294 
THE WELCOME. 
mists, and we hear the yelling of the dogs. Petersen 
had been foreman of the settlement, and he calls my 
attention, with a sort of pride, to the tolling of the 
workmen’s bell. It is six o’clock. We are nearing 
the end of .our trials. Can it be a dream ?- 
We hugged the land by the big harbor, turned the 
corner by the old brew-house, and, in the midst of a 
crowd of children, hauled our boats for the last time 
upon the rocks. 
For eighty-four days we had lived in the open air. 
Our habits were hard and weather-worn. We could 
not remain within the four walls of a house without a 
distressing sense of suffocation. But we drank coffee 
that night before many a hospitable threshold, and 
listened again and again to the hymn of welcome, 
which, sung by many voices, greeted our deliverance. 
00 M UK. 
