SEEKING THE LOST VILLAGE. 



489 



it be possible that the deep snow bad covered tbem up ? My In- 

 nuit friend told me tbat such was probably the case. No foot- 

 prints save our own could I discover. Were we traveling heed- 

 lessly over the grave of her whom we were fighting to save? 

 This was a question that rushed into my brain. Then the thought 

 came to me, perhaps she still lives in some tomb beneath our 

 feet. List ! list ! methought I heard a sound as if muffled ! All 

 was as still as a charnel-house. Ebierbing's accustomed eye was 

 not long in discerning a spot that satisfied him that, by cutting 

 down through the snow, it would lead to the dome of an igloo. 



" Knowing it to be repugnant to his feelings to touch any thing 

 belonging to an igloo covering the dead, I spared him all pain on 

 that score by digging down unassisted. A few moments sufficed 

 to satisfy me that Ebierbing had indicated to me the precise spot 

 leading to an igloo, for a few cuts with my snow-knife brought 

 me down to the dome of one, and a few more through it. After 

 cutting a hole of sufficient size to let in light and my head, I knelt 

 down, and, with throbbing heart, surveyed within. The igloo was 

 vacated of every thing save a large lump of blubber back upon 

 the dais or platform — the bed-place and seat of the Innuits — and 

 a few bones, the remains of some of the tuktoo that had been kill- 

 ed by the Innuits on the plains. A brief search revealed the apex 

 of another igloo. Through the dome of this I cut a hole, but found 

 the interior still more vacant ; not a thing was in it, if I except a 

 drift of snow that completely filled the front of the igloo, closing 

 up the place that had been used as the entrance. This made two 

 igloos that I had searched without finding the object of my sym- 

 pathy and pursuit. Where was the third? That was now the 

 question, beyond the probability of being immediately answered. 

 We sought here and there, but unsuccessfully for a while. Ebier- 

 bing took an oo-nar (seal-spear) — which was among the articles I 

 indicated as pointing up through the snow which we saw as we 

 made our approach — and 1 sounded,' striking it down through the 

 deep snow in one place after another, till he hit what told him the 

 third igloo was there. He called to me, and pointed to the spot, 

 withdrawing himself a little distance off, where he awaited my 

 opening up whatever might be below. Stroke after stroke with 

 my long knife loosened the hard pure snow-drift. I lifted the 

 blocks up out of their bed, casting them aside. This was the 

 final search. My feelings, as I delved away at this heart-tearing 

 work, may be better conceived than described. The dome of the 



