tores, and of all that could be of use to them. They
built an elongated oval igloe on the shore as a store to receive the
lighter and, as they esteemed them, more valuable articles. Among these
were included all the axes, hoop-iron, and other pieces of manageable
metal that could be easily carried. There were also numbers of tin
cans, iron pots, cups, glass tumblers, earthenware plates, and other
things of the kind, which were esteemed a most valuable possession by
people whose ordinary domestic furniture consisted chiefly of seal-skin
bowls and shallow stone dishes.

During the few days that followed, the whole colony of men, women, and
children were busily occupied in running between the ship and the big
store with loads proportioned to their strength, and with joviality out
of all proportion to their size, for it must be borne in mind that these
children of the ice had discovered not only a mine of inconceivable
wealth, but a mine, so to speak, of inexhaustible and ever recurring
astonishments, which elevated their eyebrows continually to the roots of
their hair, and bade fair to fix them there for ever!

Perplexities were also among the variations of entertainment to which
they were frequently treated. Sometimes these were more or less cleared
up after the assembled wit and wisdom of the community had frowned and
bitten their nails over them for several hours. Others were of a nature
which it passed the wit of man--Eskimo man at least--to unravel. A few
of these, like the watch, had some light thrown on them by Nazinred, who
had either seen something like them in use among the fur-traders, or
whose sagacity led him to make a shrewd occasional guess.

One object, however, defied the brain-power alike of Indian and Eskimo;
and no wonder, for it was a wooden leg, discovered by Anteek in what
must have been the doctor's cabin--or a cabin which had been used for
doctor's stuff and material. Like letters of the alphabet given in
confusion for the purpose of being formed into words, this leg puzzled
investigators because of their inevitable tendency to lead off on a
wrong scent by assuming that the leg part was the handle of the
instrument, and the part for the reception of the thigh a--a--something
for--for--doing, they couldn't tell what!

Sitting round the stone lamp after supper, some of them passed the
mysterious object from hand to hand, and commented on it freely. The
leg was quite new, so that there were