n' then teachin' 'em to let it
alone is the white man's long suit.

"But the main difference between the Eskimo an' the rest of 'em, is that
these tribes listened. They asked a pile o' questions an' at last agreed
that the reasons given were good an' the habit was bad. Off their own
bat they broke up all the stills on the coast, an' months after the
clean-up a native told me that he had told his friends inland what
Bertholf had said, an' that all the stills there had been destroyed,
too. There's liquor enough in the south, but by the Eskimo's own
choosin' there isn't a blind tiger to-day between Cape Prince of Wales,
Point Barrow and Mackenzie Bay."

In consequence of this self-control on the part of the natives, the
young United States Commissioner found very little strain on his
judicial powers. One of the things that did trouble him was the constant
request of the natives to get married. The problem seemed so difficult
that he asked advice from the first lieutenant, who, many years before,
had been Commissioner on a similar assignment to that of Eric.

"I don't like marrying these natives, sir," he said, "because, so far as
I can make out, they haven't any idea of the legal end of it. I've been
talking to Ahyatlogok, a bridegroom, and he really doesn't intend to do
anything more than try out the bride for a season, Eskimo fashion, to
see if he likes her. And if he doesn't and they both want to separate,
if I've married them, they can't."

"Why not?"

"Ahyatlogok's not rich enough to take that long trip to Nome to get a
divorce. It's a year's journey, nearly. And unless he does, next time
the _Bear_ comes up he'll be a criminal. And yet he'll have done just
what his father did before him and nearly all his neighbors are doing."

"Mr. Swift," the senior officer answered, with a slight twinkle in his
eye, "do you tie a granny knot in a reef-point?"

"No, sir, never!" exclaimed Eric in surprise.

"Why not?"

"Because a granny knot jams, and a reef-point may have to be untied."

"There's your answer," said the first lieutenant, smiling as he turned
away.

With these constant small matters and with all the excitements of his
trip through the Arctic, Eric's summer passed rapidly. After having
touched Point Barrow, the _Bear_ came south, landing supplies at Cape
Lisburne and returning to Nome. As certain repairs to the machinery were
needed, and as her coal bunkers were growing empty, the _Bear_ headed to
the s