Then they were silent, and presently Skipper Ed knew that the boys were sleeping. But for a long time he lay awake and thought of other lands, and the friends of his youth and the days when he lived in luxury; and he wondered if, after all, he had been one whit happier in those days, with all the fine things he had, than were Bobby and Jimmy here in this rugged land, with no luxuries whatever. "We do not need much," he soliloquized, "to make us happy if we are willing to be happy. Health and love, and enough plain food to eat and clothes to cover us, and a shelter--even a snow house--and we have enough."

Before day broke they were astir; and the sun had not yet risen when they repacked their sledges and harnessed the dogs, and drove down over the ice toward the _sena_. For a mile the ice was smooth. Then they came among the pressure ridges, and had to pick their course in and out for another two miles before they came at last to the open sea.

Seals were numerous on the ice edge, and on floating pans of ice, and the dogs began to strain and howl in eagerness to attack the game, and would have dashed to the very water's edge but for big hoops of walrus hide thrown over the front of the _komatik_, which dragged into the snow under the runners and stopped them, and when they were stopped only the menace of the long whips could induce the animals to lie quietly down.

"We're going to have a dandy hunt!" exclaimed Bobby. "Shall we go right at it, and build an _igloo_ later?"

"Don't you think we had better build the _igloo_ first?" suggested Skipper Ed, laughing at Bobby's eagerness. "Then when we're tired we won't have it to do, or to think about, and we'll have a shelter all ready. Let us make things ship-shape."

"I suppose you're right," and Bobby grinned.

One of the two lamps and a share of the provisions had been left in the _igloo_ on Itigailit Island, which was to be their land base and their cache. But they had brought with them the other lamp and necessaries to make their hunting _igloo_ comfortable. A good bank of snow was found, not too far from the ice edge, and in an hour an _igloo_ was ready and everything stowed safely away from possible foraging by the dogs. Then the two teams, still fast in their traces, were picketed behind the ice hummocks near the _igloo_, for had they been set at liberty each dog would have gone hunting on his own account, and the seals would have been driven from the ice and beyond range of the guns.

Now, each armed with a rifle, and Bobby with a harpoon, they stole down toward the seals, crawling toward them, Bobby now and again emitting a "_Hough! Hough_!" in imitation of the coughing bark of the seals, until they approached quite near. Then, almost simultaneously, they fired, and, springing up, ran forward. Two seals had been shot clear through the head, and lay dead on the ice, but the other, though wounded, had slipped into the water. Bobby drew his harpoon, and holding it poised waited, until presently a dozen feet away the wounded seal came struggling to the surface. In a flash the harpoon flew from the young hunter's hand and struck its mark, and with the a.s.sistance of Skipper Ed and Jimmy he drew it to the ice.

These seals were of a species which they called "harps," because of the peculiar, harp-shaped markings on their back; and of the hair variety, for none of the valuable fur seals inhabits north Atlantic waters. The skins, however, when dressed into leather by Mrs. Abel, would prove of splendid quality for boot tops, or, when dressed without removing the hair, would supply them with many articles of clothing for their comfort.

The day was terribly cold--Skipper Ed judged that the temperature must have stood at least at fifty degrees below zero, and that even the temperature of the sea water, where it was unfrozen, was well below the freezing point. Once or twice, indeed, in spite of their enthusiasm, the hunters retired to the _igloo_, where a lamp was kept burning, to warm themselves.

Late that afternoon Jimmy wounded a seal on an ice pan, and it went into the water. He seized a harpoon, but when the seal rose to the surface it was so far away that the line could not reach it.

"Here!" shouted Bobby, laying down his gun and grabbing a paddle which he had brought from Itigailit Island for such an emergency, "jump on this pan. I'll paddle you out where you can get him."

They sprang upon a small pan, and, utilizing it as a raft, Bobby paddled a few yards.

"There! There!" shouted Bobby. "There he is. He's most dead. You can get him!"

Jimmy jumped to the side of the pan upon which Bobby was kneeling with his paddle, and poising the harpoon was about to cast it when the pan, too heavily weighted on that side, began slowly to turn. Bobby did not see this, but Jimmy did.

"Don't move!" shouted Jimmy. "Stay where you are!"

And, without hesitation, Jimmy slipped from the pan and into the icy sea, though he knew there was small chance for him to swim, and, overcome by the shock of the terrible cold, he sank beneath the waves.

The pan righted itself immediately it was relieved of Jimmy's weight, and Bobby, realizing what Jimmy had done, and that his friend had sacrificed himself for his sake, stood bewildered and stunned, gazing blankly at the spot where Jimmy had sunk.

CHAPTER XXI

WHO WAS THE HERO?

Bobby did not lose his head. After his manner in emergencies, he thought quickly, and acted instantly, and now his bewilderment was for only a moment.

Seizing the harpoon which Jimmy had dropped upon the ice, he gave a yell that brought Skipper Ed to the water's edge in a hurry, and when Skipper Ed came running down Bobby had already thrown off his _netsek_ and his mittens and was knotting the loose end of the harpoon line around his waist. Grasping the harpoon, he cast it upon the main ice, with the command:

"Grab it, and hold it!"

"My G.o.d!" gasped Skipper Ed. "What has happened? Where is Jimmy? Where is Partner?"

"In there! Stand by and help!" directed Bobby, who had not taken his eyes off the dark water where Jimmy had disappeared, save for the fleeting instant when he cast his harpoon to Skipper Ed.

Presently Jimmy, hampered by his _netsek_, weakly struggled to the surface, already apparently overcome by the awful cold of the plunge.

Bobby saw him and instantly sprang after him, seized him about the waist and held him with the desperation of one who fights with death. A moment's struggle followed and then both lads went down.

Skipper Ed now comprehended Bobby's suddenly formulated plan of rescue, and he pulled with all his strength upon the line, and as he pulled Bobby, still grasping Jimmy about the body, rose again to the surface, and Skipper Ed giving impetus to the line, drew them to him, seized them and quite easily drew them upon the ice.

Jimmy had already lost consciousness and Bobby was so overcome by the shock that he could scarcely speak, and Skipper Ed, lifting Jimmy into his arms, ran with him to the _igloo_, calling to Bobby as he did so:

"Come! Run! Run, or you'll freeze!"

Bobby tried to run--tried very hard--but he fell. The water in an instant formed a coat of mail upon his body. He rose, but his legs refused to respond, and again he fell, and when Skipper Ed, who came running back when he had dragged Jimmy into the _igloo_, reached him he found Bobby on his hands and knees and nearly helpless.

"Come!" he shouted into Bobby's ear, at the same time pa.s.sing his arm around Bobby's body and lifting him to his feet. "Come, lad! Don't give up!" he encouraged, half dragging the boy forward and pushing him into the _igloo_.

"Undress, Bobby! Get into your sleeping bag!" he commanded.

"Jimmy--Jimmy--" said Bobby, in a voice which he hardly recognized as his own.

"I'll take care of Jimmy," broke in Skipper Ed. "Get into your sleeping bag! Quick!"

And Bobby in a dazed manner obeyed.

Fortunately the stone lamp was burning. Skipper Ed closed the door of the _igloo_ with a block of snow, and working rapidly he stripped the frozen clothing from Jimmy, wrapped him in a caribou skin, turned him upon his face, and resorted to artificial respiration to restore him to consciousness.

Jimmy responded quickly to the treatment, for he was suffering rather from shock than from the amount of water that had entered his lungs, and in a little while Skipper Ed was gratified to observe that he was breathing naturally and making an effort to speak.

"Where's--Bobby?" he asked faintly.

"Bobby's safe," said Skipper Ed with a strange choking in his voice.

"Bobby pulled you out, Partner. My brave partner!"

Without delay Skipper Ed now tucked Jimmy into his sleeping bag, and wrapping an additional caribou skin around each of the boys, set himself at once to brewing some hot strong tea, which he forced them to drink, and until they had drunk it and were thoroughly warmed he commanded them to do no talking, though in spite of the injunction Bobby asked:

"Is Jimmy all right?"

"He's all right," rea.s.sured Skipper Ed, "as snug as can be, in his bag.

Now don't say another word until I give you permission. Go to sleep."

"Where's my _netsek_? Did you find it? And my mittens? I'll need 'em again," persisted the practically disposed Bobby, who was already thinking of the future.

"You young rascal! Go to sleep, I say, and don't let me hear another word," insisted Skipper Ed. "I'll go find 'em. Keep quiet now and go to sleep."

Skipper Ed found the _netsek_ and mittens, as he had promised he would.

The tide had driven the piece of ice upon which Bobby had left them back again to the main ice. Then he fed the dogs, and when he returned to the _igloo_ both lads were sleeping soundly.

He filled his pipe, and sat for two hours, and until darkness settled, smoking and ruminating. He did not know yet the full history of the accident. He only knew that Jimmy had in some manner got into the water, was overcome by the icy bath and was perishing when Bobby called, and that Bobby by quick thought and quick action had saved his young partner.