*XII.*
We were in the midst of dinner when down the beach came a great, white,swaggering bear, sniffing the air from side to side, for the fumes ofbacon, sausage, and fried potatoes which happened just then to be in thepan. The suddenness of the apparition froze every drop of sporting bloodin my veins; but this perhaps, is not so much to be marveled at, when itis remembered that we had left our arms and ammunition in the air ship,full fifty yards away, though fortunately in the other direction.Dropping the remains of dinner on the ground, we ran with one accord andmortifying speed to the big machine, tumbled in over the side, andhauled up the ladder with a dexterity never before equalled. Here wearmed ourselves with a couple of Winchester rifles, and then crawled upon deck to watch the enemy. It was a painful sight to see our excellentrepast scattered right and left, nosed, pawed, and devoured before ourvery eyes; but it was satisfactory to observe that the beast burned hismouth and paws in his greediness. When he got through licking his chopsand sucking his fingers he had time to look around, and catching sightof the air ship, was surprised. Evidently he was familiar with thatpart of the coast and had never seen such a thing before. We decided towait until curiosity had brought him nearer, which it was not long indoing. Still sniffing, now probably for danger, the monster slowlyapproached, and when two-thirds of the distance had been covered, hestopped suddenly, overcome with astonishment. It was our time to fire,and crack went the rifles, almost at the same instant. It had beenpreviously agreed that I was to aim for the head, while Torrence was toshoot immediately behind the shoulder. The animal started up with asnort, surprised and wounded. He showed his teeth and snapped as hecaught sight of us, and then turned and began licking his wound. I wassurprised that he had not keeled over stone dead, for as the bloodtrickled down over his long, dirty, white hair it looked to me as if itissued from a vital point, but it was difficult to tell. Presently thesound of our voices renewed his anger, and he came at us, on a gallop.We waited until he touched the vessel, when, just as we were about tofire again, the bear raised himself upon his hind legs as if trying toget a foothold to board us, and rolled over dead without a struggle. Wedischarged our rifles into the animal's skull as he lay there, and thenafter a few minutes went to work upon him. It was a great find, as hewas large and fat. We soon had him bled, and cut up into convenientsizes. We left the skin for other explorers, not caring to bother withit, but the principal part of the meat was carefully stowed on board.After this adventure we went back and finished our dinner, or rather wecooked another; this time being careful to carry the rifles with us.
As we sat smoking our pipes around the camp fire, after finishing ourrepast, I asked Torrence why he had been so anxious to kill a reindeer.
"For marks!" he said, blowing a volume of smoke into the air.
"Marks!" I exclaimed in astonishment; "what marks? What are you talkingabout?"
"Ear marks," he answered, still puffing away at his pipe.
"And why are the ear marks of a Spitzbergen reindeer especiallyinteresting?" I inquired.
Torrence looked at me thoughtfully as he answered:
"Because they have been made by the hand of man!"
"And why shouldn't they be?"
"For a very simple reason. Because man does not inhabit these islands!"
"Then how is your theory supported?"
"By an enormous array of accumulated evidence that there are vastcontinents to the north of us, which are inhabited both by man,reindeer, and other animals!"
"You mean _continent_, not _continents_," I suggested.
"On the contrary; I believe there are continents fully equaling in sizeEurope, Asia, Africa and the two Americas!"
Had the fellow lost his mind? I looked carefully to see if he wereserious, and observing no indications of a joke, answered:
"Your theory might be all right if there was room enough around the polefor all the land you speak of; but as there isn't, I am afraid you'llhave to be contented with one very moderate-sized continent, which Iwill admit it is barely possible may exist. As for its being inhabited,I don't believe it."
"It's a pity, Gurthrie, for you'll have to believe a great deal morethan that before you get through with this journey. But speaking of thereindeer, do you know that immense herds of them roam over theseislands; and that the enormous numbers which have been killed in formeryears--amounting to several thousand sometimes, in a singleseason--tends to support the theory that they have migrated from anotherland? But that is not all; for these creatures carry with them strongerevidences of a habitable region to the north--for they cannot havemigrated from the south."
"And what is that evidence?" I asked.
"The ear marks we were speaking of," continued Torrence, "thousands ofthese reindeer are marked; that is, they have their ears cut in a way toindicate that it was done by the hand of man. It is the opinion of manyhunters in this region that these animals have emigrated from an unknowncountry to the north; and that is my belief also!"
"But you spoke of _continents_!" I urged.
"And I still speak of continents. But wait; I do not wish to startleyou, or shake your faith in my sanity. What I know, I know; and what Iknow, you shall soon see for yourself. But mind, we are going into awarmer climate, and we shall find all that I have intimated. But alittle at a time; do not strain your mind with thoughts you have neveryet learned to assimilate."
I admitted that if it were a fact about the ear marks it was certainly acurious one; whereupon Torrence declared that it was only one out ofmany reasons for the theory, which he would explain later. Altogetherthere was a conviction in his manner which was very impressive. Ilistened to him talk for more than an hour, and must confess that heproduced an array of alleged facts that were startling. He ended bydeclaring that our discoveries would vastly exceed those of Columbus intheir magnitude, and that we should go down to history as the greatestof all explorers!
When Torrence stopped talking, our pipes had gone out, and the fire wasreduced to a few glowing coals. We got up to make preparations for afinal departure into the great unknown, and I confess, with a good dealmore awe than I had previously thought possible. If Torrence wasoppressed by the contemplation of what we were about to undertake, heonly showed it by a more earnest and serious demeanor than he had yetexhibited. For my part, I dreaded to leave the island, overcome withthe thought of what might be awaiting us. Beyond this, I was seriouslypuzzled by my brother's remark about continents, and their size, butcould not bring myself to insist on an explanation, which he seemed, forthe present, disinclined to give. We had started together, and we mustpull together for the rest of the journey, come what might.
We now made a thorough and exhaustive examination of the machine, andwere gratified to find that everything was still in perfect order, as wedid not wish to land upon an unknown continent without the means ofreturning. The vessel had been so thoroughly built, regardless of cost,that she seemed as staunch as when she first came out of the hands ofthe contractors at London. We took aboard several casks of fresh waterfor drinking, besides our bear meat; put everything to rights, and thenshutting ourselves inside, concluded to take a long sleep beforeresuming our journey northward. Nothing disturbed us; not even a polarbear discovered our position, and when we arose at the end of twentyhours' rest, we partook of another hearty meal, and were ready to move.
Taking our places on deck, Torrence touched the controllers, and in aminute we were suspended a couple of hundred feet above the beach. Thenslowly we commenced navigating the tortuous coast, first bearingeastwardly across the bay, and then following up the shore line as faras the Norwegian isles, a reef of rocky keys off the northwest coast.Here we took careful bearings; made allowances for the rather singularbehavior of the compass, and then heading the ship due north, bore awayupon our course.
I felt as if I were about to sail over the face of an unknown planet,and in a great measure, it was just this that we were destined toacco
mplish. I was fully alive to the terrors of that mysterious,strangely isolated quarter of our globe, where it seemed as if theAlmighty had set his ban against man's advance, by encircling it with animpenetrable barrier, to cross which, every effort, of which historyholds any record, was fruitless.
When the granite cliffs of Spitzbergen were fading from our view,Torrence turned to me, and said with emphasis:
"Mark my word! We are going to find a better climate ahead than we haveleft behind. We are going to find land, and a race of men who areunknown to the world. We are going to find many other things; but putthat much down as a record if you will;" and so I have entered it.
We were alone, and with a loneliness never felt before. The lastsaw-like edge of Spitzbergen had sunk below the water line to the south.Yes, even that terribly Northern foothold must now be looked upon as asouthern home, when compared with our present resting place. Should weever look forward to reaching it, as a tropical paradise--the bourne ofall our hopes and expectations? For Spitzbergen had known men; it was apart of our own world, and as I watched it fade and sink away it seemedclose to all I had ever known and loved in my dear old earth, wherenothing could ever be so solemnly, so awfully foreign as where we were,and where we were going.
Suddenly it became cold, and looking down we saw that the ocean hadgrown strangely quiet, the sparkle and motion of the waves having leftit. Descending to a lower level we saw that we were passing over afield of pack ice, solid and impenetrable; and we slackened speed, andsunk still lower to examine it.
As we slipped along close above its hummocky surface, at the rate of tenor twelve miles an hour, we could appreciate some of the difficultieswith which Arctic explorers have had to contend. What a herculean taskto forge ahead through such an obstacle, whether with ship or sled! Andyet with what absolute ease we seemed about to solve the puzzle of theages. However, we were still a long way from the pole, and there was notelling what might happen before reaching it. At times I would beseized with a superstitious dread of some awful impending calamity, orof some horrible condition of the earth's surface or atmosphere, whichwould make it impossible for man to live where we were going. ButTorrence was firm and resolute, and if such thoughts ever troubled him,he did not speak of them. I could scarcely believe that we shouldcontinue to the end as easily as we had begun, and advance withouthindrance into the forbidden mysteries beyond.
It grew colder, although I can truly say, so well were we providedagainst the weather, that neither of us had suffered, and we continuedto sit on deck in our top coats without inconvenience. Torrence madehalf a turn in the screw controlling our elevation, and we rose slightlyhigher, as there were dangerous looking inequalities in the ice ahead.We also moderately increased our speed, keeping, however, low enough,and running with just such headway as would enable us to see to the bestadvantage the formations below and around us.
Presently it began to snow, and the ice field became covered with atattered sheet, the uneven protuberances sticking through in dirtypatches. But it was only a summer shower, which we ran out of in adozen or twenty miles, leaving the sea of frozen waves and hummocks bareagain. Then we came to floes, or extended areas of ice that had notpacked, wind-driven into the solid masses behind, but were stillshifting about with the current, undecided as to their future course.The crunching and roaring of these masses was horrible. Detached areas,miles in extent, would rush at each other with Titanic power, andmeeting, rend the air with deafening crashes like the wrecking of athousand trains.
Next came the piling up into strange, fantastic shapes. Pyramids,towers, and grim fortifications would threaten each other for a minute,and then slowly advancing, meet with a report like thunder, splittingthe air from earth to heaven, and melt into each other, to be againsqueezed and piled into new designs. It was an awful, yet fascinatingsight. But the worst had not come. Onward we swept over this crunchingand grinding world, roaring in agony to free itself from the embrace ofthe demon Cold, which was slowly but surely stiffening it into immovableforms. And as we advanced, the thundering of the under world grew less,for there was no more movement. The forts, the towers, and the pyramidshad become fixed and silent, and a city of weird architecture followed.A city of frozen monuments, deserted streets, of isolated villas,cathedrals, parks, and gardens, lakes of dazzling whiteness, turretedbattlements with mounted guns commanding open spaces, and distant riversthreading the land beyond. But a deathlike silence reigned. It was amarvelous change, but a greater still was coming. Looking far to thenorth we observed that these singular ice forms were growing in size andsplendor, so that it seemed advisable to rise a little higher to avoid acollision. But they grew. The forts became lofty houses; the housescathedrals, and the cathedrals great ragged mountains of ice, withpinnacles reaching skyward.
* * * * *
"This," said Torrence, turning toward me with great solemnity, "is thePalaeocrystic Sea--the sea of ancient ice--the sea which man has nevercrossed. We have passed the limits of the known; beyond lies themystery of the undiscovered world. A world which you will soon admit isgreater, and of far more importance than our own!"
Although I could not gather his meaning, there was an import in hiswords that appalled me.
* * * * *
And now the scene grew more terrible with each mile of advance. Ages offreezing and thawing, accumulations of snow and ice, had produced aspectacle more awful than words can picture. A sea of mountains andvalleys; of canons black in eternal night. A sea of silence. A sea ofdeath.
* * * * *
But I will not dwell upon the horrors that separate the known from theunknown. The Palaeocrystic is simply an unexplored belt of icesurrounding the poles. Indeed it is not known to be unbroken, or to beof equal severity throughout. It might be termed a ribbon of icemountains, which has been ages in forming, and which probably will notaverage more than fifty miles in breadth, and at some points, doubtlessmuch narrower. Beyond it we came upon free ice again, and furtherreached the open polar sea.
Here was a marked change in the temperature, and as the air currentswere from the north, the frozen area had little effect. Our thermometershowed a few degrees above freezing, and a tendency to rise stillhigher.
We now felt that we were fairly launched into an unknown world. Aplacid ocean stretched beneath to an unexplored horizon.
"Now!" exclaimed Torrence with enthusiasm; "if there are any discoveriesto be made, we ought soon to make them."
Taking out a pair of field glasses we searched the skyline from theupper deck.
"No land in sight!" said Torrence; "but if I am not mistaken, yonder isa flock of wild geese, leading our course, and not more than half a mileahead.
"They might be petrels!" I suggested.
"Whatever they are, I propose to give them a chase. A bird or two fordinner wouldn't be a bad idea!"
Although I had never hunted wild geese in an air ship, I agreed that itought to be good sport.