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"D'y' see 'im?" he whispered "'E was starin' h'at us from behint them ice-piles. 'E was a Jap. I'll swear it." "Aw, you're seeing Japs to-night," laughed Dave. "Ow is she?" Jarvis asked of a gob whom they met. "Right as they make 'em now. But I'll say it was some job that. The shaft was twisted something awful like a corkscrew.
Jazz always was imperfect music, and here, with untutored musicians and rude instruments, it was imperfection itself; but it is doubtful if any music ever soothed unstrung nerves as did this bit of jazz that rent the midnight silence at the top of the world. The applause which followed awakened echoes among the ice-piles, and sent a lone doveky away into the shadows.
The sun, which had been appearing less and less each day, was now quite lost to them. Only the moon in all its glory tinted the blue ice-piles with wavering ghost colors. The wind for once was still. Not a bird appeared in the sky, not an animal met the gaze of their binoculars as they peered below.
Apparently every person about the village was asleep. Now he could distinguish sleds and skins hung on ice-piles to dry. Now he located the double rows of dome houses. They were going to pass right over these, but high enough to miss them. Then, rapidly, things happened. A vagrant current of wind seized them and they "bumped" in air. The next instant it was evident that a crash was inevitable.
Foot by foot, yard by yard, they made their way across the treacherous tangle of ice-piles which was still in restless motion. Now they had covered a quarter of the distance, now half, now three-quarters. And now, with an exultant cry, Marian dragged her half-unconscious companion upon the center of the deck. "There's a cabin aft," she whispered, "a warm cabin. We'll soon be there."
This proved a long and tedious task, requiring all the skill and strength they possessed, for the island, though scarcely four miles in length, had appeared to be much closer than it really was. The ice-piles, too, grew rougher and more uneven as they advanced. When they neared the shore, they found themselves in infinite peril, for the ice was piling.
"Remember it's men, women and children instead of wolves this time. They're wild, but they're human. Send a volley into the ice-piles at the left. Show 'em what you've got and they'll stop perhaps." As Bruce turned the barrel of his deadly weapon, he caught the low rumble of many voices. The natives were chanting a witching song to destroy the power of evil spirits. "Tat-tat-tat-tat."
He awoke at last to start and stare. The sun was painting the peaks of distant ice-piles with a touch of pink and gold. He experienced a strange sensation. For one brief moment he fancied himself on the mainland of Alaska. This, he realized, was not entirely impossible; the ice-floe might have circled about to carry him near to the coast again.
"Let's do it," said Marian enthusiastically. "Perhaps there's some sort of a solution to our problem there." They were soon threading their way in and out among the ice-piles which were already solidly attaching themselves to the sand beneath the shallow water.
Perhaps the ice carried him south." The distance was so great she could distinguish a figure, a mere speck, moving in and out among the ice-piles that lined the shore. For a moment she rested her eyes by studying the ship's deck. Then again she gazed away. "Why," she exclaimed suddenly, "he has reached the cabin! Must have run every step of the way!"
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