"You are right," said the doctor.
"Smith"s Sound," repeated Shandon, mechanically.
"So it"s very plain," continued Johnson, "that the _Forward_ is not intended to seek the Northwest Pa.s.sage, since we leave to the left, the only way towards it, that is to say, Lancaster Sound. This would seem to promise a difficult journey in unknown seas."
"Yes, Smith"s Sound," replied Shandon; "that"s the route Kane, the American, took in 1853, and it was full of dangers. For a long time he was given up for lost. Well, if we must go, we"ll go. But how far? To the Pole?"
"And why not?" cried the doctor.
The mention of such a foolhardy attempt made the boatswain shrug his shoulders.
"Well," said James Wall, "to come back to the captain, if he exists. I don"t see that there are any places on the coast of Greenland except Disco and Upernavik, where he can be waiting for us; in a few days that question will be settled."
"But," asked the doctor of Shandon, "are you not going to tell the crew about this letter?"
"With the commander"s permission," answered Johnson, "I should not do so."
"And why not?" asked Shandon.
"Because everything mysterious and extraordinary tends to discourage the men; they are already very much troubled, as it is, about the nature of the journey. Now, if any supernatural circ.u.mstances should become known, it might be harmful, and perhaps at a critical moment we should not be able to count on them. What do you think, Commander?"
"And what do you think, Doctor?" asked Shandon.
"Boatswain Johnson seems to me to reason well," answered the doctor.
"And you, James?"
"Having no better opinion, I agree with these gentlemen."
Shandon reflected for a few minutes; he reread the letter attentively.
"Gentlemen," said he, "your opinion is certainly worthy of respect, but I cannot adopt it."
"Why not, Shandon?" asked the doctor.
"Because the instructions in this letter are formal; it tells me to give the captain"s thanks to the crew; now, hitherto I have strictly obeyed his orders, in whatever way they have been given to me, and I cannot--"
"Still--" interposed Johnson, who had a warrantable dread of the effect of such communications on the men"s spirits.
"My dear Johnson," said Shandon, "I understand your objection; your reasons are very good, but read that:--
"He begs of you to express his thanks to the crew."
"Do as he bids," replied Johnson, who was always a strict disciplinarian. "Shall I a.s.semble the crew on deck?"
"Yes," answered Shandon.
The news of a message from the captain was immediately whispered throughout the ship. The sailors took their station without delay, and the commander read aloud the mysterious letter.
It was received with dead silence; the crew separated under the influence of a thousand suppositions; Clifton had plenty of material for any superst.i.tious vagaries; a great deal was ascribed by him to the dog-captain, and he never failed to salute him every time he met him.
"Didn"t I tell you," he used to say to the sailors, "that he knew how to write?"
No one made any answer, and even Bell, the carpenter, would have found it hard to reply.
Nevertheless, it was plain to every one, that if the captain was not on board, his shade or spirit was watching them; henceforth, the wisest kept their opinions to themselves.
At midday of May 1st, their observation showed them that they were in lat.i.tude 68 and longitude 56 32". The temperature had risen, the thermometer standing at 25 above zero.
The doctor amused himself with watching the gambols of a she-bear and two cubs on some pack-ice near the sh.o.r.e. Accompanied by Wall and Simpson, he tried to chase them in a canoe; but she was in a very peaceful mood, and ran away with her young, so that the doctor had to give up his attempt.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
During the night a favorable breeze carried them well to the north, and soon the lofty mountains of Disco were peering above the horizon; G.o.dharn Bay, where the governor of the Danish settlements lived, was left on the right. Shandon did not consider it necessary to land, and he soon pa.s.sed by the canoes of the Esquimaux, who had put out to meet him.
The island of Disco is also called Whale Island; it is from here that, on the 12th of July, 1845, Sir John Franklin wrote to the Admiralty for the last time, and it was also here that Captain MacClintock stopped on his way back, bringing too sure proofs of the loss of that expedition.
This coincidence was not unknown to the doctor; the place was one of sad memories, but soon the heights of Disco were lost to view.
There were many icebergs on its sh.o.r.es, which no thaws ever melt away; this gives the island a singular appearance from the sea.
The next day, at about three o"clock, Sanderson"s Hope appeared in the northeast; land lay about fifteen miles to starboard; the mountains appeared of a dusky red hue. During the evening many fin-backs were seen playing in the ice, and occasionally blowing.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
It was in the night of May 3d, that the doctor for the first time saw the sun touch the horizon without setting; since January 31st its...o...b..t had been getting longer every day, and now there was unbroken daylight.
For those who were unaccustomed to it, this continuance of the day is a cause of perpetual surprise, and even of weariness; it is difficult to believe how necessary the darkness of the night is for the eyes; the doctor actually suffered from the continual brilliancy, which was increased by the reflection from the ice.
May 5th the _Forward_ pa.s.sed the sixty-second parallel. Two months later they would have met numerous whalers in these lat.i.tudes; but the straits were not yet free enough to allow easy ingress into Baffin"s Bay.
The next day, the brig, after pa.s.sing Woman"s Island, came in sight of Upernavik, the northernmost station of Denmark in these lands.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
CHAPTER X.
DANGEROUS SAILING.
Shandon, Dr. Clawbonny, Johnson, Foker, and Strong, the cook, got into one of the boats and made their way to sh.o.r.e.
The Governor, his wife and five children, all Esquimaux, received their visitors kindly. The doctor, who was the philologist of the party, knew enough Danish to establish friendly relations; moreover, Foker, the interpreter of the party as well as ice-master, knew a dozen or two words of the language of the Greenlanders, and with that number of words one can express a great deal, if he is not too ambitious.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
The Governor was born on the island of Disco, and he has never left the place; he did the honors of his capital, which consisted of three wooden houses, for himself and the Lutheran minister, of a school, and shops which were supplied by what was cast upon the sh.o.r.e from wrecked ships. The rest of the town consisted of snow huts, into which the Esquimaux crawl through a single opening.