The Eskimos were night-trackers and night-hunters.

For five months out of every twelve their existence depended upon their ability to stalk and kill in darkness.

If they had returned to the burning cabin it was possible, even probable, that they were close on their heels now.
For a second time he found himself a stout club.

He waited, listening, and straining his eyes to penetrate the thick gloom; and then, as his own heart-beats came to him audibly, he felt creeping over him a slow and irresistible foreboding--a premonition of something impending, of a great danger close at hand.

His muscles grew tense, and he clutched the club, ready for action..