"The breeze is for us, captain."
"And we shall profit by it, for my intention is to make for Bennet
Islet. It was there that my brother first landed, and so soon as we shall
have sighted that island we shall be certain that we are on the right route.
To-day, when I have ascertained our position exactly, we shall steer for
Bennet Islet."
"Who knows but that we may come upon some fresh sign?"
"It is not impossible, Mr. Jeorling."
I need not say that recourse was had to the surest guide within our
reach, that veracious narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, which I read and
re-read with intense attention, fascinated as I was by the idea that I
might be permitted to behold with my own eyes those strange phenomena of
nature in the Antarctic world which I, in common with all Edgar Poe's readers,
had hitherto regarded as creations of the most imaginative writer who ever
gave voice by his pen to the phantasies of a unique brain. No doubt a great
part of the wonders of Arthur Gordon Pym's narrative would prove pure fiction,
but if even a little of the marvellous story were found to be true, how
great a privilege would be mine!
The picturesque and wonderful side of the story we were studying as
gospel truth had little charm and but slight interest for Captain Len Guy;
he was indifferent to everything in Pym's narrative that did not relate
directly to the castaways of Tsalal Island: his mind was solely and constantly
set upon their rescue.
According to the narrative of Arthur Pym Jane experienced serious
difficulties, due to bad weather, from the 1st to the 4th of January, 1828.
It was not until the morning of the 5th, in latitude 23° 15' that she
found a free passage through the last iceberg that barred her way. The
final difference between our position and the Jane in a parallel
ease, was that theJane took fifteen days to accomplish the distance
of ten degrees, or six hundred miles, which separated her on the 5th of
January from Tsalal Island, while on the 19th of December the Halbrane
was only about seven degrees, or four [p. 145] hundred miles, off the island.
Bennet Islet, where Captain Guy intended to put in for twenty-four hours,
was fifty miles nearer. Our voyage was progressing under prosperous conditions;
we were no longer visited by sudden hail and snow storms, or those rapid
falls of temperature which tried the crew of the Jane so sorely.
A few ice-floes drifted by us, occasionally peopled, as tourists throng
a pleasure yacht, by penguins, and also by dusky seals, lying flat upon
the white surfaces like enormous leeches. Above this strange flotilla we
traced the incessant flight of petrels, pigeons, black puffins, divers,
grebe, sterns, cormorants, and the sooty-black albatross of the high latitudes.
Huge medusas, exquisitely tinted, floated on the water like spread parasols.
Among the denizens ot the deep, captured by the crew of the schooner with
line and net, I noted more particularly a sort of giant John Dory(1)
(dorade) three feet in length, with firm and savoury flesh.
During the night, or rather what ought to have been the night of the
I9th-2oth, my sleep was disturbed by a strange dream. Yes! there could
be no doubt but that it was only a dream! Nevertheless, I think it well
to record it here, because it is an additional testimony to the haunting
influence under which my brain was beginning to labour.
I was sleeping--at two hours after midnight--and was awakened by a
plaintive and continuous murmuring sound. I opened--or I imagined I opened
my eyes. My cabin was in profound darkness. The murmur began again; I listened,
[p. 146] and it seemed to me that a voice--a voice which I did not know--whispered
these words:-
"Pym...Pym...poor Pym!"
Evidently this could only be a delusion; unless, indeed, some one had
got into mycabin: the door was locked.
"Pym!" the voice repeated. "Poor Pym must never be forgotten."
This time the words were spoken close to my ear. What was the meaning
of the injunction, and why was it addressed to me? And besides, had not
Pym, after his return to America, met with a sudden and deplorable death,
the circumstances or the details being unknown?
I began to doubt whether I was in my right mind, and shook myself into
complete wakefulness, recognizing that I had been disturbed by an extremely
vivid dream due to some cerebral cause.
I turned out of my berth, and, pushing back the shutter, looked out
of my cabin. No one aft on the deck, except Hunt, who was at the helm.
I had nothing to do but to lie down again, and this I did. It seemed
to me that the name of Arthur Pym was repeated in my hearing several times;
nevertheless, I fell asleep and did not wake until morning, when I retained
only a vague impression of this occurrence, which soon faded away. No other
incident at that period of our voyage calls for notice. Nothing particular
occurred on board our schooner. The breeze from the north, which had forsaken
us, did not recur, and only the current carried the Halbrane towards
the south. This caused a delay unbearable to our impatience.
At last, on the 21st, the usual observation gave 82° 50' of [p.
147] latitude, and 42o 20' of west longitude. Bennet Islet,
if it had any existence, could not be far off now.
Yes! the islet did exist, and its bearings were those indicated by
Arthur Pym.
At six o'clock in the evening one of the crew cried out that there
was land ahead on the port side.
(1)
The legendary etymology of this piscatorial designation is Janitore,
the" door-keeper," in allusion to St. Peter, who brought a fish said to
be of that species, to our Lord at His command.