"He sat down before the fire on one of the big stones we used for stools, and the Dean and I sat one on either side of him; and I can never tell you how strange it seemed to be sitting there with another human being besides ourselves, after all that time spent without ever seeing anybody but each other. It was like a dream. We could hardly realize that it was true, as there we sat, staring at the strange man in wonder and astonishment.
"And all this time we were speculating about him,--where he came from, where he was going to, what relation did he hold to the world from which we had come in the _Blackbird_, could he tell us where we were, would he take us from the island, would he rescue us from this dreary life.
"O, how much we would have given for a few words from him that we could understand! How rejoiced we would have been to have these questions answered! Answering them, however, he might be even then, for anything we knew to the contrary; for he scarcely left off talking a single instant, but away he rattled as lively as a magpie and just as intelligibly. We could make nothing at all out of what he said, any more than I could of the hieroglyphics I have since seen on the stones of Egypt, until he put his hand to his mouth, at the same time throwing his head back a little, and repeating, several times, '_Me drinkum, Me drinkum._'
"This very much surprised us, as we knew that he was asking for water, which having been given him, he then said, '_Me eatum_', signifying that he was hungry. We lost no time, therefore, in preparing him a hearty meal of ducks and bear's meat, which he appeared to think very fine. Then he had a great deal to tell us about something that he called '_Oomeaksuak_', the meaning of which we could not make out; but, as he pointed in a particular direction, we thought he meant the place where he lived. We could not understand from him what his name was; so, as we had to speak of him to each other constantly, we called him at once 'Eatum,' as that was the word he used most. He amused us very much with his frequent repetition of it, and with the enormous quantities of food he took into his stomach after he did repeat it; for he only had to say, '_Me eatum_' to get as much food as he wanted. It soon got to be quite a joke with us, and when he said, '_Me eatum_' we all three fell, not only to feeding, but to laughing besides.