herto
escaped his observation. It was a little round yellow head in his
wife's hood, with a pair of small black eyes which stared at him in
blank surprise. He made a snatch at it and drew forth--a naked baby!

"Our girlie," said the wife, with a pleased but anxious look; "don't
squeeze. She is very young and tender--like a baby seal."

The glad father tried to fold the creature to his bosom; nearly dropped
it in his excess of tender caution; thrust it hastily back into his
wife's hood, and rose to give a respectful greeting to an aged man with
a scrubby white beard, who came forward at the moment.

"Who are these, my son?" asked the old man, pointing to the Englishmen,
who, standing in a group with amused expressions, watched the meeting
above described.

"These are the Kablunets, father. I met them, as I expected, in the
far-off land. The poor creatures were wandering about in a great kayak,
which they have lost, searching for _nothing_!"

"Searching for nothing! my son, that cannot be. It is not possible to
search for nothing--at least it is not possible to find it."

"But that is what they come here for," persisted Chingatok; "they call
it the Nort Pole."

"And what is the Nort Pole, my son?"

"It is nothing, father."

The old man looked at his stately son with something of anxiety mingled
with his surprise.

"Has Chingatok become a fool, like the Kablunets, since he left home?"
he asked in a low voice.

"Chingatok is not sure," replied the giant, gravely. "He has seen so
much to puzzle him since he went away, that he sometimes feels foolish."

The old Eskimo looked steadily at his son for a few moments, and shook
his head.

"I will speak to these men--these foolish men," he said. "Do they
understand our language?"

"Some of them understand and speak a little, father, but they have with
them one named Unders, who interprets. Come here, Unders."

Anders promptly stepped to the front and interpreted, while the old
Eskimo put Captain Vane through an examination of uncommon length and
severity. At the close of it he shook his head with profound gravity,
and turned again to his son.

"You have indeed brought to us a set of fools, Chingatok. Your voyage
to the far-off lands has not been very successful. These men want
something that they do not understand; that they could not see if it was
before them; that they cannot describe when they talk about it, and that
they could not lay hold of if