Chapter Forty Two.
The Way Out.
Captain Young it was with his crew! For the rescue party which had gone out in search of the Ice Blink, and met with the fate of so many who penetrate the solitudes of the north, had been found and rescued by those they sought to save.
Their coming, as they advanced toward the frozen-in Hvalross cheering loudly, acted like an electric shock, and before they reached the deck with Steve, men who had been lying in hopeless misery shut up in their bunks came crawling out to meet the help which they knew must have arrived.
An hour later Steve could hardly believe in the change, for the silence in the ship had given place to an eager buzzing of conversation; the fires were burning and sending forth their warm glow; and though in the cabin the captain still lay insensible, the doctor had been galvanised into life, and was talking eagerly to Captain Young.
“So, Steve,” cried the latter, “you are in command now, eh?”
“Oh, nonsense, uncle! That is only what Mr Handscombe said,” replied the lad.
“Well, you must have been captain and crew, too,” said his uncle, who was making a tremendous meal. “But you’re a poor officer, my lad, to let your men get into such a low, exhausted state.”
“You don’t know, uncle, how every one has tried,” said Steve reproachfully.