At the same time he called in his native language to the dogs to lie down. The brutes heard the cracking of the cruel thong, whose force they knew but too well, and they recognized their master's voice. On came the Esquimaux, until, reaching the pack of dogs, he laid about among them with good will, the blows of the whip bringing blood.
Sticking their tails between their legs, the remaining dogs ran away with frightened yelps. The driver had come in the nick of time.
"That was quite a fright!" panted Andy, when the excitement was at an end. "My, but those were fierce brutes!"
While the dogs that were left alive among the pack, including several wounded ones, withdrew to a far end of the ice floe, the adventurers crawled back under the tent for a much-needed rest. The Esquimaux, with a silence worthy of an American Indian, took up his position in the small doorway.
It was growing much colder, and the big chunk of ice that served the refugees as a raft was moving quite rapidly over a choppy sea.
It was several hours later that the Esquimaux with a loud cry attracted all the others to the tent opening. He pointed ahead.
"I believe we're drifting back to shore!" shouted Andy.
CHAPTER XXVII
BACK TO THE SHIP
With anxious eyes the adventurers crawled out on the floe and gazed ahead. Across the black stretch of water could be seen a dim whiteness. It looked like the main ice pack, but they realized that it might be only another floe or berg. The current was setting strong in the direction of it.