The Golden Harpoon — page 33: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

CONCLUSION, 31 pretty idee of yours—that of fastening the har- ee to the seal—that brought it all about. ut I think we'd better get back to your ‘hotel,’ as soon a8 we can, seeing as you'll be more comfortable there than you are here. The fog,” he added, glancing around him, “ will soon clear before the northerly breeze, which has been fresh’ning since midnight; and, if 1 ain’t mistaken, we'll see some of the boats when that happens.” Accordingly, the little party moved off in the direction of the ark, and, as they proceeded, Alice explained to her two friends the cause of her disappearance. Soon after Stump had quitted her to search for Marline, she heard a low growl, at no great distance from the spot she occupied, and, at the same moment, she beheld a ferocious-looking bear moving towards her. Obeying the impulse of the moment, she turned and fled, the animal pursuing her, and it was not until she found herself near the eastern edge of the floe, that she ventured to look behind her. Then, to her horror and dis- may, she perceived that the savage beast was within a few feet of her. There was, however, within reach of her hand, a curiously-shaped iceberg, and the thought now occurred to her that, if she could gain its summit, the bear would not be able to follow her up the slippery ascent. Accordingly, with the strength and activity of desperation, she scaled the glitter- ing mass, in the top of which she found the opening already alluded to, and through which, by an unguarded movement, she was precipi- tated into the cell or cavity beneath. She heard the savage growls of rage from her pur- suer without, as the beast, with rapid but clumsy movements, vainly endeavoured to clamber the slippery sides of the berg; and, finally, the sound of the retreating footsteps of the baffled animal saluted her ears. Not long afterwards she distinguished the far-off voices of Stump and Marline, who by this time had commenced to search for her. She re- sponded, as loudly as she could, but the thick- ness of the ice walls prevented her voice from reaching the two sailors—a fact of which she was convinced by the receding of the shouts. They became fainter every moment, and, with a weary sigh, she had crouched in a corner of her cell, when her glance alighted upon the form of a seal, as it emerged from a small hole opposite to her. A moment afterwards, the happy thought of fastening the golden harpoon to the creature’s neck flashed upon her mind. Her friends, she thought, would certainly see, the little traveller, during its wanderings about the floe, and would finally track the animal to its retreat, to which, prompted by instinct, it would pro- bably return before many hours. Be this as it might, however, the novelty of the idea pleased her, and so, creeping cautiously towards the seal, which, owing to the wound it had received, was not very active, she finally suc- ceeded in grasping it and in securimg the golden bauble to its neck by the strip of blue ribbon which was taken from her hair. Then she released the little prisoner, and was pleased to see it crawl away from her and disappear through its hole. The reader knows the rest. By the time the young girl concluded her story, the fog had cleared sutliciently to enable the party to see for nearly half a league across the watery expanse stretching away to the south. The faint booming of a gun was now heard in that direction, and it was followed by a joy- ful exclamation from Stump. With a loud cheer he tossed his sou’wester into the air. “That gun is from the ship!” he exclaimed, ‘it’s that lubberly six-pounder that she carries, forward. I can’t mistake the sound.” He was right; but an hour elapsed before the fog had lifted sufliciently to enable the spectator to see the vessel, which was nearly a league to the southward, heading directly for the floe. The ship-keeper seized an oar, and fastening a piece of canvas to it, waved it about his head. Ere long the signal was answered by that of the “* Montpelier,’ which was “run up’ to the truck, and when the vessel had approached within a mile of the floe, her main- topsail was “backed”; then a boat was lowered. It soon struck the ice, and Alice was received in her uncle’s arms; while Mr. Briggs advanced and shook hands with his harpooner. Explanations followed, and while the cap- tain’s niece was relating her story to her uncle, Mr. Briggs proceeded to give Marline an account oi the adventures of himself and his companions after they had parted from the , young men on the floe. “Tt was not until we had wandered about for some time,” said he, “that we succeeded in sighting one of the boats—that of the second mate. We shouted to him; he picked us up, and I then told him that I left you alone upon the ice to take charge of my stove boat, and that we must contrive to work his eraft to the spot where you were, so that we coulk up. By this time, hows’ ; ever, the blocks and bergs had become so closely jammed together, that none of us could see how we were a-going to do what I proposed. Spooner declared that the boat would certainly be knocked to pieces before we got to you, if we tried to force her through them bergs. But, as I insisted, the second mate gave in, and we went to work. But, bless your eyes, you might as well have tried to push the craft through a rock as to | force her through them tightly-squeezing lumps of ice! Still, we tugged and strained, using oars and paddles, and sometimes jumping out of the boat to lighten her; and, at last, after we had worked for about three hours, a-sound- ing our horn all the time, and after we'd got so far among the bergs that we didn’t think we could ever get out again, and all without seeing or hearing anything of you, I came to the conclusion that my craft had got sunk, and that you'd been picked up by one of the other boats ; and so I said to Spooner, that we'd better be for getting out of our ticklish quarters if he didn’t want his boat to get stove.” “Ay, ay,” here interposed Stump, “and there’s sart’inly a moral in that part of your story, seeing as it shows how difficulties always EComichboo <S (CO)