The days marched by in a steady procession. Daily reports from Harry indicated that ice conditions were most favorable and that the Neptune was finding much clear water. Occasionally it was necessary to dive under some particularly stubborn ice field but this had not happened often.
Then things changed; high winds prevailed in the northland; progress was retarded; ice jammed in front of the Neptune; static set up a wall of interference that was almost impossible to break through; messages from Harry were few and far between, and lines of worry deepened as Bert and Andy waited anxiously in the radio room.
On the 28th of June a wave of static turned back every query sent into the Arctic. On the 29th the same conditions prevailed. When the static cleared on the 30th of June, Bert called in vain for the Neptune but there was no answer.
CHAPTER XV
The Northern Seas
After a rough crossing of the Atlantic from New York to Plymouth, England, where the Neptune had put in to replenish its supply of fuel, the cruise of the polar submarine had been much smoother and Harry had really enjoyed his trip. The daily talks by radiophone with Bert, Serge and Andy were the high spots of the day for he missed the pleasure of their companionship.
His first days aboard the Neptune had been miserable with the weather rough and his stomach turning flip-flops every time he tried to eat. But after leaving Plymouth and heading north for Bergen he had found the sub and its tricks to his liking. Bob Smith, first officer of the Neptune, was not much older than Harry. Bob was a navy man, loaned to Gilbert Mathews especially for the Polar cruise, and he was thoroughly at home in the underwater craft.
From Bergen to King’s Bay, Spitzbergen, was a lonely voyage for there are few ships in the Arctic. An occasional gull wheeling overhead, stray bergs drifting by, and the eternal blue of the cold North Atlantic was all they saw day after day. Harry kept the radio humming with the press messages which the explorer sent back to his syndicate in New York. One method Mathews had used in spreading out the cost of the trip was the sale of exclusive stories of what went on aboard the Neptune to a newspaper syndicate. Morning and afternoon stories were required and Harry, who was adept at writing a readable story, was often pressed into service to write the daily dispatch.
Weather favored them all the way to King’s Bay, where they were to make their final stop for supplies, which had been sent on ahead by steamers.
Harry deserted his post and went up on deck when Bob called down to inform him that they were slipping into King’s Bay, scene of the start of many a famous Arctic flight. It was from here that Byrd and Floyd Bennett had made their dash to the North pole, to be followed a few days later by Nobile and Ellsworth in the Italian dirigible Norge. It was here that Wilkins and Eielson had landed after their long flight from Alaska across the barrens of the Arctic and it was from here that the ill-fated Norge had made a second expedition into the Arctic.
By the time the sleek, black submarine had nosed its way up to the large coal dock, the entire population of King’s Bay was down to greet it. The crew and officers welcomed the opportunity to leave the Neptune and stretch their legs on land, but preparations for the trip into the Arctic were pushed with all possible haste. The weather was too favorable for any unnecessary delay and the crew worked steadily at the task of refilling fuel tanks and taking on fresh stores of food.