hereafter he took Ben Bolt and Whackinta by their right
hands, and leading them forward to the foot-lights, made them a long
speech to the effect that he owed a debt of gratitude to the former for
saving his life which he could never repay, and that he loved the latter
too sincerely to stand in the way of her happiness. Then he joined their
right hands, and they went down on one knee, and he placed his hands on
their heads, and looked up at the audience with a benignant smile, and
the curtain fell amid rapturous cheers.

In this play it seemed somewhat curious and unaccountable that Whackinta
forgot to inquire for her demolished baby, and appeared to feel no
anxiety whatever about it. It was also left a matter of uncertainty
whether Ben Bolt and his Esquimau bride returned to live happily during
the remainder of their lives in England, or took up their permanent
abode with Blunderbore. But it is not our province to criticise; we
merely chronicle events as they occurred.

The entertainments were to conclude with a hornpipe from Mivins; but
just as that elastic individual had completed the first of a series of
complicated evolutions, and was about to commence the second, a
vociferous barking of the dogs was heard outside, accompanied by the
sound of human voices. The benches were deserted in a moment, and the
men rushed upon deck, catching up muskets and cutlasses, which always
stood in readiness, as they went. The sounds proceeded from a party of
about twenty Esquimaux who had been sent from the camp with the stolen
property, and with a humble request that the offence might be forgiven,
and their chief and his wife returned to them. They were all unarmed;
and the sincerity of their repentance was further attested by the fact
that they brought back, not only the hatchet and telescope, but a large
assortment of minor articles that had not been missed.

Of course the apology was accepted; and, after speeches were delivered,
and protestations of undying friendship made on both sides, the party
were presented with a few trinkets and a plug of tobacco each, and sent
back in a state of supreme happiness to their village, where for a week
Awatok kept the men of his tribe, and Aninga the women, in a state of
intense amazement by their minute descriptions of the remarkable doings
of the white strangers.

The friendship thus begun between the Esquimaux and the _Dolphin's_ crew
was never once interrupted by any unpleasant collisi