with the explanation.

"It is strange," she said pathetically, "that I should find you so very
like my husband."

"Indeed!" returned the seaman, who did not feel flattered by the
compliment; "is it long since he died?"

"O yes; long, long--very long," she answered, with a sigh. "Moons,
moons, moons without number have passed since that day. He was as young
as you when he was killed, but a far finer man. His face did not look
dirty like yours--all over with hair. It was smooth and fat, and round
and oily. His cheeks were plump, and they would shine when the sun was
up. He was also bigger than you--higher and wider. Huk! he was grand!"

Although Rooney felt inclined to laugh as he listened to this
description, he restrained himself when he observed the tears gathering
in the old eyes. Observing and appreciating the look of sympathy, she
tightened her clutch on the seaman's arm and said, looking wistfully up
in his face--

"Has Ridroonee ever felt something in here,"--she laid a hand on her
withered bosom--"as if it broke in two, and then went dead for evermore?
That is what I felt the day they brought my man home; he was so kind.
Like my son Okiok, and Angut."

As the seaman looked down at the pitiful old soul that had thus broken
the floodgates of a long silence, and was pouring out her confidences to
him, he felt an unusual lump in his throat. Under a sudden impulse, he
stooped and kissed the wrinkled brow, and then, turning abruptly, left
the hut.

It was well he did so, for by that time it was nearly dark, and Kannoa
had yet to arrange the place for the expected meeting.

As the time drew near, the night seemed to sympathise with the occasion,
for the sky became overcast with clouds, which obliterated the stars,
and rendered it intensely dark.

The chief performer in the approaching ceremony was in a fearful state
of mind. He would have done or given anything to escape being made a
wise man. But Ujarak was inexorable. Poor Ippegoo sought comfort from
his mother, and, to say truth, Kunelik did her best for him, but she
could not resist the decrees of Fate--i.e. of the wizard.

"Be a man, my son, and all will go well," she said, as he sat beside her
in her hut, with his chin on his breast and his thin hands clasped.

"O mother, I _am_ such a fool! He might let me off. I'll be disgraced
forever."

"Not you, Ippe; you're not half such a fool as he is. Just go boldly,
and do your best. Look