CHAPTER XVIIIA Midnight Invasion
Only one more fish was caught that day, and this second one was only a seven-pounder. However, everybody had a taste, and the bones and other refuse were saved for fuel.
At first they had been puzzled over the question of how to obtain a supply of drinking water, but finally some of the men produced several tin tobacco boxes, in which they were able to melt pieces of ice. This drinking ice had to be chipped from higher places on the berg, as the dashing of the waves in rough weather had coated the lower parts with a salty surface.
The work of the cave diggers developed another pleasing surprise for the castaways. In connection with this, it was found necessary to do considerable planning. The shipwrecked party all realized that they must get out of reach of high waves as soon as possible. Hence a flight of steps was cut to a kind of platform, some twenty feet above the area on which they had built their fire, and here was begun the labor of hollowing out a house in the ice.
The entrance was made only large enough to permit the passage of a man. After this had been cut inward four or five feet, the man with the hoe-tomahawk began to enlarge the tunnel, while two other men stood near and pushed back the chipped ice with pieces of raft flooring. Others behind these cleared the waste from the steps so that the way was kept constantly open.
Shortly after the catching of the second fish, came the announcement of the cave diggers interesting surprise. They had cut their way into a great natural cavern in the iceberg, large enough to accommodate all of the castaways and keep them warm with the aid of only a little fire. It was in fact, a sort of crevasse, with an opening at the top high above a fairly level floor area. This opening was large enough to admit some daylight, and all the air needed by the party, after circulation had been rendered possible through the cutting of the entrance by the cave diggers. As it chanced, the latter passage had been cut almost on a level with the floor of the crevasse.
In the course of the day the weather became somewhat warmer and there was even pleasantness in the sun’s rays when one stood still and received their full benefit. About noon the fire was put out in order to save fuel. This proved to be a happy move for another reason, as it was found that there were still enough raft boards to cover a considerable floor space in their new refuge, and they were used for this purpose. Several of the passengers of the rafts had brought mackintoshes and overcoats with them when they left the liner, vaguely hopeful of being able to use the garments later for their comfort. Guy, it will be remembered, was one of these, and when the question arose relative to the arrangement of sleeping quarters on the floor of the ice-cave, it was decided to use these articles of wearing apparel to supplement the board flooring. The Eskimos came over and offered suggestions and loaned them a bear-skin, which the Greenlanders found they could spare. Also they pointed out their “driftwood mine,” which, as a result of some more hard labor, yielded a considerable supply of fuel.
Meanwhile a constant lookout for vessels was maintained from the head of the stairway over the iceberg. Guy and Watson had the last hour’s watch before nightfall. But no “sail” was sighted, nor did a long black trail from a steamer’s funnel reward their vigilance.
That night was passed with fairly good comfort in the cave. The entrance was almost closed with blocks of ice, only a small hole being left for ventilation. These blocks were held in place by horizontal boards slipped into grooves that had been cut in the “jambs” of the doorway. There were three of these boards, or shelf-like supports, so that it was possible to remove one section individually and crawl or creep in or out without disturbing the others. Inside, a watch was kept constantly for the purpose of feeding the small fire on a “grate” of metal cylinders and to listen for a breaking of the iceberg and indications of a change of its equilibrium.
There was a good deal of restlessness on the part of the women and some of the men that night, but finally they fell asleep and all was quiet thereafter until morning. Guy and Carl awoke at daybreak and were the first to go out and look around. There was little change in the weather except that the air was rather colder and the sky more cloudy. However the sun shone through a break in the east.
Several of the men also soon emerged from the cave, bringing with them the fishing tackle, which they baited and cast into the water. In order that they might not have to stand long in one spot on the ice, the fishers moved large pieces of ice near the water’s edge, anchored them in rough places, and tied the lines around them. With the lines thus set they were able to exercise sufficiently to keep warm and at the same time watch for a “bite.” The lookout at the top of the stairway also was renewed, while all who had nothing in particular to do remained much of the time within the more comfortable confines of the cave.
Watson was still generally recognized as leader of the shipwrecked party, with Prof. Anderson a sort of lieutenant. Both were consulted a good deal, and the fact that they maintained a cheerful attitude aided much in buoying the spirits of the others.
“I think we’re safe for several days unless we’re blown through the Labrador Current into the Gulf Stream,” remarked Prof. Anderson on one occasion when he and Watson and Guy and Carl were alone together.
“I was thinking of that yesterday,” said Guy, who had read a good many sea tales and exploration accounts. “If we get in the Gulf Stream, the iceberg’ll begin to melt pretty fast, and before long it’ll crack and explode and that’ll be the end of us.”
“Yes,” agreed the professor; “but it’ll be an undermining process first. When we get in water that is warmer than the atmosphere, the submerged part of the iceberg will melt more rapidly than the part exposed to the air, and as by far the greater part of the iceberg, is under water, it needn’t take long to alter the center of gravity. When that happens, over we go.”
“When are we likely to hit the Gulf Stream?” asked Guy.
“I don’t know. I might make some rough calculations as to our locality tonight if the North Star is visible, but the result wouldn’t be accurate. I’d be likely to miss it by a hundred miles or more. Besides, I don’t know how far from land the Gulf Stream runs along here, so I could easily reckon a hundred and fifty miles off. I imagine, however, that we’re pretty near the Gulf Stream and the wind which, you notice, is getting stronger all the time, is blowing us right towards it.”
“Usually the icebergs follow the ocean currents, don’t they?” inquired Watson.
“Yes; but some times they get out of them. A strong wind may blow them out.”
No fish were caught that morning and the six malcontents showed new signs of restlessness; but they did nothing save keep aloof from the rest and look sour. About noon the lookout reported a vessel in sight and there was a general rush to the top of the ice stairway. They built a fire and waved their coats and yelled or screamed as lustily as they could, but the ship was ten or twelve miles away and all their efforts to attract attention were unavailing.
This experience disheartened a good many, but Watson and the professor seemed even more cheerful.
“We don’t need to go to pieces over that,” said the former reassuringly. “We’ve just had proof that we’re in the path of vessels, for that was a good-sized steamer and looked as if it was following a much-traveled course.”
On returning to the beach they found two of the set-lines drawn taut and swaying from side to side as if a desperate struggle were going on at the far end of each. With no small difficulty the lines were pulled in, a large king herring being found on one and a fair sized cod on the other. In the course of the afternoon, this success was virtually duplicated twice, so that a moderate supper was afforded the iceberg Crusoes.
While this meal gave temporary relief, it was not sufficient to answer the heat demands of more than two score human bodies that had fasted under such severe conditions. Hence it served conspicuously to stimulate the discontent of the “sullen six.” They kept together and avoided the others most of the time, so that Watson’s suspicion of trouble brewing was kept alive constantly.
“I don’t like the action of our friends over there,” he remarked to the professor in the hearing of Guy and Carl not long before sundown. “I think it’ll be wise to keep an eye on them.”
“What do you think they’re likely to do?” inquired the professor not very seriously. “Kill us all and eat us?”
“Oh, no; not that bad. But they’ve got something up their sleeves.”
Guy “went to bed” that night with the horribly humorous suggestion of Prof. Anderson on his mind. This together with the fears earlier expressed concerning the Gulf Stream and a breaking up and turning over of the iceberg, prevented him for several hours from sleeping. He lay near the entrance of the cave a few feet from the fire. Watson, the professor, and Glennon were lying near him, all apparently asleep. On the opposite side of the fire was the watchman. The watches were an hour each, and during the time that Guy lay awake several men were relieved. About midnight according to the boy’s reckoning, Gunseyt took his turn.
During all this time Guy had not spoken to any of the men on watch. He longed to go to sleep and lay quietly in a constant endeavor to lose consciousness and forget the fearfulness of the ever increasing dangers that surrounded him. But it seemed that every fibre of his nervous system was too much alive to encourage a suggestion of slumber. He was very hungry, too, and if it had not been for the one comfort of the warm atmosphere of the cave, there would have been no limit to his wretchedness, mental and physical.
And the appearance of Mr. Gunseyt on duty did not tend to lesson his discomfort and apprehension, but tended rather to increase the latter. No sooner had the man whom Gunseyt relieved laid down than the new sentinel began to look around him in a manner hardly reassuring to the boy who watched him with half-open eyes. The man who last preceded him fell asleep almost immediately, while the leader of the malcontents appeared to observe this with a good deal of satisfaction. Ten minutes elapsed, during which time the watchman kept his eyes fastened on the man who had just lain down. Then he turned to the fire and put on some more fuel. This done, he made a hasty examination of all the supposed sleepers as if to find out if everybody indeed was lost in slumber.
The inspection appeared to satisfy him. He stooped down and gently shook one of the men, who arose quickly as if he had expected such an awakening. Then another and another and another were awakened in like manner, until six men stood around the fire whispering to one another and gazing furtively at their reclining companions. Guy recognized them as the seamen and the passengers who appeared to have accepted Gunseyt as their leader in opposing the saner and more human will of the majority.
As he watched the men, he wondered that Watson and the professor had consented to permit any of them to be on sentinel duty alone. He even wondered why he himself had not made an objection. Probably they were even now bent on some sort of mischief. Presently they turned to the entrance where Gunseyt pushed out the blocks of ice in the lower section of the doorway. Then they got down on their hands and knees, one after another, and crawled out, after which they replaced the blocks of ice, and Guy was unable to see what more they did.
But the boy did not remain quiet “in his bed” after the disappearance of the men. He arose and went to the entrance, where he pulled inward the lower blocks of ice and peered out. He could see their shadowy forms moving diagonally across the lower area. Then he crawled out to get a clearer view, for the night was still cloudy and he could not see a great distance.
“I’ll look into this business a little before I wake anybody up,” he decided.
He stood at the head of the steps leading up to the cave and watched the men as they walked down across the area toward the other side near the water’s edge. Several times some of them looked back, while Guy hugged the wall of ice for concealment.
“My goodness!”
Suddenly it dawned upon the mind of the boy what the men were up to. They were making for the stairway over the peak of the iceberg.
“They’re going to the Eskimos’ camp!” he muttered. “I must wake Watson.”
He turned to carry out this purpose, but slipped and almost fell into the arms of someone who had just risen to his feet after crawling through the entrance. Guy recognized him.
“Oh, Mr. Watson!” gasped the boy. “Those men!”
“I know all about them,” replied the other grimly. “I’ve been watching them too. Come on.”
Watson led the way down the steps of ice.