It would have been very beautiful out there; but the state of the crew, and his own want of energy, made the fiord look like a cold, dark, cruel, icy prison, and Steve was always glad to get back into the shelter of the ship.
Then came a morning when the doctor complained of being unwell, and asked Steve to go alone to attend to the men.
With a feeling of horror that he could not conceal, the boy slowly left the doctor’s cabin.
“He’ll lie now as the others are lying,” said Steve to himself; and the boy’s first thought now was that he ought to go to his own cot and give up, for there was nothing more to be done.
“Never say die,” he muttered, though; “never say die;” and, setting his teeth, he went on with the duty the doctor had inaugurated, and visited man after man, praying, exhorting, and bullying them into partaking of food instead of lying there, dying, as it were, by inches.
One by one the Norsemen gave up, till only Johannes made the least effort, and that only when Steve stood by. Then came the day when he, too, resigned himself to his fate; and on going, after leaving him lying in the engine-room, to the galley, Steve found that the cook was seated listless and weary, his chin upon his hands, his elbows on his knees, gazing at the dying fire in his stove.
“What!” cried Steve, “you are not going to give up?”
The man looked at him sadly for a few moments without speaking, and then shook his head.
“The cold stuns them, the cold stuns them!” said the boy aloud in his despair and horror as he turned back to the cabin. “Mr Handscombe,” he cried, “what shall I give them? I can do no more.”
There was no reply, and with a thrill of horror running through him Steve fled back to the deck, where the black darkness horrified him still more, for the lamps had gone out for want of attention, the boiler fire was nearly extinct, and even the outer cold seemed preferable to that gloomy icy vault, so full of horror. He literally staggered to the ice-covered canvas door of the awning, and in his fearful loneliness strove to get the frozen fastenings undone, so that he might at least have the stars of heaven for company. And then he felt that he was not alone, for there was a sharp bark, the dog sprang to his side, and the boy dropped upon his knees and flung his arms about his faithful companion’s neck.