148 BY ESKIMO DOG-SLED 



hunt they would have on so fine a day. 

 Tautuk ! such clear, calm water and so many 

 seals swimming about ; it was a real day for 

 the sina, and before they had been there many 

 minutes Jakko had shot a seal. It was 

 wounded and floated on the water, lashing 

 with its flippers but too weak to dive. Oh 

 for a boat or a kayak ; but they had none, 

 and reach the seal they must. They did what 

 Eskimos always have done in like circum- 

 stances and always will do ; they clambered 

 on a piece of loose ice and paddled with their 

 hands towards the seal. 



They got on fairly well until they were 

 twenty or thirty yards from the edge of the 

 ice field and the seal was near enough to be 

 speared. Jakko stood up and poised his 

 harpoon, ready to strike, while Rena paddled 

 gently with his hands to steady the ice-raft. 

 The change of position must have upset the 

 balance of the ice, for no sooner did Jakko 

 stand up than it began to heel slowly over. 

 For a moment they were too intent on the 

 seal to notice their peril, but as the movement 

 increased it dawned upon them that they were 

 turning over. And then the slow-witted Jakko 

 had one of those flashes of inspiration that 

 come to people at critical times : with a quick 

 cry of " Stay where you are, Rena," he jumped 



