164 VIKINGS OF TO-DAY 



land his men ; so he shouted, as his final order, 

 "Hand aboard the dead seals; never mind killing 

 live ones," and then, calmly descending, went and 

 had refreshments with the other captain in the other 

 vessel's cabin, while the crews were left to fight it 

 out as best they could. They are a brave, generous, 

 and skilful set of men, these sealing captains, and 

 reck little of danger or hardship. 



Work proceeds during the night by torchlight, and 

 the scattered fires, with their ruddy glow on the 

 heaps of dead seals and uncouth-looking figures at 

 work, must present indeed a w r eird sight. Now the 

 pelts have to be brought back to the ship; and in 

 this work the physical capacities of each hunter 

 are tried to the utmost. Six pelts is a full "tow" 

 for one man. Often when the ice is hummocky, or 

 perhaps broken up into pieces, called " slob " ice, 

 and it is necessary to jump from pan to pan, or 

 again when the distance from the ship is long, and 

 the approach of night or the fog render travelling 

 almost impossible, are these men tempted to abandon 

 the hardly-won pelts, and get home themselves to 

 the ship and safety. 



Sometimes one hunter will be long adrift from 

 the steamer, and all the rest being back, and all 

 tfie seals in that patch boarded, the captain is 

 anxious to get off how anxious, if the patch was 

 a small one and other seals are near, perhaps only 

 a sealing captain knows, for all ships must be 

 home by -April 2ist, full or empty. Yet though so 



