s," I said, "that is one way of putting it. We have
not reached the North Pole, my mice, and indeed I think we shall hardly
go so far to-night, for I see that these icebergs are waiting for the
North Wind to blow them home, and that is a sign that he will soon be
here. He is a disagreeable fellow, and might be rude to you, so we will
fly over to Greenland instead, and see some little friends of mine
there. Will that suit you just as well?" "Oh! yes," cried the five
voices. "It will be better, for we want to see what the people are like
in these strange places." So we floated low till we came to a certain
small Esquimaux village on the west of Greenland. "What are all those
queer humps of snow on the ground?" asked Fluff. "Oh!" cried Nibble,
clapping his hands. "_I_ know! they are houses, for I have seen pictures
of them. See! there is smoke coming out of the top of one. And now
somebody is coming out of the doorway. Oh! it is a bear, Mr. Moonman! do
they have tame bears? And he is brown, and I thought they were all
white." "Gently, Nibble!" I said, "your eyes are very sharp usually, but
it is shocking that you should not know a boy from a bear. That is
Nayato, one of the young friends of whom I spoke just now. There comes
his brother Kotchink, and the small figure creeping out of the next
house is Polpo, the friend and playmate of the two other boys. Now they
will have fine sport, for this is their play-time, and they are as fond
of play as any of you." The five mice leaned over the edge of the cloud
as far as they dared, and watched the Esquimaux boys with breathless
interest. They were queer little fellows, clad in furs from head to
foot, and were fat and oily-looking, as indeed anyone might be who ate
blubber three times a day: but otherwise they were apparently much like
boys all over the world. They chased each other, and played
hide-and-seek behind blocks of ice and snow, and amused themselves in
all kinds of ways. Their only playthings were some bones of the seal and
walrus, nicely polished, but they seemed to have just as much fun with
them as if they had been the finest marbles or the most superlative tops
that the world could produce. "How jolly they look!" said Nibble. "I
wish I could jump down and play with them! and oh! don't they talk
strangely, Brighteyes? 'Wogglety wagglety, chacka-chacka punksky'--what
are they saying, Mr. Moonman?" "Nayato is telling Polpo of the narrow
escape his father had yesterday,"