Free Under the Sea to the North Pole by Pierre Maël Page A

amount of anxiety relative to the general health of the colony. To the first objection, Hubert had replied that he had enough hydrogen to supply three winters. But to the second he made no reply, recognizing that this quite abnormal temperature could not but have some effect’ on the lungs. And so it was agreed that as soon as the cold became milder, the old warming by coal should be recommenced, and the precious gas should only be used for the nitrogenized products of the earth.
    In this state of quietude the middle of January was reached, when the sun began to announce his return by vague white streaks on the southern horizon. This was the dawn manifesting itself with a discretion bordering on parsimony.
    But on the other hand the explorers had the frequent pleasure of admiring the marvellous aurora borealis.
    These strange electrical phenomena were so numerous as almost to fatigue the natural curiosity of the observers, and each time their appearance was indicative of considerable atmospheric perturbation. Terrible storms shook the ice, and the house, in spite of its timbers and its iron beams, only owed its escape from destruction to its sheltered position between two bare rocks.
    On two occasions the ship seemed to be in danger. The awful noise which came in from the sea caused a fear that the pack would break up, and that the steel cradle under the united influence of the cold and the pressure of the outer ice would go down before the floe bergs.
    On the 20th of January, Lacrosse, incapable of mastering his anxiety any longer, went out in company with Lieutenant Remois and six men. A thick snow, fallen the day before, made the journey very laborious, by reason of the frequent falls into the gullies hidden by the perfidious carpet of whiteness. It took them more than an hour to get from the camp to the shore. But once there, they had the immense gratification of seeing the Polar Star still in her position swinging in her cradle. The ice had piled up around her to such a height as to form an impregnable rampart to every attack from outside.
    The only change in affairs that could be noted was that the bowsprit had become frozen in among huge blocks of ice, so that the ship might be pushed backward against the frame. On the return of the party, a consultation was held, and it was decided to clear the bowsprit as soon as possible by means of a jet of steam. The steamer’s boilers were all ready, and in two hours the desired result was obtained, and the bow of the Polar Star disengaged from the embrace which was putting her in peril.
    With the spring the time returned for excursions and hunting expeditions. But springtime at the Pole, which begins there on the 21st of March, is one of those problematic entities the name and reign of which last but a few days. All the more need, therefore, was there to make the most of it in pressing to the northward either in the Polar Star or on the sledges.
    Nevertheless, the fatigue that sledging causes after a long confinement within doors weighed heavily on the inhabitants of Fort Esperance. A few signs of scurvy, such as spongy, bleeding gums, swellings at the joints, toothache and neuralgia, and rheumatic troubles, determined the doctors to prescribe certain physical exercises as indispensable for the men. And consequently as soon as the February dawns were sufficiently prolonged to permit of a run of an hour or two, the inhabitants of the fort ventured abroad, notwithstanding the terrible temperature.
    Thanks, however, to the fur clothing, to the warm baths and rubbings, the limbs were kept in a state of sufficient suppleness to support the fatigues and dangers on ground irregular of itself and rendered still more irregular by the ice. Besides being better fitted out than their predecessors, the winterers of Cape Ritter had no fear, like the sailors of the Alert or the soldiers of Fort Conger, of finding their beds frozen as hard as planks by the rigour of the climate; the