The Polar circle was cleared at last. On the 30th of April, at midday, the Forward passed abreast1 of Holsteinborg; picturesque2 mountains rose up on the eastern horizon. The sea appeared almost free from icebergs3, and the few there were could easily be avoided. The wind veered4 round to the south-east, and the brig, under her mizensail, brigantine, topsails, and her topgallant sail, sailed up Baffin’s Sea. It had been a particularly calm day, and the crew were able to take a little rest. Numerous birds were swimming and fluttering about round the vessel5; amongst others, the doctor observed some alca-alla, very much like the teal, with black neck, wings and back, and white breast; they plunged6 with vivacity7, and their immersion8 often lasted forty seconds.
The day would not have been remarkable9 if the following fact, however extraordinary it may appear, had not occurred on board. At six o’clock in the morning Richard Shandon, re-entering his cabin after having been relieved, found upon the table a letter with this address:
“To the Commander,
“RICHARD SHANDON,
“On board the ‘Forward,’
“Baffin’s Sea.”
Shandon could not believe his own eyes, and before reading such a strange epistle he caused the doctor, James Wall and Johnson to be called, and showed them the letter.
“That grows very strange,” said Johnson.
“It’s delightful10!” thought the doctor.
“At last,” cried Shandon, “we shall know the secret.”
With a quick hand he tore the envelope and read as follows:
“COMMANDER,— The captain of the Forward is pleased with the coolness, skill, and courage that your men, your officers, and yourself have shown on the late occasions, and begs you to give evidence of his gratitude11 to the crew.
“Have the goodness to take a northerly direction towards Melville Bay, and from thence try and penetrate12 into Smith’s Straits.
“The Captain OF The Forward,
“K. Z.
“Monday, April 30th,
“Abreast of Cape13 Walsingham.”
“Is that all?” cried the doctor.
“That’s all,” replied Shandon, and the letter fell from his hands.
“Well,” said Wall, “this chimerical14 captain doesn’t even mention coming on board, so I conclude that he never will come.”
“But how did this letter get here?” said Johnson.
Shandon was silent.
“Mr. Wall is right,” replied the doctor, after picking up the letter and turning it over in every direction; “the captain won’t come on board for an excellent reason ——”
“And what’s that?” asked Shandon quickly.
“Because he is here already,” replied the doctor simply.
“Already!” said Shandon. “What do you mean?”
“How do you explain the arrival of this letter if such is not the case?”
Johnson nodded his head in sign of approbation15.
“It is not possible!” said Shandon energetically. “I know every man of the crew. We should have to believe, in that case, that the captain has been with us ever since we set sail. It is not possible, I tell you. There isn’t one of them that I haven’t seen for more than two years in Liverpool; doctor, your supposition is inadmissible.”
“Then what do you admit, Shandon?”
“Everything but that! I admit that the captain, or one of his men, has profited by the darkness, the fog, or anything you like, in order to slip on board; we are not very far from land; there are Esquimaux kayaks that pass unperceived between the icebergs; someone may have come on board and left the letter; the fog was intense enough to favour their design.”
“And to hinder them from seeing the brig,” replied the doctor; “if we were not able to perceive an intruder slip on board, how could he have discovered the Forward in the midst of a fog?”
“That is evident,” exclaimed Johnson.
“I come back, then,” said the doctor, “to my first hypothesis. What do you think about it, Shandon?”
“I think what you please,” replied Shandon fiercely, “with the exception of supposing that this man is on board my vessel.”
“Perhaps,” added Wall, “there may be amongst the crew a man of his who has received instructions from him.”
“That’s very likely,” added the doctor.
“But which man?” asked Shandon. “I tell you I have known all my men a long time.”
“Anyhow,” replied Johnson, “if this captain shows himself, let him be man or devil, we’ll receive him; but we have another piece of information to draw from this letter.”
“What’s that?” asked Shandon.
“Why, that we are to direct our path not only towards Melville Bay, but again into Smith’s Straits.”
“You are right,” answered the doctor.
“Smith’s Straits?” echoed Shandon mechanically.
“It is evident,” replied Johnson, “that the destination of the Forward is not to seek a North–West passage, as we shall leave to our left the only track that leads to it — that is to say, Lancaster Straits; that’s what forebodes us difficult navigation in unknown seas.”
“Yes, Smith’s Straits,” replied Shandon, “that’s the route the American Kane followed in 1853, and at the price of what dangers! For a long time he was thought to be lost in those dreadful latitudes17! However, as we must go, go we must. But where? how far? To the Pole?”
“And why not?” cried the doctor.
The idea of such an insane attempt made the boatswain shrug18 his shoulders.
“After all,” resumed James Wall, “to come back to the captain, if he exists, I see nowhere on the coast of Greenland except Disko or Uppernawik where he can be waiting for us; in a few days we shall know what we may depend upon.”
“But,” asked the doctor of Shandon, “aren’t you going to make known the contents of that letter to the crew?”
“With the commander’s permission,” replied Johnson, “I should do nothing of the kind.”
“And why so?” asked Shandon.
“Because all that mystery tends to discourage the men: they are already very anxious about the fate of our expedition, and if the supernatural side of it is increased it may produce very serious results, and in a critical moment we could not rely upon them. What do you say about it, commander?”
“And you, doctor — what do you think?” asked Shandon.
“I think Johnson’s reasoning is just.”
“And you, Wall?”
“Unless there’s better advice forthcoming, I shall stick to the opinion of these gentlemen.”
Shandon reflected seriously during a few minutes, and read the letter over again carefully.
“Gentlemen,” said he, “your opinion on this subject is certainly excellent, but I cannot adopt it.”
“Why not, Shandon?” asked the doctor.
“Because the instructions of this letter are formal: they command me to give the captain’s congratulations to the crew, and up till today I have always blindly obeyed his orders in whatever manner they have been transmitted to me, and I cannot ——”
“But ——” said Johnson, who rightly dreaded19 the effect of such a communication upon the minds of the sailors.
“My dear Johnson,” answered Shandon, “your reasons are excellent, but read —‘he begs you to give evidence of his gratitude to the crew.’”
“Act as you think best,” replied Johnson, who was besides a very strict observer of discipline. “Are we to muster20 the crew on deck?”
“Do so,” replied Shandon.
The news of a communication having been received from the captain spread like wildfire on deck; the sailors quickly arrived at their post, and the commander read out the contents of the mysterious letter. The reading of it was received in a dead silence; the crew dispersed21, a prey22 to a thousand suppositions. Clifton had heard enough to give himself up to all the wanderings of his superstitious23 imagination; he attributed a considerable share in this incident to the dog-captain, and when by chance he met him in his passage he never failed to salute24 him. “I told you the animal could write,” he used to say to the sailors. No one said anything in answer to this observation, and even Bell, the carpenter himself, would not have known what to answer.
Nevertheless it was certain to all that, in default of the captain, his spirit or his shadow watched on board; and henceforward the wisest of the crew abstained25 from exchanging their opinions about him.
On the 1st of May, at noon, they were in 68 degrees latitude16 and 56 degrees 32 minutes longitude26. The temperature was higher and the thermometer marked twenty-five degrees above zero. The doctor was amusing himself with watching the antics of a white bear and two cubs27 on the brink28 of a pack that lengthened29 out the land. Accompanied by Wall and Simpson, he tried to give chase to them by means of the canoe; but the animal, of a rather warlike disposition30, rapidly led away its offspring, and consequently the doctor was compelled to renounce31 following them up.
Chilly32 Cape was doubled during the night under the influence of a favourable33 wind, and soon the high mountains of Disko rose in the horizon. Godhavn Bay, the residence of the Governor–General of the Danish Settlements, was left to the right. Shandon did not consider it worth while to stop, and soon outran the Esquimaux pirogues who were endeavouring to reach his ship.
The Island of Disko is also called Whale Island. It was from this point that on the 12th of July, 1845, Sir John Franklin wrote to the Admiralty for the last time. It was also on that island on the 27th of August, 1859, that Captain McClintock set foot on his return, bringing back, alas34! proofs too complete of the loss of the expedition. The coincidence of these two facts were noted35 by the doctor; that melancholy36 conjunction was prolific37 in memories, but soon the heights of Disko disappeared from his view.
There were, at that time, numerous icebergs on the coasts, some of those which the strongest thaws38 are unable to detach; the continual series of ridges39 showed themselves under the strangest forms.
The next day, towards three o’clock, they were bearing on to Sanderson Hope to the north-east. Land was left on the starboard at a distance of about fifteen miles; the mountains seemed tinged40 with a red-coloured bistre. During the evening, several whales of the finners species, which have fins41 on their backs, came playing about in the midst of the ice-trails, throwing out air and water from their blow-holes. It was during the night between the 3rd and 4th of May that the doctor saw for the first time the sun graze the horizon without dipping his luminous42 disc into it. Since the 31st of January the days had been getting longer and longer till the sun went down no more. To strangers not accustomed to the persistence43 of this perpetual light it was a constant subject of astonishment44, and even of fatigue45; it is almost impossible to understand to what extent obscurity is requisite46 for the well-being47 of our eyes. The doctor experienced real pain in getting accustomed to this light, rendered still more acute by the reflection of the sun’s rays upon the plains of ice.
On May 5th the Forward headed the seventy-second parallel; two months later they would have met with numerous whalers under these high latitudes, but at present the straits were not sufficiently48 open to allow them to penetrate into Baffin’s Bay. The following day the brig, after having headed Woman’s Island, came in sight of Uppernawik, the most northerly settlement that Denmark possesses on these coasts.
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1
abreast
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| adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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icebergs
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| n.冰山，流冰( iceberg的名词复数 ) | |
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veered
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| v.（尤指交通工具）改变方向或路线( veer的过去式和过去分词 )；（指谈话内容、人的行为或观点）突然改变；（指风） （在北半球按顺时针方向、在南半球按逆时针方向）逐渐转向；风向顺时针转 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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vivacity
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| n.快活，活泼，精神充沛 | |
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8
immersion
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| n.沉浸；专心 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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chimerical
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| adj.荒诞不经的，梦幻的 | |
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approbation
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| n.称赞；认可 | |
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latitude
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| n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区 | |
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latitudes
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| 纬度 | |
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shrug
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| v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
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dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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25
abstained
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| v.戒（尤指酒），戒除( abstain的过去式和过去分词 )；弃权（不投票） | |
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26
longitude
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| n.经线，经度 | |
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cubs
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| n.幼小的兽，不懂规矩的年轻人( cub的名词复数 ) | |
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brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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lengthened
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| （时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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renounce
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| v.放弃；拒绝承认，宣布与…断绝关系 | |
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chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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prolific
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| adj.丰富的，大量的；多产的，富有创造力的 | |
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38
thaws
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| n.（足以解冻的）暖和天气( thaw的名词复数 )；（敌对国家之间）关系缓和v.（气候）解冻( thaw的第三人称单数 )；（态度、感情等）缓和；（冰、雪及冷冻食物）溶化；软化 | |
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39
ridges
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| n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊 | |
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40
tinged
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| v.（使）发丁丁声( ting的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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41
fins
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| [医]散热片；鱼鳍；飞边；鸭掌 | |
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42
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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43
persistence
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| n.坚持，持续，存留 | |
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44
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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45
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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46
requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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47
well-being
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| n.安康，安乐，幸福 | |
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48
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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