THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 267 



ning brought me in full view of the beach, and to my surprise and 

 consternation I recognized that there was the Sachs hauled up on 

 the land, her cargo unloaded and a number of her men building a 

 house. And now I walked slowly to get my breath back, puzzling 

 what could have happened to the Star that she had not come and 

 why the Sachs was on the land instead of afloat. Obviously, there 

 had been no shipwreck. Everything was too trim and orderly 

 for that. 



As I approached, the men at work glanced in my direction occa- 

 sionally but were apparently not impressed with anything peculiar 

 in my appearance. This I understood. It meant that some of the 

 party were off hunting and that they imagined me to be one of 

 their own people coming home. As I got nearer I recognized Jim 

 Crawford carrying sod. From the time I was 200 yards from the 

 camp till I was fifty yards from it, Capti^in Bernard was in full 

 sight and glanced occasionally at me. Then he turned his back 

 on me and walked slowly away towards the ship. I was no more 

 than ten or fifteen yards from Crawford when he looked up for 

 the third or fourth time and at last recognized that I was not 

 one of his own party. I have forgotten what it was he had in his 

 hands just then, but he dropped it. He has told me since that he 

 first thought I was one of their own hunters. When he saw that 

 I was not, his impression was a confused sort of astonishment, 

 for he thought I must be an Eskimo and still he could not see what 

 kind of Eskimo I could be. He had heard that the Victoria Island 

 Eskimos were different from the Eskimos he knew in Alaska, but 

 he had also seen specimens of the Victoria Island clothing and my 

 clothes were of the Alaska type. Furthermore, he knew they had 

 only bows and arrows, and I was carrying a gun. The contra- 

 diction of everything he expected confused him hopelessly. It was 

 not until I spoke to him and told him who I was that he recog- 

 nized me. Even then he stood still and speechless in a daze. 



A few seconds later the company became as excited, however, 

 as any one could have desired, for when Crawford finally realized 

 who I was, he turned and shouted to Bernard: "Stefansson is alive! 

 He's here!" 



This announcement carried greater conviction to Bernard when 

 pronounced by Crawford than my statement of who I was had 

 carried to Crawford when pronounced by myself. The rest of the 

 party were around me in a moment. But it naturally took some 

 time before I for my part began to realize under what circum- 

 stances they were there and before they had adjusted themselves 



