The second mate, who had been taking a hasty glance at the various huts of the village, selected two of the largest as a lodging for his men, and having divided them into two gangs, ordered them to turn in and sleep as hard as possible.

“S’pose we may sup first?” said Summers in a whining tone of mock humility.

“In coorse you may,” answered Tom Green, giving the lad a push that upset him in the snow.

“Come here, Buzzby, I want to speak to ’ee,” said Saunders, leading him aside.  “It seems to me that the Esquimaux canna be very far off, and I observe their tracks are quite fresh in the snow leadin’ to the southward, so I mean to have a night march after them; but as the men seem pretty weel tired I’ll only take two o’ the strongest.  Who d’ye think might go?”

“I’ll go myself, sir.”

“Very good; and who else, think ’ee?  Amos Parr seems freshest.”

“I think Tom Green’s the man wot can do it.  I seed him capsize Davie Summers jist now in the snow; an’ when a man can skylark, I always know he’s got lots o’ wind in ’im.”

“Very good.  Then go, Buzzby, and order him to get ready, and look sharp about it.”

“Ay, ay, sir,” cried Buzzby, as he turned to prepare Green for the march.

In pursuance of this plan, an hour afterwards Saunders and his two followers left the camp with their sleeping-bags and a day’s provisions on their shoulders, having instructed the men to follow with the sledge at the end of five hours, which period was deemed sufficient time for rest and refreshment.

For two hours the trio plodded silently onward over the ice-belt by the light of a clear, starry sky.  At the end of that time clouds began to gather to the westward, rendering the way less distinct, but still leaving sufficient light to render travelling tolerably easy.  Then they came to a part of the coast where the ice-belt clung close to a line of perpendicular cliffs of about three miles in extent.  The ice-belt here was about twenty feet broad.  On the left the cliffs referred to rose sheer up several hundred feet; on the right the ice-belt descended only about three feet to the floes.  Here our three adventurous travellers were unexpectedly caught in a trap.  The tide rose so high that it raised the sea-ice to a level with the ice-belt, and, welling up between the two, completely overflowed the latter.

The travellers pushed on as quickly as possible, for the precipices on their left forbade all hope of escape in that direction, while the gap between the ice-belt and the floes, which was filled with a gurgling mixture of ice and water, equally hemmed them in on the right.  Worse than all, the tide continued to rise, and when it reached half-way to their knees, they found it dangerous to advance for fear of stepping into rents and fissures which were no longer visible.

“What’s to be done noo?” inquired Saunders, coming to a full stop, and turning to Buzzby with a look of blank despair.