oom for the boat, and the water looked, from its
blackness, of great depth; but there was room for the boat only in
places, their oars almost touching the perpendicular rocks on either
side, these rising so high that they almost shut out the light. There
was a trace of motion, too, in this water, which soon satisfied the
captain that it might be possible to pass through to the sea. And so it
proved, after about an hour's winding in and out, for the most part in
twilight; for all at once the gloom gave place to a burst of sunshine,
which struck in like sheaves of rays of light, and a little farther on
the chasm opened out, and they were on the western side of the ridge
which had divided them from the sea, while on either hand were rocks,
and before them the piled-up masses of ice-floe, evidently a part of the
army of floating masses which had been forced up all along the shore.
This stopped further progress, and they sat with oars balanced gazing
before them at a chaos of ice, where the previous day all had been open
water.

At first all looked beautiful, but utterly devoid of life. Only,
though, for a short time. Before long something was seen to move a
short distance away; and upon the boat being paddled round an
intervening block of ice, there was a sight which sent a thrill of
excitement through the Norsemen, a feeling which the others shared; for
there, in ample supply, they saw that which they had come for one thing
to seek--a herd of the arctic sea-horses, offering themselves as a ready
aim for the Norsemen's harpoons and lances, as well as for the rifles of
the captain and doctor.

"Will you try for one to-day, sir?" asked Johannes respectfully.

"It would be waste," replied Captain Marsham. "I do not want to destroy
the creatures if we cannot utilise the oil."

"We can, sir," said Johannes quietly. "The ship must come up to the
other end of the fiord, and we can hunt here and cut up the walrus, and
carry the oil out to be boiled down as easily as we could take it
elsewhere."

"Yes, you are right," said the captain. "But how will you reach the
animals?"

"You gentlemen will reach them with your guns," said the man quietly.

"Stalk them?" said the captain.

"Yes; creep up very cautiously, for they may be shy. Try and get
between them and the sea."

So the boat was rowed close up to the edge of the forced-up ice, and the
party landed for their first walrus hunt, Steve shouldering his rifle
with