As the boys talked of the condition of their trusty servants, and exchanged anxious forebodings concerning the crossing of the mountains, their attention was attracted by an exclamation from Jalap Coombs. Nel-te had been so insistent in demanding his attention that the sailorman was finally obliged to lay aside his work and lift the child to his knees saying,
"Waal, Cap'n Kid, what's the orders now, sir?"
"C'ap'n Kid" was the name he had given to the little fellow on the occasion of the latter's début as pilot; for, as he said, "Every branch pilot answers to the hail of C'ap'n, and this one being a kid becomes 'Cap'n Kid' by rights."
For answer to his question the child held out a small fur-booted foot, and intimated that the boot should be pulled off.
"Bad foot, hurt Nel-te," he said.
"So! something gone wrong with your running rigging, eh?" queried Jalap Coombs, as he pulled off the offending boot. Before he could investigate it the little chap reached forward, and, thrusting a chubby hand down to its very toe, drew forth in triumph the object that had been annoying him. As he made a motion to fling it out into the snow, Jalap Coombs, out of curiosity to see what had worried the child, caught his hand. The next moment he uttered the half-terrified exclamation that attracted the attention of Phil and Serge.
As they looked they saw him holding to the firelight between thumb and finger, and beyond reach of Nel-te, who was striving to regain it, an object so strange and yet so familiar that for a moment they regarded it in speechless amazement.
"The fur-seal's tooth!" cried Phil. "How can it be?"
"It can't be our fur-seal's tooth," objected Serge, in a tone of mingled incredulity and awe. "There must be several of them."
"I should think so myself," replied Phil, who had taken the object in question from Jalap Coombs for a closer examination, "if it were not for a private mark that I scratched on it when it was in our possession at St. Michaels. See, here it is, and so the identity of the tooth is established beyond a doubt. But how it ever got here I can't conceive. There is actually something supernatural about the whole thing. Where did you say you found it, Mr. Coombs?"