ity of the most
solemn surprise, he blinked like a sleepy owl, his mouth expanded, and
his whole countenance beamed with good-will; but suddenly he changed
back, as if by magic, to the solemn-surprise condition.

This was too much for the children, who simultaneously burst into a
hilarious fit of laughter.

The fit seemed catching, for the man joined them with a loud roar of
delight, swaying to and fro with closed eyes as he did so.

The roar brought up Red Rooney, who had followed the children's steps
and happened to be close to them at the time of the explosion. He
looked at the man for a moment, and then his muttered remark, "Drunk as
a fiddler!" cleared up the mystery.

When the man opened his eyes, having finished his laugh, and beheld a
tall Kablunet gazing sternly at him, all the fire of his ancestors
blazed up in his breast, and came out at his eyes. Drawing his knife,
he sprang at our seaman with the murderous weapon uplifted.

Rooney caught his wrist, put a foot behind his leg, gave him a sort of
twirl, and laid him flat on his back. The fall caused the knife to spin
into the air, and the poor Eskimo found himself at the mercy of the
Kablunet.

Instead of taking the man's life, Rooney bade him sit up. The man did
so with a solemn look, not unmixed with perplexity.

There is a phase of that terrible vice drunkenness which is comic, and
it is not of the slightest use to ignore that fact. There were probably
few men who detested strong drink and grieved over its dire effects more
than Red Rooney. He had been led, at a time when total abstinence was
almost unknown, to hate the very name of drink and to become a total
abstainer. Yet he could not for the life of him resist a hearty laugh
when the befuddled Eskimo blinked up in his face with an imbecile smile,
and said--"Wh-whash 'e matter, y-you st-stupid ole' K-K-Kablunet?"

The difficulty and faulty nature of his pronunciation was such that
slipshod English serves admirably to indicate his state of mind,
although neither English nor Eskimo, Arabic nor Hebrew, will suffice to
describe in adequate terms the tremendous solemnity of his gaze after
the imbecile smile had passed away.

"You disreputable old seal," said Rooney, "where did you get the drink?"

Words are wanting to express the dignified look of injured innocence
with which the man replied--"I--I've had _no_ d-drink. Nosh a d-drop!"

"Yes, truly you _are_ a man and a brother," muttered R