Eskimo. She was sister to the great hunter
Simek. Kannoa, a very old dried-up but lively woman with sparkling
black eyes, also formed one of the group.

"Won't we be happy!" whispered Pussimek, when Ujarak spoke in glowing
terms of the abundance that was in prospect. She followed up the
whisper by hugging the baby.

"Yes, a good time is coming," said the mother of Ippegoo, with a
pleasant nod. "We will keep the cooking-lamps blazing night and--"

"And stuff," rejoined Pussimek, with a giggle, "till we can hold no
more."

"Do you want to grow fatter?" asked the mother of Arbalik in a sharp
tone, which drew forth a smothered laugh all round, for Pussimek had
reached that condition of _embonpoint_ which rendered an increase
undesirable.

"I would not object to be fatter," replied the wife of Simek, with
perfect good-humour, for Eskimos, as a rule, do not take offence easily.

"Stuff, stuff," murmured Kannoa, nodding her old head contemplatively;
"that's what I'm fond of; stuff--stuff--stuff."

"All your stuffing will never make _you_ fat," said the stern and rather
cynical mother of Arbalik.

She paid no attention to Kannoa's reply--which, to do her justice, was
very mild--for, at the moment, Arbalik himself rose to address the
assembly. He was a fine specimen of an Eskimo--a good-looking young
savage; slim and wiry, with a nose not too flat, and only a little
turned up; a mouth that was well shaped and pleasant to look at, though
very large, and absolutely cavernous when in the act of yawning; and his
eyes looked sharp and eager, as if always on the outlook for some
passing bird, with a view to transfixion.

"The words of Ujarak are wise," he said. "I was down at the high bluffs
yesterday, and saw that what he says is true, for many seals are coming
up already, and birds too. Let us go out to the hunt."

"We would like much to see this wonderful Kablunet," remarked the jovial
big hunter Simek, with a bland look at the company, "but Ujarak knows
best. If the Kablunet needs rest, he must have it. If he needs sleep,
he must have it. If he wants food, he must have it. By all means let
him have it. We will not disturb him. What the torngak of Ujarak
advises we will do."

Several of the other leading men also spoke on this occasion--some
inclining to accept the wizard's advice; others, who were intolerably
anxious to see the Kablunet, rather inclining to the opinion that they
should remain where they