THE LAST EXPLORING EXPEDITION.

From this date, February 3rd, the sun rose each day higher above the horizon,

the nights were, however, still very long, and, as is often the case in

February, the cold increased, the thermometer marking only 1o Fahrenheit, the

lowest temperature experienced throughout this extraordinary winter.

"When does the thaw commence in these northern seas?" inquired Mrs Barnett of

the Lieutenant.

"In ordinary seasons," replied Hobson, "the ice does not break up until early

in May; but the winter has been so mild that unless a very hard frost should now

set in, the thaw may commence at the beginning of April. At least that is my

opinion." "We shall still have two months to wait then?"

"Yes, two months, for it would not be prudent to launch our boat too soon

amongst the floating ice; and I think our best plan will be to wait until our

island has reached the narrowest part of Behring Strait, which is not more than

two hundred miles wide."

"What do you mean?" exclaimed Mrs Barnett, considerably surprised at the

Lieutenant's reply. "Have you forgotten that it was the Kamtchatka Current which

brought us where we now are, and which may seize us again when the thaw sets in

and carry us yet farther north?"

"I do not think it will, madam; indeed I feel quite sure that that will not

happen. The thaw always takes place in from north to south, and although the

Kamtchatka Current runs the other way, the ice always goes down the Behring

Current. Other reasons there are for my opinion which I cannot now enumerate.

But the icebergs invariably drift towards the Pacific, and are there melted by

its warmer waters. Ask Kalumah if I am not right. She knows these latitudes

well, and will tell you that the thaw always proceeds from the north to the

south."

Kalumah when questioned confirmed all that the Lieutenant had said, so that

it appeared probable that the island would be drifted to the south like a huge

ice-floe, that is to say, to the narrowest part of Behring Strait, which is much

frequented in the summer by the fishermen of New Archangel, who are the most

experienced mariners of those waters. Making allowance for all delays they might

then hope to set foot on the continent before May, and although the cold had not

been very intense there was every reason to believe that the foundations of

Victoria Island had been thickened and strengthened by a fresh accumulation of

ice at the base, and that it would hold together for several months to come.

There was then nothing for the colonists to do but to wait patiently,-still

to wait!

The convalescence of little Michael continued to progress favourably. On the

20th of February he went out for the first time, forty days after he was taken

ill. By this we mean that he went from his bedroom into the large room, where he

was petted and made much of. His mother, acting by Madge's advice, put off

weaning him for some little time, and he soon got back his strength. The

soldiers had made many little toys for him during his illness, and he was now as

happy as any child in the wide world.

The last week of February was very wet, rain and snow falling alternately. A

strong wind blew from the north-west, and the temperature was low enough for

large quantities of snow to fall; the gale, however, increased in violence, and

on the side of Cape Bathurst and the chain of icebergs the noise of the tempest

was deafening. The huge ice-masses were flung against each other, and fell with

a roar like that of thunder. The ice on the north was compressed and piled up on

the shores of the island. There really seemed to be a danger that the cape

itself-which was but a kind of iceberg capped with earth and sand-would be flung

down.

Some large pieces of ice, in spite of their weight, were driven to the very

foot of the palisaded enceinte; but fortunately for the factory the cape

retained its position; had it given way all the buildings must inevitably have

been crushed beneath it.

It will be easily understood that the position of Victoria Island, at the

opening of a narrow strait about which the ice accumulated in large quantities,

was extremely perilous, for it might at any time be swept by a horizontal

avalanche, or crushed beneath the huge blocks of ice driven inland from the

offing, and so become engulfed before the thaw. This was a new danger to be

added to all the others already threatening the little band. Mrs Barnett, seeing

the awful power of the pressure in the offing, and the violence with which the

moving masses of ice crushed upon each other, realised the full magnitude of the

peril they would all be in when the thaw commenced. She often mentioned her

fears to the Lieutenant, and he shook his head like a man who had no reply to

make.

Early in March the squall ceased, and the full extent of the transformation

of the ice-field was revealed. It seemed as if by a kind of glissade the

chain of icebergs had drawn nearer to the island. In some parts it was not two

miles distant, and it advanced like a glacier on the move, with the difference

that the latter has a descending and the ice-wall a horizontal motion. Between

the lofty chain of ice-mountains the ice-field was fearfully distorted: strewn

with hummocks, broken obelisks, shattered blocks, overturned pyramids, it

resembled a tempest-tossed sea or a ruined town, in which not a building or a

monument had remained standing, and above it all the mighty icebergs reared

their snowy crests, standing out against the sky with their pointed peaks, their

rugged cones, and solid buttresses, forming a fitting frame for the weird

fantastic landscape at their feet.

At this date the little vessel was quite finished. This boat was rather heavy

in shape, as might have been expected, but she did credit to Mac-Nab, and shaped

as she was like a barge at the bows, she ought the better to withstand the

shocks of the floating ice. She might have been taken for one of those Dutch

boats which venture upon the northern waters. Her rig, which was completed,

consisted, like that of a cutter, of a mainsail and a jib carried on a single

mast. The tent canvass of the factory had been made use of for sailcloth.

This boat would carry the whole colony, and if, as the Lieutenant hoped, the

island were drifted to Behring Strait, the vessel would easily make her way to

land, even from the widest part of the passage. There was then nothing to be

done but wait for the thaw.

Hobson now decided to make a long excursion to the south to ascertain the

state of the ice-field, to see whether there were any signs of its breaking up,

to examine the chain of icebergs by which it was hemmed in, to make sure, in

short, whether it would really be useless to attempt to cross to the American

continent. Many incidents might occur, many fresh dangers might arise before the

thaw, and it would therefore be but prudent to make a reconnaissance on the

ice-field.

The expedition was organised and the start fixed for March 7th. Hobson, Mrs

Barnett, Kalumah, Marbre, and Sabine were to go, and, if the route should be

practicable, they would try and find a passage across the chain of icebergs. In

any case, however, they were not to be absent for more than forty-eight

hours.

A good stock of provisions was prepared, and, well provided for every

contingency, the little party left Fort Hope on the morning of the 7th March aid

turned towards Cape Michael.

The thermometer then marked 32? Fahrenheit. The atmosphere was misty, but the

weather was perfectly calm. The sun was now above the horizon for seven or eight

hours a day, and its oblique rays afforded plenty of light.

At nine o'clock, after a short halt, the party descended the slope of Cape

Michael and made their way across the ice-fields in a southeasterly direction.

On this side the ice wall rose not three miles from the cape.

The march was of course very slow. Every minute a crevasse had to be turned,

or a hummock too high to be climbed. It was evident that a sledge could not have

got over the rough distorted surface, which consisted of an accumulation of

blocks of ice of every shape and size, some of which really seemed to retain

their equilibrium by a miracle. Others had been but recently overturned, as

could be seen from the clearly cut fractures and sharp corners. Not a sign was

to be seen of any living creature, no footprints told of the passage of man or

beast, and the very birds had deserted these awful solitudes.

Mrs Barnett was astonished at the scene before her, and asked the Lieutenant

how they could possibly have crossed the ice-fields if they had started in

December, and he replied by reminding her that it was then in a very different

condition; the enormous pressure of the advancing icebergs had not then

commenced, the surface of the sea was comparatively even, and the only danger

was from its insufficient solidification. The irregularities which now barred

their passage did not exist early in the winter.

They managed, however, to advance towards the mighty ice-wall, Kalumah

generally leading the way. Like a chamois on the Alpine rocks, the young girl

firmly treaded the ice-masses with a swiftness of foot and an absence of

hesitation which was really marvellous. She knew by instinct the best way

through the labyrinth of icebergs, and was an unerring guide to her

companions.

About noon the base of the ice-wall was reached, but it had taken three hours

to get over three miles.

The icy barrier presented a truly imposing appearance, rising as it did more

than four hundred feet above the ice-field. The various strata of which it was

formed were clearly defined, and the glistening surface was tinged with many a

delicately-shaded hue. Jasper-like ribbons of green and blue alternated with

streaks and dashes of all the colours of the rainbow, strewn with enamelled

arabesques, sparkling crystals, and delicate ice-flowers. No cliff, however

strangely distorted, could give any idea of this marvellous half opaque, half

transparent ice-wall, and no description could do justice to the wonderful

effects of chiara-oscuro produced upon it.

It would not do, however, to approach too near to these beetling cliffs, the

solidity of which was very doubtful. Internal fractures and rents were already

commencing, the work of destruction and decomposition was proceeding rapidly,

aided by the imprisoned air-bubbles; and the fragility of the huge structure,

built up by the cold, was manifest to every eye. It could not survive the Arctic

winter, it was doomed to melt beneath the sunbeams, and it contained material

enough to feed large rivers.

Lieutenant Hobson had warned his companions of the danger of the avalanches

which constantly fall from the summits of the icebergs, and they did not

therefore go far along their base. That this prudence was necessary was proved

by the falling of a huge block, at two o'clock, at the entrance to a kind of

valley which they were about to cross. It must have weighed more than a hundred

tons, and it was dashed upon the ice-field with a fearful crash, bursting like a

bomb-shell. Fortunately no one was hurt by the splinters.

From two to five o'clock the explorers followed a narrow winding path leading

down amongst the icebergs; they were anxious to know if it led right through

them, but could not at once ascertain. In this valley, as it might be called,

they were able to examine the internal structure of the icy barrier. The blocks

of which it was built up were here arranged with greater symmetry than outside.

In some places trunks of trees were seen embedded in the ice, all, however, of

Tropical not Polar species, which had evidently been brought to Arctic regions

by the Gulf Stream, and would be taken back to the ocean when the thaw should

have converted into water the ice which now held them in its chill embrace.

At five o'clock it became too dark to go any further. The travellers had not

gone more than about two miles in the valley, but it was so sinuous, that it was

impossible to estimate exactly the distance traversed.

The signal to halt was given by the Lieutenant, and Marbre and Sabine quickly

dug out a grotto in the ice with their chisels, into which the whole party

crept, and after a good supper all were soon asleep.

Every one was up at eight o'clock the next morning, and Hobson decided to

follow the valley for another mile, in the hope of finding out whether it went

right through the ice-wall. The direction of the pass, judging from the position

of the sun, had now changed from north to south east, and as early as eleven

o'clock the party came out on the opposite side of the chain of icebergs. The

passage was therefore proved to run completely through the barrier.

The aspect of the ice-field on the eastern side was exactly similar to that

on the west. The same confusion of ice-masses, the same accumulation of hummocks

and icebergs, as far as the eye could reach, with occasional alternations of

smooth surfaces of small extent, intersected by numerous crevasses, the edges of

which were already melting fast. The same complete solitude, the same desertion,

not a bird, not an animal to be seen.

Mrs Barnett climbed to the top of the hummock, and there remained for an

hour, gazing upon the sad and desolate Polar landscape before her. Her thoughts

involuntarily flew back to the miserable attempt to escape that had been made

five months before. Once more she saw the men and women of the hapless caravan

encamped in the darkness of these frozen solitudes, or struggling against

insurmountable difficulties to reach the mainland.

At last the Lieutenant broke in upon her reverie, and said-

"Madam, it is more than twenty-four hours since we left the fort. We now know

the thickness of the ice-wall, and as we promised not to be away longer than

forty-eight hours, I think it is time to retrace our steps."

Mrs Barnett saw the justice of the Lieutenant's remark. They had ascertained

that the barrier of ice was of moderate thickness, that it would melt away

quickly enough to allow of the passage of Mac-Nab's boat after the thaw, and it

would therefore be well to hasten back lest a snow-storm or change in the

weather of any kind should render return through the winding valley

difficult.

The party breakfasted and set out on the return journey about one o'clock

P.M.

The night was passed as before in an ice-cavern, and the route resumed at

eight o'clock the next morning, March 9th.

The travellers now turned their backs upon the sun, as they were making for

the west, but the weather was fine, and the orb of day, already high in the

heavens, flung some of its rays across the valley and lit up the glittering

ice-walls on either side.

Mrs Barnett and Kalumah were a little behind the rest of the party chatting

together, and looking about them as they wound through the narrow passages

pointed out by Marbre and Sabine. They expected to get out of the valley

quickly, and be back at the fort before sunset, as they had only two or three

miles of the island to cross after leaving the ice. This would be a few hours

after the time fixed, but not long enough to cause any serious anxiety to their

friends at home.

They made their calculation without allowing for an incident which no human

perspicacity could possibly have foreseen.

It was about ten o'clock when Marbre and Sabine, who were some twenty paces

in advance of the rest, suddenly stopped and appeared to be debating some point.

When the others came up, Sabine was holding out his compass to Marbre, who was

staring at it with an expression of the utmost astonishment.

"What an extraordinary thing!" he exclaimed, and added, turning to the

Lieutenant-

"Will you tell me, sir, the position of the island with regard to the

ice-wall, is it on the east or west?"

"On the west," replied Hobson, not a little surprised at the question, "you

know that well enough, Marbre"

"I know it well enough! I know it well enough!" repeated Marbre, shaking his

head, "and if it is on the west, we are going wrong, and away from the

inland!"

"What, away from the island!" exclaimed the Lieutenant, struck with the

hunter's air of conviction.

"We are indeed, sir," said Marbre; "look at the compass; my name is not

Marbre if it does not show that we are walking towards the east not the

west!"

"Impossible!" exclaimed Mrs Barnett.

"Look, madam," said Sabine.

It was true. The needle pointed in exactly the opposite direction to that

expected. Hobson looked thoughtful and said nothing.

"We must have made a mistake when we left the ice cavern this morning,"

observed Sabine, "we ought to have turned to the left instead of to the

right."

"No, no," said Mrs Barnett, "I am sure we did not make a mistake!"

"But"--said Marbre.

"But," interrupted Mrs Barnett, "look at the sun. Does it no longer rise in

the east? Now as we turned our backs on it this morning, and it is still behind

us, we must be walking towards the west, so that when we get out of the valley

on the western side of the chain of icebergs, we must come to the island we left

there."

Marbre, struck dumb by this irrefutable argument, crossed his arms and said

no more.

"Then if so," said Sabine, "the sun and the compass are in complete

contradiction of each other?"

"At this moment they are," said Hobson, "and the reason is simple enough; in

these high northern latitudes, and in latitudes in the neighbourhood of the

magnetic pole, the compasses are sometimes disturbed, and the deviation of their

needles is so great as entirely to mislead travellers."

"All right then," said Marbre, "we have only to go on keeping our backs to

the sun."

"Certainly," replied Lieutenant Hobson, "there can be no hesitation which to

choose, the sun or our compass, nothing disturbs the sun."

The march was resumed, the sun was still behind them, and there was really no

objection to be made to Hobson's theory, founded, as it was, upon the position

then occupied by the radiant orb of day.

The little troop marched on, but they did not get out of the valley as soon

as they expected. Hobson had counted on leaving the ice-wall before noon, and it

was past two when they reached the opening of the narrow pass.

Strange as was this delay, it had not made any one uneasy, and the

astonishment of all can readily be imagined when, on stepping on to the ice

field, at the base of the chain of icebergs, no sign was to be seen of Victoria

Island, which ought to have been opposite to them.

Yes!-The island, which on this side had been such a conspicuous object, owing

to the height of Cape Michael crowned with trees, had disappeared. In its place

stretched a vast ice-field lit up by the sunbeams.

All looked around them, and then at each other in amazement.

"The island ought to be there!" cried Sabine.

"But it is not there," said Marbre. "Oh, sir-Lieutenant-where is it? what has

become of it?"

But Hobson had not a word to say in reply, and Mrs Barnett was equally

dumfounded.

Kalumah now approached Lieutenant Hobson, and touching his arm, she said-

"We went wrong in the valley, we went up it instead of down it, we shall only

get back to where we were yesterday by crossing the chain of icebergs. Come,

come!"

Hobson and the others mechanically followed Kalumah, and trusting in the

young native's sagacity, retraced their steps. Appearances were, however,

certainly against her, for they were now walking towards the sun in an easterly

direction.

Kalumah did not explain her motives, but muttered as she went along-

"Let us make haste!"

All were quite exhausted, and could scarcely get along, when they found

themselves on the other side of the ice-wall, after a walk of three hours. The

night had now fallen, and it was too dark to see if the island was there, but

they were not long left in doubt.

At about a hundred paces off, burning torches were moving about, whilst

reports of guns and shouts were heard.

The explorers replied, and were soon joined by Sergeant Long and others,

amongst them Thomas Black, whose anxiety as to the fate of his friends had at

last roused him from his torpor. The poor fellows left on the island had been in

a terrible state of uneasiness, thinking that Hobson and his party had lost

their way. They were right, but what was it that had made them think so?

Twenty-four hours before, the immense ice-field and the island had turned

half round, and in consequence of this displacement they were no longer on the

west, but on the east of the ice-wall!