“You bet they do. But how would it feel if we had as strong sunlight as they do in the south?”
“We’d probably go blind,” Sandy opined.
“There’s hardly a doubt about that,” said Constable Sloan. “But wait till you experience the long night, and see the moon go around and around in the sky, for day after day, not seeing anything but the stars, and then only when the sky is clear.”
“Do you think we’ll be up here that long?” asked Dick.
“Well, you never can tell,” Constable Sloan replied evasively, as if he had said more than he intended.
After the meal the boys immediately crawled into their sleeping bags and fell into a sound slumber. They did not awaken when Corporal McCarthy returned, several hours later, and did not know he had returned until they were awakened to find the dogs harnessed to the sledges and breakfast awaiting them.
“Why didn’t you wake us up so we could help get ready to start?” Dick asked the policemen.
“We’ve got a long hard trip ahead of us,” returned the Corporal, “and you fellows needed your rest. I found Mistak’s trail two miles east of here. He’s started inland and not only that, but it looks like he’s crossed a glacier which seems to cover part of the interior of the island.”
“Did you hear that?” Dick turned to Sandy. “We may have to cross a glacier.”
“That suits me better than floating around among these icebergs in a caribou hide boat,” Sandy replied with spirit. “I like to have my feet under me, and dry land under my feet.”