the next day was sunday. fortunately, the sacred day had found them in such a position that they could spend it quietly. katy persuaded jim and the two young men to listen while she read them some chapters from the little testament she had carefully packed among her "necessary articles."
this, together with the work that must be done, took up a good part of the morning, and the afternoon was spent in making a trip to the boat, looking the situation over carefully, and laying plans for a very early start the next day. supper over, they soon crawled into bed, and woke at day break, ready for work, and all the better for their day of rest.
after a hasty breakfast camp was broken, and work was resumed at the hummock. all hands labored with such a will that long before noon they had let the boat down to the smooth white plain upon the other side; and though it got away from them at the last minute, and went spinning off on its own account, no harm was done.
the onward march was then resumed, and splendid headway made. at noon a short halt was called and gladly accepted, all lounging upon the straw and boxes in the boat, munching crackers and cheese, and drinking katy's cold chocolate. the sun had been out all the morning, and the ice was not only a trifle soft, but frequently rough, which had made the skating and dragging a little harder work than before.
no land appeared ahead, but aleck knew the name and position of a lighthouse just visible upon an island at the mouth of a river away off at their right. he therefore took out of his pocket a small map of the western end of the lake, that he had copied from a big chart, and began to study it. he found that it was about fifteen miles across the end of the lake to a certain cape on the southern shore, which lay beyond the great marshy bay into which emptied the river just mentioned. he took the direction of this cape from where they were at present, by compass, and made a note of it in his pocket-book. it was almost exactly southeast. aleck reckoned on reaching so near there by sundown that the party could go ashore if very hard pushed by any misfortune or bad turn of the weather, though it was too long a march to make unless they were compelled.
"but supposing we find open water, and have to change our course?" asked katy.
"well, we shall know, at all events, that we mustn't go east of southeast, and must try to keep as close to that direction as possible. i don't like this sunshine and westerly breeze. i'd much rather the weather kept real cold."
"why?" said jim. "it's much nicer when it's warm."
"i'm afraid of snow and fogs, youngster. now let us be off."
no snow or fog came to bother them, however, and at sunset they were out of sight of any landmark, and travelling by the compass, like a ship at sea.
you may ask, how could they be sure they were following it truly, since they had no object, like a long bowsprit, to guide the eye in ranging their course into line with the needle point, as the steersman on a ship does when he glances across his binnacle?
this is the plan they took: the compass was a small one, but it was hung in a box so as always to stand level. it was, in fact, an old boat compass which mr. kincaid had had for many years. this was set exactly in the middle of the seat at the stern of the boat, where katy still skated, with her hands resting upon the stern-board. here she could keep her eye easily upon the face of the compass, and make a straight line from its pointer through the middle of the boat. when the compass point "southeast" and the stem-post of the yawl were in line, she knew they were going on a straight course. when these were out of line, she knew her team had swerved, and she called out "right!" or "left!" to bring them back to the true course, just as a quartermaster would order "port!" and "starboard!" to his helmsman.
the sun went down slowly at their right hands as they rushed along, and as jim saw his shadow stretching taller and taller, he found it difficult to keep pace with the older lads. noting this, the captain ordered a halt, and put jim into the boat as a passenger, tying his sled behind.
"don't you want to ride also?" asked tug of katy, very gallantly.
katy was tired, and one of her skate-straps chafed her instep a little, but she didn't propose to give up.
"oh, no," she said, cheerily. "i have so much help by resting on the stern of the boat that i can go a long time yet before i give in. besides, who would steer?"
so they rushed away again, the clink-clink of their strokes keeping perfect time on the smooth ice. all at once—it was about four o'clock in the afternoon now—a dark line appeared ahead, and in a few moments more they could plainly see open water across their path.
when they became sure of this they went more slowly, and in about ten minutes had approached as close as they dared to a wide space like a river, beyond which white ice could be seen again. here all knew they must spend the night, for it would be foolish to attempt to cross before morning.
"well," remarked tug, as they came to a halt, "according to orders, it's my duty to take the axe and cut fuel; so i can loaf, for there's no wood to chop round here that i see;" and he pretended to search in every direction.
"loaf? not a bit of it," shouted aleck, with a grin. "my order to you is, unload that tent, and set it up on the ice! jim will help you. i'll help katy make a fire."
"i wish you would," said the girl. "i'm 'fraid i shouldn't make it go very well out here. i have never built a kitchen fire on ice."
"this is the best way."
saying this, aleck took two of the largest pieces of wood from jim's sled, and laid them down a little way apart. then he laid across them a platform of the next largest sticks, and on top of this arranged his kindling, ready to touch a match to.
"we won't set the fire going till we are quite ready for it, and—"
"but i'm cold," jim complained.
"well, youngster, i've heard that the indians never let their boys come near the lodge fire to get warm, but bid them run till they work the chill off. you'd better move livelier if you want to get warm, for we can't afford any more fire than is necessary for a short bit of cooking. katy, what do you propose to have?"
"i thought i would make tea, boil potatoes, and bake some johnny-cake in my skillet. may i?"
"oh, yes, but you must economize fuel."
with this warning, aleck struck a match, and the little fire was soon blazing merrily in the "wooden stove," as katy called it. only one or two sticks had been burned clear through before the fire had done its work, and was put out in order to save every splinter of wood possible. they sat down in the shelter of the boat to eat their dinner, and enjoyed it very much, in spite of the cold, their loneliness, and the gathering darkness.
meanwhile the tent had been set up. over its icy floor were laid the thwarts taken out of the boat, the rudder, and two box covers, which nearly covered the whole space. on top of this was placed as much straw as could be spared, and upon the straw aleck and tug spread their blankets.
dinner out of the way, the after-part of the boat was cleared out and re-arranged, until a level space was left. here, upon a heap of straw, beds for the younger ones were arranged. then the spare canvas was spread across like an awning, and was held up on an oar laid lengthwise. this made a snug cabin for katy and the wearied jim, who were not long in creeping into it. rex followed, and slept in the straw at their feet, which was good for them all.
with the coming of darkness came also a damp sort of cold, that caused them to huddle close in their blankets; and though they presently fell asleep, it was with a shivering sense of discomfort that spoiled the refreshment.
midnight passed, and aleck, only half awake, was trying to tuck his blankets closer about him without disturbing his bedfellow, when the tent was suddenly struck by some large object, and considerably shaken. alarmed and puzzled at the same time, aleck paused to listen an instant before rising, when the shrieks and barking of the sleepers in the boat came to his ears. he sprang out of his blankets only in time to see two shadowy objects rise from the camp, and drift away across the face of the moon, which was just rising.
"wh-what w-was that?" came from two scared figures sitting bolt-upright in the yawl, their tongues stuttering with terror and cold combined.
"i don't know." aleck was as bewildered, if not quite as much frightened, as they.
"humph!" cried tug's voice, behind; "you're a pretty set to be scared out of your wits and wake everybody up on account of two birds. they're nothing but snow-owls. go to bed, or we'll all freeze."
"wh-wh-what are they?" asked jim, his teeth playing castanets in spite of all his efforts to control them.
"tell you in the morning," was the reply. "go to bed. come in, cap'n. owls are nothing. come to bed."
this seemed good advice, however gruffly given; but you can hardly expect a person to mince his phrases at two o'clock of a winter's morning, on an ice-floe. aleck was ready to comply, but he was too cold.
"i must get warm first, and so must you, jim." katy had wisely disappeared some time before, and said she was pretty comfortable. "come and run with me till we get our blood stirring."
neither of the boys had dared undress at all, so it only remained for jim to creep out from under the canvas, and limp stiffly to his brother's side. then hand in hand they raced up and down the ice half a dozen times in the pale greenish moonlight. once or twice they disturbed an owl perched on the ice, or heard wild hooting—a sound so hollow and unearthly that they could not tell whether it came from near by or far off.
this strange voice and the gray, silent half-light on the wide waste gave them a very lonely and dismal feeling, and when they had put themselves into a glow by exercise, they were very glad to creep back into their beds.
