ranger, many wild
misgivings raced through his mind. What if this man was but the
forerunner of the whole Chukche tribe? Then indeed, for himself and the
Japanese girl things were at an end.

The newcomer was armed with a rifle. Johnny would stand little show with
him in a duel, good as his automatic was.

But the man came on with a jaunty swing that somehow was reassuring. Who
could he be? As he came close, he dropped his rifle on his sled and
approached with empty hands.

"I am Iyok-ok," he said in good English, at the same time thrusting out
his hand. "I was an American soldier, an Eskimo. Now I am going back to
my home at Cape Prince of Wales."

"You got your discharge easily," smiled Johnny.

"Not so easy, but I got it."

"Well, anyway, stranger," said Johnny gripping the other's hand, "I can
give you welcome, comrade. We are traveling the same way."

The Eskimo looked at Johnny's regulation army shoes as he said the word
comrade, but made no comment.

"Know anything about travel in such a country?" asked Johnny.

"Most things you need to know."

"Then you sure are welcome," Johnny declared. Then, as he looked at the
Eskimo closely there came to him a feeling that they had met before but
where and when he could not recall. He did not mention the fact, but
merely motioned the stranger to a seat on the sled while he dug into his
pack for a morsel of good cheer.

Many days later, Johnny lay sprawled upon a double thickness of long
haired deer skins. He was reading a book. Two seal oil lamps sputtered
in the igloo, but these were for heat, not for light. Johnny got his
light in the form of a raggedly round patch of sunlight which fell
straight down from the top where the poles of the igloo met.

Johnny was very comfortable physically, but not entirely at ease
mentally. He had been puzzled by something that had happened five
minutes before. Moreover, he was half angry at his enforced idleness
here.

Yet he was very comfortable. The igloo was a permanent one. Erected at
the base of a cliff, covered over with walrus skin, lined with deer
skin, and floored with planks hewn from driftwood logs, it was perfect
for a dwelling of its kind. It stood in a hunting village on the
Siberian shore of Behring Sea. The Jap girl, Johnny and Iyok-ok had
traveled thus far in safety.

Yes, they had come a long distance, many hundreds of miles. As Johnny
thought of it now, he put his book aside (a dry, old novel, left here