They tramped on, noting flock after flock, thousands upon thousands in fact, of sea-birds, sitting in rows upon the ledges of the cliffs many of them, while others flew seaward, wheeling round and retiring; so plentiful were they--auks, puffins, guillemots, and tern--that the men might easily have been loaded with the spoil. But these birds were not tempting from a food point of view; and though Steve was anxious for a trial, the captain had no mind to stop while the boy ran risks by climbing to the ledges in search of the eggs that no doubt were there in thousands; so they kept on, looking vainly for ducks or geese. "There," said the captain at last, "we have nothing to gain by tramping along here. We know that if we keep on we shall come to the ice cliff, and be turned back. It is impossible to get up here and go inward without chipping a way up that glacier, to find more snow, so let's go back." "Without a single bird?" cried the doctor in a disappointed tone. "Well, another hundred yards or so, then," said the captain; "but I don't think we shall get anything. We want the mouth of a river or a lagoon from which the ice has just melted." "What's the matter with the dog?" said Steve suddenly, after they had walked on for another ten minutes; for Skene had suddenly seemed as if he had conceived it to be his duty to turn himself into as near a resemblance to an arctic wolf as he possibly could. His ears were laid back, his eyes lurid, his teeth bared, and the thick ruff above his neck and shoulders set up, bristling and waving as if swept by a strong current of air. "Look out, gentlemen; he scents game," whispered Johannes. "Stop!" said the captain. "It was near here that we saw the bears." "No, no, a mile farther," said the doctor. At that moment Skene growled savagely, and from behind a pile of grey rocks some fifty yards to their right a large animal suddenly rushed out, turned and stared at them for a moment or two, and then shuffled off at a lumbering trot, going rapidly over the rough ground in the direction of the ice. "Don't fire! don't fire!" cried the captain. "A stern shot would only injure without killing the poor brute. Let him go." "My word!" cried the doctor as he lowered his gun; "but he is a fine one." Steve, too, had eagerly raised his double gun to fire, and felt quite resentful at being ordered not to draw trigger; and he stood now watching the great, thick-legged creature with its long, silky, cream-coloured fur hanging low down, the animal being as big in body as an ox, but with small, sharp, ferrety-looking head. "But if the gentleman fires and hits, sir," said Jakobsen eagerly, "it will stop him and make him angry; then we can kill him with the spears." "Look out!" cried the captain; "the other. Hah! Good dog!"