SIBERIA 



159 



blubber and raw meat must have seemed epi- 

 curean delicacies. The sailors called the girl 

 " Mamie," which was very different from the 

 Eskimo name her mother spluttered at her. If 

 Peter was missed at any time, it was only neces- 

 sary to locate the charming Miss Mamie, and 

 there by her side Peter would be found, speaking 

 only with his eyes and making distinct progress. 



Sometimes Peter, finding optical language 

 not entirely satisfactory, pressed into his service 

 the intellectual Eskimo as interpreter. These 

 three-cornered efforts at love making were 

 amusing to all who chanced to overhear them ; — 

 the dashing young Romeo could scarcely talk 

 English himself, the interpreter could talk even 

 less and the object of Peter's adoration could 

 not speak a word. 



As the upshot of this interesting affair, the lit- 

 tle lady and Peter plotted between them that 

 Peter should run away from the ship and live 

 among her people. This plan appealed to Peter 

 who was a cold weather product himself and 

 almost as primitive as his inamorata. But Peter 

 made one mistake; — ^he took old Nels Nelson, 



