YOUNG KORNELIUS 87 



much ado to get the water she wanted for her wash- 

 tub. And as for walking anywhere, if it were 

 possible to reach the desired place by sliding or roll- 

 ing well Korni would slide or roll or tumble just 

 for the joy of doing it. 



It was one of these adventures that began our 

 acquaintanceship, and this is the way of it. Korni 

 was out for a ramble on the hills when he saw a hare. 

 A moment's thought would have told him that he 

 could not possibly catch it, but Korni was not the 

 boy to stand thinking when there was something to 

 be chased. After the hare he went, helter-skelter 

 among the rocks, hallo-ing and throwing stones as 

 he ran. 



This was an ordinary, everyday sort of adventure, 

 but it ended seriously. Korni, in full flight among 

 the grass and the stones, caught his foot and fell. 

 He tried to get up, but no his leg was broken. 



So he lay and shouted, and presently a party of 

 Eskimos heard him and came to see what was the 

 matter. They fetched a sledge, and took Kornelius 

 back to his uncle's hut, and thence to hospital. 



At this point his name enters not only into the 

 hospital case-book, but also into the memories of 

 all who came in touch with him. Give Kornelius his 

 due : he was a good boy, with never a scrap of 

 malice in him, and a fund of good humour that never 

 failed. 



So long as his leg was painful he was as quiet as 

 a boy can be, looking at picture books most of the 

 time and writing queer letters to himself and to all 

 of us. The margins of the picture books bear the 



