’L
:41 . ._. ‘

A 3 ’V
n 2".5‘3,” /

 

 

Copyrighted, 1885, by Bunu AND ADAMI. Entamd M the Post 021m at, New le'k, N. Y.. m Set-cud Chm Mail Matter.

Feb. )4, was.
2.5 Published Week] b l Adm:
V01: IVI B‘Yelg'. No' 98 WIJAxysgegld“:  ’ Fl‘grggl,ltl. NOI 44-

The lost Boy Whalers; "2'233332222:9128133221353?-

BY ’1‘. C. EARBAUGH.

“ MY GOD!" FELL mom Man’s LIPS AS BE RELIED AWAY. “noon, NETEK! I)ch 13 1.0311”,

 

    

8 The Lost Boy Whalers.

 

The Lost Boy Whalers;

In the Shadow of the North Pole.

A Tale of Adventure and Peril in the
Frigid World.

' BY T. C. HARBAUGH, '

amon or “ TEE snow man,” “ nor nern‘s,”
"SNOW-SHOE son," are, are.

CHAPTER I.
. m NANTUCKET novs. .

' “ WE are lost indeed, for our ‘ mainland’ is
an iceberg, and we are drifting through an
unknown sea!” .

“ Impossible!”

“I wish Iconlddispossess my mind of the
terrible belief, but I cannot, Dick. “'6 are
certainly adrift!"

“ In unknown latitudes and .untracked seas.”

“ Alas, yes i”

The two American boys faced each other for
a. moment with the horror of their situation
before them. Just-where the Were they did
not know, for, without a. sing e compass, they
were lost among the icebergs of the polar
refiions. .

v ed Manly and Dick Mizzen were Nantucket
boys whose father's, wherever thev went, were
known as the best Whalers of New England. It
[was not strange, therefore, that the boys grew
up with a fondness for whale-fishery, that their
first toys were miniature harpoons and seal-

s ears. .
pOne month before they were to be found
among the youth of Nantucket; now they were
the prisoners of an iceberg which was drifting
slow y down an unknown channel.
Let us see how their change of situation came

 

 

about.

The Bellé of Nantucket was one of the most
succesaful whaling vessels in the service Her
voyagesto the most remote fishing grounds of
the far North had secured for her a reputation
which was enviable in certain quarters, so that
whnlemen were always eager to sail under
Ca tain Jared Crosby, her commander.
eBtain Crosby was a lover of . boys, and Ned
and ick had attracted his attention during a.
stay inNautucket, and when they told him that
they would like to visit the Northern whaling
if?! promised that their desires should be

e . _ - . .
nghey had whaled of! the coast of Labrador
wiith man 12exciting" adwntgreéiznandf much

easure' u ever s nee a . 0 white
glides ir'i' Bamn's Bay reached Nantucket, they
were on to cast their harpoons north or the
spventiet Earallel. _

Captain rosby did not to his promise to
"the boys, for when he ain eft Nantucket for
whaling grounds which 0 had not yet explored,
the young Whalers accompanied him. .

Ned and-Dick were delighted. for they were

4 ,

 

not runaways from home, but had departed
with the full consent of their arents.

We are not going to de with the Belle’s
voyage, more than to say that two small sperm
whales were taken in Davis Strait, and several
at the mouth of Lancaster Sound. Crosby pushed
on despite the threateniu ice which seemed
about to crush the ship. e had reports of a
comparatively open Sea in the neighborhood of
Melville Islands. There where the new fishing
grounds whose wealth in whales report said no
person could estimate.

For the first time the Belle’s crew began to
murmur: but the captain kept on with his glass
turned constantly to the west.

At last, after days of hardship and exertion,
the Belle entered what appeared to be an open
sea. Here and there were packs of drift ice,
but none approached the Whaler, and no gla-
ciers or icebergs were in sight.

Confident that the lon -sought whaling
grounds had been reached, e grumbling sail-
ors became cheerful again and shared their
captain’s enthusiasm.

“ There she blows!” rung out from the Belle’s
crow’s~nest one day, and instantly every man
on board the Whaler became excited.

It was the first sign of whales that had yet
been seen in the strange sea.

Several boats were quickly lowered for the
chase. Into one—the second mate’s—Ned Man-
ly and Dick Mizzen sprung armed for the chase
of leviathan.

Unfortunately for the boat’s crew the ion
day was drawing to a close; but the whale-boa
was carried rapidly from the ship, for the other
finer; were anxious to reach and strike the whale

rs .

Ned Manly looked back but once upon the
Belle, and then turned away, little thinking
that he had seen her for the last time.

Sudden] the man who stood in the prow of
the whale- at with ready harpoon uttered an
exclamation of discovery. The whale had risen
to the surface almost within striking distance
and straight ahead.

“Jack will have to throw soon if my iron
does not strike the whale first i" exclaimed Ned,
as he passed forward with a. harpoon In his
hand and his eyos blazing with excitement.

The next moment Jack Mnrliue’s spear shot
from his hand and struck the huge monster,
which sunk before Ned could deliver his bar-

11.
p0The whale seemed to go straight down, and
the line ran out so rapidly that the mate was
afraid it would catch fire. .

“Down to the mermaids’ laces!” remarked
Dick. as he and Ned watche the line.

“ Just as if they have mermaids in these
frozen regions!” was the reply. “But look! the
line is not taut.”

“He’s rising!” said the old harpooner. “ Let
every tar keep his e es open now.”

Jack stood ready or the wounded whale with
another harpoon. ' The other two boats were
not in sight; a terrible accident had called them

,back to the ship. Suddenly a; cry of horror

rose fromJack's throat. _
“Lqu! lufll for heaven’s eel/gel” he cried.

“TheflshiscominzuDu/uderus .

FL.cL~.

.439

n.\

 
 
  
   
 
    
 
 
 

     

 

film‘s. 4M4; -lv .

29.99 .

 

 
  
    
  
  
   
 

    

The men realized their awful situation in the
twinkling of an eye, and tried to obey the bar-
pooner's orders, but too late!

With a crash that deafened all, the enraged.

fish struck the boat between middle and stern,
and sent it spinning into the air with all its
crew!

Such an admixture of men, oars and ropes
was never seen before in whaling seas. For a.
moment they remained, in mid—air, then all
came down into the icy waters. Fortunately
the whale-boat righted as it struck, and the
men made for it. The whale had disappeared,
the harpoon having pulled out, and the Whalers
were glad to note this.

, The Nantucket boys did not lose their heads,
but swam with others for the boat. Ned was
drawn over its side by old Jack, while Dick got
in by his own exertions. A count of the boat’s
crew showed that two were drowned, one the
second mate, a first-class man, whose place it
would be hard to fill.

“ For the shi now!” was the cry, and the
boat was heade toward the Belle.

Men and boys were almost chilled to death; a
cold wind seemed to freeze the very marrow of
their bones, and, added to their discomfort,
was the fear of another attack by the whale.

The whale-boat fairly flow through the water,
and every eye was strained to catch a. glimpse
of the Belle.

“Dick! Dick! yonder is where the old ship
should lie, but she is not in si ht.”

These words, Whispered by ed over his com-
panion’s shoulder, made the latter start, and be-
fore he could speak a voice at his elbow cried

“My God! there is no ship waiting for us!”

Every oar stood still.

No ship in sight? I t could not be!

The whale—boat seemed to rest on an elevated
plateau of water. On every side lay the north-
ern sea, without the sign of a. ship on .its icy
waves: The situation of the boat’s crew was
appalling. Men who would not have hesitated
to spring upon a. wounded whale’s back and fix
another halgioon there, stared blankly at one
another. ed and Dick stood 'side by side,
clasping each other’s hand as they gazed upon
the watery waste before them.

“Courage!” said Dick at last. “ I am going
to believe that the Belle has slipped her moor-
ings for another anchorage.”

“ N o! no! I shall grasp at no delusive straws,”
was Ned’s instant rejoinder, spoken in a tone
that did not have a tremor. “ I acce t the sit-
uation, Dick, appalling though it be. on have
read about the Essex?”

'l‘he Whaler that was sunk more than sixty
year‘sr agg by a mad whale!” '

as

“You believe, then, that the Belle has been
sent in a like manner to the bottom 1"

u I do.” I

“I cannot believe, Ned, that a whale could
sink such a. ship as ours was, yet the loss of the
Essex attests the powers of thoss monsters,” re-
plied Dick.

Ned Manly did not reply, but turned to old
J ack. who sat in the prow of the boat with his

The Lost Boy Whalers. 

 

5

head between his hands, the picture of. grief
and despair. I

“We must not lie here !” exclaimed the man-
tucket boy. “ Night seems to be gathering
arougd us. Let us make an eflort to find the
ship.

His words threw new life into the hearts of
the down-hearted whalemen; but why search
for a ship which all had fiVen up for lost!

The hunt that followe was destined to be a
fruitless one. The men worked with all their
might in the cold arctic twilight, but moment
by moment hope ebbed away, and at last, un-
der the overhanging cliflfs of what appeared to
be a mountain of ice, they rested on their ours
and gave up the search.

Weary and almost dead, the lost sailors drag-
ged their boats ashore and prepared to pass the
most fearful of nights. By the aid of their
harpoons and ice-hooks Ned and Dick scaled the
icy cliffs for a lcok seaward.

The scene that lay around them was too deso-
late for description; cliffs of ice and a cold sea.
whose waves had a disconsolate murmur were
all they saw. No ship! ,

All at once a noise like the fall of a mountain
startled the boy Whalers, and the next instant
a largzdportion of their iceberg fell apart and
dropp into the sea.

A column of water was thrown hundreds of
feet into the air. and deluged the young adven.
turers as it fell back. I

When they looked again. they saw that their
companions had disappeared with the detached
mass! Not a sign of men or boat was visible.

    

With throbless hearts and minds fully alive‘to -

their peril, the Nantucket boys crept down the
clifl! and made their way to the water’s edge.

With a cry of jo Dick discovered the empty»

whale-boat, and t e be cons of the boys‘drag-
ged it beyond the arm 0 danger. !
They passed the pi ht under the whale-boat
shivering in the cold, at not without hope.
“ Let us not forget that we represent old
Nantucket,” said Ned. “ I am confident that
we are on the ice-incrusted edge of some main-

land which must be inhabited. To—morrow we I

will explore our Crusoe abode.” I

When the darkness gave place to another
arctic morning, cold, cheerless, and without a.
sun, the castaways crept from under the up
turned boat and set about to explore their pri-
son. '

Then it was that Ned Manly made the terri-
ble discovery announced at the beginning of
this cha tar: that their mainland was an ce-
berg an that it was slowly carrying them fur-
ther to sea!

Thus was brought about the thrilling change ‘

which had taken since in the fortunes of the
Nantucket boys. mm the case cabins of the
Belle they had been transferre to the inhos-
pitable cliffs of an iceberg which, judging from
what had already occurred, was liable at any
moment to go to pieces! -

“We’ve got a boat, two seal rs and a
harpoon,” said Ned; ‘ and with t em in this
place I feel richer than a Vanderbilt!”

.—

|
\

 

4 The Lost Boy Whalers.

 

CHAPTER II.
nuns IN THE SHIP.

FonrunuiiLY for the boy castaways the spot
where they had passed the dreary arctic night
was sheltered from the winds by huge. piles of ice
which in some places was thickly coated With

’ snow. They had managed to keep from freez-
ing by lying close together under the whale boat
around whose sides they had heaped some snow
which excluded the cold air; otherwise, clad as
the were, they would have perished.

ides the weapons which Ned had just
enumerated and cheerfully commented upon,
they pussessed two belt-knives of which they
might stand in need at some future time. The
fall of a part of the berg had carried the weav
pans belonging to the rest of the party to the
depths of the unknown sea, and the boys were
forced to put up with the scanty supply left
to them.

During the night their berg had undoubtedly

drifted along distance, 2?“ the scenery around
them was new compared to that upon which
they had gazed just before retiring. The wa-
ter which had been comparatively open was
nowa tumbled archipelago of floating islands,
among which their icy prison was a giant.
Dj‘llf we only had a compass!” exclaimed

ic '.

" And a sextant. nut rate has not been lavish
with her guts so far as we are concerned ” was
Ned's reply. “ if we are to the north of Mel-
vnle may. as we may be, we may reach Tess-
nissak’ harbor where Kane measured that gi-
rnntio icebcr which contained twenty-seven
.hillion cubica feet of ice.”

“Our berg is no baby, Ned,” and Dick sur-
veyed with awe the white peaks which rose for
hundreds of feet above their heads.

A few'minutes later their berg grated against
another of smaller dimensions, and then struck
a field of table ice several inches thick. Through
this obstruction it moved with the irresistible

war of a steam plow. and amid noise of break-
ing ice alinOSt deafening.

“ Isn’t it grand!” cried Dick, forgetful for a
moment of their situation as the berg crunched
throu h the mass filling the air with glittering
partic es of ice and snow.

It was, indeed, a sublime s ectacle, one which
the youthful castaways co d not behold with.
out feelings of awe. -

Far above their heads flew numerous large.
winged birds like arctic gulls. Now and then
they would swoop down and give the boys a
glimpse of their white win then away again

among the icy cliffs of the rg. Ned watched
these birds a long time with the cravings of
hunger tormentin him, for since leaving the
mutated Belle of antucket, he had touched no
food. The exciting fortunes which had befallen
them since then had caused them in a measure
to forget. the wants of the bod ; but now nature
was asserting her rights, an the sight of the
birds which were good for food, increased her
do‘i‘nands. buds ha u d

' may ve pea up on er,

Dick.” suddenly said Ned. “ If you wilfvvatch
hers. I will hunt for a breakfast of some d."
“AJX'eedl” was the response. “In an thei-

 

hour I will be in a. condition to breakfast on a
piece of manila rope.”

Armed with harpoon and his beltrknife. Ned
Manly began to scale the ice—cliffs of the berg.
This was no easy task, but the boy, used to the
masts of Whalers and the bleak crags of Lair
rador, went aloft with an agilit that called
forth a cheer from Dick who watc ed him with
anxious eyes.

“ Heaven grant that he may find some eggs
if nothing more!” fell‘from Dick’s lips as he

azcd.

8 Ned continued to ascend with that rare good
fortune which nearly always attends the daring,
and Dick at last saw him wave his cap, which
was made of sealskin, a hundred feet above
his head; but whether the signal meant joy
over his feat or the discovery of food, the
anxious spectator did not know.

For several moments afterward Nod Manl
disappeared, and when Dick again saw him hll
body looked smaller than ever for he had
climbed higher—nearer the cheerless sky above
the bergs!

All at once a voice came down from the
adventurous climber.

“ Hurrah! hurrah! the ship! the ship !”

“He must be mistaken,’ ejaculated Dick.
“ The Bells cannot be in these parts. Ned may
see come delusive object—"

“The ship is really in sight from here!” was
Ned’s interruption. “ I can see her plainly, for
the ice has lifted her from the sea, and sur-
rounds her completely.” a

In the far north t e slightest noises can be
heard at astonishing'distances. Men have been
able to carry on conversation in ordinary tones
when a mile apart therefore Dick distinctely
heard every word that his companion utter .

The discover of the ship in the ice excited
him not a litt 6. He ran to the foot of the
clifl's and be an to ascend with the seal spears
which prov valuable assistants. Ned. mean-
while, was feasting his eyes on the vessel which,
according to his calculation, was not more than
four miles distant. The table ice through which
their berg was still crashin seemed to e.xtend
to a lot of hammocks, which, in their turn,
reached to the unfortunate brig. for the clear
atmosphere had enabled Ned to decide that the
barque was not a whaler like the Belle of Nan-
tucket. The pro ress of the iceberg had been
lessened during t 6 last few minutes, for the
table ice had grown thicker, and it would be
impossible for the boys to be carried much
further by their drifting risen. . _

,“Look yonder!” said ed painting toward
the ship as Dick joined him on the top of the
cliff. “ Our berg is going to halt shortly, for
the table ice gets thicker, but this need not be
against us, for we can drag the boat over the
lburnrnpcks to tho harque which is not the

a, ’1

Dick did not reply, for his eyes were riveted
on the vessel which sat high and dry on the ice
that surrounded her.

Hummocks are ridges of broken ice hard to
cross and dangerous. They abound every-
where in the North Polar seas, and try the en-
durance of the, men and dogs when they at-
tempt to cross them. Some of the edges cut

 
  

     
 

 

The Lost Boy Whalers. 5

 

like knives, while others are rounded and slip-
pery; between them are deep, fissures into
which the dog—teams sometimes fall much to
the annoyance of the intrepid explorers.

The boy Whalers had no dogs to look after on
this occasion, yet their whale boat had to be
transported across the hammocks that lay be-
tween them and the ship, for, to leave it be-
hind, would be to expose it to dangers which
are known only in the frigid zone. Luckily a
long piece of strong manila rope remained to
them after the loss of their companions; it had
been fastened to the boat, and now proved
valuable. A good deal of snow covered the ice
that formed the table—land before them, and
they soon discovered that the Whale-boat was
no great load, for they had made shoulder
belts or rue-raddies out of a part of the rope,
and dragged the craft easily behind them.

The journey to the edge of the hummocks
was soon accomplished, but then the task
came. The boys had forgotten hunger in the
discovery of the icebound brig, and they now
felt the need of full stomachs. The hummocks
rose before them like an insurmountable bar-
rier; they no longer saw the vessol, but they
knew that she was not more than a mile' away,
but that mile of ice piled on ice appeared to
baffle them. ,

With a cry of “ Forward!” from Ned the lost
whalers attacked the hummocks and scaled the
first ridge with difliculty. They now drew the
boat which contained their weapons after them,
and attacked the second barrier. Men would
have become disoouraged at the dreary pros-
pect ahead, but the Nantucket boys threw dlS‘
couragement to the winds and went on.

Suddenly Dick paused and pointed to some
tracks in the snow.

“Bear tracks!” exclaimed Ned. “We shall
carry some news to the men on board the bug,
and then join them in a white bear hunt.”

“ It the bear doesn’t hunt us before we reach
the shi ,” responded Dick with a smile.

The age tracks of polar bears were quite
numerous on the hammock, but as they led
from the courso they were pursuing, the boys
did not take much note of them, but bent all
their energies to reach the vessel as soon as
possible.

The icy ridges seemed to grow less surmount-
able as they neared their destination, but Ned
and Dick assumed new courage in spite of the
prospect. At last they dropped exhausted at
the foot of the last ridge, and left their boat
poised above them on the ice-spur.

Before them, but yet several hundred yards
away; lay the ship which was large and of
foreign build. She had but one mast standing,
the others having been cut away above her
decks; and but few spars were ‘left to be
broken by the fury of the polar tempests.

The b0 5 rested a long time where they had
fallen. hey kept their eyes fixed on the ship,
but saw no Signs of life about her. If her crew
still lived, they kept below her decks.

At length the journey was resumed to-
ward the barqne, and Ned was the first to
clamber n the ice that surrounded her and
gain her eck. A scene that beggars descrip-
tion met his gaze. Ice and and snow were

I everywhere, but here and there were tracks of
beers and foxes. Not a sound came up from
below to tell that life still existed there, and
the young castaways readily believed that the
cabins of the unfortunate barque were full of
dead men.

“ Let us go below and solve this arctic mys-
tery,” said Ned to his ewe—stricken companion.
“ Ilgee a hatchway open and it invites us. Come
on

A moment later the boys found themSelves at
the foot of a ladder, and in a dark place that
had a damp smell.

The silence of death was around them.

“ We’re among the dead l” whispered Dick.

“I don’t think so," was Ned’s reply, “for I
think I see a light.”

“ No! nol not alight in this dungeon.”

“ Follow me!”

The boy Whalers drew their belt-knives as

Ne in the lead. He could not think it possible
that his eyes had decieved him for he had seen
a li ht or nothing.

“ hat did tell you?” he suddenly whis-
pered as he stopped, turned, and clutched Dick‘s
arm. '

“ A lamp!” was Dick’s response.

The boys had entered what was a shi ’s cabin
as the dim light visible in the place to d them.

and the antique table on which the lamp stood,
but no living being besides themselves.

DlCK.

Ned did not reply but bounded‘toward \tllc
table where he "stopped and stared at some ob-

long om his side, and the twain held their
breath while they stared at and listened to tlw
picking of the elegant watch lying near th
amp.

Not far away lay a compass, and a sextant
but these had not/been handled for many days
as their metal was covered with frost.

“I’ll get our bearings first,” said Ned as ,1!
reached out his 'hand for the compass. but at,

almost lifted them ofl their feet!

“There are bears in this ship!” exclaimed
Dick.

 

CHAPTER III.
A BOY DEMON or THE NORTH. _

» To the startled boys it seemed asif abear
had fallen down the hatchway. They instantly
turned from the table to meet the terrible
monster if he sought an attack. Ned clung to
his belt-knife while Dick exchanged his for the
formidable seal spear brought to the barque
from the boat. .
For several moments a singular silence reign-
ed throughout the ship: but. suddenly the growls
broke forth again, and became almost deafen-
ing. It now became evident that one it not
two bears were struggling in the gloom at the
end of the corridor the boys had traversed to

the cabin. ‘ ,
“Let them fight it out,” said Dick as he
bounded toward the cabin door for the meioso
’ 00 t i"

 

_ of shuttinz it against all intruders.

the groped their way down a dark corridor,

They saw the strange furniture by degrees, .

_“.Listen! I hear a ,watchl” suddenly said '

that moment came a crash and a growl that

ject lfying before him. Dick did not remain, _
r

 

6 The Lost Boy Whalers.

 

their fight, Ned, and it may be worth our lives
to interfere.”
“ But think of tbeluscioushear-steaks we might
ain.” was the response. “ I’m in for attacking
he animals.”
“ Just as you say; where Ned Manly leads,
Dick Mizzen will follow.”
Before the lost Whalers could mature any
lens, a strange cry. only half human, camc
grom the darkness behind them, and across the
cabin floor rushed a two-legged object clad in

fur!

"Heavens! what ,was that?” gasped Dick
involuntarily recoiling, for the apparition had
almost touched him. “ This old craftishaunted,

m

“ Haunted? over the left i" was Ned’s reIpIy.
“ We have just seen the person who has ept
the watch going. He is going to attack the
bears. Let us help him and make a friend.”

Dick did not more than half believe his com~
rade’s assertion; but he did not hesitate to
spring after Ned. Their fortunes were identi-
cal, and to succeed in anything they must stand
to ether.

ed icked up the lamp as he left the table,
and he (1 it above his head, while he led Dick
down the corridor.

. The terrible struggle of the monsters at the
bottom of the hatchway continued with una-
bated fury, and seemed toshake the entire ship.
Their identity was no lon er doubted, for their
growls betrayed them to t e boys.

“ Where’s our fur—demon i” asked Dick as ‘
Ned halted a short distance from the bears.

“ Yonder, and a demomhe is.” too. "

A few feet away an object clad in fur from
head to foot and armed With a long spear was
vigorously taking art in the battle of the :
bears. The huge w ite monsters of the arctic
world were devoting themselves to each other
despite the spear thrusts of the new enemy.
They were on the floor in a terrible struggle for
the mastery, snapping, biting and tearing With
claw and tooth!

Ned and Dick could not but watch the
stranger who at times almost threw himself
bodily into the melee. He appeared a youth of
their own age, but he wore such an abundance
of arctic clothing that he looked like an ani-
mated ball armed with a spear. The lam and
the boys did not disconcert him in the east:
the former showad him where to strike, and the
latter seemed to raise his hopes.

“ He shall not fight the bears alone! I have a
spear that can help him 1”

Dick Mimn sprun to the strange youth's
assistance with his sea spear, which will strum;
and keen, and a moment later the twain fought
side by side, and gave some thrusts which told
the contendiéidg bears that others had entered
the fight. N , armed only with the belt—knife,
found that he could render them assistance h
holding the light in the right position and this
he resolved should be his share of the battle.

_ “Send your spears home i” he called out,
loudly to the twain who zealously attacked the
polars. “ Make sure work before the monsters
mapend their fight and attack you.”

here was danger of Dick and his ally not

 

 

being able to do this. T? the bears should turn
fir; them, the fight would truly become one for

e.

Suddenly the fur-demon, as Dick had named
the strange youth, drove his spear deep into the
body of the under-bear, just behind the fore-
shoulder. He gave it several cruel twists be-
fore he ventured to withdraw it. Aterrihle
death-howl announced the fatality of this stroke,
and the animal turned as the boy removed his
weapon which came headless from the wound.

A cry of rage burst from the fur-boy's throat
as be cast the worthless weapon aside and
turned to Dick, who was in the act of dealing
a. blow at the topmost animal about to free him-
self from his antagonist.

“Give Netek seal-spear, boy I” cried the fur-
boy, at the same time snatching the spear from
Dick’s hand and charging the bear.

For a minute he attacked the largest bear
with vigor, and dealt blows and thrusts that
filled the spectators with amazement.

“Go up! go up, m'noo I” he cried continual]
to the monster, whom he forced upon his
haunches, and obliged him to defend himself
with his fore-paws, which were covered with
blood. “Ninoo, go back to your people, and
tell them that Netek has killed your mate with
his spear.

The Esquimaux—for the little bear-flghter’s
name, as uttered by himself, proclaimed his
nationality—fought fiercely while he talk (1.
He gave the furious animal no time to ass me
the oflensive. but kept him on the defensive
with the rapidity of his blows.

“ Hurrah! Netek, you are forcing him back l”

exclaimed Dick, who saw that the hear was

giving way before the attack. “Kill him if
you can.”

“ No. no! Netek send him away to make meat
for the Innuits when the famine gets stronger,”
was the reply. “Netek must pot kill ninoo
now.”

The bear, bleeding from many wounds, was
forced toward the steps which led to the snow-
covered deck of the brig. Netek followed him
with the courage of a young lion, and forced
him up the short stairs at the gory point of
Dick's spear.

” Good-by, m'noo!” cried the Esquimaux,
when the huge form of the white monster dark-
ened the hatchway no longer. ,“ By-and-hy
the starving Innuits will feed on you and grow
strong again.”

The fur-boy came back to Ned and Dick as he
concluded, for thelyoung Whalers stood together
near the carcass of the lar.

Ned held the lamp c ose to Netek’s face and
regarded him with a great deal of curiosity.
He had seen Esquimaux before. but there was
something about this one that strangely at-
tracted him. Netek’s outer coat was deer-skin;
it was closed in front, and on his shoulder lay a
jumper hood. which was bordered with white
fur. When in the cold air he would draw this
over his head and hold in his mouth the fox-tail
that hung on his breast. Boots of seal-skin,
soled with walrus-hide, endinits of reindeer-
skin completed Neteks apparel. He looked
grotesque in the eyes of the boy Whalers, but

‘who abandoned this vessel?”

‘ some other papers in the chest, and Ned breath-

The Lost Boy Whalers: t

 

his deep eyes and open countenance over-
bulanced his oddity of dress, and made Ned
put forth his hand after a brief survey.

0d? went one of Netek’s mittens, and he and
Ned Manly clasped hands in the old ice-bound
brig. Dick then «hook hands with his late ally,
and the most faithful friendship that ever exist-
ed within the polar circle was formed.

Netek could with difficulty keep his eyes
from the bear that lay at their feet. It was not
so large asthe one that had esca ed, but it was
a monster for all that, and looks lean and half-
starved despite its immensity. The Innmt’s
eyes glittered ravenoust as he gazed, and Ned
and Dick felt that hunger pressed him as Well
as others.

“ What ship is this, and where are her
sailors?” asked Ned.

“Ship Oscar; crew all gone," replied Netek.
whose English told his listeners that he had had
no little dealing with white explorers in the
North.

‘l‘ All gone? What do you mean, Netek—
dead l”

“ Dead, mebhe. All gone away, anyhow.”

“ Ahl they have abandoned the brig.”

“ Yes, yes, go away from ship ilong ago.
Cap’n dieg mates die, men go 03 With sledges
and dogs.’

“ Why did they leave?” .

“ Nothing left to eat here; they bail rope and
make soup before they go.”

“ Horrible l” exclaimed Dick. “But how
long have you been here, Netok?” .

The lnnuit boy held up his hands With his
fingers spread apart to indicate ten.

"Ten days!” said both boys at once.

Netek responded with a nod and a. smile.

“ I’d like to know the nationalit of this
brig,” Ned said glancing at his comrn e. “ I’m
afraid she is destined to be our abode for some
time to come. What kind of men were those

“ Book toll,” said Netek.
then chew up bear steaks.”

The Esquimaux led the way to the cabin
which all had lately deserted for the bear-fight,
and drown. small iron chest from a darkened
corner. . _
“Talking books in there,” he said as Ned
held his lamp ovvr the box whose lid had been
thrown back by the fur-boy. .

A ship’s log was readily discovered among

“We go see first,

lessly opened it as Netek disappeared. .

“This is the Danish brig Oscar,” he said.

lancing up at Dick. “I find that she sailed
gram Copenhagen almost two years ago. Cap-
tain Carl Ohlsen was her commander; he is
dead. Netek says. An! here is the last entry
dated seven months ago.”

“ Read it," said Dick ea rly.

“It is written in three an ages and reads
thus: “We buried Captain hlsen. Mate Tar-
sen and five sailors today. Out of a crew of
forty~flve men that left Copenhagen, but ten of
us remain. We have made into soup the last
piece of manila rope and walrus-skin about the
ship; and now, with our dogs and two sledges,
we are going to Set out for Tasnaynk, trusting
all to heaven. Four of our men Will have to be |

 

l

hauled on the sledges. We have suffered as
sailors never suffered before. If we reach
Tasnavik, we will erect a monument of grati-
tudo to the good Father whose care has n
over us all the time. May we see dear old
Denmark againl”

“Who signs the log?” asked Dick much
moved when Ned had finished.

“ Christian Olanson.” ‘

“One of those simple Danish sailors whose
bravery and fortitude no man has ever ques-
tioned. I trust all reached Tasnavik.”

“ And that all saw dear old Denmark again."

“ Yes, Ned !” ‘

At that moment Netek’s voice was heard.

“ Bear meat and blood I” cried the Innuit. ,

“ Ah! what a feast!” ejaculated Ned sprin -
ing up. “Fortune has smiled upon us at a t.

We need not say that the trio did ample jus~
tice to the meal set before them all by otek’s
skillful hands.

They enjoyed the bear’s meat and drank of
her warm blood, both of which added new
strength to their bodies, and filled their souls
with new courage.

For awhile they forgo! their situation, but a.

_loud crashing of ice not far from the brig

speedily recalled it. They rushed from the
feast upon deck.

“ Lack at our berg!” exclaimed Ned. “ How
narrow has been our Second escape!”

The cause of the crash was apparent—a large
portion of the iceberg which had carried them
so many miles through polar waters had fallen
like an undermined palace!

And the hummouks quite near the ship
were moving as if some sea monster was trying
to lift them up from beneath. '

The boy Whalers held their breath.

Netek alone, was composed.

__,._
CHAPTER IV.

HOW DICK SECURED A SUIT. l

Foe. several minutes the noise and the sway-
ing of the hammocks continued: the brig quiv-
ered from stem to stern and the boys would
have averred that every timber had been shaken
by the berg.

“Ice i‘etty near strong enough to break
hummtic s up,” said Netek, the first of the three
0 spea . , -
“ What do you mean?” asked Ned. “To me,
some whale seemed imprisoned beneath the
hummocks and was making a desperate dash

for liberty.”

‘ftNo fish there; ice do it all,” smiled tho.In-,
nui . -

Netek then went on to explain in his'omi
way.how the gigantic masses of ice, after fallé
mg into the sea, had: been carried under the
hammocks before they could rise: how. comin
surfacewurd with great force, they had strucE

the foundations of the ice ridges, and caused ,

the shock which the ship had felt. ,

“ You say, Netek, that there is a famine in
this country at this time?” said Ned.

“ Esquimaux dying in their loos formant
of food,” was the reply. “Note came down
to the ship for anything the poor sailors might

 

 

 

s The Lost Boy Whalers“

,__.___._......s_._.,_.__~ N‘— ..__._ . V..

have left, but they eat up everything except '

the big rats. Deer all gone from the lnnuit
huntin grounds, and the seals will not come
back ti 1 waters get warmer.”

“ That time is a long way OR if I am not mis-
taken. This is August, and the arctic winter
will soon be u on us I”

The young uimaux nodded approving] .

“ Netek foun bear-tracks about the s ip

when he first.come here. He watch for them
but they would not come near. Ninoo afraid
of Netek’s spear!” and the fur-boy drew his
handsome figure up and spoke with pride.
. As the air where the trio stood was biting
cold, although the Innuit did not feel it much
under his thick clothing, Ned proposed an in-
spection of the Oscar for the purpose of ascer-
taining what articles Christian Olanson and his
companions had left behind.

A year’s sojourn where the ice had lifted her
from the sea had sprung many of the brig’s
timbers; but her sides and inner decks were
thickly coated with ice, and the real interior,
or that t of the Oscar below the hatches—
her cabins, cook-rooms. and hold—was com-
paratively warm. The furnaces had been fed
with the masts and much inside timber for the
pa se of keeping the Danish Whalers warm;
so t at the Oscar could not stand many rough
seas if she ever got adrift again.

The larder of course was empty, cleaned to
the last scrap, and the blubber casks had been
scra ed and boiled by pieces. Netek led Ned

nd ick through the brig with an ease which
1d that he had inspected her before.

“ Here somethin good,” he said. enterin a
little room and ta ing from one cornerw t
tumedout to be a fine Marston rifle such as
Kane used. during his stay in the frozen north.

Ned uttered a cry of by as he took the valu-
able weapon from the squimaux’s hands, but
a moment later his look changed to one of dis.
appointment; the villainous rats had almost
gnawed the stock in two! '

“ Pleat of iron rope on board,” said Nam
interpret ng the boy’s disconsolate look, “
more shoot ng- , as here.”

By this time be light of the lamp had pene-
trated the little apartment, and its contents
were revealed. These consisted of the huntin
equipment of a. large whalin brig. minus, 0
course, the guns and ammunition carried at by
Qlanson and his friends. There were seven

and two large fowling-pieces; but with.

the stocks of all the rats had a 'ed and havoc.
The ammunition was found n envy tin can-
isters which were rat-proof, as was proved by
the marks of teeth upon their sides.

A good deal of bedding was found in the
ship. In the sleeping-room one bunk was cov-
ered with the Danish flag, evidence to the Nan-
tucket boys that Captain Ohlsen had died there.
Nothin in the medicine—chest—not even a bot-
tle. O nson had probably depleted this do-
partment on his departure.

“ Not so bad, after all,” said Ned, cheerfully,
after they had returned to the main cabin.
“We are well prepared with fire-arms, and
have one of the best of friends and allies in
Netek. We have bear-meat enough to last us
some time. and I expect to hunt some more be-

 

 

fore mang days. How do you like the new
quarters, ick?”

“This isn’t Nantucket, nor even the Belle,"
was Dick’s reply. “We are probably the sole
survivors of the whaler, and are thousands of
miles from home.”

“ When spring opens and floats the Oscar we
may go to the pole.”

“ In this old shell?"

“Afoot, then, over the hummocks, which,
Netek says, are always to be found to the
north.” e

The “iron rope ” which the young Innuit
said would fit the guns for service had turned
out to be several large coils of wire, which
yielded readily to manipula' ion, and in front of
the Oscar’s furnaces. which were once more
a low, Ned and Dick mended the rifles while
h{site}: stripped the dead polar of his valuable

1 9.

When, with eyes that fairly glistened, the
Esquimaux threw the great hide like a blanket
before the boy gunmenders, a cry of astonish-
ment was heard.

“What a warm suit it would make!” ex-
claimed Ned.

"Netek see boy in bearuskin before long,”
was the quick rejoinder. “ And you,” to Dick,
“ have one, too, by-an’-by.”

The boy whalers’ first night in the brig prom-
ised to be a comfortable one when they laid
down. Notwithstanding that the thermometer
left behind by the Danish sailors re istered
twirty-twc degrees below zero, the litt e room
was comparatively warm, for the fires had not
been permitted to go down for a moment. Ne-
tek, in his deer-skin coat and 'umper-hood, the
latter drawn completely over is head, scorned
the bedding which his comganions offered him,
and was soon asleep on the cor. Ned and Dick,
huddled close together, soon forgot their cheer-
less situation in sleep, and the few stars of an

erotic night were the only spectators of the’

scene.

“Dick! Dick! are you awake?” were the
words whispered into Dick Mizzen’s ear as a
grand at his shoulder shook sleep from his eye-
1 s.

He recognized Ned’s voice in an instant.

“ Of course I’m awake.” he said. “ What has

happlened 7" ‘ _
‘ hat is what I do not know. Listen a mo-
ment.

Together the boys listened in the demi-gloom
that pervaded the sleeping—room. The fires had
gins down, but they did not feel cold, and the

mp which burned steadily a short distance
away showed them Netek rolled up on the floor
like a sleeping sloth.

A strange noise like the steady tramp of a
sentry on the Oscar’s I: per deck was the sound
which the young wha are heard after a mo-
ment’s listening. It puzzled them, and caused
them to throw nquisitive glances at the Innuit
boy, wondering why he slept on with the tramp,
tramp overhead.

“ It is plain to me now!” suddenly said Ned.

“ Well?”

“ The bear has come back!”

“ With a coat on his back for me I” exclaimed

The Lost Boy Wilden.

/C‘

 

Dick. " Waken Netek—quickl or the white
monster may take a notion to leave.”

Dick sprung up .as he spoke, and would have
wakened the Esquunaux himself if Ned had not
arrested his hand.

“ Let us do it ourselves, Dick. We have the
Marston rifles—~loaded and ready for service. I
know the way to the little hatch abaft, and the
blubber vats there will screen us while we fire.”

The idea pleased Dick, and he watched Ned
remove the lamp without molesting Netek, who,
in blissful ignorance of what was happening,
sle t like a post.

rmed with two mended rifles, the ice-bound
boys glided from the room. Ned was not wrong
when he assured Dick that he knew the.way to
the little hatch directly behind the Windlass,
and after a few minutes‘ threading of several
cold, musty corridors, the youn bravos ascend-
ed the ladders to the battered atch, which, as
Ngd had suspected, was fastened on the under
51 e.

The boys’ fingers were cold, but he managed
to draw the b0 ts, and slowly raised the door.
The bear was still pacing the deck in the bright
starlight as it keeping guard over the tenants
of the brig, and the boys scarcely breathed as
they raised their heads above the level of the
floor and peeped between the two heavy iron
pots used for frying out whale oil during a
cruise.

At first they saw nothing, but all at once a
monster in white a cared before them and
tried their nerves. he polar was a giant of
his kind, and as he halted suddenly near the
mainmast and began to snufl the air, the bear-
killers had a grand view of his proportions.

“ Let us give him the contents of our Mars-
tons,” said Dick, in a whisper. “He presents
an admirable target just now.”

“ 1 am quite ready, but we must shoot to kill 1”
was Ned’s repl .

The locks clicked with but little noise as the
two rifles crept forward, and the boy Whalers
aimed directly at‘the polar’s heart.

All at once, as it but one ride had spoken, the
Marstons discharged their deadly contents, and
the huge bear reeled away and fell heavily
upon the deck. _

“A suit for a shot i” cried .Dick, springing up

mi bounding between the Oil kettles.

The next moment he slipped on the icy deck
with a cry, and before he could use two other
bears. which the boys had not seen, rushed upon
him with growls of re gel .

Ned saw his companion’s peril and uttered a
loud shout as ho sprung to his rescue.

Be attacked the polars, which were not quite
half grown, just as they were about to throw
themselves upon Dick, and his first blow broke
the rifle in the place where it had been mended.

The stroke, however, staggered the bear, and
enabled Dick to regain his feet.

The following instant an animated ball of fur
boHnded up from below. '

Netek! thank fortune!” gasped Dick, who,
it must be confessed, was t orcughly fright-
ened.

The young Innuit seemed to comprehend the
situation of aflairs at a glance. Armed With
a long seal spear. he visorously attacked the

 

on bears, whi instead of showin further
h hazmn to the ship’s side, and, with tge agility
o fox-hounds, amped overboard upon the ice
that surround her.

CHAPTER V.
NED HUNTS AND Is HUNTED.

HAVING obtained two excellent bear-
the next work was to manufacture them into
clothing. This task was assumed by Nete‘k,
who turned out to be a real arctic tailor for he
fitted his young friends to a nicety, although
theytslooked odd enough in the strange gar-
men .

For a number of days the cold was so intense
that the occupants of the brig did not venture
from her dec . No more bears ventured u n
the vessel, althou h b the aid of a sea-g
which had been oun on board, several had
been seen on the hummocks at a distance.

Netek said that the wind would lay by-land-
by, and that at the first 0 portunity all would
try a hunt on the ice for t e purpose of obtain-
inila change of food.

ver night a. white moon hung like a t
wheel n the sky and the stars had a tw nkle'
peculiarly icy. lint few patches of water were
now visible. As if”? magic, ice plains and
great bergs had blot the sea from c ' ,
as it were, and at all hours the latter could be
heard grinding and crashing against one
another as if in mortal combat.

Some of these ice mountains towered for
hundreds of feet above the sea, and were of
countless shapes. The rays of the arctic moon
caused them to shine like recious stones. Not
far from the Oscar was a rg in one of whose
clifls was a circular hole that might have been
drilled by some flying bolt of ice. Nod, who
had discovered it, was not long in showing it to
his com one. Netek re ded it with awe,
for the nnuit was supers tious, and, in spite
of the young whaler’s attempted auction of
the curiosity, he persisted in sag “but the
Evil Spirit had bored it through t e c for the
p se of watching them.

hat was Ned’s surprise when on reaching -
the brig’s up r deck one is ht, he behold the
opening y filled with w at apps

 

tired to be
an owlo gigantic roportions. Thehird seemed
a monstrous ap tion, rendered more hostly
b the weird moonlight that revealed 1.5

b inking eyes. He was more than one hundred
feet above the deck upon which Ned stood but
the boy concluded to geta nearer view of the

bird, which could be done b climbing the,

Oscar’s main-mast to the refitt look-out which

Olanson and his comrades had left behind.

Thanks to Netek’s industry, Ned never left
the cabin without being clad in full dross, coat.
jumper-hood and all, and in less time than
we can pen a line, he was climbing the mast.
Motionless on his icy perch sat the owl. Ned
thought he was quietly watching him, for, as '
h: gratified the look-out, the bird showed no signs
0 1g .

The Nantucket boy reached the crow-nest and
discovered that the pwl was almost as white 9!
the berg on which he was perched. He
ears astonishinglyl c. and e as thatremindod
Ned of jnuminatod dessert til-bu. Now and

 

 

-m » The Lost Boy Whalers.

 

then a sharp crackling noise would reach the!
boy’s cars; it sounded to him like a derisive
laugh from the owl—a laugh which seemed to
remind Ned that he could ascend no higher than i
the crow-nest, fifty feet from the brig’s deck.

All at once the owl left the icy ring and flew
straight at the boy. The stretch of his wings
was simply enormous, and Ned dodged behind
the mast as if he expected an attack. Whether
the goblin-eyed demon of the North had seen ,
Ned or not, his wings threatened to sweep him
from his perch. In another minute the owl had

isappeared, although the boy adventurer tan-
cied he could see him cleaving space far from
the ship.

Ned waited in the crow-nest for the owl’s
return, but he was not rewarded, and after
half an hour’s sojourn aloft he was about to
descend to acquaint Dick and Nelek with his
adventure, when a number' of distinct barks
were heard on the ice far away.

“Dogs!” exclaimed the boy. “A party of
lnnuits will soon he with us. Then away goes
our bear-meat.”

He now made haste toxdescend and as he
giiuck the deck Dick and Netek rushed up from

ow.

“ Where Ned been?” asked the Esquimaux.

“ Getting a nearer view of the owl.”

“ What owl?” _

As Ned spoke he glanced u at the berg and
started; the owl had returns to his perch! '

“ Your Marston a moment, Dick 1” he said,
suppressing| rising excitement as he laid his
hands on t e rifle in his comrade’s hands.

Not knowin to what usa his rifle was about
to be put, Di relinquished his weapon which
wasat Ned’s shoulder in an instant.

Netek’s eyes caught the elevation of the piece
and saw the owl in the glittering ring of ice.

,“Hold, boy!” he suddenly shouted. “That
no owl but Kin-n00 the bad spirit 1”

But he was too late; Ned had touched the
trigger of Dick’s Mnrston, and the winged
monster of the polar skies had been knocked
from his rch. '

“There s the big est owl in this re ion!” ex-
claimed Ned,‘prou l , as he hands the rifle
backto its owner. “I was hoping he would
fall on this side of the berg so we could get him
before the Innuits come up. "

' “ What Innuitsi” '
“th the ones whose dogs are barking out

yonder.
‘ “Do 5! Those are foxes, Ned, and half-
starve ones at that."

" Which means that they will make short
work of my big’ owl if they reach him before I
do;‘ but this the shall not do i”

> Resolved to o tain his game before the foxes
could come up. Ned hurried below and grasped
one of the owling-pieces with which he re-
turned to his companions.

“ Where Ned going?" asked Netek.

“After my owl. The old fellow was so
contrar as to fall on the other side of the berg,
but he shall not escape me.”

-8uperstitious fear was readable in the In-
mlit’s‘eyes, but Ned broke from his detaining
arm, and sprung over the brig’s Side. He was (

 

soon hastening toward the berg across the ice
ridges that lay between it and the brig.

“ Let him go, Dick,” said Netek.-to his com-
panion who was anxious to follow Ned. “ Him
no find Kin-moo, and will come back with foxes
at his heels.” .

“They will not chase him?”

“ Foxes no find much to eat now."

Dick watched Ned’s fleeting figure until it
disappeared around one corner of the berg, and

‘ heard the farewell shout that came across the

white waste of tumbled ice.

Ned was too eager to "stain his owl to think
of anything else, and a euout of joy escaped his
lips when a huge object rose from the ice ahead
and flew a short distance along the surface of
the snow. It was the gigantic owl.

The bo Whaler sprung forward in eager pur-
suit, for t was evident that the owl possessed
a broken wing, and could not elude him long.
But he was doomed to have his easil -raised
hopes speedin dashed to earth, for t e bird
flew a. long distance before he allghted on the
snow. Ned, however, pressed on resolved to
finish the contest with his fowling-piece.

i‘ I must be near the bird,” he said, to himself,
as he stopped and tried to make out the owl’s
form on the snow ahead.

He was some distance from the ship which
he could not see for the huge iceberg that oh.
structed his vision when stretched in that di-
rection. He might be half a mile from the
Oscar: he could not tell.

“ Hal my owl !” fell from his lips as a. whit-
ish object with a pair of saucer-like eyes rose
before him and looked around.

Ned’s piece leaped instantly to his shoulder .

and be poured a full charge of penguin shot
into the crippled bird. The whole region round
about seemed teroar with the echoes of his
gun, and instantly the snappish barkings of a
troop of white foxes responded to the sounds.

Ned Maul spruniforward to secure his game
which had ropped ack upon/the snow. This
:ihme lit did nfot fire flight again, and he had

e p ensure o p c ing u . uite dead the eat
white owl of the white Ndjrtlh. gr

He was a monster bird and very heavy as
Ned discovered when alter inspecting his
beautiful plumage, he threw him over his
shoulders and turned toward the brig. .

Suddenly the foxes barked so near that he in-
voluntarily turned and looked back as if be ex-
pected to find them at his heels. He was not
great! disappointed.

.In t e clear moonlight of the artic circle one
can distinguish objects at. a great distance.
Ned, therefore, had no difficulty in seeing the
scores of doggish heads that facod him forty
yards away; he could even distinguish the

sharp noses and peaked ears of the north polar.

foxes which seldom attack man, and then only
when rendered desperate by famine.

“ Keep your distance. or feel some leaden
pellets!” he shouted to the horde as he starwd
shipward again.

number of aggressive barks made reply
and on came the troop.

Ned increased his gait; from a fast walk it at
last became a run. One of the white Wings 0!

a}

 

The Lost Boy Whalers. I I l!

 

the owl dragged in the snow; the huge prize
soon became a burden.

“This will never do! These rascally foxes
must be taught a lesson.”

Ned dropped his owl and turned quickly upon
his pursuers, who instantly stopped and pointed
their long noses at him. '

“I’ll ruffle your snouts for youl” exclaimed
the boy as he touched the trigger of his fowling
piece, and sent a load of shot into the faces of
the pack.

A number of howls of pain told that the shot
had struck, and. slipping in another metallic
cartridge the Nantucket boy picked up his
game and trotted on again.i

That shot seemed to madden instead of fright-
ening of! the foxes. The now came forward
and forced Ned into a veritable run for life.

He turned the corner of the familiar berg and
saw the almost mastless hulk of the Danish
Whaler loom up before him, but the foxes were
at his heels! If there were a dozen in the pack
there were two hundred, and Ned feared that
he would soon be in the midst of all if the Oscar
was not reached.

“Take the owl if you want itl” he said re-
leasing the game for which he had ventured so
much, and almost as soon as the great bird
touched the snow, it was pounced upon by the
leaders‘of the pack and torn iecemeal.

Into the mass that writh over the owl, Ned
poured another charge of penguin shot, which
called the foxes from the carcam to himself
again.

He ran over the glittering surface of the
snow as a boy never ran before within the
golar circle. is tormentors seemed to take

slight in keeping just near'enough to worry
him; but Ned expected every minute to feel
their sharp teeth in his legs.

0n the brig’s deck stood two spectators of
this novel chase. Dick’s face was white from
fear and he stood ready to lift Ned over the
ship aside, or to pour a volley of death into the
pursuing pack as soon as opportunity oflered

1m a prospect Without injuring his friend.

Netek’s face beamed with suppressed merri-
ment, and Dick, to his disgust, saw that the

oung Innuit was ready to burst into a fit of
haughter.

“ Help! help!” rung out from Ned’s throat in
tones not to be mistaken. “ You are not going
toklet me be eaten alive by foxes, Dick?—-Ne-
to l

“ Never. Ned l” was Dick’s reply as he sprung
to the Oscar’s side and jumped over to his
friend’s assistance.

The leap was unnecessary, for at that mo-
ment with his strength almost gone, Ned was
scrambling over the ice which reached to with-
in a few inches of the old hulk's taflrail.

“ Where’s Netek’!” gasped the fox-chased
Whaler. .

“ Here, Ned!”

Eagerly Ned grasped the hand reached down-
ward for him. Dick turned and fought back
the foremost foxes, and Netek who could sup-

ress his merriment no longer laughed loudly as
e hauled Ned upon deck. _

Dick Mizzen sprung after his. rescued com-

panion from the very jaws of the aggressive

 

Fees. Darby day the expanse of water

animals, and as he landed on the hrig's planks
he found the young Innuit rolling over and
over in the snow laughing with all his might,
while Ned who saw no fun anywhere, was
looking on with angry flashes in his eyes.

“ He would laugh if the foxes had torn me to
pieces under his eyes,” flashed Ned as he turned
away. ' »

Netek suddenly jumped up and seized a
Marston rifle which he had leaned against the
stump of the mizzen-mast. A bound carried
him to the railing. *

A long line of foxes faced the hulk about-
sixty feet away. Netek took deliberate aim
and fired, then set up a wild whoop and in an
instant the bushy tails of the arctic pack were
turned toward the brig!

“Foxes no bite, Ned; that what make Netek
laugh,” said the Esquimaux as be halted before
the chased boy. ,

“What do you mean?” cried Ned. “They
were at my legs when Dick came to my re§cue.”

“Foxes trying to run boy down; they no
draw blood till him sink exhausted on the
snow.”

“ And this is why you laughed 1’}

Netek smiled and nodded.

“ Well, I forgive you,” said Ned.

 

CHAPTER VI.
RIDING LEVIATHAN. ‘

Ir was now near the ending of August, and
in the natural course of things as they exist in
the far North, winter would soon set in. The
see. through which the boy Whalers had been
carried by the floatin berg was now almost en-
tirely closed: by clim ing the snowy clifls far
above the bulk, they could see open water a
long distance to the south, but it was dotted
with icebergs which would soon form a. com- ‘
pact mass and hide the sea from sight. ,

Toward the north the sight was less cheering,
for hummocks, bergs and floes met the vision.
Ned and Dick oould believe that they found the
pathwa to the pole, and that with a good
team 0 dogs and a sledge, they could traverse
the dreary distance and accomplish the feat of
giantimz a human foot directly under the North

tar. But the do 5 were not to be had, and
Netek did not turn is attention to the manu-
facture of whips and lines.

For some time Ned could not be made to
believe that the foxes intended to run him down
before attacking him, but Netek who knew
them well rsisted in his assertion, and, the
young wha er at last took his statements for'
granted, greatly to the Innuit’s satisfaction.

The lost Nantucketians kept a daily record in
the log which Christian Olanson had left
behind. There were a few blank leaves in the ‘
old book. and these served their purpose very
well. Dick, who had learned how to take

observations now, found much to do in this, .

field, and with the scientific instruments left
behind, daily Observances were ,had, and the
result carefully jetted down. ‘
Every day one of the three would ascend to '
the observatory established on one of the cliffs,
and look southward upon the gradually closin
95W“ u"

 

 

18 Thb Lost Boy Whalers.

 

until aspot that seemed no bigger than a flag ‘ Netek stood erect in the stem of the boat,

remained.

This open water a peared to be ten miles.

from the brig, and etek one day proposed a
journey to it for he had seen a whale spout in

v ‘ its midst.

.This chance for supplying themselves with
011 and meat before the winter set in was not to
be thrown away. and the trio set out over the
ice with their faces turned toward the open
water. They dragged the Belle’s whale-boat
after them by means of ropes attached to bear-
skin shoulder-belts, and, as the ice was com-
paratively level, they made ood progress.

he three looked grotesque in their huge
jumper-hoods, bear-skin boots which reached
almost to their waists, and with fox-tails in
their mouths. This last adornment may pro-
voke the reader’s smile; but let inc say here
that every part of the wild animals of the
arctic circle is put to use by man. A fox-tail
between one’s teeth on a cold day keeps the
cold from one’s nose, and warms his checks to a
degree that is astonishing.

Besides furnishing Ned and Dick withsuits,
the skins of the two polars killed on shipboard
had produced long arpoon lines: these had
been tested in the Oscar’s cabin, and Netek was
thoroughly satisfied with the experiment.

Fortunately for comfort, the whale-hunters
had the polar breeze at their backs; while it
was cold, it could not pierce their heavy cloth-
ing, although the thermometer marked twenty-
nine degrees when they set out from the ship.

A long line of hummock ice bordered the
open water, but the boys dragged their boat
. over it with great dimculty. and threw off their

strange traces on the rim of the sea.

. Before them lay a sheet of comparatively

open water, almost a mile square: from the

look—out it had appeared no lon er than a.

ship’s flag. The waves had a pecu iar motion

to the south, and broke with atcold murmur
against the. pieces of ice which hey were con-
stantly encountering.

“ 1 see no whales!” said Dick disappointedly
after a. brief survey of the cheerless prospect
bet‘ore them. “Netek must have mistaken the
splashings made by a falling berg for a whale’s
spout.”

“No, no. Dick,” was the Esquimuux’s quick

- re ly. “Netek see more than one whale in the
co d sens.” ‘

“ That the be, but—”

The boy w aler did not conclude his sentence,
for suddenly from the middle of the open water
rose the huge pack of a submarine monster, and
a column of water was thrown skywn rd.

“A whole! a whale!” exclaimed Ned as the
Innuit turned 11 n him with a look of triumph
in his eyes. “ he boat—quick! Let us give
him chase l"

The next minute the whale-boat rode the
waters, and the enthusiastic youths - pulled
ra idly toward leviathan.

ed and Dick forgot in the excitement of the

, moment their lost whale chase, but are long it

flashed across their minds at the same instant,

and whitenedrtheir cheeks as the exchanged

looks that spoke volumes. What i the present
adventure was to have a similar endinm

 

- ‘ harpoon in hand, and with his eyes fixed on the

water ahead. Aiter blowing, the whale had
disappeared, but the Innuit’s experience with
the monarch of the Northern seas told him that
somewhere not far from the spot of his first
spouting, he would soon rise to the surface a ain.

All at once the fur-boy uttered a shout 0 dis-
covery, and pointed to what appe d a black
log lying on the surface of the Sea a ew rods to
leeward. Ned and Dick bent vigorously to their
cars, and Netek made his harpoon ready for a

cast.

Suddenly the whale-boat shot alongside the
huge creature, who seemed to invite attack,
and the Innuit’s spear whizzed through the air.

The whale took the keen weapon just above
one of his great flippers, and instantly started
off, drawing both line and boat after him. He
manifested no desire to sink to the depths of the
sea until Netek drove a second harpoon deep
beneath his skin, and drew forth a spout of
blood that instantly crimsoned the surrounding
water. Then the gigantic monster plunged be-
neath the surface, and pulled the wha e-boat
through the waters at a speed that was danger-
ous.

No oars were needed now. The boy Whalers
had cast themselves upon the bottom of the
craft and were holding to the gunwale for life.
Clouds of spray were falling constantly upon
their garments, gradually drenching them, and
rendering them as heavy as leaden armor.

On on with Netek standing fearless in the
prow with a third harpoon in his hands.

Would leviathan never stop’lI

“ Cut the lines!” suddenly cried Ned to Dick.
“This adventure will end in the death of all in
another minute!”

Dick seized a hatchet that lay near. and was
about to sever the r0 5 when one of Netek’s
feet descended u on is wrist. and their eyes
met. The Innuits look was a command to let
the ropes remain uncut, but Dick raised the
hatchet for all that. '

“Whale coming up now,” announced Netek.
“ He will take the third harpoon and die!”

Dick held back the blow which would have
freed them from the see-monster, and Netek
launched the third harpoon- with his old-time
accuracy.

“ Hurrah i” cried the Nantucket boys, as the
Weapon stuck.

It was evident that the whale was mortally
wounded, for he threw a column of mingled
blood and water from his nostrils, and turned
gompletely around after being struck by the

or n.

“ c k out! we’ve roused his ire l” exclaimed
Dick, starting back. “Heavens! the monster is
making for us 1”

At that moment the fish disappeared. and the
next something grated along the bottom of the
boat, and the boys were thrown headlong into
the seal

Dick alighted on something that was moving
swiftly through the water, an his hands came
in contact with an ob'ect, w ich be instantly
grasped. It was one o the lines. and, he was on
the whale's back] Netek and Ned he saw clin -
.1112 to the boat. which they were trying to 

The Lost my Whalers. ‘ ’

,18

 

despite the fact that it was being dragged swift-
ly in the wake of the whale.

But the imperiled boy had to look to his own
safet .

If she whale should seek deep water he would
undoubtedly be dragged after him, for, to his
horror, Dick had discovered that one of the
lines had quitted the boat and encircled his
body.

“ Ahl we’ve got her right at last!” exclaimed
Ned. as the whale-boat was properly seated on
the waves once more, and he and Netek began
to gather up the oars which forethought had
Secured to the oarlocks by means of stout bear-
skin ropes _ _

The pair scrambled into the boat Without
ceremony, and turned toward them less fortu-
nate companion.

“My God i” fell from Ned’s li s as he reeled
away. “Look, Netekl Dick— lck is lostl”

He hid his face in his hands and ended his
sentence with a groan, while the Innuit stared
ahead and said nothing.

Dick and the whale were fast disappearing!

 

CHAPTER VII.
THE HIGHWAY TO THE POLE!

THIS had happened: Dick had severed as be
thou lit with his belt-knife the line which fas-
ten him to the whale when. in reality, he had
cut the boat loose from the leviathan!

An instant later, before he could extricate
himself from danger, the huge fish dived and
carried him beneath the surface. Dick’s senses
seemed to desert him as he was plunged be-
neath the icy element, and he gave himself up
for lost. He did not know that death was to
become his rescuer.

The last dive for deep soundings was the
whale’s final effort. A few seconds afterward
the huge carcass reappeared on the surface and
a stream of dark-colored blood was thrown
spasmodically from the lungs. ‘

Dick came up with the dying fish. but uncon-
scious and still in the toils of the bear-skin rope.
A shout which he did not hear greeted his re-
appearance, and the whale-boat shot toward
him. Ned’s knife releaSed him from the cord.
and, with Netek’s help, he was dragged from
the sea.

Meanwhile, the whale was lashing the water
in his dying struggles which momentarily grew
weaker. All at once the monster turned com-

letely over and lay belly upward on the sur-

ace. One of the hur oons still adhered to the
carcass, to. which etek leaped with great
agility. and sent up a. shout of victory!

The fish was di covered to be a- young whale,
but almost fifty-five feet in length, and in a.
condition that would have delighted the hunters
of the deep.

Dick was’slow to recover from his immersion,
for he had taken a good deal of salt water into
his lungs. and the lines had cut almost through
his thick garments. The party’s adventure had
taken them toward the ice where the had em-
barked, and it was decided to tow t .e carcass
to that point and anchor it there until certain
implements for “cutting up” could be. brought
from the brig. The towing operation was

l

found to beno easy task, but by dint of hard
labor. it was accomplished, and the prize safely
anchored in a little cove at the foot of a berg

wind.

there came leaping over the nearest pack~ice a
troop of what appeared to be arctic wolves.
They numbered a score or more, and were ag-
gressive in their demeanor. ' 1

“We’ve got to fight for our whalel” ex-
claimed Ned picking up an oar-blade, and turn-
ing defiantly upon the band. “No surrender
to the wolves of the North Seal Let us show
them, Dick, that old Nantucket has sent stout
arms into the shadow of the Pole!” r»

But the animals did not attack the‘three
boys; the carcass of the whale was their ob-
ject, and nndaunted by the young whalers’
show of resistance. they gained their objective
and began to attack. ‘

“ They’re dogs. not wolves i” cried Dick.

“Esquimaux sled dogs at that!” responded
Ned almost at the same time. ' I

Netek uttered a strange Innuit shout and
sprung among the animals which be scattered
right and left with the oar-blade. But they re-
turned to the whale and began to tear again.
for they were gaunt and famine-pressed, and
greatly resembled wolves.

“Dogs eat, then: whale enough for all!” said
Netek falling back to where Ned and Dick
stood and stared at the ravenous beasts. ’ ’

The animals were no longer molested, but
were permitted to gorge themselves on the car-
cass of the north sea whale which they did with

bore marks of harness on their bodies, and not
a few ears had been split by the keen Esqui-
maux whip. I

Having satisfied their hunger, the dogs fell

boys at Netek’s peculiar call.

leather collar about the neck of one dog who
might have been a leader in a sledge train.
“ There are letters cut into this collar., If we
could but read them—"

“ We will master them Ned.”

The Nantucket boys hent over the callers,
and tried to master the inscription, a task not
easy of accomplishment. ' ,

“I have it!” suddenly cried Dick. “These
are the dogs that carried Christian Olanson
from the Oscar many months a o. The Dan‘
ish sailors have perished and t 9 dogs have
since been running Wild. Here are the words:
‘Ch. Olanson: Oscar.’ These three words tell

the tale for me.”

“ It must be true I” said Ned. “ Ahi—Dick, if
these poor do s could talk!” '

“The she! do more than that," was the
cheerfu reply. “Providence has sent them to
us to get us away from this region: We will
‘ tame and utilize them; then we will make a
‘ dash for bowel” '

Ned gave vent to an expressiorr of joy.

Netek was certain that the dogs had be-
longed to Olanson’s team. The Danish sailors
lhad undoubtedly perished in attempting to
reach Tasnavm the m "WGIWBHW

 

which effectually protected it from the northern ,

No sooner was the whale thus secured, than \

a greed that was disgusting. Some of the dogs .

back from the torn carcass, and came up to the '

“Look here!” exclaimed Ned as he found a'

x

.1...» -r..:~n I”). 1... Farm.” “rm—a

.v 4..-.

 

' of cutting up the whale went on.

\ north unprepared.”

v

' vessel seemed to sink, amid a crash that

,crushed the bergsand hammocks, and sent the

The Lost Boy Whalers.

 

|
hundred miles distant. Instinct had guided
the dogs back to old whale and walrus grounds;
but famine had nearly finished them.

The three boys now looked at the bright side
of affairs again. The Esquimaux dog accus— ‘
toms himsel to a. change of masters with much
ease, and, so long as he has enough to eat, he is
content.

The entire party, dogs and all, returned to z
the Oscar; The boys were anxious to dry their ‘
garments which had stiflened on their bodies,
as well astosecure the great fla ing and cut-
ting knives with which the old ulk was pro-
vided. The dogs trotted leisurely behind, and ‘
hailed the first appearance of the dismantled
Whaler with a series of joyful barks. This es-
tablished their identity, and when once on
board they ran to their old quarters and made
themselves at home.

All through the long arctic day, the process
Netek’s deft
fingers had constructed passable harness out of
old rope and bear strips, and the dogs fell back
to their old avocation with no growling.

“ When will we quit the old hulk?” suddenly
asked Ned. “ The presence of these dogs in-
spires me with hope.”

“ Bv-an’~by,” answered the Innuit.

“Why not to-morrowl”

“Must get ready first.”

“1 am ready nowl”

Netek looked at Ned for a moment, and then
swept their surroundings with his eye.

“ understand you,” said the boy Whaler.
“We must not face the dangers of the white ,

“Ned right,” the Innuit replied, and Dick, '
whio stood near, said in a low tone to his com-
ra e: -

“ We must trust much to Netek‘s judgment. 
Without him we would have perished long
ago.” a

-'l‘ruer words than these were never spoken. i

Much of the carcass of the whale was oni
board the hulk when the northern night came I
on again, and, surrounded by the dogs, the trio
enjoyed a supper of frozen bear-meat and
blubher.

All at once, in the midst of the repast, the

shreatened to displace every timber as she went
own.

The young arctic Crusoes sprung up and i
with the frightened dogsat their heels, hounded
upon deck. An awful sight met their gaze.
All around them were masses of heaving and
tossing ice, and rocking bergs. The ship had
actually settled, for, instead of resting high and ,
dry upon the ice where she had lain for months, i
the was in the midst of open water. In a flash, V
as it were, the whole scene had been changed; i
some sudden convulsions beneath the ice had

 

table ice in twain on every hand.

Far l12th north ' merrily danced the lights of
the nu ra borealis: the long arrows of match- ‘
less beauty shot zenithward, forming a spectacle
upon which at any other moment the Nantucket '
boys would have been delighted to gaze. But
now danger—death awaited them. On their
right to leeward. end there only, was firm we

and while the roar of the arctic earthquake still
continued, the Oscar shook and gi'uaned like
aship about to go to pieces. The horrifying
souml of water rushing in at a hundred seams
added to the terror of the hour.

“ We must leave the old shell or go down in
her!” cried Ned. “ We shall rely on the dogs
for safety.”

As the Whaler became comparatively quiet
{in the waves, the trio prepared to abandon

er.

A large supply of whale and bear-meat was
landed safely on the firm ice, and the fire-arms
and ammunition quickly followed. The boys
worked with all their might, for every moment
was precious time. They could feel the old
hulk gradually settling—going down into the
fathomless depths of an arctic sea.

At last the removal was finished, and Dick
Miazen was about to express his thanks for
their safety, when, with a tremendous lurch to
leeward, the Oscar disappeared.

“ What might have been our tomb is nobody’s,
th nk fortune!” ejaculated Ned as the white
sai which they had fastened to the top of the
mainmast was buried from their sight in the
deep. “We have been thrown upon new re-
sources which may fail us in the hour of need.”

“I intend to cross the river when I reach it;
not beforel” replied Dick who seemed to
possess that cheerfulness which Ned had owned
until lately.

The provisions and fire-arms were stowed
away in the bottom of the whale-boat, to which
Netek had fitted a rude pair of runners during,

v the day, and, having harnessed the willing do

to the improvised sledge, the Innuit cracked his
whip over their heads and away they went!

on any other occasion the exciting journey
wou:d have filled Ned Manly and Dick Mizzen
with enthusiasm; but now, with a tossing sea
behind them, and miles and miles of ice before,
their thoughts kept them alive to the dark tints
of the picture fate had drawn for them.

Netek’s face, or that small part of it visible
between the closely drawn edges of his 'umper-
hood, was impassive and unreadable. e kept
the dogs in a straight line by occasional glances
at a certain star near the far-of! horizonq

“ We seem to be on the main-laud,” said Ned.

“ No; it is only ice—the sea is beneath us, the
same treacherous element that ingulfed the
Belle and the Oscar!”

"I can not think this. Dick. We have been
traveling more than four hours from our place
of departure. I will question Netek.” -

Ned was in the act of touching Netek’s arm
for the purpose of getting his attention, when
he sprung up~and with a. loud cry began to
pull the dogs hack.

“ What as happened i” asked the American
boys in a breath as they leaped to their feet.

“ Water ahead l” said N etek.

A glance was enough!

The flight for life had terminated after four
hours’ journey at the brink of what appeared to
be an open polar seal

Not a ripple disturbed the surface of the new
deep, and aside from its icy shores, it looked like
a lake asleep in the starlight. .

“We are not helpless,” saidDick after looking

The Lost Boy Whalers.

. "in.  a .g.

15

 

awhile. “We have cars and sails, and we can
CrOss that sheet ct water!”

“No crossing that, brother.” said Netek. “ It
extends to the place which the white men have
sought so leng. ’

“ To the Pole i” cried the boys.

Dick leaped from the whale-boat and ran to
the edge of the ice. For a moment he forgot
their situation, for he knelt down and scooped
some of the cold water up in his hand and car‘
ried it to his lips.

“ It isn’t every American who can drink the
water of thi famous seal” lie exclaimed. “ Un-
harness the dogs and launch the boat. Ned and
Netekl We stand in the pathway to the Pole 1”

Ned’s answer was a faint smile, and the Esqui-
maux shook his head.

CHAPTER VIIL
DOG Aim BEAR.

DICK’S enthusiasm was short-lived, for the
desperate strait in which all were, speedil
forced itself upon his mind, and he came bac
to the boat-sled, with his feathers considerably
cut. -

His proposition to launch the boat on the open
sea was the hight of folly. as N etek told him in a.
few words. and the journey was again resumed,
but alon the shore. They were now traveling
westwar with the still brilliant aurora on their
right. Netek was in hopes that they were on a
peninsula or ice-belt. whose northern boundary
they had found at the sea; and all trusted that
they would soon strike the mainland where they
would be safe from being destroyed by any ac-
cident similar to the one which had finished the

bri . . .

rid forgot his situation in sleep under the
heaving covers which they had carried from the
Oscar, and Dick was' fast succumbing to the
drowsy god. Netek alone was Wide awake. The
biting weather seemed to add a new sparkle to
his eyes, and he looked like a miniature Santa
Claus whenever he stood upright in the whale-
boat, and cracked the long whip over the heads
of the dogs.

The line of travel along the coast was not
bad for a highway of ice and snow: but little
belt-ice interfered with the speed of the team,
and the two boys. Who were now asleep, ex-
perienced but few uncomfortable Jars.

Suddenly Netek checked the dogs and cast a
furtive glance down upon-his companions. He
had evidenth heard a noise which has a mean-
ing for the Esquimaux, for he leaned over the

impale of the boat and held his ear close to

be cc.

When he rose he sli ed quietly to the ground
and drew one of the arston rifles from under
cover. Another glance at the boys, and he
glided away toward the sea. Thedogs did not
object to the rest thus afl'orded, for some threw
themselves on the snow and prepared to slenp.
Netek took none with him. as though he felt
capable of contending alone with the game that
had roused him.

A few minutes later the clear report of the
Marston awoke the echoes_ of the arctic night,
and the figure of the Innmt leaped up from be.
hind a snow-heap and bounded forward to

 

where a large seaT was trying to get back hm
the water. Netek’s ear had not deceived him,
and he came presently to the strug ling animal,
at which he fearlessly sprung, ,lmi e in hand.

At that very moment the whole dog team
started forward with a series of sharp. eager
yelps. Red and Dick,‘ jerked from pleasant
slumbers by the motion of the boat, found
themselves flying over the snow at a dizzy rate
of speed! The lines were scraping the ground
and out of- their reach, as the team strained.
every energy to reach some animal apparently
in sight. i.

“ here’s Netek?” gasped Dick.

“No difference where! We must'attend to
ourselves now. Our team is running ofll” and
Ned recovered the lines by means of a boat-
hook, and grasped them firmly and pulled back
with all. his might. ’  ;- »

But he could not check the crazytea'm.‘

“Help me,Dick1” .  re

Dick did not have to be appealed~to bytes},
for his hands were already at'Ned’sg~and_l;he
two pulled and see—sawed, but all!” np’p'up

ose. \ - n
p “ What’s ahead? I see nothing,” said  ‘~~'
“Ha! I do—a bear! He’s on the run Tgoing »
over the ice at the top of his speed.“ (Eat the
dogs loose and let them fight it out.” ' ,
“And he left here without he] i” exclaimed
Dick. “No! we must stay with he team; our
safety lies in doing this. You forget, Ned, the
Netek has abandoned us. ” v'
“ Not for good. I cannot think that. The
Innuit will turn up again.” ,
Demonism seemed to possess the dogs, and to
add to the boys’ misfortune, their lines can
with a whip-like crack in the frosty air! his
new release lent additional speed to the send-
ding boat; it hardl seemed to touch the snow
so swiftly did the ogs pull it over the smooth
surface. ‘* ‘
“ Fortune save us now i” ejaculated Ned, drop-
ping upon the blankets to help hold the con-
tents of the whale-boat to their laces. “ If
nothing will stop the dogs but the gear, I hope
m'noo will stop and show fight.” » -
They could now see the gaunt polar slouching
along a short distance ahead of the wild team.
If the dogs had been unharnessed they would

.{‘

   

 

have reached him long before, but the boat ands 1"

its contents weighed six hundred pounds, and
impeded their progress.

“We’re gaining on him now!” cried Nedi
“ The old fellow sees that a battle is inevitable.
He might avoid it by seeking the coast and
plun 'ng into the sea.” \ .

“ trust he will not. Our team is brainless ‘
enough to follow him even there,” was the
gypsy. “There! he has turned and odors hat-

8 .

This. was true. . '

As if resolved to run no further\the polar
Whlf‘h had been roused from a bed in the snow
by the crack of Netek’s rifle, had whirled upon
his pursuers. ‘

Instinctively the boy Whalers took their.
Marstons from the bottom of‘the boat. Ned
stood up for the purpose of shootin over the
heads of the team, but was immediate y thrown
down by the [arching of the boat tooneude.

u'm'.-..: >4: _». _.;-5 21:: ._-.  .2“ :g.

 

 

1-6

The Lost Boy Whalers.

 

As the dogs neared thebearhe rose on his
hinder feet and invited combat. ‘

“ What a shot!” cried Dick as he let fly at the
huge target in the moonlight twenty yards
away.

The white monster seemed to reel as if struck
in the breast, but whether he went to the
ground or not from the effects of the shot, the
castaway: could not tell, for the following
second regardless of consequences, the entire
team threw themselves upon him!

Bear and dogs became an indistinguishable
mass. Seeing their danger the boy Whalers
drew their belt-knives and leaned over to cut
the lines that lashed the team to the boat, but
their action overbalanced the craft and they
with leverything in it were dumped into the
snow I .

Brdin f ht with the ferocity of his nature;
who dogs attacked him from every side, and

, ted terrible wounds with their long sharp
teeth. Etah the noble leader of the team, was
disemboweled by a. stroke, and cast aside to die
ingreat agony, and three other dogs speedily
shared his fate. Entangled in the harness and

by the boat and lines, the dogs could
not fight with much prospect of success, and
the polar was gaining the victory, when the
boys scrambled to their feet from the boat’s
overturned cargo.

Ned seized the first thing that touched his
hand—a long walrus lance whose handle was a
narwhal’s tusk—and, eager tohel the do s,
now their sole dependence in the ar land, 8
rushed forward to take ahand in he fight.

The bear seemed to divine his intention, for
he suddenly threw the struggling Esquimaux
siege from him, and rose to meet the boy. Ned

not stop but plunged strai ht forward
with the lance at a “charge,” an as the dogs
closed on the bear again, he drove the iron be-
neath hide and sinewl

Backward staggered bruin, tearing the lance
from Ned’s hands, and, dragging it with him,
tell heavily on the snow! '

The dogs threw themselves upon their fallen
foe onlyto meet the sharpest claws that ever
tore a seal’s throat. The hear was by no means
bars «in combat.

Fortunately for the dogs which seemed de-

atermined to secure their own destruction, Dick

3  - came forward with a reloaded Marston, and at

the first opportunity sent his bullet crashing
thro the monster a skull.

“ ow whip the brutes on and save what lit-
tle we can!” said Dick as he tapped

' This was 'no easy job, but Ned accomplished
it bydint of blowswith the stock of his lance.
The harness '98  to be in a pitiable plight,
and the hearts of; be boys sunk within them
when they 1

ooktd'u'pcm 1t and the boat’s late
fiargo, and wondered what had became of
If the Esquimaux  not willfully deserted

them, had he heard the gunshots, and would.

‘ he come to their assistance?
 The dogs were permitted to gorge themselves
'on the while the boy 'whalers tried to
,f- _ riggtth ‘ ,bntitseemedanendlesstask.

2 " ttemidstofittho report otsnflewss

 

heard, and a shout came from among the hum-
mocks near the coast.

Ned and Dick answered with loud whoops.

It was Netek, the Innuit.

CHAPTER IX.
m PERIL or EGG-Gamma.

THE young Esquimaux reported that he had
shota large female seal, and then helped the
two boys to right the boat and mend the broken
harness. While thus engaged, the little party
suddenly felt a change in the atmosphere.
Ned flew to the thermometer which he examin-
ed in the moonlight, and found it rising rapidly.

“ Snow 1” said Netek significantly.

“Just as if one is needed here,” answered
Dick with a smile.

The Innuit now hurried forward the work
before them, asif anew catastrophe was not
far away. The dogs no longer licked the
wounds Indicted by the bear. but turned their
long noses to the north, and snuffed the air
with signs of fear.

Thev sprung eagerly to the mended traces at
Netek‘s call, and once more the boat on run-
ners was flying over the snow.

“What is coming?” asked Ned who noticed
the Esquimaux’s anxiety.

“ Boys see pretty soon.”

The aurora had disappeared, and the northern
heavens were new dark and threatening. If
the thermometer had risen to 22 the wind was
cold and piercing. and the part had not pro-
ceeded far before fine particles 0 snow touched
the faces of the anxious American boys. ,

“ An arctic hurricane is about to burst upon
us!” exclaimed Ned. “We shall be snowed
under forever if we are compelled to traverse
this shelterless ire-field.”

He had scarcely ceased when Netek turned
the dog] team to the right, and began_ to urge
them ong the base ofa glacier which until
that moment Ned and Dick had not Seen.

“Netek is going to et to leeward of this ice
mountain," remarks Dick who seemed to
divineT‘tho Innuit’s intention. “It is our only

ho 1”

Re dog-driver said nothing, but continued to
hurry the team forward at the top of its speed.
The cracks of his lengthy whip rung out like

istol-shots upon the frosty air, and the faith- '
1111 dogs strained every nerve as they dashed
a ong.

All at once the storm burst with tenfold fury
upon this scene; the wind, in a moment, as it
were, changed to a gal and Ned started back
with a cry and decla that the glacier had
cracked over their heads. Dick was ready to
believe an thing, for they could scarcely see
their han s before their faces, for the snow
that came down like blankets of white.

In another moment their progress under the
overhanging clifls ef the glacier would have be-
come impeded, if Netek had not halted and
lea from the\boat. The dogs sprung aside
an crept into what appeared a dark cavern
with si as of delight, and the boat was soon
dragged after them by the boys.

The shelter was not exactly a. cave, but a
hollow at the base of the glacier. It was well
protected from the wind. and but, little new

 

The Lost Boy Winslow

1'!

 

could enter the place. The arctic Crusoes had
reached it not a. moment too soon, for if it had

not existed where it (lid they would have been -

buried in the drifts already forming over the
storm -swept ice; but, as it was, they were
comparatively comfortable, and made a. meal
on frozen bear-meat and bluhber. Satisfied
with their shelter, the dogs fell asleep. but the
trio did not follow their example. Netek be-
came quite jovial and narrated a. number of
legends of the cold land. Despite their lone]
and almOst hopeless situation, Ned and Die
listened with much interest. The Wind no longer
seemed to shake their shelter, and as the snow
piled itself before the hollow_ in the glaCier,
their bed grew warmer until Dick declared that
he would soon be compelled to dispense with
his jumper-hood.

For several hours the storm raged with undi-
minished fury. When the first lull came, Dick
Mizzen sprung up with a startling cry and
leaned out of the shelter and listened.

“ I heard a human voice,” said the boy. “ It
came from toward the sea.”

“It cannot be,” said Ned, incredulously.
“We are the only people out to-night in this
terrible land.”

“ Would to Heaven I could believe you, Ned,
but—u There! you must have hear it that‘
timel

“ I did, Dick. \It was a child’s voice. Netekl”

The young Innuit was on his feet at the boy’s

rl ht.

%‘You heard the cry—the wail?” said‘ Dick,
turning: upon him.

“ Netek heard the cry of the young seal.” ‘

“What?”

“ The baby seal cries like an Innuit pappoose
sometimes.”

“That sound a seal‘s cry?” said Dick. “ You
must be mistaken, Netek. ’ a

“ Ninnoo killing seal out there." And the
speaker pointed toward the coast. .

The boy whalerswere compelled to be some
fled with Netek’s explanation of the cry, al-
though Dick shook his head in doubt and pon-
dered over it a long time.

Night in the arctic regions is not a. pleasant
thought for any one. especially for those who
are compelled to endure it. For many their
last sleep has followed drowsiness, and the bones
of hundreds lie beneath the snow and ice of the
polar lands. ' .

But the proximity of the dogs and their warm
bodies, added to the heavy covers brought from
' the Oscar, aided the trio in passing a comforta-
ble ni lit. The were entirel sheltered from
the w nd by t e immense gacier, whose to
seemed to touch the coldly shining stars,
the snow-bank which nature iled in front of
their retreat, ke t out the co which takes life

in the arctic circ e. ' .

What a cheerless prospect the morning pre-
sented! Snow ever where, and a stiff wind
laden with fine part else of shew blowm from
the sea. Ned stepped from the cave and ooked
up at the glacier. A part of it fairly littered
in the} ht, and its icy peaks sparkled he real
diamongs. It was not all ico, for here and
there cropped. out strangecoloqad stem. and

 

everywhere new multitudes or birds which
seemed attached to the cliflle.

“Eggs for breakfast if we could get them!” ,
exclaimed Ned. “ Those birds, or at least man
of them, are suits and cider ducks, and the cli
up onder are their homes."

‘ etek confirmed Ned’s words, and eyed the
birds for a while with a covetous gaze.

The most adventurous explorers in the far
North have found the cider duck and auk in
great numbers Wherever they have pitched their _
tents. The young of the auk are considered a
great delicacy by the quuimaux and the e gs
of the eider duck have cost many a hungry n-
nuit his life.

To scale the ice-covered cliffs above the,
young adventurers was a task from which
the bravest would have shrunk; but led on by
Netek, who had resolved on a change of food,
the young Crusoes rushed to the base of the
mountain. .

Their boat-books now stood them in good
need, and step by step their scaled the cliffs.

The numbers of the b s seemed to increase
as they neared the giddy hights, and when
the three halted at last on a lofty table-land
that commanded a good view of the white
panorama man feet neath, the rich himage,
of the cider duo was distinguishable. he birds
in all probability had never seen a human being
before, for they flew quite near the boys and
Netek knocked down several auks with his t-

hook.

Under the jutting era of the mountain of
stone and ice, the birds ad their nests in the
inaccessible walls. There were the eg 3 so
valued by the arctic e icure, and the two, an-
tucket boys despaire of the breakfast they
had resolved upon when they leaned over the
precipice and looked down the steep sides.

“Notch go down and get eggs,” said the
Innuit as he proceeded to fasten a. strong rope
around his body under his arms.

“ What if the rope should break!” cried Ned.
“We can’t s are you, Netek.” ,

‘,‘ Rope no ak if brothers hold Netek."

“ We can do that, but—” ‘ r

“Here! hold ro , then,” and the Innuit
tossed one end of t e bear-skin cord to his com-
panions,‘as he stepped to the brink of the crag.

With the mOVements of an old egg-hunter,
Notch lowered himself over the shiny edge,
and soon disappeared from the he s’ gaze.
The cord slipped slowly throng their

fingers and let the Esquimaux down to the

nests. They knew that he would swing his
body inward toward the nests, and, despite
the cries of the parent birds, help himself to the

eg _ . *
. Well braced on the rough ice shave, Ned and
Dick clung to the rope.

, Now and then they turned their, game to the
landscape far away to the south, and Dick
whose mind could not remain long, from the,
open see. they had discovered, glanced many
t mes over his shoulder as though he could see,
its waters so far away.

All at once the cry of “A ship! a shin’,
burst from Ned’s throat. '
“{Vherei" asked Dick excited in an in-

 

 

18 The Lost Boy Whalers.

 

" Yonder—in the sky—not among the ice l”

Dick Mizzen uttered an exclamation of sur-
Erise as he looked in the direction indicated by

is comrade’s gaze, and saw a vessel suspended
apparently in the heavens!

‘An apparitionl—ra demon ship!” he almost
gasped, and forgetful of the dark-skinned egg-
hunter, he started from the rope. ' '

The next instant a startling shriek came up
from below, and Ned was dragged to the very
brink of the precipice.

Dick realized the situation in a moment, and
Ned relinquished the rope in time to prevent
being pulled over the precipice and dashed
to death in the ice gorges hundreds of feet
below!

The boy Whalers stood speechless and ghastly
on the crag. They felt that Netek had fallen
to a. terrible fate far beneath the bird nests, and
they could not summon courage enough to look
eyer the brink.

Suddenlv a faint cry came up from below.

“Help Netek, white brothersl—helpl”

“Thank Heaven I” ejaculated Dick as he
sprung forward.

He threw himself upon the snow and leaned
over the fringe of the crag.

What did he see?

, Many feet beneath him and far beyond the
stretch of his arm clung Netek, the Innuit,
,holding to the edges of the nest-holes in the

rack!

“ Rope break, brotherl” said the Esquimaux

[on catching sight of Dick’s face. "Throw

down the seal-line at your belt, and Nate]: will
fasten it to the rope around his body.”

“ He cannot do that and cling to the nests l”
murmured Dick. “It was all my fault; I was
frightened by the ship in the sky!” ’ _

As he spoke he rose and began to uncorl _a
Linle which seal-hunters often wear at their

ts.

 

CHAPTER X.
' “ ro ran noarn Pom!”
Nam: clung bravely to his insecure support.
The rocks were cold, but his heavy seal-skin

,mittens prevented his hands from slipping be-

numbed from the nests. ‘

Dick unooiled his seal-line, and at last let it
down over the crag. Then he swung it back
and forth until it came within reach of the
youn Esquimaux’s arm, when he suddenly
seize it, and thrust it between his teeth. Nets
next slowly drew up the rope which dangled

/beneath him, and fastened the seal-line to one

and of it. All this with one hand and his teeth,
while he dangled over the precipice, at the bot-
tom of which was the most dreadful of deaths.
live need not say that Ned and Dick held their
breath while the young Innuit worked. nor that
they s rung eager] to work when he told them
to pul up the ac -line. Thank fortune! the
bear-rope came along, and a cry of thankful~
Ress brrst from their throats when they grasped
a a n. ‘
“bum” cried Dick, overjoyed. “I believe I

could drag a musk-ox up from below!” and he .

 

air as the Innuit’s hood appeared over the edge

of the recipice, and then he drew himself up

by his ands.

b “Rope just as long as ever!” he said to the
0375.

“Of course it is, Netek. It was my fault.

{fokkyonderw and Dick pointed to the ship in

e s . ,

The egg-hunter gazed at the strange spectacle
with mingled surprise and superstition.

“Imight have known that it is a mirage,”
continued Dick: “ but the spectacle startled
mez esBecially after Ned’s c of ‘ a ship 1’ ”

‘ W at make it?” queried - etek.

“ A ship is somewhere in this region. my boy,
and unequal refraction in the air far below us
apparently suspends her up yonder. I remem-
ber once, when we were whaling oil? the
Labrador banks, we saw the mirage of a whole
fleet of fishermen, and could distinguish ships
rhic'h had sailed from Nantucket months he-

ore.

Dick’s explanation did not enlighten the Es-
quimaux boy, who continued to stare at the
apparition in‘ the heavens, until Ned called his
attention from it by askin whether he had
found any eggs when the ted accident oc-
curred.

“ Netek always find eggs 1” he exclaimed,
diving his hand eneath his deer-skin coat, and
producing several beautiful specimens.

The eggs were about three inches long by two
broad, and of a light green color.

“Are there man there. Netek?” asked Ned.

“ More than my rother would count in many
years 1” was the reply.

“ We’ll conclude. then, that the e gs are
plentiful.” smiled Ned. “Kane and is men
once gathered them at the rate of twelve hun-
dred a. day. We could probably do better than
that. But let us go down to breakfast."

“ No: eat here just as well.”

“I prefer 111 eggs cooked—roasted at least,
Netek,” said ed.

The Innuit jerked ofl his jumper-hood, and
the boys, saw a large quantity of beautiful green
moss .m It. The elder duck constructs her nest
of this valuable production of the arctic re-
gions, and Netek had robbed the nests of their
rich bedding as well as of their food.

A space was speedily cleared on the one, the
moss ignited, and the eggs put into the fire to
roast. In a few minutes the lovely green shells
cracked, and the boy Crusnes enjoyed the rich-
est and most palatable breakfast they had
tasted for many a day. The absence of pepper
and salt was felt, of course. but the adventurers
did not let that want destroy their meal.

“Now let‘s locate the ssh: before we descend,’
Ned said, rising refreshe from his last egg.
“Frbm what I know of mirages, the real ship
lies somewhere in the north."

“ In the open polar sea 1" exclaimed Dick.

‘ “ I do not know about that. How far are we
from the open water, Neteki”

The Innuit thou ht a moment and then held
up both hands wit fingers wide apart.

“ Ten miles,” said Dick.

and Ned exerted themselves to haul Netek upl u “mu miles. “cons” that’nflapued
Y

to safety. ' x I .
Loudwas the shout that rum: out on the clear Ned’ w win" °n' “ Tm mu“ m the mt

 

was... -2; . .5

The Lost Boy Whaler-l. 19

 

northern sea, you say, theki You havemeen
there i”

“Often, brother.” _

“ Did you ever see a white man’s ship on its
waters?

“Once.”

“Listeni” cried Dick. “There is an Open
Polar Seal We have discovered it, and Netek
says that a white man’s ship has been seen upon
it. People laughed at Captain Hayes when he
came back and said he had gazed upon its
waters from the top of a berg. Ned, we shall
never regret the accident that aha ndoned us to
the mercies of the Arctic Oceansl”

“Silencel” almost sternly commanded Ned
Manly, who turned to Netek again. “ Tell me
about that ship.” ' ‘

“ Netek wasn’t born where the big open
water is, brother; but he went to it lon ago
with some Ini nit fishermen, and they al saw
the white man’s ship near the shore. It was a.
ship unlike any that Netek ever saw before. It
had seal—skin sails and a great dragon rode in
front of it.”

“ A Northman’s ship 1” ejaculated Dick. “ You
know, Ned, that nothing ever decays in this
part of the world. I noticed some striking e-
culiarit about the miraged vessel. She as
shifted her course, and we see her reflection no
lon er. What if we should discover a ship
bu' t a century before the time of Columbus?
Hayes said that the Open Sea when he saw it
was calm; we saw it in the same mood yesler-
day. To its shores at once! In the shi of the
eleventh century we may ride to the Po 6 1n the
nineteenth l" v _

Ned Manly was silent for a moment, but Dick
could see that his own enthusiasm was having
an effect upon him.

“Think of itl” cried Dick, grasping his arm
as he was speaking? “Immorta renown is
within our reach! e have been in the hands
of fortune all along. Let old Nantucket have
the honor of finding the North Pole. The old
sea king’s ship awaits us on the shore of the
Open Bea. - Netek will 0 with usl To the
boundless ocean of the bite North! To the
Pole itself!”

Who could resist such enthusiasm! -

Ned Manly’s egos fair] sparkled as he seized
his companion’s and an exclaimed:

“ I am with on, Dick! Nantucket shall have
the honor that undreds have died for! To the
North Polel"

 

CHAPTER XI.
AN EXCITING TIME.

HIGH and white Were the snowdrifts that
awaited the voung adventurers at the foot of
the glacier. They went down in high spirits,
well laden with eggs and fat youn auks.
tempting morsels when rightly cooke over a
fire of polar moss. The dogs hailed the little

arty with many demonstrations of canine joy;
during the egg-hunt the various members of the
team had gorged themselves on the frozen bear-
meat in the sledge and were ready for any
dnt .

 

T a storm was over, and although no sun was
to be seen. the temperature had nsen, and [the 1

longer filled the air. Barring the drifts. the
opening of the journey to the open sea was an-
splClOlJS.

Netek proposed a return to the spot where he
had killed and cached the seal, for he said that
they would find the meat and fat wholesome
and life sustaining; besides they could the
sooner reach the sea by that route, and that at
a point from whence a good view of its waters
could be obtained. .

A few minutes later the journey began. It
was quite slow for the drifts were many, but
the dogs plunged forward with zeal, and the
boys helped to ash the sled along. Above
their heads circ ed hundreds of arctic birds. »
among whose numbers ware many cormorant
gulls, great gray birds with gaping yellow hills;
they made sad havoc with the young auks
whom they would swallow at a single gulp, an
the infant eiders shared no better fate.

Ned succeeded by a well directed snot with a
Marston in bringing down one of the male birds.
Netek pounced u n it as soon as it struck the
snow, and instant y cut from its maw two lit,
tle auks which were hardly dead. These he flung
upon the sled with the remark that they would
help to satisfy the cravings of hunger, while the
gull itself was thrown to the dogs, who made
short work of it.

The journei to the cached seal was rendered
tiresome by t e difficulties which the party had
to overcome; but the spot was reached at last,
and the recious meat found. They were now
not far mm the open water, and Dick uttered
a. cry of delight when Netek pointed toa berg
from whose clifls he said a view of the water
could be obtained.

“ I must see itl” the boy exclaimed, hurrying
toward the berg, and his comrades watched him
ascend the berg until the sinuosities of the icy
trail hid him from sight.

After awhile a faint shout came down from
the berg, and the tiny figure of Dick could be
seen far overhead. Something like a dark ball
seemed to fly about his hand. Ned knew that
he was waving his bear-skin scarf for joy at
si ht of the Open water far awayl

Vhen Dick rejoined his companions he told
them that from the ice-cliff or pilinr he had
looked upon a mighty stretch I of v open water
which, in his judgment, must extener the Pole.
So far as he could see, not a ripple marred its
surface, and note sail appeared on its bosom.
But that was no reason _why they should“ not
seek there the strange ship whose mirage had
appeared in the sky.

“ it may not be the open water which Barents
saw in 1596, nor that which excited old Baron
Wrangell’s enthusiasm,"said Dick; “ but it is
the highway to the Pole—the road to honor and
famel’ ‘

The expedition pushed on again and soon
afterward entered a real arctic canyon which.
was the most beautiful and sublime sight they ‘
had ever beheld. The bed of the ch was not
more than flf feet wide. We of ice and '
sienite towere six and seven hundred jest
above them, and Ned declared that the were
journeying through aglacier which ha been
sent b a polar earthquake. The late stOrm had

the Particles of snow- Of late 30 mublesgm- “0 a s the canyon. tor but little snow had. en-

\'

 

 

 

 

20

The Lost Boy Whalers. ‘ I

 

tered, not enough to cover the lichens that grew '
from crevices in the rock.

All at once a ball of white leaped from behind l
a. bowlder and Went down the gulch like a.
rocket. The dogs saw it at once, and 5 run
away 'with eager yelps, but this time eteks
hands were at the lines, and with the craft of an
Es uimaux driver, be checked the team and
cal ell on Dick to fire.

The command was instantly obeyed, for Dick
had just taken the fowling-piece from cover to
fire at some of the birds that filled the canyon
in countless numbers, and at the crack of his
gun, the bare executed a summerset and lay
quivering in the snow. In a moment the sled
was alongside the prize. which was picked up,
and declared by the Innuit to be a large arctic
hare—the first the boys had seen since their
arrival within the polar circle. The animal was
very handsome, as white and soft‘ as swan’s
down, with a black crescent marking the ear-
tips. He must have weighed twelve pounds,
and was in excellent order, for a number of
arctic willows in the canyon bore evidence of
having been lately visited b his teeth.

“ Harkl” suddenly cried ed as Dick inspected
his game. " What was that, Neteki”

“ Walrus.”

“ What! are we so near water as that?”

“ Mebbe so. ” «

The singular sounds which all now distinctly
heard, came down the canyon from the direc-
tion in which they were traveling. Netek had
recognized the cry of the walrus, which sounds
like something between the mooing of a cow
and the dee est haying of a mastifl. The huge
animal con d not be far off, and his presence
fieldd the party that the coast was near at

an .

Netek now leaned forward and addreed
some Esq’uimaux gargon to the dogs, which
immediately starte them on again, but without
a bark. The Innuit boy then took a long spear
of unicorn ivory from the boat, and hastily
examined its point.

“Boy take guns,” he said in a low voice.
“ Walrus sipak very good 1” ‘

Dick exchanged his fowling-piece for a
Marston. and Ned stood erect with a similar
weapon in his hands.

In a few minutes the dogs had drawh the
sledge to the end of the canyon, from whence a
view of the coast before the adventurers was
,had. A number of hammocks and ice ridges
greeted their eyes, and in a recently frozen
Arctic bayou t ree walrus were seen. They
were still a long distance off, but the boys could
see them rise through the ice which they broke
with an explosive pufl that filled the whole
re ion with sound.

t was a sight that-filled Ned and Dick
with enthusiasm and excitement. The dogs
were completely unharnessed, and told by

' Netek to remain at the sledge, while the young
explorers began to creep toward the sportive
sea-lions.

Netek, though a boy, was not a novice in
walrus~hunting. He told the boy Whalers to
watch him and do as he did. When the walrus
were above water ,the hunters lav flat on the

‘were kept back.

 

snow, but when they diVed three es glided

forward to drop again as soon as the ugly heads
of the great beasts rose again above the
surface.

In this manner the boys managed to reach a
hammock quite near the bayou, whose ice was
now broken in many places. Ned and Dick
were eager to use their Marst'ms, but Netek
interfered. The Innuit had fixed an end of his
coil of rope to an iron barb which, in turn, was
fastened loosaly to a shaft of norwhal task. The
other end of the line was looped.

Neiek’s eyes fairly glistened as he waited for
the walrus to rise again. All at once up from
the cold depths of the be on came the tusked ’
monster, and as he shoo the water from his
homely crest Netek rose and threw back his
harpoon arm. The deadly missile seemed to
hiss as it cut the frost atmosphere and buried
itself under one of the age flippers!

Down went the walrus—or awuk as be is
called by the ‘Esquimaux—and Netek turned
and ran away. As he scudded across the ice
the boy payed ofl’ his coil, and drew from his
belt an iron-pointed stick of bone. This he
made fast by means of the loop already formed,
and all at once drove it into the ice.

All this time the barpooned walrus was furi-
ous. He broke the ice around him in his rage,
and tried to relieve himself of the Innuit’s
spear; but the barb had been driven far beneath
his hide, and held in spite of his efforts.

The other beasts were no less furious than
their com anion. They dashed up through the
ice with oud trumpetings and afforded mo-
mentary targets for the boys’ rifles.

Dick gave one a. ball in the breast, and sent

him uickly beneath the surface, and Ned was
eqfia y successful in wounding the other.
_ avin planted his line-staple firmlyin the
ice, Nete approached the bzycu with aseal-
spear and gave the struck walrus another
wound. This rendered the monster more furi-
ous than ever. He now became aggressive,
and attempted to charge the boys with his im-
mense tusks.

Dick was forced to fly for his life, for the
walrus suddenly threw himself upon the firm
ice and rushed upon him. In the midst of the
fight Netek uttered a loud shout which brought
the dogs up, and the walrus was attacked on all
sides before he could et back into the water.

Fast and furious etek plied his seal-spear,
dextrously avoiding the beast’s vengeful thrusts,
and at last the fight ended.

The animals wounded by the Marstons had
made their escape, but the water was discolored
by their blood, and the ice around the bayou
was red.

The battle had lasted two hours for the wal-
rus is tenacious of life, and a desperate beast to
encounter. Netek had given their rize forty-
three lance wounds, and the rifles ad poured
their contents into his huge body. The dogs
were eager to help themselves to the flesh, but
Netek with his belt-knife cut
oi! the great lump of flesh that covers a part of
the animal’s chin, and held it up With a cry of
triumph. This piece is called sipak by the In.
units, and is esteemed a great delicacy.

The walrus must have weighed seven hundred

The Lost Boy Whale".

81

 

pounds. and looked ferocious with his huge
tusks and strong flippers.

“ Where is the sea?" suddenly exclaimed Dick.

“ Always the sea!” remarked Ned. “Lotus
regale ourselves on sipak first.”

“Not until I have seen the Open Ocean.”

Dick leaped upon the carcass apd turned to-
ward the north.

“Ah! the sea king’s shi l” burst from his
throat. “ It is coming to t e shore to carry us
to the Pole!"

Ned and Netek stood beside Dick a moment
later, and looking over the arm Stretched pole-
ward, they behold a ship on the glassy sheet of
water which men have named the ” Open Polar
Sea.’

This was no optical illusion for the strange
ship was not two miles from the coast; indeed,
the air being so rare, the young explorers could
see that she resembled the pictures the had

‘ seen of the Norse vessel of the elevent cen-

tui‘yl

or several minutes the three gazed spell-

bound upon the si ht. They were about to
ive three cheers at ick’s suggestion, when the

Ice beneath them was heaved upward with a

terrible crash, and a moment later all three

{Ere Istruggling in the icy wa.ers of the polar
sm

 

CHAPTER XII.
m FLOATING RAT‘NEST.

TEE wounded sea- monsters had rushed
against the ice directly beneath the adven-
turers, and broken it into a thousand frag-
meats!

The cold plunge bath was a dangerous one,
for the trio were at the mercy of the mad-
dened beasts for a. while, and their escape from
being gored by the long tasks was miraculous.

Ned and Dick fortunately struck the water
near together, and helped each other to the firm
ice, while Netek, more a ile under such circum
stances, gained a point 0 safety while his com
panions still struggled in the water.

Wet and chille to the bone the boy explorers
went back to the canyon. where a mo fire
was built,‘and their clothestut throu h a dry-
ing process. For a time ick’s min seemed
clear of the North Pole project, but another
sight of the strange shi on the unknown sea
reanimated him with t at desire, and the re-
solve was made to reach it before night.

There was something mysterious about the
vessel, which seemed to approach. the ice-bound
coast with the slowness of a snail’s travel. It
was still a mile from land, but offered the
American boys a. good view from the cliffs of
the canyon, and they looked upon her with a
great deal of impatience ,

It ccrtaiuly presented the appearance of one
of the dragon-mowed vessels of the eleventh
century, when the Northmen are. popularly
supposed to have discovered America, and to
have navigated to some extent the frozen seas
around the Pole. Ned and Dick did not expect
to find any Norsemen on hoard; but the be-
lieved that with the old ship which .had en

reseiwd so long in the great hasm of the

crib Polar Sea, they would be able to nail

fluall
wrec .

The supply of walrus meat proved acceptable
hobo s and dogs. Netek froze the blubber in
long alt-inch strip: and packed it away among
the other food. e paunch of the beast was
opened by the Innuit and found to contain vast
quantities of fresh muscles which, when washed
and cooked, proved as acceptable to their dis-
cOVerers as similar food once did to Hall and
his men. ‘

The long day drew to a close at length with
the'mystic ship but a very short distance from
the coast. A stout breeze from the north had
driven her shoreward, and for a while she
threatened to beach.

“ Now is our time. Quickl to the shore!
Let us board the vikiug's craft before she backs
and leaves us perhaps forever!”

Dick had scarcely finished ere the boys seized
the boat, and pushed it into the water. They
had been waiting for the present opportunity,
and had, therefore, removed the runners from
the whale-boat, from which they had taken
nearly all the cargo so that ib‘would not be dif-
ficult to manage in the sea.

The dog team did not like the idea of parting
with their three friends on the coast; but Netek
tried to make them understand that they would
return presently, and the cars were dipped for
the first time into the unknown waters.

The whale-boat shot straight toward the old
ship whose old-time sails were laden with ice
and snow, and the boy Whalers eyed her with
much curiosity as they advanced. ‘

Note. sign of life was to be seen on deck. The
vessel sat motionless on the now glassy surface
of the sea, as if waiting for the young explorers.
Twice they rowed around her before the ven-
tured to go on board; a sense of awe an mys-
tery seemed to hold them back.

They regarded the old dragon-head that
formed the ship’s prow with a great deal of ln—‘
terest. Age had laid his hand ever where.
The sails appeared ready to fall to t e deck,
and the hulk looked rotten and unseaworthi.
But nothing could have held the boys bac .
Netek shared the eagerness of his companions.

“ Forward 1” suddenly exclaimed Ned.- “ Let
us solve this mystery!” and the next moment
he had leaped
clashing at the risk of life and limb to the deck
a ve.

By means of a boat—th which the Innuit
drove into the ship’s waist, the whale-boat was
kept from drifting away. All were now climb-

escape from the perils of arctic ship-

infidpward.
e hesitated a moment when he looked over
the gnnwale upon a. deserted deck, but seeing
Netek about to outstrip him in the boarding
race, he sprung Over, declaring that a Nan-
tucket boy should have the honor of first setting
foot on the deck of a Northman’s ship! ‘

He was quickly followed by his companions,
and all stood together near the tottering mast.

“At last!” exclaimed Dick. “The elevanth
century and the nineteenth are united. Below,
and search the ship 1”

Frost and snow were everywhere; they lay

 

northward~perhaps to the Pole itself—anal
\

Lthick on the narrow deck 0: the vessel. and

from the whale-boat and was.

N,

 

 

bank which at first appeared fathomless.

and the boys had to tear the animals loose with

alive i” said Ned.

The Lost Boy Whalers.

 

here and there were paths which had been
made by some living creatures.

A hatch half blocked up with snow dismally
invited the explorers, and having ignited his
torch of moss saturated with oil, Dick led the
waly to the hold.

be eager trio soon discovered that there
were no steps, for all fell headlong into utter
darkness, and were left to recover in a a‘rilow

ev
extricated themselves with 3. %00d deal of dif-
ficulty, and Dick, after a long unt, recovered
his torch which he managed to relight. '

The inside of the old ship was in keeping with
its exterior—rottenness everywhere. The
planks the walked appeared to give as they
stepped. ed actually thought at one time
that he was about to fall through into the sea.

“ This ship has been on these waters a thou-
sand years,” said Dick who was forcibly struck
by the signs of age and decay that showed
themselves on every hand. “Our discovery
amounts to nothing more than that we have
found a relicless bulk of the eleventh century.
I now move—” a:

“ Hist! what was that?”

“Rats, l suppOse.”

The boys were in a long low corridor directly
beneath the main deck, and the sound was like
that made by the scampering of an army of

rats.

A' short distance ahead the gloom was im-
penetrable, but the boys advanced until they
saw hundreds of shining eyes, and as many
gaunt little bodies.

A rat ran past Ned who struck at it with a
boat-hook, then another and another followed,
until the whole corridor seemed alive with ver-
rn n

“The ship is alive with them!” cried Dick.
“ We shall be attacked presently 1”

And so they were.

Led, as it actually seemed, by a giant leader,
an army of rats threw itself upon the boy.
They attacked with arage that knew no bounds

their gloved hands. Their heavy furred clothes
did them noble Service at the trying hour, for,
without them, they would have been terribly
bitten bv‘the enraged rats. There seemed no
end to the numbers that poured from the gloom
of the ship’s hold. How long they had lived
and bred there no man knew, and their mode
of getting food was equally a. mystery. But
they were there, ravenous, gaunt and terrible.

It is not a wonder that they forced the boys
back to the snow at the foot of the hatchway.

“ We must escape from here or be eaten

“ gee. brothers. Get on Netek’s shoulders—

uic !

Dick did not wait tobe urged.

He sprung upon the Esquimaux’s broad
shoulders and was raised upward until he could ,
grasp the edge of the hatch—hole and draw him- 1
self upon deck again. Ned was next permitted
to save himself in like manner, and Netek was
drawn up by means of a rope which the boys
instantlythrew down to him.

“A narrow esca l”.ezaculated Ned Manly‘

eith‘o V9119 i

 

drawing a br

“I’ve got enough of the Open Polar Sea al-
ready. Let the rats keep possession 00f the
Vikings shlp. Our place is on shore: not here.
Others may sail this waterway to the Pole if.
indeed, it leads there; but as for me, I will
stifikézo the mainland}: ,

e sprung t es ipsside for the ur so
of descendingg the boat, but Dick hegitattgd.
Were they to abandon the hazardous project
already? Could they not master the rats and
venture northward across the sea in the vessel
which fortune had sent to their aid!

Suddenly a cry from Netek startled him.

“ Look, brothers! Boat gone away, and
stands out to sea!”

The words pierced the hearts of the boy
Whalers like the echoes of the knell of doom.

Dick looked over the Innuit’s arm, and saw
their whale-boat rocking slowly on the slight
swell of the Arctic Sea fifty rods from the ship!
Ned who was about to lower himself over the
gunwale, started back with a cry of dismay.

The boat-hook had pulled from the rotten
planks of the hulk, and sent the boat adrift!

It was the most thrilling moment in the lives
of the lost young Whalers. Ned, keenly alive
to the horror of their situation, leaned against
the mast, and stared at the whale- boat with the
expression of a person on the verge of mad-
ness.

They were on an Arctic Sea in an old shell
alive with rats, and liable at any moment, to
go to pieces and leave them at the mercy of the
waves.

“We have been mistaken!” suddenly ex-
claimed Dick. “il‘his is not a sea, but a strait!
Yonder is the other shore. See those moun-
tains of white, Ned 1”

Ned Manly turned and gazed for a moment
in the direction indicated by his companion.

“Do on call those white things mountains,

Netekl’ he asked the silent Esquimaux. “I do
not, for they seem to be approaching us.”
“ Icebergs!” fell from Netek’s lips. “ The

fog is lifting and we see the moving bergs of
the big white sea.”

Dick could not speak. ‘

He now saw that what he had taken for
mountains were immensa icebergs, which were
actually approaching the ship, for thev ap<
peared to increase in size each moment. heir
precipitous sides glittered like a vast diamond
field, and a strange noise, like the sound of wa-
ter in a. subterranean cavern, accompanied
their advance.

The old ship was motionless on the water, and
the largest berg visible—one seemingly halt a.
mile in ength and a thousand feet high—Mas
bearing steadily down u n her!

“ To the sea!” cried ed. “1 see no safe
elsewhere. In five minutes more the berg wi
fall upon us i"

Safety—it there was safety anywhere—seem-
ed to lie in the sea. _

Ned lea to the old ship’s side ashe finished,
and was a ut to (slpring into the cold element
when Netek’s ban was laidon his shoulder an

he was jerked back. " . m
Berg commg

“Stay!” said the Innuit.
save mebbe, not to kill 1” .
‘ “To save?” echoed Ned. staring into Netek’s

'9

q

The Lost Boy Whalers.

88

 

face. “ I don‘t see how that white monsteris
going to save us."

The berg was now so near that the boys could
see the great fissures in its icy sides. An un-
seen hand seemed to push it forward.

“Look! a bear!” shouted Ned.

Far above their heads, on one of the over-
hanging crugs of the iceberg, stood a solitary
polar. monarch of all be surveyed. He looked
small from where the young adventurers stood,
but they knew that he was a king among his
Aspecies.

 

CHAPTER XIII.
NEW DANGERS.

“ READY, brothers! J um I”

At the last word three gures leaped from
the decaying shi that was at the mercy of the
iceberg, and Ian ed on a snow—covered terrace,
about ten feet above the waterl

Netek had spoken the words and all had
leaped together. -

The next moment the old hulk reeled from
the berg, and with a terrible crash was shat-
tered before the eyes of the three. For a minute
the sea was alive with swarms of rats. but the
current that swept along the base of the berg
carried them down h scores, and the boys
watched their destruct on with no regrets.

The three were now on an immense cake_of
floating ice, and one which could boast of cliffs
whose crests seemed to touch the skies. They
could not but think of their dog team and eats.-
bles, which had been left at the mouth of the
canyon on the mainland, nor forget the whale-
boat that had in all probability drifted from
them forever.

Their weapons now consisted of two seal-
spears, three belt hatchets, as many knives. and
one gun, a fowling-piece which Dick had thrown
across his back before boarding the mysterious
ship. The hulk itself had supplied them with
no weapons.

At first they had he es that the berg would
carry them near enoug) to the shore to facili-
tate their return toit, ut their hopes were soon
blasted, for it slowly veered round, and drifted
away parallel with the coast nearly a mile dis-
tent.

Night was again coming on. Great multi-
titudes of birds flew in and out of the fissures
far overhead, and caused the adventurers to re-
call the feast of eider eggs and young auks.

The terrace to which they had leaped from
the ship was fifty feet in breadth, and firm. t
was ooverpd with snow to the depth of a foot.
and Ned dug through and found beautiful
white ice. Tweut feet..above their beads was
another terrace, rom tghich, if they could

e berg woul not be

reach it, the ascent of
diflcult.

After a short council the boys attacked the
ice wall with their hatchet: and cut a stairway
to the terrace referred to. They rested there
awhile, and then began to climb the sides of the

her . _ _

“filVe are not alone on this floating prison.
Do not forget that a hear was seen on one of
the crags just before we left the Norse ship.”

Ned’s words were not needed to put his com-

panions on their guard. They were on the look-

 

out for the polar, whom they were not anxious
to encounter at that time. '

The trio at last reached an elevated point
from which they could see in every direction.

They were, indeed, on a monster berg—one
of the largest they had ever seen. It had the
appearance of a vast hummecky wilderness in
many places, while elsewhere it bristled with
crags and broken pillars. One sight that
riveted the boys, gaze was a gigantic water-
spout that forced itself.up from the see he
neath, through a. hole in the bottom of the
berg. The column of water that was thus‘
forced fully fifty feet into the air fell back upon
the berg and rushed northward into the sea _
again with a deafening roar. Not a sign of life
beyond the birds was visible on the berg; the
bear had probably hidden himself behind a
crag, or in one of the numerous fissures, and the
young explorers did not care to hunt him at
that time.

Satisfied that they were deemed to pass an
arctic night on the ber , the trio beganio de-
scend to a little clifl- ocked valley which up

ared to be sheltered from the wind..

“What do you think of the Open Polar Sea
by this time?” ventured Ned, with a faint
smile, as he addressed Dick. “We are in the
midst of it, and you will admit that the high-
we?’ to the Pole does not seem to be open.”

‘ Our situation is discouraging,” was the
reply; “ and you are wishing, i ed, that we
had remained in Nantucket, and never sailed
in the ill-fated Belle. Come, do not deny thi
for I can read your thoughts. Am I not right

“ I confess that you are, Dick.”

“ But you are not hopeless?”

“ Never that!”

“Good! This is not our first ride on an ice-
berg, recollect. We escaped providentially
from the other. Who as s we shall not leave
this with better fortunes fore us?" -

Ned did no reply, for he could not share'
Dick’s hopefu view of their situation. Jolly

ed Manly, as he was known in Nantucket. had
had much of his jovialit taken from him by.
the dangers of the Arotc Seas. He was or
thoughtful bo , fearless and equal to any
danger; but 9 could not see safety ahead
when they were drifting without food on an ice-
berg through an unknown Polar Sea. He
fancied that he could hear the dismal howling
of their Esquimaux do when he drew his
jumper~hood close aroun his face and huddled
closer u to Dick under a jutting ice-crag. and
in a be low eptirely sheltered from the wind
glob had risen and was driving the her
t ough the watersat no moderate rate
speed for such a monster ship.

Netek’s countenance was as impassive and
unreadable as the face of a rock. Nothing
dauuts the young Esquimaux hunter; he takes
events as they come, and is content to make
at; besthe can of the present, be it good.or

The rear of the waterspout was the only
sound that broke the stillness of the night, and
fora long time the Nantucket'lads lav awake
and listened to its discordant music. The had
not gone supperless to bed, for Netek’s ski i had
procured sever-dyeing nuke from among the

 

 

1

24 The Lost Boy Whalers.

 

thousands of birds which had settled on the
clifls with the descent of night, and a few eggs
alsolfound had added a delicacy to the scanty
mea .

“ Fire! firel" rung out suddenly in loud tones
that made Ned spring to his feet wide awake
in an instant. ‘

His first glance was upward, and he saw the
top of the berg’s loftiest peak glittering in the
flash of flames. It wasa grand sight and for
awhile the two boys stared at it unable to give
Vent to their thoughts.

“ Somebody isu there I” said Ned at last.

“No, brother; 6 out on shore; only light
up there.”

Ned now saw that the Esquimaux was right.
But who had built a fire on the mainland?
No one thought of sleep now. All rushed to the
narrow ath by which the had descended to
their bed) at dark. The lig t beat against the
berg in great waves, now intensely brilliant,
now dim again.

Ned was the first to drag himself upon the
look-out, and a loud cry escaped-his lips as he
pointed to the shore. _

“ Some one must know that we are im-
prisoned on this ice-cake,” he said. “ But what
are they” burning? There is no wood in this

country. _

“Pieces of the old ship may have drifted
ashore,” answered Dick. “I will answer them
with a flash”

As he finished he raised the fowling piece to
his shoulder and fired. The re rt was loud
and distinct and its echoes die away among
the hammocks behind them.

“Good heavens!” screamed Ned the next
moment. “If on have not made yourself
heard b the builders of the fire, you have
roussd t e ogre of the icabei‘gl”

With a question on his lips, Dick Mizzen

[turned to stagger from a huge white bear
which stood on his hinder feet and with open
mouth not ten feet away.

' Ned instinctively retreated, too, but Netek,
with a cry of “Ninnoo!” raised his seal lance
and sprung at the monster.

 

CHAPTER XIV.
AGROUND !

Nnmoo—or m'noo as some arctic explorers
have it—is the fiercest inhabitant of the polar
circle. He grows to greatsize and fears nothing
when enraged. At times he will fly from man,
but, generally, be is ready to stand and fight.
One of his modes of attack is to rise upon his
hind feet and advance, gorilla-like, upon his
antagonist, whom he often overpowers by a
blow with his fore paws.

The white bear, brave and ferocious as he is,
finds a fearless fee in the well-trained Esqui-
maux hunter. We have witnessed Netek’s
attack on the two struggling in the hold of the
old brig Oscar, and now he was called upon to
face another, this time on a floating iceberg.

The young Innuit did not hesitate a moment,
but dashed at the bear and, adroitly avoiding
his fore paws, drove the seal lance deep into his
breast! A owl of .mintilred rage and pain
burst from t o monsters oat. and he would

 

have broken the lance if it had not been skill-
fully withdrawn. A stream ot blood flowed
from the wound, and crimsoned the snow at the
bear’s feet.

Ned and Dick joined in the attack with their
boat-hooks, but they could not inflict much

injury on the huge creature, who was still'

being vi orously assaulted by the boy Esqui-
maux. hey, however, diverted the bear’s
attention to themselves, and gave Netek an
opportunity to get in some telling thrusts.

All at once to the surprise of all the polar
turned and dashed away.

“ Hol m'nnoo runs!” cried Netek derisively.
“The seal lance touches him in a tender spot,
and he cries like an Innuit pappoosel But he
shall not escape us, brothers 1’

“Let him go,” cried Dick clutching Netek’s
arm as he s rung after the bear already on the
retreat. “ t us turn our attention to the fire
on shore.”

“ Not while nin'noo runs away on four legs!”
was the response, and the young Innuit broke
from Dick’s grasp and sprung after his prey.

The polar seemed to care for nothing but
escape. His blood reddened the snow as he
bounded over the uneven trail, and Netek,
spear in hand, soon came up with him.

“ Ninma is a coward!” cried the boy. “He

will not stand and fight like a brave bear,‘

but he runs from a boy with an old seal lance.
Ninnoo ought to be a baby awuk.”*

Netek soon came up with the retreating polar
and delivered several severe thrusts which
brought him to bay. The bear turned. with a
snappish growl which told that he had lost all
patience; he had determined to put an end to
the combat.

The Innuit was hardly prepared for the sud-
den turn and change of tactics, and the bloody
mouth of the monster was at his head before
he could sprin" aside.

“Look outfiNetekl” shouted Ned who, with
Dick, was coming up as rapidly as possible.
“ Nimwo is going to put an end to the fight."

The seal lance shot at the polar’s throat, but
entered his mouth and was crunched by the
powerful molars in the twinkling of an eyel

N etek withdrew the useless shaft with an ex-
pression of chagrin and quickly sprung asule
to avoid being crushed by the great claws. Ned
was fearful that the Innuit’s time had come,
for the bear seemed on the point of descending
upon him. Quick as a flash the American boy
aimed a blow at the polar with his hatchet, and
the weapon struck its intended target on the
lower aw, breaking it completely. '

If ed had not thus interfered, Netek would
have been at the me cy of the bear, for the
Innuit had stumbled ver a cake of ice and
fallen to the ground.

“Much glad, brother!” he exclaimed as he
recovered, and faced the bear with one of the
steel-pointed boat-hooks which he took from
Dick’s hand. .

But bruin was not disposed to continue the
struggle; the blow on the jaw had disabled him
so far as his biting and crunching were con-
cerned. and again he resumed his re

0; youngwalflll.

The  Boy Whalers.

 

This time Ned and Dick held the eager Netek I
back, and the polar was permitLed to disappear
in the direction of the waterspout unpursued.
He soon vanished from the si ht of all, and the
boys went back to the crag mm which they
had seen the fire on the mainland.

The light was still brilliant, and fell on the
glittering sides of the berg, rendering them
beautiful beyond human description. The ex-
plorers could see figures about the fire, but Whe-
ther they were Esquimaux or white men, they
could not determine. It was not probable that.
they were the latter, for no expedition was
known to be in the far North at that time, and
Ned and Dick believed as they gazed that they
were a tribe ’of Innuits whose acquaintance
with white men was limited.

The iceberg was drifting through the Polar
Sea at the rate of five miles an hour, and on a
line parallel with the coast. The firing of Dick’s
fowhng—piece had not been responded to by any
signal from the shore, and the boys were ready
to admit that it had not been heard.

They still occupied the clifl and regarded the
fire with a great deal of interest. They no
longer doubted that it had been kindled among
the remains of the viking’s ship which the tide
had carried ashore; but where had the old hulk

uestion.

b so lon ?
ea" g _ I Netek shook his
10 r.

This was Ned’s
head and pointed to

“Brother Dick knows good many things;
him tell mebbe,” said the Esquimaux.

“I confess myself puzzled,” smiled Dick.
“It may have been i nibedded in an iceberg all
these years and loosened by some late great
thaw or by an arctic earthquake. You have
heard. Ned, of the mammoth the Russian sailor
found in the ice many years a o. It had been
there thousands of years, pro ably but a pro-
tracted thaw exposed it, and w en it fell
down, the sailor’s dogs and the wolves of the
country feasted on the remains.

“But the rats we found in the old galley?”
queried Ned. ’ .

“ Av! there’s the rub !” laughed Dick. “ They

'got on board somehow in late years, for, of

course, while the ship was entomhed in the ice(

they could not havo existed. We will take the
rat problem to Nantucket to puzzle our old
professors.”

“ If we are so lucky as to transport ourselves
back to 4he old place,” was the quick and seri-
ous rep”

“ We’ll do that, for see. the wind has changed
and we are drifting toward the shore.”

Dick’s observation called a cry of joy from
Ned Manly's throat, and he turned to test its
accuracy. By keeping his eye awhile on a cer-.
tain bright star in the firmament, he me
convinced- that aveering of the wind had al-
tered the course of the berg.

The were actually moving shoreward, a1-
thong slowly, but that was enough.

The fire was fast dying out, as if the supply
of fuel had failed. The skies overhead were
dark again, and the light, which had added an
unwanted brilliancy to the peaks of their berg,
was playing there no longer. Almost directly
overhead shone the Pole Star, and Dick could

their fur-lined jumper- hoods.

 

not repress a sigh when he thought of the few

dtegmee which separated them from the Pole
1 se

With much anxiety the. explorers watched the
course of their berg. and presentl felt assured
that it would convey them to Ian .

Suddenly a harsh, grating voice from below,
and a trembling of the entire berg almost threw
them from their feet. A moment later the
watelrspout ceased to throw a. thick stream sky—
war . v

f‘ We are grounding I” cried Ned. “The berg
Will not be able to beach on the shore proper. It
is too bad!”

Before the boy finished aking the huge
berg stood still, but not unti it had quivered
from peak to base, and sent a number of top-
pling crags into the water.

The boys crouched under the heavy edge of
their clifl', while a perfect rain of gigantic ice—
rocks fell over them, and splashed the cold Sea
into foam. ,

They were still a quarter of a mile from land,
and it was evident that the berg would a -
proach no nearer, for it was completely beached
-—flrmly grounded, rhaps a thousand feet be-
low the surface of e sea.

Theycould see the white outlines of the shore,
the broken articles of ice that lined it, and the
cliffs some i‘tance back. A few flickering'em-
hers were all that remained of the fire—barely ‘
enough to mark the spot where it had been.

“We must remain here till daylight,” said
Ned. “ If there are people ashore we can then
make them see us. o-night we can do noth-
me.

To this conclusion all had to come. and a
warm place under the lee side of a cliff had to
be sought. One was finally found. but it was
not quite deep enough. The hatchete of the
boys came to their rescue, and the bed in the
ice was made lar e and snug enough for all. ‘

The silence o the arctic night 'now fell
around them. The sea seemed waveless, so far
as sound was concerned, and, as the waterspout
had ceased to roar because the bersir had ground-
ed the quiet was awe-striking. The birds that
still flew seemed to have lost the' ower of mak-‘
ing a noise. They darted like lack meteors
from above, and skimmed the tops of the waves,
:3 riiturn with wet beaks to 'the dizzy elite of y.

e erg. ’

Ned and Dick watched them from beneath
Nearer and
nearer to their bed darted the night-birds. At
last one became so hold that Dick seized a boat-
hook and struck madly at it. .v

With a scream that sounded intense] loud
through the awful stillness. the bird fell utter-
mg down the clifi’, and Ned, who leaned over
the brink and held his breath, heard ltstrike
this wtateas many feet below. :

nsan y asifb ma 'c ever birdd
appeared. ’ y g ’ y , ‘

CHAPTER XV.
ma CANNIBALfi or m row.

NOTHING (ccurred durin the night to die-
turb the slumbers of the ting! andhunery party
of three huddled together under the clifl’.

When they opened their eyes they saw no

..~ new“. I ... r...

 

 

26

The Lost Boy Whale".

 

sun and not a sign of morning, save the ivory
gulls which were gleaming the sea in flocks of
thousands. A heavy fog enveloped the shore,
and the waves had a fresher motion than they
had the night before.

The berg was still immovably grounded, so

’fixed that wind and tide combined could not
shake it.

Netek scaled the cliffs and brought back three

oung gulls for breakfast. They cooked the
birds with the last moss left, and found them
well worth eating.

In the midst of the re ast Ned sudden] nt-
tered a shout and pointe excitedly tower the
shore. All were instantly on their feet, gazing
ata fleet of Esquimaux kayaks which had put
off from the mainland.

The boats numbered twenty or more; each
contained a man whose body, or as much of it
as the boys could see, was clad in fur; his
nether limbs were hidden in the kayak, which
was made of walrus hide well lined on the in-
side with fur.

It was evident that the figures of the lost boy
Whalers had been seen by the Innuits, for the
kayaks were swiftly approaching the iceberg—
coming straight toward that quarter from
Which the trio was looking.

“Of what nation are they, Neteki” asked
Ned of the young Esquimaux, who was study-
ing the polar fleet with a great deal of interest.

There was no reply, and Ned did not reprat
his (finestion, for Netek did not seem disposed to
51399 -

When the boats had reached a little fiord at
the foot of the berg, the three boys descended.
Netek w cut down with a good deal of unwilling-
ness as he was afraid to meet the Esquimaux;
but he kept back his thoughts,‘although he could
not deceive Ned, who studied him closely.

Alaniwith the kayak fleet a. koomiak or fe-
males’ oat hsd been seen by the three. This
watercraft was large enough to carry six or
Egg: persons, and was well built and water-

xg .

The propellor of the head kayak was the first
to leap ashore, and the Nantucket boys were
startled on beholding a giant. His skin was a
dirty yellow. and, contrary to the usual cus-
toms of the Esquimaux, his face was tattooed.
His com anions wore bright ornaments in their
ears, an their dress differed materially in cut
from the outer garments of any Innuits ever
described by polar explorers.

“ We have fallen in with a (People never dis-
covered before,” remarked Ne .

“ Why should it surprise you? We are in the
r 0 en Polar Seal" was the reply.

etek excited the curiosny of the sin ular
people as much as Ned and Dick did. hey
turned him round and round, eying him closely
all the time, and frightened the simple fellow
not a little. The boy whalers had resolved that
their comrade shoul suffer no violence at the
hands of the strangers, and kept near for the
purpose of rendering him any assistance he
’ might need. For some minutes the inspection
lasted, and the three boys were motioned to
enter the koomiak, which they did without re-
sistance.
A glance at thmlonz knives which the

 

strangers carried in their belts would have
intimidated the bravest. These weapons were
made of iron. The handles were composed of
walrus ivory, and were rudely ornamented.
The countenances of all denoted hungr; their
eyes had the wild glare of the half-starved man’s, \
and the Nantucket boys shuddered when they
noticed how ravenously the Innuits looked at
their well-rounded bodies.

Had they fallen into the clutches of polar
cannibals?

The koomiak was placed in the midst of the
fleet of kayaks when they set out on the return
to shore. Not an intelligible word had yet been
ipoken by the strangers. Netek, though an

squimaux, was unable to translate their
jargon. '

“ We have fallen into the greatest ril yet,”
whispered Ned to Dick. “ I am convmced that
we are in the hands of the cannibals of the
Pole. They look as though they have not
tasted food for a month, unless they have
feasted on their own kind.

Dick did not reply, but kept his gaze fixed
thoughtfully on the shore which they were
re i ly approaching.

hey soon discovered that the fire which they
had seen the night before had been kindled with
ieces of the old Norse galley, which the this
ad carried ashore after being crushed by the
iceberg.

The strangers jumped from their kayaks
which they drew upon the beach, and hurried
the boys inland as fast as their limbs could
carry them. The journey did not end for an
hour, when a villa e of ice huts, or igloos, burst
upon the sight of a l.

A shout sent up by the chief drew forth the
gaunt population of the place—thin half-
starved women and children. Not a 0g was
to be seen.

A few well-picked reindeer heads lay around,
and here and there a cracked bone, all of which
told to what a desperate strait the village had
been reduced.

Apart frpm the largest roup of igloos stood
one a good deal larger t n the others. and
toward this the trio were hurried. The chief of
their captors kept back the frantic women who
seemed ready to tear them piecemeal, for a
horrible purpose revealed by their looks.

The young adventurers were motioned into
the low entrance to the igloo, and they crawled
down an ice corridor until they found them~
selves in a large chamber, well lighted because
its walls were great blocks of almost transparent
ice. A sense of warmth pervaded the place,
and Ned mechanically sought a fire, but none
showed itself.

They were left captives here for many
minutes, during which time they heard angry
voices on the outside. A fierce debate was going
on; their lives trembled in the balance.

Netek listened but could not catch a word
that sounded familiar, and the uimaux was
obliged to admit that they had fallen into the
Rows: of a people of whom he had never

ear .

All at once the council outside terminated,
and the captives of the North Pole canmbals
heard some one cominz toward them.

 

The Lost Boy mus... ' ‘ 27

 

“Draw i” said Dick, firmly, as he drew his
belt—knife. “If we are to filithe flesh-pots of
these demons of the North let us the with the
courage of Yankee boysi I fear that we have
reached the end of our sail; but let the voyage
of life end for others at the same time!”

These words caused two more knives to _be
drawn, and the three stood in the ice-house With
their eyes fastened on the mouth of the
corridor. -

Seconds seemed minutes, minutes hours.

At last the face of a man appeared at the
end of the corridor of ice and the next moment
he stood» before the breathless three._

“ Ig-lootik has spoken for the white boys and
their companion,’ he said in English that
startled the he s. “ He told the hungry people
that the white ys were wizards who can find
musk oxen and seal wherever they go. Ig-loo—
tik is to take them out on a big hunt to—day,
and they must find food for the lnnuits that
have not tasted meat for seVeral hours.”

“You Woke without authority ” answered
Dick. “ 'e are not wizards, an we cannot
find name where none has been seen for months.”

“White boys must hunt with Ig-loo-tikl”

“ What if we should come back empty-
.handed?” ' '

Ig-loo-tik came up to the little party With
one stride, and his hand fell upon Dick’s shoul-

der.

“ You must go on the big hunt with Ig-loo-
tik,”he said, in an earnest tone. “Your very
existence depends on this. I want you to trust
me. I am Seth Bascom from Nantucket, and
I have been with these people twelve ears i”

If a thunderbolt had fallen at the eet of the
boy Whalers they would have been none the less
startled.

They sprung back with ejaculations of amaze-
ment.

“ We are Nantucket boys i” said Ned.

“ Thank Heaven 1” was the response in joyful
tones. “ I believe I have been ke t alive in
this white land for the purpose 0
you. You will hunt with me now?”

“Yes, yes!"

“ Let us be of! at once. I have told my tribe
you were wizards. I want to prove in. Comel
Call me Ig-loo-tik, but know that under my
coat beats the heart of Seth 38500111 from old
Nantucket!”

CHAPTER XVI.
err ros NANTUCKET!
THE boys no longer hesitated to follow the
man whose cunning was trying to save them
ffom the fury of the cannibals of the polar Cir-

succoring

 

c 9.

All needed Ereparations for the hunt were
soon made, an Ig-loo-tik led the young adyen-
tui'ers from the village. As they glided rapidly
over the frozen crust of the su ow, Ned told the
story of their trials since the strange disap-
pearance of the Belle of Nantucket, an acci-
dent which the reader will readily recall. Bas-
com listened with a greatfleal of interest.

“ I had a. similar experience,” he said, at the
conclusion or Ned’s narrative. “ A little more
than twelve years ago, the Whaler Porpmse, Cap.
toinJolly.enteredthatsametatalsheetot water

i

in search of white rm whales. We sighted
~one and sent out the ate, but during their ab-
sence a. mighty fish—I do not say it was a.
whale, mind goo, boys—struck the Porpoise .
three times an sent her to the bottom. But
onevflfth of the men esca ed with their lives,
and I was among them. e knew not where
to _go, for we were without a compass. Our
guide .was the Pole Star alone. After terrible
sufferings which lasted thirty days, the living
few were picked up by a hunting- arty of In-
nuits and taken to their country. here we be-
came members of the tribe, and you see before
you the sole survivor of the old ship Pox-poise.
For twelve years I have been in life, name, and
habits, an squimaux. Seth Bascom has been
lg-loo—tik, the Seal-killer though since this aw-
ful famine has existed, I confess that but few
seals have I speared. They seem to have left
their old ground, and not a bear or other ani-
mal have we seen these many days.

Though we have not given all of Bascom’s
story as it fell from his lips, the reader has been
made acquainted with enough of it for the pur-
poses ot our narrative. , ‘ ,

The Nantucket sailor no lon ger looked like an
American. His twelve years’ life among the
Esquimaux had almost completely altered his
appearance. The boys would never have sus-
fiected that he had once reeled the sails of a

antucket whaler. ‘ ‘

He told the party that the tribe to which he
belonged dwelt on the shores of the great Open

Sea of the arctic regions, that at certain seasons \

of the year strangely warm winds swept across
its bosom, and it was a tradition among the
tribe that they blew from warm countries on
the other side of the globe. He, too, had seen
the viking’s ship of late years, and he ventured
the opinion that it had drifted from [the icy wa-
ters of the Asiatic side. There were fish in’the
Open Sea. whose scales were as large as his band,
and a species of narwhal which had twoswords,
one of which seemed barbed like a sealer’s
lance. None of these sea-monsters, Bascom
said, had ever been caught, but it was certain
that they existed, for two broken swords had
been found in the carcass of a whale which the
North Sea Innuits had killed.

The hunting party pursued a southerly route.
from the Village. .Bascom seemed anxious to
reach a certain point. as soon as possible, but
the boys did not question his ea erness. They
could not forget the dogs and s edge, with its
precmus contents, which they were compelled
to abandon at the mouth of the strange can on.
Ned would have told Bascom about it, but let
prevented saying that it was best to let the old
sailor have his own way for the present.

Bascom had provided himself with two kipo-
lcut-tas before setting out from, the village.
I‘hese are little rods of whalebone not larger
than common knitting-needles, but, small as
the are, the Es uimaux sealer cannot get along
wit cut them. etch at once re nized .the
little rods. and took the one Bascom o ered him. _,
It was about thirty inches in length and had an
iron point as sharp as a. sewing needle’s: the _
other end had a string about two feet in length,

 

to which in turn was attached a. small ,
Thesesealsiznalswerethc first Nod and Bid .

 

 

28

had ever seen,
much curiosity.

Two hours after leaving the Innuit village
and its starving inhabitants, Bascom halted and
told the adventurers that they had. reached the
old sealin grounds of the North. An arm of
the Open olar Ocean lay beneath them, and all
around was ice and snow.

Bascom told how many nights he had spent
on these grounds watching for seal, how often
he had been compelled to go back to the village
with the same story of non-success, to he greet-
ed with cries and groans from the starving wo-
men and children in the igloos.

“ The seal ought to be here now,” he said.
“ They used to come here in great numbers just
«before the winter Set in, but shiver my top-
lights! if we have sighted one for months."

An examination of the snow now began. The
Nantucket boys were instructed how to recog-
nize seal signs, and the reader will not doubt
the meal they displayed in the search.

Suddenly a light cry from Dick drew the
others to im.‘ The ho had discovered what
he had taken for a sea -hole, and he held his
breath‘while Bascom examined it.

“ You’d make a good hunter, Mr. Minen,”
said the old sailor.

“ Then it is a seal-hole?”

“ Nothing more nor le.”

The joy of the little party cannot be de-
scribed. Bascom could hardly restrain his de-
light as he lowered his kipe-kuf-ta into the hole
and got his spear ready. How breathlesst all
waited for the reappearance of the animal, and
how hawk—eyed the sailor regarded his si all
,An hour passed away; no sea]. Netek g ided
01! and was soon seen fixing his signal in a spot
not far away.

All at once Bascom’s right arm carried the
sealing-spear aloft, for somethin beneath the
ice had lifted the light kipe-kut- a. The next
instant the lance shot downward under the
snow, and a dull thud told that the blow was a
telling onel At once the coil of rope in Bas-

‘ com’s left hand began to run out, and a loud
about of joy'buist from the old whaler’s throat!
The seal seemed bent on trying the length of
Bascom’s line, for he had made for deep water;
but the sailor’s coil was of more than ordinary
laugh, and he paid it out with dexterity as fast
as t 9 animal wanted it.

Netek, who had met with no success at his
hole, bounded to the whaler’s side and with his
pelong (long knife) fell to removing the deep
snow around the seal-hole. and with a harpoon
broke and remOVed the ice.

“ Seal come up by and by to breathe.” said
the_young Innuit. “ lg-lootik’s spear fast in
his body him no get loose.”

“ I could not afford to lose this seal,” said the
sailor, and just at that moment he uttered a
cry which caused Netek to drive his harpoon
downward with great force.

The iron barb penetrated the thin skull of the

_ animal, which at that moment had reappeared

at the opening for air, and by the united efforts
of the party, the prize was drawn upon the ice.
and found to be a large male seal which must

and they (xzmined them with 
t

 

have weighed two hundred and fifty unds.
‘ “Thhwonldn’tbeataateforthe e.”re-

The Lost Bay Whalers.

marked Bascom contemplating the seal. “ The
whole of it would disappear in the twinkling of
an eye.”

As the Nantucket boys had not eaten for
some hours, the pieces of raw blubber which
Netek’s pelong cut from the prize were quite ac-
ce table, and the hunger of all was allayecl.

uring the repast a cry burst from the
young Innuit’s throat and he rushed to his seal-
hole. The next moment he was seen to strike
and a shout announced to all that a. second ani-
mal had been sheared.

It proved when taken from the water quite
rs large as Bascom’s, and helped to confirm the
belief that the seals had at last returned to their
old haunts. The day proved a successful one,
for twent seal were speared through the ice.
They ma 9 an immense pile of meat on the
snow, and a cache was made for its preserva-
tion.

“You are wizards of ood luck,” said Bas-
com, addressing Ned and ick. “ I told the In-
nuits that instead of eating you, they would get
to eat seal if they would let me take you out to
hunt. I was not wrong. on seel” And the
laugh of the old sailor fe upon the ears of

i" We will carry some of the meat back with
us. I suppose.” said Dick.

“We are not going back!”

" What 1”

‘i‘ We are going to Nantucket from this

“ And leave the seal in the cache?”

“Yes. It will be found—never fear. The
Esqulmaux come daily to this sealing-ground.
They will find the meat and gorge themselves.
I am Ig-loo-tik no longer, but Seth Bascom
from this time on. To the south! To Nth-
tucketl”

“If we must start from this point, I wish we
could recover our dogs and guns.”

“ Where did you leave them?"

“ At the mouth of an arctic gorge. Where it
is I do not know. The landmarks of this region
are all the same to me. Netek may know some-
thing about it.”

Buscom ea rly questioned the young Esqui-
maux. Nete , like his whiter companions, was
lost in the North Sea region: but a faithfully
described the canyon to the sailor.

“Ahl we shall find itl" he exclaimed.

“ Do you really think so?” asked the boy
whalers ea erly.

“We wil try, at any rate."

When the hunters left the searching grounds
each carried with him a good suppl of meat.
Bascom led the way. Netek and the antucket
bogs trod in his tracks.

n, on they went, a wild, wearisome march
over the white wastes that continualiystretched
before them. The dull day waned and night
was near at hand once more when Ned and
Dick exclaimed simultaneously: “The canyon!
the cliflsl"

Overjoyed at the rediscovery of the place
where they had left sledge and dogs, the boys
darted forward, to stop suddenly, and start
back with cries of disma . ‘

The sledge was there t is true' but crushed
inasifbythehlows of a sledge hammer. and

The Lost Boy Whalers.

 

their blankets and other coverin slittered the
ground for many rods around. ot a dog was
to be seen and the boys were heaping impreca-
tions upon their heads, when the old sailor

s ke.

p‘z-J‘Don’t blame the dogs with all of it!” he
said. “ They may have attacked the provisions.
1 don’t blame them for doing that, for dogs get
hungry. But they didn’t break the sledge."

“What did, then?”

“ Look at those big tracks in the snow.”

The boys obeyed and turned to Bascom a
moment later.

“Bears have visited this spot. They took
what the dogs left and helped themselves to
everything. But thank fortune they left us
one Marstonl” and Dick held up triumphantly
the rifle which he had just drawn from the
snow! ,

Further search revealed the other weapons
and one unbroken ammunition canister, but
the wooden handles of the boat—hooks had been
fihewed up, and the coverlets were full of

0 es.

eth said that the whale-boat could be
patched up and rendered fit for service, but the
boys doubted it, and agreed to let him try his
hand at the task.

Sheltered from the wind in the polar canyon,
the old sailor fell to work, and to the surprise
of all finished before midnight. I

“Now for Nantucket!” he exclaimed.

“Now?”

“ At once!”

The winds seemed asleefi and the Pole Star
possessed an unusual hri iance. The heavens
glittered with lights, and not a sound broke the
stillness of the night.

It was at such an hour that the little part
Set out toward the south, and turned their
backs forever upon the Open Polar Sea.

They dragged the mended whale-boat be-
hind, eager to launch it in warmer waters!

 

CHAPTER XVII.
a PERILOUS SADDLE.

” A TRACK at last! It is not the footprint of
a polar either, for Netek said we would find no
bear in this latitude at this season.”

The boy Whalers stooped and examined the
track in the snow with a great deal of curiosity.

They were far from the canyon from which
they had set out days and weeks before with
the cry of “On to Nantucket.” Rare good
luck had attended them: they had found a dis-
trict that abounded in food, reindeer. arctic
hares and ptarmigan, and were ushing on
with renewed courage, eager to reac an Esqui—
maux settlement before winter came on with
v: or. ’

‘he track before the boys was that of a musk~
ox, an animal which inhabits the Arctic Circle,
and aflords the hunter rare pleasure and not .a
little exciting peril. Netek and Bascom were
not far away, caching a reindeer which the
sailor had killed, and the boysresolved to fol-
low the track which was quite'plain in the
snow. '

They were in one of those snowy valleys

Which are to be found in the far North. Before .

them lays range of hills from whose tons Bas-

 

com thought an Innuitwilla 3 might be sighted.
Presently more tracks of t e same kind were
discovered, and the youn hunters knew that a.
herd of musk-oxen were a end.

They hastened toward the hills which were
covered with a thin coating of red snow. It
was not the first they had seen, and did not excite
their curiosity, for they knew that certain
plants beneath it had communicated to it the
peculiar color it wore.

Cautiously following the track of the musk- I
oxen up the hill, the boy Whalers found them.
selves shut oh‘. from their companions, but took
no note of the circumstance. They were too
eager to bag the noblest horned game in the
North.

“There must be a plain on the other side of
this rise,” said Ned, “ and from you rock we
shall be able to gaze down upon it.”

The “ rock” designated was soon reached,
and the first look that the young Nimrods threw
downward fully rewarded them for all their
caution and tact. _

A short distance below them on a small piece
of table-land. stood a herd at ten musk-oxen.
They were within easy rifle-shot, and presented
splendid targets for a good marksman’s‘ aim.

he boys saw the short legs, handsome horns 7
and long wool of the noble game, and instinc-
tive] raised their rifles.

“ 11 take the big fellow on the left,” whis-
pered Ned. “ Give his com anion the benefit
of your aim. Are you ready ’ I

ick moved his rifle a hair 5 breadth and whis-
pered: “Ready!”

“ Don’t miss now. Fire!”

The two weapons cracked as one piece. Ned’s
ox itched forward, fell on his knees. and then
sun dead upon the snow; but Dick’s turned
with a mad bellow, and charged straight up the
hill followed by the whole herd!

it was evident that the creature was crazed by
the bullet, and did not know what he was doing,
but as he was the leader of the pack, all felt it
their duty to follow him unquestioned.

“Horror!” gasped Ned as he sprung up and
started from the herd now almost upon t em.
“ That was a had shot of yours, Dick—an unfor-
tunate wound! We must fly!”

“ Never!” _

Dick had slipped a new cartridge into the bar.
rel of his Marston, and was pointing it at the
charging herd.

An instant later he fired straight at the low
ered head of the infuriated leader, but as well
might be have aimed at a cannon ball.

“ we can’t stop them i” he cried.

“Of course not. Come 1”

_Ned plunged as fast as his limbs could carry
him down the narrow pass through which they

had traveled to the shooting station, and ick, .
Eggs had not time to reload, hounded a his
. - /

It was a. terrible run for life. for the charging
oxen soon gained the summit and thundere
down upon the boys. A glance behind told the.
twain t . at their situation was desperate. Des-
pite their stunipy legs the musk-oxen came over
the gro_ nd at no slouchin rate of speed. v They
were sti 1 led by the era victim of Dick’s first »
shot, and he seemed to have caught sight of his .
enemy at last. ‘ ,

\ t ,

 

The Lost Boy Whalers.

 

All at once with a cry of horror that struck a
chill to Ned’s heart, Dick stumbled against a
snow-covered ice cake and pitched headlong to
the round.

“ ercyl mercy! I shall be gored to death l’
rung from his throat, as well it might, for the
herd was upon him.

Ned turned to his comrade’s assistance only
to see the head animal charge Dick with low-
ered head and blazing eyeballs.

A second later the unfortunate boy was lifted
from the ground and borne onward at the van
of the long—wooled demons!

Ned gave him up for lost, and to save himself
was compelled to hug the rocks of the gorge,
and breathe a prayer for safety. He shut his
e es as he hugged the barren rocks, nor opened
t em until the herd had passed him and were
thundering across the open land beyond.

Where was Dick?

Ned ran forward and looked in the direction
taken by the mad beasts. He saw them far
away, evidently as furious as ever, for, as he
gazed, the whole herd disappeared!

“They must have dropped Dick somewhere

' on the trail. I will not desert the boy 1”

He started down the track made in the snow
by the arctic bisons, and followed it a long dis-
tance until his limbs grew weak and despair
tugged at his heart.

Dick was not to be seen!

Ned-stood bewildered and wretched in the

new.

Could it be that he and Dick had been sepa-
rated forevvr?

“ I will go on to the end!” he exclaimed, with
resolution. “ One Nantucket boy must not de-
sert another and leave him to his fate.” ’

He was about to resume the trail when a
about made him look back toward the hills.
Netek and Seth were coming ug.

Ned waited for them with a eavy heart.

“Where Dick, boy i” asked the young Innuit.

Ned’s reply was the story of the fatal musk-
ox hunt. Bascom and Netek listened atten-
tively.

“Dick is in a pretty predicament, but we will
find him,” said the old sailor. “I rode a whale
once, and I’d sooner ride a dozen than one
arctic ox!"

These words did not reassure Ned Manly, but
he still hoped that Dick would be found safe
not far away.

Bascom led the hunt, which led in a south-
easterly direction. A line of hills rose before
and these they were obliged to scale.

“ Look yonder! a ship frozen in the ice 1” sud-
denly cried Ned.

The old sailor and Netek uttered exclama-
tions of surprise.

“ I can hardly believe my eyes,” said Bascom,
and, as the three gazed at the unexpected sight
of a large ship frozen in in that latitude, Dick
Mizzen seemed to have been torgotten.

 

I , CHAPTER XVIII.
« 3 CK mom rm: OPEN em.
THE trio 5 forgetfulness of their comrade did
not last long. '
Ned was the first to call them back to Dick’s

 

distressing situation, and the trail of the musk
oxen was resumed.

The ship seemed to lie three miles westward
from the point of discovery, and in full view
from the trail of the herd. Baseom continually

lanced in that direction, but Ned and Netek
fooked ahead and at the trail before them.

All at once the young Esquimaux uttered a
strange cry and pomted at the snow..

There was blood upon the trampled surface,
but whether Dick’s or the ox’s no one could
tell.

“ Forward! faster i” cried Ned. “ I feel that
our trail is to end very soon.”

The hunters alarmed by the stain on the
snow pressed on with new vigor. A ,few
moments afterward a shout came down from a
point overhead and all sto ped and looked up.

“ Dick! alive!" shouted ed. and Bascom and
Netek echoed his or of joy.

On the summit o the trail which they were
following, over a line of iced hillocks, stood
Dick Mizzen, apparently unhurt.

“ Come up and help yourselves to ox-steaks l”
he exclaimed. “I have some juicy ones at the
foot of the slope behind me—steaks, which you
will say, have been earned.”

The joyful parties soon met again, and Dick
was obliged to relate his adventure.

“When I stumbled and fell in the snow,” he
said, "I gave myself up for lost, for, as I
turned to rise, the musk-ox, wounded by In
first shot, was upon me. He came at me wit
lowered head and bloodshot eyes! full of rage.
The next moment I found mysel clear of the
ground, clin ing frantically to his horns. He
tried to she e me off, but I managed to get
astride of his neck, to which I held in spite of
his efforts to relieve himself of his rider. 1 was
now in the midst of the plunging herd, and
then at its head. I dared not let go, for to have
done so, would have been the e d of me. Under
the feet of the mad herd and by their horns, I
would have been killed in a moment! At last
my novel steed was forced to the rear by the
band, for he was growing weaker, and no
longer able to keep pace with the others. Still
he Kept on, and I determined to attempt to put
an end to the matter.

“I drew my belt-knife, and holding by one
hand to the ox’s long wool, I leaned to one side
for the pur se of striking a. blow at his heart.
For severe moments I could get no chance to
accomplish my purpose, for the wounded ox,
suspecting my intention, would strike fiercely
at me with his horns. At length, howeverz I
dealt a blow which drove my knife to the hilt
in the animal’s side. We were then at this spot,
the summit of the traiL A certain sign told
me that my blow was a telling one; but the ox
managed to keep h's feet, though he went
sta ering down the lope. He fell at its foot
an succeeded in escaping bein smashed by
his-great body. The herd dashe on. If they
had turned on me I am sure I would have fallen
a victim to their fury, for m wild ride and
peril had an ed me. I t nk Heaven for
my narrow escape. Yonder lies the ox,”
finished Dick, ointlng down the hill. “ He is
a fine large 1 ow—one fit to be the" leader of
the herd. ‘

<  wee—w--

     
  
  
    
 
 
  
  
  
   
  
 
 
   
   
   
  
  
   
  
  
   
   
  
   
    
   
   
    
   
   
 
   
  
   
    
   
   
  
  
  
   
   
  
  
     
       
   
       

aw-.. a--- -.._ 

W'vfivwc‘w-Inr— ' w--—~+vv"w V—‘~‘ "I" *- '~"‘ ‘ +‘

The Lo‘n no)? Whalers. \ 31

The four went down and found the musk-ox
in the snow. He was dead. '

" We have made a thrilling discovery, Dick!”
suddenly exclaimed Ned.

“ The ship?”

“ You saw it, then t” _

“It burst suddenly on my sight during my
wild ride. Iam sure I saw smoke ascending
above the forecastle.”

The musk-ox was cached where it had fallen,
and the party set out for the ship frozen in m
the ice. Their feelings cannot be described as
the neared the veSSel and saw smoke issuing,
as ick had said, from her forecastle.

All at once several figures appeared on the
ship’s side, and their numbers were increased to
fifteen or twenty as the adventurers kept on.

“Ship ahoy, there l” shouted Seth Bascom, in
g cllfar, good-natured voice, and the cry come

no :

“ Ahoy there, yourself.”

“Yankees, by Jingo!” cried the old sailor.
“ I reckon we’ll find some Nantucket tars on the
old craft.”

A few minutes after the quartette stood on
the ship’s deck surrounded by a lot of white
men clad in fur garments after the manner of
the Esquimaux. ‘

“ What ship’s this?” asked Seth.

“ The inde endent whaler Arctic."

“From 01 Nantucket?”

“If you please, sir!”

Bascom’s shout could have been heard a mile.

“Whar are we?” he inquired when he could
control his enthusiasm.

“In Barrow Strait, a little north of Cape
Hay.”

“ Not far from Bafiin Bay! Wal. this beats
all creation. You fellows look hearty; must
have been living south of Starvation Line.”

.“Game has been plenty ever since we were
nipped by the fines and frozen in,” was the
reply. “ We hope to fare well until the ice
opens for us to get into the bay, again. We
have been here a long time during which we
have seen no white man excepting three Danes.
who crossed our track a few months ago. They
were pitiable objects, the survivors of a Danish
whaler which got nipped somewhere about
Melville Island.”

“ The Oscar!” exclaimed Ned and Dick in
one breath.

“That was the name of the brig,” replied the
narrator. “ They left the wlmler with nine or
ten men for Tasnavik, but their dogs get unruly
and left them to plod along on foot.. A snow-
storm caused the loss of all their instruments
and from that time their sufferings were in-
tenle- W3 saw them our dogs, as they would
go on; and by our assistance they were enabled
to reach the nearest Esquimaux settlement to
us, on North Devon Land, where there is a
Danish ship frozen in.”

“Thank fortunel”e aculated Ned. “I trust
one of those men was ‘hristian Olanson."

“ He was the spokesman of the little party.”

The trials of the boy Whalers had come to an

THE

end at last. for good quarters awaited them on
board the Arctic, and they found friends among
the American sailors.

Their tales about the Open Polar Sea were
hardly credited by the Whalers, and Dick offered
to lead a party to its shores. ’

“ We can avoid the cannibals of the North,”
he said, “for I have no desire to encounter
them again. The seal we left in the cache for
them may have turned their tastes from human
flesh, although the supply will not last them all
winter.”

Dick's proposition was not accepted, and he
did not renew it. . '

Of the hunting incidents that followed the
little party’s arrival on board the Whaler, we
will not speak. They became experts in seal-
spearing and walrus—catching long before the
dreary polar winter ended, and many were the
trophies of their prowess which they preserved
for transportation to Nantucket. ~

One day the ice in Barrow Strait broke up
with a. crash, and with a loud cheer the old
Arctic was afloat once more. _

The American flag was run up to 'her mizzen

eak, and as she shot into the wider waters of
aflin Bay. the cold breezes of the north
straightened its glorious folds.

The boy Whalers were homeward bound!

Behind them were the gallant crew of the
Belle of Nantucket—lost forever in the ice-
locked oceans of the frozen circle—their valiant
dog-team, and all the perils they had encouns
tered and triumphed over. Behind them, too,
was the Open Sea, whose mystery no living
man has fathomed. Whether it reaches to the
Pole, or is bounded on the north by impenetra~
ble barriers of ice, no living mortal knows. I
the log of the viking's ship could be resurrected .
and read, it might solve the problem which
may forever trouble the world.

Nantucket” accompanied by a person who was
a great curiosity there—Notch, the young seal-
huntor of the Polar Sens.

Seth Bascom was looked upon by his compan-
ions as one risen from the dead, and a hundred
times was he called upon to tell the story of the
loss of the Pox-poise. .

Ned and Dick have been pretty effectually
cured of their love of whaling in northern
waters, but Dick has a plan for reaching the
Pole which he advances whenever he gets a
chance. -

Just what it is we have not space to explain,
but suflice it to say that he believes that the Open
Sea he saw stretches to the Pole itself. He finds
many believers in his theory, and I would not

tion toward the Pole some day.
N ed takes but little stock in Dick’s hobby. ‘

 

«

END.

Ned Manly and Dick Mizzen returned to “old . ' V

be surprisedto hear of him leading an expedi- ' ' ‘

 

 

 

POCKET EDITION

I

1 Deerhunter, the Boy Scout of the Great
North Woods. By 0] Coomes.

2 Bull‘alo Bill, from Boyhood to Man-
hood. By 001. Prentiss Inzraham.

3 Kit Xian-son, King of Guides. By Albert

. l en.

4 Gordon Lillie, the Boy-Into reter of
the Pawnees. By Ma'or H. B. toddard.

5 Bruin Adams, 01 Grizzly’s Boy
Pard. B Colonel Prentiss Ingrahem.

6 Deadwoo Dick as a Boy. By Ed-
ward L. Wheeler.

'1 Wild Bill, the Pistol Prince. By Colonel
Prentiss Ingraham.

8 The Prairie Ranch. By Joseph E.
Badger, Jr.

9 Roving Joe: The History of a “Bor-
der Boy." By A. H. Post.

10 Te xae Jack, the Mustang King. By Col.
Prentiss Ingraham.

ll Charley skylark. A Story of School-
dey Serepes and College Capers. By
Maj. H. B. Stoddard.

12 Muripoua Marsh. By J. E. Badger Jr.

13 Roving Ben. By John J. Marshall.

14 SFrillg Steel, King ofthe Bush. By Joe.

' .. Bidger, .Ir.

15 \Vlde-.\ wake George, the Boy Pio-

. neer. By Elwarcl Willett.

16 The Boy \Vlzard. By Barry Ringiold.

17 Peter Pepper-grass. the Green cm
from Gotham. By Noah Null.

18 Adrift on the Prairie. and Ant.-
teur Hunters on the Bufl‘aio
Range. By 011 Conmes.

19 The Fortune Hunter; or. Roving
Joe as Miner. Cowboy, Trapper and Hun-
ter. By A. H. Post.

20 Trapper Tom, the Wood Imp. By T.
C. Hurbuugh.

21' Yellow Hair. the Boy Chief of the
Pawnees. B Col. Prentiss ln ahnm.

22 The snow ' rail. By T. C. urbeugh.

23 old Grizzly Adams, the Bear Tamer.
By Dr. Frank Powell.

24 \Vuods and Waters. By Capt. F.

Stone: Incidents in the

Whittaker.

25 A Rollllg‘
Cereer on Sea. and Land of Col. Prentiss
Ingrahem. By Wm. B. Eyster.

/32 OCTAVO PAGES. PRICE, 5 CE

 

\\
NTS. /

26 need River Rovers. By C. Dunning

27 Piaza’and Plain - or, WildA
v of “ Buckskin Sam?" (Maj. Salniguftlfifia)
By Col. Prentiss Ingraham.
28 Th1? Sftaolrtlia Plt'inee. The Romantic
e o 0. one er . B ‘
29 ‘wmmlklelr. y y Captain Fred.
. now-S oe Tom. B T.C.H ‘h .
30 Paul de Lacy, the Fre¥1ch Beasilcfisigrg-
er. By C Dunning Clark.
31 Round the Camp Fire. By Joseph
32 “Edgang Jr'
to eaver the Indian Medi '
Chief. By Col. Pr’entiss Ingrnham. mm
33 The_ Eloy Crusader. By Captain F'.
r

itta e .
34 Tel? Chagecof the great White
. ag an an: a ,
35 032.113.591.11: Clark]: " canoe" By
' ar nue e and Hi
hump. By Roger Starbuck. . Boy
36 Tslge Datinginga Drangog; or, The
0 0 en. eor e . .
 Fred. Whittake‘rg': “Star By
37 Nit: It-liawk George. By Colonel
38 leeniiiss In ruliiim.
e oy ‘x on of Siberi . .
C. Harbeugl. r a ByT
39 The Young Bear Hunters. By
40 sMOl'l'l': giedwifig. L
mar . m e adw'th :
41 T1? Efidwaad Wine“. l aLevel Hind.
e . ett er a Son. B_ Ed. 8. .
42 Welt Ferguson’s Cruise. Egg? C
43 n‘ii“"‘"“§‘i£‘" l ‘
e an evo yer. B . .
Whittaker. y cam Frea
44 The Lost Boy Whalers. By T. C.
Harbaugh. , .
45 Bronco Billy. the Saddle Prince. By
001. Prentiss Ingraham.
46 Dick, the Stowaway. ’By Charles
Morris.
47 The Colorado Bo n' or, Lif,
Indigo Plantation. By’IIos. E. Balfiggrr.‘ 31
48 The Pampas Hunters; or, New

York Bo s in Buenos A re‘. B ‘
Harbeugh. y b y T“ ("

Beadle’s Boy’s Library istor sale by all Newsdenlers, live cents per copy; or gen? > I
by mail, on receipt of six cents each. ' / 

BEADLE AND flDAMS, Publishers,
119. 98 William St., New [Ironing