eeze long before we could make an igloe.
I must depend on you now, Anteek. Go back as fast as you can run, and
send men with a sledge and skins and something to eat. The boy will
remain with me. Away!"

Without a word Anteek leaped up, and, dropping his spear, ran as if his
own life depended on his speed. The little boy, who had acted so
foolishly, came up with an anxious look on being hailed, but soon forgot
himself in his anxiety to be of use to the injured man.

There was a mound of snow within three yards of the spot where the
combat had taken place. To the lee side of this Cheenbuk carried
Gartok. Being very strong, he was able to lift him tenderly, as if he
had been a child, but, despite all his care, the poor man suffered
terribly when moved.

It was well that this mound happened to be so close, for a dark cloud
which had been overspreading the sky for some time began to send down
snow-flakes, and frequent gusts of wind gave indications of an
approaching storm. Having placed Gartok in such a position that he was
quite sheltered from the wind, Cheenbuk took off his upper seal-skin
coat, laid it on the snow, and lifted the injured man on to it. He then
wrapped it round him and folded the hood under his head for a pillow,
bidding the boy bank up the snow beside him in such a way as to increase
the shelter. While thus engaged he saw with some anxiety that Gartok
had become deadly pale, and his compressed lips gave the impression that
he was suffering much.

"Come here," said Cheenbuk to the boy quickly; "rub his hands and make
them warm."

The boy obeyed with alacrity, while the other, hastening his movements,
began to skin the bear. Being an expert with the knife in such an
operation, he was not long of removing the thick-skinned hairy covering
from the carcass, and in this, while it was still warm, he wrapped his
comrade--not a moment too soon, for, despite the boy's zealous efforts,
the intense cold had taken such hold of the poor man that he was almost
unconscious. The warmth of the bearskin, however, restored him a
little, and Cheenbuk, sitting down beside him, took his head upon his
lap, and tried to shelter him from the storm, which had burst forth and
was raging furiously by that time--fine snow filling the atmosphere,
while the wind drove it in huge volumes up the valley.

Cheenbuk noted this, and congratulated himself on the fact the wind
would favour the progress of the rescue sledge.