208 THE WORLD OF ICE.

“Forward!” shouted the captain.

The men advanced in a body at a smart run; but
the terrified Esquimaux, who had never heard the
report of fire-arms before, did not wait for them.
They turned and fied precipitately; but not before
Grim captured Oosuck, and dragged him forcibly to
the rear, where he was pinioned and placed on the
sledge with the others.

“Now, then, lads, that will do; get upon the sledge
again. Away with you, Meetuck.—Look after Awatok,
Grim; O’Riley will see that Aninga does not jump
off.”

“That he will, davlint,” said the Irishman, patting
the woman on the back.

“And I shall look after the baby,” said Fred,
chucking that series of dumplings under the chin—an
act of familiarity that seemed to afford it immense
satisfaction, for, notwithstanding the melancholy posi-
tion of its father and mother as prisoners, it smiled
on Fred benignly.

In five minutes the party were far on their way
back to the ship, and in less than five hours after
the Esquimaux had closed their barter and left for
their village, four of their number, including the baby,
were close prisoners in the Dolphin’s hold. It was not
Captain Guy’s intention, however, to use unneces-
sarily harsh means for the recovery of the missing
articles. His object was to impress the Esquimaux
with a salutary sense of the power, promptitude, and
courage of Europeans, and to check at the outset their