ows, out of sight of all but the schooner's canvas,
and though this made rowing easier, Wyllard was apprehensive of
difficulties when he reached the ice.

His misgivings proved warranted, for the ice presented an almost
unbroken wall against the face of which the sea spouted. There was no
doubt as to what would happen if the frail craft was hurled upon that
frozen mass, and Wyllard, who was sculling, fancied that before the boat
could even reach it, there was a probability of her being swamped in the
upheaval where the backwash met the oncoming sea. Charly looked at him
dubiously.

"It's a sure thing we can't get out there," Charly observed.

Wyllard nodded. "Then," he said, "we'll pull along the edge of it until
we find an opening or something to make a lee. The sea's higher than it
seemed to be from the schooner."

"We've got to do it soon," Charly declared. "There's more wind not far
away."

Wyllard dipped his oar again, and for an hour they pulled along the edge
of the ice, for there were now little frothing white tops on the seas.

It was evident that the wind was freshening, and at times a deluge of
icy water slopped in over the gunwale. The men were hampered by their
furs, and the stores lying about their feet.

The perspiration dripped from Wyllard when they approached a ragged,
jutting point. It did not seem advisable to attempt a landing on that
side of it, and when a little snow began to fall he looked at his
companions.

"I guess we've got to pull her out," said Charly. "Dampier's heaving a
reef down; he sees what's working up to windward."

Wyllard could barely make out the schooner, which had apparently
followed them, a blur of dusky canvas against a bank of haze, and then
as the boat slid down into a hollow there was nothing but the low-hung,
lowering sky. It was evident to him that if they were to make a landing
it must be done promptly.

"We'll pull around the point first, anyway," he decided.

A shower of fine snow that blotted out the schooner broke upon them, and
the work was arduous. They were pulling to windward now, and it was
necessary to watch the seas that ranged up ahead and to handle the boat
circumspectly while the freshening breeze blew the spray over them. They
had to fight for every fathom, and once or twice the little craft nearly
rolled over with them. It became apparent by degrees that, as they could
not have reached the schooner had they attempted it, they were pulling
f