The Project Gutenberg EBook of Seed of the Arctic Ice, by H. G. Winter

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Title: Seed of the Arctic Ice

Author: H. G. Winter

Release Date: April 17, 2010 [EBook #32029]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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Seed of the Arctic Ice

By H. G. Winter

[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Astounding Stories
February 1932. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the
U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

[Sidenote: Killer whales and seal-creatures tangle Ken Torrance in an
amazing adventure under the ice-roofed arctic sea.]

Sleepily the lookout stared at the scope-screen before him, wishing for
something that would break the monotony of the scene it pictured: the
schools of ghostly fish fleeting by, the occasional shafts of pale
sunlight filtering down through breaks in the ice-floes above, the long
snaky ropes of underwater growth. None of this was conducive to
wakefulness; nor did the half-speed drone of the electric engines aft
and the snores of some distant sleeper help him. The four other men on
duty in the submarine--the helmsman; the second mate, whose watch it
was; the quartermaster and the second engineer--might not have been
present, so motionless and silent were they.

The lookout man stifled another yawn and glanced at a clock to see how
much more time remained of his trick. Then suddenly something on the
screen brought him to alert attention. He blinked at it; stared
hard--and thrilled.

Far ahead, caught for an instant by the submarine _Narwhal's+
light-beams, a number of sleek bodies moved through the foggy murk, with
a flash of white bellies and an easy graceful thrust of flukes.

The watcher's hands cupped his mouth; he turned and sang out:

"K-i-i-ll-ers! I see killers!"

The cry rang in every corner, and immediately there was a feverish
response. Rubbing their eyes, men appeared as if from nowhere and jumped
to posts; with a clang, the te