r wanted! He just
wanted a bit of seal for supper."

"Wowff!" barked Briton.

"Wiff!" barked Veevee, as much as to say: "No bear shall touch Flossy
while we are alive."

But nobody thought of sleeping any more, and as they were all very
hungry, Tom served out more snow.

CHAPTER V

The tempest howled for many hours more. Then at last it grew almost calm,
and the sun shone out on the pure white snow.

"I know what to do now," said Tom. "Let us find our way to the beach. The
boat may be there, you know."

But long before they reached the shore they beheld a wondrous sight, for
as far as the eye could reach there was no water to be seen, only huge
icebergs covered with dazzling snow, all gently moving up and down with
the swelling waves beneath. The noise made by these great bergs as they
ground their sides together was deafening.

But there were no signs of the boat, and no ship was to be seen. The
_Valhalla_ had either been crushed to atoms or been driven out to sea.
Tom clung to the last hope, and even told his sisters that she was sure
to return for them soon. He would not get downhearted.

"This is a queer business, Frank," he said with a light laugh, which had
no sound of fun in it however; "but we must do the best we can till they
come back. Eh, Frank?"

"Yes, of course."

But Pansy was clinging to Aralia, quietly crying.

"Well, Frank, we must live in the cave for a little, and so we had better
get everything in, and be as jolly as we can."

[Illustration]

When they had got everything up to the cave, which took a long time,
everybody had a good breakfast. There was really enough food to last a
week, and it was lucky there were several boxes of sardines, for Floss
would take nothing else.

"It's going to be a big, big picnic," said Frank, and the girls began to
laugh. "We're going to have lots of fun."

Frank and Tom could climb like monkeys, and in about an hour's time they
had put all the food high up in a hole in the rock out of the reach of
bears or foxes.

By twelve o'clock, when the sun was as high as it could get, the snow had
disappeared, and once more there was a soft, warm breeze blowing, and
beauty everywhere.

Two days flew by and nothing happened, only at night they could hear
foxes barking in the distance. They never attack people singly, as bears
do, but they are dangerous in packs, as Tom one day found out to his
cost.

The food was getting low, and Tom thought it