THE RESCUE 9I 



*Thank 'ee, lad, I will take a party back to look for 

 them.' 



'May I be one, sir?' 



'Thou art a brave lad, Oakley, and thou has a sharp eye 

 so fetch thy friends Chimoo and young Mather quickly for 

 I hear another berg approaching.' 



The captain led his party back along the tracks that 

 were already almost obliterated by snow till they came to 

 broken ice that the berg had left in its wake and could go 

 no further. Though they shouted into the blizzard and 

 searched left and right they neither heard nor found any 

 sign of their four comrades. 



*We can stay no longer,' shouted the captain but 

 his words were drowned by the increasing roar of 

 the next berg and he signalled with his arm for them to 

 leave. 



When, many minutes later the search party returned, 

 they found that the boat was already on the move as the 

 sound of fresh danger grew louder. 



Onwards through the blizzard again they drove their 

 numbed and frozen bodies, until suddenly the foremost 

 man on one of the hauling lines fell through the ice and 

 the party halted. 



The man was hauled to safety but it was at once evident 

 that they were nearing the edge of the ice; so they 

 returned a short distance along their tracks and made 

 camp. Tents were improvised from old sailcloth, snow 

 was melted over a blubber fire to make a warming brew 

 of rum. Jonathan tasted this spirit for the first time and 

 though he hated its taste it sent a welcome glow of 

 warmth through him and helped him to eat the salted 

 beef and dry tack that followed. Then Chimoo, Jonathan 

 and Joseph crawled into the tiny tent that the Indian had 

 erected and with Jonathan in the middle the three fell 

 asleep hugging each other for mutual warmth. 



How long he slept Jonathan never knew but he awoke to 



