All the mental and physical energy which we possessed was called into requisition to aid us in reaching a resting place before night. It was our last exertion. It was indeed a merciful providence that we happened to meet our friends and the natives, otherwise, beyond a reasonable doubt, we should have perished; but meeting them, however, we received great encouragement to our minds, and, furthermore, knew for a certainty the direction and about the distance of the huts. Without such a stimulus as this, and just the one we needed,--for our lives were suspended upon it,--our last resting place on earth would have been made amid the drifting snows of the arctic. With severe labor and painful exertion, we finally reached the settlement just at night. Before we saw the huts, which were concealed from our view by banks of snow, we were heralded by the barking of the dogs. We knew, therefore, that we were near the abode of human beings. The sound fell on our ears ten thousand times more sweetly than the music of an AEolian harp. But we hardly knew how we were carried through the last part of our journey. Strength was given to us by the great Father of all. It was of the Lord's mercies that we did not yield to final despondency, and utterly despair of ever beholding the countenances of our friends again. Hope and heart were in the ascendant; if they had once fallen, all would have been over with us. Sometimes we crawled along on our hands and knees; at other times we would fall down, both upon the right hand and upon the left, and it seemed to us that we could not rise; and then, again, we would get up and struggle on. In this manner we traveled miles, and especially the last part of the way. Indeed, our feet had become dreadfully inflamed, and large blisters had formed on the sides of them, which made the labor of walking exceedingly and distressingly difficult. Captain Norton was so completely overcome and exhausted when he reached the hut, that he fell prostrate upon the floor, unable to advance one step farther, and lay almost senseless. Not only were our feet inflamed and blistered in the most shocking manner, but our clothes were stiff with frost in consequence of perspiration, by our extraordinary efforts to reach the settlement before night. We were treated with great kindness by the natives; our stiff and frosty clothes were soon exchanged for dry ones. After a season of rest, a good supper was prepared for us, consisting of walrus blubber, deer meat, and "ice cream" made of the fat of the deer mixed with snow. [Illustration: WHALES RAISED.] CHAPTER IX.