hink of the chance of our getting off from here?"

"Wash, I don't know: I don't dare to think."

"Do you really believe Capt. Mazard will come back?"

"Why, if he's not captured, nor wrecked in a gale, nor jammed up in
the ice, he will come back."

"You have no doubt he will come back if he can?"

"Why, no: I know he will come if he can. He wouldn't leave us here.
Besides, you know, Wash, that we owe him and all the crew for his and
their services. I don't say that they would come back any quicker on
that account: still they would be likely to want their pay, you know."

"That's true."

"But, Kit, if 'The Curlew' shouldn't make its appearance, do you
believe we could get down to Nain, or any of those Esquimau
coast-villages?"

"I don't know, Wash: we could try."

"Seven hundred miles through such a country as this! Would it be
possible?"

"It would be no use to stay here, you know, if we found the schooner
wasn't coming back. We must, of course, make an effort to get away. It
would be foolish to stay here till winter came on. I don't suppose it
would be possible for us to winter here: we should freeze to death in
spite of every thing we could do. The cold is awfully intense through
the winter months. Not even the Esquimaux try to winter on the straits
here. Besides, it's about time for the sea-fowl to fly southward. We
can't live after they're gone."

"But only think of a sixty-days' tramp over these barren mountains!
Our boots wouldn't last a hundred miles! Our socks are worn through
now!"

"Have to make moccasons."

"We never should get through alive. I don't believe Wade would stand
it to go a quarter of the distance. He's sick now, and, worse still,
has no courage. He acts strangely."

"Wade will rally when worst comes to worst, and be the head man in
extremities."

"Do you think so?"

"I do. Wade is kind of hot-blooded, you know. Being left here so
sudden struck him all in a heap. But he will show blood yet, if it
comes to a real hand-to-hand struggle to save our lives. A boy that
took his musket, and went right into a fair, stand-up battle of his
own accord, as they say Wade did, won't give in here without showing
us another side to his character. One thing, he feels the cold here
worse than we do: it pinches him all up. But he will come out of his
dumps yet. Don't badger him: he won't leave his bones here. Seriously,
I have more fear for Weymouth and Donovan than for Wade. That is most
alwa