CHAPTER SEVEN.
TREATS OF CROSS-PURPOSES AND DIFFICULTIES.
Partially concealed in a cavern at the base of a stupendous, almostperpendicular, cliff, stood the wizard Ujarak and his pupil Ippegoo.The former silently watched the latter as he fitted a slender spear, orrather giant arrow, to a short handle, and prepared to discharge it at aflock of sea-birds which were flying about in front of them within whatwe would call easy gunshot.
The handle referred to acted as a short lever, by means of which thespear could be launched not only with more precision but with muchgreater force than if thrown simply by hand like a javelin.
"There, dart it now!" cried Ujarak, as a bird swept close to the cave'smouth. "Boh! you are too slow. Here is another; quick! dart!"
Ippegoo let fly hastily, and missed.
"Poo! you are of no more use than the rotten ice of spring. There; tryagain," said Ujarak, pointing to a flock of birds which came sweepingtowards them.
The crestfallen youth fitted another spear to the handle--for he carriedseveral--and launched it in desperation into the middle of the flock.It ruffled the wings of one bird, and sent it screaming up the cliffs,but brought down none.
"Boo!" exclaimed the wizard, varying the expression of his contempt."It is well that your mother has only a small family."
Ippegoo was accustomed to severe backhanders from his patron; he was notoffended, but smiled in a pathetic manner as he went out in silence topick up his weapons.
Just as he was returning, Arbalik, nephew to the jovial Simek, appearedupon the scene, and joined them. The wizard appeared to be slightlyannoyed, but had completely dissembled his feelings when the young manwalked up.
"Have the hunters found no seals?" asked Ujarak.
"Yes, plenty," answered Arbalik cheerily, for he had a good deal of hisold uncle's spirit in him, "but you know variety is agreeable. Birdsare good at a feast. They enable you to go on eating when you can holdno more seal or walrus blubber."
"That is true," returned the wizard, with a grave nod of appreciation."Show Ippegoo how to dart the spear. He is yet a baby!"
Arbalik laughed lightly as he let fly a spear with a jaunty, almostcareless, air, and transfixed a bird on the wing.
"Well done!" cried the wizard, with a burst of genuine admiration; "yourwife will never know hunger."
"Not after I get her," returned the youth, with a laugh, as he flunganother spear, and transfixed a second bird.
Ippegoo looked on with slightly envious but not malevolent feelings, forhe was a harmless lad.
"Try again," cried Arbalik, turning to him with a broad grin, as heoffered him one of his own spears.
Ippegoo took the weapon, launched it, and, to his own great surprise anddelight, sent it straight through the heart of a bird, which fell like astone.
A shout of pleasure burst from Arbalik, who was far too good a shot toentertain mean feelings of jealousy at the success of others.
"It is the luck of the spear," said Ujarak, "not the skill of thehunter."
This would have been an unkind cut to ordinary mortals, but it fell asharmless on Ippegoo as water on the back of the eider-duck. A snub fromthe wizard he took almost as a compliment, and the mere success of hisshot afforded him unbounded pleasure.
The good-natured Arbalik offered him another spear, but Ujarakinterposed.
"No; Ippegoo must come with me," he said. "I have work for him to do.One who would be an angekok must leave bird-spearing to boys." Thenturning to Arbalik--"Did you not say that the hunters have found plentyof game?"
"Yes, plenty."
"I told you so," said the wizard, using a phrase not unfamiliar tocivilised ears. "Remain here, and spear plenty of birds; or go whereyou will."
Having thus graciously given the youth free permission to do as hepleased--which Arbalik received with inward scorn, though outwardrespect--he left the cave, followed meekly by his satellite.
After walking in silence till well out of earshot of the expert younghunter, the wizard said in solemn tones--
"Ippegoo, I have work of more importance for you to do than spearingbirds--work that requires the wisdom of a young angekok."
All Ujarak's backhanders vanished before this confidential remark, andthe poor tool began to feel as if he were growing taller and broadereven as he walked.
"You know the hut of Okiok?" continued the wizard.
"Yes; under the ice-topped cliff."
"Well, Angut is there. I hate Angut!"
"So do I," said Ippegoo, with emphasis quite equal to that of hismaster.
"And Nunaga is there," continued Ujarak. "I--I love Nunaga!"
"So do I," exclaimed Ippegoo fervently, but seeing by the wizard'smajestic frown that he had been precipitate, he took refuge in the hastyexplanation--"Of course I mean that--that--I love her because _you_ loveher. I do not love her for herself. If _you_ did not love her, I wouldhate her. To me she is not of so much value as the snout of a seal."
The wizard seemed pacified, for his frown relaxed, and after a fewmoments' thought he went on savagely--
"Angut also loves Nunaga."
"The madman! the insolent! the fool!" exclaimed Ippegoo; "what can heexpect but death?"
"Nothing else, and nothing less," growled the wizard, clenching histeeth--"_if_ he gets her! But he shall never get her! I will stopthat; and that is why I ask you to listen--for you must be ready to act,and in haste."
As Ippegoo began to entertain uncomfortable suspicions that the wizardwas about to use him as an instrument of vengeance, he made no responsewhatever to the last remark.
"Now," continued his master, "you will go to the hut of Okiok. Enter ithurriedly, and say to Nunaga that her father's grandmother, Kannoa, isill--ill in her mind--and will not rest till she comes to see her. Takea small sledge that will only hold her and yourself; and if Okiok orAngut offer to go with you, say that old Kannoa wants to see the girlalone, that there is a spell upon her, that she is bewitched, and willsee no one else. They will trust you, for they know that your mind isweak and your heart good."
"If my mind is weak," said Ippegoo somewhat sadly, "how can I everbecome an angekok?"
With much affectation of confidence, the wizard replied that there weretwo kinds of men who were fit to be angekoks--men with weak minds andwarm hearts, or men with strong minds and cold hearts.
"And have you the strong mind?" asked Ippegoo.
"Yes, of course, very strong--and also the cold heart," replied Ujarak.
"But how can that be," returned the pupil, with a puzzled look, "whenyour heart is warmed by Nunaga?"
"Because--because," rejoined the wizard slowly, with some hesitation anda look of profound wisdom, "because men of strong mind do not love asother men. They are quite different--so different that you cannotunderstand them."
Ippegoo felt the reproof, and was silent.
"So, when you have got Nunaga on the sledge," resumed Ujarak, "you willdrive her towards the village; but you will turn off at the Cliff ofSeals, and drive at full speed to the spot where I speared the whitebear last moon. You know it?"
"Yes; near Walrus Bay?"
"Just so. There you will find me with two sledges. On one I will driveNunaga away to the far-south, where the Innuit who have much iron dwell.On the other you will follow. We will live there for ever. They willbe glad to receive us."
"But--but--" said Ippegoo hesitatingly, and with some anxiety, for hedid not like to differ on any point from his master--"I cannot leavemy--my mother!"
"Why not?"
"I suppose it is because I love her. You know you told me that the weakminds have warm hearts--and my mind must be very, very weak indeed, formy heart is _very_ warm--quite hot--for my mother."
The wizard perceived that incipient rebellion was in the air, so, like awise man, a true angekok, he trimmed his sails accordingly.
"Bring your mother with you," he said abruptly.
"But she won't come."
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p; "Command her to come."
"Command my _mother_!" exclaimed Ippegoo, in amazement.
Again the wizard was obliged to have recourse to his wisdom in order tosubdue this weak mind.
"Yes, of course," he replied; "tell your mother that your torngak--no,you haven't got one yet--that Ujarak's torngak--told him in a visionthat a visit to the lands of the far-south would do her good, wouldremove the pains that sometimes stiffen her joints, and the cough thathas troubled her so much. So you will incline her to obey. Go, tellher to prepare for a journey; but say nothing more, except that I willcall for her soon, and take her on my sledge. Away!"
The peremptory tone of the last word decided the poor youth's waveringmind. Without a word more he ran to the place where his dogs werefastened, harnessed them to his sledge, and was soon driving furiouslyback to the Eskimo village over the frozen sea, while the wizardreturned to the place where the hunters of his tribe were still busyhauling in the carcases of seals and other game, which they hadsucceeded in killing in considerable numbers.
Approaching one of the band of hunters, which was headed by the jovialSimek, and had halted for the purpose of refreshment, Ujarak accostedthem with--
"Have the young men become impatient women, that they cannot wait tohave their food cooked?"
"Ha! _ha_!" laughed Simek, holding up a strip of raw and bloody seal'sflesh, with which he had already besmeared the region of his mouth andnose; "Yes, we have become like women; we know what is good for us, andtake it when we need it, not caring much about the cooking. My youngmen are hungry. Must they wait till the lamps are lighted before theyeat? Come, Ujarak, join us. Even an angekok may find a bit of good fatseal worth swallowing. Did you not set them free? You deserve a bit!"
There was a spice of chaff as well as jollity in the big Eskimo's toneand manner; but he was such a gushing fellow, and withal so powerful,that the wizard deemed it wise not to take offence.
"It is not long since I fed," he replied, with a grim smile; "I haveother work on hand just now."
"I also have work--plenty of it; and I work best when stuffed full."
So saying, Simek put a full stop, as it were, to the sentence with amass of blubber, while the wizard went off, as he said, to consult historngak as to state affairs of importance.
Meanwhile Ippegoo went careering over the ice, plying his long-lashedwhip with the energy of a man who had pressing business on hand.
Arrived at the village, he sought his mother's hut. Kunelik, as hismother was named, was seated therein, not exactly darning his socks, butengaged in the Eskimo equivalent--mending his waterproof boots. Thesewere made of undressed sealskin, with soles of walrus hide; and thepleasant-faced little woman was stitching together the sides of a rentin the upper leather, using a fine sharp fish-bone as a needle and adelicate shred of sinew as a thread, when her son entered.
"Mother," he said in a somewhat excited tone, as he sat down beside hismaternal parent, "I go to the hut of Okiok."
Kunelik bestowed an inquiring glance upon her boy.
"Ippe," she said, (for Eskimos sometimes use endearing abbreviations),"has Nunaga turned you upside down?"
The lad protested fervently that his head was yet in its properposition. "But," he added, "the mother of Oki--no, the grandmother ofOkiok--is sick--very sick--and I am to go and fetch the mother of--no, Imean the daughter of--of Okiok, to see her, because--because--"
"Take time, Ippe," interrupted Kunelik; "I see that your head is down,and your boots are in the air."
Again Ippegoo protested earnestly that he was in the reverse position,and that Nunaga was no more to him than the snout of a seal; but heprotested in vain, for his pleasant little mother believed that sheunderstood the language of symptoms, and nodded her disbelief smilingly.
"But why do you say that Kannoa is very ill, Ippe?" she asked; "I havejust come from her hut where she was seemingly quite well. Moreover,she has agreed to sup this very night with the mother of Arbalik, andshe could not do that if she was ill, for that means much stuffing,because the mother of Arbalik has plenty of food and cooks it veryfast."
"Oh, but it is not Kannoa's body that is ill," said Ippegoo quickly; "itis her mind that is ill--very ill; and nothing will make it better but asight of Nunaga. It was Ujarak that told me so; and you know, mother,that whatever he says _must_ be true somehow, whether it be true ornot."
"Ujarak is a fool," said Kunelik quietly; "and you are another, my son."
We must again remind the reader here that the Eskimos are a simple aswell as straightforward folk. They say what they mean and mean whatthey say, without the smallest intention of hurting each other'sfeelings.
"And, mother," continued the son, scarce noticing her remark, "I wantyou to prepare for a journey."
Kunelik looked surprised.
"Where to, my son?"
"It matters not just now. You shall know in time. Will you get ready?"
"No, my son, I won't."
"But Ujarak says you are to get ready."
"Still, my son, I won't."
"Mother!" exclaimed Ippegoo, with that look and tone which usuallyfollows the saying of something very wicked; but the pleasant littlewoman went on with her work with an air of such calm good-naturedresolution that her son felt helpless.
"Then, mother, I know not what to do."
"What did he tell you to do?" asked Kunelik abruptly.
The youth gave as much of his conversation with the wizard as sufficedto utterly perplex his mother's mind without enlightening it much. Whenhe had finished, or rather had come to an abrupt stop, she looked at himcalmly, and said--
"My son, whatever he told you to do, go and do it. Leave the rest tome."
From infancy Ippegoo had rejoiced in his wise little mother's decisions.To be saved the trouble of thinking; to have a straight and simplecourse clearly pointed out to him, so that he should have nothing to dobut shut his eyes and walk therein--or, if need be, run--was the heightof Ippegoo's ambition--next to solid feeding. But be not hard on him,good reader. Remember that he was an ignorant savage, and that youcould not expect him to be as absolutely and entirely free from this lowtype of spirit as civilised people are!
Without another word, therefore, the youth leaped on to his sledge,cracked his whip, and set off on his delicate mission. Poor lad!disappointment was in store for him. But compensation was in storealso.
While he was galloping along under the ice-cliffs on the east side of agreat berg, not far from the end of his journey, Okiok, with his wifeand daughter on a sledge, chanced to be galloping with equal speed inthe opposite direction on the west side of the same berg. It was amighty berg--an ice-mountain of nearly half a mile in length--so that nosound of cracking lash or yelping dogs passed from the one party to theother. Thus when Ippegoo arrived at his destination he found his fairbird flown. But he found a much more interesting personage in theKablunet, who had been left under the care of Angut and Ermigit. Thisgreat sight effectually banished disappointment and every other feelingfrom his breast.
He first caught a glimpse of the wonderful man when half-way through thetunnel-lobby, and the sight rooted him to the spot, for Red Rooney hadjust finished making a full-dress suit of clothes for little Tumbler,and was in the act of fitting them on when the young Eskimo arrived.
That day Ermigit had managed to spear a huge raven. Rooney, beingsomething of a naturalist, had skinned it, and it was while littleTumbler was gazing at him in open-eyed admiration that the thoughtstruck him--Tumbler being very small and the raven very large.
"Come," said he, seizing the child--with whom he was by that time on themost intimate terms of affection--"Come, I'll dress you up."
Tumbler was naked at the moment, and willingly consented. A fewstitches with needle and thread, which the sailor always carried in hispocket, soon converted the wings of the bird into sleeves, a button atthe chest formed the skin into a rude cut-away coat, the head, with thebeak in front, formed a convenient cap, an
d the tail hung most naturallydown behind. A better full-dress coat was never more quicklymanufactured.
Ermigit went into convulsions of laughter over it, and the sailor,charmed with his work, kept up a running commentary in mingled Englishand Eskimo.
"Splendid!" he cried; "the best slop-shop in Portsmouth couldn't matchit! Cap and coat all in one! The fit perfect--and what a magnificenttail!"
At this point Ermigit caught sight of the gaping and glaring Ippegoo inthe passage. With a bound he fell upon him, caught him by the hair, anddragged him in.
Of course there followed a deal of questioning, which the hapless youthtried to answer; but the fascination of the Kablunet was too much forhim. He could do nothing but give random replies and stare; seeingwhich, Rooney suggested that the best way to revive him would be to givehim something to eat.
Red Rooney: The Last of the Crew Page 7