" muttered Lund, as if to himself.

"Makushin?"

"Volcano, fifty-seven hundred feet high. Much ice in sight?"

Rainey described the horizon.

"All fresh-water ice," said Lund. "An' melting."

"Melting? It must be way below freezing," said Rainey. Lund chuckled.

"This ain't cold, matey. Wait till we git _north_. Never saw it lower
than five above in Unalaska in my life. It's the rainiest spot in the
U. S. A. Rains two days out of three, reg'lar. This ice is comin' out of
the strait. Sure sign it's breakin' up. The winter freeze ain't due for
six weeks yet."

Carlsen, before he went below, had sent a man into the fore-spreaders,
and now he shouted, cupping his hands and sounding his news as if it had
been a call to arms.

"_Land-ho!_"

"What is it?" called Rainey back.

"High peak, sir. Dead ahead! Clouds on it, or smoke."

He came sliding down the halyards to the deck as Lund said: "That'll be
Makushin. Now the fun'll commence."

From below the sailors off watch came up on deck, and the hunters, the
latter wiping their mouths, fresh from their interrupted breakfast, all
crowding forward to get a glimpse of the land. Rainey kept on the
course, heading for the far-off volcano. Minutes passed before Carlsen
came on deck. He had not hurried his meal.

"I'll take her over, Rainey," he said briefly.

Rainey and Lund were barely seated before the heeling of the schooner
and the scuffle of feet told of Lund's prophesied change of course.
Rainey looked at the telltale compass above his head.

"Heading due west," he told Lund.

"West it is," said the giant. "More coffee, Tamada. Fill your belly,
Rainey. Get a good meal while the eatin' is good."

Although it was Hansen's watch below, Rainey found him at the wheel
instead of the seaman he had left there. Carlsen came up to him smiling.

"Better let Hansen have the deck, Mr. Rainey," he said. "We're going to
have a conference in the cabin at four bells, and I'd like you to be
present."

"All right, sir," Rainey answered, getting a thrill at this first actual
intimation of the meeting. Hansen, it seemed, was not to be one of the
representatives of the seamen. And Carlsen had been smart enough to
forestall Lund's demand for Rainey by taking some of the wind out of the
giant's sails and doing the unexpected. Unless the hunters had suggested
that Rainey be present. But that was hardly likely, considering that he
was to be left out of the deal.

"In just what c