A SUMMONS HOME 



when a life is at stake, and his poor little team of 

 seven dogs sprawled upon the snow, as weary as 

 he. I called Julius. "We must start home at 

 once," I told him. " No good/' said he, " we have 

 just fed the dogs." I knew what that meant : 

 sledge dogs get a meal every two days, and gorge 

 themselves so that they can hardly move. "But 

 we must go : borrow dogs, leave the sleepiest behind : 

 we must go." Julius went off without a word. 

 Presently Kristian came. " Are we going to start ? 

 Look, bad storm coming," and he pointed towards 

 the north. "Never mind, Kristian, we must go." 

 " Ahaila," said Kristian, and went to help Julius 

 harness the dogs. 



News soon spreads, and the whole village turned 

 out to see the start. As I walked down to take 

 my place on the sledge the old Eskimo schoolmaster 

 laid his hand on my sleeve. "Don't go," he said, 

 " you will all be lost. Don't go." 



His concern was real, so I called my drivers. 

 "What do you say ? " I asked them. " Are you 

 willing to go ? " 



" Illale " (of course), they said. " Ready," said 

 I, "go ahead." The dogs slowly raised themselves 

 on their legs, and whined as they trotted along the 

 bumpy path towards the sea-ice ; and the heavy 

 wrack of the northern storm came bowling along 

 to meet us. "Aksuse," shouted the people, "be 

 strong," and we waved our hands and shouted back. 

 Then they began to sing. 



There is a lump in my throat and a mist in my 

 eyes even now, when I think of that scene : just 

 a crowd of rough Eskimos, people whose grand- 

 fathers had been heathen and wild, singing a hymn 



172 



