The day following the return of the hunting party to Eskimo Town, Tunkine took his friend Eiseeyou to a larger Eskimo Town farther south where the local missionary, who was also a sort of doctor, put his arm in splints and he recovered very rapidly. In less than a month's time he had taken off the splints and declared that he was ready for another polar bear.
By this time the sun had returned so far northward that it shone feebly for several hours each day. This was keenly enjoyed by the Snow People, who appreciate the sun as no other people in the world do. The icefloe had started southward and the walrus and seal hunting were good, even within a day's journey from Eskimo Town.
The three hunters, tired of the unexciting work of attending the traps and shooting ptarmigan, were glad that the hunting of larger game was at hand. So they planned a hunt of I-wok, that should be long remembered in Eskimo Town.
CHAPTER VI
THE CZARINA
Now it happened that the same morning the three hunters set forth from Eskimo town to hunt I-wok, the mighty, another hunter had started upon the same quest.
The day following that in which Tunkine found his friend Eiseeyou lying wounded under the carcass of the great polar bear, another white bear, perhaps not quite as large as the Czar, appeared at the foot of the mountain. This was the Czarina, the mate of the White Czar who had been called from hibernation in some strange way by her mate's death. She easily found the trail of her comrade leading up the mountainside and finally followed it to the place where the dead bear lay. Although he was divested of his white coat, yet she had no difficulty in recognizing him.