48 BY ESKIMO DOG-SLED 



frozen, so that cutting it was like cutting 

 stone, but by much hard work we managed 

 to get slices, and these we thawed by toasting 

 them over the stove, and so we got our break- 

 fast. 



Our sitting-room was rather stuffy one day, 

 after a visit from a merry crowd of Eskimos, 

 so I opened the window for fresh air. In a 

 twinkling the pictures on the walls were 

 covered with frost, and the plants on the 

 side table my wife's own pet little hobby 

 drooped their heads with one accord and 

 died. I shut the double window with a slam, 

 but it was too late ; the plants were dead, 

 and tears began to run down the faces of the 

 pictures. That was my first lesson about 

 King Frost in his own country ! 



There was a little pantry built next to our 

 kitchen, a tiny room with a felt-padded door 

 and a huge brick stove, and there we stored 

 the potatoes and eggs and other things that 

 must not freeze. 



On the windy nights I used to make a 

 chilly pilgrimage at one or two o'clock to fill 

 up the steppe and save the potatoes. 



And ours was a warm house, built of boards 

 and felt in alternate layers. 



Early in December the Okak brook was 

 frozen solid, and the people, instead of fetch- 



