AN URGENT CALL 



and the hum of voices outside, and the hammer, 

 hammer, hammer on the bolted door, I knew that 

 something serious was stirring. I made haste to 

 open, and in came my visitor, a trim-built, active, 

 bushy-bearded little man, the very man for Arctic life. 



" Come in, come in," I said, and seized his hands. 



" Come," he said, " come, my people are dying." 



This was no time for argument ; his earnestness 

 was real ; and I turned to the crowd that surrounded 

 the sledge where it stood on the snow at the foot of 

 the steps, and shouted, " Who will drive my sledge 

 to Hebron ? " 



There was a roar of volunteers : " Uvanga, 

 uvanga, uvanga" (I, I, I) ; and I tried to choose the 

 two who shouted first, and called them into the 

 house. We wasted very little time over discussing 

 the situation ; it was a case of urgency ; there must 

 be no delay. If we started at five in the morning, 

 said the Eskimos, we could run the first ten miles in 

 the dark, and have the gathering light of the sunrise 

 to help us before we reached the first difficult pass. 

 This seemed sensible advice. "We will do so," I 

 told the men ; " call us in good time so that we may 

 be ready." 



" So let it be," said the drivers, and they got up 

 to go home, perfectly cheerful although they knew 

 that there was no rest for them, but they must spend 

 the short night in making ready for the run. 



Suddenly there came a roar from the crowd out- 

 side. " Another sledge, another sledge," they yelled ; 

 and we heard their pattering feet trotting down the 

 track to meet the new comers. My drivers were off 

 like a shot, bounding down the steps to see what was 

 going on ; and with that we set to on our supper. 



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