This lamp
was their only stove and their only light. It didn't look much
like our stoves. It was just a piece of soapstone, shaped
something like a clamshell. It was all lowed out so it would
hold the oil. All along the shallow side of the pan there were
little tendrils of dried moss, like threads. These were the
wicks.
Over the fire pan there was a rack, and from the rack a stone pan
hung down over the lamp flame. It was tied by leather thongs to
the rack. In the pan a piece of bear's meat was simmering. The
fire was not big enough to cook it very well, but there was a
little steam rising from it, and it made a very good smell for
hungry noses.
"We're hungry enough to eat our boots," Menie said to his mother.
"You must never eat your boots; you have but one pair!" his
mother answered. She pinched Menie's cheek and laughed at him.
Then she cut two chunks of fat from a piece of bear's meat which
lay on the bench. She gave one to each of the twins. "Eat this,
and soon you can have some cooked meat," she said. "It isn't
quite done yet."
"We don't want to wait for the cooked meat," cried Monnie. "We
want to go fishing before the sun is gone. Give us more fat and
we'll eat it outside."
"You may go fishing if your father will go with you and cut holes
for you in the ice," said her mother.
Koolee cut off two more pieces of fat. The twins took a piece in
each hand. Then their mother reached down their own little
fishing rods, which were stuck in the walls of the igloo.
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