k,
then, raising it to his lips, kissed it.

Stupid indeed would the man have been, and unusually savage, who could
have failed to understand that friendship and good-will lay in these
actions. But Okiok was not stupid. On the contrary, he was brightly
intelligent, and, being somewhat humorous in addition, he seized
Rooney's hand instantly after, and repeated the operation, with a broad
smile on his beaming face. Then, turning suddenly to Tumbler, he
grasped and shook that naked infant's hand, as it sat on the floor in a
pool of oil from a lamp which it had overturned.

An explosion of laughter from everybody showed that the little joke was
appreciated; but Okiok became suddenly grave, and sobered his family
instantly, as he turned to Rooney and said--

"I wish that Angut had been there. He would have saved your big oomiak
and all the men."

"Indeed. Is he then such a powerful angekok?"

"Yes; very, very powerful. There never was an angekok like him."

"I suppose not," returned Rooney, with a feeling of doubt, which,
however, he took care to hide. "What like is this great wise man--very
big, I suppose?"

"No, he is not big, but he is not small. He is middling, and very
strong, like the bear; very active and supple, like the seal or the
white fox; and very swift, like the deer--and very different from other
angekoks."

"He must be a fine man," said the sailor, becoming interested in this
angekok; "tell me wherein he differs from others."

"He is not only strong and wise, but he is good; and he cares nothing
for our customs, or for the ways of other angekoks. He says that they
are all lies and nonsense. Yes, he even says that he is not an angekok
at all; but we know better, for he is. Everybody can see that he is.
He knows everything; he can do anything. Do I not speak what is true?"

He turned to his wife and daughter as he spoke. Thus appealed to, Nuna
said it was all true, and Nunaga said it was all _very_ true, and
blushed--and, really, for an Eskimo, she looked quite pretty.

Don't laugh, good reader, at the idea of an Eskimo blushing. Depend
upon it, that that is one of those touches of nature which prove the
kinship of the world everywhere.

While they were talking a step was heard outside, and the Eskimos looked
intelligently at each other. They knew that the comer must be a friend,
because, had he been a stranger, the dogs would have given notice of his
approach. Besides, these anim