Following the suggestion of Watson, a chorus of shouts was sent out over the water every now and then. The first attempt was a dismal failure, resulting in such discord that every voice tended to annul, rather than to assist, the strength and clearness of every other voice. The next and succeeding attempts, however, were more satisfactory, being pitched in a common key. But unfortunately the wall of ice prevented the sound from going very far to the south, for the ship which had signaled to the operator on the Herculanea that it was hastening to the rescue arrived in the vicinity, picked up several boat loads, remained near the scene of the wreck until daybreak, and then steamed away without discovering the party on the iceberg.
It was three hours after sun-up before the castaways succeeded in drying all their clothes. To effect this, they had found it necessary to burn all the wood of the smaller raft and a considerable portion of the larger.
Nowhere could they discover a sign of life—not a bird of any description nor an inhabitant of the deep sporting on the surface. After the sun had teased them a few hours with just a suggestion of warmth, the fire was allowed to burn low to conserve the remaining fuel. The men decided to try to keep warm with vigorous exercise, incidentally exploring their cheerless refuge.
But it was almost a hopeless task without food in their stomachs. The resolute men had not exercised long before they realized that fuel must soon be supplied for the furnaces of their bodies or the human fires in them would die out.
Guy realized this quite as fully as did the others. He read similar thought in the faces of Watson and Glennon, as the three moved together away from the rest of the castaways. But he set his teeth firmly, resolving to die with a struggle, if indeed he must die. And it was not easy, even under the present almost hopeless circumstances, for him to entertain a likelihood of such finish. There must be some way out of the predicament.
The flat shore-like section of the iceberg where they had sought refuge was several acres in extent. It was a “beach on a mountain coast,” being formed as if cut into a giant hill, with a sloping wind-break on either side. Watson and the two boys approached the slope at the western end to discover, if possible, an ascent to some high lookout point on the berg.
What seemed at first glance an impossible task proved much less difficult on closer inspection. They were pleased to find just beyond the “wind-break” a natural crevice, or depression, running up the side of the ice-mountain and in this crevice an ascent of steps which although crude and irregular, they could almost believe had been fashioned by human hands. With a shout of surprise that attracted the attention of all the other men, Watson ran around the end of the “wind-break” near the water’s edge and began to climb this remarkable stairway.
Guy and Carl followed. A recent fall of snow on wet ice, succeeded by freezing, made it possible to secure good foothold, and they ascended rapidly. The higher they went, the more they wondered, and the more they were inclined to believe that human hands had performed this work of ice carpentry or masonry.
But more surprises were in store for them. After they reached the top landing—a considerable level area fashioned by Jack Frost and the elements—they beheld a sight that caused them to stare with amazement and then shout for joy. On the farther slope of the iceberg was another flight of steps leading almost to the water’s edge, and at the foot was all the evidence needed to convince them that both stairways were works of men. In another area, not more than fifty feet in diameter and running out to form another and smaller beach at the water’s edge, were two human beings, apparently men.
“Why, we’re not the only ones that landed on the iceberg,” exclaimed Glennon.