you not in great danger when your oomiak and
kayaks were crushed in the ice?"

"Yes."

"Were you not in very great danger when you were imprisoned on the
iceberg--in danger of starvation, in danger of being crushed by its
disruption?"

"Yes."

"Well, now, if you had believed in the great and good Spirit at that
time, what would you have asked Him to do for you?"

"I would have asked Him to clear the sea of ice," replied the Eskimo
promptly, "and send us kayaks and oomiaks to take us on shore."

"And if He had answered you according to your prayer, you would have
said, no doubt, `That is well.'"

"Yes," answered Simek emphatically, and with a smile.

"But suppose," continued Egede, "that God had answered you by delivering
you in _another_ way--by keeping you on the berg; by making that berg,
as it were, into a great oomiak, and causing it to voyage as no oomiak
ever voyaged--causing it to plough through pack-ice as no ship made by
man ever ploughed; to go straight to an island to which no human power
could have brought you; and to have done it all in time to save your own
dear Pussi and all the rest of us from starvation--would you not have
said that God had answered your prayer in a way that was far better?"

While the missionary was speaking, profound gravity took the place of
the puzzled expression on the countenance of Simek and of the others who
were listening, for their intelligence was quite quick enough to
perceive the drift of his argument before it was finished.

"But," said Simek earnestly, "I did _not_ pray for this, yet I got it."

"True, the Good Spirit guided you, even though you did not pray,"
returned Egede. "Is not this a proof of His love? If He is so good to
thankless and careless children, what sure ground have we for trusting
that He will be good to those who love Him! What our Great Father wants
is that we should love and trust Him."

There was one man of the group whose lips were parted, and whose eyes
seemed to glitter as he listened. This was Angut. Much and deeply had
that intelligent Eskimo thought about the Great Spirit and the mysteries
around and within himself, but never till that moment did the curtain
seem to rise so decidedly from before his spiritual vision. Egede
observed the keen gaze, though he judged it wise to take no notice of it
at the time, but he did not fail to pray mentally that the good seed
might take root.

The attention of the party was called off