CHAPTER VII.--"HERE'S TO THE LOVED ONES AT HOME."
Captain Talbot was a brave man, but the ice for the present looked fartoo dangerous to venture in through. So he kept "dodging" along thegreat barrier-edge or cruising eastwards, and away towards what is knownas Enderby Land.
Sometimes he encountered a storm, brief but terrible, and dangerous inthe extreme. They saw around them great bergs coming into collision,their green, towering, wall-like sides dashed together by the force ofwind and waves; heard the thunder of the encounter, and witnessed themist and foam as they fell to pieces in a chaos of boiling surf.
At times dense fog would envelop the whole sea, and then sail had to betaken in, for the icebergs went floating past and past like mysteriousghosts.
But clearer weather prevailed at last, and two more monster whales werecaptured.
Three great leviathans! Nearly a voyage in itself. No wonder that thespirits of the men rose higher and higher, as they thought of those whowould press them to their hearts on their return home from thisadventuresome cruise. And--happiest thought of all!--they would haveplenty of money to spend on fathers or mothers, wives or children. Formy experience is that so long as they are unallured by the drink demon,British sailors are not really improvident.
But the good luck of the _Flora_ did not continue. Talbot had expectedto find sea-elephants in great evidence in these regions.
They are so called, it will do you no harm to know, reader, first onaccount of their immense size and unwieldiness, many of the malesattaining a length of twenty feet or over, and from the fact that theyhave a kind of proboscis which, when alarmed or angry, they inflate tillit looks almost like the trunk of an elephant. They are dangerous then,and, though as a rule peaceable, can give a good account of anyonedaring enough to attempt an attack upon them, armed with the spikedseal-club alone.
They usually, however, go further north during the spring or puppingseason, but now having returned, they ought to have been aboutsomewhere. But they had evidently chosen fresh ground, and CaptainTalbot was unable to find a trace of them.
He was not easily cast down, however, and taking advantage of a splendidwesterly and north-westerly wind, he daringly set every inch ofcanvas--remember it was the long Antarctic day--and flew eastwards onits wings.
But his object was not only to get a paying voyage, but to do some goodalso to science and to geographical knowledge as well.
It was the duty of Duncan himself, and of Frank as well, not only tokeep a log, but to enter therein, along with the ship's sailings,adventures, &c., the temperature of air and water twice a day.
The vessel again appeared to imagine herself a clipper-built yacht andto fly along, and by good luck she not only had a fair wind, but a clearsea, having only now and then to steer away from floating icebergs.
But now and then a boat was lowered to pick up some unusual form ofseal, that might be observed floating along on a morsel of snow-cladice. So tame were these that they only gazed open-mouthed at theadvancing boat, and thus fell an easy prey to the gunner.
Very few more Right whales were seen, and none captured.
For a time the course held was about east with a bit of northerly in it,then on reaching the sixties they bowled along in fine style, and in thefirst week in February they were daringly--far too daringly as it turnedout--steering almost directly south through a comparatively open seatowards the great southern ice-barrier in the seventies, which lies eastof a mighty volcanic hill well-named Erebus.
It was autumn now--early autumn in these regions, but still a delightfultime.
Do not imagine that this distant ocean was uninhabited. Far from it.There were still millions on millions of birds about, that later onwould fly far away to nor'land lands and islands. Petrels of manysorts, especially the snow-white species, Cape pigeons, the smallerpenguins on point ends of land, and gulls of such beauty and rarity thatit would have puzzled cleverer men than our heroes to classify them.
Many of these were carefully shot and made skins of, to be set up whenthey reached once more their dear native land, if God in his mercyshould spare them.
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Mount Sabine itself is passed, and soon after, to the east of thatmountain, they lie for a day or two at Coulman Island. Strangelyenough, though floating icebergs are heaving about all around, thisrocky and storm-tossed isle is bare, and they can land.
The captain, with Frank and Conal, go off on a lichen hunt inland. Theytake their rifles with them, but no wild creature is here that can hurtthem.
They find beautiful mosses, however, and strangely beautiful lichens.Indeed, some parts of the rising ground are crimson or orange with theselatter, and the green of the mosses stand out in lovely and strikingcontrast.
They continued their journey far inland, and although the rocks and thesea all about the shore was alive with birds, here it was solemn andstill enough. The scene was indeed impressive and beautiful, and withthe blue of the sky above and the bright blue of the ocean beyond,dotted over with green and lofty snow-capped ice-blocks, the wholeseemed a little world fresh from the hands of the great Creator of all.
Captain Talbot took specimens not only of the flora--if so I may callthe scanty vegetation of this island--but of its rocks as well, and theheight of its chief hills, with many soundings around it, to say nothingof collecting marine algae.
All the way southwards, as far as the great ice-barrier to the eastwardof the land wherein was Mount Terror, he was at the pains of surveyingand charting out for the benefit of future generations, for as laid downin the charts that he possessed the coast was very indolently describedindeed.
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He was a very ambitious mariner, this skipper of the _Flora M'Vayne_,and at the same time a bold, daring, true-blue sailor.
Now would be the time, therefore, to make his great aerial journey stillfarther to the southward. But could such a thing be successfullyaccomplished? That was the question that he and he alone had to answerfor himself. There was no one to consult.
And he took a whole long day to consider it, keeping himself very muchalone in his state-room that he might come quietly to a correctconclusion.
Thus far to the south had he come with the intention of penetratingstill farther by balloon. But he had calculated on getting here muchsooner.
He had no intention of doing anything foolishly rash. Had he reached 75deg. south latitude when the summer was still in its prime he might havereckoned on perpetual sunshine and constant shifting of wind, but nowthe breeze blew mostly from the south, and although by rising into thehigher regions he might get a fair wind if he descended one hundredmiles nearer to the Antarctic Pole, was there any certainty that heshould ever return? Indeed, it was the reverse. It seemed as thoughthere was not the ghost of a chance of his ever seeing his ship again.
Life is sweet, and so at long last he gave up all thoughts of his aerialvoyage for the present season.
He communicated this resolve to his mates and youngsters that day atdinner.
But the sun had already begun to set to the south'ard, though so briefwas the night that scarce a star was even visible.
"We shall now," he told them, "bear up for the north and the west oncemore, and if we reach the lone isles of Kerguelen in time, we may yetfall among old sea-elephants enough to pay us handsomely. For though Ihave never been there, I am told that they make that lone region ahabitat throughout the greater part of the year."
"And then we shall be homeward-bound, sha'n't we, sir?" said Frank.
"Yes," was the reply. "But I say, young fellow, you are not tired of asailor's life, are you?"
"Oh no! I would like to see all--all the world first, and then returnand dream of my wild adventures, and fight my battles with the stormymain o'er and o'er and o'er again."
"Bravo! lad, though you are just a little effusive. Well, you are prettystrong in wind and limb, Frank, aren't you?"
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nbsp; "Fairly, sir. I haven't got real Highland legs like Duncan there, butthey've always served me well on a pinch."
"Well, as soon as we get into the neighbourhood of Mount Terror again Imean to make an ascent, and I shall want the assistance of all you youngfellows, and a hand or two besides. There are scientific instruments totake along, besides plenty of food, drink, and sleeping-bags, for Iguess it will take us the greater part of three days to accomplish thejourney to the top and back.
"What is the height, sir?"
"It is said to be nearly eleven thousand feet high, and it is volcanic."
"Don't you think," said Morgan the mate, "that the adventure is almostfoolhardy?"
"It is risky enough, I daresay; but really, Morgan, my dear fellow, Ihate the idea of going back home without having accomplished somethingout of the common."
And so, after some further conversation of an after-dinner style, theascent was determined on.
This was Saturday night, and as usual wives and sweethearts weretoasted, for Captain Talbot was a man who dearly loved to keep up oldcustoms.
So after a hearty supper of sea-pie the men got up a dance, Frank andthe man who played the clarionet forming, as usual, the chief portion ofthe band.
Old Pen was in grand form to-night, and his antics, as he danced andwhirled around with little Johnnie Shingles, were laughable in theextreme. It would be impossible to say that Pen tripped it--
"On the light fantastic toe".
For his feet were about as broad and flat as a couple of kipperedherrings, but he made the best use of them he could, and no one couldhave done more.
After the dance the chief yarn-spinners assembled in a wide circlearound the galley fire. Frank and Conal made two of the party, withnoble Vike in the rear.
It hardly would have needed the rum that the cabin steward dealt out tomake these good fellows happy to-night or to cause them to spin shortyarns and sing, so jolly were they to know the ship was homeward bound--
"Across the foaming billows, boys, Across the roaring sea, "We'll all forget our hardships, lads, With England on the lee".
But the crew of the brave _Flora M'Vayne_ took their cue from theskipper, and never a Saturday night passed without many a song and manya toast, and always an original yarn of some adventure afloat or ashore.Sings Dibdin:--
"The moon on the ocean was dimmed by a ripple, Affording a chequered delight; The gay jolly tars passed the word for the tipple And the _toast_--for 'twas Saturday night, Some sweetheart or wife that he lov'd as his life, Each drank, while he wished he could hail her, But the standing toast that pleased the most was-- Here's the wind that blows and the ship that goes, And the lass that loves a sailor!"
So thoroughly old-fashioned was Captain Talbot that on some Saturdaynights he did not think it a bit beneath him to join his men around thefire, and they loved him all the better for it too.
Well, no matter how crowded the men might be of a night like this, therewas always room left in the inner circle for Viking, old Pen, and Jimthe monkey.
Jim, with his red jacket on, used to sit by Viking, looking very seriousand very old, and combing the dog's coat with his long slender blackfingers.
This was a kind of shampoo that invariably sent Vike off to sleep.
Then Jim would lie down alongside him, draw one great paw over his body,and go off to sleep also.
But old Pen would be very solemn indeed. He was troubled with coldfeet, and it was really laughable enough to see him standing there onone leg while he held up and exposed his other great webbed pedalapparatus to the welcome glow emitted by the fire.
Sometimes yarns were at a discount, though songs never were, and nomatter how simple, they were always welcome, even if told without anystraining for effect and in ordinary conversational English, if they hadtruth in them.
On this particular Saturday night Captain Talbot came forward and took aseat in a corner to smoke his long pipe, while the steward brewed him atumbler of punch with some cinnamon and butter in it, for the skipperhad a cold.
"It's long since we've had a yarn from you, sir," remarked thecarpenter.
The skipper took a drink, and then let his eyes follow the curling smokefrom his pipe for a few seconds before replying.
"Well, Peters," he said, "I've had so many adventures in my time that Ihardly ever know which to tell first. Once upon a time I served in aRoyal Navy ship on the coast of Africa, and it is just the odour of the'baccy, boys, that brings this little yarn to my mind."
"Out with it, sir," cried one.
"Yes, out with it, Captain. We'll listen as if it were a sermon, and wewere old wives."
"First and foremost," said Talbot, "let me give you a toast--Here's tothe loved ones at home!"
"The loved ones at home!" And every glass was raised, and really thattoast was like a prayer.