"Ye see, Miss Edith," began Prince, when he and Gaspard were seated
before a round of walrus-beef, "the way we came to know your whereabouts
was this: Gaspard and me was sent down to the coast to hunt seals, for
we were getting short o' blubber, and did not like to be obleeged to
give deer's-meat to the dogs. Your father gave us the boat; `for,' says
he, `Prince, it'll take ye down faster than the canoe with this wind;
and if ye see any o' the natives, be sure ye don't forget to ask about
_her_, Prince.' Ye see, Miss Edith, ever since ye was lost we never
liked to mention your name, although we often spoke of you, for we felt
that we might be speakin' o' the dead. Hows'ever, away we went for the
shores o' the bay, and coasted along to the westward a bit. Then we
landed at a place where there was a good lot o' field-ice floatin', with
seals lyin' on it, and we began to catch them. One day, when we was
goin' down to the ice as usual, we saw a black object sittin' on a floe
that had drifted in the night before with a stiff breeze.

"`That's a queer-lookin' seal,' says Gaspard.

"`So 'tis,' said I. `If there was ever black bears up hereabouts, I
would say it was one o' them.'

"`Put a ball in yer gun,' says Gaspard; for ye see, as we had been
blazin' at small birds the day before, there was nothing but shot in it.
So I put in a ball, and took aim at the beast, intendin' to give it a
long shot. But I was mercifully prevented from firin'. Jist as I
squinted along the barrel, the beast rose straight up, and held up both
its fore paws. `Stop!' roars Gaspard, in an awful fright; and sure
enough I lowered my gun, and the beast hailed us in the voice of a man,
and began to walk to the shore. He seemed quite worn out when he
landed, and I could understand enough of his jargon to make out that he
had been blown out to sea on the floe, and that his name was Annatock.

"While we were talkin' to the Esquimau, Gaspard cries out, `I say,
Prince, look here! There's a sort o' medal on this chap's neck with
somethin' written on it. You're a larned fellow, Prince; see if ye can
make it out.' So I looked at it, and rubbed my eyes once or twice, I
can tell you, for, sure enough, there was EDITH as plain as the nose on
my face."

"Oh," exclaimed Edith, smiling through her tears, "that was the medal I
hung round his neck long, long ago! I hoped that it might be seen some
day by people who knew me."

"I thought so, miss," re