Willis visited his old companions in exile very frequently, and Jack and Tom, the latter grown to a self-reliant, earnest man, and Will often met with him to talk over their past experiences together.
Mr. and Mrs. Bertram found their declining years the happiest of their life.
Blessed with a competency, they passed a life of happiness and comfort, proud of the sons who cherished their love as a precious boon.
The polar bear skin is still a trophy in Will’s room in the new Bertram mansion.
Often he relates how it came into his possession to visitors.
And whenever he recites the sufferings himself and his companions endured in the far north he gratefully remembers the kind providence which brought them safely through all their perils.
Looking back over the years, that adventurous experience in the Arctic zone is as fresh as if an occurrence of yesterday.
It is like a fairy picture in his memory—the days when he and Willis and Tom were young explorers Under the Polar Star.
THE END.