ly enough,
it bears strong resemblance to adult nature. Having fed to satiety,
these chips of Simek and Okiok lifted up their eyes, and beheld the
surrounding shrubs. At once the idea arose--"Let us explore." The very
same impulse that sent Mungo Park and Livingstone to Africa; Ross,
Parry, Franklin, Kane, and all the rest of them toward the Pole, led our
little hero and heroine into that thicket, and curiosity urged them to
explore as far as possible. They did so, and, as a natural consequence,
lost themselves. But what cared they for that? With youth, and health,
and strength, they were as easy in their minds as Lieutenant Greely was
with sextant, chart, and compass. As to food, were they not already
victualled for, not a three years', but a three hours', expedition?

And their parents were not disturbed on their account. Eskimo fathers
and mothers are not, as a rule, nervous or anxious about their
offspring.

In a remarkably short space of time Pussi and Tumbler, walking hand in
hand, put more than a mile of "bush" between them and their
feeding-place.

"Oh! wha's dat?" exclaimed Pussi, stopping short, and gazing into the
thicket in front of her.

We pause to remind the reader that our little ones lisped in Eskimo, and
that, in order to delineate faithfully, our only resource is to
translate into lisping English.

"It's a man," exclaimed Tumbler.

"I tink him's a funny man," murmured the little girl, as the man
approached.

Pussi was right. But it was not his dress, so much as his gait and
expression, that were funny. For the stranger was obviously an Eskimo,
being flat and fat-visaged, black-and-straight haired, and seal-skinnily
clad.

The singular point about him was his walk. To all appearance it was a
recently acquired power, for the man frowned almost fiercely at the
ground as he advanced, and took each step with an amount of forethought
and deliberation which to the children seemed quite unaccountable. Nay,
after having taken a step, he would seem suddenly to repent, and draw
back, putting a foot behind him again, or even to one side or the
other--anywhere, in short, rather than in front. Coming up to the
children at last by this painful process, he became suddenly aware of
their presence, and opened his eyes to an extent that could only be
accounted for on the wild supposition that he had never seen a child in
all his life before.

Having stared for a minute or so with all the intens