Steve Young Part 46

"Fish?" whispered Steve, for the strangeness of the gloomy chasm had an effect upon his spirits, and before he asked that question he had been busy with his imagination conjuring up all manner of strange-looking, dangerous creatures as being likely to inhabit the dark depths over which they were riding, so he turned to Johannes and said, "Fish?"

"Seals," replied the Norseman laconically.

An hour later they were out in the suns.h.i.+ne once again, with the magnificent glacier which filled up the northern end of the fiord looking more lovely than when they saw it first, a fact due; perhaps, to their having been threading a gloomy pa.s.sage which at times was like a huge cavern.

Then came a long row past the valleys which ran inland, and down one of which the doctor declared that he saw a reindeer; and in due time the fiord contracted, the rocks on either side towered up with their ledges displaying row after row of sea-birds ready to take flight and utter their wild clamour, as in the distance they resembled a snowstorm of which the great flakes were parti-coloured.

At last the _Hvalross_ was seen floating on the clear water, looking welcome and bright in the suns.h.i.+ne; and so clear was everything that as they neared her she looked doubled, one vessel keel to keel with another, whose funnel and masts lay low in the depths of the fiord.

"Dinner's quite ready, gentlemen," said the cook as they reached the deck; and that night, in spite of the soft glow of the sun, Steve slept as soundly as if it were as dark as any that he had ever known at home.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

THE DOCTOR'S SHOT.

Captain Marsham had given his orders over-night, and hence the steam was up by breakfast time, and directly after that meal the vessel was gliding northward with her propeller churning up the deep water into a silvery foam, while two ever-extending waves ran toward the sides of the fiord, and broke upon the perpendicular rocks which ran down into deep water.

Steve felt a little regret at quitting their anchorage, till he recalled that there was an equally beautiful one at the foot of the frozen fall; and he had just come to the conclusion that it was a very wise change, for it suggested imprisonment to be shut in on three sides by the towering rocks and the piled-up ice-floes, when the captain said to Mr Hands...o...b..:

"This will be a wonderful change for the better."

"But you will not go on loading the vessel with oil now?" said the doctor.

"Why not? We shall have grand opportunities to do that, and make expeditions inland as well, on the chance of finding that our friends may also have been driven up here."

"But the vessel--we can never extricate her, so why load her?"

"Because the chances here are so many. It looks at the first blush as if the vessel is bound to stay here till she has rotted and the engine rusted away, but we are not going to despair. Who could, in weather like this, eh, Steve?"

"Of course not," said the boy. "Why, we can set to work and build a s.h.i.+p big enough to carry us back to Norway out of the planks, if the ice behind us does not melt."

The captain nodded, and then he resumed his task of keeping a sharp look-out forward in search of rocks, but his search was vain, for the water was immensely deep and clear, and they reached the open part of the fiord, and cast anchor a short distance away from the mouth of the black chasm and in full view of the glacier. This promised to give them shelter from the first northern gale which blew, though one of the lateral valleys looked threatening, and as if the wind could rush along it like a blast roaring through a pipe; but as that was below their anchorage, it was not likely to affect them much.

The anchor then went down in deep water, and as if they had only to sail out up the fiord at any time they liked, the captain had two boats lowered, and giving the mate charge of one, he led the way in the other to the mouth of the chasm, while the men, with their lances and harpoons on board, tugged eagerly at the oars, ready and willing for their first attack upon the oil-yielding animals of the northern seas.

Success attended them on getting to the more open water at the end of the chasm, for, after a little searching, the continuation was found right at the back of a huge ma.s.s of rock, and, clearing this obstacle, the men rowed on, to plunge into brief darkness again beneath the long stretch of ice arches. Then came a good, steady pull and a cheer, for the boats were out in clear water in the wide channel which ran up between the ice-bound sh.o.r.e and the floe.

As they rowed out in the open water the men looked disappointed, and Steve, who was in the bows of the first boat with Johannes and Jakobsen, had to listen to the Scotch sailors' banter, spoken to the Norwegians sometimes, but more often at the lad himself.

"Hahmeesh laddie," said Andrew McByle, "if she hadna baith hands at the oar, she'd get out ta snees.h.i.+n'. Gie me a pinch. Hah! Ferry goot, laddie, ferry goot," he continued, after helping himself to a pinch of snuff, and being able to use his hands for that. "She'll hae chust ane more wee bit. Hah! Tak' the box back, as she'll pe for finis.h.i.+ng it a'."

They rowed on for a little while, with Hamish staring about and Andrew giving an occasional snort of contempt.

"See annything, Hahmeesh?"

"Na, naething."

"Naething it is, laddie. Hech! And I thocht after a' she'd heard tell tat the sea was chust alive wi' the walrus and seal, and bear lived a'

along like wee birdies on the rocks."

"Hey, to hear a' they said," grumbled Hamish, "she'd think sae. Ant there's as many walrus coos and bulls here as ye see in ta Firth o'

Clyde if ye gang oop ta Glasgie."

"Ye're recht, laddie," said Andrew, "chust as many. Why, it's petter in ta Clyde, for she can see a porpoise pig, and there's naething here but watter and ice. Wha are we gaen?"

"She canna tell," said Hamish. "She's thinkin' it's to pring the lang tyke oot for a ride."

"If you call my collie a 'lang tyke,' Hamish, I'll set him at you.

Here, Skeny. Css!"

The dog started up from where he had been lying in the bows, looked in his master's face, and uttered a low growl.

"Na, she wadna set the tog at a man, Hahmeesh," said Andrew with a sly grin. "Not that there's muckle bite spout the tog. What made ye pring her to sea at a', Meester Steve?"

"To bite impudent people's legs," said Steve gruffly.

"Na, she wadna dae tat," cried Andrew. "Put, Meester Steve, wha' are a'

the walrus gane tae?"

"To sleep, perhaps."

Andrew chuckled.

"Look here, laddie, she winna say a wort to anny one, but ye'll chust tell the truth to a man. She tidna see anny walrus yesterday at a'?"

"I'm not going to try and make you believe if you don't care to," said Steve.

"Put she chust wants to know. Come noo, ye tidna see anny, and it was a chust flim-flam and mak'-believe."

"There were plenty here yesterday," said Steve.

"Then where are they gane the?"

"Why didn't you bring your pipes and play? You'd have soon seen where they were."

"Ay!" said Andrew seriously. "Chust a wee lilt o' the pipes might pring the creatures oot o' their holes. There was a man ance, Apollo they ca'd him, as played on the pipes, an' a' the bit beasties cam' roond to listen; and she'll pe thenking that a' that time back the pipes would pe ferry saf.a.ge like, and a mon like tat not aple to play like we play the noo."

This was said so innocently and in such good faith that Steve could hardly keep his countenance.

"Chah! She's ferry sorry she tidna pring the pipes. There was plenty room in ta poat."

"But there's no room out here for the noise," cried Steve, laughing.

"Tid she hear tat?" said Andrew, turning his head to speak to Hamish.

"She ca'd the music noise. Ah, laddie, ye'll ken mair spout the music when ye're a muckle bit more auld. It's a ferry crant thing the music, and she'll pe ferry sorry some tay that she crinned at the pipes."