need to be told that
she was perhaps the strongest of all her kin.

As the weather was comparatively warm, the women contented themselves
with a tent or bower of boughs for their protection. They were not long
in erecting it, being well accustomed to look after themselves. In less
than an hour after their men had left them they were busy with
seal-steaks over the cooking-lamp, and the place was rendered somewhat
home-like by several fur garments being spread on the rocks to dry.

"Yes, Gartok will get himself killed at last," said old Uleeta, drawing
her finger across the frizzling steak and licking it, for her appetite
was sharp-set and she was impatient, "He was always a stubborn boy."

"But he is strong, and a good fighter," remarked Rinka, as she spread a
seal-skin boot over her knee with the intention of patching it.

"I wish all the other men were as strong as he is, and ready to fight,"
said one of the other women, giving the steak a turn.

It must not be supposed that, although the Eskimos are known to their
Indian friends--or foes--as eaters-of-raw-flesh, they always prefer
their food in the raw condition. They are only indifferent on the
point, when the procuring of fire is difficult, or the coldness of the
weather renders it advisable to eat the flesh raw, as being more
sustaining.

"I only wish that they would not fight at all," said Rinka with a sigh,
as she arranged the top-knot of her hair. "It makes the men too few and
the women too many, and that is not good."

The fourth woman did not express an opinion at all. She was one of
those curiously, if not happily, constituted creatures, who seem to have
no particular opinion on any subject, who listen to everything with a
smile of placid content, who agree with everybody and object to nothing.
They are a sort of comfort and relief in a world of warfare--especially
to the obstinate and the positive. Her name was Cowlik.

"There is no reason why we should continue to roast our seal-meat over a
lamp now," observed old Uleeta. "There is plenty of wood here. Come,
we will gather sticks and make a fire."

The others agreeing to this, three of them rose and went into the bush,
leaving Cowlik to watch the steaks.

Meanwhile the young men who had followed the lead of Gartok--fifteen in
number--were cautiously ascending the Greygoose River, each in his
kayak, armed with a throwing-spear, lance, and bow. One of their number
was sent out in advance a