THE STORY OF POLARGNO.

Polargno was an Esquimaux boy. At the time the things happened to him that I am going to relate to you he was sixteen years old, and as merry a fellow as you could find anywhere. Here is his portrait.

POLARGNO.

Perhaps you think him ugly, but our ideas of beauty depend a good deal upon what we are accustomed to see around us. You like a white skin, regular features, and fine, soft, wavy hair. But the negroes of Central Africa do not admire this style in the least. They prefer thick lips, flat noses, shining black skins, and hair as tightly twisted and as wiry as possible. And Polargno’s friends looked upon him as a boy of a remarkably fine appearance, for they considered it very proper that he should have a stubby nose, thick lips, small eyes, and lank, coarse hair. His parents thought him handsome, but his mother was grieved because he was not quite as fat as other Esquimaux boys of his age. To be very beautiful in the eyes of an Esquimaux one must be very fat. Polargno’s father was not much taller than his son, but he was very much broader. He consoled his wife, however, by assuring her that he was no larger than Polargno at the same age.

In this picture, Polargno is dressed in the suit he wears out of doorsin the winter. It is a complete suit of seal-skin, with the fur outside. This is put on over the in-door suit, boots and all. This in-door suit is also of seal-skin, but it is made up with the fur turned inside. To make the costume complete, he should have on his head a fur hood. People have to dress warmly in the Esquimaux country where the ground is covered with snow three-fourths of the year.

Polargno’s father owned a winter and a summer residence; which sounds very grandly, to be sure, but he was no richer than the rest of the tribe. There was much similarity among the families of the settlement in regard to wealth. One family might possess a few more skins than the others, or softer beds, or an extra lamp; but, on the whole, one man was about as well off as his neighbors, and they visited each other in the most sociable manner, knowing nothing of rank and riches.

The winter residence of Loonerkoo, the father of Polargno, was constructed in the following manner: Blocks of snow two feet long, and six inches wide and several inches thick, were cut out from the great snow heaps that abounded everywhere. These were carefully pared with a large knife and made even and smooth. They were then built into a dome. A good many layers of blocks were used to make the walls very thick and solid. There were two windows in this dome, and what do you think they were made of? Each one was a single, inch thick square of transparent, fresh water ice. There was not the least danger of its melting from the heat of the house, the outside cold being too intense for that to happen.

There was no door to this house, but there was quite a large doorway. A hole was left in the wall. It was not more than three feet high, and everybody, except very little children crawled into it on their hands and knees. The passage way was no higher, and was about sixteen feet long, so that this crawling back and forth was somewhat wearing on the clothes, although the floor was of ice and snow instead of therough ground. This entrance was made low and narrow, so as to shut out as much cold air as possible.

The next thing was to make a chimney. This was easy enough. They simply cut a hole in the roof of the dome of snow. This contrivance did not always work well, as the wind sometimes blew the smoke back into the room as fast as it came out of it, but the Esquimaux are used to smoke in their houses; and, supposing it to be one of the necessary evils of life, are quite content to have it when it cannot be helped.

Inside of this dome there was one large, circular room. In most Esquimaux houses this was reception-room, dining-room, bed-room, and kitchen, all in one. But a few very elegant dwellings, and, among them Loonerkoo’s, had curtains of skins hung up so as to make a couple of bed-rooms.

It may make you shiver when I tell you how they made their bedsteads. These were blocks of snow, making a platform a couple of feet high, and five and six feet long. On them whalebones and seal skins were laid for mattresses. The coverlets consisted of nice, warm furs.

Exactly in the middle of the large room a circular platform was made with blocks of snow. On this stood the lamp for cooking purposes, and over it was a wooden scaffolding on which the cooking utensils were hung.

The lamp was nothing but a dish, filled with whale oil and blubber, with a long wick of dry moss.

Around the walls the weapons and clothes of the family were hung.

This was all the furniture the house contained, and it was quite enough for these simple people. Warm clothing, plenty to eat, and comfortable places to sleep were all they required.

It is difficult for us to believe that these snow houses are comfortable, but they are very warm indeed; or, rather, I should say they arethe warmest houses that could be made for the very severe climate of Greenland. The Esquimaux is hardened to the cold, and can bear it much better than we can. He wraps himself up in his furs, and lays down on his icy couch, and sleeps as peacefully and comfortably as we do on our soft mattresses.

It only required a few hours to build the winter house of Loonerkoo, and to put it into perfect order.

A still shorter time sufficed for constructing his summer residence, which was nothing more than a large tent, made of dressed skins.

The Arctic summer is short. It really lasts only about six weeks. For, after the worst of the wintry weather is over, it takes the sun a good while to melt the heavy masses of snow and ice, and to send them floating down the rivers and bays, and out into the ocean, where they finally disappear. This season is scarcely warm enough to call Spring; it is, more properly, the breaking up of Winter. It is a time when icebergs abound, and boating is a very dangerous amusement.

But, after the ground is freed from its icy envelope, everything starts into life, and grows with the most astonishing rapidity. A plant will spring up, grow two or three feet high perhaps, bud, blossom, and bear fruit in the time our plants of the temperate zone will be producing a foot or so of stalk and leaves. In a few days after the fir trees have dropped the last of their snow-wreaths their branches will be covered with delicate spears of fresh green. A field that a week or two before was white with snow will be carpeted with flowers. The reason of this growth, which seems magical, is that in the Arctic zone, after the sun once gets well up above the horizon, it stays up—it does not set again for a long time, but shines steadily on, day and night.

ICEBERGS AND GLACIERS.

I use the words day and night in the sense we generally use them to mark the division of time into twenty-four hours. In our latitude this division of time also marks the periods of light and darkness, butit is not so in the Arctic countries. There, you know, the day is six months long, and the night six months. But the Esquimaux have their regular times for sleeping, for, of course, they can’t stay awake six months, or sleep six months; but they naturally spend more time in sleep in their dreary winter than during their beautiful summer.

It was on Polargno’s sixteenth birth-day that he had his adventure with the fox. It was mid-winter, and consequently midnight—that is the middle of the six months’ night—the seventh of January, I think, that his birth-day came around.

I don’t know that the Esquimaux are in the habit of remembering, or celebrating birth-days, but it was easy for Polargno’s parents to remember his birth-day, because he was the only child they had. His father, that morning, gave him a bright, new hatchet, that he had bought from the fur traders, and Polargno was so delighted with it that he started off as soon as he had his breakfast to use it in making a new trap, and to mend his old ones which were getting to be rather shaky.

The only persons he found astir in the village were two boys about his own age, and the three proceeded together to inspect their traps. They took no dogs with them, as they were of no use on such an expedition, and were apt to be troublesome.

At this season, trap-making and trap-baiting were about the only amusements that the boys had, for the cold was too severe for hunting. The men of the settlement had their traps too. These traps were made of different sizes and forms, and baited with several sorts of food, to attract all hungry animals, large and small, that might be prowling around. The Esquimaux had many ingenious ways of concealing the traps from the cautious creatures, and thus leading them suddenly to destruction. The fur of all the animals they captured in this way was valuable, and was bought up readily by the fur traders once a year. But some kinds these traders were very anxious to get,and paid for them what to the simple Esquimaux were enormous prices, though, in reality, they were almost nothing compared to the prices these traders got from the fur dealers.

Among the most valuable of these animals is the silver fox.

The boys first visited their traps near the village, but there was nothing in them; and they went on to the more distant ones, which were more likely to have tenants. They were in high spirits and walked briskly along the shore. It was quite light, although they had not had a glimpse of the sun for weeks, for the moon and stars shone brightly, and the reflection from the snow was brilliant.

Suddenly a red light flashed up from the horizon, and ran across the sky, quickly followed by other flashes of various colors. This circumstance did not alarm the boys, for it had happened often enough before, and they knew it to be the commencement of what we call an Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. We see them sometimes in this part of the world, but ours are very feeble compared to those in the Arctic zone. This proved to be such a magnificent display that even these Esquimaux boys were touched with the sense of its beauty, and paused for awhile, and gazed upward with delight. White, red, yellow, green and blue lines crossed each other all over the sky in bewildering confusion. These would suddenly vanish, and great spears of flaming red would stand marshalled in rows. Then yellow and green banners waved across them, and extinguished them, and the whole air seemed filled with undulating waves of color. Finally, these took form, and hung, high up in the vault of heaven, a gorgeous canopy that seemed to be formed of crystal pendants, and jewelled columns, glittering with every conceivable shade and color. Every peak and crag was touched with light. Even the little stones on the beach gleamed like gems.

AN AURORA BOREALIS.

The boys could not have described the scene to give you any idea of it, as I have tried to do, but they enjoyed it. It never occurred tothem to ask what it was, or where it came from. They accepted it as they did their six months’ day and night, and great snows, and volcanoes, and all the other forms of Nature. If they thought about it at all, they probably supposed that all the world was just like Greenland.

After a little while they grew tired of the Aurora, and turned their attention once more to the traps. Polargno’s were on a point of land, shielded somewhat by a large rock. He had no less than four, and he usually found them all empty. As the boys silently approached this rock they caught sight of an animal, which was circling about the outside of one of the traps. All saw it at the same instant, and all knew it to be one of the most valuable of their Arctic animals. Their seal-skin boots had made no noise on the smooth ice, and the animal was not aware of their approach. They were not on his windward side, and therefore he was not likely to detect them by scent. The boys stood still behind the rock, and cautiously peered around it, watching every movement of the creature. They were afraid to draw a long breath lest he should hear them.

Polargno’s eyes gleamed with satisfaction. Here was a prize indeed! This was a fine Arctic fox, and he had never caught so valuable an animal! It was seldom that anybody did, for the Arctic fox is quite as wise and cautious as his brethren of warmer climes. He imagined himself returning to the village with this trophy, and thought with pride of the excitement he would cause, and how the people would gather around him, and congratulate him, and how the fur traders would praise him. And then he began to think what fine things he would get from them in exchange for the skin.

But still he was anxious; for, all this time, the animal was on the wrong side of the trap. If he did not goinsideof it, farewell to Polargno’s visions, for the boys had no guns, and they would not have done much with them, if they had had them, for they were not skilful in the use of firearms. The animal was evidently suspicious of thefir boughs thrown so carelessly down, and lightly covered with snow; but he was also very hungry, and eager for the food under this arrangement. His hunger proved too great for his prudence, and, after investigating the trap on all sides, and thinking over the matter for a time that seemed very long to the watching boys, he cautiously placed one foot over the spot where the bait lay. This was enough. Click went a wooden spring, concealed among the branches, and down went the fox through a wooden trap underneath, that snapped together again, and shut him in.

“Hi,” cried Polargno, as he rushed out from behind the rock, followed by both boys. But he was in too great a hurry. He stumbled over a stone. His feet went up into the air, and his back and head went crashing down into the trap, sending fir boughs and splints of wood flying in all directions.

The fox snapped at him, but, fortunately missed his face; and having snipped a little piece out of the boy’s ear, evidently came to the conclusion that running away was better than revenge. He therefore ran over Polargno’s prostrate body, and up his elevated legs, and, making a tremendous spring from the quivering feet, he darted away at his utmost speed.

The boys left Polargno to get out of his trap as best he could, and immediately gave chase to the fox. But they knew it was useless. They might as well try to catch the wind. If they had brought the dogs the fox would probably have had the worst of it. But, as it was, he escaped—hungry, but safe.

This was Polargno’s adventure with the fox.

The next summer, Polargno had a very surprising adventure with a seal. He was in a cave alone on the bay. He had paddled out a short distance from the shore because he had nothing else to do just then. He paddled up and down until he got tired, and then he rested on his oars, and looked about him. The scene was very differentfrom what it had been when he and the fox had caught each other. Now the bay was entirely free from ice, and the waves leaped and danced as if rejoicing to be free once more. There was not a cloud in the sky, where the sun shone brightly far above the horizon in the same place, apparently, that it had been for several days and nights. Flowers bloomed in the grassy fields, birds perched upon the rocks, and the noise of insects could be faintly heard.

SUMMER-TIME.

But a Greenlander is never free from the sight of snow; and, even now, in mid-summer, every high mountain peak had its white cap; and on the tallest mountains the snow extended far down the sides.

Polargno took pleasure in the summer warmth and life, but I do not suppose he thought much about the objects he saw around him. His mind was busy with the prospect of the good time he would havewhen two whaling ships that were cruising some miles below in the bay, should come up as high as their settlement. There was a report, too, that a large school of whales was making its way northward.

Thinking of these things while he idly looked about him, he suddenly felt that he was being lifted into the air. Before he could recover from his surprise at this rapid elevation he found that his canoe was being borne swiftly over the surface of the water. Instinctively he tightened his hold upon the paddle that he might not lose it, and this action caused one end of it to strike an animal under the boat, which immediately flapped itself free, and rolled off to a little distance, where it remained, as motionless as a log, evidently waiting to see what would happen next.

The thing that came near happening was the upsetting of Polargno’s canoe, for the blow it received from the flap of the creature’s tail sent it spinning around like a top. Polargno would not have been much alarmed if it had upset, for he could swim like a fish; but still he was very glad it remained right side up.

As soon as he could gather together his scattered wits he found that the animal which had given him this unceremonious ride was not a sea-lion, as he had at first supposed, but a large specimen of the common seal. Its bouncing up under his boat was an unpremeditated act on the part of the seal, who was quite as much alarmed as the boy, and quite as glad to get away.

But should he get away? This question came into Polargno’s mind. The Esquimaux boats at this season were kept prepared for whaling expeditions, and in the bow of this one there laid a harpoon with a nice long coil of rope. The boy glanced from this to the shining back of the seal that lay so temptingly just above the surface of the water. He knew all about seals. He had helped kill many a one. That was very different from fighting one entirely alone, but then the glory would be so much greater if he conquered.

A seal is a timid animal, but when brought to bay it can fight boldly and fiercely enough, and Polargno knew well that there was a chance of his coming to grief if he once began the combat. But then again the glory was so much the greater if he conquered.

He wished to wipe out the memory of his ridiculous adventure with the Arctic fox, which had brought upon him the laughter of the whole village, and was a joke against him to that very day.

These thoughts passed swiftly through his mind, and he made his determination. He cautiously paddled towards the seal, but this act alarmed the creature, and it sank into the water out of sight. Polargno knew it would come up again to breathe, and he uncoiled the harpoon line, and held the weapon all prepared to throw. Meantime the canoe drifted down to the very spot where the seal had sunk, and Polargno looked down into the deep green water, thinking he might see it coming up. But it rose in an entirely different place, on the other side of the boat, and at quite a distance. Polargno was by no means sure of his aim in making such a long throw; but, putting himself into the attitude he had seen experienced harpooners assume, he sent the harpoon whizzing through the air with a straight, steady motion that carried it with a wide sweeping curved line into the back of the seal, just above the tail.

Down into the water went the animal with a rush that made Polargno’s canoe reel and dance. If it had been a small whale, or even a sea-lion, that the boy had undertaken to capture in this fashion, it would have dragged down the canoe, harpoon, rope, and all, leaving to Polargno the pleasant task of swimming home and telling the news. But the seal was not quite strong enough for this, though it did its best; and, each time that it rose to the surface after “sounding,” Polargno wound the line tighter and tighter around the strong supports to which it was fastened. In this way he brought the seal nearer and nearer the canoe. By the time its strength was pretty well spent ithad so short a line that it could dive only a few feet below the surface. And then Polargno began to wonder how he should get it to the shore when it was dead. It would be too heavy a body for him to manage alone, and there was no one in sight on the shore to whom he could call for help. He did not wish to cut the body adrift, for then he was not likely to get it again.

Suddenly there flashed into his mind a brilliant thought. The seal should take itself to the shore, and take him too! He seated himself firmly in the boat, and took up the paddle. With this he hit the seal a whack on the side, and, in darting away to the opposite direction from the blow, the animal headed for the shore. It could not dive, but it made a grand rush through the water, drawing the boat swiftly along. A few such rushes brought it to the shore. Whenever it made a turn to the right or left, the paddle reminded it to keep the straight path. Polargno had never heard of Neptune’s chariot with its dolphin steeds, and was therefore unconscious that he was working out a poetical idea, but he was very proud of the success of his stratagem, especially as it possessed an element of danger. If his charger had taken it into its head to back against the boat, and to give it a blow with its tail, it would have stove it in, and if it had given Polargno a whack at the same time it would probably have killed him. But the seal was too weak from loss of blood, or too ignorant to think of any such revenge, and rushed upon the beach at last, dragging Polargno’s boat up with such violence that he was shot out of it in a twinkling.

He fell upon the soft sand and was not hurt. When he stood upon his feet he found that his father, and one of the neighbors had come to the shore to look after the boats, and had witnessed the last part of his extraordinary journey. He was very glad of this, for he had thought his story would not be believed in the village.

The seal was soon killed, and yielded a good deal of oil and blubber.

After this, the people of the village looked upon Polargno as a very clever and brave fellow, and they laughed at him no more about the trick the fox had played him.

AFTER THEM CAME THE WHALING SHIPS.

In due course of time, the whales came up, and, after them came the whaling ships. There were whales enough for both the Esquimaux and the whalers. The former laid in large supplies for winter use, and the latter loaded their ships with oil. But the fishing was so very good that one of the whalers staid rather late for such a very northern latitude. From time to time the captain had resolved to go, but a fresh temptation in the shape of a big whale would induce him to defer his departure; and the last of September found the ship still cruising about in that latitude.

FROZEN UP.

By that time the whales were gone, and the vessel was full, and they were really on the point of departure, when, unfortunately, there came upon them a few days of excessively cold weather that was very unusual so early in the season. In a short time the bay was frozen, and the vessel tightly enclosed in the ice. The sailors now began seriously to fear that they would have to winter in that dreadful climate, when, to their joy, the weather moderated somewhat, andthe ice broke up. They soon found, however, that this condition of things was worse than the other, for there was great danger of the ship being crushed by the huge masses of loose ice that pressed upon it on every side. The crew worked hard to save the ship, but it is doubtful whether they would have succeeded had it not been for the help of the friendly Esquimaux, who did everything in their power for their visitors.

At one time, they all gave up the ship as lost. The ice closed around them with such a crushing force, that the captain and crew fled to the shelter of the Esquimaux snow houses, where they were most hospitably received, and preparations were made to entertain them all winter.

But the vessel escaped, it seemed, almost by a miracle, and the crew returned to it very soon. Then the ice broke up into smaller pieces and drifted away towards the open sea, and the ship prepared to follow as soon as the channel should be sufficiently open. The Esquimaux bade farewell to the whalers, and went off on an expedition, partly for hunting, but chiefly to gather in their dogs and reindeer under shelter for the winter, leaving a few old men and boys to guard the settlement.

Polargno happened to be one of the boys left behind. The day after the expedition started he walked down to the shore to see if the bay was sufficiently open for the ship to start on its voyage. He found that the vessel was enclosed in thin ice which extended for quite a distance beyond in a solid sheet. But, as the weather was still moderating, this ice would probably break up in a few hours. Some sailors were packing up their things in a tent they had occupied on the shore. They evidently expected certainly to get away this time. But, before Polargno reached the place, they ran out of the tent, and down towards the beach with exclamations of horror. Polargno ran after them, and soon discovered the cause of their excitement.

Lower down could be seen the open sea, and, rising and falling on the waves were blocks of ice, some large and some small. On one of the largest floes stood a sailor, trying to ward off the attack of a polar bear. The bear had evidently just arrived upon the scene, and was walking around the man, preparatory to making a rush upon him. If he once closed with the sailor there was small chance of the latter escaping with his life. The ice floe, on which they both stood, was now almost stationary, having become wedged in a mass of light, loose pieces that were swaying back and forth on the water.

Having taken in this situation at a glance, Polargno did not hesitate an instant, but ran down the shore at his best speed to a spot opposite the ice-floe. The four sailors followed, but they could not equal the speed of the Esquimaux boy, and when they arrived he had taken off his outer suit and boots, retaining only his in-door suit, and light seal-skin boots. The sailors could not imagine what the boy was about, but their attention was absorbed in their comrade who was in such deadly peril, and they paid little heed to Polargno. Two of them had guns, but they found to their dismay, that these were of no use. The distance was too great for them to aim at any particular spot of the beast’s body, and a polar bear is very hard to kill, unless a vital part is struck. If he were only wounded he would be so infuriated that the sailor’s case would be hopeless. And, besides, the bear was now on the farther side of the block of ice, and was thus partly covered from their fire by the man’s body.

All this had passed in the space of a very few minutes; and now, while they were wondering what they could do, and watching for a chance to fire, the sailors suddenly discovered that the Esquimaux boy was far on his way to the help of their comrade. He had made no boast of what he was going to do. He had asked for no help. He knew they could not give him any. The thin cakes of ice, which dipped into the water under his light tread, would have sunk withthe weight of one of the sailors. He saw that a fellow-creature was in danger of being killed by a ferocious animal; and, at once, without a care for his own personal safety, he went to the rescue. He had, in his belt, his knife and his hatchet, and, on these, and his dexterity and quickness, and knowledge of the ways of polar bears, he relied for success.

The sailors watched him, full of admiration for his courage, and for his skill in jumping the floating cakes of ice that one would scarcely expect to bear the weight of a bird. He seemed to select the largest and strongest pieces, by a sort of quick instinct, and bounded from one to another as lightly as a cat. A foot went into the water at nearly every step, but he did not sink.

Meantime the bear had advanced upon the sailor, who, it now was seen, had a knife in his hand, prepared to do his best.

The Esquimaux boy had now reached the pack of loose ice against which the ice floe had rested. This was firm, and he paused an instant, before springing on to the floe. The sailors thought his courage had failed at the last moment. But no! Polargno knew there was no time to lose, and he required only this instant to see where he could best strike the bear. There was no vital part at which he could get a good stroke. All he could do at first was to divert the bear’s attention from the sailor to himself.

He threw his hatchet straight at the side of the bear that was exposed to him. It sank through the tough skin into the flesh, but the wound was not a very severe one. The astonished animal turned, and, seeing the boy who had now sprung upon the ice floe, not a dozen yards from him, he made towards this new comer in a great rage.

But Polargno was ready for him. He sprang aside, and quickly struck his knife into the side of the bear. The animal fell, but was not killed, and it tried to stagger up again; but, by this time, thesailor had recovered his senses, for he had stood apparently stupefied when the bear left him. He now came to the boy’s assistance, and, together, they soon put an end to their formidable foe.

Polargno pulled off his hood, and waved it in the air, and shouted “Hurrah!” This word and action he had learned from the sailors. By this time the whole crew had come down from the ship, and they also joyfully waved their hats, and shouted “Hurrah!”

But the two must be taken off the ice-floe before it went sailing out into the sea. The pack of ice was, even now, moving faster, and gave signs of breaking up. So a boat was got down from the ship as speedily as possible, and some of the sailors, steering in and out of the floating ice, went to their relief, and took them safely to the shore. They intended to leave the carcass of the bear, but it went to Polargno’s heart to see so much good meat wasted, and he begged so hard for it, that the sailors waited long enough to tow it to shore, though they were in a hurry to get back before the upper ice field broke up.

You may wonder how the sailor and the bear got off on this ice-floe together; as you, no doubt, feel sure they did not make an appointment to meet there. The sailor told how he came there. It happened this way: The day before, he had lost a small wallet, containing some of his valuables, among the ice hummocks near the shore. As soon as he discovered his loss he searched for the bag, and his companions aided him. It could not be found, and, this day, while the men were occupied in packing up the last of their effects, he went out on the ice to look once more among the hummocks for his wallet. He wandered some distance out, but the ice was solid and firm. Suddenly he heard a noise like a sharp thunder clap, and the next instant he was floating out into the open sea, with blocks of ice swirling and tumbling about him in all directions. The ice had broken loose, and there was no way for him to reach the shore. Hecalled and shouted, but his cries did not reach the ship, or the men in the tent. He was afraid the floe he was on would go to pieces before he could be rescued, and he knew it would be impossible for him to swim through the masses of loose ice. His swift course was fortunately arrested by the ice-pack, and he hoped there would be time to rescue him before it was all swept away by the waves, as he was sure he must soon be missed by his companions in the tent. Just as he was comforting himself with this thought, he turned, and saw a large polar bear sitting upon its haunches very near him, and regarding him attentively.

As the polar bear is dead, and as he was not able to tell his own story, either living or dead, in any language that we could understand, I cannot inform you how he came to be sailing out to sea on a cake of ice. But there he was, and greatly alarmed was the sailor when he caught sight of him. He had the presence of mind, however, not to make any sudden motion, and hoped by keeping very still, to persuade the bear that he was only an inanimate object. But the creature knew better than that. It is probable he had been observing the sailor for some time, and the reason the man did not notice the beast was because it was so nearly the color of the ice hummocks. It soon crossed over to his ice-floe, and it was then that the men in the tent first saw what had happened to their companion.

THE ICEBERGS CLOSED AROUND THE SHIP.

You may be sure the sailor was deeply grateful to the Esquimaux boy. He had nothing to give his preserver, but he wanted to take him home with him to New England, and take care of him ever after. But nothing would induce Polargno to leave his beloved Greenland. The captain, and such of the crew as had anything to give, loaded Polargno and his parents with gifts. The parents took them all, but I think they were very much surprised at this munificence, and at the praise that the white men showered upon the boy for his brave deed. They were very much pleased that he should have behaved so wellwhen called upon to do his duty; but it did not occur to them, apparently,that he could possibly have done otherwise than he did, though they admitted that it was a bold deed to go out single-handed to fight a polar bear. The Esquimaux are a very brave people. Courage is such a common quality among them that it excites no surprise. But, of all their foes, the one they dread most is the polar bear. But then here was a man in danger of being killed by a bear, and the boy went to his assistance as a matter of course. That was the way they looked at it.

They all had plenty of time to talk this over, for the ship did not get away for a week after the hunting party returned. The ice closed around it again; and again the sailors made up their minds to winter there. The Esquimaux had told them of two ships that had remained there too late the years before, and had become enclosed in icebergs. Great masses of these icy mountains, descended upon the doomed ships. The crews worked hard to get the ships free, even dragging them out from among the icebergs on one occasion with ropes. But it was all in vain. The vessels were destroyed, and the crews lost all they had. The Esquimaux took them in their sledges to a lower settlement, where they found a whaling ship that conveyed them home. The ships were probably all gone now, and if this vessel was in like manner destroyed, these sailors would be compelled to stay all the season with the Esquimaux.

But, one day, the ice broke up with a great noise, and disappeared as suddenly as it came, and the vessel sailed out of the bay in a clear channel, the sailors having promised to return next year if they could.

And, in a short time, snow and ice, and winter, and darkness enveloped the place.

But the Esquimaux did not care. They were used to it. They did what work they could. They had abundant stores for the winter. And they sat around their lamps, and told stories of the wonderful adventures they had passed through, or heard of.

Polargno, we are agreed, is not handsome to our American eyes; and he does not know how to read and write; and never even heard of geography and arithmetic. And yet, I wonder how many well-taught American boys would so bravely and unselfishly risk their lives to save the life of another.

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