A
warm land-wind has been blowing for three days; and even in the North,
where the seal-hunters go, the ice often breaks up under them. But now
allow me to get my bearings. That is the smoke from Brattahlid, behind
us; and yonder I see the roofs of Eric's ship-sheds. Here,--we will go
in this direction until we come to a high point of the bank."

Across the white plain that stretched in that direction, they skimmed
accordingly. Once they came upon a herd of Eric's reindeer, rooting
under the snow for moss; but aside from that, they saw no living thing.
Low-hanging gray clouds seemed to have shut out the world. Now and then,
from far out in the open water came the grinding and crunching of huge
ice-cakes, see-sawing past each other. Once there sounded the
reverberating thunder of two icebergs in a duel.

"If there were any bears on that ice, they have found by this time that
there can be even worse things than men with spears," Sigurd observed,
as he listened.

It is doubtful whether Alwin had heard the noise at all. He answered,
absently: "Yes,--and if we do not wish to come to the subject at once,
we can say that we are cold and dropped in to warm ourselves."

"To say that we are cold will always be truthfully spoken," Sigurd
assented, his teeth chattering like beads. "I do not believe that
Stark-Otter was much chillier when he pulled off his clothes and sat in
a snow-bank."

It turned out to be even more truthful than they imagined. They had
little more than left the shore and ventured out upon the ice, when the
gentle east wind developed into a gale, that presently wrapped them in
the blinding folds of a snow-storm. The ice became invisible a step
ahead of their feet. They had retained their staffs when they left their
skees upon the bank; but even feeling their way step by step was by no
means secure. It was not long before Alwin went through, up to his neck;
and if he had been uncomfortable before, he was in wretched plight now,
drenched to the skin with ice-water.

"If you also get in this condition, we shall both perish," he chattered,
when he had managed to clamber out again by the fortunate accident of
his staff's falling crosswise over the hole. "I will continue to go
first; and do you hoard your strength to save us both when I get too
stiff to move." It proved a wise precaution; for in a few minutes he
broke through again, and it took all his companion's exertions to pull
him out. Before they reached t