FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   >>  
ckets with crackers, and slinging a slice of cooked bear's meat over my shoulder, I started off, having been careful first to pile up several loose blocks of ice in the form of a pillar, so that I might be able to find the place again. I then struck--as it afterwards turned out most fortunately--for that side of the berg where the surface shelved off gradually to the water. About eleven o'clock, I found myself standing on quite a lofty peak of ice; and, looking down, my eyes fell upon a sight that almost took away my breath. Spread out before me on a level plain, there lay a large black patch, which looked as though it must be earth; and on the farther side, just where the berg began to slope towards the sea, I thought that I saw something that looked like a building! Could it be that the island was inhabited? Running, sliding, slipping down, as fast as I could go, in a short time I found that I was not mistaken in supposing that it was earth: for there lay, stretched out before me, an acre or so of ground, almost as smooth and level as a garden; and, at the farther end of the plot, there stood,--not an ordinary house, not a barn, not an Esquimaux hut, not a country store, not a railroad depot, not a meeting-house,--but, what do you imagine? I will tell you as soon as I get there. Rushing like mad across the ground,--oh, how pleasant it was to feel the soft soil under my cold feet!--I came to what looked like a dismasted ship, embedded clear up to the gunwale[3] in the ice. There lay the whole deck of a three-masted vessel, unbroken and undisturbed; but, as I soon ascertained, there was no hull underneath, for the deck had evidently been broken off from the lower parts of the ship, and thrown up the smooth, inclined plane of ice to the spot where I found it, and then been frozen in there. What a discovery this was! I did not know how to contain or how to express my delight; and, before beginning to explore the premises, the very first thing that I did was to rush up to the bell, that hung near the bows, and ring it with all my might. You can't tell how strange it sounded, up there in that solitary, silent, arctic sea, to hear the loud clang of the old bell sounding out over the waters, as I tugged and tugged away at the rope. It would have done the hearts of "Hooper & Son, Boston, Mass.,"--whose name I saw printed on it,--it would have done the whole firm good, to have heard it. After I had ceased ringing, and slowly toll
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   >>  



Top keywords:
looked
 

smooth

 

farther

 
ground
 

tugged

 
dismasted
 

inclined

 

thrown

 

underneath

 

masted


vessel

 
pleasant
 

gunwale

 

embedded

 

unbroken

 

evidently

 

undisturbed

 

ascertained

 

broken

 
hearts

Hooper

 

waters

 
sounding
 

arctic

 

Boston

 

ceased

 

ringing

 
slowly
 

printed

 
silent

solitary

 

delight

 

express

 

beginning

 
explore
 

premises

 

frozen

 
discovery
 

strange

 

sounded


eleven

 
gradually
 

shelved

 

turned

 

fortunately

 

surface

 

standing

 

breath

 

struck

 

shoulder