Jules Verne's Captain Hatteras - Part 2: Ice Desert

Chapter 14 - The Cold Spring

The prisoners were freed; their joy was manifested by warm gestures and thousands of thanks to the doctor. Old Johnson regretted the bears' skin quite badly, burned and unusable; but this regret did not influence his good disposition. The day passed with the snow house's reconstruction, which had been strongly felt by the explosion. They removed the piles of animals, and its walls were adjusted. It was done quickly, in the thrill of the crew chief, whose beautiful songs were listened to with great pleasure.

The next day, the temperature improved strangely and, with a sudden change in wind direction, the thermometer jumped again to 15 degrees Fahrenheit above zero (-9 degrees Celsius). Such a considerable difference was felt quite strongly by people, but also by things. The south breeze brought with it the first symptoms of polar spring.

This relative heat persisted for several days; the thermometer, sheltered from the wind, showed even 31 degrees Fahrenheit above zero (-1 degree Celsius), and the signs of thawing began to appear.

The ice began to crack; a few small jets of salt water appeared here and there; a few days later it rained profusely.

Intense steam rose from the snow; it was a good sign, for the melting of these masses was approaching. The pale circle of the sun seemed to take on more color, drawing more elongated spirals above the horizon; the night barely lasted three hours.

Another symptom, no less important, the ptarmigans, the northern geese, the plovers, the herons returned in flocks; the atmosphere filled little by little with these deafening cries that sailors remembered last spring. Successfully hunted rabbits appeared on the shores of the gulf, as did arctic mice, whose small burrows formed a system of regular alveoli.

The doctor made his companions notice that all these animals were beginning to change their fur or white winter feathers with their summer clothes; they "sprouted" by seeing with their own eyes, while nature offered them food in the form of moss, poppies, saxifrages, and dwarf grass. A whole new life could be seen gushing from the decomposed snow.

But along with the harmless animals, their hungry enemies returned; foxes and wolves would come in search of their prey; gloomy screams were heard during the short darkness of the night.

The wolf specific to these lands is very similar to a dog; so that sometimes he barks and may even fool a rather skilled ear, such as that of the canine breed, for example; it is even said that these animals use cunning to lure and devour dogs. This was observed in the Hudson's Gulf, and the doctor was able to see it in New America; Johnson was careful not to let go of the Greenlandic dogs, who might fall into the trap.

As for Duk, he had seen a lot in his life and was too smart to throw himself into the wolf's mouth.

For fifteen days he hunted a lot; supplies of fresh meat were plentiful; they killed partridges, ptarmigans, and snow gardeners, which provided delicious food. The hunters did not move away from Fort Providence. It may even be said that the game came in the beating of their rifle; only by its presence did it animate these silent beaches, and Victoria Gulf took on an unusual look that delighted your eyes.

The fifteen days following the bear story were spent with these new occupations.

The thaw was making visible progress; the thermometer rose again to 32 degrees Fahrenheit above zero (0 degrees Celsius); torrents began to roar in their riverbeds, and thousands of waterfalls improvised on sloping slopes. After clearing an acre of land, the doctor sows the seeds of watercress, sorrel, and cochlearia, whose antiscorbutic influence is excellent; the green twigs could already be seen emerging from the ground when suddenly, with unimaginable rapidity, the cold reappeared, taking control of its empire.