as fierce and wild as you can, and make awful
faces. There's nothing like frightening people! Howl as much as
possible, and gasp sometimes. I have seen a good deal done in that way.
I only wish they would try to make an angekok of _me_. I would
astonish them."

The plucky little woman had to stop here for a moment to chuckle at her
own conceit, but her poor son did not respond. He had got far beyond
the point where a perception of the ludicrous is possible.

"But it is time to go now, my son. Don't forget your drum and the
face-making. You know what you've got to do?"

"Yes, yes, I know," said Ippegoo, looking anxiously over his shoulder,
as if he half expected to see a torngak already approaching him; "I know
only too well what I've got to do. Ujarak has been stuffing it into me
the whole day till my brain feels ready to burst."

The bitter tone in which the poor youth pronounced his master's name
suggested to his mother that it would not require much more to make the
worm turn upon its tormentor. But the time had arrived to send him off,
so she was obliged to bring her questions and advices to an abrupt
close.

As Ippegoo walked towards the dreaded hut, he was conscious of many
glaring eyes and whispered words around him. This happily had the
effect of stirring up his pride, and made him resolve to strive to do
his part creditably.

At the door of the hut two dark figures glided swiftly in before him.
One he could perceive was Angut; the other he thought looked very like
the Kablunet "Ridroonee." The thought gave him some comfort--not much,
indeed, but anything that distracted his mind for an instant from the
business in hand afforded him comfort.

He now braced himself desperately to the work. Seizing the drum which
he had been told not to forget, he struck it several times, and began to
twist his body about violently. There was just light enough to show to
onlookers that the poor youth was whirling himself round in contortions
of the most surprising kind. This he did for the purpose of working
himself up to the proper pitch of enthusiasm.

There seems little doubt that the mere exertion of great muscular
effort, coupled with a resolute wish and intention to succeed in some
object, has a powerful tendency to brace the energies of the human mind.
Ippegoo had not contorted himself and beaten his drum for many minutes
when his feeling of warmth and physical power began to increase. The
feeling s