The Open Polar Sea: A narrative of a voyage of discovery towards the North pole, in the schooner "United States"Hayes, I. I. (Isaac Israel)
History
The Open Polar Sea: A narrative of a voyage of discovery towards the North pole, in the schooner "United States"
Hayes, I. I. (Isaac Israel)
Arctic regions; United States (Schooner)
We kept on in our winding course through the pelting snow, and reached,
finally, the north side of the bay above Jensen's camp; and then the
hardest part of the journey was to come. The tramp across that bay
comes back to me now as the vague recollection of some ugly dream.
I scarcely remember how we got through it. I recall only an endless
pounding of the dogs, who wanted to lie down with every step, the
ceaseless wading, the endless crunch of the wearied feet breaking
through the old snow-crust, the laborious climbing over hummocks, the
pushing and lifting of the sledge,--and, through the blinding snow, I
remember, at length, catching sight of the land and of hearing the cry
of Jensen's dogs; and then of crawling up the ice-foot to his snow-hut.
Through all these last hours, we were aware of a desire to halt and
sleep; and it is fortunate for us that we did not lose consciousness of
its dangers.
Without waiting to be fed, the dogs tumbled over on the snow the
moment they were left to themselves; and we, dragging ourselves inside
the hut which McDonald had made to shelter his sick companion, fell
into a dead, dead sleep. Jensen noted the time. We had been twenty-two
hours on the way, since leaving our shelter beneath the ice-cliff.
[Sidenote: A LAST LOOK.]
When we awoke, the storm had died away, and the sun was shining
brightly. McDonald had looked after the dogs, and had ready for us a
hot pot of coffee and an abundant breakfast, which thirty-four hours'
fasting had prepared us fully to appreciate. Refreshed by this, I
climbed the hill-side for a last look at the sea which we were leaving.
The gale had told somewhat upon it. The dark water-sky to the northeast
had followed us down the coast, the wind had acted upon the open places
in the ice, and the little waves had eaten away their margins, and
magnified them greatly, while many of the old floes had finally yielded
to the immense pressure of the wind, and had moved in their winter
moorings, tearing up the rotten ice about them. Several cracks had
opened almost to the shore, and the "hinge" of the ice-foot had mainly
tumbled away.
Jensen was better, but still moved with much difficulty and pain. By
sitting on the sledge, however, he thought that he should be able
to drive his dogs; so I gave Knorr our entire cargo. This cargo was
now reduced to small dimensions, and consisted of nothing but our
buffalo-skins, rifle, my instruments, and a few geological specimens.
Our food was consumed to the last pound, and hence we must go
supperless if we did not reach our next cache, where, if the bears
should not have discovered it, we had one meal buried under a heap of
stones.
June 5th.
I resume the narrative.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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