New-York tribune., 1910-01-30

of his doorway and stood up and peered about
him. His squat figure clothed and hooded
in furs His little twinkling eyes. after clearing
themselves from the smoke and smart of the
thick air within the igloo, could farther
through the gloom than even the eyes of the
bear. He noted the fall of the wind, the savage
intensity of the cold and his eyes frightened
with hope. He had no fear of the cold; but he
feared the hunger that was threatening the
lonely village. During the long rage of the
wind the supply of food in his igloo had run
low He welcomed cold that would close up
most of the seals breathing holes and force
| more numerous visitors to the few holes they
could keep open
For some moments he stood mOtionless, peer
ing and listening the bear had done. Sud
denly he too caught that far off, light crashing
OF brittle ice. On the instant he turned and
crawed hastily back into the hut.
y moment later he reappeared. carving two
weapons besides the long knife stuck in his
glrdle. One of these weapons was an old Hud-
son Bay Company's muSket. The other was d
spear of Sphced bone, with a steel head securely
lashed to it. Powder and ball for the muSket
were much too precious to be expended, except
in some emergency wherein the spear might
fail. Without waiting for repetition of the
sounds, he started OFF at once unerringly in the
direction they had come. He knew that air
hole he could find it in the deusive gloom
without the aid of landmark.
For some way he went erect and in haste
though as soundleSsly as the bear Then,
throwing himself flat, he followed exactly the
bears tactics: till at last, peerinq cautiousf.
over Jagged ice ridge. he too could make o,it
the quarry, watchfullv coming and going about
the brink of the airhOle.
From this point onward the mans move
ments were so slow as TO be almost mpercepti-
bic But for his thick covering of furs his skin
tough as leather and reeking with OIL he would
have been frozen in the midst of his Journey:
but the still excitement of the hunt pump
ing the blood hotly through his veins He was
v1flNK h IT..
shooting would be uncertain. He preferred to
worm his way nearer and then trust to his more
accustomed weapon, the spear, which he could
drive halfway through the tough bulk of wal
rus
At last there remained between him and the
seals but one low ridge, and then a space of level
Hoe. This was the critical point. If he could
Wr1the hiS body over the crest and down the
other side, he would be within safe spearshot
He could spring to his feet and throw before th,.
nimbleSt seal could gain the water He Law alb
Nolutely still, summoning wits, nerves and
muscles alike, to serve his will with their best
tiiS eyes burned deep in his head like Smolder-
ing Goals
JUST at this moment a ghostly light waved
= broadly across the solitude. 1t paled with
drew, wavered back and forth as shaken from
a curtain IN the heavens, then Steadied epheme-
rally INTO an arch of glowing silver, which threw
the hight of a dozen moons. There We're three
seals out upon the ice at that moment and
they all lifted their eyes simultaneously TO
greet the illumination. The man irresistiblv
looked up; but in the same instant. remem-
oer1ng the hunger in the igloo he covered back
out OF sight, trembling lest some of the seals
might have caught glimpse of his head above
the ridge: Some dozen rods away at the other
SIDE OF the arholc, the great white bear also
raised his eyes toward that mysterious light
troubled at heart, because he knew il was going
TO hamper his hunting
for perhaps two minutes the seals were
motlonless, protlting by the sudden brightness
TO Scrutnize the eNpanSe of ice and snow in
every direction. Then, quite satisfied that no
danger was near they resumed their sportive
Plunglngs, while the instantly frozen waters
cracked criSplv about them For all Their
vigilance, they had failed to detect. on the
one side a narrow, black tipped muzzle. living
nat IN cleft of the ice ridge or. on the other
SIDE 4 bunch of grayiSh fur, nearly the color OF
the graylsh notified ice, which covered the
Hills ~ i''i0
ana now while neither the man nor the
pear each utterly unconscious of the other
lartd 10 STIR, IN flash the still silver radiance
oi the aurora broke up and famed into a rot
d dancing color Parallel ravS, like the mines
u a titanic organ. rcaChiuu almost