Evening star., 1926-10-10

not see. but I believed him. stae4
gered up out OF the hole and dragged
myself along.
CINCE everything must end souna
~ time. we came to the end of tfA
ice-after an con or two. We hal
spent Just IS hours in getting froni
the traders camp to our present POI
sition. Opposite was OokeruksukS
camp.
Kiasik fired his gun dozen timeS
before he received response fron1
the camp. The lead here was abouT
an eighth Of a mile wide. The Eskis
mos were some time in discovering
what we wanted, but at last they
launched their canoe and paddle1
over.
As the two natives who manned the
canoe stared at me, their faces broke
into millions of smiling wrinkles
They considered 1t good Joke that I
had come out to the whaling grounds~
Hello, white woman they called
cheerfully. The white woman waved
feeble reply. Then. while I rested
quietly, kiaSiS reCOunted our advenS
lures.
After the nine dogs. the sled. th6
three natives and | had been ferried.
across in the oomias ! shook hands
with the rest of Ooleruksuk' crew
and crept into his tent To rest. Tho
sled and the harness were mended~
and / accepted something 10 eat. Z
do not know what II was. but l sus,
pect that 1t was seal-blood soup. Ie
was hot and drank II gratefully.
OokerukstIll warned us that the ICES
was liable to break again at any time
and that we had better hurry, sinCes
we still had about thirty-five miles OF
hard going to reach the village. H9
himself was prepared 10 move In a
second We listened carefully 10 his
directions and began the last lap %
our journey.
While Kiasik rested his knee. 2
drove the team. I made no pretense3,
of guiding the sled but Just hung one
and snapped the whip occasionally.
turned around and said something
to Kiasik, and, as I did so. my eyes
beheld the sides OF the lake" ! gave
one shuddering gasp and closed them.
l opened them and looked again. The
ice was unduating like the top of u
wheat field.
"Kiasik, what is that" I quavered.
do YOU see what l see?'
"Ye-es, thin ice" he drawied non.
chalantly.
Young Ice. INN ice. No NtIN'r
the dogs were pulling like demons,
For once in their pugnaciOus hveS
they pulled together without It word
from the driver. Every dog in the
team knew what l had not known
until that moment; namely, that ws
were on thin ice and that. If we
stopped we should crash through.
Moments passed and nothing hap-
pened. / began cautiously To test
my breathing apparatus again.
Kiasik had calmly lighted one of my
cigarettes. Then his voice sang out
threateningly. and heard tho
ominOus rattle of his whip.
breathed a sigh of relief. knowing
that we were off the thin ice At last!
Those last few miles seemed the
longest l had ever Travelled. | had
been lust nine days out from the
village and during that time had
had nothing but cat maps and very
little food. / closed my eyes and
doZed fitfully. When next | awoke
the sled was drawn UP on the snow
drift on top of my shanty. The ma
tiveS SWarmed around me. Though
my breath had turned to chunks of
ice on my face and hood. | made an
effort to answer their shy. friendly
smiles with n frozen smile of my
own. During my'absence my shanty
had been drifted over. Fin masse.
the villagers dug tunnel down to
my door.
Then the only white woman In the
world ever To visit whaling camp
far out on the Arctic fee pack climbed
stiffly down the snow steps To her
shanty, closed the door and did tho
only thing in the world she could have
done at that mOment-she went To
sleep.
Copyright. 19@6l