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

Suddenly his attention was attracted to something which made him stare in astonishment and wonder.  Near the water’s edge, and extending back from the water for a considerable distance, there appeared innumerable dark objects, some lying quiet upon the ice, others moving slowly about.

“Seals!” exclaimed Bobby.  “Seals!  Hundreds—­thousands of them!  I can get one now before they take to the water!  They’re too far back to get to the water before I can get at them!”

And scrambling down from the hummock he set out as fast as he could go, highly excited at the prospect of food that had so suddenly come to him.

“Oh, if I can get one!” he said as he ran, “if I can only get one!  God help me to get one!”

With this prayer on his lips, and keen anxiety in his breast, he neared the seals.  Then, all of his hunter’s instincts alert, his advance became slow and cautious.  Crouching among hummocks, he watched his prey, and studied the intervening ice, and its possible sheltering hummocks.  Carefully he stalked, now standing still as a statue, now darting forward, and at last proceeding on all fours until finally he was quite certain that those farthest from the water could not escape him.  Then springing to his feet he ran at them.

Bobby had until now kept his nerves under control, but with the attack a wild desperation took possession of him, and looking neither to one side nor the other he slaughtered the seals, one after another, as he overtook them, until, the first frenzy of success past, he realized that he had already killed more than he could probably use.  Then he stopped, trembling with excitement, and looked about him.  Five victims of the two species known to him as harp and jar seals had fallen under his knife.

Now he could eat.  This thought brought relaxation from the great physical strain and mental anxiety that had spurred him to activity and keyed his nerves to a high pitch since leaving his snow cavern early in the morning, and with the relaxation he was overcome by emotion.  Tears sprang to his eyes, and suddenly he felt very weak.

“The Lord surely has been taking care of me.  Maybe it is my destiny to live, after all, and if I get out of this I’ll never forget ’twas the Lord took me through.”

Bobby’s undivided attention until this time had been centered upon the seals which he had attacked, which were among those farthest from the open water.  Now as he dried his eyes and, still trembling from effort and excitement, drew his sheath knife to dress the animals, he looked about him, and what he saw brought forth an exclamation: