Page:Hugh Pendexter--Tiberius Smith.djvu/67

 poker-player in the shadow of the North Pole, they had chortled without stint. Goliath, as Emma and I trooped to his side of the skin, gave a gleeful howl and began dancing derisively before his guest. To put the final jolt into the scene. Sitting Bull slapped one of Tib's chips and was immediately bitten through the thumb. With a howl of rage and pain he sent his seven-foot stalker into the misguided cur.

"Then Goliath and his followers broke loose and jumped the other clan to avenge this gross breach of hospitality. I was quickly covered with a mob of the infuriated giants, and, say, for rough horseplay it had football on Soldiers' Field beaten into a tender nursery game! Some one grabbed me by the heels and pulled me out of the squirming, spear-thrusting mass. I discovered my rescuer was Emma. Together we located Tib's fat form and extricated him. Then, realizing that every one was busy with home affairs, we scuttled off to the west. I reckon they were too actively engaged to pursue us, and three days later we reached the coast, and in a half-starved condition ultimately made Godthaab.

"But, do you know, sir, I've often wondered as to the identity of the poor devil who left that life-saving pack of pictures up there on the edge of the Arctic Circle.