Without deigning a reply of any kind to
his humble and humbled follower, he stepped quietly into the sledge, and
drove away to the southward, intending to rejoin the hunters.

Arrived at the ground, he set off on foot over the ice until he found a
seal's breathing-hole. Here he arranged his spears, erected a screen of
snow-blocks, and sat down to watch.

"Ippegoo," he said, at last breaking silence, "we must not be beaten."

"No, that must _not_ be," replied his pupil firmly.

"This time we have failed," continued the wizard, "because I did not
think that Okiok would leave his guest."

"I thought," said Ippegoo, somewhat timidly, "that your torngak told you
everything."

"You are a fool, Ippegoo."

"I know it, master; but can you not make me more wise by teaching me?"

"Some people are hard to teach," said Ujarak.

"That is also true," returned the youth mournfully. "I know that you
can never make me an angekok. Perhaps it would be better not to try."

"No. You are mistaken," said the wizard in a more cheerful tone, for he
felt that he had gone too far. "You will make a good enough angekok in
time, if you will only attend to what I say, and be obedient. Come, I
will explain to you. Torngaks, you must understand, do not always tell
all that they know. Sometimes they leave the angekok dark, for a
purpose that is best known to themselves. But they always tell enough
for the guidance of a wise man--"

"But--but--I am not a wise man, you know," Ippegoo ventured to remark.

"True; but when I have made you an angekok then you will become a wise
man--don't you see?"

As the word angekok signifies "wise man," Ippegoo would have been a fool
indeed had he failed to see the truism. The sight raised his spirits,
and made him look hopeful.

"Well, then, stupid one, speak not, but listen. As I have before told
you, I love Nunaga and Nunaga loves me--"

"I--I thought she loved Angut," said Ippegoo.

"O idiot," exclaimed the wizard; "did I not tell you that you cannot
understand? The loves of angekoks are not as the loves of ordinary men.
Sometimes one's torngak makes the girl seem uncertain which man she
likes best--"

"Ye-yes; but in this case there _seems_ no uncertainty, for she and
Angut--"

"Silence! you worse than baby walrus!"

Ippegoo shut his mouth, and humbly drooped his eyelids.

After a few minutes, Ujarak, having swallowed his wrath, continued in a
calm tone--

"This time we have fail