The Great White North: The story of polar exploration from the earliest times to the discovery of the poleWright, Helen S. (Helen Saunders)
History
The Great White North: The story of polar exploration from the earliest times to the discovery of the pole
Wright, Helen S. (Helen Saunders)
Arctic regions; North Pole
and as the only means of rescue, I severed the trace which was fastened
round my waist. The sledge made a short turn, and then stuck fast again.
I immediately sprang to my feet, drew off my canvas boots, and sprang
over the crevasse, which was about ten feet broad. I now caught sight of
Zaninovich and the dogs, and shouted to him, that I would run back to
Hohenlohe Island to fetch men and ropes for his rescue, and that rescued
he would be, if he could contrive for four hours to keep himself from
being frozen. I heard his answer: ‘Fate, Signore, fate pure!’ and then
Orel and I disappeared. Heedless of the crevasses which lay in our path,
or of the bears which might attack us, we ran down the glacier back to
Cape Schrotter, six miles off. Only one thought possessed us—the rescue
of Zaninovich, the jewel and pride of our party, and the recovery of our
invaluable store of provisions, and of the book containing our journals,
which, if lost, could never be replaced. But even apart from my personal
feeling for Zaninovich, I keenly felt the reproaches to which I should be
exposed of incautious travelling on glaciers; and it gave me no comfort
to think that my previous experiences in this kind of travelling over
the glaciers of Greenland appeared to justify my proceedings. Stung
with these reflections, I pressed on at the top of my speed, leaving
Orel far behind me. Bathed with perspiration, I threw off my bird-skin
garments, my boots, my gloves, and my shawl, and ran in my stockings
through the deep snow. After passing the labyrinth of icebergs I saw the
rocky pyramid of Cape Schrotter before me in the distance. The success
of my venture depended on the weather. If snow driving should set in,
and the footprints should be obliterated, it would be impossible to find
Hohenlohe Island. All around me it was fearfully lonely. Encompassed by
glaciers, I was absolutely alone. At last I saw Klotz emerge from behind
an iceberg at some distance off, and though I continued to shout his name
till I almost reached him, I failed to rouse him from his usual reverie.
When at last he saw me breathlessly pushing on, scarcely clothed, and
constantly calling, his sack slipped from his back, and he stared at me
as if he had lost his senses. When the hardy son of the mountains came to
understand that Zaninovich with the sledge was buried in the crevasse,
he began to weep, in his simplicity of heart taking the blame of what
had happened on himself. He was so agitated and disturbed, that I made
him promise that he would do himself no mischief, and then, leaving him
to his moody silence, I ran on again towards the island. It seemed as if
I should never reach Cape Schrotter; with head bent down I trudged on,
counting my steps through the deep snow; when I raised it again, after a
little time, it was always the same black spot that I saw on the distant
horizon. At last I came near it, saw the tent, saw some dark spots creep
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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