This was to Jakobsen, who nodded, drew his knife, and began to cut off a haunch from one of the deer, for Johannes was looking about uneasily.
“See anything of him, my man?” said the captain.
“No, sir. He must be gathering coal together to help the fire; but I’ve been down both these rifts, and he is not there.”
“It’s very strange,” said the captain uneasily. “So unlike him to rush off in that way.”
“He was thinking of our comfort, sir,” said Johannes gravely; “and how good it would be for us to find a fire ready.”
“He must be about here somewhere,” said the captain. “Shout, will you?”
Johannes made the rocks echo again and again, but the only effect was the starting of the owl into flight till the cries and their echoes ceased, when it settled once more high up the mountain-side.
There were several narrow, gully-like places within reach, up either of which the boy might have gone, and the question arose as to the reason for his so doing.
“He would not have gone seeking for coal,” said the doctor, “because there is plenty here.”
“I’m thinking, sir,” said the Norseman, “that he had no matches, and has gone to seek for a stone to use with his knife to strike a light. There can be no other reason.”