Tales out of school

by Frank R. Stockton

THE ICEBERGS CLOSED AROUND THE SHIP.

You may be sure the sailor was deeply grateful to the Esquimaux boy. He had nothing to give his preserver, but he wanted to take him home with him to New England, and take care of him ever after. But nothing would induce Polargno to leave his beloved Greenland. The captain, and such of the crew as had anything to give, loaded Polargno and his parents with gifts. The parents took them all, but I think they were very much surprised at this munificence, and at the praise that the white men showered upon the boy for his brave deed. They were very much pleased that he should have behaved so well when called upon to do his duty; but it did not occur to them, apparently, that he could possibly have done otherwise than he did, though they admitted that it was a bold deed to go out single-handed to fight a polar bear. The Esquimaux are a very brave people. Courage is such a common quality among them that it excites no surprise. But, of all their foes, the one they dread most is the polar bear. But then here was a man in danger of being killed by a bear, and the boy went to his assistance as a matter of course. That was the way they looked at it.

They all had plenty of time to talk this over, for the ship did not get away for a week after the hunting party returned. The ice closed around it again; and again the sailors made up their minds to winter there. The Esquimaux had told them of two ships that had remained there too late the years before, and had become enclosed in icebergs. Great masses of these icy mountains, descended upon the doomed ships. The crews worked hard to get the ships free, even dragging them out from among the icebergs on one occasion with ropes. But it was all in vain. The vessels were destroyed, and the crews lost all they had. The Esquimaux took them in their sledges to a lower settlement, where they found a whaling ship that conveyed them home. The ships were probably all gone now, and if this vessel was in like manner destroyed, these sailors would be compelled to stay all the season with the Esquimaux.

But, one day, the ice broke up with a great noise, and disappeared as suddenly as it came, and the vessel sailed out of the bay in a clear channel, the sailors having promised to return next year if they could.

And, in a short time, snow and ice, and winter, and darkness enveloped the place.

But the Esquimaux did not care. They were used to it. They did what work they could. They had abundant stores for the winter. And they sat around their lamps, and told stories of the wonderful adventures they had passed through, or heard of.

Polargno, we are agreed, is not handsome to our American eyes; and he does not know how to read and write; and never even heard of geography and arithmetic. And yet, I wonder how many well-taught American boys would so bravely and unselfishly risk their lives to save the life of another.

TURTLES AND THEIR EGGS.