Evening star., 1926-10-10

! Some Of the villagers ran to me now
| and pointed across the sea ice. | look
ed and tried to understand what they
| meant. | finally became aware OF q
long dark cloud far out over the ice.
Gradually it's meaning dawned upon
me. 1t was waterclOud. There was
| open water at last. The ice had
broken and whaling would soon start.
| | made my way across to Jims TO
have the inevitable discussion. AS
| usual. ! lost. and the whalers set off
to establish their camp without me.
x
THE last day Of May, shortly after
midnight. I was standing on the
snowdrift on top of my shanty. This
was my favorite perch for keeping
abreast Of village activities. The day
was beautiful, with a touch OF Spring
in the air. There was no sun. but
the thermometer stood at 90 above
zero. The wind was soft from the
southeast
| saw a sled. which | Judged to he
the trader, approaching from the ice.
An hour later. when the sled had ar
rived. the traders assistant. ask.
came to me to borrow my dogs. He
had to return to camp at once, and
some of his dogs would have to rest.
| PROMISED MIN the dogs.
The sled was already loaded to the
Init. and my heart fell as l saw that
there was no room for me. / swept
the village again and saw team
being assembled in front of Angu.
shuk's igloo. l dashed over and found
that it was headed for the whaling
camp in the charge OF Nookik, a
young boy.
Here was my chance. This boy was
wild Eskimo from the reindeer herds.
He could not speak a word Of English
and almost perished from timidity and
emharra ssment in my presence. He
was as clay in my hands.
With the assistance Of Kiasik as in
terpreter. hribed the poor youth with
tobacco. chewing gum, candy andr-
mamma from the gods--a can OF sweet
potatoes. I silenced the objections of
A horde Of his female relatives by Civ
ing them n sack of -four and couple
of pounds of sugar.
Before they had time to think up
any more protests. and while their
heads were still dizzy with the -four
and-sngar idea. I marshaled the team
up to my shanty. With gestures I
showed the dazZled Nookik what I
wanted packed
Then l dressed for the trail. dis
carding every scrap of civilized ap-
parel and garbed myself completely
like an Eskimo woman. This outfit
somewhat resembles pajamas with
hood. In only a few seconds l was
ready for the great adventure.
We swept up to the traders door
for a final look at his thermometer
and barometer. The entire village
lined the drift. waved my farewells
at those who had come to see me off.
but most of them were too much
awed to answer.
For the first few miles the trail was
well worn and in spots quite smooth.
Where the new ice joined the old pack
the going was rougher. We were
finally in the thick of the old pack
and had to travel many weary miles
over rough ice. 1t was no longer pos
sble to ride. At we stopped for a
brief rest at the ice igloo built by the
hunters. I opened my grub box and
refreshed both the boys and myself
with hot chocolate from my thermos
bottle.
About noon we came to a lead 1t
had widened, Kiasik said. since he
had crossed it 20 hours before. 1t
was now 1S feet in width just the
length Of the traders sled The boys
threw down into the water large
pieces of ice to serve as stepping
stones.
removed my outside fur shirt.
made run and two hops and landed
safely on the other side. That lead
was only about 10 fathoms deep.
straight down between solid walls Of
ice But when Eliza has to cross the
Ice she generally does so; she just
shuts her eyes and jumps.
We Travelled steadily all the after
noon, making two stops to rest and to
eat Around o'clock in the evening
we saw the traders flag from a high