On the night of 26 and 27 April, the weather began to change; the thermometer went down sensibly and the inhabitants of the Doctor's House felt the cold creeping under their blankets; Altamont, on guard by the stove, was careful not to let the fire go out and had to supply it in abundance to keep the indoor temperature at 50 degrees Fahrenheit above zero (+10 degrees Celsius).
This cooling heralds the end of the storm and the doctor rejoices; the usual preoccupations were to be resumed, hunting, excursions, expeditions to recognize the area; this put an end to this inactive loneliness, during which even the best characters end up souring.
The next morning, the doctor left bed early and made his way along the ice piled up to the lighthouse cone.
The wind was blowing north; the air was clean; the long white stretches seemed to the foot a firm, sturdy carpet.
Immediately, the five winter companions left the Doctor's House; their first concern was to clean the shelter of the large masses of ice that surrounded it; nothing was recognized on the set; it would have been impossible to discover the remains of a settlement; the storm, obscuring the inequalities of the land, had smoothed everything; the ground had risen at least fifteen feet.
They had to clean the snow immediately and then restore a more architectural shape to the house, restore the erased lines and restore its balance. Nothing was easier, and after the ice had been removed, a few knife blades in the snow had returned the walls to their normal thickness.
At the end of two hours of sustained work, the granite base also appeared; access to stockpiles and rifle dust became practicable again. But how, in this uncertain climate, a similar state of affairs could be repeated from a day to another, the fuel supply was resupplied and transported to the kitchen. The need for fresh meat was felt in the stomachs irritated by so much salt; so the hunters were tasked with changing the torturous feeding system and prepared to leave.
Meanwhile, the end of April did not bring with it the polar spring; the hour of return had not yet struck; it took at least another six weeks; the rays of the sun, still very faint, could not pass through these snowy plains and cause the small twigs of the boreal flora to rise from the ground. They feared that animals, birds or quadrupeds, would be rare. However, a rabbit, a couple of ptarmigans, and even a young fox would have sat with great honor on the table in the Doctor's House, so the hunters decided that they would eagerly hunt everything that would pass in front of their rifles.
The doctor, Altamont and Bell were tasked with exploring the area. Altamont, judging by his habits, had to be a skillful and determined hunter, a wonderful shooter, albeit a little boastful. So he was part of the team, as was Duk, who was just as valuable, with the advantage of being less talkative.
The three comrades climbed the cone again from the east and sank into the immense white plains; but they did not have to go too far, for many traces were seen less than two miles from the fort; from there they descended to the shores of Victoria Gulf and seemed to surround Fort Providence with their concentric circles.
After watching them with great curiosity, the hunters looked at each other.
Clawbonny: Well! It seems clear to me.
Bell: Too clear, they're bear tracks.
Altamont: An excellent hunt, but which seems to me to be a sin today by a quality.
Clawbonny: Which?
Altamont: Abundance.
Bell: What do you mean?
Altamont: I mean to say that there's five distinct tracks of five bears, and five bears are too much for five people!
Clawbonny: Are you sure of what you said?
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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!
