I awoke early the next morning, and went outside the tent and feebly
attempted to walk; but it was a most excruciating effort. My
hip-joints, that ached like a toothache the night before, now seemed
to be made of old rusty iron, and grated and shrieked when I tried to
move, as if they rebelled against it. I felt as if there was nothing
left for me to do but to walk the soreness off; therefore I kept
moving, though I was conscious that my step lacked its wonted firmness
and grace. After bathing in the lake that spread out in the valley in
front of the tupic, I returned to find the hunters ready for the day's
sport. I took up my rifle and started off with the hunters. Presently
the pain left my hips, or, more properly speaking, my feet got so sore
from the constant walking over sharp rocks that my mind was diverted
in that direction solely. While resting on the top of a high bluff
overlooking the lakes, I heard a faint "halloo," which seemed to come
on the wind from an immense distance. I called "Sam's" attention to it,
and he immediately dropped behind a rock, out of the wind, until it was
repeated several times, when saying, "Inuit ky-ete" (Somebody says
come), he started off down the steep mountain side in the direction
of the voice, and the boys and I followed him. We walked nearly
three-quarters of an hour before we finally saw the object of our
search, and then he appeared perched on a rock against the clear blue
sky, but still too far off to be recognized even by my hawk-eyed
guides. At last we were near enough to see that it was "Alex Taylor,"
one of the Inuits from our camp, who had left with the others for the
hunting-grounds. He had with him his wife and two children, one a babe
in the hood, and two bags packed with tupic and poles. He had a heavy
back-load of skins, and his wife another big bundle. They seemed both
surprised and pleased to see me. "Alex" told me that he had seen no
deer that day, but had previously shot nine, and that there were