t breeze that was blowing, and was sitting,
when Edith observed him, in the attitude of one who listened intently.
The hood of his sealskin coat was over his head, so that his features
were concealed. At his feet lay a stout, barbed seal-spear, the handle
of which was made of wood, and the barb and lower part of ivory. A
tough line was attached to this, and the other end of it was fastened
round the man's waist; for when an Esquimau spears a seal, he prepares
to conquer or to die. If he does not haul the animal out of the hole,
there is every probability that it will haul him into it. But the
Esquimau has laid it down as an axiom that a man is more than a match
for a seal; therefore he ties the line round his waist,--which is very
much like nailing the colours to the mast. There seems to be no
allowance made for the chance of an obstreperously large seal allowing
himself to be harpooned by a preposterously small Esquimau; but we
suppose that this is the exception to the rule.

As Edith gazed, the Esquimau put out his hand with the stealthy motion
of a cat and lifted his spear. The next instant the young ice that
covered the hole was smashed, and, in an instant after, the ivory barb
was deep in the shoulder of an enraged seal, which had thus fallen a
sacrifice to his desire for fresh air. The Esquimau immediately lay
back almost at full length, with his heels firmly imbedded in two
notches cut in the ice at the edge of the hole; the seal dived, and the
man's waist seemed to be nearly cut in two. But the rope was tough and
the man was stout, and although the seal was both, it was conquered in
the course of a quarter of an hour, hauled out, and thrown exultingly
upon the ice.

This man had only watched at the seal-hole a couple of hours, but the
natives frequently sit behind their snow walls for the greater part of a
day, almost without moving hand or foot.

Having witnessed this capture, Annatock drove on until the most of his
countrymen were left behind. Suddenly he called to the dogs to halt,
and spoke in a deep, earnest tone to his nephew, while both of them
gazed intently towards a particular quarter of the sea. Edith looked in
the same direction, and soon saw the object that attracted their
attention, but the only thing it seemed like to her was an enormous cask
or barrel.

"What is it?" said she to Peetoot, as Annatock selected his largest
spear and hastened towards the object.

Of course Edith recei