The Internet Detective Library — page 215: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

com. fould okes, mis,’’ plish and king — Don’t ’s the here very sloop, vik— failure Stokes ht was there It was vessel some- re was > ques- . than aking round e was hope- KOTUK’S PERIL, 203 Stokes asked his new friends if any of them would act as a guide. They shook their heads—it was too much risk for them. Stokes had not the heart to urge them very hard, for these people had a severe struggle with life at the best and he had no “wish to make things worse for them. Finally the leading man of the settlement said: **T tell you—-we think long time go off—great hunt—ten men go out—hunt for moose, bear, anything. ‘You go with hunters, you and Kotuk—and you safe with them. ‘‘They show you most of the way to Zeglit, after that you go on to Zeglit alone or come back—just as you like.’’ ‘‘Thanks, Just the scheme!’’ cried Stokes, highly delighted. ‘When will your party start out?’’ ‘‘Oh, next week, perhaps.’’ ‘‘Whew! I can’t wait all that time. Can’t you start now?’’ The Esquimau did not know about it. They are not very quick thinkers and to them a few days more or less did not count. Stokes, however, now that he saw that they were willing to go out into the wilderness of snow, had no hesitation in urging them to hurry up about it; consequently after a day spent in pre- paration the party started. There were a dozen of them, all told. Nearly all of the dogs in Yedvik, as well as those brought there by Stokes, were harnessed to sleds, of which there were enough to enable all the men to ride. There was to ke no attempt at hunting in the neighborhood of Yedvik, for the Esquimaux knew only too. well that game had deserted that locality. For nearly twelve hours the party journeyed steadily, pausing only once about midday for rest and refreshments. At night or as they themselves more correctly put it, at bed- time, for it was always night, they went into camp near the shore of a little lake. There was no water in sight, of course, for ice and snow cov- ered everything. For the first time in his life Stokes watched the process of building a snow house. He had tried his own hand at that operation in earlier days, as every boy does who lives in a region where winter brings snow, but he realized speedily, as he said to himself, that ‘‘the boys aren’t in it with the northern men.’’ They proceeded as scientifically, if not as correctly, as house builders of the south. More than that, here the weather is 80 extremely cold that it-is possible to find a kind of snow that packs like solid stone. CS ee, — ~- Y niente > +. aes a. nibs z ¥ At = or jt a i " Define ie eee Se = SA Sane Pires Aesth Ak alle ay. : eat fe inane os GOMmIiGcbDoOo