along and take us off his
hands. About this we had several conversations; but just when we thought
the treaty was complete, and Eatum was going to carry out the plan we
had fixed upon, this singular savage disappeared very suddenly,--dogs,
sledge, and all,--without saying a single word to us about it.

"When we made the discovery that he was gone, we were filled with
astonishment and dismay. We hoped, at first, that he had gone off
hunting; but, finding that he did not return, we tried to follow the
tracks of his sledge, but the wind had drifted snow over them, and we
could not.

"We now made up our minds that Eatum was nothing more than a treacherous
savage; and we were afraid that he would come back with more savages and
murder us, in order that he might get the furs and other things that we
had; so for a while we were much alarmed, and were more heartbroken I
believe, than ever before, for our hopes of rescue had been raised very
high by hearing of Eatum's people and the ships. The suddenness with
which all our expectations were thus dashed to the ground quite overcame
us, and we passed the next five days very miserably, hardly stirring out
of the hut during all that time. But at length we saw the folly of
giving way to despair.

"One thing we quickly determined upon, and that was to leave the island,
one way or another; for now we were so afraid of the savages coming to
murder us, that we would suffer any risk and hardship rather than remain
there longer. So once more we began to devise means for our safety.

"It was no longer what we should do for food and fuel, or clothing, but
how we should escape. The ships we had given up long ago, and with the
ships had vanished every hope of rescue. But now a wild man had come to
us out of the ice-desert, and had told us that ships came in the summer
not far from where we were, and through this intelligence we had
obtained a glimpse of home and our native country, as it were; and this
too at the very time when we had become most reconciled to our
condition, and had made up our minds to live as best we could on the
Rock of Good Hope for the remainder of our days.

"But now our minds were wholly changed. 'We are worse off than ever,'
said the Dean, 'for this little hope the savage gave us, and the fear,
besides, that he has put into us,'--which was true enough.

"Stimulated now by the memory of that hope and the presence of that
fear, we prepared to undertake the bold tas