AN ESKIMO ROMANCE 1 23 



beach and on the jetty went home to breakfast and 

 to work. 



So the heathen woman began her journey home. 



There were adventures on the road. 



Spring was well advanced, and the day was warm ; 

 the sea ice was slushy and soft, and in many places 

 the necks of land were almost bare of snow. It was 

 a bad day for the dogs ; they, poor things, were 

 heavy with their winter coats, and the toiling in the 

 sodden track under the warm spring sun scon 

 wearied them to a mere crawl. At last, halfway to 

 Hebron, the little caravan came to a river, a winding, 

 whirling barrier of water that no dog or sledge could 

 cross. The road was closed, and the only thing 

 possible was to return to Okak. 



But the heathen woman had set her face towards 

 her own village, and was not to be turned. The 

 missionary argued with her and entreated her. But 

 no, in spite of the river she would push on ; she 

 would find a crossing place ; she could, she said, 

 walk along the rocks and across the steep slopes 

 where a sledge could not travel ; she knew the direc- 

 tion, and before long she hoped to reach the settlers' 

 houses at Nappartok, twenty miles south of Hebron. 



So she bade good-bye to the missionary, and with 

 packs upon their shoulders and a good supply of 

 food in the hoods of their smocks, she and her boys 

 trudged out of sight along the river bank. 



The missionary felt uncomfortable at letting them 

 go ; it seemed to him that he ought rather to have 

 compelled them to return with him. But the sledge- 



