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"One of us had better go with them," said the Captain, "to show the place where the sledge has been left." "I will go, uncle, if you'll allow me," said Leo Vandervell. "Oh! let me go too, father," pleaded Benjy, "I'm not a bit tired; do." "You may both go. Take a rifle with you, Leo. There's no saying what you may meet on the way."
A gleeful look of triumph caused his face, as it were, to sparkle, and he said, eagerly "We'll winter at the North Pole, father, eh?" This was greeted with a general laugh. "But seriously, uncle, what do you mean to do?" asked Leonard Vandervell, who, with his brother, was not unhopeful that the Captain meditated something desperate. "Benjy is not far off the mark.
The smile was still on his lips when his head drooped on a piece of ice, and he sank into a deep slumber. Ah, Leonard Vandervell! ill would it have been for thee if thou hadst been left to thyself that day; but sharp eyes and anxious hearts were out on the icy waste in search of thee!
These resolute intending discoverers of the North Pole passed in succession the various "farthests" of previous explorers, and the stout brothers Vandervell, with their cousin Benjy Vane, gazed eagerly over the bulwarks at the swiftly-passing headlands, while the Captain pointed out the places of interest, and kept up a running commentary on the brave deeds and high aspirations of such well-known men as Frobisher, Davis, Hudson, Ross, Parry, Franklin, Kane, McClure, Rae, McClintock, Hayes, Hall, Nares, Markham, and all the other heroes of Arctic story.
During this brief but thrilling period, the brothers Vandervell and Benjy Vane crouched close together beside the port bulwarks, partially screened from the falling ice by the mizzen shrouds. The Captain stood on the quarter-deck, quite exposed, and apparently unconscious of danger, the picture of despair.
Polar bears, like the Eskimo, had forsaken the spot. All nature, indeed, animate and inanimate, favoured the idea of repose when the explorers lay down to sleep on a mossy couch that was quite as soft as a feather bed, and much more springy. The cause of disturbance was the prolonged absence of Alf Vandervell. That enthusiastic naturalist's failure to appear at supper was nothing uncommon.
"There, look round you," he cried, taking off his hat and wiping the perspiration from his brow. "Well, uncle, where is it?" asked Leo, half-amused and half-sceptical. "Where! why, don't you see it? No, of course you don't. You're looking all round it, lad. Look down, down at your feet. Leonard Vandervell," he added, in sudden solemnity, "you're on it! you're standing on the North Pole now!"
"What have you got in the kettle?" asked Leo Vandervell, who came up with some dry driftwood at the moment. "Bubble-um-squeak," replied the cook. "What sort o' squeak is that?" asked Leo, as he bent his tall strong frame over the fire to investigate the contents of the kettle. "What am it, massa?
"Chaos! absolute chaos!" exclaimed Alf Vandervell, who was first to recover from the shock of surprise, not to say consternation, with which the party beheld the scene on turning a high cape. "It looks bad," said Captain Vane, gravely, "but things often look worse at a first glance than they really are." "I hope it may be so in this case," said Leo, in a low tone.
First of all, he sent a boat in charge of his two nephews, Leonard and Alphonse Vandervell, to set up a small table on the ice, on which were temptingly arranged various presents, consisting of knives, beads, looking-glasses, and articles of clothing. Having done this, they retired, like wary anglers, to watch for a bite.
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