48 CHALLENGER 



Massie had a meal all ready for them and it seemed that they 

 were expected, which was strange in the circumstances, but 

 after they had eaten they realised that Massie was as surprised as 

 anyone in Hebron to see them arrive and he had given them his 

 Sunday dinner. 



Buck inspected the store on the following day and was shown 

 where a small Eskimo had broken in through a window to allow 

 the others to enter on the first occasion in November; on two 

 subsequent occasions the rascals had entered the store by using 

 a key they had cut for the purpose. Renatus was said by Massie to 

 be the ringleader and Buck announced that he would interview all 

 the Eskimos, one by one, on the following afternoon. This lasted 

 from 4 o'clock until 8 o'clock and each man incriminated Renatus 

 as being the leader in their misdoings. Then at last it was Renatus' 

 turn to be interviewed and he at once started by being truculent. 

 He had been threatened so many times before and nothing had 

 happened that he thought he was above the law. This belief was 

 strengthened by his faith in an old medal a schooner skipper had 

 given him and which he regarded as a talisman, making him 

 invulnerable to anything the forces of law and order might do 

 to him. These forces found great difficulty in extending their 

 long arm quite as far as Hebron and Renatus felt secure. 



Baker thought he had better make his own position clear to 

 Renatus. He asked: 'Do you know of God?' Renatus replied that 

 he did. 'Do you know of King George?' Renatus answered that 

 he had seen his picture and knew of his power. 'Well,' said 

 Baker, 'I come next after him.' For the first time this thick-set 

 Eskimo looked impressed, his jaw dropped and his attitude at 

 once became more reasonable. And when Baker said he was 

 willing if necessary to lash him to his komatik and take him to 

 Nain, Renatus reluctantly agreed to be ready to travel with his 

 family on Wednesday morning, anything in the way of clothing 

 and gear which he would need for the journey being provided 

 by the H.B.C. store. 



Towards the end of the evening meal a deputation of the 

 Eskimos arrived and said they wanted to see Baker. When he saw 

 them they said they were all very sorry for what they had done 

 and asked for orders for their future conduct. Buck told them to 

 lead the normal life of the north, to go hunting and to trade their 



