o love. Ippegoo was watching him in a state of
ecstatic absorption.

Rooney drew back and indulged in a fit of stifled laughter for a minute,
but his companion was too much surprised even to smile.

"Is he doing that curious thing," asked Okiok in a low voice, "which you
once told me about--smookin' tibooko?"

"Yes; that's it," replied Rooney with a broad grin, "only you had better
say `smokin' tobacco' next time."

"`Smokkin' tibucco,'" repeated the Eskimo; "well, that _is_ funny. But
why does he spit it out? Does he not like it?"

"Of course he likes it. At least I suppose he does, by the expression
of his face."

There could be little doubt that Rooney was right. Kajo had evidently
got over the preliminary stages of incapacity and repugnance long ago,
and had acquired the power of enjoying that mild and partial
stupefaction--sometimes called "soothing influence"--which tobacco smoke
affords. His eyes blinked happily, like those of a cat in the sunshine;
his thickish lips protruded poutingly as they gripped the stem; and the
smoke was expelled slowly at each puff, as if he grudged losing a single
whiff of the full flavour.

Scarcely less interesting was the entranced gaze of Ippegoo.
Self-oblivion had been effectively achieved in that youth. A compound
of feelings--interest, surprise, philosophical inquiry, eager
expectancy, and mild alarm--played hide-and-seek with each other in his
bosom, and kept him observant and still.

"Why," asked Okiok, after gazing in silent admiration for a few minutes
over the ledge, "why does he not swallow it, if he likes it, and keep it
down?"

"It's hard to say," answered Rooney. "Perhaps he'd blow up or catch
fire if he were to try. It might be dangerous!"

"See," exclaimed Okiok, in an eager whisper; "he is going to let Ippegoo
taste it."

Rooney looked on with increased interest, for at that moment Kajo,
having had enough, offered the pipe to his friend, who accepted it with
the air of a man who half expected it to bite and put the end in his
mouth with diffidence. He was not successful with the first draw, for
instead of taking the smoke merely into his mouth he drew it straight
down his throat, and spent nearly five minutes thereafter in violent
coughing with tears running down his cheeks.

Kajo spent the same period in laughing, and then gravely and carefully
explained how the thing should be done.

Ippegoo was an apt scholar. Almost immediately he lear