So soundly they slept that they did not hear Case awaken just after midnight and groan to himself softly as he waited through the dreary hours for daylight to come and his chums to awake.
It was Ike who was the first to awake, and by the unwritten law of the cruise, he it was to whom the lot fell of cooking breakfast. He lay quiet for a minute, blinking the sleep out of his eyes, then slipped softly out of his bunk so as not to awaken his companions. He stopped at Case’s bunk with joyful greeting to find him conscious, if in pain.
Case tried to smile at the little Jew’s joyous greeting, but it was all he could do to stifle a groan.
“I’ll fix you up a cup of coffee and some broth, good broth, right away,” Ike said. “They no stop the hurt you understand. They just make you more strong to fight the hurts.” He was as good as his word and was back in a few minutes with the coffee and broth prepared over the electric stove while breakfast was cooking over the other one. It was not long before he was able to call “Grub’s ready,” which brought Clay and Alex tumbling from their bunks, Alex apparently none the worse from his experience of the day before. They both greeted Case with joy, but while the mystified Alex was learning what had happened to put his chum in such a condition, Clay slipped out to the point and looked up and down the river. Far down toward the mouth of the Yukon he saw a thin streamer of smoke and he grinned with satisfaction.
“We’ve got plenty of time to linger over our breakfast,” he announced gleefully. “That steamer is eleven or twelve miles down the river yet. Come on all, let’s eat.”
Over the meal Case’s accident was discussed. Alex was worst hurt of all, for Teddy Bear had been his dearest pet.
“I think if he comes back before we go we had ought to shoot him,” Ike declared, savagely.
“No, don’t hurt him,” growled Case from his bunk. “He didn’t mean to hurt me, I am sure. He was just wild for a run on shore.”
“I am the one to blame for this,” said Clay, regretfully. “I saw Ted’s trouble coming days ago. I ought to have insisted on leaving him at Nome. We were bound to lose him sooner or later, but I never thought he would do so much damage in his leave taking.”
“How did you know that Teddy was going to run away?” demanded Alex, scornfully. “Bears don’t think out loud and, if they did, I fancy it would take you some time to pick up their lingo.”