and the sledges had returned to the vessel, and
everything was prepared for the start along the canal and into the
lake, one of the men came to Captain Hubbell and reported that the Pole
Rovinski was absent. For one brief moment a hope arose in the soul of
Samuel Block that this man might have fallen overboard and floated under
the ice, but he was not allowed to entertain this pleasant thought. Mr.
Marcy had seized a glass, and with it was sweeping the icy plain in all
directions.

"Hello!" he cried. "Someone come here! Do you see that moving speck off
there to the north? I believe that is the scoundrel."

Several glasses were now directed to the spot.

"It is the Pole!" cried Sammy. "He has stolen a sledge and is running
away!"

"Where on earth can he be running to?" exclaimed Mr. Gibbs. "The man is
insane!"

Mr. Marcy said nothing. His motor sledge, a very fine one, furnished
with an unusually large wheel, was still on the deck. He rushed towards
it.

"I am going after him!" he shouted. "Let somebody come with me. He's up
to mischief! He must not get away!"

"Mischief!" exclaimed Mr. Gibbs. "I don't see what mischief he can do.
He can't live out here without shelter; he'll be dead before morning."

"Not he," cried Sammy. "He's a born devil, with a dozen lives! Take a
gun with you, Mr. Marcy, and shoot him if you can't catch him!"

Mr. Marcy took no gun; he had no time to stop for that. In a few moments
he was on the ice with his sledge, then away he went at full speed
towards the distant moving black object.

Two men were soon following Mr. Marcy, but they were a long way behind
him, for their sledges did not carry them at the speed with which he was
flying over the ice and snow.

It was not long before Rovinski discovered that he was pursued, and,
frequently turning his head backward, he saw that the foremost sledge
was gaining upon him; but, crouching as low as he could to avoid a
rifle-shot, he kept on his way.

But he could not help turning his head every now and then, and at one
of these moments his sledge struck a projecting piece of ice and was
suddenly overturned. Rovinski rolled out on the hard snow, and the
propelling wheel revolved rapidly in the air. The Pole gathered himself
up quickly and turned his sledge back into its proper position. He did
this in such haste that he forgot that the wheel was still revolving,
and therefore was utterly unprepared to see the sledge start away at a
great