"And back home through the Suez Ca.n.a.l. Is that your idea, sir?" said the mate.
"You"ve hit it completely, Morgan."
"You must remember," he continued after a pause, during which he had been watching the smoke that curled from his lips towards the roof of the saloon, "that I look upon this only as an experimental voyage, and as such it hasn"t proved altogether a failure. We shall clear our feet and pay our way, boys; and our adventures will be the theme of many a lecture when at last we reach the old country.
"And not that only, for our success will enable us to float a good company for sealing and steam-whaling in the Antarctic seas. You see, boys, I"ve been north and south. I"ve been what you well may term from pole to pole. Well, my opinion is, that although the Arctic lies handier to our own doors than the Antarctic, still it is almost played out. They have been going it among the baby seals a trifle too fast, and have given them no close season, so though I don"t say they"ve killed them nearly all off, still they have scared them pretty considerably, and the modern Arctic seal isn"t the innocent confiding creature he was in the days of my boyhood. No, he has got far more wary, and so packs of them are more difficult to find than formerly.
"And as for Right whales, well, they are far wiser than we have any idea of. Their kingdom is a boundless one. It is the ocean wild and wide, and if they cannot have peace to gather in schools, and enjoy their little parties in the north, why, they are free to come to the Antarctic. And that is just what they have done.
"Well, lads, we shall do something in it, be a.s.sured. But we"ve got to have steam. Strong screw steamers with all appliances to repair damages of every kind; and steam ice-hammers as well. You"ve thrown in your lot with me, boys, and my name isn"t Talbot if I don"t help you to make a good thing of it."
"The Antarctic is very far away from England," said Frank thoughtfully.
"There you"re right, lad. You are thinking of the expense?"
"Yes."
"Ah! but our company will not bring their ships home to Britain. No, they will cruise from the Antarctic to the very nearest markets--in Australia, for instance. And so it will pay. For should we lose a ship or two, well, the insurance companies must pay that, and they are well able to.
"So that is my scheme, boys, and, on the whole, I don"t think it is a bad one. There are so few ways of making fortunes nowadays that when one gets the ball at his foot, he is a fool if he does not hit it as hard as he knows how to."
The voyage to the Kerguelen islands was a very propitious one, and every one on board the st.u.r.dy _Flora M"Vayne_ was as happy as the day was long. Vike seemed to have got a new lease of life, and wallowed in the sunshine.
"It is such a change, you know," he told Conal, "and I believe we"ll soon be back once more in bonnie Scotland, and won"t I tear around the hills just!"
The monkey was less melancholy now, and the cough which troubled him so much while in the ice, appeared to have quite gone.
And old Pen seemed to be almost beside himself with delight. He used to go tearing along the decks, flapping his wings and shrieking as if possessed, and even in his calmer moods he would sometimes leap up suddenly and practise waltzing all alone.
There was a delightful breeze nearly all the time. If not astern it was a beam wind, and so the _Flora_ went ripping through the dark-blue seas, every wave of which sparkled in the sunshine.
Many whales were seen, but as Talbot depended most on getting among the elephants now, boats were never lowered to go whaling.
Frank spent much of his time in the crow"s-nest.
He was not afraid to swing through the sky at that giddy height, although the first time he clambered up he believed that the crew would have to lower him down with block-and-tackle, he was so thoroughly frightened.
"On deck there!" rang the young fellow"s voice one forenoon from the nest.
"Ay, ay, lad," from the skipper.
"Land in sight!"
"Where away?"
"On the starboard bow."
"And what does it look like?"
"I can only raise some mountain cones. They seem volcanic, and their sides are covered with snow."
"Bravo! Come down and I"ll get up myself."
Frank was soon on deck.
"Well done, Frank," said Talbot laughing. "I promised a pair of canvas trousers to the man who should first sight land, and you shall have them."
"Yes, thank you, and I shall wear them too."
Away went the skipper up to the crow"s-nest, and before long came an order to alter the course a point or two.
Close to the Islands of Desolation, as Kerguelen is called, it was fully a week before the _Flora M"Vayne_ was able to reach and enter one of the friths or creeks. For on the very day on which land was sighted a fearful hurricane swept down on the ship, and so suddenly, too, that before sails could be taken in many were rent into ribbons, that cracked and rattled with a sound like the independent firing of troops in action. There was no standing against wind of this awful violence, and it was necessary to run for it under what is termed "bare poles", that is, the smallest amount of sail that can be carried with steering power.
But Kerguelen is the region of hurricanes, and few ships that visit these wild sh.o.r.es escape with impunity.
The coast of the chief islands was found to be iron-bound, high, barren, and rocky, but when they entered and sailed along one of the creeks, scenery of quite a different kind was met with.
It would be difficult indeed to exaggerate the strange, wild, but solitary beauty of this scenery. Solitary, that is, as regards sight or sign of human being.
But bird life was in evidence everywhere; in fact, Kerguelen might be called the home of the sea-birds. They have seen but little of man, however, and know nothing of his evil or demoniacal ways. They look upon him only as a curious kind of biped, of the penguin species, but without feathers.
Well, when Duncan or Frank went on sh.o.r.e for a walk with the skipper, the gulls, the petrels, the penguins, the albatrosses, and cormorants flew around them in thousands, and the din they made was almost deafening.
Nor were our heroes free altogether from their attentions, which sometimes were rather of an objectionable character, especially when students of nature in the shape of huge yellow-cheeked penguins waddled up to the place where they were sitting, and began examining their jackets with the greatest curiosity. Pecking holes in them, too, and pulling at them.
When rudely thrust off they would retire but a little way, and stand watching the boys with great interest.
"Well, I never!" they seemed to say, looking at them from one side of their heads.
"Well, I"m gee-whizzled!" gazing at them with the other.
"Penguins, aren"t you? But the ugliest lot ever we saw. We really wonder your mothers allow you go about like that!"
To-day Captain Talbot and his boys went exploring, but a man was with them to carry the game they killed, and these consisted chiefly of ducks and rabbits. The former showed no fear, but the latter scurried away at once.
They journeyed far inland, and made many interesting discoveries, which proved that these islands are not so utterly useless as they are supposed to be. Indeed, they could be worked profitably both for coals and oil.
And Talbot made a general survey of the regions traversed and took ample notes.
"This would make an excellent centre for our great Antarctic whaling and sealing expedition," he said. "And you and I, boys, might build ourselves a house just under the shelter of these green lichen-clad rocks yonder."
"Oh, it would be awfully nice!" cried Frank.
"And couldn"t we have a garden?"
"Yes, and plant and grow crops."