h too
big for him, and he dragged the tail of it along the ground like a
bedraggled water-fowl. He also had a single epaulet that had come in a
box of cast-off clothing.

On the strength of that uniform they made him captain of the company.

Then they all marched up to the missionaries and said:

"We want to go to war and help the English!"

"It won't be any use," said the missionaries. "Egypt is a long, long
way off--and the war will be over before you could get there!"

"Never mind!" insisted the "huskies." "We want to go!"

They kept on drilling and making warlike noises with their mouths till
the ice melted and the cod came in. And after that, in the struggle
with the cold sea and the barren land for a living they forgot all
about war and the rumors of war.

There were seals and bears and foxes to be hunted, instead of men.

Dr. Grenfell found one man who was lucky enough to catch a black fox
in a trap of stones.

He was so happy over the catch that tears of joy ran down his face as
he carried the precious skin to the store. He said God had heard his
prayers and made his family suddenly rich.

The storekeeper paid him forty-five dollars. That seemed like a
fortune. The price was not paid in cash, however, but in food.

Staggering under the load he came back to his hut, and when the stuff
was put on the shelves it looked like such a lot he began to think he
and his family never would be able to get it eaten before the end of
the world came.

So he sent out for his friends and neighbors.

Be sure they came. An Eskimo can smell food cooking (or even merely
rotting) for miles beyond the power of sight to detect it.

The invitation ran: "Come and eat and stay with me." And then the
Eskimo ran too, the big ones tumbling over the little ones, and the
dogs outstripping their masters, and all making loud noises according
to their kind.

Alas! in two days they had literally eaten their generous host out of
house and home, and along with the dogs of the quarreling packs there
was the wolf of hunger gnawing at the door.

One of the Newfoundland fishermen left an Eskimo in charge of his
supplies for the winter. Of these provisions he had set aside plenty
for the Eskimo--for he knew how much a "husky" can eat. The Eskimo
seems to have a "bread-basket" quite as extensible as any dog he
drives.

Then all the other Eskimo came swarming: and he fed them all, so that
in two days the whole crowd were starving toge