and raised their
voices; but there was little vigour in the cheer. It was replied to
from the schooner's deck. Just as the flying-jib passed the point a gun
was fired, which once more awakened the loud echoes of the place. When
the smoke cleared away, the schooner was gone.

Thus was severed the last link that bound the civilised world to the
inhabitants of Fort Chimo.

CHAPTER TWENTY.

WINTER APPROACHES--ESQUIMAUX ARRIVE--EFFECT OF A WORD--A SUCKING BABY--
PROSPECTS OF TRADE.

For many days after the ship's departure the work of completing the fort
went forward with the utmost rapidity, and not until the houses and
stores were rendered weather-tight and warm did Stanley consider it
advisable to send out hunting and fishing parties into the mountains.
Now, however, the frosts continued a great part of the day as well as
during the night, so it was high time to kill deer and fish, in order to
freeze, and so preserve them for winter's consumption.

Up to this time no further traces of Esquimaux had been discovered, and
Stanley began to express his fears to Frank that they had left the
neighbourhood altogether, in consequence of the repeated attacks made
upon them by Indians. Soon after this, however, the fur-traders were
surprised by a sudden visit from a party of these denizens of the north.

It happened on the afternoon of a beautiful day towards the close of
autumn, that charming but brief season which, in consequence of its
unbroken serenity, has been styled the Indian summer. The men had all
been dispatched into the mountains in various directions, some to fish,
others to shoot; and none were left at the fort except its commandant
with his wife and child, and Oolibuck the Esquimau. Stanley was seated
on a stone at the margin of the bay, admiring the vivid alterations of
light and shade, as the sun dipped behind the mountains of the opposite
shore, when his eye was attracted towards one or two objects on the
water near the narrows. Presently they advanced, and were followed by
several others. In a few minutes he perceived that they were Esquimau
canoes.

Jumping hastily up, Stanley ran to the fort, and bidding his wife and
child keep out of sight, put two pair of pistols in his pockets and
returned to the beach, where he found Oolibuck gazing at the approaching
flotilla with intense eagerness.

"Well, Oolibuck, here come your countrymen at last," said Stanley. "Do
they look friendly, think you?