Beyond the Ice. Being a story of the newly discovered region round the North Pole. Edited from Dr. Frank Farleigh's Diary [or rather, written] by G. R. Murphy

Front matter

BEYOND THE ICE BEING A STORY OF THE NEWLY DISCOVERED REGION ROUND THE NORTH POLE EDITED FROM Dr. FRANK FARLEIGH'S DIARY BY G. READ MURPHY Inventor of the " Victoria Torpedo" AUTHOR OF "THE REV. A. DOX," ETC LONDON SAMPSON LOW, MAESTON & COMPANY Limited §t. Jpimstim's gjoitse Fetter Lane, Fleet Street AND M. L. HUTCHINSON, MELBOURNE. HOW I WAS ENTRUSTED WITH THE DUTY OF PUBLISHING THIS HISTORY. Next to my chambers, on the same flat, is the residence of a celebrated publisher, who is an excellent fellow and also my valued friend, for both of which reasons, and many others, I often feel sorry that I have deprived him, though quite innocently, of the pleasure of editing the accompanying history of the travels of Doctor Farleigh and sketch of the commonwealth of Undara. The way I came to do it was as follows, viz. : — One evening, having returned very early from my office, to that chief consolation of the bachelor, my study, I sat soothing my tired brain with the aroma of a cigar, preparatory to doing some literary work, when I heard a knock at my front door.

As my servant was busy cooking, I went to the door myself, and there I found a tall, grey-haired old gentleman, with a perfectly happy-looking bearded face. He was dressed in the ordinary frock-coat and silk-hat style, which make men look very much alike, so much so in fact that it is hard to tell whether you are addressing a prize-fighter, a duke, or a draper's assistant. I asked him to walk in, which he did, and sat down, after carefully depositing a big bundle of papers on the table and his hat and umbrella on a chair. He was leisurely in all he did ; and his happy face again attracted my attention : if yon think of it, you will be able to remember but few, if any, old gentlemen who look as if they were perfectly contented with their life. The successful soldier has in his mind memories of carnage which cast their shadow on his face ; the leading lawyer has a face furrowed with days of watching and nights of studv, anxiously spent in the service of some hard-pressed client.

The unsuccessful man is weary with hope deferred, and depressed by the death and burial of the bright promise of his early manhood. I remember only one man past middle age with a perfectly happy face, it was red and round and shining. In his early days, when he was a big, shy innocent youth, he was married by a fine handsome girl, who looked thirty — she had once seemed older, but that was when she a HOW / WAS ENTRUSTED W/TH THE was not ashamed of looking her age — and had a mind, a temper, and some money in the funds. After the honeymoon she took a farm, and he developed a talent for poetry, to which he devoted all the time that he could spare from drinking beer, smoking, and growing fat. Once his wife had been rude and nasty, spoken slightingly of the verses he intended to write, and, worst of all, ordered in place of the freshly emptied cask of brown October, a barrel of small beer.

Chapter I. An Unknown People

"Frank, I'm dying." It was Jim Richards who spoke. Poor fellow, his vitality had sunk so low that the cold had become too much for him. " Cheer up, Jim," I said, as cheerfully as I could ; " don't leave me alone. Take a little brandy, and you'll pull through." I took the flask from my pocket, where I kept it to prevent it freezing ; it contained all the brandy we had left, diluted with water. Little by little he drank it up, and then he seemed better. "Frank," he said, with an effort, "you've been very good to me, no woman could be more gentle. The sleigh may come in the morning and take you.'1 " And take us both," I replied, almost overcome with grief. "No, Frank, not me; I'll soon be gone. If I could have the Sacrament I'd die happy. If you ever see mother, cheer her up ; there are lots left to take care of her, thank God."

The effort he had made to say so much seemed to have exhausted him. He spoke again once or twice, but it was disjointedly, and then he died. I had him in my arms, so that we might keep as warm as possible. By-and-byhe began to get cold, and I knew his troubles had ended. I got up, closed his eyes, put him on a rug, and then went back to the warmth of the skins again. Poor Jim and I were the last of the crew of the steamship Prospector, that had started on an Arctic expedition from Quebec nearly a year before, and now we were alone in a snow hut, about 101 latitude and 76 longitude. Jim Richards and I, Frank Farleigh, had been at the Edinburgh University together, where, year after year, we had worked side by side, passed the same examinations, and finally got the degrees of Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Surgery.

We then left the 1? University, and shortly afterwards joined the Prospector, Jim as doctor, and I as naturalist. We had no money ; and, apart from the interest we felt in the voyage, hoped it would give us sufficient notoriety to enable us successfully to commence the practice of our profession in some large town, besides supplying us with sufficient capital to enable us to meet the initial expenses of establishing ourselves. We were both big, strong men, as, indeed, were all the crew of the ill-fated vessel, from captain to cabin-boy, the latter of whom was only a boy in name, for on these expeditions only men are taken. As all the particulars of this expedition, and its purpose, are fully and ably given elsewhere, I shall not occupy these pages with repeating them, nor shall I describe the many hardships we went through up to the time of Jim's death.

The hardships and adventures of all expeditions such as this are so similar, and so harrowing in their horrible details, that any of my readers can easily learn the main features of all of them by consulting any authentic work on the subject. Besides, I shall have all my time and attention taken up to describe the wonderful state of civilization, and general happiness, I discovered in that long-suspected region of fertility at the North Pole. Next morning, when I awoke, I lit a fire, on which I put pieces of moss, so that I might obtain warmth, and make sufficient smoke to attract the attention of the person or persons who had the sleigh, the trail of which Jim and I had seen the evening before. The discovery had been just in time to prevent us from dying of sheer exhaustion and despair; a r.d though I had some dim hopes of the sleigh returning : after a short elation, poor Jim sank back to his former state of despondency, and died.

Jim was neither wanting in vitality nor courage, as was proved by the fact that of the party of twenty-three men, of whom we formed two, that left the Prospector when she was nipped in the ice, we alone had survived the hardships, and diet of meat only, that had so long been our lot. The remaining members of the crew went their own way, and have never since been heard of. Having lit the fire, I ate as much seal-flesh as I could force myself to swallow. It was a food against which you take the deepest loathing if you have to subsist on it long ; and one of the main reasons that enabled Jim and myself to survive the others of our party was, that we always ate some of this horrid meat three times a day, while the others only ate when forced to by starva tion, and so died one by one. It was a beautiful calm morning, and the smoke rose up in a well-defined straight column, so that it could be seen for an im mense distance.

This gave me hope, and I went to ascend a AN UNKNOWN PEOPLE. 3 slight rise, so that I might get a good view of my surroundings. The hill was about half a mile from the hut, and consisted of some huge rocks covered with sdow. When 1 had gained the com mencement of this eminence I saw, to my horror, a polar bear earning in a direction that would bring him very close to me; he seemed alarmed about something, so I concluded he might be chased by another bear, and stooped down in the hope that he wouldn't see me; in this, however, I was disappointed, for he stopped an instant, growled, and then charged direct at me. I was panic-stricken, and commenced to run toward the hut ; though, had I thought, I would have known that the bear would overtake me before I got half way. I didn't think, but relied on my legs, instead of my wits, to save me.

I was so weak, that before I had gone many yards I tripped and fell. In an instant I sat up ; the bear was now within fifty yards of me. In the distance I saw an object, like a boat upside down, coming towards us at a terrific speed. I was too exhausted and terrified either to move or think ; I could only sit still petrified with fright. It's all very well to think I was a coward — I was nothing of the sort. But I was nearly dead with starvation and cold, and so weak that I could only just crawl along ; under these circumstances it was not wonderful my nerve deserted me. Physical courage is only for those who have health or strength ; I had neither. It seemed that the bear would have me in another four or five seconds, for though the speed of the machine was tremendous, it had so very much greater distance to travel than the bear.

The huge white animal was almost on me ; the machine was still some two hundred yards away ; he rose on his hind legs as he came up to me, and as he did so saw the approaching vehicle : terrified, for he evidently knew what it meant, he stood trans fixed, when, like a flash, it passed, almost within reach of him, striking him with a forked rod as it went by. The bear gasped, as a man would if he had a bucket of cold water thrown over him, and dropped dead ; and in less time than it takes me to write, or you to read this, the machine had de scribed a circle and returned to me. It stopped as a skater does, when he ploughs the ice with his skates. A door opened in the side of the vehicle, which was a sleigh on four wheels, shaped like the half of a huge cigar cut down the middle and placed flat side down.

It had a sort of centre board that it let drop when it wished, and so stopped itself. b Out stepped what seemed to be two fine men, wrapped from head to foot in skins, with only their eyes visible. One of them threw back the visor-like face-covering, and stood revealed a beautiful blue-eyed woman. " This is the strangest Esquimaux I ever saw,'' she said, in a sweetly modulated voice. " Can he be from the middle Globe ? " " I think he must be," said her companion, a strong man in the first promise of maturity, "but he seems very ill ; shall I give him some food ? " " Please, dear Ion," answered the woman, who now knelt beside me and took my head in her lap. " Poor man ! " she said. " I wonder where he comes from ? " " I am an Englishman, madam," I said, faintly. " I have never heard of that country, but I am glad you speak our language."

She spoke with a childish wonder on her face. " Give him this, Edie," said the man whom I had heard called Ion, handing a cup to the woman, who put it to my lips, and I drank. It was warm, and the first palatable food I had tasted for very many days ; it was delicious, and seemed like soup of the thickness of oatmeal porridge. I afterwards discovered that it was oatmeal with minced meat boiled in it. I felt much revived, and, with the aid of the woman, stood up. " Sir," I said, addressing the man, who stood sympathetically near, " sir, I am doubly indebted to you for my life. In the first place, you saved me from this bear; and in the second, from death consequent on hardship and a diet of only flesh food, that has killed all my comrades. Will you shake hands ? " " With pleasure," he replied, with a pleasant smile.

" I am very happy to have been of service to you ; but you are trembling all over." " Sit down," the woman said. She had seen my weakness, and, woman-like, had ministered to my wants. "This is my betrothed, Edie Shanna," explained the man; "and I am Ion Wolner Mura. What is your name? " " I am Doctor Frank Farleigh," I answered, " sole survivor of the first party of men who left the steamship Prospector. My friend, Dr. James Richards, lies dead in yonder hut." " Well, Dr. Farleigh, we'll skin the bear that you may thank for saving your life, for had not Edie seen him we would have left you alone, thinking that the smoke from your fire indicated the presence of a party of Esquimaux." " Let us give Dr. Farleigh the skin." " Certainly, Edie ; but let us first take it off the bear." " Let me help you," I said, and got up from the stool ; but my knees were so weak they gave way under me, and I sank down again.

" You must not try to help, for you are too weak," said Edie AN UNKNOWN PEOPLE. 5 with kindly firmness. " You may either sit and watch us, or go into our electocar." " I will sit and watch, if you please." Edie went to the electocar, and returned with some knives and a bone scissors, while Ion took off his gloves. Together they commenced to operate, the man doing the heavy work and the woman assisting in every way ; and so skilfully did they aid one another, that in some ten or twelve minutes the bear was beautifully skinned, the end joints of the limbs being cut off and the skin pulled over them, so that it was fit to be stuffed when they had finished. "Miss Edie," I said, admiringly, "permit me to congratulate you and Mr. Ion on the way you have skinned that animal." "My name is not ' Miss Edie,' " she said, simply, " but Edie Shanna, so please call me Edie ; and as my Ion's name is not ' Mister,' you had better, I think, call him Ion."

" Yes ; Edie is right. But let us come to the hut." They put the skin, and me, in the electocar, and Edie got in, and by touching some knobs, made it travel to the hut, while Ion walked. Edie helped me, and we all went into the hut. The few things that were left we gathered together, and put them, and the corpse of poor Jim, in the car ; we then all got in, closed the doors, and sped away. The nose of the car was glass, so that we could see the places we passed through. Edie lay in the front of the car, and Ion and I in the middle part, so that as we sped along he and I could talk. " Where are we going to now ? " I asked. " First we will go to the third magazine," answered Ion, " where we will leave your weapons and take in fresh power ; we will then proceed to the second out-station, where we will stay for the night ; we will then again take power, and in the morning go to my father's house in Zara."

" Where is Zara ? " " Zara is the capital of the country of Zara, situated on the river Voa, in the fertile region round the North Pole ; but we are yet about 260 miles from there ; however, as it is early in the day we will get to the first out-station by the evening, and to Zara by about fourteen o'clock to-morrow." " Ion, we are nearly there," said the woman. " I am glad, my Edie." Our speed slackened, and we stopped near a rough pillar-like boulder and got out. " Here is the magazine," said Ion. " Where P " I asked, gazing round ; " I cannot see it." " I will show it to you iu a minute." Edie went to the pillar, and with a ruler-like stick cleared out a hole that was in it, about five feet from the ground, and put in a tube which ended in a glass disc with two strings crossing in the centre; this she looked through, the while beckoning to Ion with her hands.

Ion, who had taken a screw-like auger and a lever from the boat, put the screw in the position to which Edie directed him, and then commenced to turn its handle, and so screw it into the ice, when it fastened in something ; he then took his lever and forced it up, when I saw it had wormed into a square plate, which left a hole about a foot across in the ice. Ion enlarged this hole, and I then discovered the door of the magazine, from which we took a fresh supply of electricity, and deposited all my things. We then had some dinner and started on ; previously, I asked Edie to show me how she directed Ion, which she did. First, as I have stated, ehe put the disc-ended tube in the hole ; in its centre two strings crossed ; this she could verify by turning the disc round ; if, then, the point where the strings crossed did not move, they met in the centre ; otherwise, the strings were moved till the centre was found.

The centre was now on the spot exactly over the hole into which the screw was to go ; in case, however, the screw was not put in quite straight, the hole was placed at the botton of a fun nel, so that it would be guided by its sides into its proper position. When it was wrenched out the gate of the magazine was exposed, and you could get what supplies you wanted. These precautions were taken to prevent the Esquimaux plundering the magazines. When the door of the magazine was closed, the ice was filled in, some water, boiled by electricity, thrown over it, and the place again became hidden. The Esquimaux had plundered one magazine ; so they were all now guarded by electric traps. When the cover was removed, a handle was seen, this would be caught hold of by anyone not in the secret, and pulled, in the hopes of opening a second door ; the pull, however, connected a "battery, the shock from which was sufficient to kill the would-be thief.

Again we sped onwards, and this time Ion directed the car • we now travelled at the rate of thirty miles an hour, and the gleaming surface of the frozen snow seemed to be alive with millions of dancing sunbeams. " Why is your wife not with you P " said Edie. " Did she die P " "No," I answered, "I had no wife, I came with forty-nine other men, on an expedition, to try and discover the North Pole." " You will never do that," said Edie, and after a pause con tinued, " I thought all men had wives. Is it not so in the land you come from ? " " No ! is it so with you ? " I asked in wonder. " Yes ! " she replied unhesitatingly. " Our great Law Giver decreed that every fit man should be allowed to have a wife, and AN UNKNOWN PEOPLE. 7 every fit woman a husband ; so that as we all wish to marry, we of course all do, when we reach the fitting age."

I was very weak, and the good food I had taken, made me lethargic ; so Edie wrapped me up, and I soon fell asleep in the comfortable warmth. I was awoke by the barking of some dogs, and found we had arrived at the second out-station. The out-station consisted of a big round tower, like an Irish tower trebled in size, with a very pointed roof. This tower was surrounded by six large windmills, that circled it, at even distances. Three men and two women, had come out to meet us, one of the latter having a little child in her arms ; they all were like very handsome specimens of the best class of Britishers. I was in turn introduced to each of them, and on turning to the one who was carrying the child, it put out its little arms to me, and when I took it, kissed and caressed me. For nearly two years I had not seen a woman, or heard the babble of a baby voice, so that the former looked doubly fair, and the sound of the latter was like the murmur of music to my famished ear.

They were all very merry and kind, and even the great dogs that gathered round us, wagged their tails civilly, though they were evidently willing, and able, to tear me to pieces, if their owners so desired them. They took me in to a big room on the ground floor, that looked half library, half kitchen. In one corner was a cooking stove, the flames and smoke from which went into two tubes that went right round the room in opposite directions, and met at an upright tube, which they joined, and which apparently took the smoke up through the ceiling. In the centre of the room was an oval telescope table ; while on its walls were a double row of shelves, which contained labelled tins, and cooking utensils on one side of the room ; and on the other, books, pictures, guns, and sundry nick-nacks. In this room was a woman cooking, whose peculiar dress and handsome face and person riveted my attention.

Her dress consisted of a tight-fitting knitted garment, that displayed to perfection her beautiful, shapely limbs; her feet were encased in black cloth boots, which had a striped bow below each instep ; she had only the natural curve of the waist, and her front figure was hidden by a loose stomacher that went from her neck to her trunks ; her features were extremely regular, and her beautifully shaped head was shown to advantage by the simple setting of her hair, which was brushed off her forehead and fastened in a knot at the back of her head. Her dress was similar, though far superior, to that of some of the acrobats one sees performing in various parts of England and America. On the others hanging up their cloaks and taking off their pattens, I saw that they were each dressed differently, seemingly; and I found afterwards that this was the case ; they each wore what most suitably set off their good points, and hid their bad ones.

Vona Gartha Morpha,the woman whose dress I have described, came up to me. " Poor man, you are ill ! " She put me in a big easy chair, and asked one of the others for something for me, but Edie said, — - " Do not give him anything more to eat or drink, he has been half starved, and we must not overtax his stomach." Then she turned to me and asked, " are you strong enough to have a warm bath p I think it will do you good ; and I will get you some fresh clothes." " I should like it very much, you are very kind,'' I replied grate fully. The two men took me away, and gave me a warm bath ; it was delicious ! They then dried me, and dressed me with some warm underclothes, and Turkish-like outer garments. " The women will do your hair for you," they said. My tangled hair and beard were knotted with the neglect of many weeks.

I was put on a big chair-bed, and watched them have their dinner; they were merry as a lot of children, but kind to me as mothers to their babies. After dinner Vona and Edie sat on either side of me, and combed my hair and beard, while the others cleared away. Beside me on the chair was the child, she soothed me with her tiny hands, and baby chatter, which I could not follow. Very gentle were the women, and careful not to hurt me. When they had iiuravelled the tangles of my hair aud beard, which they did with knives and combs, they oiled them with a violetscented pomade, and brought me a mirror that I might see myself. I had seen my comrades grow gaunter and paler ; their hollow eyed faces, grimly looking from a frame of filthy tangled hair, till one by one they died ; but I had not realized that 1, who was one of them, had changed as they had changed.

In the glass I saw my reflection, which did not seem myself. My forehead looked higher, my eyes were sunk in my head, the bones of my cheeks seemed bursting through my skin, my mouth was hidden by my moustache, which, dandified by the fingers of the women, curled on the Orson-like beard, which covered my breast. A little woman, who had been sitting beside or flitting about a big quiet man all the evening, began to sing ; and I fell asleep. CHAPTER IT. A NEW CIVILIZATION. In an instant the room where I lay was filled with light, and I saw beside my bed-side the figure of an angel ; that is such a figure as we attribute to the angels. The face was like to that of the Apostle John, as he is shown in the pictures of the old masters ; and had that lovely blending of masculine strength, and feminine sweetness, that is emblema tical of all that we hope for in human nature.

The extended wings closed, and the angel spoke. "Frank, fear not," it said, "you are now in a land that is better than the one you have left, and here you must qualify yourself for a better still, and then again for a better, till your spirit, as well as your body, is a likeness of God, and then, but not till then, you will goto heaven." I groaned, "Let me return to my life on earth, good angel; for there I have left my work but little more than commenced, and if I do not return, those whom it is my duty to comfort will suffer. Let me go back to those I love." The angel frowned, and his aspect became terrible ; slowly his right arm raised till it pointed at me, and then he spoke. " Fool that you are, you are not worthy of elevation, you shall be sent to a lower world than the one you have left, and from there you will rise higher, or sink lower, according to your works."

The light left me, and I struggled in an agony of fear. " Frank, Frank, lie quiet, ypu will be better soon." The light returned, and I saw beside my bed-side, the little woman who was singing when I went to sleep. "Frank," she said soothingly, "you have been dreaming, you are quite feverish. The food you have taken has been too strong for you, after your long period of starvation." " Are you sure I am awake P " I asked in terror. " Yes, dear, you are awake, but you must make an effort to keep quiet, or you will get delirious." She stroked my hair ; and I took her hand in both of mine, and kissed it ; it was real, and gave me courage. " You must not talk, and then I will stay with you for a little while. Go to sleep if you can." I could not go to sleep, I had too much to think of. The change, the wonderful change, from a period of starving misery ; from the murderous hug of the bear; the corpse-strewn journey, where day by day famine, or cold, took my companions, one by one, till only I was left, with my dead friend, at the gates of death.

From all this — which had only ended the previous morning — I had been suddenly, taken to a life of plenty, warmth, love, and the joy of the companionship of beautiful women and brave men. You who have never known starvation, misery, the hour of loneli ness, or the want of love ; think of it ! and the sympathy born of the thought may make you do acts of kindness to sorrowing fellow-creatures, that will cause you to glow with the comforting knowledge of a generous deed, and to have a happier place in the hereafter. The little woman saw I could not sleep, again she had given me her hand to hold ; it was such a -comfort to me. I was so weak and nervous. " How did you know I was dreaming ? " I asked after a while. " There is a microphone at the top of your bed, which bends slightly over, and transmits the slightest sound you make, along a telephone wire, to a microphone at my pillow ; so that I heard you groan, and came in at once."