved that the sailor had turned the bow of the boat to the right,though he was still rowing moderately.
He was the only one that was not impressed by the majesty of thescene. Squinting one eye up the side of the towering mass, heremarked:
"There's enough ice there to make a chap's etarnal fortune, if hecould only hitch on and tow it into London or New York harbor; butbeing as we've sot out to take a view of it, why we'll sarcumnavigatethe thing, as me cousin remarked when he run around the barn to dodgethe dog that was nipping at his heels."
The voice of the sailor served to break the spell that had held thetongues of the boys mute until then, and they spoke more cheerily, butunconsciously modulated their voices, as a person will do when walkingthrough some great gallery of paintings or the aisles of a vastcathedral.
They were so interested, however, in themselves and their novelexperience that neither looked toward the "Nautilus," which wasrapidly passing from sight, as they were rowed around the iceberg. Hadthey done so, they would have seen Captain McAlpine making eagersignals to them to return, and, perhaps, had they listened, they mighthave heard his stentorian voice, though the moderate wind, blowing atright angles, was quite unfavorable for hearing.
Unfortunately not one of the three saw or heard the movement or wordsof the skipper, and the little boat glided around the eastern end ofthe mountainous mass and began slowly creeping along the further side.
"Hello!" called out Rob, "there's a good place to land, Jack; let's goashore."
"Go ashore!" repeated the sailor, with a scornful laugh; "what kind ofa going ashore do you call that?"
While there was nothing especially desirable in placing foot upon aniceberg, yet, boy-like, the two friends felt that it would be worthsomething to be able to say on their return home that they hadactually stood upon one of them.
Inasmuch as the whole thing was a fool's errand in the eyes of JackCosgrove, he thought it was well to neglect nothing, so he shied theboat toward the gently sloping shelf, which came down to the water,and, with a couple of powerful sweeps of the oars, sent the bow far upthe glassy surface, the stoppage being so gradual as to cause hardly aperceptible shock.
"Out with you, younkers, for the day will soon be gone," he called,waiting for the two to climb out before following them.
They lost no time in obeying, and he drew the boat so far up that hefelt there was no fear of its being washed away during their absence.All took their guns, and, leaving it to the sailor to act as guide,they began picking their way up the incline, which continued for fullya dozen yards from the edge of the water.
"This is easy enough," remarked Rob; "if we only had our skates, wemight--confound it!"
His feet shot up in the air, and down he came with a bump that shookoff his hat, and would have sent him sliding to the boat had he notdone some lively skirmishing to save himself. Fred laughed, as everyboy does under similar circumstances, and he took particular heed
tohis own footsteps.
Jack had no purpose of venturing farther than to the top of the gentleincline, since there was no cause to do so; but, on reaching thepoint, he observed that it was easy to climb along a rougher portionto the right, and he led the way, the boys being more than willing tofollow him.
They continued in this manner until they had gone a considerabledistance, and, for the first time, the guide stopped and lookedaround. As he did so, he uttered an exclamation of amazement:
"Where have been my eyes?" he called out, as if unable to comprehendhis oversight.
"What's the matter?" asked the boys, startled at his emotion, forwhich they saw no cause.
"There's one of the biggest storms ever heard of in these latitudes,bearing right down on us; it'll soon be night, and we shall be catchedafore we reach the ship, lads! there isn't a minute to lose; it's allmy fault."
He led the way at a reckless pace, the youths following as best theycould, stumbling at times, but heeding it not as they scrambled totheir feet and hurried after their friend, more frightened, ifpossible, than he.
He could out-travel them, and was at the bottom of the incline first.Before he reached it, he stopped short and uttered a despairing cry:
"No use, lads! the boat has been swept away!"
Such was the fact.