"Yes, I do, Katy. They certainly have not jumped off and drowned themselves on purpose."
This made Katy smile, in spite of her anxiety.
"They surely are not very far off; but, the most alarming part of the business is, how they are to get to us if that big crack increases to the size of a river. Can you make up your mind whether it is really growing wider?"
In the course of half an hour it became very plain that the crack was getting wider rapidly, and their icy foundation, which they had thought so fixed, had now become a big raft, slowly drifting down the lake under the pushing of the steady west wind—moving a little faster than its companion rafts in the wide waste, because its high hummock served as a sort of sail. All the cakes our watchers could see were much smaller than this one. Occasionally these pieces would crash together, and crumble, or one would slide under the other. Sometimes their own "floe," as Dr. Kane would have called so large a piece, collided with others, but always came off victorious. They came to the conclusion that its having the thick hummock, like a great, solid back-bone, rendered it far stronger than the rest, as well as a better sailer.
Beside them another floe, also bearing a hummock (a section of their own), was pressing its way on, to the ruin of smaller ones. It was separated from their floe by an open canal, perhaps five hundred yards wide, and floated along about even with them, sometimes swinging nearer, sometimes receding. This great cake, an acre or more in extent, lay in the direction whither the absent ones had gone, and it was hoped that they were upon it. This would be the next best thing to having them safely back, but the chance was a small one, at best.
Talking over these loopholes of escape, Katy and Tug tried to forget their discomforts and dangers, and to show each other cheerful and reliant faces. Nevertheless it was dreary work.
The weary day wore on—the day they thought would perhaps be their last—until night, with its starless gloom, was surrounding the desolate picture of grinding ice and of black, rolling waves, dimly seen. Chilled to the bone, for neither could bear to stay within the hut, they had grown silent and almost despairing, when Rex suddenly started to his feet, and, pricking up his ears, looked intently towards the great floe beside them, which had now approached much nearer. Then, after listening a moment, he uttered a loud bark, and bounded off. The two castaways followed to the edge of the ice, and there, having silenced Rex, could presently hear a faint halloo—her brother's voice!
"Halloo! halloo-o!" they shrieked back.
"Let us get the boat, and go after them!" cried Katy, nearly wild with joy and excitement.
"Can't do it," said Tug, in a discouraged tone. "All four of us couldn't budge that boat and sledge before morning. It is frozen in, and has got to be chopped out and dried up. Must do something besides get the boat."