"Nine."
"Drop that pistol, sir. I'll give in. What do you want us to do?"
"That's sensible," said Ranworth grimly. "Now get to work sharply, and I'll take a lenient view of the affair. The pair of you must go ashore and carry a couple of grapnels up to the top of the slope. There you'll wedge the flukes and await orders."
The Bird of Freedom having been brought alongside the ice, the two seamen, armed with ice-axes, proceeded to recut the niches in the sloping ice. This done, they carried the two grapnels, with ropes attached, to the place Ranworth had indicated. Although they showed no zeal in their work, the men did their part satisfactorily.
"Now, Leslie," continued Ranworth, "help me to unroll the canvas. My word, I'm sorry this has happened. We can't trust these fellows. It will mean our being always on our guard. We'll have to take turn and turn about in snatching a few hours' sleep. By the bye, this revolver isn't loaded. I'll put that matter right at once."
Both lads realised the danger of being shipmates with two insubordinate men. Prudence would have suggested returning to the Polarity and making a fresh start with more reliable hands. Even Ranworth revolved the thought over in his mind, but the urgent call for assistance from his brother's party compelled him to push forward at all costs. Enough time had already been spent in fruitless efforts and exasperating delays.
Having unrolled the two bolts, Ranworth attached one end of each rope to the end of each strip of canvas. Then, ordering the men to haul in, he proceeded to pay out the material until a double track of canvas extended up the slope. To prevent the fabric from slipping, it was firmly secured to the grapnels. Again the motors were started, the decapod wheels being brought into play. As the Bird of Freedom's forepart touched the ice, the canvas began to give, yet the wheels gripped.
"It's only the stretch being taken out of the stuff," said Ranworth, reassuringly. "She'll do it, by Jove."
He was right in his surmise. Slowly, but yet surely, the huge bulk of the Bird of Freedom raised itself from the water. The wheels, taking a firm hold of the canvas, groaned under the strain. Fortunate it was that the canvas was new and of tough material. Up and up climbed the sleigh, till, toppling over the ridge of the summit of the slope, it gained the comparatively level ground beyond.
As soon as the grapnels had been removed from their holding places, and the canvas recovered and rolled up, Rogers and Payne came on board again. They were still morose, and curtly accepting their shares of the meal which Guy had prepared, they retired to the farthermost part of the after-cabin.