CHAPTER XXIV
ON TO GLORY
The little group huddled close on their piece of drift. In the pasthour, winds had swept a huge tableland of frozen white so near that ithad verged on riding down the castaways. But instead a veer of the windhad sent it scraping by, and shearing off the whole eastern edge oftheir domain. A few more such vast, unwelcome visitors and their islandwould be ground to bits.
Young Renaud, the only one of the three whom exposure had not crippledin some way, had hastily gathered together portions of their supplies inpacks that could be strapped to each person. The queer rubber boat wasready for launching though it seemed beyond reason to hope that thisfrail craft could live for even a moment in that grinding, crashing,ice-strewn sea.
With a sudden hoarse cry, Lee Renaud leaped to his feet, seized thehalf-blind Scotty by the shoulder. "Quick! Help me lift Granger to theboat! In it yourself! I'll stand ready to push off if--if what's comingstrikes!"
Whatever the thing was, tornado or waterspout, a crash seemed imminent.Straight toward the piteous group on their drift island, the stormy lineof white moved. Tons of ice were hurled up in great masses that crashedback to churn the sea in gigantic geyser spouts of turmoil.
Lee Renaud shivered and closed his eyes. It would soon be the end. Godgive him strength to meet that end like a man! Shoulders squared, headup, young Renaud stood beneath his wireless aerial with its flutteringbit of flag that was a little piece of America up here in the FarthestNorth.
Boom, crash, boom! It was a titanic sight, ice ripped and torn byterrific power.
Then behind the ice, through the ice, there came a strange sight. Notthe tornado whirl Lee Renaud was expecting, but the great prow of avessel. The most powerful ice-breaker of the North, the Kravassin,fighting through to the rescue!
Renaud's heart stood still. Relief at the reprieve from death itselfrushed through him in a revulsion of feeling that left him weak. Hislimbs were as water, his bones were as sand. He crumpled to his knees.
It was a stupendous spectacle that Renaud was given to watch--a giganticbattle between the vessel's ten thousand horsepower engines and thefrozen clutch of the North.
How could the great ship smash through to the tiny island withoutsinking it?
In anguish, Renaud watched the oncoming, triple-sheathed ram of theKravassin cut her terrible path.
The refugees would be submerged, swept off their ice. How could themonster heave in to them without drowning them?
But with a sure hand, Markovitch, captain of the mighty ice-breaker,sent his crashing, metal-clad monster in a great circle about themarooners' piece of floe. Then cutting in, he made a smaller circle, anda still smaller circle--eased his huge vessel close. Movement was slow.The great ram of the prow, instead of smashing, was nosing in, creepingin now.
With a shudder of steam exhaust, she came to rest, her bulk pushingtogether the ice drift before her to make a white bridge to themarooners' island. Over her side swarmed a rescue crew, Ravoia of theSD-55 leading on foot now to the little ice island he had located fromthe air days ago. The castaways were rushed back, sped across rockingfloe, lifted across little chasms that in another moment would be greatchasms. At the ship itself, ladders and hawsers and scores of willinghands waited to draw them up to safety.
"Easy now! He's injured! That one's not seeing much. Easy, easy!" rosecalls from the ice.
Blanket slings hoisted up Van Granger and Scotty.
Lee Renaud had the strength to go up and over by himself, though thefeel of solid ship beneath him took the last of his fighting spirit outof him. Safe! He didn't have to be strong for himself and for the sickand injured men longer. He was going to make a fool of himself--going tofaint. He fought off blackness in vain. He felt kind hands catch him,lower him. The last he heard was Ravoia calling out, "Hey, get thisup--Renaud's wireless. It's made history, linked the world."
When Renaud came to, he had the feeling that he was still on a bit ofdrift ice, that it must all be a marvelous dream--the great ship,comforts, warmth, the crew calling him a hero.
With the picking up of these first refugees, the Kravassin's work hadjust begun. On into the frozen north she pushed, following that one clueof the lost dirigible, that faint wireless call Renaud's radio hadpicked up--"Adrift on ice. Latitude 78."
Life aboard the Kravassin was one steady round of excitement. Food andcomforts soon brought Lee's strong young body back to normal. Snug infurs, from hooded parka to boot tip, he took his part in the work as thesteel-clad ram bucked the floes, deeper and deeper into the frozen oceanof the Arctic.
Never was there such a ship as the Kravassin, never such a method offighting the power of ice. With metal ram to crack the ice, with keelbuilt to ride the floe in slide movement, with ten thousand horsepowerengines to push her, the Kravassin fought her fight. Huge water tanks,fore and aft, were filled or emptied at the rate of hundreds of tons anhour, so the weight could be increased enormously to crush the ice or sothe ship could roll to smash itself free.
For a week the Kravassin pushed on, pathmaking through the frozen pack,heading north, trailing the faint clue--"Lost at 78."
It was hopeless. The Arctic summer light was merging into the twilightthat meant the beginning of the long night of the Arctic winter. Manmust flee before that long period of darkness descended. Part of thecrew were ready to turn back. They had done their duty, had crossed78,--no lost dirigible was in these parts. Perhaps it was all ahallucination of young Renaud's fevered mind--that radio call from thenorth. So the talk went.
They must push on, farther still; it was drift ice the call had comefrom; the dirigible may have been swept on and on. Renaud pleaded andbegged for a longer search. He reinforced his pleading with promise ofrich pay out of the golden treasure that had crashed with the gondola onthe ice.
Because of Renaud's intense belief in that faint call, the mighty searchwent on yet a little longer. Steel prow crashing tons of ice to the skyand back--airship flotilla searching from the upper strata--men's eyesstrained ahead for glint of lost silver hulk!
A second week was wearing itself away when lookouts sighted a thread ofsmoke on the north horizon.
A day later the Kravassin had fought through to that smoke.