stefansson-wrangel-09-34-009

was yesterday, or so it seemed, that she told Knight and
the others Yes, she would come to the island with them,
then No, she would not come, then Yes she would, then No,
then Yes — and then she had sailed before she should change
her mind again. The other Eskimos, the man and the woman
who had also said Yes, said No at the last minute and had
not sailed. But she had known that white men without an
Eskimo seamstress were lost in this country, and so she was
glad in her heart that she had come. She had been sure they
were four good boys who needed her help as much as she needed
their money.

"23rd.

I over to the traps and for ran away with three
traps and then I put two traps in place of three
and I haul two sled load of wood and chop wood
and this evening I work on bead about six inch
long. Yesterday the fox that have trap in the
foot has been around to the traps in front of
camp.

24th.

I was over to the traps today no sign of fox.
and I work on bead and I got more than half
finish."

Her first sighting of the island was still so
awesomely vivid that it might have been yesterday, too.

Darkening the northern horizon, it seemed to
rise from the sea not an island at all but a vast land mass,
a continent shrouded in mist, craggy, primeval, with cliffs
to the east and high ground to the west and a spine of mount-
ainous snow-covered humps straight ahead. She had stood at
the starboard rail, staring, arms clasped across her chest