“I don’t know. I might make some rough calculations as to our locality tonight if the North Star is visible, but the result wouldn’t be accurate. I’d be likely to miss it by a hundred miles or more. Besides, I don’t know how far from land the Gulf Stream runs along here, so I could easily reckon a hundred and fifty miles off. I imagine, however, that we’re pretty near the Gulf Stream and the wind which, you notice, is getting stronger all the time, is blowing us right towards it.”
“Usually the icebergs follow the ocean currents, don’t they?” inquired Watson.
“Yes; but some times they get out of them. A strong wind may blow them out.”
No fish were caught that morning and the six malcontents showed new signs of restlessness; but they did nothing save keep aloof from the rest and look sour. About noon the lookout reported a vessel in sight and there was a general rush to the top of the ice stairway. They built a fire and waved their coats and yelled or screamed as lustily as they could, but the ship was ten or twelve miles away and all their efforts to attract attention were unavailing.
This experience disheartened a good many, but Watson and the professor seemed even more cheerful.
“We don’t need to go to pieces over that,” said the former reassuringly. “We’ve just had proof that we’re in the path of vessels, for that was a good-sized steamer and looked as if it was following a much-traveled course.”
On returning to the beach they found two of the set-lines drawn taut and swaying from side to side as if a desperate struggle were going on at the far end of each. With no small difficulty the lines were pulled in, a large king herring being found on one and a fair sized cod on the other. In the course of the afternoon, this success was virtually duplicated twice, so that a moderate supper was afforded the iceberg Crusoes.
While this meal gave temporary relief, it was not sufficient to answer the heat demands of more than two score human bodies that had fasted under such severe conditions. Hence it served conspicuously to stimulate the discontent of the “sullen six.” They kept together and avoided the others most of the time, so that Watson’s suspicion of trouble brewing was kept alive constantly.
“I don’t like the action of our friends over there,” he remarked to the professor in the hearing of Guy and Carl not long before sundown. “I think it’ll be wise to keep an eye on them.”
“What do you think they’re likely to do?” inquired the professor not very seriously. “Kill us all and eat us?”