The Aleut lad was truthful, for neither he nor any of his family had ever crossed the island here, and he knew nothing of what lay ahead. Plainly uneasy now, Skookie had had enough of travel away from camp. “Maybe go back now?” he asked Rob, inquiringly.
“I suppose so,” replied the latter, “although I’d jolly well like to go over in here a little farther. I’ve a notion we’d come out somewhere closer to Kadiak town; and maybe we’d run across some native who would take us in. But there doesn’t seem to be any game except once in a while a ptarmigan—those mountain grouse that strut and crow around here on the snow, and aren’t big enough to waste rifle ammunition on. Maybe it’s safer to go back to our camp and wait for a month or so more at least. What do you say, fellows?”
The others, who were very tired and a little uneasy at being so far from what was their nearest approach to a home, voted for the return. So, after a rest at the summit, where cutting winds soon drove them back, they shouldered their lighter packs and began to retrace their way down the valley to the sea.
Now they did not have to build any shelters for the night and could use their old camps. They found that their appetites were increased by their hard work, so that after the last camp they had little left to carry except their blankets and guns, although Rob manfully insisted on carrying out the great bear skull, which he found quite heavy enough before the end of the journey.
When at last they left the mountains and crossed the tundra to the deserted village near which they had left their dory moored, they saw that a change had come over the weather. In the north a black cloud was rising, and the surface of the bay, although little broken by waves so far as they could see, had a steely and ominous look.
“Maybe so rain bime-by,” said Skookie.
Rob studied the bay and the sky for some time. “What do you say, boys?” he asked. “Shall we try to make it across to-night? I don’t like the look of things out there, and you know it’s a long pull.”
“Well,” said John, “I’m for starting across. There’s no place to stop here, and I don’t like this place any more than Skookie does, anyhow.”
Jesse agreed that they might probably better try to make their home camp, as their supplies were low, and since, if stormy weather came, it might be a long time before they could cross the bay.
“All right, then,” said Rob; “but we’ve got to hurry.”