This stone, on a lonely sh.o.r.e of these remote regions, touched every one"s heart; the doctor felt the tears rising in his eyes. On the very spot whence Franklin and his men sailed, full of hope and strength, there was now merely a slab of marble to commemorate them; and in spite of this solemn warning of fate, the _Forward_ was about to follow the path of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_.
Hatteras was the first to rouse himself; he ascended quickly a rather high hillock, which was almost entirely bare of snow.
"Captain," said Johnson, following him, "from there we ought to see the stores."
Shandon and the doctor joined them just as they reached the top of the hill.
But their eyes saw nothing but large plains with no trace of a building.
"This is very strange," said the boatswain.
"Well, these stores?" said Hatteras, quickly.
"I don"t know,--I don"t see--" stammered Johnson.
"You must have mistaken the path," said the doctor.
"Still it seems to me," resumed Johnson after a moment"s reflection, "that at this very spot--"
"Well," said Hatteras, impatiently, "where shall we go?"
"Let"s go down again," said the boatswain, "for it"s possible I"ve lost my way! In seven years I may have forgotten the place."
"Especially," said the doctor, "when the country is so monotonous."
"And yet--" muttered Johnson.
Shandon said not a word. After walking a few minutes, Johnson stopped.
"No," he said, "I"m not mistaken."
"Well," said Hatteras, looking around.
"What makes you say so, Johnson?" asked the doctor.
"Do you see this little rise in the earth?" asked the boatswain, pointing downwards to a mound in which three elevations could be clearly seen.
"What does that mean?" asked the doctor.
"There," answered Johnson, "are the three tombs of Franklin"s sailors.
I"m sure of it! I"m not mistaken, and the stores must be within a hundred paces of us, and if they"re not there,--it"s because--"
He durst not finish his sentence; Hatteras ran forward, and terrible despair seized him. There ought to stand those much-needed storehouses, with supplies of all sorts on which he had been counting; but ruin, pillage, and destruction had pa.s.sed over that place where civilized hands had acc.u.mulated resources for battered sailors. Who had committed these depredations? Wild animals, wolves, foxes, bears?
No, for they would have destroyed only the provisions; and there was left no shred of a tent, not a piece of wood, not a sc.r.a.p of iron, no bit of any metal, nor--what was more serious for the men of the _Forward_--a single lump of coal.
Evidently the Esquimaux, who have often had much to do with European ships, had finally learned the value of these objects; since the visit of the _Fox_ they had come frequently to this great storehouse, and had pillaged incessantly, with the intention of leaving no trace of what had been there; and now a long drift of half-melted snow covered the ground.
Hatteras was baffled. The doctor gazed and shook his head. Shandon said nothing, but an attentive observer would have noticed a wicked smile about his lips.
At this moment the men sent by Wall arrived. They took it all in at a glance. Shandon went up to the captain and said,--
"Mr. Hatteras, we need not despair; fortunately we are near the entrance to Barrow Strait, which will carry us back to Baffin"s Bay."
"Mr. Shandon," answered Hatteras, "we are fortunately near the entrance of Wellington Channel, and it will lead us to the north."
"And how shall we go, Captain?"
"Under sail, sir. We have two months" fuel left, and that is more than we shall need for next winter."
"Permit me to say," began Shandon.
"I permit you to follow me to the ship, sir," was Hatteras"s answer.
And turning his back on his first officer, he returned to the brig and locked himself in his cabin.
For two days the wind was unfavorable; the captain did not come on deck. The doctor profited by this forced delay to examine Beechey Island; he collected a few plants which a comparatively high temperature let grow here and there on some rocks which projected from the snow, such as heather, a few lichens, a sort of yellow ranunculus, a plant like sorrel with leaves a trifle larger, and some st.u.r.dy saxifrages.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
The fauna of this country was much richer; the doctor saw large flocks of geese and cranes flying northward; partridges, eider-ducks, northern divers, numerous ptarmigans, which are delicious eating, noisy flocks of kittiwakes, and great white-bellied loons represented the winged tribe. The doctor was lucky enough to kill some gray hares, which had not yet put on their white winter coat of fur, and a blue fox, which Duke skilfully caught. A few bears, evidently accustomed to fear men, could not be approached, and the seals were very timid, probably for the same reason. The harbor was full of a very good tasting sh.e.l.lfish. The genus _articulata_, order _diptera_, family _culicides_, division _nemocera_, was represented by a simple mosquito, a single one, which the doctor, though much bitten, had the pleasure of catching. As a conchologist, he was less fortunate, and he was obliged to content himself with a sort of mussel and some bivalves.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
CHAPTER XXI.
THE DEATH OF BELLOT.
The temperature remained at 57 during July 3d and 4th; this was the highest temperature observed. But on Thursday, the 5th, the wind shifted to the southeast, with violent snow-squalls. The thermometer fell twenty-three degrees in the preceding night. Hatteras, indifferent to the hostility of the crew, gave the order to set sail.
For thirteen days, ever since pa.s.sing Cape Dundas, the _Forward_ had not gone a single degree farther north; hence the party represented by Clifton was dissatisfied; their wishes, it is true, coincided with those of the captain, namely, that they should make their way through Wellington Channel, and they were all glad to be off once more.
It was with difficulty that sail was set; but having in the course of the night run up the mainsail and topsails, Hatteras plunged boldly into the ice, which the current was driving towards the south. The crew became very tired of this tortuous navigation, which kept them very busy with the sails.
Wellington Channel is not very broad; it lies between North Devon on the east and Cornwallis Island on the west; for a long time this island was considered a peninsula. It was Sir John Franklin who circ.u.mnavigated it, in 1846, from the western side, going about its northern coast.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "The _Forward_ in Wellington Channel."]
The exploration of Wellington Channel was made in 1851, by Captain Penny, in the whale-ships _Lady Franklin_ and _Sophia_; one of his lieutenants, Stewart, who reached Cape Beechey, lat.i.tude 76 20", discovered the open sea. The open sea! It was for that Hatteras longed.
"What Stewart found, I shall find," he said to the doctor; "and I shall be able to get to the Pole under sail."
"But," answered the doctor, "don"t you fear lest the crew--"
"The crew!" said Hatteras, coldly.
Then in a lower tone he murmured,--