CHAPTER IV
On and on sailed the beautiful _Valhalla_. East and west, but alwaysnorth, went she.
Peterkin was on a voyage of discovery, and one of his chief objectsseemed to be to keep clear of the ice, which had grown very heavy indeed.
It was a delightful holiday for the children as yet, but for theprofessor a time of harder work than many know anything about at all. Itwas really wonderful how this busy little man found time to play with thechildren, with Flossy and with the dogs, or even to play his fiddle. Butthis, he would have told you, was his way of taking exercise; and he toldPansy that if it were not for her he didn't think he should ever be ableto find the island of gold he was in search of.
Do not think, though, it was all and always plain sailing. There weredangers of many kinds. Sometimes storms would suddenly rise and blow fora day or two at a stretch. At such times the sun was hidden, and thecold became intense. The waves that broke on board were turned into ice,covering the decks and bows, and giving to the ship a wondrousappearance.
One evening, after a gale like this had blown over, the stowaways, whohad not dared to show face all day, were told to come up on deck.
What a sight! Why, the _Valhalla_ was like a ghost-ship. The decks werewhite, and the bulwarks too. Every rope and stay seemed made of frostedsilver, while great icicles hung everywhere around.
It was very dark this evening, so that the children at first could hardlysee anything. But Pete soon had them all hoisted up on to the bridge.
And now he turned on the electric and coloured lights--crimson, blue, andorange. Then, what a sight was there! It was one that caused Pansy andAralia quite to forget the beauty of a pantomime they had seen the winterbefore.
They stood spell-bound, and would not have been a bit surprised if allthe deck had suddenly been crowded with fairies, with silver wands,garlands of flowers, and wings of pearly gauze. But the only fairies werethe sailors, and every one of these looked like a very old man, becauseheads and beards were white with frost and snow, and little icicles hunground their hats.
The children dreamt of it all again that night; but lo! when they went ondeck next morning, before breakfast, to have a romp and a run with thedogs and Flossy, everything was changed.
And what a change!
The sun was now shining brightly, with not a cloud in the blue sky.Icebergs lay far astern; all around was a calm blue sea, with one greatwhale half-asleep on its surface, wild birds more beautiful than any theyhad ever seen before sailing around, and, more wonderful than anythingelse, the _Valhalla_ was safe at anchor in front of a pretty island,patched with the greens, reds, and browns of lovely flowers.
"Behold!" cried Peterkin, as he lifted Pansy up. "Behold, my child, theland of gold and coals!"
Pansy's reply was to the point.
"Very pretty, very pretty," she said; "but, 'Fessor Pete, I wants to seethe gold--not the nasty coals."
This very forenoon Peterkin started off in the biggest boat to "spy outthe land", as he called it Tom and the three little stowaways wereallowed to come too. To them it was going to be a kind of picnic, and thesteward sent with them a huge basket, filled with enough good things tolast the whole crew for a week. As there was no wind, the men had to rowall the way.
"Oh," cried Pansy, "I hope dear Flossy won't swim away!"
Yes, they had taken Flossy with them as well as the dogs.
The water was deep and dark quite close to the beautiful shore, and thegirls could not help marvelling at the monsters of jelly-fish they sawfar down in its depths. Their bodies were as great as sunshades, and ofthe same shape, and the legs they jerked out from under were spangledwith stars of blue and red. Once a huge shark swam up to the boat, leeredat them with his sly and evil eyes, then, turning on his back, showed amouth that could have swallowed them all. Poor Pansy drew nearer to theprofessor with a cry of horror.
They found a little bay at last, and landed for a meal.
"I don't think there is anything that can hurt you here," said Peterkin,"and, if you like, you can run about and gather flowers while I cruiseround the coast for an hour. There, I will leave you all the rugs, thebear-skin, and the basket too."
They were delighted.
So off they set, Veevee and Briton bounding and barking in front, andFlossy waddling behind. Tom had his rifle and plenty of cartridges, butthere was really nothing to shoot but the lovely gulls, and the boy wasnot so cruel as to touch one of these.
So they wandered on and on and upwards, until they came to a level spotall one lovely carpet of small wild flowers. Poppies of many colours grewhere, mosses, yellow stone-crop, and grasses of every hue, but theyagreed not to pick any until they should be returning. Still higher theywent up the mountain-side, when suddenly little Pansy exclaimed: "Look,Tom! look, Ara! the sea is all flied away!"
Tom stared behind him and stood aghast.
A huge wall of fog or white mist had quite covered the ocean and even theshore, shutting them out from view, and was now slowly advancing towardsthem. But that was not the worst, for a low, moaning wind came on beforeit, and flakes of snow began to fall.
It was easy for Tom to say: "Let us get back at once to the beach, theboat must be there already." They had come miles from the bay. Beforethey could walk half the distance back, the snow-fog had swallowed them,and it was no wonder that they lost their way, and became cold and faintand dizzy.
Both Aralia and Pansy began to cry now, and at last sank down among thedry snow, unable to move another yard.
Tom was a boy of great courage. He thought for a little, and then hesaid: "Frank, if you can carry Pansy I'm sure I can manage Ara; and wewill try to find shelter somewhere till the storm is blown over."
So on again in this way they struggled, till, more dead than alive, theyfound, by good luck, the welcome shelter of a cave. The cave was by nomeans large, but they were surprised to find it so warm. The first thing,however, that Tom did was to walk all round the inside, rifle in hand.Tom had not been two years at sea for nothing. Meanwhile, where wasFlossy, and where was Briton?
Tom whistled again and again, till he said he had nearly whistled thewhites of his eyes out, but never a dog replied.
Something else had begun to whistle also, and that was the wind, andalthough Tom made several attempts to leave the cave, to have a look atthe weather as he called it, he found it impossible to stand. Hours andhours passed away like this, and the tempest seemed only to increase inforce.
They were all very hungry now, and so Tom shared out some biscuits he hadbrought with him, and after they had swallowed a little snow they all satdown to talk.
"I fear," said Tom, "we'll have to stay here all night. It will be goodfun, won't it, girls?"
He knew it was anything but fun himself, but he spoke in that way to keepup the children's courage.
When Aralia said, "Yes," so did Pansy, but both looked very quiet.
Soon after this, to their great joy, in bounded Briton himself, and closebehind him waddled Floss. It was clear to all that he had been helpingFlossy along, for Flossy was still little more than a puppy; but, poorwee beauty, how glad she was to see them all again!
She crawled up to Pansy, and lay down on her back to be scratched, whichwas always Flossy's way of showing she was pleased.
Well, after they had all talked till they were tired, Tom said: "Now,girls, just you lie down to sleep. Frank, here is my ticker." He gave hiscousin his watch as he spoke. "You have to do sentry for three hours.Then wake me up and I'll let you lie down. See, I'll put my rifle andbelt, with fifty cartridges in it, beside you. Mind, that is only forshow, because you're too little a boy to touch guns. Anybody want alittle more snow? No? Very well."
So the girls curled up with Veevee and Floss, and Tom lay near. ButBriton seemed to say: "No, I won't sleep; I'll lie and watch with Frank."
Frank was not sorry to have the dog beside him for it was terrible tofeel all alone in such a dismal place.
Well, the night wore slow
ly on--one, two, three, four hours--and Frankwas just looking at the rifle, and pretending to aim at something in thefalling snow, when, all at once, Briton uttered a low warning growl andsprang to his feet.
Next moment a great shambling bear was right in the mouth of the cave. Hegave a roar that seemed to shake the whole island.
Whether the boy took aim or not, I never could tell, but he certainlyfired the rifle, and down dropped Bruin dead, and lay in the snow withhis great tongue hanging out, a marvellous sight to see.
The noise in the cave was fearful, but as soon as the girls had stoppedscreaming, Frank told what had happened.
"I tell you what it is, girls," he said more than once, "there wasn't theleast bit of bravery about it. I just held out the gun, and off it went."
"Oh, but you were brave!" said Aralia; "and if you hadn't killed theawful monster, we should all be dead now.
"No, no," cried Tom, "it was only Flossy that the bear wanted! He justwanted a bit of seal for supper."
"Wowff!" barked Briton.
"Wiff!" barked Veevee, as much as to say: "No bear shall touch Flossywhile we are alive."
But nobody thought of sleeping any more, and as they were all veryhungry, Tom served out more snow.