But these bears, although they moved not with half the rapidity of a team of dogs, never varied their pace, and never needed rest until they had covered a distance of not less than twelve miles.
Both the Newfoundlands had been shut up in an igloo. This was a precautionary measure, for although the bears never attempted to molest the Yak-dogs, they might not have objected to a mouthful or two of fine, fresh Newfoundland.
And the end of it all was that Captain Mayne Brace considered himself quite justified in purchasing these noble animals, for if anything came of the proposed Antarctic expedition, there was no reason why they should not be taken south with the force.
The days grew longer and longer now, fresh snow fell, softer winds began to blow, and at long last, with noises that are indescribable, the ice all around began to crack and break with the force of great waves that rolled in beneath them from the Eastern ocean.
Previous to this, however, peace had been established between the Yak-Yaks and the Teelies. The former had encamped close to the bay, and plenty of provisions and necessaries having been landed, Humpty Dumpty himself was left in charge of the whole—a kind of white king, in fact, who considered himself of no small importance. He had orders to keep the peace until the Walrus should return after the spring fishing.
The sun was now shining nineteen hours out of the twenty-four, and soon it would rise not to set again for months; and so one glorious morning sail was set, and the Walrus, scorning the lesser baybergs, went ploughing her way slowly seawards, and in good time reached the whaling grounds.
If Captain Mayne Brace had come to these northern seas merely for sport and pleasure, he might have had plenty of both. There were seals enough, though rather scattered; there were bears in abundance, strolling defiantly on their native ice, or buffeting the billows in search of pastures new; there were bladder-noses, sharks in scores—oh, in shoals sometimes—walruses on the ice and in the water, lonely unicorns, and those marvellous narwhals that go plunging about, and always seem to be going somewhere on particular business, but never getting there. Yet glorious times of it the beasts have for all that when they reach shoal water, and can spear with their wonderful weapons the flat fish and skates that there do dwell. For my own part I should rather like to be a narwhal for a month or two in summer. Hammer-headed sharks, too, there were, those hideous zygænas, and birds in millions; but, alas, for Brace’s pretty barque and her greedy owners, hardly ever was a true Greenland whale seen or tackled.
And so when the season was waxing to a close, and these monster whales had babies of their own with which they departed southward to warmer seas, for their children’s sake, Captain Brace determined one morning that it was time to bear up once more for Britain’s shores.
Of course the men were down-hearted, because many of them had families to provide for, and did not want to return with empty pockets. But “better luck next” is the motto of your Arctic sailor; and when Brace, their well-beloved skipper, told them that there was considerable probability that many of them—if they chose to volunteer—would be engaged for an expedition to the Southern Pole, they regained heart, and made the welkin ring with their lusty cheers.
When the Walrus arrived at last at Incognita Bay, and the anchor was let go in a cosy corner, as near to the shore as they could venture with safety, preparations were immediately commenced, first, for the shipment of huge blocks of fresh-water ice, and afterwards, for the embarkation of the dogs and Yak-Yaks they were to take southwards with them.