The World of IceBallantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)
General
The World of Ice
Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)
Adventure stories; Arctic regions -- Fiction; Whaling -- Fiction
"I thought," said Amos Parr, "that the Feejees were cannibals, and that
whoever was wrecked or cast ashore on their coasts was killed and
roasted, and eat up at once."
"So ye're right," rejoined Buzzby; "but Providence sent the crew to one
o' the islands that had bin visited by a native Christian missionary
from one o' the other islands, and the people had gin up some o' their
worst practices, and wos thinkin' o' turnin' over a new leaf altogether.
So the crew wos spared, and took to livin' among the natives, quite
comfortable like. But they soon got tired and took to their boats agin,
and left. Mrs. Ellice, however, determined to remain and help the native
Christians, till a ship should pass that way. For three years nothin'
but canoes hove in sight o' that lonesome island; then, at last, a brig
came, and cast anchor off shore. It wos an Australian trader that had
been blown out o' her course on her way to England, so they took poor
Mrs. Ellice aboard, and brought her home--and that's how it wos."
Buzzby's outline, although meagre, is so comprehensive that we do not
think it necessary to add a word. Soon after he had concluded, the
guests of the evening came in, and the conversation became general.
"Buzzby's jollification," as it was called in the village, was long
remembered as one of the most interesting events that had occurred for
many years. One of the chief amusements of the evening was the spinning
of long yarns about the incidents of the late voyage, by men who could
spin them well.
Their battles in the Polar Seas were all fought over again. The
wondering listeners were told how Esquimaux were chased and captured;
how walruses were lanced and harpooned; how bears were speared and shot;
how long and weary journeys were undertaken on foot over immeasurable
fields of ice and snow; how icebergs had crashed around their ship, and
chains had been snapped asunder, and tough anchors had been torn from
the ground or lost; how schools had been set agoing and a theatre got
up; and how, provisions having failed, rats were eaten--and eaten, too,
with gusto. All this and a great deal more was told on that celebrated
night--sometimes by one, sometimes by another, and sometimes, to the
confusion of the audience, by two or three at once, and, not
unfrequently, to the still greater confusion of story-tellers and
audience alike, the whole proceedings were interrupted by the outrageous
yells and turmoil of the two indomitable young Buzzbys, as they romped
in reckless joviality with Dumps and Poker. But at length the morning
light broke up the party, and stories of the World of Ice came to an
end.
* * * * *
And now, reader, our tale is told. But we cannot close without a parting
word in regard to those with whom we have held intercourse so long.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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