o, sir; all right, thank you!" replied the man, rising alertly and
limping to the sledge. "Only knocked the skin off my shin, sir."

West was a quiet, serious, polite man, an American by birth, who was
much liked by the crew in consequence of a union of politeness and
modesty with a disposition to work far beyond his strength. He was not
very robust, however, and in powers of physical endurance scarcely
fitted to engage in an Arctic expedition.

"An' don't ye think it's worth makin' enquiries about _me_?" cried
O'Riley, who had been tossed into a crevice in a hummock, where he lay
jammed and utterly unable to move.

Fred and the Esquimaux laughed heartily, while O'Riley extricated
himself from his awkward position. Fortunately no damage was done, and
in five minutes they were flying over the frozen sea as madly as ever in
the direction of the point at the opposite side of Red-snow Valley,
where a cloud of frost-smoke indicated open water.

"Now, look you, Mr Meetuck, av ye do that again ye'll better don't, let
me tell ye. Sure the back o' me's track entirely," said O'Riley, as he
rearranged himself with a look of comfort that belied his words. "Och,
there ye go again," he cried, as the sled suddenly fell about six
inches, from a higher level to a lower, where the floe had cracked,
causing the teeth of the whole party to come together with a snap. "A
man dursen't spake for fear o' bitin' his tongue off."

"No fee," said Meetuck, looking over his shoulder with a broader smirk.

"No fee, ye lump of pork! it's a double fee I'll have to pay the dacter
an ye go on like that."

_No fee_ was Meetuck's best attempt at the words _no fear_. He had
picked up a little English during his brief sojourn with the sailors,
and already understood much of what was said to him, but words were as
yet few, and his manner of pronouncing them peculiar.

"Holo! look! look!" cried the Esquimaux, leaping suddenly off the sledge
and checking the dogs.

"Eh! what! where?" ejaculated Fred, seizing his musket.

"I think I see something, sir," cried West, shading his eyes with his
hand, and gazing earnestly in the direction indicated by Meetuck.

"So do I, be the mortial!" said O'Riley in a hoarse whisper. "I see the
mountains and the sky, I do, as plain as the nose on me face!"

"Hush! stop your nonsense, man," said Fred. "I see a deer, I'm certain
of it."

Meetuck nodded violently to indicate that Fred was right.

"Well, what