"We"ll be eatin" the broth first, and then the meat a bit at a time, and often," suggested Toby. "The Indians says if they eats too much when they first gets un after starvin" "tis like to make un sick. Sometimes they gets wonderful sick, too."
"Then we"ll be careful," agreed Charley, "though it"s mighty hard not to pitch right in. I feel as though I could eat it all and then want more."
"So does I," grinned Toby, "and I"m not doubtin" you could eat un all, and I knows "twould be easy for me to eat un."
How delicious the broth tasted, unsalted and unseasoned as it was! And when they drank it all, and temptation got the better of them and they each ate a small portion of the meat.
""Tis growing calmer on the water," Toby announced when he had covered the kettle and hidden its contents from their hungry eyes. "I sees un when I"m out and sees the owl in the tree. The water"s smokin" just fine now. Come and have a look, Charley."
"All right," said Charley reluctantly rising, though cheerfully. "If I stay here by the kettle, I"ll not be able to leave the meat alone, and one of us mustn"t have any more of it than the other."
Down on the sunny side of the island Charley all at once clutched Toby"s arm.
"What"s that?" he whispered excitedly, pointing to a dark object lying upon the rocks just above the water"s edge.
XIV
THE BAY FASTENS
"Down!" whispered Toby. "Keep down where you is! Don"t move! "Tis a swile!"
Charley lay p.r.o.ne upon the snow, scarcely daring to move, and Toby was gone in a twinkling, moving as silently as a fox. It seemed an age that Charley lay there before he discovered Toby edging, rifle in hand, to a rock behind which he might have good vantage ground for a shot.
Charley, tense with excitement lest the seal might take alarm, watched Toby"s every movement as he wormed himself forward, then lay still, then wormed forward again little by little. On his success might depend their lives, and Charley realized it fully. The owl would not last long, and would not go far to renew their wasted strength. The ice had not yet formed upon the bay, and still many days might pa.s.s before it would form.
At last Toby reached the rock, and Charley held his breath as Toby slowly and deliberately adjusted the rifle at his shoulder and aimed.
Then the rifle rang out as music to Charley"s ears. The seal gave a spasmodic lurch toward the water, and then lay still. Toby"s aim had been sure, and the bullet had reached its mark in the head, the one point where it would deal quick and certain death to the seal.
Both boys ran to their game, and fairly shouted with the joy of success.
They touched it with their moccasined toes, and felt it with their hands.
""Tis a dotar,"[5] said Toby. "Now we has plenty to eat till the bay fastens over."
"The Lord is _surely_ helping us!" declared Charley devoutly. "Just when I gave up all hope of ever getting away from this island you shot the owl, and now we"ve got the seal!"
"Let"s thank the Lard," suggested Toby. "Dad says "tis a fine thing to thank He for what He"s givin" us, and tryin" to be doin" somethin" for _He_ sometimes, and not be always just askin" He for somethin" and takin" what He"s givin" us without ever lettin" He know how much we likes un."
"You thank Him, Toby. I don"t know just how to do it," admitted Charley.
"Dad never says blessing or gives thanks at the table the way your father does."
"I"ll thank He," agreed Toby. "We"ll be gettin" on our knees."
The two boys knelt.
"Lard, Charley and I be wonderful thankful for the owl and the swile You sends us. And we"ll be tryin" to think o" things to do for You, and we has a chanst. Amen."
"That makes me feel better," Charley confessed. "Now what shall we do with the seal?"
"I"ll be gettin" a rope, and we"ll haul he over to camp."
"I"ll stay here and watch it till you come back," Charley volunteered.
"I"ll be comin" right back, and the swile"ll not be runnin" away,"
grinned Toby.
"I know it," Charley laughed, "but I just want to enjoy looking at it."
When Toby was gone, Charley stroked the seal caressingly. He was sure now that all of their worries were at an end. His heart was light again, and he stood up and looked out over the smoking waters, and breathed deeply of the frosty air. How lovely the world was! How glorious it was just to live! What an Odyssey of adventures he would have to relate when he reached home! And still, he mused, as wonderful as these adventures appeared to him they were a part of the routine of life in the country, and not one of them unusual. Toby looked upon them as a part of the day"s work, and experiences that were to be expected.
Lost in retrospection, Charley was surprised by Toby"s return with the rope much sooner than he had expected him. The rope was fastened to the seal, and the two boys, their hearts light with the certainty of food to sustain them and end their long fast, hauled the carca.s.s back to their bivouac.
It was not easy to be abstemious in their eating. The broth from the owl had aroused the full vigour of the appet.i.te of both boys, which had to some extent become dormant with long fasting. But they heeded the warning Toby had borrowed from the Indians, and practicing self-denial ate sparingly, though often.
Toby busied himself at once in removing the seal"s entrails, before the carca.s.s could freeze, and this he did without skinning it, explaining to Charley that if the ice formed before they had eaten the flesh, as he expected it would, they could haul it home over the ice, at the end of the rope, much more easily than they could carry the dismembered joints.
Extracting the liver, and laying it back under the lean-to on a piece of bark, Toby remarked:
"We"ll be eatin" the liver fried in a bit o" seal fat for breakfast. If we just eats the owl to-day, I"m thinkin" by marnin" we can stand the liver, or a piece of un. "Tis stronger meat than the owl. After the liver"s gone, we"ll be tryin" the flippers."
"All right," agreed Charley, happily. "Anything you say goes with me.
I"m going to have a good time here now until we get away."
"So"ll I," said Toby, "and we"ll not be startin" till the ice is strong enough, whatever, so"s not to be takin" any risk o" breakin" through.
"Tis never as thick outside as "tis near sh.o.r.e."
When they awoke the next morning, a new and strange silence had fallen upon the world. Toby sat up excitedly, and shaking Charley into wakefulness, asked:
"Does you hear un? Does you hear un?"
"Hear what?" asked Charley, sleepily. "I don"t hear a thing."
"Hear the stillness!" explained Toby. "The water"s not lappin"! The bay has fastened over! By to-morrow, whatever, we"ll be leavin" here for Double Up Cove!"
"Hurrah!" shouted Charley, now thoroughly awake. "Isn"t it great, Toby!
We"ll start to-morrow, and to-morrow night we"ll be at good old Double Up Cove again! Hurrah!"
Charley "heard" the silence, the impressive, gravelike silence that had fallen upon the world. No longer was there a lapping of waters upon the rocks. No breath of wind murmured through the trees. There was a silence so complete, so absolute that Charley declared he could actually hear it.
The boys hurried down to the sh.o.r.e to scan the bay, and sure enough it lay gray and still under a coating of smooth, dark ice. Toby tried it with a stick, and already it was tough enough to bear his weight near sh.o.r.e.
"I"m doubtin" "tis fast out in the middle yet," said Toby, "but she"ll be freezin" all day, and she"ll be fast enough all over by to-morrow, whatever."
It was a busy day of preparation and excitement. On the morrow they were surely to be relieved from their island prison and from an experience that had been most trying and that they would both remember while they lived. All of the boat gear that they had brought ash.o.r.e and other equipment and belongings were gathered together in a pile.
""Tisn"t much," said Toby, "but "twould make for weariness to pack un on our backs. I"m thinkin" I"ll fix up a riggin" to haul un. "Twill be easier than packin"."