SYNOPSIS: The Eskimo festival failed to lift the continuous winter from the Eskimo lands. Although Miski the wise man says nothing more can be done, Oonik the Eskimo boy is determined to try another plan.

CHAPTER THREE
STORM AT SEA

With Keotuk at his heels Oonik ran home. He found his sled frozen to the side of the igloo. With his snow knife he cut it free. The sled was made of bone and pieces of driftwood, with reindeer antlers as a handle. It was small but sturdy.

He harnessed Keotuk and tied his snow saw and seal spear on the sled. Then he returned to the wise man's igloo where all the Eskimos of the Village were gathered.

"Father," said Oonik, touching his father's arm. "Is it true that on the far side of the Arctic Sea is SantaLand?"

His father nodded. "So I have always heard."

"Then," said Oonik, "I am going there."

"What are you saying?" cried his fater in astonishment.

"Santa Claus is very powerful," said Oonik. "He knows when I have been good and when I have been bad. He knows what to bring me for Christmas. He always comes every Christmas Eve no matter how storm the wather."

"So?" said his faterh.
"So," said Oonik, "if Santa can do all these thins he can surely cure the Ice King of his rage. I will go and ask his help."

"Son," said his father, "you could never get to Santa Land. It is too far and the storms come too fast and too often. You would die."

"If I stay here we all will die," replied Oonik. "Please, father. My sled is fast and Keotuk is the best dog in the village."

Miski, the wise man, put his hand on Oonik’s shoulder. “You are brave and wise.” He murmured. He turned to the father. “Let him go,” he said. “It is our only chance.”

Oonik's father saw that this was so. "Go, then," he said sadly. "Perhaps your small weight and fast sled will help you make it where no one else could."

Oonik ran out to his sled. "Go, Keotuk! He cried.

Slipping and falling, Keotuk slowly hauled the sled up the ice mountain and down to the frozen sea. It would be hard to say how many days Oonik traveled. Since it was a summer month (despite the cold) there was no night for, in Eskimo land, the summer is a time of never-ending night. Finally he saw mountains ahead.

"Not much further," he cried cheerily to the dog. "When we get to the mountains we'll be in Santa Land."

But, though Keotuk pulled on and on, they never seemed to get any closer and after a while storm clouds came down low over the sea and Oonik could not even see the mountains anymore.

"This is going to be a big storm," he murmured as he anxiously studied the lowering sky. "We'd better stop."

He was especially careful digging his snow cave. He made it large and deep and when he and Keotuk were safely in he turned the sled on its side and pulled it against the opening to deep our the wind. He had hardly finished when the full might of the Ice King's fury burst down upon the sea.

But Oonik didn't care. He snuggled against Keotuk's warm fur and fell asleep.

He was awakened by a terrible noise of crashing ice. He was thrown across the cave and Keotuk came tumbling after him. Then they both slid to the top of the cave. Horrified, Oonik saw that the cave was collapsing.

The ice field on which the cave was had been broken into pieces and now the huge chunks of ice were grinding together, crumbling and piling on top of one another like toy blocks tossed about by a playful giant.

Shaking with fright, Oonik suddenly felt the cave being lifted into the air. Then, midst a thousand tons of ice, the cave burst open and Oonic was sliding down an enormous slab of ice.

Down, down , down, he plunged straight towards a pool of churning black water at the bottom of the upended cake of ice.

"Oh, help! help!" cried Oonik. "This is the end of me!"

Next: Keotuk Hurts His Paw