BELIEF OBTAINED. 



207 



instant I grappled with the dog, and made great efforts to save 

 the precious material ; but, though I actually thrust my hands 

 into his mouth, and though Tookoolito and Punnie also battled 

 with him, Merok conquered, and instantly devoured that portion 

 he had seized. 



This misfortune, however, was not single. Before Jack could 

 get his well-loaded spear and himself into the igloo, all the other 

 dogs about the place were around him, fighting for a share of 

 what was left. They succeeded in obtaining nearly all before we 

 could drive them away, and thus the good portion intended for 

 us from what Jack had procured was lost to us, but not to the 

 dogs ! Jack, who was of Ugarng's party, and had brought this as 

 a present, returned to his own igloo, and left us disconsolate to 

 ours. "Better things," therefore, in that case, were not for us; 

 but, nevertheless, as I have said above, they did arrive, and that 

 speedily. 



Not before 9 A.M. did I again leave my tuktoo bed and go out- 

 side the igloo to look around. Naturally and longingly my first 

 glance was in the direction whence I expected Ebierbing. In a 

 moment my eyes caught something black upon the almost uni- 

 versal whiteness. I looked again and again. It moved, and im- 

 mediately my heart leaped with joy as my tongue gave utterance 

 in loud tones to Tookoolito within, " Ebierbing ! Ebierbing ! He 

 is coming! he is coming!" The response was, "That is good;" 

 and I — merely adding, "I go to meet him" — bounded away as 

 fast as my enfeebled body would allow. 



I soon found, however, that if progress was to be made toward 

 him, I must do it by slow degrees and patient steps. " Black 

 skin," in homoeopathic quantities, daily taken for food, had but 

 kept my stomach in sufficient action to support life. All the 

 strength I now had was mostly from the beefsteaks of dear Ohio, 

 eaten and moulded into human fat, muscle, and bones before leav- 

 ing my native home. But this remaining strength was very, very 

 small, and thus my efforts to get on soon nearly exhausted me. 



After a great struggle through the deep snow, I at last got 

 within hailing distance, and sang out to know if it was really 

 Ebierbing, as the party I had seen was no longer advancing. No 

 reply came to my question, and I immediately hastened my fee- 

 ble steps to see the cause. A moment or two more brought me 

 near enough to be convinced. It was Ebierbing, with the sledge 

 and dogs, but so exhausted with his labors that he had been 



