Chapter FourteenJAN MAYEN LAND
JUNE 1914
I haled me a woman from the street,
Shameless, but, oh. So fair!
I bade her sit in the model's seat,
And I painted her sitting there.'
Robert Service: My Madonna
With none of the caustic banter that I had come to expect, the atmosphere was dull, until Sinclair began to sing a psalm so anciently obscure that only Pratt could accompany him, desperately clinging to any message of reassurance.
The tune sounded flat in the fjord but as they picked up the words, some of the others joined in. 'That's better, boys!' Captain Milne donated his fine tenor to the day. 'Sing, lads. Sing for the seals!'
As if they understood, some of the seals began to moan, so seal song intertwined with the human voices in an ululation more melancholic than tuneful but
