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“Not far enough, boatswain, not far enough!” “Oh, that will come! But I am disappointed.” “In what way?” “Because we have not done what is usual on board ships on crossing the Line!” “You regret that?” “Certainly I do, and the Halbrane might have been allowed the ceremony of a southern baptism.” “A baptism?
Suddenly loud shouts came from the after-deck, and then screams of terror, in which the maddened voices of the crew joined. At length there came a final crash, and the Halbrane remained motionless. I had to crawl along the floor to reach the door and gain the deck.
For five successive days the Halbrane sailed without sustaining any damage, without having, even for a moment, had to fear a collision. It is true that in proportion as she advanced towards the south the number of icepacks increased and the channels became narrower.
And it was in this place that, during long, hopeless years, the seven survivors of the fane lived, as we were about to do ourselves, but under better conditions, for the fertility of the soil of Tsalal furnished them with resources unknown in Halbrane Land. In reality, we were condemned to perish when our provisions should be exhausted, but they could have waited indefinitely and they did wait.
Can we cast anchor to wait for it? And all the chances would be that we should never see it again. Ah! if we only had the Halbrane!” But there was no longer a Halbrane!
I was disappointed, however, for neither the captain nor anyone belonging to the ship patronized the Green Cormorant that day. I had to dine alone, exactly as I had been doing every day for two months. After dinner, about half-past seven, when it was dark, I went out to walk on the port, keeping on the side of the houses. The quay was quite deserted; not a man of the Halbrane crew was ashore.
I did not think proper to add that Glass had been much surprised at Captain Guy’s abstaining from visiting him, as, in his absurd vanity, he held the commander of the Halbrane bound to do, nor that he did not consider the Governor of Tristan d’Acunha bound to take the initiative. “I wish to ask you, Mr.
“Understand me; it is for this that I have embarked on the Halbrane yes, to find poor Pym!” “And where is he,” I asked, “if not deep in a grave, in the cemetery of his natal city?” “No, he is in the place where he remained, alone, all alone,” continued Hunt, pointing towards the south; “and since then the sun has risen on that horizon seven times.”
The most alarming part of our situation was the fact that of the two boats belonging to the Halbrane, one had been stove in when we grounded, and the other, the larger of the two, was still hanging on by its tackles to the starboard davits. Before anything else was done this boat had to be put in a safe place, because it might prove our only means of escape.
It would have been an act of unpardonable rashness to leave the provisions in the storeroom of the Halbrane, her situation on the side of the iceberg being very precarious. One shake would suffice to detach the ship, and with her would have disappeared the supplies on which our lives depended.
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