I
Little Ahmow was an Eskimo boy. He lived with his parents on the bleak northern shore of Hudson Bay.
During the long Arctic winter these Eskimos kill the walrus which live at the edge of the ice. In the short summer they hunt them on the islands near the shore.
The walrus meat is cut into strips and sewed up in bags made of the walrus skin. This is to keep the dogs from stealing and eating it.
The walrus oil is put into casks to be used in the dark winter months for heat and light.
Ahmow’s father killed many walrus every summer and stored the meat and oil on the islands. Then in the winter he rode over on the ice to get it.
One cold winter day, when Ahmow was ten years old, his father said, “To-morrow I shall go to the island for oil.”
“We need meat, too,” said his wife, “and food for the dogs.”
“May I go with you, father?” said Ahmow. “I will help you all I can.”
“No,” answered Nannook. “It is far and you are only a boy.”
Ahmow begged so hard that at last his father said he might go.
“But it will be a long cold ride, and there are often bears and wolves on the island.”
So Ahmow dressed himself in his new reindeer suit that his mother had made, and pulled his sealskin cap well over his ears.
He helped his father get ready for the long, cold journey. First they put a thick coating of ice on the sledge-runners. Then they filled two sealskin bags with food and water.
They called the dogs and harnessed them to the sledge. There were eight of them, and they could run like the wind.
Last of all Ahmow crawled into the house, bade his mother good-by, and brought out the long whip.
Nannook wrapped his little boy in a bearskin, cracked his whip over the dogs, and away they flew over the ice. Oh, how happy Ahmow was!