AT THE EDGE OF THE ICE 



raw sealmeat ; that was plenty ; it was the custom 

 of the people. " Ananak " (splendid) ; he said, " it 

 makes me warm; it gives me sinews; piovok-illa" 

 (good indeed). I envied him his warmth, for on a 

 raw bleak morning like that the effects of bacon 

 and hot coffee are soon gone, and I was forced to 

 try to trot in the darkness to keep my circula- 

 tion up. 



It was the middle of the morning before we 

 got among the lumps and hummocks and hollows of 

 the sina ; and there were signs of other hunters on 

 the field before us. We passed a little snow hut, 

 with sledge tracks beside it, and Gustaf said, 

 " Johannes probably. He came here yesterday : 

 Slept all night, hunt all day." 



We were a pleasure party, but Gustaf had 

 brought his gun, and was crouching with eager face 

 among the hummocks. Presently there was a bang, 

 and he was all excitement. "Pivunga" (I hit it), 

 he said. " Takka, takka (there, there) : where can I 

 get a kajak ? " 



There was no kajak to be had, and I thought he 

 was going to lose his seal ; but no, he was not to 

 be beaten ; he climbed on to a floating piece of ice, 

 and paddled off to fetch his prize. There he 

 crouched on his precarious perch, with I don't care 

 to think how many fathoms of freezing water under 

 him; and presently I saw him rafting back, with 

 the dead seal trailing after. I think he seemed to 

 like the spice of danger or perhaps he did not know 

 what danger meant. Yet danger there is, as we 

 were reminded not many days later, when a sledge 

 drove into Okak Bay with an Eskimo boy sitting 



upon it. He sat strangely still, and that was enough 



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