“What! did it run at you?” asked Rooney, becoming slightly excited in his turn, and keeping his eye on the ice-point.
“N–no; no. It was sitting on—on its tail—l–looking at the—the s–sea.”
“And we’ve no weapon bigger than an Eskimo knife,” exclaimed the sailor, with a frown of discontent—“not even a bit of stick to tie the knife to. What a chance lost! He would have kept us in food for some weeks. Well, well, this is bad luck. Come, Ippe, we’ll go back to the cave, and consult about this.”
On returning to the cheerless retreat, they found the rest of the party just awakening. The men were yawning and rubbing their eyes, while the women, with characteristic activity and self-denial, were gathering together the few scraps of food that remained from the previous night’s supper.
“There is a bear just round the point—so Ippe says—what’s to be done?” asked Rooney on entering.
Up jumped the four men and two boys as if they had been made of indiarubber.
“Attack it,” cried Arbalik.
“Kill it,” exclaimed Norrak.
“And eat it,” said Ermigit.
“What will you attack it with?” asked Simek in a slightly contemptuous tone—“with your fingernails? If so, you had better send Sigokow to do battle, for she could beat the three of you.”