They did not get back for four or five days, but suffered scarcely at
all while away. They built an igloo on the largest cake they could
reach, and of course had plenty to eat. They made a lamp of walrus
hide, and burned the blubber to heat their house. When the ice touched
the shore below Chesterfield Inlet they jumped on the sled and drove
home. There is always more or less risk attending these adventures
under all circumstances.
The time of which I was speaking that Toogoolar was carried away, he
was gone a long time, until, indeed, his tribe had given up all hope
of his returning. But one morning during a severe snow-storm he arrived
in camp, and no one had noticed his approach until, crawling through
the door of an igloo, he stood amid his friends and exclaimed,
"Ox'-e-o-ma-did'-dle-e" (Good-morning. Here we are again). He had been
carried from Repulse Bay to the vicinity of Whale Point, when an
easterly wind drove the pack on shore and he escaped, but had to make
his way on foot from there back home again. He had his walrus line and
spear with him, and had killed a walrus while in the pack; but the
piece that held his food was broken off and floated away from him, so
that he was for many days without anything to eat. Inuits are somewhat
accustomed to such experiences, and can be deprived of food for a long
time without starving.
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