Red Rooney: The Last of the Crew

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER FIVE.

  PLOTS AND COUNTER-PLOTS ALREADY.

  It is not necessary, neither would it be profitable, to give in fulldetail what Ujarak said to the gaping crowd. Enough to know that, likeother statesmen, he made the most of his subject, and fully impressedhis audience with the belief that this first of Kablunets who had evervisited these ice-bound regions had been mysteriously, yet irresistibly,drawn there through his, Ujarak's, influence, with the assistance of historngak or familiar spirit.

  One man there was in that assembly, however, who seemed to be not verydeeply touched by the wizard's eloquence. Yet he did not expressunbelief by his looks, but received all that was said with profoundgravity. This was Angut, the reputed angekok, to whom reference hasbeen made in a previous chapter.

  Although a thorough Eskimo in dress and in cast of feature, there was arefinement, a gravity, a kindliness, and a _something_ quiteindescribable about this man, which marked him out as an exceptionalcharacter among his fellows. As we have said elsewhere, he was notunusually large, though he was unusually strong, for his power layrather in a well-knit and splendidly proportioned than a bulky frame.Ujarak was taller and broader, yet did not possess half his muscularstrength. Ujarak knew this, and had hitherto avoided coming intocollision with him. But there was also a moral strength and enthusiasmin Angut, which placed him on a platform high above not only Ujarak, butall the other men of his time and country. In short, he was one ofthose far-seeing and thoughtful characters, who exist in all countries,in all ranks and conditions of life, civilised and savage, and who aresometimes styled "Nature's gentlemen."

  Despite his surroundings, temptations, examples, trials, and worries,Angut was at all times unvaryingly urbane, kind, sedate, equable,obliging, honest, and self-sacrificing. It mattered not that other menspoke freely--sometimes even a little boastfully--of their exploits.Angut never did so of his, although no other man could hold a candle--perhaps we should say a lamp--to him in the matter of daring. Itsignified not that Eskimos in general were in the habit of treatingfriendless widows and orphans ill, even robbing as well as neglectingthem, Angut always treated well those with whom he had to do. Other menmight neglect people in distress, but he helped and defended them; andit was a matter of absolute indifference to him what "people" thought ofhis conduct. There is a modified "Mrs Grundy" even in Eskimo land, butAngut despised her. Indeed she was the only creature or thing in hislimited world that this good man did despise. He puzzled his countrymenvery much, for they could not understand him. Other men they could putto shame, or laugh out of their ideas and plans, or frighten intosubmission--at least into conformity. Not so Angut. He was immovable,like an ancient iceberg; proof against threats, wheedling, cajoling,terrifying, sarcasm--proof against everything but kindness. He couldnot stand before that. He went down before it as bergs go down beforethe summer sun.

  Angut was shrewd also and profound of thought, insomuch that, mentally,he stood high above his kinsfolk. He seemed to see through his fellowsas if their bosoms and brains had been made of glass, and all theirthoughts visible. Ujarak knew this also, and did not like it. But noone suffered because of Angut's superior penetration, for he was tooamiable to hurt the feelings of a mosquito.

  After all that we have said, the reader will perhaps be prepared toexpect that Angut never opened his mouth save to drop words of love andwisdom. Not so. Angut was modest to excess. He doubted his ownwisdom; he suspected his own feelings; he felt a strong tendency todefer to the opinion of others, and was prone rather to listen than tospeak. He was fond of a joke too, but seldom perpetrated one, and wasseldom severe.

  While Ujarak was speaking, Angut listened with that look of unmovedgravity with which he always met a new thing or idea, and whicheffectually concealed his real feelings, though the concealment wasunintentional. But when at last the wizard came to the most distastefulpart of his discourse, namely the message from Reginald Rooney, that, onthe occasion of his visit to the camp, he would take up his abode withAngut, that hero's countenance lighted up with surprise, not unmingledwith pleasure.

  "Is Ujarak sure that the Kablunet said this?" asked Angut.

  "Quite sure," replied the wizard.

  "Huk!" exclaimed Angut, by which exclamation you may be sure that hemeant to express much satisfaction.

  "But," continued the wizard, "the Kablunet is ill. He is thin; he isweak. He wants rest. I have consulted with my torngak, who tells me hewill get better soon if we do not trouble him."

  At this point Ujarak glanced at Angut, but that worthy's countenance hadresumed its look of impenetrable gravity.

  "We must not worry him or go near him for some days," continued thewizard. "We must let him alone. And this will not try our patience,for my torngak tells me that seals have come. Yesterday I went to thehouse of the great Fury under the sea, and wrestled with her; and mytorngak and I overcame her, and set many of the seals and other animalsfree."

  "Huk!" exclaimed the assembly, in gratified surprise.

  Lest the reader should feel some surprise also, we may as well explainwhat the Greenlanders believed in former times. They held, (perhapsthey still hold), that there were two great spirits--the one was good,named Torngarsuk; the other was bad, and a female--a Fury--without aname. This malevolent woman was supposed to live in a great house underthe ocean, in which by the power of her spells she enthralled andimprisoned many of the sea monsters and birds, thus causing scarcity offood among the Eskimos. The angekoks claimed to have the power ofremedying this state of things by paying a visit to the abode of theFury.

  When an angekok has sufficient courage to undertake this journey, historngak, after giving him minute instructions how to act, conducts himunder the earth or sea, passing on the way through the kingdom of thosegood souls who spend their lives in felicity and ease. Soon they cometo a frightful vacuity--a sort of vasty deep--over which is suspended anarrow wheel, which whirls round with great rapidity. This awful abyssis bridged by a rope, and guarded by seal sentinels. Taking the angekokby the hand, his torngak leads him on the rope over the chasm and pastthe sentinels into the palace of the Fury.

  No sooner does the wicked creature spy the unwelcome visitors than,trembling and foaming with rage, she immediately sets on fire the wingof a sea-fowl, with the stench of which she hopes to suffocate angekokand torngak together, and make both of them captives. The heroes,however, are prepared for this. They seize the Fury before she hassucceeded in setting fire to the wing, pull her down, and strip her ofthose amulets by the occult powers of which she has enslaved theinhabitants of ocean. Thus the spell is broken, for the time at least,and the creatures, being set free, ascend to their proper abodes at thesurface of the sea!

  After this explanation the reader will easily understand the flutter ofexcitement that passed through the assembly, for, although feasting atthat moment on a walrus, they had suffered much during the latter partof that winter from the scarcity of animals of all kinds.

  But Angut did not flutter. That peculiar man was an incorrigiblesceptic. He merely smiled, and, chucking a rotund little boy beside himunder the chin, said, "What think ye of that, my little ball of fat?" orsome Eskimo equivalent for that question. Our intelligent wizard hadnot, however, ventured on these statements without some ground to go on.The fact is, that, being a close observer and good judge of theweather, he had perceived a change of some sort coming on. While on hisway to the hut of Okiok he had also observed that a few seals wereplaying about on the margin of some ice-floes, and from other symptoms,recognisable only by angekoks, he had come to the conclusion that itwould be safe as well as wise at that time to prophesy a period ofplenty.

  "Now I would advise," he said, in concluding his discourse, "that weshould send off a hunting party to the south, for I can tell you thatseals will be found there--if the young men do not put off time on theway."

  This last proviso was a judicious back-door of escape. Slight delays,he knew, were almost inevitable, so t
hat, if the hunt should prove afailure, he would have little difficulty in accounting for it, andsaving his credit. The most of his credulous and simple-minded hearersdid not reflect on the significance of the back-door remark, but Angutdid, and grinned a peculiar grin at the little fat boy, whom he chuckeda second time under the chin. Ujarak noted the grin, and did not likeit.

  Among the people there who gave strongest expression to their joy at theprospect of the good living in store for them, were several young andmiddle-aged females who sat in a corner grouped together, and conveyedtheir approval of what was said to each other by sundry smirks andsmiles and nods of the head, which went far to prove that theyconstituted a little coterie or clique.

  One of these was the wife of Simek, the best hunter of the tribe. Hername was Pussimek. She was round and short, comely and young, and givento giggling. She had a baby--a female baby--named after her, but morebriefly, Pussi, which resembled her in all respects except size. Besideher sat the mother of Ippegoo. We know not her maiden name, but as herdead husband had been called by the same name as the son, we will styleher Mrs Ippegoo. There was also the mother of Arbalik, a youth who wascelebrated as a wonderful killer of birds on the wing--a sort of EskimoRobin Hood--with the small spear or dart. The mother of Arbalik waselderly, and stern--for an Eskimo. She was sister to the great hunterSimek. Kannoa, a very old dried-up but lively woman with sparklingblack eyes, also formed one of the group.

  "Won't we be happy!" whispered Pussimek, when Ujarak spoke in glowingterms of the abundance that was in prospect. She followed up thewhisper by hugging the baby.

  "Yes, a good time is coming," said the mother of Ippegoo, with apleasant nod. "We will keep the cooking-lamps blazing night and--"

  "And stuff," rejoined Pussimek, with a giggle, "till we can hold nomore."

  "Do you want to grow fatter?" asked the mother of Arbalik in a sharptone, which drew forth a smothered laugh all round, for Pussimek hadreached that condition of _embonpoint_ which rendered an increaseundesirable.

  "I would not object to be fatter," replied the wife of Simek, withperfect good-humour, for Eskimos, as a rule, do not take offence easily.

  "Stuff, stuff," murmured Kannoa, nodding her old head contemplatively;"that's what I'm fond of; stuff--stuff--stuff."

  "All your stuffing will never make _you_ fat," said the stern and rathercynical mother of Arbalik.

  She paid no attention to Kannoa's reply--which, to do her justice, wasvery mild--for, at the moment, Arbalik himself rose to address theassembly. He was a fine specimen of an Eskimo--a good-looking youngsavage; slim and wiry, with a nose not too flat, and only a littleturned up; a mouth that was well shaped and pleasant to look at, thoughvery large, and absolutely cavernous when in the act of yawning; and hiseyes looked sharp and eager, as if always on the outlook for somepassing bird, with a view to transfixion.

  "The words of Ujarak are wise," he said. "I was down at the high bluffsyesterday, and saw that what he says is true, for many seals are comingup already, and birds too. Let us go out to the hunt."

  "We would like much to see this wonderful Kablunet," remarked the jovialbig hunter Simek, with a bland look at the company, "but Ujarak knowsbest. If the Kablunet needs rest, he must have it. If he needs sleep,he must have it. If he wants food, he must have it. By all means lethim have it. We will not disturb him. What the torngak of Ujarakadvises we will do."

  Several of the other leading men also spoke on this occasion--someinclining to accept the wizard's advice; others, who were intolerablyanxious to see the Kablunet, rather inclining to the opinion that theyshould remain where they were till he recovered strength enough to beable to pay his contemplated visit.

  Ippegoo spoke last. Indeed, it was not usual for him to raise his voicein council, but as he had been the first to carry the important news,and was known to be an ardent admirer and pupil of Ujarak, he felt thathe was bound to back his patron; and his arguments, though not cogent,prevailed.

  "Let us not doubt the wisdom of the angekok," he said. "His torngakspeaks. It is our business to obey. We have starved much for somemoons; let us now feast, and grow fat and strong."

  "Huk!" exclaimed the auditors, who had been touched on their weakestpoint.

  "But Angut has not yet uttered his mind," said the jovial Simek, turningwith a bland expression to the man in question; "he is an angekok,though he will not admit it. Has not his familiar spirit said anythingto him?"

  Angut looked gravely at the speaker for a moment or two, and shook hishead. Dead silence prevailed. Then in a voice that was unusually softand deep he said: "I am no angekok. No torngak ever speaks to me. Thewinds that whistle round the icebergs and rush among the hummocks on thefrozen sea speak to me sometimes; the crashing ice-cliffs that thunderdown the glens speak to me; the noisy rivulets, the rising sun and moonand winking stars all speak to me, though it is difficult to understandwhat they say; but no familiar spirit ever speaks to me."

  The man said this quietly, and in a tone of regret, but without theslightest intention of expressing poetical ideas, or laying claim tooriginality of thought. Yet his distinct denial of being an angekok orwise man, and his sentiments regarding the voices of Nature, onlyconfirmed his countrymen in their belief that he was the greatestangekok they had ever seen or heard of.

  "But surely," urged Simek, "if so many spirits speak to you, they musttell you _something_?"

  "They tell me much," replied Angut in a contemplative tone, "but nothingabout hunting."

  "Have you no opinion, then, on that subject?"

  "Yes, I have an opinion, and it is strong. Let all the hunters go southafter seals without delay; but I will not go. I shall go among theicebergs--alone."

  "He will go to hold converse with his numerous torngaks," whispered oldKannoa to Pussimek.

  "He will go to visit Okiok, and see the Kablunet, and court Nunaga,"thought the jealous and suspicious Ujarak.

  And Ujarak was right; yet he dared not follow, for he feared the grave,thoughtful man, in spite of his determination to regard and treat himwith lofty disdain.

  Utterly ignorant of the wizard's feelings towards him--for he was slowto observe or believe in ill-will towards himself when he felt none toany one else--Angut set off alone next morning in the direction that ledto the great glacier, while his countrymen harnessed their dogs, loadedtheir sledges with lines and weapons, and went away southward on ahunting expedition. Wishing the latter all success, we will follow thefortunes of Angut, the eccentric angekok.

  Had you and I, reader, been obliged to follow him in the body, we shouldsoon have been left far behind; fortunately, spirit is more powerful andfleet than matter!

  Without rest or halt, the stalwart Eskimo journeyed over the ice untilhe reached the residence of Okiok.

  The dogs knew his step well, and gave no noisy sign of his approach,though they rose to welcome him with wagging tails, and rubbed theirnoses against his fur coat as he patted their heads.

  Creeping into the hut, he presented himself unexpectedly. Okiok badehim silent welcome, with a broad grin of satisfaction. Nunaga did thesame, with a pleased smile and a decided blush. The other inmates ofthe hut showed similar friendship, and Tumbler, trying to look up, fellover into an oil-puddle, with a loud crow of joy. They all then gazedsuddenly and simultaneously, with mysterious meaning, at Red Rooney, wholay coiled up, and apparently sound asleep, in the innermost corner.

  Angut also gazed with intense interest, though nothing of the sleepingman was visible save the point of his nose and a mass of curling brownhair protruding from his deerskin coverings.

  Seating himself quietly between Nunaga and Nuna, and taking the oilyTumbler on his knee, the visitor entered into a low-toned conversationrespecting this great event of their lives--the arrival of a real liveKablunet! They also talked of Kablunets in general, and their reportedways and manners. It is to be noted here that they did not talk inwhispers. Okiok and Nuna had indeed begun the conversation thus, butha
d been immediately checked by Angut, whose intelligence had long agotaught him that no sound is so apt to awaken a sleeper as the hiss of awhisper; and that a steady, low-toned hum of conversation is more fittedto deepen than interrupt slumber.

  "Is he _very_ thin?" asked Angut, who had been somewhat impressed byUjarak's description of the stranger, and his evident desire that no oneshould go near him.

  "He is not fat," answered Okiok, "but he has not been starving long;sleeping and stuffing will soon make him strong. Don't you think so,Norrak? You saw him at his worst, when we found him on the ice."

  Thus appealed to, Okiok's eldest son laid down the piece of blubber withwhich he had been engaged, nodded his head several times, and said,"Yes, he will be able to run, and jump soon."

  "And he speaks our language _well_," said Okiok, with a look of greatinterest.

  "I know it," returned his friend; "Ujarak told us about that. It isbecause of that, that I have come at once to see him." Nunaga wincedhere, for she had timidly hoped that Angut had come to see _her_! "Iwould not," continued the visitor, "that Ujarak should be the first tospeak to him, for he will poison his ears."

  "Yes, Ujarak is a dreadful liar," said Okiok solemnly, but without theslightest touch of ill feeling.

  "An awful liar," remarked Nuna softly.

  Nunaga smiled, as though acquiescing in the sentiment, but said nothing.

  Just as they gave utterance to this decided opinion as to the characterof the wizard, Red Rooney turned round, stretched himself, yawned, andsat up.