The Ice Maiden by Sara Sheridan

The Ice Maiden by Sara Sheridan

Author:Sara Sheridan [Sara Sheridan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severn House Publishers
Published: 2018-06-05T16:00:00+00:00


FIFTEEN

She left. The South Polar Times and the football matches seemed senseless now and she did not require entertainment. There is nothing to do, she thought, as she laid herself on the side of the ice mountain and disappeared into it as if she had melted away. But she could not settle. She thought of Ven and her childhood summers. She thought of Thebo living in Maine, happy for years. The waste of it. And Joseph too. The thoughts tormented her and from the ship, the men’s voices niggled, like a fly buzzing against a pane. She turned away, but she still had the vision of Scott’s crew, trudging across the ice. They are haunting me, it occurred to her, and half annoyed and half intrigued, she returned to Winter Quarters Bay, deciding there was more to see. She could not sleep anyway.

Last out of the hold, the motor was winched into the light.

‘Call me when it’s ready to fire up,’ Scott instructed.

‘Yes, sir.’ Evans nodded curtly.

Taffy, as the men called him, set himself the task of checking the spark plugs and oiling the axle while, with a heavy heart, Karina sought information about this strange machine. She saw Scott with Hooker again, outside the house in Glasgow as they shook hands in front of a motor just like this one. Joseph, what does it do? she asked, but he did not answer.

In Scott’s memory, there was a good deal of enthusiasm for the idea of flying across the ice at a steady five miles an hour. It is a carriage that does not need horses, she realized and it occurred to her she had seen these in Maine, behind her good-for-nothing husband.

When Taffy’s work was done, almost the entire crew gathered. Skelton set his camera on a tripod as Evans opened an oil can and peered inside.

‘Well?’ said Wilson.

‘It’s frozen, sir.’

Wilson shook the can in the hope that Evans was mistaken. The group slumped. The cold had yet again outfoxed them. Karina’s heart sank further. Nothing worked here and Thebo hadn’t even died.

Wilson checked the remaining cans. The attaining of the motor had been considered something of a coup in London.

‘It’s no good. Get back to work,’ he waved off the men, who were still gathered hopefully around Evans.

One of the able seamen, George Vince, stumbled clumsily as he turned. Invisible, Karina removed her foot from his path. Vince had cheated on his wife, she saw. And in doing so, had lied to his mistress. Wilson rolled his eyes. The last thing he needed was an ankle injury. As the men disappeared, he turned to Evans. ‘I’ll tell the skipper.’

Inside, the doctor knocked on Scott’s door.

‘I’m afraid it’s become apparent that the motor is not going to be reliable, sir,’ Wilson announced. ‘It’s the fuel. It’s frozen.’

Scott sat back in his chair. ‘We did not think of that.’ Like Karina, his mood plummeted. The uselessness of the vehicle represented poor planning and as such was an affront to the expedition.



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