n8 CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



about my looks, I suppose, and asking themselves whether I 

 was to be considered an easy prey or not. The house was 

 small, only about 10 by 15 feet, and before long the air became 

 very oppressive, as the exhalations of so many warm and 

 perspiring persons were mingled with tobacco smoke and 

 the fumes of some swell repast which Douglamana was pre- 

 paring in honour of her guests. Within twenty minutes I had 

 had enough and went outside, where I walked about looking 

 with envy at the splendid dogs of the Eskimos. The following 

 day the ship was visited by a happy crowd of natives, all the new 

 arrivals having come down with Douglamana as their "Frem- 

 denfuhrer," who considered herself as morally responsible for 

 the behaviour of her kin. 



When the natives had looked over the ship they took out 

 some cariboo skins, and a brisk trade ensued. I came off 

 rather badly, as the first skins I bought were not very good, 

 and it was not till the poor skins had been disposed of that 

 their good ones were offered for sale. The price was about 

 35 cents a skin. When the natives had sold all the skins they 

 had, they were invited into the cabin, where Joe gave them 

 tea, crackers, bread and butter, a meal which was certainly 

 highly appreciated by our visitors, who consumed huge 

 quantities of everything set before them. Although some 

 of them had come from the east, none had seen Mr. Leffingwell 

 or Dr. Howe, and I began to feel really worried about them. 



During the night I made up my mind to start in search 

 of Dr. Howe, and the next morning we commenced to pack 

 a sledge. 



While I was down in the cabin, thinking out what food to 

 take, I heard some one running along the deck ; the companion 

 way was flung open, and a second later a voice bellowed down : 

 " Say, Captain, the Doctor's coming." I jumped on deck and 

 was very glad to see him and Thuesen back safely. 



The news they brought was, unfortunately, not very satisfac- 

 tory. Mr. Leffingwell and his party had been stopped by open 

 water at Collingson's Point and had been obliged to stay there 

 for a whole week. There they had met Ned Erie with his 

 family, and they had all camped together. Ned had a lot 

 of deer meat in the mountains, and had told them that they 

 could have it if they would only fetch it down themselves. 



