"I've got a heavier load than yours will be, so I'll go on with it,"
Skipper Ed shouted as Bobby drove up. "There are only two small ones
left for you, and the cooking outfit and your snow knives in the
_igloo_. Don't forget them. You and Jimmy will likely overtake me. Hurry
along."
"All right," answered Bobby. "We'll catch you before you reach smooth
ice."
So Skipper Ed drove away with never a thought of catastrophe, and was
quickly swallowed up by the thickening snow, while Bobby and Jimmy
loaded the seals and the things from the _igloo_ upon the sledge, and,
spurred by the rising wind and snow, hurried with all their might.
Already great seas were booming and breaking with a roar upon the ice,
and as the boys turned the dogs back upon the trail they observed a
waving motion of the ice beneath them, which was rapidly becoming more
apparent. At one moment the dogs would be hauling the sledge up an
incline, and at the next moment the sledge would be coasting down
another incline close upon the heels of the team, as the heaving ice
assumed the motion of the seas which rolled beneath.
As they receded from the ice edge, however, this motion diminished,
until finally it was hardly perceptible at all, and there seemed no
further cause for alarm or great speed, and the dogs, which were weary
with the two days' heavy hauling, were permitted to proceed at their own
leisurely gait.
At length through the snow they saw Skipper Ed waiting for them, but
when he was assured they were following he proceeded.
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