s side to them at all, but treated everything
with such levity that we could not tell what to make of them. Sometimes
we wished they would go away; and then again we wished they would stay;
and then we wished they would take us with them, and then again we were
afraid to trust them. Thus did our hopes and fears alternately get the
better of us.

"The savages slept very soundly for a while; but one by one they woke
up, and, as soon as their eyes were open, they fell to eating again
until they were satisfied, and then in a minute afterwards they were
fast asleep. This they kept up for about two days, and you may be sure
they made way with a great deal of our provisions before they had
finished.

"When they had thoroughly gorged themselves, and slept all they could,
they were ready to start off again; and now we found that they had come
to take us away,--a discovery which was both agreeable and disagreeable;
for we could not tell what to make of the savages at all, we could
understand so little of what they meant, or of what they said, or of
what their designs might be respecting us.

"'However,' we thought, 'after all here is a possible chance of escape
and rescue,' and, like a drowning man catching at a straw, we could not
seriously think of allowing the opportunity to slip; besides, there
proved in the end to be little chance of our having our own will in the
matter, since the savages never once asked us if we would go with them,
but began to bundle up our furs, food, and blubber, and everything else
we had, as if resolved to take us whether or no.

"At first we felt a little alarm,--without expressing it, however; but,
seeing how good-natured they were about it, and how considerate they
appeared to be for us, we had no further fear, but trusted them
entirely.

"The savages went to work with a hearty good-will to get us off. Not a
thing escaped them,--not a piece of fur of any kind; fox-skins,
bird-skins, bear-skins, pots, lamps, and everything else, were picked up
and carried off just as if we had no right to them at all; and although
there were, as I have said, five sledges, yet these were all quite
heavily laden.

"As we passed down by our sledge, the savages set up another laugh at
it. It seemed to amuse them very much, but they showed no disposition to
take it along.

"At last we were all ready. The sledges were all stowed, everything was
tightly lashed down, and off we started,--I riding on the sledge wit