on, even at
noon. Late in the night, however, there was brilliant light both from
the stars and the aurora. Taking advantage of this, Nazinred left his
lodge and hastened to the outskirts of the village, where a little boy
awaited him with the sledge and team of dogs all ready for a start.

Without saying a word the Indian put on his snow-shoes and took hold of
the tail-line of the sledge, which was heavily laden, and well packed.
With a slight crack of the whip he set the team in motion.

"Tell the old chief," he said to the boy at parting, "that I go to seek
for my daughter among the people of the Frozen Lake. When I find her I
will return."

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

NAZINRED'S JOURNEY OVER THE ARCTIC SEA.

While our Indian travelled through the woods he and his dogs were on
familiar ground. He encamped at night in the way to which he had been
accustomed all his life. That is to say, he selected a spot under a
spreading fir-tree, dug away the snow until he got to the ground, which
he covered with a carpet of pine branches. At one end of this
encampment--or hole in the snow of ten feet or so in diameter--he made a
huge fire of dead logs. At the other end he spread his blanket,
unpacked his sledge, fed his dogs with some willow-grouse provided for
the purpose, warmed up his pemmican and dried meat, melted some snow for
drink, and spent the night in comparative comfort. And it is wonderful,
reader, how cosy such an encampment in the snow is, when food is
plentiful and health strong.

But when our Indian quitted the shore, and began his daring journey on
the Arctic Sea, he was surrounded by new and unfamiliar conditions. No
trees were to be had for firewood, no branches for bedding, no
overhanging pines for shelter. He had gone there, however, prepared for
the change.

The sea near the shore had been set fast when in a comparatively smooth
condition, so that, the first day's march over, it was easy. As he had
expected, the surface of the snow had been drifted quite hard, so that
he could dispense with snow-shoes altogether, and the four dogs found
the sledge so light that they felt disposed now and then to run away
with it; but Nazinred checked this propensity by holding on to the
tail-line, thus acting as a drag. Ere long the shore was left out of
sight behind, and the first of the islets--a small group--also passed
and left behind.

When night was well advanced the Indian found himself on the ice of