Johnson had to shelter the five dogs, exhausted, in the snow house; when it snows heavily, the snow can serve as a blanket for the animals, as it retains their natural warmth. But outdoors, on the dry frosts of forty degrees, the poor animals would soon be frozen.
Johnson, who was an excellent dog trainer, tried to feed them the black seal meat that travelers could not swallow, and to his great surprise, this was a real feast for the dogs; the old sailor, very cheerful, also told the doctor about the miracle.
Clawbonny wasn't surprised; he knew that in North America fish was the main food of horses, and that which satisfied a herbivorous horse could very well satisfy a carnivorous dog.
Before falling asleep, although sleep had become an urgent necessity for the people who had dragged themselves fifteen miles through the ice, the doctor wanted to inform his comrades of their current situation, without alleviating its gravity.
Clawbonny: We're only at the parallel 82 degrees and our supplies are finished!
Hatteras: Another reason to not lose another moment! We have to go! The strong will carry the weak!
Bell: Will we really find a ship at the indicated place?
Johnson: Why should we doubt? The American's rescue depends on ours.
The doctor, for safety's sake, went to interrogate Altamont again. He spoke quite easily, though in a weak voice; he confirmed to the doctor all the details given before; he repeated that the ship, stranded on granite rocks, could not have moved from there, and that it was at 126 degrees 15' longitude and 83 degrees 35' latitude.
Clawbonny: We can't doubt this affirmation; the problem isn't finding the ship "Porpoise", but if we can manage to reach it.
Hatteras: What food do we have left?
Clawbonny: Enough to last three days at most.
Hatteras: Well, then we have to get there in three days!
Clawbonny: We have to, indeed, and if we don't succeed, we shouldn't complain, since we were helped by exceptional weather. The snow left us alone for fifteen days and the sleigh easily slipped on the trodden ice. Ah, how good it would be to have about two hundred pounds of food! Our brave dogs would have managed well with such a load! Finally, this is the situation and we can't do anything!
Johnson: With a little luck and skill, can't we use some loads of gunpowder that we have? If a bear would fall in our hands, we'd be stocked with food for the rest of the journey.
Clawbonny: Without a doubt, but these animals are rare and cowardly; and then, it's only enough to think about the importance of a firearm in these moments, for your vision to blur and hand to shake.
Bell: You're a good shot.
Clawbonny: Yes, when food for four people doesn't depend on my skill; if the occasion shows itself, I'll try. Patience, friends, let's be thankful for this poor dinner of pemmican remains, let's try to sleep, so we can go on at dawn.
A few minutes later, the fatigue was stronger than any other need, so everyone fell into a deep sleep.
On Saturday morning, Johnson woke up all his comrades; the dogs were harnessed to the sleigh, and it continued on its way north. The sky was magnificent, the atmosphere extremely extreme, and the temperature very low; when the sun appeared above the horizon, it was in the shape of an ellipse; its horizontal diameter, due to refraction, seemed double that of its vertical diameter; he tossed his beam of light but cold rays over the vast ice plain. This return to light, if not heat, gave a feeling of well-being.
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Jules Verne's Captain Hatteras - Part 2: Ice Desert
General FictionAbandoned in a field of ice, Hatteras and his remaining men must work together to survive long enough to see their dear country again!
