The day of 4 July leaked in the middle of a very thick fog. The road towards the north was maintained with difficulty; at every moment the compass had to be checked. Fortunately, the travelers didn't suffer any accidents during this time; only Bell remained without snow wear, which broke at a rock corner.
Johnson: My word, I thought that, after frequenting the rivers Mersey and Tamisa, we'd have the right to show ourselves more fastidious towards the fogs, but I guess I was wrong!
Bell: Well, we have to light some torches like London or Liverpool!
Clawbonny: And why not? It's a good idea; we'd light the way a little, but we'd at least see the guide and coordonate ourselves better.
Bell: But, where do we get the torches?
Clawbonny: Well, we imbue some oakums in medicinal alcohol, which we'll put on our batons' tips.
Johnson: Very good and it wouldn't take a lot to make them.
A quarter of an hour later, the small group resumed the march at the light of the fires in the middle of a wet obscurity.
But if they began to go in a straight line, they couldn't go faster, and these tenebrous vapors didn't vanish until 6 July; the ground got cold, and a pale of northern wind took the thick fog with it, like a desired fabric.
Immediately, the doctor established the position and observed that they didn't even pass the average of eight miles a day through the fog.
On 6 July they hurried, therefore, to recuperate the lost time, so that they left in the morning. Altamont and Bell again retook their posts from before, scouting the ground and discovering the hunt; Duk accompanied them; the weather, with its formidable variability, became clear and dry once again, though the guides were only two miles from the sleigh, the doctor closely supervised them.
He was, therefore, very surprised when he saw them abruptly stopping and remaining immobile; they seemed to scrutinize the horizon.
Then, laying on the ground, they carefully examined it and got up astonished. Bell even seemed to want to move forward, but Altamont caught him by the hand.
Clawbonny: Really! What are they doing now?
Johnson: I watch them like you do, Mr Clawbonny, and I understand nothing from their gestures.
Hatteras: They found animal tracks.
Clawbonny: Impossible.
Hatteras: Why?
Clawbonny: Because Duk would've barked.
Johnson: Still, there's some tracks they're researching.
Hatteras: Let's go; we'll immediately find out what awaits us.
Johnson stimulated the harnessed dogs, who became nervous.
Twenty minutes later, the five travelers were at the same place, and Hatteras, the doctor and Johnson shared Altamont and Bell's astonishment.
Indeed, man tracks, visible, incontestable and recent, as if they were made on eve, they seemed lost on the snow.
Hatteras: They're Eskimos.
Clawbonny: Sure enough, here's the tracks of their rackets.
Altamont: You think so?
Clawbonny: I'm certain.
Altamont: Well, what about this track? (points at a wide track which repeats itself many times)
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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!
