not every day they enjoy such a feed as they had last
night."

In half an hour they were ready. The whole village turned out to see
them start. Myouk, with his wife Oomia, and the baby, and his son
Meetek, accompanied them to Refuge Harbour. Oomia's baby was part of
herself. She could not move without it! It was always naked, but being
stuffed into the hood of its mother's fur-coat, it seemed always warm.

"I say, Tom, what's that up in the sky?" said Captain Harvey suddenly,
after they had been driving for a couple of hours. "It's the strangest
looking thing I ever did see."

"So it is," replied Gregory, gazing intently at the object in question,
which seemed high up in the air. "It can't be a comet, because it gives
no light."

"Perhaps not, but it has got a tail, that's a fact," said Baker, in a
voice of surprise. "Who ever heard of a dark, four-cornered star with a
tail? If I had seen it in daylight, and in Merry England, I would have
said it was a kite!"

"A kite! nonsense," cried the captain; "what in the world _can_ it be?"

Reader, you shall find that out in the next chapter.

CHAPTER TEN.

THE TALE OF A KITE--A GREAT BEAR-FIGHT.

When Mr Mansell was left in charge of the brig a heavy weight lay on
his heart, and he could by no means take part in the preparations for
the theatricals which occupied the rest of the crew. He felt that life
or death depended on the success of the captain in his search for fresh
meat. Already most of the men were ill with scurvy, and some of them
were alarmingly low. Nothing could save them but fresh meat, and when
the first mate thought of the difficulties and dangers of a journey on
the floes in such weather, and the uncertainty of the Eskimos being
discovered, his heart misgave him.

About an hour after the departure of Captain Harvey on the Monday
morning he took Davy Butts aside.

"Davy," said he, "you've been at work on these kites a long time. Are
they nearly finished?"

"Quite finished, sir," answered Butts.

"Then get them up, for there is a good breeze. I shall try them on our
small sledges. It will at least stir up and amuse the men."

Ten minutes after this the crew were summoned on deck to witness an
experiment. A small dog sledge lay on the hard snow beside the vessel,
and near to this Davy Butts and Mr Dicey were holding on to a stout
line, at the end of which an enormous kite was pulling.

This kite was square in shape, made of