Chapter 29 of Under the Polar Star; or, The Young Explorers by Dwight Weldon

CHAPTER XXIX

FOUND AT LAST

That the Eskimo were enraged, and believing that their companion had been murdered, were determined to avenge his death, there could be no doubt.

They had retreated when the gun was fired, and Jack said, quickly:

“Climb out of here as soon as you can. We must fly.”

“But won’t they listen to reason?” demurred Hugo.

“They can’t understand us. See yonder, Hugo is a sled and some dogs. Get the boys there.”

“You intend to take them away?”

“I intend to escape as best we may before the Eskimo return to the attack,” replied Jack, determinedly.

As the natives made a forward movement the gun was again fired, and had the effect of checking their advance.

They had some difficulty in urging the dogs away from the camp, but once started the sled flew over the snowy expanse.

They were not followed by the Eskimo, who were, doubtless, affrighted at the guns.

After several hours Jack ordered a halt, and they found a shelter for the night, resuming their journey the next day.

Several times on their way they passed ice huts and other evidence of the passage of recent travelers, such as broken sleds and scraps of food.

At nightfall, two days later, they came to a settlement.

Beyond it was the open sea.

Anchored near the coast was a large ship.

Snow huts and several rude frame houses were also visible.

The first man they met as the sled stopped was a white man.

He welcomed them cordially, and for the first time since leaving home, they entered a house resembling those they had been used to live in.

The man explained that the place was a whaling station known to most ships in the trade.

The settlement had numerous Eskimo among its population, and several of these and members of the crew of the ship at anchor soon gathered in the depot building, as it was called, to survey with curiosity the escaped castaways.

Jack related the story of their adventures. In its narration he several times spoke of the Albatross and its crew.

When he had concluded the man who had welcomed him turned to Will.

“And this is Captain Bertram’s brother, eh?”

“Yes,” replied Jack.

“Do you know my brother, sir?” queried Will, anxiously.

“We parted company a week ago.”

“Then he is alive and well?”

“He was at last accounts. He has gone about fifty miles down the coast.”

“What for?”

“To find a ship to return home in. There was none here then.”

“And her crew?”

“Are with him.”

The information made Will excited and anxious, and he asked the man a score of questions about the Albatross.

Jack, Hugo, and the boys held a consultation that evening as to the best course for them to pursue.

The ship at anchor sailed in a few days for the whaling grounds, and both Jack and Hugo could have found positions among the crew.

The chances of finding ships returning home at the next station induced them to determine to go thither.

There Will might find his brother, and the ensuing morning two Eskimos agreed to drive them to their intended destination on their sleds.

They came upon a ship in the ice before they reached the settlement, and were witnesses to the burial in the frozen deep of two sailors who had died on shipboard.

The lonely procession on the ice, the strange lunar phenomena in the sky, and the silence of the scene impressed them all with its solemnity.

From the sailors, they learned that several ships were intending to sail soon from the next station, and they traveled all that night, reaching the whaling depot at daylight.

Will Bertram could scarcely contain himself when the sled stopped.

A casual inquiry had revealed the fact that the crew of the Albatross were at the main building in the settlement, and Will rushed thither.

A room crowded with bunks showed a dozen or more men just arising from sleep.

Will’s heart in his mouth, he cried out, eagerly:

“Captain Bertram!”

“Here!” replied a hearty voice.

Will dashed precipitately forward.

“Oh! Alan! My brother, my brother! I have found you at last.”