after which the Kamtchadale finding
him helpless had disappeared with most of the provisions. None of the
party ever learned what had become of him, but they realised in the
meanwhile that the situation was now a rather serious one. Charly, who
looked at Wyllard when he had heard the Indian's story, explained it
concisely.

"I'm worrying about the boat we left on the edge of the ice," he said.
"I've had a notion all along it was going to make trouble. Dampier
would see the wreckage when he ran in, and I guess it would only mean
one thing to him. He'd make quite certain he was right when he didn't
find us at the inlet." He paused and pointed towards the distant sea.
"You have got to push right on with Lewson as fast as you can while I
try to bring the Siwash along."

Wyllard started in the next few minutes, and afterwards never quite
forgot the strain and stress of that arduous march. The journey he had
made with Overweg had been difficult enough, but they had then, at
least, traversed rising ground from which most of the melting snow had
drained away. Now, however, as they approached the more level littoral
there were wide tracts of mire and swamp to be painfully floundered
through, while every ravine and hollow was swept by a frothing torrent,
and they had often to search for hours for a place where it was
possible to cross. To make things worse, they were drenched with
bitter rain half the time, and trails of dingy mist obscured their
path, but they toiled on stubbornly through every obstacle, though it
was only by the tensest effort that Wyllard kept pace with his
companion. The gaunt, long-haired Lewson seemed proof against physical
weariness, and there was seldom any change in the expression of his
grim, lined face. Now and then Wyllard felt a curious shrinking as he
glanced at it, for its fixed look suggested what this man had borne in
the awful solitudes of the frozen north.

Slowly, with infinite toil, they crossed the weary leagues, lying at
night with a single skin between them and the soil, for they travelled
light; and Wyllard was limping painfully with his boots worn off his
feet, when at length one morning they came into sight of a low
promontory which rose against a stretch of grey, lifeless sea. His
heart throbbed fast as he realised that behind it lay the inlet into
which Dampier had arranged to bring the _Selache_. He glanced at
Lewson, who said nothing, and they plodded forward faster t