The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1888-04-07

oApOSWo III buCn lcaTl III WSatn6r Cn0y
found 1t easy to dispatch the brute by
taking advantage of. the din the, wind
was making. TO cut UP his carcass
was but the work OF a few moments;
but, short as 1t was, 1t was long enough
for the tide. then rising rapidly, to lift
the great field OF shore lee foot or SO
moro and elevate 1t clear OF the reef,
which SO far had acted as d huge brake
to hold 1t to The land; and with rip
ping, roaring noise, like the close7yolley
OF musketry from a battalion of. men or
the crash OF q near thunderbolt cleav-
Ing the air, they heard this field OF ice
on which they stood tearing loose from
the main shore, and by the time they
ieacbed the crack, 200 yards away, it
had become so large that it would have
been a dangerous experiment to at
tempt to leap across; for in his per-
petually ice laden waters the Eskimo is
stranger to the art of swimming.
rheyystood and looked at each other
FORA minute. grinning sort OF Ssicklyi
smile that the Caucasian repeats wien,
he chases his silk beaver down "a muddy.
street on windy dny In ''the presence
Of a large and appreclative audience. -
They were adrift in one of King FrosG's
men. of-war without rudder. sail or
compass, and, worst Of all, they did
not'knoW how long they had been.
drafted for. AN inspection revealed
the craft to be about 400 yards long
over all, about 200 yards beam, with
armor six to eight feet thick, carrying
two guns with a crew OF three, and
provlsloned for two or. three weeks
with one walrus Weighing nearly ton.
l should have added that sledge and 3
or 4 dogs were curled up abaft the
maiu hatch, the former of which might
do for fuel and the latter for food in
case Of an emergency or too long a
cruise. e,s,y
At first the trip was not very severe
one as long as they could feel the pro-
tection Of tho coast, but the further
away they got the higher the waves
were swelling, and In the course OF two
or three hours the surf was dashing
over the weather side and flying in fine
spray and froth across the little cold
weather cruisers and making things
generally.
There was some compacted snow, w,un.
tier the Ico 0E a line or hig1l hummoGIhs'
that had once marked the place Of the
reef from which the storm had torn
the great foe, and here our three
Eskinos busted themselves in building
comfortable igloo or snow house.
which would protect them from the
weather, and two smaller ones were
made alongside, one to store the meat
to keep it from the hungry dogs and
TIE other to protect the dogs them
selves. 1t is very seldom that these
people ever build such snow kennels
for their dogs, however cold or stormy
the weather, but now the flying spray
freezing on their fur and the want of
something to do to distract their atten-
tion from their perilous situation. de-
termined them to build a snow house
Tor these animals.
Their war vessel seemed to be of
the ram order, and Of the most bellger-
ent class, too, for 1t went crashing fore
and aft into every other ship Of its own
kind. without regard to Its size, and
the Eskimo crew were often regaled
with view Of a boreal battle in which
missiles Of Ice, q score OF times greater
than Krupp ever dreamed Of, were
hurled backward and forward by the
conten3ing foes as they came crushing
together. a@ 4a"
The snow hut built and everything
being housed, they had time to look
their situation fairly in the face, and it
was not very inviting one. The
danger Of life, it Is true, was not as
great as less experienced persons might
infer from such situation, and these
great Ice fields, tough as oak, in the
depth of an Arctic winter. very sell
dom went to pieces, and when they did
1t was because two greater iloes would
crush them between them. and on to
the surviving fields tho men would es-
cape. But If the storm continued long
they might get so far away that the
lighter southern winds would never
watt them back, or at least before the
summer was on them and the ice be-
came 80 rotten that 1t was likely to go
to pieces in a storm from the mere mo.
tion Of the waves and be reduced to
such small cakes that each and all
were constantly overturnlng, 80 that
life would be as unsafe as that Of a bug
on q lot Of floating sawdust in rapid.
Again, their ship might bring into a
foreign port from which, though safe,
they could never return, or only after
q long interval; for there was q case
arsSng the Iwillik Eskimo, a man
WHom they had left that very morning.