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Towards evening Jonas caught a seal, to the great gratification of our party. It was dressed immediately, and we joined them in their repast with a good appetite. The Netsek is the only species of seal which remains during the winter under the ice. They form in it large caverns, in which they bring forth their young, two at a time, in March.
"He's all right," reassured Skipper Ed, "as snug as can be, in his bag. Now don't say another word until I give you permission. Go to sleep." "Where's my netsek? Did you find it? And my mittens? I'll need 'em again," persisted the practically disposed Bobby, who was already thinking of the future. "You young rascal! Go to sleep, I say, and don't let me hear another word," insisted Skipper Ed.
Seizing the harpoon which Jimmy had dropped upon the ice, he gave a yell that brought Skipper Ed to the water's edge in a hurry, and when Skipper Ed came running down Bobby had already thrown off his netsek and his mittens and was knotting the loose end of the harpoon line around his waist. Grasping the harpoon, he cast it upon the main ice, with the command: "Grab it, and hold it!"
"Did you find the netsek and mittens?" "Yes, you practical young scamp." "That's good," said Bobby, "for I couldn't hunt tomorrow without them." "Hunt tomorrow!" exclaimed Skipper Ed. "Is that the first thing you think of when you wake up? I'm not sure I'll let you hunt tomorrow. I may keep you in your sleeping bag."
"If he was driving reindeers, now, instead of dogs," laughed Bobby, "and I met him with all that ice on his beard, and his netsek white and glistening with the frost that way, I'd think he had stepped right out of the old picture book." "Good old Partner!" said Jimmy. "I think I'll drop back with him a while and keep him company."
"I'm comin' after Doctor Joe!" gasped Peter, as half frozen he drew off his snow-caked netsek. "Me rub your nose, Peter. She's froze, and your cheeks too," broke in Andy, vigorously rubbing Peter's whitened nose and cheeks. Peter was silent perforce while Andy manipulated the frosted parts until circulation and colour were restored. "Come to the fire now and warm up," directed Andy.
Presently Jimmy, hampered by his netsek, weakly struggled to the surface, already apparently overcome by the awful cold of the plunge. Bobby saw him and instantly sprang after him, seized him about the waist and held him with the desperation of one who fights with death. A moment's struggle followed and then both lads went down.
'Twill soon be too much for flesh and blood out on the Bay!" said Peter. "'Tis in my scout oath to do my best," said Andy, adjusting the hood of his sealskin netsek. "I'm goin', now." Andy closed the door behind him. It was pitchy dark. The snow was driving in blinding clouds, and he stood for a moment to catch his breath. Then he felt his way down across The Jug and out upon the Bay ice.
It might be of interest to explain that if this garment is made of cloth it is an adikey; if of deerskin, a koolutuk, and if made of sealskin, a netsek all cut alike. If they wear two cloth garments at the same time, as is usually the case, the inner one only is an adikey, the outer one a silapak. Their language is the same from Greenland to Alaska.
Then he wound up with the startling announcement that he believed he knew the cause of Torngak's anger: that on the very day of their arrival he had seen Chealuk one of the old women sewing a netsek sealskin adikey with the sinew of the tukto reindeer. Every one turned to Chealuk for confirmation and she said simply, "It is true." The Eskimos were struck dumb with horror.
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