ained in
regard to the stability of the floe, they returned to the hut, taking
care to carry in their arms along with them. Having patched up the
hole, closed the doors, rekindled the lamp, and crept into their
respective bags, they went to sleep, for, however much they might dread
the return of Bruin, slumber was a necessity of nature that would not be
denied.

Meanwhile the gale freshened into a hurricane, and was accompanied with
heavy snow, and when they attempted to move next morning they found it
impossible to face it for a single moment. There was no alternative,
therefore, but to await the termination of the gale, which lasted two
days, and kept them close prisoners all the time. It was very
wearisome, doubtless, but they had to submit, and sought to console
themselves and pass the time as pleasantly as possible by sleeping, and
eating, and drinking coffee.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

JOURNEY RESUMED--THE HUNTERS MEET WITH BEARS AND HAVE A GREAT FIGHT, IN
WHICH THE DOGS ARE SUFFERERS--A BEAR'S DINNER--MODE IN WHICH ARCTIC
ROCKS TRAVEL--THE ICE-BELT.

In the abating of the great storm, referred to in the last chapter, the
hunters sought to free themselves from their snowy prison, and succeeded
in burrowing, so to speak, upwards, after severe labour, for the hut was
buried in drift which the violence of the gale had rendered extremely
compact.

O'Riley was the first to emerge into the upper world. Having dusted the
snow from his garments, and shaken himself like a Newfoundland dog, he
made sundry wry faces, and gazed round him with the look of a man that
did not know very well what to do with himself.

"It's a quare place, it is, intirely," he remarked, with a shake of the
head that betokened intense sagacity, while he seated himself on a mound
of snow and watched his comrades as they busied themselves in dragging
their sleeping-bags and cooking utensils from the cavern they had just
quitted. O'Riley seemed to be in a contemplative mood, for he did not
venture any further remark, although he looked unutterable things as he
proceeded quietly to fill his little black pipe.

"Ho, O'Riley! lend a hand, you lazy fellow," cried Fred; "work first and
play afterwards, you skulker."

"Sure that same is what I'm doin'," replied O'Riley with a bland smile
which he eclipsed in a cloud of smoke. "Haven't I bin workin' like a
naagur for two hours to git out of that hole, and ain't I playin' a tune
on me pipe now?