CHAPTER XIX.
FACING THE POLAR NIGHT.
After steaming for several hours the next day, the Great Barrieropened into a small bight with shelving shores, which seemed topromise an easy landing place. A boat party, including the professorand the boys, was organized and the pull to the shore begun, after thetwo ships had swung to anchor.
The beach was a shelving one, formed of what seemed broken-offportions of volcanic rock. A short distance back from the shore therewere several rocky plateaus, clear of snow, which seemed to offer agood site for pitching camp. From the height, too, the boys could see,at no great distance, stretched out on the snow, several dark formsthat looked not unlike garden slugs at that distance.
"What are they?" asked Billy.
"Seals," replied the professor; "though of what variety I do not know,and it is impossible to tell at this distance."
Captain Barrington and Captain Hazzard, after viewing the landingplace and its surroundings, decided that a better spot could hardly befound, and the men were set to work at once marking out a site for theportable hut, which was to form the main eating and dwelling place,and the smaller structure in which the officers of the expedition wereto make their homes.
The work of setting up the main hut, which had double walls, the spacebetween being filled with cork dust and felt, was soon accomplished,and it was then divided off into small rooms. In the center a bigtable was set up and at one end a huge stove was placed for heatingand cooking. At the other end the acetylene gas-plant, for providinglight during the antarctic night, was provided. A big porch providedmeans of entrance and egress. This porch was fitted with double doorsto prevent any cold air or snow being driven into the house when itwas opened.
Captain Barrington and Captain Hazzard each had a small hut, anotherwas shared by Doctor Gregg and the first officer, while the boys andthe professor occupied still another. The engineer and Ben Stubbs wereplaced in charge of the main hut, in which the twelve men who were tobe left behind after the Brutus sailed north, were to find quarters.
When everything had been fixed in position, a task that took more thana week, the work of unloading the provisions and supplies was begun.The cases which did not hold perishable goods, or ones likely to beaffected by cold, were piled about the walls of the main hut as anadditional protection against snow and cold. The glass jars of fruitand others of the supplies were stored inside the main hut, where theycould be kept from freezing. The various scientific instruments of theexpedition were stored in the huts occupied by Captain Barrington andCaptain Hazzard. These huts, as well as the one occupied by the boysand Professor Sandburr, were all warmed by a system of hot-air pipesleading from the main stove in the hut. Specially designed oil heaterswere also provided. A short distance away the aeroplane shed or"hanger" was set up.
The coal, wood, oil and fuel the expedition would need in its longsojourn were stored in a canvas and wood shelter some distance fromthe main camp, so as to avoid any danger of fire. When all wascompleted and big steel stays passed above the roofs of the huts tokeep them in position, even in the wildest gale, a tall flag-pole,brought for the purpose, was set up and the Stars and Stripes hoisted.
While all these preparations had been going on, the boys and theprofessor had made several hunting trips over the ice and snow in theneighborhood of the camp. Some little distance back from the barrierthey had been delighted to find two small lakes, connected by a narrowneck of water, which they promptly christened Green Lake. The water inthese was warmish, and the professor said he had little doubt it wasfed by volcanic springs.
The lakes swarmed with seals, and the boys' first seal hunt was anexperience they were not likely to forget. Armed with light rifles,they and the professor set out for the seal grounds one morning onwhich the thermometer recorded seven degrees below zero. All woretheir antarctic suits, however, and none felt the cold, severe as itwas.
As they neared the seal grounds the soft-eyed creatures raised theirheads and regarded them with mild astonishment. A few of them divedinto the waters of Green Lake, but the rest stood their ground.
"There is one with a young one," shouted the professor, suddenly. "Imust have it. I will tame it."
He dashed upon the mother seal, who promptly raised herself up andstruck the professor a violent blow with her fin.
The professor was caught off his guard and, losing his footing,staggered back several steps. As he did so Frank cried a note ofwarning. The steep icy bank above Green Lake was below the scientist'sheel. Before he had time to heed the boys' warning cry the professor,with a yell of amazement, slid backwards into the green pool, fromwhich he emerged, blowing and puffing as if he had been a seal.Luckily, the water was warm and he suffered no serious consequences,but thereafter he was much more careful.
The boys could not bring themselves to kill the seals that seemed sogentle and helpless, but some of the men acted as butchers later on,for seal meat is a valuable ration in the antarctic.
"Wait till you lads encounter a leopard seal, or a sea elephant," saidCaptain Hazzard, when the boys confided their scruples to him.
"Sea leopards!" exclaimed Frank.
"Sea elephants!" echoed Harry.
"Yes, certainly," laughed the captain. "The creatures are well named,too. The sea leopard is as formidable as his namesake on land. The seaelephant is his big brother in size and ferocity."
"I shall give them a wide berth," said the professor. "That killerwhale was enough for me."
"You will be wise, too," was the rejoinder, and the captain turned tobusy himself with his books and papers, for this conversation occurredabout noon in his hut.
The next day there were good-byes to be said. The polar winter wasnear at hand, when the sea for miles beyond the barrier would freezesolid and it would have been foolhardy for the Brutus, which haddischarged all her coal but that necessary to steam north with, tohave remained longer. She sailed early in the morning, bearing withher letters to their friends in the north, which the boys could nothelp thinking might be the last they would ever write them. Unknownperils and adventures lay before them. How they would emerge from themthey did not know.
All experienced a feeling of sadness as the ship that had gallantlytowed them into their polar berth lessened on the horizon, and thenvanished altogether in the direction of the north. The Southern Crossalone remained now, but she was no longer their floating home, most ofher stores and comforts having been removed to the shore. Her boilerswere emptied and piping disconnected in preparation for her sojourn inthe ice.
With so much to be done, however, the adventurers could not long feelmelancholy, even though they knew their letters from home would notreach them till the arrival of the relief ship late in the nextautumn.
The first duty tackled by Captain Hazzard was to call all the membersof the expedition into the main hut and give them a little talk on thedangers, difficulties and responsibilities that lay before them. Themen cheered him to the echo when he had finished, and each set aboutthe duties assigned to him. Ben Stubbs was ordered to set the watchesfor the nights and adjust any minor details that might occur to him.
"I want to speak to you boys for a minute," said Captain Hazzard, ashe left the hut and returned to his own.
Wondering what he could have to say to them the boys followed him.
"As you boys know, we are not alone in our anxiety to reach the pole,"he began. "There is another nation anxious to achieve the glory also.How much of our plans they have gained possession of, I do not know.No doubt, not as much as they would have in their possession if theJap had not been captured. I am pretty confident that they knownothing of the treasure ship, for instance. But it is probable thatthey will watch us, as they have some suspicion that we are after morethan the pole itself, and have an ulterior object."
"Then you think that the Japanese expedition has landed?" asked Frank.
"They must have, if they made any sort of time," replied CaptainHazzard. "Our own progress down the coast was very sl
ow, and they haveprobably established a camp already."
"Where?"
"That, of course, I have no means of knowing," was the reply. "Isuppose that they are somewhere to the west of us, however. What Iwanted to impress on you, however, is that some time ago a bigdirigible was purchased abroad, and it is believed that it was for theuse of the Japanese polar expedition, as it had means providedspecially to warm the gas and prevent its condensation in extremelycold climates."
The boys nodded, but did not interrupt.
"It would be an easy matter for them to scout in such a ship and maybediscover our camp," said the captain. "For that reason I want to askyou boys to set an extra night watch of your own. Nobody else needknow anything about it. I feel that I can rely on you more than any ofthe other subordinates of the expedition, excepting Ben Stubbs, and heis too busy to do everything."
The boys willingly agreed to keep out a watch for any airship thatmight appear, although privately they thought it was a bit of extracaution that was unnecessary.
"I don't see why any one who could keep out of the cold at night,would want to go scooting around in an airship in the dark for," saidBilly, when they were all seated in their own hut.
"Captain Hazzard knows best," said Frank, shortly. "You and Harry hadbetter take the first watch tonight, and I and--"
He stopped, puzzled. Who was to take the other watch with him? Aftersome reflection they decided on asking the captain if a colored man,who acted as cook, couldn't be placed on to be Frank's companion. Hewas the only person they could think of whose duties would permit himto take the job, as his duties were only to cook for the officers, andwere consequently light.
Moreover, he was a trustworthy man and not likely to gossip if he sawanything strange. Captain Hazzard readily gave his consent to thecolored man, whose name was Rastus Redwing, being Frank's companion onthe night watch.
"We can have our breakfast cooked by the other man," he said, "andthen all Rastus will have to do will be to prepare lunch and dinnerand extra pay."
But Rastus, when the plan was broached to him, was by no means sowilling.
"Wha' me tramp, tramp, tramp roun' in dat dar ice and snow all denight time?" he gasped. "Laws a me Massa Frank, wha' kin' of man yoall tink dese yar darky am?"
"It only means a few hours' more work, and you get double pay for it,"said Frank.
"Oh-ho, dat alters de circumference ob de question," said Rastus,scratching his head, when this had been explained to him. "All right,Massa Frank, yo' count on me at twelve to-night fo' sho."
"Very well," said Frank. "I shall--and see that you are there."
"Ah'll be dar, don' you nebbe fear fo' dat," chuckled the colored man."Huh-huh double pay and no brakfus' ter git. Dat's what I callsLIVIN'--yas, sah."
As Frank, well pleased at having adjusted the business of the nightwatches so easily, was striding over the snow-powdered rocks towardthe boys' hut, he heard a sudden disturbance behind the main hut andloud cries of:
"Help! help!"
The person who was uttering them seemed to be in great distress andwas apparently in dire need of aid.
"It's the professor," shouted Frank, as the cries were repeated."Whatever can have happened to him now."
As he spoke, the professor came dashing toward the camp, his arms wereoutstretched as if in entreaty, and his long legs going up and downlike piston rods, at such speed was he running.
"Whatever is that caught to his coat tails?" exclaimed Frank, as hesaw that a large, heavy creature of some kind was clinging fast to theflying professor's garment.