Part 24 (2/2)

CHAPTER XXVII

A STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE

It was fortunate that Bobby had selected the center of the floe for his night shelter, for when he awoke in theand crawled out of his snow cavern he discovered that the unstable shore ice of which the floe was coht into separate pans, and that he was now upon a coe pan, which had originally been the center of the great floe upon which he went adrift

Surrounding hi on the swell, and grinding and crunching against one another with a voice of o With quick appreciation he are that his position was now indeed a perilous one, for it was obvious that his s to pieces

But another andBobby was ravenously hungry He had eaten nothing since the hasty luncheon of sea biscuit and pork on the night he and Jiry the day before, but noas ravenous and he felt gaunt and weak As though to tantalize hi themselves upon the ice pans, for it was now past sunrise, but his only weapon was his snow knife, and he ell aware that the seals would slip into the water and beyond his reach before he could approach and despatch the ice he discovered to his delight that the loose pans surrounding the little floe upon which he stood reached out in a continuous field to the great Arctic pack which he had watched so anxiously the previous day And, as particularly to his satisfaction, the pans were so closelyfroe safely, and for a ti over loose ice pans in this manner was not wholly new to Bobby

Every hunter in the Eskimo country learns to do it, and Bobby had often practiced it in Abel's Bay when the water was calreat extent stationary But he had never attempted it on the open sea where the pans were never free froh not an unusual feat for the experienced seal hunter, a hazardous undertaking

The situation, however, demanded prompt action Should wind arise the ice pans would quickly be scattered, and all possibility of retreat to the big ice field cut off

Bobby, after his manner, not only decided quickly what to do, but acted immediately upon his decision The distance to be traversed was probably nota course where the pans appeared closely in contact with one another, he seized his snow knife, which he had no doubt he would still find useful in preparing shelters, and leaping from pan to pan set out without hesitation upon his uncertain journey

It was a feat that required a steady nerve, a quick eye, and alert action, for the ice was constantly rising and falling upon the swell

Now and again there were gaps of several yards, where the ice had been ground into pieces so sht He ran rapidly over these gaps, touching the ice as lightly as possible and not reh to permit it to sink

And so it came about that presently with a vast sense of relief Bobby cla ice pack, and for a time, at least, felt that he had escaped the sea

For a moment he stood and looked back over the hazardous path that he had traversed Then clih hu, he scanned his surroundings

To the northward lay the loose ice; to the eastward and southward as far as he could see stretched the unbroken ice of the great field; to the ard and two miles distant was the black water of the open sea, dotted here and there by vagrant pans of ice which glistened white in the bright sunlight as they rose and fell upon the tide

Suddenly his attention was attracted to so which made hie, and extending back from the water for a considerable distance, there appeared innu quiet upon the ice, othersslowly about

”Seals!” exclaiet one now before they take to the water! They're too far back to get to the water before I can get at the down frohly excited at the prospect of food that had so suddenly coet one!” he said as he ran, ”if I can only get one! God help et one!”

With this prayer on his lips, and keen anxiety in his breast, he neared the seals Then, all of his hunter's instincts alert, his advance beca hu ice, and its possible sheltering hu still as a statue, now darting forward, and at last proceeding on all fours until finally he was quite certain that those farthest fro to his feet he ran at them

Bobby had until now kept his nerves under control, but with the attack a wild desperation took possession of hihtered the seals, one after another, as he overtook them, until, the first frenzy of success past, he realized that he had already killedwith excitement, and looked about him Five victims of the two species known to him as harp and jar seals had fallen under his knife

Now he could eat This thought brought relaxation froreat physical strain and mental anxiety that had spurred hih pitch since leaving his snow cavern early in the , and with the relaxation he was overco to his eyes, and suddenly he felt very weak

”The Lord surely has been taking care of et out of this I'll never forget 'twas the Lord took h”

Bobby's undivided attention until this time had been centered upon the seals which he had attacked, which were a those farthest from the open water Now as he dried his eyes and, still tre from effort and excitement, drew his sheath knife to dress the aniht forth an exclamation:

”Puppies! That's what all the seals are here for!”