AND KAYAK 193 



excepting when somebody coming in hastily 

 opened the door and hastily banged it shut 

 again. So I did a great amount of thinking 

 about those windows, and this is the way the 

 solution came. 



Tomas was building a new house, and he 

 came to me with a very simple request. &quot; I 

 want to build a good house,&quot; he said, &quot; because 

 I catch many seals. I want glass windows, 

 not windows of seals bowels : I want to be 

 able to see out of my windows when the days 

 are fine. Can you find me a piece of proper 

 wood for a window frame among the wood 

 that you have ? &quot; &quot; By all means,&quot; I told 

 him ; &quot; here is a piece of soft pine : and you 

 shall have it without payment if you will make 

 a window like this of mine that opens on 

 hinges.&quot; Tomas studied my window, and 

 opened it and shut it, and grinned, and looked 

 at me and coveted that piece of pine. &quot; Yes,&quot; 

 he said, &quot; it shall be &quot; ; and off he trotted with 

 his prize surely the first Eskimo house - 

 improvements prize ! I walked along several 

 times to see how he was getting along with 

 his new house and his new window ; and I 

 found that|another man, quite a poorpellow, 

 who was building himself a tiny hut near by, 

 was also making a window to open. He had 

 seen Tomas at work, and, of course, was 



