COLT 
$35 
sembled the coast of Grant Land, where I had been 
on my voyages with Peary in the Roosevelt. 
Presently the men returned, an old man and his 
son. I asked him for a dog. He replied—we 
both, of course, talked in the Esperanto of signs— 
that he had only seven and did not care to part with 
any. I had a pair of binoculars which I offered 
him but could not tempt him, though he was very 
polite in his refusal to trade. I had with me a 
new forty-five calibre Colt revolver, with eighty- 
three cartridges left, which I had used to shoot seal. 
The boy was standing around while we were carry¬ 
ing on our conversation. I handed him the loaded 
revolver and made signs to him to try a shot with 
it. About thirty yards away was a stick, standing 
up in the snow. The boy fired at it and cut it in 
two the first shot. He showed his pride and satis¬ 
faction plainly and required little urging to try 
a shot at another stick a little farther away. This 
time he missed; with the next shot, however, he 
cut this stick in two. It was good shooting, espe¬ 
cially as I do not think he had ever seen a revolver 
before. 
Turning to the boy, I took a dog with one hand 
and the revolver with the other and made signs 
that if I could have the dog, the revolver was his. 
The old man demurred, but the boy took him off 
where they could talk the matter over and pres- 
