g thus dismissed the subject for the present,
he stretched his huge frame on a transom and almost instantly fell
asleep.

Our tired lads were not long in following his example, and, though
several times during the alight one or the other of them got up to
replenish the fire, they always found their guest quietly sleeping.
But when they both awoke late the following morning and looked for him
he had disappeared.

CHAPTER XXI.

A WELCOME MISSIONARY.

Although the outer garments of wolf fur belonging to the mysterious
stranger were also missing, our lads were not at first at all uneasy
concerning his absence, but imagined that their guest had merely gone
for a breath of fresh air or to examine the situation of the schooner
by daylight. So they mended the fire and got breakfast ready,
expecting with each moment that he would return. As he did not, Cabot
finally went on deck to look for him.

The morning was bitterly cold, and the harbour was covered with ice
sufficiently strong to bear a man.

"The old 'Bee's' found her winter berth at last," reflected Cabot, as
he glanced about him, shivering in the keen air.

To his disappointment he could discover no trace of the man upon whom
they were depending to aid their escape from this icy prison. Cabot
even dropped to the beach and made his way to the crest of the inland
bluffs, but could see no living thing on all the vast expanse of snow
outspread before him.

"I guess he has gone, all right," muttered the lad, "and we are again
left to our own resources, only a little worse off than we were before.
Why he came and helped us out at all, though, is a mystery to me."

With this he retraced his steps and conveyed the unwelcome news to
White.

"It is evident then," said the latter, "that we must stay here, alive
or dead, all winter. And I expect we'll be a great deal more dead than
alive long before it is over."

"Oh, I don't know," replied Cabot. "This doesn't seem to be such a
very uninhabited place, after all. I'm sure we've had a regular job
lot of visitors during the past week, and a good many of them, too. So
I don't see why we shouldn't have other callers before the winter is
over. When the next one comes, though, we'll take care and not let him
out of our sight. Why didn't you tie a string to one of those Indians,
as I advised?"

"Because they tied me first," answered White, laughing in spite of his
anxiety. "Why didn't you do it yourself?"