"Call the watch, Mr. Ackell!" he cried, sharply. "We'll wait no longer."
He ran to the bridge, signalled "Stand by!" to the engine-room, and ordered the firing of the recall gun. The men of the last party were within ear of the report. It brought all work on the ice to a close. The men waited only to pile the dead seals in heaps and mark possession with flags.
"Again, mate!" shouted the captain. "They're long about comin', it seems t' me."
A second discharge brought the men on a run to the edge of the ice. It was evident that some danger threatened. They ran at full speed, crowded aboard the waiting boats, and were embarked as quickly as might be. Then the ship steamed off to the second field, five miles distant, to pick up the second party. When she came within hearing distance, three signal guns were fired, with the result that, when she came to, the men were waiting for the boats.
It was a run of six miles to the field upon which the first party had been landed--part of the way in and out among the pans. The storm had now taken form and was advancing swiftly, and the fields in the northeast were hidden in a spreading darkness. The wind had risen to half a gale, and it was beginning to snow. A run of six miles! The captain's heart sank. When he looked at the black clouds rising from behind the coast, he doubted that the _Dictator_ could do it in time. An appalling fortune seemed to be descending on the men on the ice.
"But we may make it, mate," said the captain, "if----"
The ship had been riding the open sea, skirting the floe. Now she came to the mouth of a broad lane, which wound through the fields. It was the course; along that lane, at all hazards, she must thread her way. The danger was extreme. The wind, blowing a gale, might force the great fields together. Or, if ice came with the wind, the lanes might be choked up. In either event, what chance would there be for the men? In the first event, which was almost inevitable, what chance would there be for the _Dictator_ herself?
"Cap'n Hand, sir," the mate began, nervously, "is you goin'----"
The captain looked up in amazement when the mate stammered and stopped. "Well, sir?" he said.
"Is I goin' WHAT?" roared the captain, turning upon him. "Is I goin' WHAT, sir?"