But they had brought with them the other lamp and necessaries to
make their hunting _igloo_ comfortable. A good bank of snow was found,
not too far from the ice edge, and in an hour an _igloo_ was ready and
everything stowed safely away from possible foraging by the dogs. Then
the two teams, still fast in their traces, were picketed behind the ice
hummocks near the _igloo_, for had they been set at liberty each dog
would have gone hunting on his own account, and the seals would have
been driven from the ice and beyond range of the guns.
Now, each armed with a rifle, and Bobby with a harpoon, they stole down
toward the seals, crawling toward them, Bobby now and again emitting a
"_Hough! Hough_!" in imitation of the coughing bark of the seals, until
they approached quite near. Then, almost simultaneously, they fired,
and, springing up, ran forward. Two seals had been shot clear through
the head, and lay dead on the ice, but the other, though wounded, had
slipped into the water. Bobby drew his harpoon, and holding it poised
waited, until presently a dozen feet away the wounded seal came
struggling to the surface. In a flash the harpoon flew from the young
hunter's hand and struck its mark, and with the assistance of Skipper Ed
and Jimmy he drew it to the ice.
These seals were of a species which they called "harps," because of the
peculiar, harp-shaped markings on their back; and of the hair variety,
for none of the valuable fur seals inhabits north Atlantic waters.
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