Finally some of the sealers from the first ship were making their way up over the ice in the direction of Bobby’s igloo, and presently he knew they would be upon the very seals that he had watched with so much interest growing from day to day.  Among these were two men with guns, instead of clubs, and these two devoted their attention to the old seals, which now and again they shot.

Overcome with awe and wonder, and timid in the presence of so many strangers, Bobby kept himself from view while he watched, though he knew that presently he would be called upon to present himself, in order that he might escape from the floe, for in all probability no other opportunity would come to him.

So, uncertain, expectant, and trembling with excitement, he remained concealed behind an ice hummock until the seal hunters in advance had nearly reached him, and further concealment was impossible.  Then he stepped boldly out.

The effect of Bobby’s appearance was instantaneous and wonderful.  A man in the advance, looking up, saw the strangely clad figure apparently rise out of the ice itself.  The man turned about and wildly broke for the boats.  Then another and another took one terrified glance at the supposed apparition, and tarrying not, turned about to compete with the first in a mad race for the boats.  Shouts of “Ghost!  Ghost!” filled the air, and then the stampede and panic became general, though after the manner of panic-stricken crowds, perhaps none but the first two or three had the slightest idea why or from what they were running.

The two men with guns were still some little distance from Bobby when the stampede began.  One of these men was perhaps twenty-three or twenty-four years of age, the other many years his senior.  They were dressed after the manner of sportsmen, and were evidently not members of the sealing crew.  They did not join in the stampede as the men rushed past them in wild flight and confusion, but in utter astonishment looked for its cause in the direction from which the men had come, and discovered nothing more terrifying than Bobby, standing alone and no less astonished at what had occurred than themselves, and more than half inclined to run as fast in the opposite direction as the sealers had run toward their boats.

“Uncle, there’s an Eskimo!” exclaimed the younger of the two, observing Bobby’s sealskin garments, but at that distance unable to note that his features were wholly unlike those of an Eskimo.

“Sure enough!” said the older man.  “That explains it!  The men weren’t expecting to see any one, and they’ve taken him for a ghost!  Come on, Edward.  Let us interview him.”

“How could an Eskimo get out here on the floe?” asked Edward, as they set out toward Bobby.  “We’re a long way from land.”

“I don’t know,” said his companion.  “We’ll soon learn.  But Eskimo hunters go a long way after seals, and he’s probably on a hunting expedition.”