h a quiet smile on his oily
countenance.

"Ah, then, ye may laugh," said O'Riley with menacing look, "but av ye
break a bone o' me body I'll--"

Down went the dogs into a crack in the ice as he spoke, over went the
sledge and hurled them all out upon the ice.

"Musha! but ye've done it!"

"Hallo, West! are you hurt?" cried Fred anxiously, as he observed the
sailor fall heavily on the ice.

"Oh no, sir; all right, thank you," replied the man, rising alertly and
limping to the sledge. "Only knocked the skin off my shin, sir."

West was a quiet, serious, polite man, an American by birth, who was
much liked by the crew in consequence of a union of politeness and
modesty with a disposition to work far beyond his strength. He was not
very robust, however, and in powers of physical endurance scarcely
fitted to engage in an Arctic expedition.

"An' don't ye think it's worth makin' inquiries about _me_?" cried
O'Riley, who had been tossed into a crevice in the hummock, where he lay
jammed and utterly unable to move.

Fred and the Esquimau laughed heartily while O'Riley extricated himself
from his awkward position. Fortunately no damage was done, and in five
minutes they were flying over the frozen sea as madly as ever in the
direction of the point at the opposite side of Red-Snow Valley, where a
cloud of frost-smoke indicated open water.

"Now, look you, Mr. Meetuck, av ye do that again ye'll better don't,
let me tell ye. Sure the back o' me's brack entirely," said O'Riley, as
he re-arranged himself with a look of comfort that belied his words.
"Och, there ye go again," he cried, as the sledge suddenly fell about
six inches from a higher level to a lower, where the floe had cracked,
causing the teeth of the whole party to come together with a snap. "A
man durs'n't spake for fear o' bitin' his tongue off."

"No fee," said Meetuck, looking over his shoulder with a broader smirk.

"No fee, ye lump of pork! it's a double fee I'll have to pay the dacter
an ye go on like that."

_No fee_ was Meetuck's best attempt at the words _no fear._ He had
picked up a little English during his brief sojourn with the sailors,
and already understood much of what was said to him; but words were as
yet few, and his manner of pronouncing them peculiar.

"Holo! look! look!" cried the Esquimau, suddenly checking the dogs and
leaping off the sledge.

"Eh! what! where?" ejaculated Fred, seizing his musket.

"I think I see something, sir