CHAPTER XIII
Thejourney was progressing rapidly. Blue skies and green countries had disappeared. Gone were the many-colored fish. Sea and sky were of a dark gray color. Why all this? Because our two friends had reached the cold north, where for so many months no sun shines.
Luckily, though, spring had begun. The sun showed itself for a while every day. And every day it showed itself a little longer. In the summer it would be there even at midnight.
The cold was very great. Pinocchio had a fur suit which Tursio had given him, butstill he was almost freezing. Marsovino also suffered.
“It will be better for us if we dive deep into the sea,” he observed. “We shall find it warmer there.”
“Please wait awhile,” begged Pinocchio. “I want to see that island first,” and with his hand Pinocchio pointed to a high mountain still far away. It was as white as snow, and seemed almost to touch the sky.
“Oh, you want to see that island,” repeated Marsovino, chuckling to himself. “Very well.”
“Yes, it does look queer, doesn’t it? I wonder if there are people on it?”
“Perhaps. We shall see.”
It seemed as if the island had heard Pinocchio speak. Strange to say, it was coming to meet the dolphin and his friend. And with it were two others.
“Look! look!” shouted Pinocchio. “The islands at the pole walk! This is fun!”
“Yes, they are taking a walk, as you see,” answered Marsovino, who was enjoying himself, too. “But if they come nearer, our journey will end right here.”
He had not finished speaking when a terrific noise was heard. The sound was deafening. Pinocchio found himself thrown from his horse into the water.When he opened his eyes—he always closed them when he was frightened—no islands were to be seen.
“Marsovino! Marsovino! Help! Help!” he cried, fearing he had lost his friend.
“Here I am! Come!”
Swiftly the marionette swam to the dolphin, and again climbed on his back.
“Will you please tell me what happened to those islands? Or are we in fairyland? I never knew lands could disappear in a minute like that!”
“Those were not islands, my dear Pinocchio. They were icebergs. These great mountains of ice, when they come against each other, are broken into bits. See, all that is left of them are pieces of ice;” and Marsovino pointed to ice which was floating on the sea.
The next day Pinocchio had anothersurprise. In front of him, as far as he could see, was a city of ice. Everything was flat, everything was white.
Immense landscapes, snowy white, met his eye wherever he turned.
Mountains of ice could be seen in the distance. And, wonderful to see, the ice was so clear and transparent that it looked like glass. When the sun shone on it, it sparkled and showed all the colors of the rainbow.
Pinocchio thought himself in fairyland. But as he was looking, a strong wind rose suddenly; and then the icebergs fell and broke with deafening noise.
Finally, Marsovino thought it best to swim far under water.He was afraid of losing his life in the midst of all those icebergs.
Two days later the two boys rounded the southern point of Greenland. On the sandy shore of this island continent could be seen a large number of animals. They had round clumsy bodies, each having a small head with two small bright eyes. Where we have arms, they had what looked like very strong fins.
These animals were seals. Their bodies were covered with reddish-brown fur. Lying on the sand, they were enjoying the warmth of the sun. The young ones were playing with one another and enjoying themselves, too.
Pinocchio paid little attention to them. But suddenly out of the water came another band. The newcomers were somewhat different from the seals, but they belonged to the same family.
Their fur was almost black, not brown, and their heads were larger. They were walruses. From their mouths two long, thick ivory teeth protruded. They looked very fierce, and soon they showed their fierceness.
Seeing that the beach was occupied, and wanting it for themselves, they started to fight for it. The seals fought very bravely, but what could they do against those terrible teeth? The poor wounded beasts struggled and kept up cries of “pa—pa—pa—pa.”
“Listen to that. They are calling ‘papa.’ I never thought fish could talk,” said Pinocchio.
“First of all, seals are not fish, but mammals. And then there are some fish which do produce sounds. Tunnies, when out of the water, cry like children. Some poulpes, when caught, groan. Others make a sound like a whistle.”
“I am ready to believe anything,” Pinocchio said very weakly. “But what is a poulpe?”
“Oh, that is another name for the octopus or devilfish,” was the reply.
The fight continued, but the seals were soon conquered. The victorious walruses were not to enjoy their victory, however.
While the fight was still waging, some fishermen had quietly come up to the field of battle. Before long many of the combatants lay dead, and were carried away into boats. The few that were left forgot the fight, and were happy enough to escape into the water.