Part 10 (1/2)

”We're headed for Alaska!” cried Fred enthusiastically.

”Aye, aye!” answered Jerry, sailor-fas.h.i.+on. ”And there's no telling when we'll be coming back.”

”I don't want to until we get that treasure,” went on Fred.

”Hus.h.!.+ Don't speak about it,” cautioned Jerry.

At that moment a man, who, from a peculiarity in his look, was seen to have one gla.s.s eye, pa.s.sed the two lads. He glanced sharply at Fred, and the boy regretted he had mentioned the treasure.

”Do you think he heard me?” he asked Jerry in a low tone.

”I'm afraid so. But I guess it doesn't matter. He can't know what you meant, and there is any amount of treasure in Alaska. Still, it's better not to speak of it on the s.h.i.+p.”

”I'll not after this. Say, this air makes me hungry.”

”Same here. Let's go to breakfast.”

Little happened on the days that followed. The _Sea Lion_ steamed steadily north, and the boys were not the only ones counting the days until they should arrive on the Alaskan coast, for there were many who were taking the voyage in the hope of bettering their fortunes.

The man with the gla.s.s eye was frequently seen on deck, but, as Fred and Jerry were careful not to mention the treasure again, they paid little attention to him. Once the man, whose name Fred learned was Jacob Callack, tried to get into conversation with the lad.

”You and your friends going to prospect or buy up some claims?” asked Callack.

”Prospecting,” replied Fred, for surely hunting for a buried treasure was ”prospecting” for gold if anything was.

”Whereabouts?”

[Ill.u.s.tration: ”The glittering pinnacles towered high in the air”

_Page 57_]

”We haven't quite decided,” said Fred, truthfully enough, and then, seeing Mr. Baxter coming, he went to join him.

”Oh, you think you'll throw me off the track,” murmured the man with the gla.s.s eye as Fred left him. ”But I'll find out yet. Jake Callack can see more with his one eye than some folks can with two. You can't lose me so easily as all that.”

As the days pa.s.sed there was a noticeable change in temperature. The winter was just setting in, and winter in the northern regions means something very different from what it does in the United States.

When Fred and Jerry came on deck one morning there was a sharper tang than usual in the air.

”We'll sight ice to-day,” remarked one of the sailors.

”Do you mean an iceberg?” asked Fred.

”That's what. I can tell by the smell. We'll sight a big one before night.”

The sailor proved a good prophet, and that afternoon the steamer pa.s.sed an immense berg, the glittering pinnacles of which towered high into the air. The presence of it added to the cold, which was becoming sharper every hour.

”Time to get out our fur garments, I guess,” said Mr. Baxter that night, and from the baggage he had Johnson take out thick fur coats, caps and mittens, while heavy fur-lined boots were gotten in readiness for the journey on land, which would soon begin.