"Did you come with the wolves?" asked Annie.

The seal hunter looked puzzled.

"Did Morgan send you to us?" said Jack.

"I had a dream," the man said. "You were in it. Youneeded help."Annie smiled.

"Morgan sends dreams sometimes," she said. "Wecame in Morgan's tree house. It flies through time."Oh, brother, thought Jack. Who will believe that?

The seal hunter smiled as if he was not surprised atall.

"We do need help," said Jack. "W-w-we're fr-frfreezing."The seal hunter nodded. Then he left the window.

He returned a moment later with two small parkaslike his own. They were made of heavy dark skinswith fur-trimmed hoods.

He passed one to Jack and one to Annie.

"Thanks!" said Jack and Annie. They put the parkason.

"Hooray!" said Annie. "It's warm!""Yeah," said Jack. "They're made of seal skin.""Poor seals," said Annie.

"Don't think about it," said Jack. He pulled his hoodup. His head and upper body were very snug now.

Only his legs, hands, and feet were still freezing.

"Oh, thanks!" said Annie.

Jack looked up. The seal hunter was giving Annie apair of fur pants. Then he handed a pair to jack.

"Thanks," said Jack. He quickly pulled the pants onover his pajamas.

Next the seal hunter gave each of them a pair of furboots and mittens.

Jack took off his sneakers and pulled on the boots.

He wiggled his frozen fingers into the warm mittens.

"I have a quick question," Jack said to the sealhunter. "Do you know the answer to this riddle?"He opened his notebook and read:

I cover what's real and hide what's true. Butsometimes I bring out the courage in you. What am I?

The seal hunter shook his head.

"Come," he said to Jack and Annie. Then hedisappeared from the window.

"What about those wolves out there?" Jack called.

But the seal hunter didn't answer.

Jack grabbed the Arctic book and looked for apicture of the seal hunter.

When Jack found the picture, he smiled. The sealhunter was standing beside a dog-sled.

Jack read:

In cold weather, the seal hunter travels by dogsled.

Siberian Huskies often howl like wolves. A lead dogcontrols the others. The sled's runners are sometimesmade of frozen fish rolled up in sealskin.

"Hey, Annie, they're not wolves," said Jack.

"They're--"He looked up. Annie was gone.

Jack threw the book and notebook into his pack.

But he was so fat in his furry clothes that thebackpack wouldn't fit. Jack loosened the shoulderstraps and tried to put the back-pack on again. It fit.

Jack looked at the small window. That would be atight fit, too. He went out head-first and barelysqueezed through.

Jack fell onto the snowy ground. The snow was stilldrifting down. The air was misty white.

Jack heard barking and howling. He movedcarefully toward the noise.

At first, he couldn't see the dogsled. But when hegot closer, he counted nine Siberian Huskies. Theyhad thick fur big heads, and pointy ears.

The lead dog barked at him.

Jack stopped.

"He's telling you to climb on!" said Annie.

She was standing on the back of the sled. The sealhunter stood next to her in the snow.

Jack jumped onto the sled next to Annie.

The seal hunter cracked a long whip. "Mush!" heshouted.

The huskies dashed off in a whirl of snow.

Above them flew the snowy owl.