The Eskimos living hundreds of miles up the coast from here heard of the wonderful arrows and knives made from the heaven-sent stones; but as they did not have dogs and sledges enough to bring all the hunters and their families down where the stones lay, half a dozen of the strongest men took the best dogs and sleds and started for the iron mountain, promising to bring back a piece of the iron large enough to make knives and arrow-heads for all. First they stopped at one of the great glaciers, and gathered a sledge-load of the trap rocks; then on they went to Meteorite Island. They were delighted with the knives and arrow-heads which their friends proudly brought forth, and when they were told how deadly the arrow-head was, and shown the pile of meat procured in the hunt, they could wait to hear no more, but hurried over to the iron woman, eager to begin their work. By working steadily, they were able to secure enough scales of the metal to tip their arrow-heads and make their knives, but it seemed impossible to pound off the large piece which they had promised to bring back with them. Long and patiently they worked, chipping and pounding day after day, while the returning sun kept getting higher in the sky, the days grew longer, and the air warmer. The great sheet of snow-covered sea-ice over which the hunters had driven their dogs and sledges was beginning to soften under the caresses of the summer sun. Pools of water began to collect like cool green shadows on the white rolling surface, while numerous black specks on the white sheet showed where sleeping seals were sunning themselves beside their front doors, which opened into the deep sea. Soon the ice would break up and move out, and then the hunters could not return to their families until the Arctic winter set in again, which would not be for three or four months. This idea did not please them, so they redoubled their efforts to break off the large lump upon which they had been working; and just as they were about to give up, the head of the iron woman came off This head must have weighed five hundred pounds, and would supply the people up the coast with all the iron they would need for arrows and knives for a long while. The precious package was carefully done up in sealskins, and placed on one of the sledges, and two of the hunters rode beside it, to take care that it did not slide off, and also to drive the dogs, ten of the finest and strongest animals in the pack. The other sledges were loaded with the meat and furs of the animals which had been killed during their stay at the island, and then the little party joyfully started for home. [Illustration: _A Short Rest_] [Illustration: _Homeward Bound_]