Antarctica Read Online Free Page B

after the runaways. “Paithia-a-a-a-a!”
    “Combustion, blast, cloud, and vapor!” wailed Oppenheim, shaking his fist at the sky.
    Nigel, his face red, hurled debris wildly toward the horizon. “Stay away, you mongrel traitors! You ain’t done nothin’ but foul the decks ’n’ eat our meat!”
    Kosta limped toward the horizon, his shouts growing into screams. Andrew took his arm and tried to guide him back to the tent. O’Malley and Sanders threw chunks of ice at the Mystery , yelling incoherently. Blaming her. Blowing off steam.
    A number of crewmen, shell-shocked, looked silently toward Captain Barth and Jack.
    “What now?” asked Ruppenthal.
    “We take a train,” Brillman said.
    “Is that supposed to be funny?” snapped Hayes.
    “Have we no radio?” asked Philip. “No telephone?”
    Windham glowered at him. “Let me just check my pockets.”
    “We traveled out of radio range near South America,” Bailey explained. “Where were you, Philip?”
    “In steerage with Nigel,” Ruppenthal said, “eating our food and plotting our overthrow.”
    Captain Barth cut them off. “I need men immediately to go after those dogs. Those of you intent on preserving chaos and strife may go with them and keep on walking. We need the dogs more than you.”
    “Men, this —” Father’s voice caught, and he cleared his throat. “This is a horror. No less. We must talk plainly — and act together, decisively, with eyes clear and hearts open. Let O’Malley and Sanders and Nigel alone for now. I’ll handle them. Siegal, Stimson, Talmadge, and Windham, go after the dogs. The rest of you gather wood and debris — we’ll make use of it all. Nesbit, help Drs. Montfort and Riesman in the infirmary. And as always, do whatever Captain Barth says.”
    The four dog chasers took off. The others trudged away to their tasks.
    Colin was shaking. “Can we do this, Father?”
    “Can we breathe and think?”
    “The men are falling apart. They’ve lost their spirit already.”
    Barth nodded. “Without the ship, they’re not sailors. The chain of command doesn’t hold.”
    “They’re men,” Father replied. “They want a chain of command. And a plan of action. I suggest we stay put, shore up the camp. The winds and currents will carry the floes clockwise. We’ll float our way around the sea, west by northwest. It worked for Fridtjof Nansen in the Arctic. In the meantime, we use the wood to build up our lifeboats and rig them. When we reach water, we sail out of here.”
    “Will we survive a winter down here?” Captain Barth replied. “Have you spotted many seals? Penguins? There aren’t a whole lot here. Fewer in the winter — they’ll be heading north. And when that sun goes away for three months, we won’t even see the ones that remain.”
    “Why don’t we do as the seals do?” Colin spoke up. “Head north over the ice. We can pull the camp after us.”
    “Pull the sledges and four lifeboats?” Barth asked. “Better to split into two teams—one to travel north, unladen, to check for leads, the other to stay put.”
    Father shook his head. “We’re doomed if we split, Elias. Under no circumstances will I allow that, ever. Whatever happens, we remain together.”
    “Aye, aye,” Captain Barth said gravely.
    “I agree with Colin,” Father continued. “We must move — for the sake of morale as well as the hope of rescue.”
    “And when we reach the water?” Barth asked.
    Father exhaled hard. “We’ll worry about that when we come to it.”
    The runaway dogs — Chionni, Dimitriou, Eleni, Megalamatia, Michalaki, Pericles, Plutarchos, Sounion, and Zeus — were never found. The four men came back empty-handed.
    Kosta took the news hard. But like the others, he worked through to the next day without stop. The only indication of night was a brief winking of the sun at the horizon line before it began its ascent. No one showed any desire to sleep, and no one complained of the toil.
    No one wanted to talk