JOHANNES IN A STORM 



denly the sledge went grinding over pebbles, and I 

 heard Julius's big voice roaring " Ah." I ran forward, 

 and found that we had stopped close to a huge 

 boulder, about the size of a cottage. Johannes ap- 

 peared from the darkness ahead, and said, with a 

 jerk of his thumb towards the boulder, " We ought 

 to be on the other side of that." " Illale " (certainly), 

 answered Julius, and swung the nose of the sledge 

 round. " Ha-ha-ha " piped Johannes, and the dogs 

 went after him round the boulder. I could see very 

 little from my seat at the back of the sledge ; even 

 Julius, a few feet in front of me, was no more than a 

 silent shape, a sort of petrified man ; though I had 

 evidence that he was very wide awake by his sudden 

 lurches and heaves, and the kicks that he gave to the 

 snow, when the sledge needed turning to one side or 

 the other ; and that his keen eyes were wide open in 

 the dark I knew by the alacrity with which he sud- 

 denly jumped off and hauled the sledge to one side 

 to keep the runner from slipping into a crack. Apart 

 from these little outbursts of energy he seemed well 

 content to sit still and chew his pipe, with his back 

 to the wind and his feet dangling close to the floor. 

 He certainly did not seem to be suffering from cold 

 toes, and if I had remarked upon the fact he would 

 probably have said " Ahaila, I am an Eskimo." 



As for myself, I could find no pleasure in sitting 

 stock still ; I wanted to run for warmth, but running 

 was an impossibility because of the unevenness of the 

 snow. The Eskimo has a high-stepping gait that 

 serves him very well over rough snow in the dark, 

 but it is not an easy gait to learn, and only those 

 bred on the Labrador manage it. For me it was a 



case of " sit still," as Johannes had said ; so the next 



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