* *

Tom had revived a little, and he and Frank were fighting harder than ever
to hold the gate, as bold

"Horatius kept the bridge
In the brave days of old".

But it was already giving way, and the beasts without seemed to know it.

Briton was on his legs ready, and all seemed to be lost, when suddenly a
rattling volley of rifle fire was heard from beneath, with shouts of men.

Volley followed volley, and in less time than it takes me to tell it, the
wild wolf-foxes were seeking safety in flight.

* * * * *

"Tell us all your story again," said Tom to his uncle, as the children
sat round the stove that same evening in the cosy cabin of the
_Valhalla_.

They were all washed and clean by this time, and the girls were
beautifully dressed.

[Illustration]

"Ah! well, you see," said Uncle as he relit his pipe, "the professor here
made a dart for the vessel when the storm came on. He wanted a stronger
crew.

"He caught us just in time, for though the gale was a furious one we
could steam up to it, and were doing so, when suddenly there was a loud
explosion; one of the boilers had burst, and the engines were smashed and
useless.

"We were now at the mercy of the sea, the waves, and the icebergs too,
and before another day we were blown far away to sea.

"Even then we had hope. But in a week's time we were frozen into the main
pack, and there we have had to winter, and it is hardly a week since we
got clear by cutting a canal with our great ice-saws. Oh! it has been a
dreary time for us, but must have been more so to you, poor darlings! and
well and bravely you have borne it all!

"I am sure," he added, "that even Pansy has grown, and her mother will
hardly know her again when we all get home."

"We are going now, aren't we, 'Fessor Pete?" said Pansy, who was sitting
on his knee.

"Yes, my dear, yes. It is no use staying here when we have no steam, so
the ship is now making for England's sunny shores. And we'll get there in
the rosy month of June. Won't it be nice?"

Pansy was jumping with joy.

Aralia clapped her hands and cried: "Just too jolly for anything!"

By and by Aralia sat down to the piano, and Pete brought out his fiddle,
and a very happy evening indeed was spent in the _Valhalla_.

The men were keeping it up forward too, around the galley fire, singing
songs and spinning yarns, for the ship was "homeward bound".

* *