84 BY ESKIMO DOG-SLED 



chipping its edge so that it leaned well inward. 

 Meanwhile Johannes got nearer and nearer the 

 wall with his digging, and his work got harder 

 and harder, for instead of tumbling the slabs 

 out he had to pick them up and hand them to 

 Julius over the leaning wall. I thought the 

 wall looked frail and unsafe, but Julius seemed 

 to think otherwise, for I have often seen him 

 crawl upon it and lean over to see how 

 Johannes was getting on inside. As a matter 

 of fact, his weight only pressed the slabs 

 together a bit more firmly ; and I got so used 

 to it that I have sat placidly in a snow house 

 while he crawled over the top. 



At last the spiral was finished, all but the 

 " keystone." Julius sprawled on the side of 

 the house, while Johannes's hands pushed a 

 big slab through the opening that still re- 

 mained at the top. Julius laid it over the 

 hole, and chipped the edges with his knife 

 until it gently dropped into place, and the 

 building was ready. A scraping and trampling 

 noise inside was the next thing ; that was 

 Johannes smoothing the floor. Meanwhile 

 Julius was filling all the crevices with handfuls 

 of snow. " To keep the wind out," he said ; 

 " boy's work, this " ; from which I gathered 

 that the Eskimo boy learns to build by filling 

 the crevices with snow as his father fits the 



