Part 21 (1/2)

”That's the ith every hunter,” said Skipper Ed ”He's always looking for a silver, and it makes him the keener for the work, and drives away h year in and year out he gets nothing but reds and whites, with now and again a cross, toaround soht a silver!” broke in Bobby ”And wouldn't I get soun and traps, and--loads of things!”

”So you're looking for a silver, too,” said Skipper Ed, all of theoes--everyone is looking for a silver fox, and that keeps everyone always hopeful and gives vim for labor When they don't have silvers or don't hunt and trap, they're looking for soreat success It's a theot one yet,” said Bobby, ”and there's one due ets a silver some time in his life”

”Not every one,” corrected Skipper Ed ”Well, shall we haul the seals over in the ot any silvers in the traps?”

”I suppose so,” agreed Bobby, regretfully ”It's hard to leave this fine hunting, but I suppose there'll be good hunting till the ice goes out, and anye've got all we can use”

So with break of day on Friday they loaded their sledges, and all that day hauled seals to their cache, and when night caloo_, some seals still remained to be hauled on Saturday

But the sun did not show hi, for the sky was heavily overcast, and before they reached Itigailit Island with the first load of seals snoas falling and the as rising They hurried with all their ht, for it was evident a storm was about to break with the fury of the North, and out on the open ice field, where the wind rides unobstructed and unbridled, these stors back to the _sena_ at the fastest gait to which they could urge them Skipper Ed and Jimmy were in advance and had Skipper Ed's _ko seals, and were lashi+ng the load into place, when Bobby arrived

”I've got a heavier load than yours will be, so I'll go on with it,”

Skipper Ed shouted as Bobby drove up ”There are only two s outfit and your snow knives in the _igloo_ Don't forget the”

”All right,” answered Bobby ”We'll catch you before you reach sht of catastrophe, and was quickly sed up by the thickening snohile Bobby and Jiloo_ upon the sledge, and, spurred by the rising wind and snow, hurried with all theirwith a roar upon the ice, and as the boys turned the dogs back upon the trail they observed a wavingthe sledge up an incline, and at the nextdown another incline close upon the heels of the tea ice assumed the motion of the seas which rolled beneath

As they receded froe, however, this motion diminished, until finally it was hardly perceptible at all, and there sees, which eary with the two days' heavy hauling, were perth through the snow they saw Skipper Ed waiting for the he proceeded

”_Ah!_” Bobby shouted to his dogs athem suddenly to a stop ”I've dropped my whip somewhere Jimmy, watch the team while I run back after it”

Twenty minutes elapsed before he returned with the whip, and they drove on

Skipper Ed, satisfied that Bobby and Jiain until well out over the sailit Island, when he heard behind hi He halted and listened, and strained his eyes through the drifting snow for a gli from his _komatik_, he ran back in the direction from which he had come and as fast as he could run, and presently, with a sickening sensation at his heart, was brought to a halt by a broad black space of open water

The great ice pack upon which they had been hunting had broken loose fro it seaward Already the chasm between him and the floe had widened to over thirty feet, and it was rapidly groider The ed and when at last Bobby and Jimmy came into view on the opposite side of the chasm it was a full two hundred feet in breadth They shouted to the dogs and rushed to the edge of the open water, but there was no hope of their escape They had delayed too long They were adrift on the ice floe, which was steadily taking them seaward

CHAPTER XXIII

IT WAS God'S WILL

Skipper Ed was appalled and stunned A sense of great weakness came upon him, and he swayed, and with an effort prevented his knees fro under him His vision became clouded, like the vision of one in a dream

His brain became paralyzed, inert, and he was hardly able to coedy that he believed inevitable

Had there been any means at his command whereby he could at least have attempted a rescue, it would have served as a safety valve But he was utterly and absolutely helpless to so er to relieve the two boys whom he loved so well and who had become so much a part of his life

And there was Abel Zachariah and Mrs Abel Vaguely he re upon them He kneell that they would place none of the responsibility upon himself, but, nevertheless, he could but feel that had he remained with the boys they would now have been safe