The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1899-06-07

AS we numbered 90 men. the food and
water we had managed to snatch from
the wrecked whaleboats were miserably
insufficient for our needs; but we put
ourselves on extremely short allowance,
and hoped for the best. A few days
previous we had observed a number of
seals in the open places among the
ice, and we now felt that in obtaining
some of them lay our sole hope of avert
ing complete starvation.
The ice was constantly changing po-
sition, probably from some deep cur
rent beneath it; and on the morning of
the third day there appeared a temper
airy channel of open water at no great
distance. Behind small ice hummock,
close to this opening, we discovered a
walrus, apparently asleep. Binding our
whale line to one of the harpoons, we
crept in long row towards the hum
named Ben Maybrook, young fellow,
% years old, in the lead, harpoon in
hand. The walrus, however, discovered
us before we had approached as near
to him as we had hoped to get. He was
about f1oundering into the water, and
our empty stomachs fairly cried out
with despair as we saw him move.
But although Ben Maybrook was
good boatsteerer, 1 think we had never
rated him at his full value until then.
Springing up from his creeping posture,
and drawing his weapon far back with
his brawny arms, he hurled it through
the air. 1t was prodigious effort of
strength and skill, and we held our
breath as we witnessed it. But it struck
the mark and we felt like giving loud
hurrah as we saw it buried deeply be-
hind the creatures forward fiippers.
The next moment 20 men, with So stout
arms, were Juggling at the whale line.
The walrus had rolled off into the
water, but he had received mortal
wound; and being, besides, only one
against 20, he was at such fearful dis
advantage that we got him, in spite of
his struggles. 1 think he was larger
than a full-grown OK, and his huge
curved tusks gave him very formid-
able appearance.
Our try works had been wrecked by
the fall of the masts and the general
breaking up of things, to say nothing
of the fire. Yet we had managed to
melt enough snow in the big kettles to
supply us with all the water we needed;
and now, with some charred fragments
of the wreck, and some matches which
the men had about them for their pipes,
we started blaze sufficient to broil, or
at least half broil, large slices of the
walrus, of which all hands partook
greedily, done or not done. Nearly
starved as we were, it seemed a de-
licious feast. 1t was our first full meal
after the catastrophe to the ship, and
it gave us strength and hope.
After this, for some days we were
considerably annoyed by fogs, which
would come up suddenly, to disappear
in a few hours. Sometimes they rose
but little above the ice or water, so that
feet could actually see over them. But
they prevented us from exploring our
surroundings to the extent we might
otherwise have done.
Our Impotence, however, would not
permit us to remain wholly inactive;
and we made excursions in various di-
rections, hoping to discover a wider eX-
panse of open water than was visible
from our first position. Our longing
for some glimpse of ship, however
great her distance from us, had become
intense; for such a discovery would tell
us that we were not utterly alone in
the midst of that frozen sea.
One day four of us, including May
brook, the boatsteerer who had killed
the walrus, took much longer tramp
than usual. We passed through several
narrow streaks of fog, with spaces of
clear air between, and at length
reached an immense berg, of which
distant view had been obtained from
our camp, but which was not especially
notable among so many others. In try
ing to pass around it where it shelved
downward to the level plain below, we
found ourselves at an elevation of so
or go feet, though this was nowhere
near the height of the great ice noun
tain itself; and here we stopped for
survey of what was before us.
A fog, not very thick, had gathered
behind us, but, as usual, it had not risen
more than few feet. Where we now
stood the air was perfectly clear, but
strange scene lay before us on the other
side of the berg. There the mist was so
dense that it looked as if a person might
walk upon it. Level and motionless as
house floor, and about 20 or 80 feet
in depth, it appeared like a still, I'M
ruffled sea.
We were looking upon it curiously,
as the horizontal rays of the arctic sun
shone across it's surface, when Ben
Maybrook suddenly started, looking
intently toward something at a dis