“What’s the cause of it?—any idea?”
Watson did not answer, for something more interesting just then claimed his attention. He sprang forward to assist one of the fishers who had more than he could handle on his line.
Guy followed, also forgetting Mr. Gunseyt’s voice. Fortunately the line, consisting of tough, twisted gut-strips, “as strong as a cable,” for it required all the strength of two men to prevent the fish from winning in the tug of war. Slowly Watson and Potter, the latter a Baltimore commission merchant, pulled the struggling, jerking, floundering fellow up over the edge of the ice, and a great cheer went up as a hundred hungry eyes beheld a silvery, brown-spotted king herring, almost four feet long.
“Hooray!” shouted Watson, as he pounced on the magnificent denizen of the sea with both hands. But he was unable to hold him, and it was all two men could do to pin the slippery fellow to the ice, while a third cut his head off with a pocketknife!
CHAPTER XVIII
A Midnight Invasion
Only one more fish was caught that day, and this second one was only a seven-pounder. However, everybody had a taste, and the bones and other refuse were saved for fuel.
At first they had been puzzled over the question of how to obtain a supply of drinking water, but finally some of the men produced several tin tobacco boxes, in which they were able to melt pieces of ice. This drinking ice had to be chipped from higher places on the berg, as the dashing of the waves in rough weather had coated the lower parts with a salty surface.
The work of the cave diggers developed another pleasing surprise for the castaways. In connection with this, it was found necessary to do considerable planning. The shipwrecked party all realized that they must get out of reach of high waves as soon as possible. Hence a flight of steps was cut to a kind of platform, some twenty feet above the area on which they had built their fire, and here was begun the labor of hollowing out a house in the ice.
The entrance was made only large enough to permit the passage of a man. After this had been cut inward four or five feet, the man with the hoe-tomahawk began to enlarge the tunnel, while two other men stood near and pushed back the chipped ice with pieces of raft flooring. Others behind these cleared the waste from the steps so that the way was kept constantly open.
Shortly after the catching of the second fish, came the announcement of the cave diggers interesting surprise. They had cut their way into a great natural cavern in the iceberg, large enough to accommodate all of the castaways and keep them warm with the aid of only a little fire. It was in fact, a sort of crevasse, with an opening at the top high above a fairly level floor area. This opening was large enough to admit some daylight, and all the air needed by the party, after circulation had been rendered possible through the cutting of the entrance by the cave diggers. As it chanced, the latter passage had been cut almost on a level with the floor of the crevasse.