Presently the Esquimaux chief approached the captives, who had been drawn close together on their sleds.  The leader of the natives had in his hands some queer looking stuff.  At a sign from him several of the other Esquimaux loosened the bonds that bound the prisoners.

“Um!” grunted the chief.  “Um!  Um!” At least his words sounded like that.

“I guess he wants us to eat,” said the professor.

He took some of the food the Esquimaux chief held out.  The stuff did not look very inviting, about as much like cold fat as anything.  The professor bit into it.

“It’s good!” he exclaimed.  “It’s chopped up meat and suet, and it’s cooked!  Eat it!”

They all did, for they were very hungry and cold.  Then the captives were bound again, the dogs were harnessed, and the journey was resumed.  The sun still shone, though it was getting late, but the prisoners were all sleepy, for, by the run of hours, it was now night.

On and on went the sleds.  Jack had dozed off, when he was aroused by a shout.  He raised his head to look about him, and was filled with terror at what he saw.

The sled he was on, as well as all the others, was coasting down a great hill of ice at fearful speed!  The dogs were gone, and the fleet of sleighs, under their own weight, were dashing down the Mountainous side of a great glacier!

CHAPTER XVI

THE STRANGE WOMAN AIDS

“Professor!  Professor!” cried Jack.  He saw the sled on which the old inventor was lashed close to him.

“Eh!  Yes!  What is it?” asked the old man, sticking his head out from under the fur robe.

“They have set us adrift down the mountain and we’ll be killed!”

The boy struggled to free himself from his bonds.  The professor, raising his head and realizing the danger, did likewise.

But the tough walrus hide was too tightly drawn.  The captives, if they went to their deaths, would go bound and unable to help themselves.  In terror Jack glanced on either side of him.  To his surprise he noticed that not only were the sleds of himself and his comrades going down the hill, but the vehicles of all the Esquimaux as well.

“Can an accident have happened?” he asked himself.  “Or have they all gone crazy?  This beats me.”

Faster and faster went the sleighs.  Showers of ice splinters flew up on either side of the bone runners.  The wind whistled past Jack’s face.  Then, as a sled of one of the natives shot near to Jack’s, the boy noticed that the Esquimaux’s face was calm, and he was smiling a bit.

“This doesn’t look as if he was going to be killed,” reasoned the boy.  But the speed of the sleds never slackened and Jack was much afraid, as were the other prisoners.

But at length, with a swish and a whizz, the sleighs shot around a curve, and slid out on a broad expanse of smooth ice.  Off jumped the natives, laughing and chatting.  Then Jack realized the truth.