Alone by Richard E. Byrd
Author:Richard E. Byrd [Byrd, Richard E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2012-08-22T03:35:40+00:00
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter Seven -- JUNE I: DESPAIR Back To Previous Page
* * *
GO TO MY MAIN HOMEPAGE http://www.primenet.com/~klaatu/ || [email protected] || Optimized for Netscape
* * *
ALONE
by Richard E. Byrd
Rear Admiral U.S.N. (Ret.)
originally published 1938 by G.P. Putnam's Sons Chapter 7
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
JUNE I: DESPAIR
June 1st was a Friday. A black Friday for me. The nightmare left me, and about 9 o'clock in the morning I awakened with a violent start, as if I had been thrown down a deep well in my sleep. I found myself staring wildly into the darkness of the shack, not knowing where I was. The weakness that filled my body when I turned in the sleeping bag and tried to throw the flashlight on my wrist watch was an eloquent reminder. I was Richard E. Byrd, United States Navy (Ret.), temporarily sojourning at Latitude 80 degrees 08 minutes South, and not worth a damn to myself or anybody else. My mouth was dry and tasted foul. God, I was thirsty. But I had hardly enough strength to move. I clung to the sleeping bag, which was the only source of comfort and warmth left to me, and mournfully debated the little that might be done.
Two facts stood clear. One was that my chances of recovering were slim. The other was that in my weakness I was incapable of taking care of myself. These were desperate conclusions, but my mood allowed no others. All that I could reasonably hope for was to prolong my existence for a few days by hoarding my remaining resources; by doing the necessary things very slowly and with great deliberation. So long as he did that and maintained the right frame of mind, even a very ill man should be able to last a time. So I reasoned, anyway. There was no alternative. My hopes of survival had to be staked on the theory.
But you must have faith -- you must have faith in the outcome, I whispered to myself. It is like a flight, a flight into another unknown. You start and you cannot turn back. You must go on and on and on, trusting your instruments, the course you have plotted on the charts, and the reasonableness of events. Whatever goes wrong will be mostly of your own making; if it is to be tragedy, then it will be commonplace tragedy of human vulnerability.
My first need was warmth and food. The fire had been out about twelve hours; I had not even eaten in nearly thirty-six. Toward providing those necessities I began to mobilize my slender resources. If there had been a movie camera to record my movements, the resulting picture could have been passed off as slow motion. Every act was performed with utmost patience. I lifted the lantern -- and waited. I edged out of the sleeping bag -- and rested on the chair beside the stove. I pulled on my pants, hiking them up a little bit at a time. Then the shirt. Then the socks. And shoes. And finally the parka.
Download
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.
Africa | Americas |
Arctic & Antarctica | Asia |
Australia & Oceania | Europe |
Middle East | Russia |
United States | World |
Ancient Civilizations | Military |
Historical Study & Educational Resources |
Cecilia; Or, Memoirs of an Heiress — Volume 1 by Fanny Burney(31301)
Cecilia; Or, Memoirs of an Heiress — Volume 3 by Fanny Burney(30918)
Cecilia; Or, Memoirs of an Heiress — Volume 2 by Fanny Burney(30872)
The Secret History by Donna Tartt(16548)
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari(13002)
Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson(11863)
The Radium Girls by Kate Moore(10884)
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari(4509)
The Wind in My Hair by Masih Alinejad(4410)
How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt(4375)
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari(4259)
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing(3816)
The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan(3727)
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl(3596)
Millionaire: The Philanderer, Gambler, and Duelist Who Invented Modern Finance by Janet Gleeson(3555)
The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang(3489)
Hitler in Los Angeles by Steven J. Ross(3418)
The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto Che Guevara(3313)
Joan of Arc by Mary Gordon(3240)