Read Ebook: A boy's-eye view of the Arctic by Rawson Kennett Longley MacMillan Donald Baxter Author Of Introduction Etc

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Ebook has 225 lines and 33100 words, and 5 pages

PAGE

INTRODUCTION ix

CHAPTER

FACING PAGE

Outward Bound, June, 1925 20

Rawson, MacMillan at the wheel, and Dr. Grosvenor. On way to Sydney 27

"Yonder beneath the North Star lies our destination, Lad." 27

Commander MacMillan, Dr. Grosvenor and Dr. Grenfell, Battle Harbor 27

Maynard Williams , photographer, National Geographic Society; Lieutenant Benjamin Rigg , U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey 61

Commander MacMillan with an Eskimo child; in flying costume; in the ice barrel 90

Brother John's Glacier and Alida Lake, Etah, North Greenland 90

Launching first plane at Etah 95

Eskimo kiddie with mother's coat on 104

Even Eskimo boys of Ig-loo-da-houny have a sweet tooth 104

In-you-gee-to makes a coil of rawhide line out of skin of which he is justly proud 105

The only Eskimo family in Etah 105

Head of 2000-pound walrus killed at Etah, North Greenland 118

Oomiak: Eskimo women's boat, made of sealskins 119

South Greenland kayak 119

At Sukkertoppen 122

Dick Salmon with large cod jigged while stormbound in Godthaab Fiord 123

A good Eskimo puppy 126

Typical winter home of South Greenland Eskimo 126

Eskimo girls of Holsteinborg, mixture of Danish, Spanish, English and Eskimo 126

View of Godthaab with statue of Hans Egede, first missionary to the Eskimos of Greenland 130

Norse Church at head of Godthaab Fiord, probably built about 1100 A. D. 130

In rough weather off Nova Scotia, homeward bound 131

A BOY'S-EYE VIEW OF THE ARCTIC

A BOY'S-EYE VIEW OF THE ARCTIC

HERE ENDETH THE LESSON

One warm June evening I was sitting up in my room supposedly studying, but actually all thoughts of study had long since gone where most good resolutions go. Who can study on a mild June evening anyway? I can study almost any other time, but on such occasions my thoughts go fluie, and I am off to Treasure Island or with Jules Verne. I was somewhere in those latitudes when a rap sounded on my door. I thought just retribution had overtaken me in the form of a master; so I opened a text book, scattered a few papers about for realistic effect and then went to the door.

"Long distance for you at the exchange," said the messenger, who after all was not a master.

I slipped into my bathrobe and reported to the master on the hall.

"Sir, long distance wants me at the exchange," I said.

"All right, here's your permission slip. Get it signed when you are through. And Rawson--don't loaf on your way back."

"No, sir," I said, and with this parting injunction I was off.

I took down the receiver, got my connection and yelled "hello."

"Hello, Ken, that you?" It was Dad, and there was a note of excitement in his voice. "Do you want to go to the Arctic with MacMillan this summer?"

I leaned against the panel. Was I still with Jules Verne?

"What, Dad? Say it again."

Dad laughed. "Do you want to go to the Arctic with MacMillan this summer?"

"With MacMillan? With MacMillan?" I gasped! What was he trying to put over? Well, at last it got across, and it didn't take me long to say yes. He then told me how it all happened, and my surprise and wonderment increased at every word. At last he had to hang up, and I went back to my room in a haze. I could hardly grasp the significance of what I had just heard. A few minutes before I was merely a student at The Hill; now I was an explorer. Well of course not quite that, but something along that line, and anyway I was going on an Arctic expedition and that's all that mattered.

I returned to my hall and reported to the master in charge.

"Where is your slip?" he said rather shortly.

"My slip? I forgot to have it signed. Oh, sir, MacMillan and I are going exploring in the Arctic regions!"

The master looked incredulous, but as I still retained the air of being partly sane, he began to show real interest.

"How did you happen to choose MacMillan?" he queried.

"Oh, sir, I didn't mean that, I meant that Commander MacMillan is going to take me with him this summer," I replied, rather embarrassed by my outbreak.

"Well, just how did you get in on a thing like this?" he asked.

"For several summers I have sailed," I said, "and I like the sea. Last summer I was engaged in the scientific work of the Bureau of Fisheries on a little schooner. We made a number of trips off shore, and I gained quite a bit of experience. I liked the work so well that I told father that I thought I should like to be an explorer instead of a banker--father's business. A friend of father's, Mr. Joseph MacDonald, being acquainted with these facts and also with Commander MacMillan, conceived the idea that I ought to go on the forthcoming expedition with the Commander. I fear he must have strained a point in telling of my qualifications for a berth on the ship, but he finally persuaded the Commander to take me. After this he broke the good news to father. Then the two of them had the difficult task of convincing Mother that I ought to go. My mother is like most mothers, only a little more so, and it was quite a job to show her that the undertaking was not too dangerous and that it would be a valuable experience. She was finally won over, and so that's how I am going."

"Well," said the master, "some people do seem to have all the luck. Go to your room quietly, and remember that we're still keeping school around here."

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