“Now,” said Watson; “we’ll try to arrange these cylinders so that they may be used as a sort of grate for our fire to prevent, as much as possible, a melting of the ice under it. And, by the way, there’s another precaution we want to take. There’s no telling how thick, or thin, this beach of ice that we are standing on is. A fire’s bound to melt it more or less, and that, together with our weight, might cause it to crack and, maybe, break off. There’s a shelf up there that’s big enough to hold us all, and a good bonfire, too. Come on, men; one more little job, and we’ll soon be toasting.”
The men needed no urging. A few were inclined to grumble at the delay, but the majority were of a class well experienced in the wisdom of “looking ahead,” and Watson’s advice prevailed. The shelf in question was more than a hundred feet square, and was elevated eight or ten feet higher than the area on which they were standing. Both of these areas were comparatively smooth, probably because they were exposed to the dash of the high waves, which filled the crevices and hollow places and froze.
In spite of their numbed and deep-chilled condition, the men worked with good energy, and pretty soon a roaring blaze was shooting its eager tongues upward and making more cheerful that desolate place. The women were assisted to the upper shelf, and then began the work of drying clothes and thawing out aching limbs and bodies. The drying process was a long one. The fire was not large enough to accommodate all around it at once near the blaze, so that it was necessary for them to “thaw” in shifts and hold articles of clothing for one another near the heat. However, by supplementing the benefits of the fire with vigorous exercise they produced excellent results and finally all found themselves feeling almost comfortable.
But it was an occupation attended with much suffering at first. The women and even a few of the men, who had been numbed into silence, wept and groaned with pain as they began to “thaw.” Guy had never before suffered such agony, particularly in his feet, which had become almost nerveless from walking or standing on the ice in shoes soaked with water.
“We’ll all be having rheumatism all the rest of our lives,” he remarked to Glennon as they stood with bare feet on bits of wood and held their shoes and socks near the blaze.
“We’ll be mighty lucky if we ever get out of this fix to enjoy the blessings of rheumatism,” replied a man who overheard the prophecy.
“Oh, we’ll be rescued all right,” was Watson’s confident assurance uttered for its optimistic effect on his companions. “I shouldn’t be surprised to see a ship loom up in the darkness any minute. And that reminds me that we must keep a sharp lookout. Anybody that’s got a pair of lusty lungs he’d like to exercise couldn’t put ’em to better use than to let forth a big yell now and then.”
“It couldn’t be heard very far,” declared another with half-thawed-out pessimism.
“Oh, yes it could. Sound travels a long distance over water. Besides,” he added, lowering his voice so the women could not hear: “we’ve got to figure out something else besides this fire to attract attention. There’s only one chance in two or three that the blaze will be seen by a passing ship. See how high the ice rises there. It completely shuts off the light of the fire on that side.”
Guy was startled at this suggestion. He gazed up at the great jagged wall of ice and realized at once that Watson’s fear was no idle one. He looked up among the scattering clouds, located the north star, and then observed that it was the view to the south that was shut off by the mountain of ice. A great dread possessed him as he realized that a rescue steamer might pass within a quarter of a mile of this precarious refuge while the officers and crew remained ignorant of the nearness of the castaways.