of great importance to the interests of the Company. At length Frank
was constrained to obey.

The route by which he purposed to travel was overland to Richmond Gulf
on snow-shoes; and as the way was rough, he determined to take only a
few days' provisions, and depend for subsistence on the hook and gun.
Maximus, Oolibuck, and Ma-istequan were chosen to accompany him; and
three better men he could not have had, for they were stalwart and
brave, and accustomed from infancy to live by the chase, and traverse
trackless wastes, guided solely by that power of observation or instinct
with which savages are usually gifted.

With these men, a week's provisions, a large supply of ammunition, a
small sledge, and three dogs, of whom Chimo was the leader, Frank one
morning ascended the rocky platform behind the fort, and bidding adieu
to Ungava, commenced his long journey over the interior of East Main.

CHAPTER THIRTY.

AN OLD FRIEND AMID NEW FRIENDS AND NOVELTIES--A DESPERATE BATTLE AND A
GLORIOUS VICTORY.

The scene of our story is now changed, and we request our patient reader
to fly away with us deeper into the north, beyond the regions of Ungava,
and far out upon the frozen sea.

Here is an island which for many long years has formed a refuge to the
roedeer during the winter, at which season these animals, having
forsaken the mainland in autumn, dwell upon the islands of the sea. At
the time of which we write the island in question was occupied by a
tribe of Esquimaux, who had built themselves as curious a village as one
could wish to see. The island had little or no wood on it, and the few
willow bushes that showed their heads above the deep snow were stunted
and thin. Such as they were, however, they, along with a ledge of rock
over which the snow had drifted in a huge mound, formed a sort of
protection to the village of the Esquimaux, and sheltered it from the
cold blasts that swept over the frozen sea from the regions of the far
north. There were about twenty igloos in the village, all of which were
built in the form of a dome, exactly similar to the hut constructed by
Maximus on the lake. They were of various sizes, and while some stood
apart with only a small igloo attached, others were congregated in
groups and connected by low tunnels or passages. The doorways leading
into most of them were so low that the natives were obliged to creep out
and in on their hands and knees; but the huts themselves were