And, what was particularly to his satisfaction, the pans were so closely massed together that by jumping from pan to pan he was quite certain he could make the passage safely, and for a time at least be secure from the threatening sea.
Running over loose ice pans in this manner was not wholly new to Bobby.
Every hunter in the Eskimo country learns to do it, and Bobby had often practiced it in Abel's Bay when the water was calm and the ice pans to a great extent stationary.

But he had never attempted it on the open sea where the pans were never free from motion.

It was, therefore, though not an unusual feat for the experienced seal hunter, a hazardous undertaking.
The situation, however, demanded prompt action.

Should wind arise the ice pans would quickly be scattered, and all possibility of retreat to the big ice field cut off.
Bobby, after his manner, not only decided quickly what to do, but acted immediately upon his decision.

The distance to be traversed was probably not much above a mile, and, selecting a course where the pans appeared closely in contact with one another, he seized his snow knife, which he had no doubt he would still find useful in preparing shelters, and leaping from pan to pan set out without hesitation upon his uncertain journey.
It was a feat that required a steady nerve, a quick eye, and alert action, for the ice was constantly rising and falling upon the swell.
Now and again there were gaps of several yards, where the ice had been ground into pieces so small that none would have borne his weight.