268 PETER'S DEAD BODY. 



followed the great man to his new abode, and crawled 

 into a corner of his den as coolly as if he was a de* 

 serving fellow, and not the most arrant little knave 

 and beggar that ever sponged on worth and industry. 



KrJutunah brought a solution of the Peter mystery. 

 As soon as the daylight began to come back, one of 

 the Iteplik hunters, named Nesark, determined to 

 travel up to Peteravik, and there try his fortunes in 

 the seal hunt. Arriving at the hut (these Esquimau 

 huts are common property) at that place, he was sur- 

 prised to discover, lying on the floor, a much ema- 

 ciated corpse. It was that of an Esquimau dressed 

 in white man's clothing, and the description left no 

 doubt that it was the body of Peter. Nesark gave it 

 Esquimau burial. And thus, after the lapse of three 

 months, this strange story was brought to a close ; 

 but I was still as far as ever from an explanation of 

 the hapless boy's 'strange conduct. 



I had now become the possessor of seventeen dogs, 

 and awaited only one principal event to set out on a 

 preliminary journey northward. The sea had not yet 

 closed about Sunrise Point, and I could not get out 

 of the bay on that side. To travel over the land was, 

 owing to its great roughness, impracticable for a 

 sledge, even if without cargo ; and to round the Point 

 at that season of the year, through the broken ice and 

 rough sea, in an open boat, was, for obvious reasons, 

 not to be thought of 



My plan had always been to set out with my prin- 

 cipal party, when the temperature had begun to 

 moderate toward the summer, which was likely to be 

 about the first of April ; but I had looked forward to 

 doing some serviceable work with my dogs prior to 

 that time. March is the coldest month of the Arctic 



