d knowing that the sled was a good, strong
one, I had no fear of its breaking, but my feet were cold in my rubber
boots, and I had drawn some furs over me.

Mollie is not a great talker, she seldom explains anything, and one has
only to wait and see the outcome of her movements, and this I did, when
she suddenly with Ituk left the sleds and climbed the rocks of the
island again on the south side. Then I saw them gathering sticks and
small driftwood, and knew that they would make a fire upon the ice at
midnight, while preparing to hunt for seals.

Coming to a rough place, with high-piled ice between great, ugly seams
over which the sagacious dogs dragged the sleds always in a straight
line, not slantwise, I climbed out, and Mollie and Ituk came with their
driftwood, which they threw upon the sled; the two men making for the
schooner forging ahead in the direction of Cape Darby.

Ituk and Muky now made ready to go with me to the Home, a half mile away
to the east where they were also to get some bread, this important item
having been forgotten in the hurry of departure from Chinik. In the
meantime Mollie, not to lose a moment of time, as is her method, had
gotten out her fishing tackle and was already fishing for tom-cod
through a hole in the ice. Bidding her Beoqua (good-bye), we started for
the Home, Ituk politely taking my little bag, and Muky leaping lightly
over the rocks toward the mainland. Along the shore of the island I was
fearful of cutting my boots on the jagged rocks and rubble thickly
strewn over the sands, and had to proceed cautiously for a time, but
Ituk, perceiving my difficulty, led to a smoother path, and we were soon
on the mainland, and upon the soft tundra, when it was only a few
minutes walk to the Home.

It was eleven o'clock in the evening, and we found the missionaries just
returned from a trip to the schooner, where they had secured fresh
potatoes and onions. The smell and taste of an onion was never so good
to me before, and the potatoes were the first we had seen in six months.

I had been in the Home in the early spring for a day, and now, as then,
met with a warm welcome from the missionaries. They now had double the
number of native children they had in Chinik, and their house is large
and commodious, though unfinished.

I was assigned the velvet couch upon which I had spent a good many
nights, and the two natives returned to Mollie after securing some bread
from Miss E. for their lu