ARCTIC FRIENDS AND ENEMIES 



great log fire we were soon in the midst of an enjoyable 

 feast. 



Suddenly there appeared from out the darkness on the 

 opposite side of the fire two figures. One was a tall 

 man, slightly bent, with sharp features and keenness of 

 eye, carrying a rifle. He wore snowshoes and was com- 

 fortably clothed for a northern Indian. The other was 

 a boy, about twelve years of age, with long, ragged hair, 

 clothed in a few filthy rags, and wearing a most pitiful 

 look of hunger, misery, and degradation. Both were wet 

 with the falling snow, and Mr. Simpson, the fur trader, 

 whose companionship and aid it was my good fortune to 

 have, invited them under shelter. 



This was the first time I ever saw Iron. He came 

 around, and seated himself in a comfortable position, and 

 accepted a plate of food. But in spite of Mr. Simpson's 

 insisting upon it, the boy remained out in the storm on 

 the other side of the fire, leaning against a tree and gaz- 

 ing at us with a look of wonder and fear. He was finally, 

 however, induced to accept a plate of food that was passed 

 over to him, and he devoured it rapidly, still leaning 

 against the tree. 



I asked Mr. Simpson why the boy would not come 

 around, and he said he did not know. Then I said he must 

 be a slave and afraid Iron would punish him if he came 

 under shelter; and Mr. Simpson said that was the case. 



The only shelter the boy had from the storm that night 

 was a part of an old blanket about one yard square. 

 Later in the winter, when the thermometer was ranging 

 between 45 ° and 50 below zero, I found this boy living 

 alone in the woods, without other shelter than the small 

 square of blanket. He slept at night by a little open fire, 

 turning over and over in order to prevent any part of 

 his body from freezing. 



A little later in the winter, Powder, the sluimcn, told Iron 

 that the boy was a witch, and that Mrs. Iron would never 

 regain her health until the witch was destroyed. The news 

 came to me one day that Iron and Powder and the boy 

 had gone hunting, and four days later Iron and Powder 

 returned without the boy. A hole had been cut through 

 the thick covering of ice on a neighboring lake, a stone 



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