the rock were already shivering with cold. The darkness prevented them from seeing the coast distinctly, and, with the waves roaring and foaming around them, and casting their spray over the rock, their situation was neither safe nor pleasant.

"Boat ahoy!" shouted Captain Webb, making a speaking trumpet of his hands.

There was no response.

"I hope they have not all perished," said he, as he vainly strained his eyes into the darkness.

"Not all!" exclaimed Charlie, who was gazing in the same direction. Some of them have lighted a fire. See, Captain Webb, the red flashes yonder!"

The captain turned his eyes in the direction in which Charlie pointed, and saw a flickering flame, apparently at some distance.

"That is above the beach," he observed. "Surely they have not had time to reach the cliff top, and to make a fire!"

"Holloa!" was now heard across the waves, but in a direction different to that in which the light was seen, and apparently at a less distance.

"Are you all right?" cried Captain Webb. "Ay, ay, sir!" responded a voice which they recognized as Morton's; "but our boat is smashed." "The Lord help us!" groaned the captain, and then he looked at Willie and Charlie for a moment, and drooped his head upon his hands.

the waves.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

AMONG THE ESQUIMAUX.

HE boat in which Morton and his companions had reached the shore filled with water as if it had been a sieve, and then was washed away by

The crew, struggling out of the water with difficulty, found themselves at the foot of the cliffs, amidst the broken masses of rock which had fallen from their lofty summits.

They looked anxiously for the other boat, but could discern only the white crests of the waves, and hear only their heavy dash against the rocks. The captain's hail did not reach their ears, and they began to fear that he and all who were with him were lost.

The wind fell as rapidly as it had risen, however, and Morton shouted across the waves until his voice was heard, and each drew a long breath, and uttered a fervent "Thank God!" as Captain Webb's question, "Are you all right?" reached the shore,

"They must be on a rock," observed Morton, as he strained his eyes into the darkness in the direction from which the captain's voice had been heard.

"I fancy I can see something moving," said Markham; "but whether it is them or the wreckage of a boat I can't say."

"We must wait for daylight," rejoined Morton, with a sigh. "But the Lord help them, if they have lost their boat!"

"Look yonder!" said Hans, eagerly, as he grasped Morton's arm, and directed his attention towards a distant part of the cliff. "There is a fire! It must be on the summit of the cliff. Let us go towards it, and see whether it has been made by some wandering party of my people, or some unfortunate countrymen of your own."

Morton immediately led the way, and the castaways proceeded along the beach in the direction of the red flashes on the summit of the cliff, keeping close to the almost perpendicular wall of granite, and searching eagerly for a gap. About a mile from the place where they had been cast ashore, a narrow opening was found, with a steep ascent between precipices to the summit of the cliff.

Scrambling up through the darkness they saw the fire at a little distance, and immediately hurried towards it, Morton and Hans shouting, the one in English, the other in Esquimaux, lest they should

alarm the party around the fire. Several dark figures became visible in the flickering light as they advanced, and a little cluster of deer-skin tents was seen, with a herd of reindeer reclining on the moss. "Stand there!" cried one of the fur-clad figures,

ROUND THE ESQUIMAUX CAMP-FIRE.

as Morton's party came near. what do you want?"

"Who are you, and

"We are friends," replied Hans. "I am Hans of Upernavik, and another of our people is on a rock yonder, with some whites who have lost their boat in a storm. We have lost ours too, and want assistance for our friends on the rock."

The Esquimaux turned the points of their spears

T

towards the ground on hearing this statement in their own language, and seeing the broad brown face and long black hair of their countryman. The man who had spoken beckoned Hans nearer, and questioned him farther, the others gathering round them, and listening eagerly to their conference. Hans then beckoned to his companions, and the whole party were soon gathered round the smoky and flickering fire of dry moss.

Morton now learned from Hans that the Esquimaux had a couple of light canoes made of whalebone and deer-hides, which they had brought with them in their northward migration for the purpose of crossing the river which intersects the peninsula formed by Peabody Bay on the north, and Melville Bay on the south. These were immediately carried down to the beach, and launched into the dark waters, which had now become comparatively calm.

"They have not deserted us!" exclaimed Captain Webb, as voices were again heard on the beach. "I hear voices, and, hark! the splash of oars! No, it is the dip of paddles in the water. They are Esquimaux who are coming to our aid."

"Thank God for His mercy!" murmured our young hero, whose teeth chattered as he spoke, and whose limbs were benumbed with cold. “I am almost frozen! This is worse than the floe."