22 BY ESKIMO DOG-SLED 



racing in the same direction. Soon the sea 

 was dotted with boats, big boats and little 

 boats, all looking as though a touch would turn 

 them over, so crowded with people they were. 

 Here and there came a man in a skin canoe, 

 bent on the same errand as the boats. The 

 people were coming to greet the new-comers, 

 and to take a good look at the ship. 



They came tumbling aboard, with smiles 

 and hand-shakes and shouts of " Aksunai " 

 which we all repeated because it seemed the 

 proper thing to say ; and when they spoke to 

 us in their queer long words, of which we 

 could not understand one single syllable, we 

 just smiled, smiled our broadest, and they 

 smiled back at us and seemed quite well 

 satisfied. 



There was a crowd around the door of the 

 cook's galley, where the smell of cookery and 

 the sight of the pots and pans seemed to be 

 causing a good deal of excitement. One old 

 soul, who seemed to be a cripple, was smiling 

 so broadly at the cook that he secretly gave 

 her a ship's biscuit and a piece of cold pork, 

 which she pocketed with broader smiles than 

 ever, and mutterings of " thankee, thankee." 

 " Pocketing " is the only word I can find to 

 describe what she did with the pork and the 

 biscuit ; for she seemed to have no pocket as 



