THE ESKIMO BABY 



phlegmatically ; she turned back into the house to 

 get on with her work. 



Meanwhile I was interested in the doings of the 

 small boy : there was some grim purpose in his little 

 mind, and I stayed to see the finish of the play. He 

 scrambled on until he came to a dog that lay sunning 

 itself behind a stone. Very likely it was one of his 

 father's sledge dogs against which he had a grievance, 

 for he caught it fearlessly by the scruff of the neck, 

 and beat it with his tiny fist. The dog, great 

 powerful brute, could have eaten the boy whole, as 

 it were ; but it made no resistance, simply cowering 

 and whining under the little patting blows. I am 

 certain that the boy did not hurt it, but it is bred in 

 the slinking nature of the Eskimo dog that anything 

 in the shape of mankind is master, irrespective of 

 size, and so the tiniest children, masterful little 

 mites, play among the dogs without any misgivings. * 

 Having fulfilled his purpose the boy administered a 

 last parting smack, and started on his voyage home- 

 wards again, leaving the dog yelping and wheezing 

 with misery and terror. 



I followed the little fellow to his home, and 

 found his mother busily brushing the snow off him 

 and smiling with pride in her hardy little son. H< 

 was disobedient, but what cared she ? He was , 

 growing strong and fearless ; some day he would b< 

 able to drive a team of dogs and paddle a kajak, anc 

 hunt the deer and seals and walrus ; he was a prope 

 Eskimo boy. 



Not many days afterwards I went into the hous , 

 and found little Abraha in bed. This was a strange 

 sight ; it was surely not a case of illness, for ther 



was no mistaking the mischief that twinkled in thos 



84 



