THE BIG LEAD 
Innocents that they are, and that is the object 
he is after. They have tried all of their native 
stunts, wrestling, boxing, thumb-pulling, and 
elbow-tests ; and each winner has been awarded 
a prize. JMost of the prizes are back on the 
ship and include the anchors, rudders, keel, 
and spars. Everything else has long since 
been given away, and these people have keen 
memories. 
The Big Lead has no attraction for the Es- 
quimos and the waiting for a chance to cross it 
has given them much opportunity to complain 
of cold feet. It is fierce, listening to their 
whines and howls. Of all yellow-livered curs 
deliver me. We have the best Esquimos in the 
tribe with us, and expect them to remain stead- 
fast and loyal, but after they have had time 
to realize their position, the precariousness of 
it begins to magnify and they start in to 
whimper, and beg to be allowed to go back. 
They remember the other side of this dam- 
nable open water and what it meant to get back 
in 1906. I do not blame them, but I have had 
the Devil's own time in making my boys and 
some of the others see it the way the Com- 
mander wants us to look at it. 
90 
