Wyllard shook his head. “It all leads back to the same point. We must get through the ice. The one question is—how is it to be done?”
“With a working breeze I’d stand into the biggest opening, but as there’s none we’ll wait until it clears a little, and then send a boat in. The sun may bring the wind.”
They had breakfast while they waited, but the wind did not come, and it was several hours later when a pale coppery disc became visible and the haze grew thinner. Then they swung a boat out hastily, for it would not be very long before the light died away again. Two white men and an Indian dropped into the boat and they pulled across half a mile of sluggishly heaving water, crept up an opening, and presently vanished among the ice. Soon afterward the low sun went out, and wisps of ragged cloud crept up from the westward, while smears of vapor blurred the horizon, and the swell grew steeper. There was no wind at all, but blocks and canvas banged and thrashed furiously at every roll, until they lowered the mainsail and lashed its heavy boom to the big iron crutch astern. The boat remained invisible, but its crew had been given instructions to push on as far as possible if they found clear water, and Dampier, who did not seem uneasy about the men, paced up and down the deck while the afternoon wore away.
CHAPTER XVII
DEFEAT
A gray dimness was creeping in upon the schooner when a bitter breeze sprang tip from the westward, and Dampier bade the crew get the mainsail on to the Selache.
“I don’t like the look of the weather, and I’m beginning to feel that I’d like to see that boat,” he said. “Anyhow, we’ll get way on her.”
It was a relief to hoist the mainsail. The work put a little warmth into the sailors. The white men had been conscious of a growing uneasiness about their comrades in the boat, and action of any sort was welcome. The breeze had freshened before they set the sail, and there were whitecaps on the water when the Selache headed for the ice, which had somewhat changed its formation, for big masses had become detached from it and were moving out into the water, while the open space had become perceptibly narrower. The light was now fading rapidly, and Wyllard took the wheel when Dampier sent forward the man who had held it.