CHAPTER III
Two little girls, one little boy, and one little dog, all as black aschimney-sweeps, the girls with their arms in the air, now came wildlyracing aft.
Tom himself, come back to life, was standing on the capstan waving hiscap in the air, and cheering and laughing like a mad thing.
Aralia and Pansy reached the quarter-deck before anyone could say"knife", and, black as they were, sprang right into Captain Staysail'sarms, hugging him and kissing him.
"What!--what!--what!--" He tried to get out a sentence, but failed.
"Oh, I was so frightened, Unky dear, but I is so happy now!" cried Pansy.
"Bless my soul and body," cried Staysail at last, "how did all thishappen?"
Then he went forward a few paces, the little ones clinging to him all thetime, and Veevee racing round the deck like a live muff.
"Tom, you young rascal, jump down here at once. This is all your work.Now, give a full account of it, sir."
"Oh, I do hope, Uncle, you'll forgive me, but Frank and little Pansy andAralia did want to come with us so much, that--that--!"
"That you took them as stowaways, eh?"
"I'm afraid that's it, sir."
The captain pretended to be awfully angry, and said he would put aboutand land the lot at Aberdeen.
"In the meantime, go below, children, and get yourselves washed; thesteward will see to you. Steward!"
"Ay, ay, sir, I'se heah, sah."
"Let Miss Aralia and Pansy have that spare cabin near mine. I'll talk toyou afterwards, Tom."
Tom hung his head in sorrow--so it seemed,--but it really was to hide asmile.
He got near enough to his sisters to say: "Keep up your pecker, Pansy,for there won't be any Aberdeen about it."
In the spare cabin stood a big box that nobody had noticed before. Tomhad smuggled it on board, and it contained his sisters' best things, anda full rig-out for them for the Arctic regions.
Sly old Tom!
He now stole into their cabin and gave them their clothes, and whenStaysail came down to dinner at twelve, with his spy-glass under his arm,no wonder he cried: "Hillo! Hillo!"
For here were the three children, all mirth and smiles, seated besidePete, and Tom, with head bowed down, waiting to take his seat.
"Hillo! Hillo! But what will your father and mother think, my dears?"
"Oh," cried Tom, "we made that all right! Father gave his consent, andhe'll easily manage Mother."
"Steward!" shouted the captain, and Jake came running. "Put the otherhalf-leaf in the table to-night, and lay covers for three more, for theseyoung ragamuffins must mess with us in future."
There was no more word about ghosts now, and the kind professor forgavethe Finlander. He was set free and sent to duty, and now for weeks andweeks there wasn't a much happier vessel afloat than the brave ship_Valhalla_ bound for the Frozen North.
The two dogs became great friends, but, strangely enough, both dislikedBroomberg, and kept out of his way whenever they could. Once, indeed,when the man bent down to stroke Veevee, Briton stood guard over hislittle friend and growled.
"Hands off!" the mastiff seemed to say, "hands off till we know moreabout you!"
* * * * *
Of course Uncle was chief favourite with the children, but all the threeof them came to like the little professor very much indeed. He was withthem nearly all day long. Tom was usually very busy; so, too, was UncleStaysail; and though it must not be thought that Pete was an idle man,for he had much to study, still he always found time to romp and playwith Aralia, Pansy, and the two dogs.
Though the weather grew colder for a time, it was all one long, longsummer's day. For in the Arctic regions the sun never sets for at leastthree months, but just goes round and round, blazing high in the south atmid-day, and lower in the north at midnight. Indeed, in these seas, ifyou were not to look at the clock, you could not really tell whether itwas night or day.
Every evening now the little party gathered round the large stove, onwhich a copper urn of coffee was always gently simmering. Then theprofessor told his strangest stories, with perhaps Pansy on his knee, andAralia lying on the hearth-rug with the dogs. Most of his yarns wereabout the Frozen North, its dangers and perils, its joys and pleasures.
"And shall we see all these strange sights?" Pansy used to ask.
"Yes, dear, and many more than these, because I mean to give you a treatif you are good and don't get your fingers frozen."
One day great lumps of white snow-clad ice came floating by, and thatsame evening the crow's-nest was hoisted high, high up at the very top ofthe main-mast. The crow's-nest was like a big barrel with a lid at thebottom, Pansy said, and Tom, or the mate, used to climb and crawl throughthe bottom, and stand, spy-glass in hand, and look all about them.
"Oh," cried Pansy one day, "shouldn't I like to get up just once!Wouldn't you, Ara?"
"But we could never climb up," sighed her sister.
The clever professor heard them, and lo and behold! the very next day hehad a kind of easy-chair ready for them to go up in. He himself sat downin it with the children, and up they were hoisted, up and up. It was sofearsome that the girls shut their eyes and clung to Pete, but when theydid open them what a sight they saw!
They were not far off the main pack, and as far as the eye could see wasone vast field of snow-covered ice. Their eyes were dazzled in looking atit.
They were not in the crow's-nest, but close beside it, and Pete made themlook through the spy-glass. This was wonderful, for away yonder to thenorth, and near to the edge of the pack, where the sea looked as blackas ink, they could see four great ships, with their crews on the ice,shooting seals and dragging skins. But in two hours' time the _Valhalla_herself got north as far as these ships, and was stopped.
Neither of the girls felt cold, for they wore great mits and hoods, andwere altogether as snug as mice.
Then a boat was lowered, and when they looked down they could see Tomhimself get in with shooting-clothes on and a great rifle in his hand. Hewaved his cap to them, and Pansy cried: "Hoo-lay!" The boat pulled awayand soon touched the ice; Tom sprang nimbly on shore, and before long hecould be seen only as a little black dot on that dazzling plain of snow.Then he was observed to stop and kneel down while some huge monster,yellowish-white in colour, came rushing towards him.
Aralia must have the glass now.
"Oh, the bear! the bear!" she cried in grief. "It is going to kill Tom.Oh! oh! oh! my brother Tom!"
"Let me see! let me see!" screamed Pansy.
"Look now!" said Aralia with a smile. "Isn't Tom brave?"
Tom was indeed. For Pansy could now see the monster lying dead, and Tomleaning on his gun, and once more waving his cap. Then men came up andskinned the bear, and dragged the head and hide and paws to the ship.
Tom was a splendid shot, and this was his first bear. When he cameaboard, his sisters met him with pleasure, although with tears in theireyes, for he had run a great risk.
A day or two after this, when still farther north, the children had hadtheir first run upon the ice. It was all so strange, and the ice was sowhite, that they felt very giddy for a time. But the professor heldPansy, and Tom walked by Aralia.
The whole ice-pack seemed one vast plain, like a bleak moorland inwinter, only with little hillocks of ice here and there called hummocks,for the flat pieces of ice were all frozen hard together, and Arawondered where "Greenland's icy mountains" had all got to.
There were no bears about to-day, and no seals, only the sea-birds thatwent wheeling and screaming about them in thousands. When they got backto the ship it was dinner-time, and both were snow-blind. The blacksteward carried them down and seated them at table, but it was quite halfan hour before they could see.
Although the ship was now kept well away from the ice-pack, they couldoften see vessels far in through frozen ice, but busy, busy at theirterrible work. Sometimes Tom and the mate would have a boat lowered, andwould set of
f bear-hunting. One day Tom brought home a young seal. It wassuch a beauty, with soft eyes and long, warm, fluffy hair. It was sosmall that even Pansy could carry it a little way in her arms.
"Oh, do let us have it for a pet!" cried Aralia, and her uncle consented.So they called the seal "Flossy", and warmed frozen milk for it--greatstores of which had been taken on board,--and fed it with a spoon, andsoon the wee thing knew Pansy, and used to crawl and waddle after her.
The dogs didn't know what to make of Flossy at first, and Briton used toroll it all round the deck with his big nose; but Flossy rather likedthis. But one day, when Briton tried to lift it up by the tail, it struckhim a slap with its flipper that could be heard from stem to stern.
"Take that," Flossy seemed to say, "and leave my tail alone!"
The vessel was now kept farther to the east, and every day they passedbetween great patches of ice, big pieces of which kept striking the shipwith such a noise that when anyone wanted to be heard he had to shoutaloud.
The professor was very busy now, taking soundings almost every day, anddoing all kinds of clever work that even Tom, smart as he was, couldn'tunderstand. But in the evenings he still played with the children, oramused them by showing them, through magnifying-glasses, some of thewonderful things he had brought up from the bottom of the ocean.
It was all very strange and beautiful, and the children were enchanted.But their greatest treat was when he brought some little glass tankscontaining forms of animal life they had never seen before, and werenever tired of watching. Only Professor Pete didn't--because he said hecouldn't--bring them out every night.