Children of the Frost

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by Children Of The Frost (Pg) [Lit]


  light of the summer borealis.

  "It be strange," he said; "cold like water and hot like fire. To the drinker it

  giveth strength, and from the drinker it taketh away strength. It maketh old

  men young, and young men old. To the man who is weary it leadeth him

  to get up and go onward, and to the man unweary it burdeneth him into

  sleep. My brother was possessed of the heart of a rabbit, yet did he drink

  of it, and forthwith slay four of his enemies. My father was like a great

  wolf, showing his teeth to all men, yet did he drink of it and was shot

  through the back, running swiftly away. It be most strange."

  "It is 'Three Star,' and a better than what they poison their lies with down

  there," I answered, sweeping my hand, as it were, over the yawning chasm

  of blackness and down to where the beach fires glinted far below—tiny

  jets of flame which gave proportion and reality to the night.

  Palitlum sighed and shook his head. "Wherefore I am here with thee."

  And here he embraced the bottle and me in a look which told more

  eloquently than speech of his shameless thirst.

  "Nay," I said, snuggling the bottle in between my knees. "Speak now of

  Ligoun. Of the 'Three Star' we will hold speech hereafter."

  "There be plenty, and I am not wearied," he pleaded brazenly. "But the

  feel of it on my lips, and I will speak great words of Ligoun and his last

  days."

  "From the drinker it taketh away strength," I mocked, ''and to the man

  unweary it burdeneth him into sleep."

  "Thou art wise," he rejoined, without anger and pridelessly. "Like all of

  thy brothers, thou art wise. Waking or sleeping, the 'Three Star' be with

  thee, yet never have I known thee to drink overlong or overmuch. And the

  while you gather to you the gold that hides in our mountains and the fish

  that swim in our seas; and Palitlum, and the brothers of Palitlum, dig the

  gold for thee and net the fish, and are glad to be made glad when out of

  thy wisdom thou deemest it fit that the 'Three Star' should wet our lips."

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  "I was minded to hear of Ligoun," I said impatiently. "The night grows

  short, and we have a sore journey to-morrow."

  I yawned and made as though to rise, but Palitlum betrayed a quick

  anxiety, and with abruptness began:—

  "It was Ligoun's desire, in his old age, that peace should be among the

  tribes. As a young man he had been first of the fighting men and chief

  over the war-chiefs of the Islands and the Passes. All his days had been

  full of fighting. More marks he boasted of bone and lead and iron than any

  other man. Three wives he had, and for each wife two sons; and the sons,

  eldest born and last and all, died by his side in battle. Restless as the baldface,

  he ranged wide and far—north to Unalaska and the Shallow Sea;

  south to the Queen Charlottes, ay, even did he go with the Kakes, it is told,

  to far Puget Sound, and slay thy brothers in their sheltered houses.

  "But, as I say, in his old age he looked for peace among the tribes. Not that

  he was become afraid, or overfond of the corner by the fire and the wellfilled

  pot. For he slew with the shrewdness and blood-hunger of the

  fiercest, drew in his belly to famine with the youngest, and with the

  stoutest faced the bitter seas and stinging trail. But because of his many

  deeds, and in punishment, a warship carried him away, even to thy

  country, O Hair-Face and Boston Man; and the years were many ere he

  came back, and I was grown to something more than a boy and something

  less than a young man. And Ligoun, being childless in his old age, made

  much of me, and grown wise, gave me of his wisdom.

  "'It be good to fight, O Palitlum,' said he. Nay, O Hair-Face, for I was

  unknown as Palitlum in those days, being called Olo, the Ever- Hungry.

  The drink was to come after. 'It be good to fight,' spake Ligoun, 'but it be

  foolish. In the Boston Man Country, as I saw with mine eyes, they are not

  given to fighting one with another, and they be strong. Wherefore, of their

  strength, they come against us of the Islands and Passes, and we are as

  camp smoke and sea mist before them. Wherefore I say it be good to fight,

  most good, but it be likewise foolish.'

  "And because of this, though first always of the fighting men, Ligoun's

  voice was loudest, ever, for peace. And when he was very old, being

  greatest of chiefs and richest of men, he gave a potlatch. Never was there

  such a potlatch. Five hundred canoes were lined against the river bank,

  and in each canoe there came not less than ten of men and women. Eight

  tribes were there; from the first and oldest man to the last and youngest

  babe were they there. And then there were men from far-distant tribes,

  great travellers and seekers who had heard of the potlatch of Ligoun. And

  for the length of seven days they filled their bellies with his meat and

  drink. Eight thousand blankets did he give to them, as I well know, for

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  who but I kept the tally and apportioned according to degree and rank?

  And in the end Ligoun was a poor man; but his name was on all men's

  lips, and other chiefs gritted their teeth in envy that he should be so great.

  "And so, because there was weight to his words, he counselled peace; and

  he journeyed to every potlatch and feast and tribal gathering that he might

  counsel peace. And so it came that we journeyed together, Ligoun and I, to

  the great feast given by Niblack, who was chief over the river Indians of

  the Skoot, which is not far from the Stickeen. This was in the last days,

  and Ligoun was very old and very close to death. He coughed of cold

  weather and camp smoke, and often the red blood ran from out his mouth

  till we looked for him to die.

  "'Nay,' he said once at such time; 'it were better that I should die when the

  blood leaps to the knife, and there is a clash of steel and smell of powder,

  and men crying aloud what of the cold iron and quick lead.' So, it be plain,

  O Hair-Face, that his heart was yet strong for battle.

  "It is very far from the Chilcat to the Skoot, and we were many days in the

  canoes. And the while the men bent to the paddles, I sat at the feet of

  Ligoun and received the Law. Of small need for me to say the Law, O

  Hair-Face, for it be known to me that in this thou art well skilled. Yet do I

  speak of the Law of blood for blood, and rank for rank. Also did Ligoun

  go deeper into the matter, saying:—

  "'But know this, O Olo, that there be little honor in the killing of a man

  less than thee. Kill always the man who is greater, and thy honor shall be

  according to his greatness. But if, of two men, thou killest the lesser, then

  is shame shine, for which the very squaws will lift their lips at thee. As I

  say, peace be good; but remember, O Olo, if kill thou must, that thou

  killest by the Law.'

  "It is a way of the Thlinket-folk," Palitlum vouchsafed half apologetically.

  And I remembered the gun-fighters and bad men of my own Western land,

  and wa
s not perplexed at the way of the Thlinket-folk.

  "In time," Palitlum continued, "we came to Chief Niblack and the Skoots.

  It was a feast great almost as the potlatch of Ligoun. There were we of the

  Chilcat, and the Sitkas, and the Stickeens who are neighbors to the Skoots,

  and the Wrangels and the Hoonahs. There were Sundowns and Tahkos

  from Port Houghton, and their neighbors the Awks from Douglass

  Channel; the Naass River people, and the Tongas from north of Dixon,

  and the Kakes who come from the island called Kupreanoff. Then there

  were Siwashes from Vancouver, Cassiars from the Gold Mountains,

  Teslin men, and even Sticks from the Yukon Country.

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  "It was a mighty gathering. But first of all, there was to be a meeting of

  the chiefs with Niblack, and a drowning of all enmities in quass. The

  Russians it was who showed us the way of making quass, for so my father

  told me,—my father, who got it from his father before him. But to this

  quass had Niblack added many things, such as sugar, flour, dried apples,

  and hops, so that it was a man's drink, strong and good. Not so good as

  'Three Star,' O Hair-Face, yet good.

  "This quass-feast was for the chiefs, and the chiefs only, and there was a

  score of them. But Ligoun being very old and very great, it was given that

  I walk with him that he might lean upon my shoulder and that I might ease

  him down when he took his seat and raise him up when he arose. At the

  door of Niblack's house, which was of logs and very big, each chief, as

  was the custom, laid down his spear or rifle and his knife. For as thou

  knowest, O Hair-Face, strong drink quickens, and old hates flame up, and

  head and hand are swift to act. But I noted that Ligoun had brought two

  knives, the one he left outside the door, the other slipped under his

  blanket, snug to the grip. The other chiefs did likewise, and I was troubled

  for what was to come.

  "The chiefs were ranged, sitting, in a big circle about the room. I stood at

  Ligoun's elbow. In the middle was the barrel of quass and by it a slave to

  serve the drink. First, Niblack made oration, with much show of friendship

  and many fine words. Then he gave a sign, and the slave dipped a gourd

  full of quass and passed it to Ligoun, as was fit, for his was the highest

  rank.

  "Ligoun drank it, to the last drop, and I gave him my strength to get on his

  feet so that he, too, might make oration. He had kind speech for the many

  tribes, noted the greatness of Niblack to give such a feast, counselled for

  peace as was his custom, and at the end said that the quass was very good.

  "Then Niblack drank, being next of rank to Ligoun, and after him one

  chief and another in degree and order. And each spoke friendly words and

  said that the quass was good, till all had drunk. Did I say all ? Nay, not all,

  O Hair-Face. For last of them was one, a lean and cat-like man, young of

  face, with a quick and daring eye, who drank darkly, and spat forth upon

  the ground, and spoke no word.

  "To not say that the quass was good were insult; to spit forth upon the

  ground were worse than insult. And this very thing did he do. He was

  known for a chief over the Sticks of the Yukon, and further naught was

  known of him.

  "As I say, it was an insult. But mark this, O Hair-Face: it was an insuit, not

  to Niblack the feast-giver, but to the man chiefest of rank who sat among

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  those of the circle. And that man was Ligoun. There was no sound. All

  eyes were upon him to see what he might do. He made no movement. His

  withered lips trembled not into speech; nor did a nostril quiver, nor an

  eyelid droop. But I saw that he looked wan and gray, as I have seen old

  men look of bitter mornings when famine pressed, and the women wailed

  and the children whimpered, and there was no meat nor sign of meat. And

  as the old men looked, so looked Ligoun.

  "There was no sound. It were as a circle of the dead, but that each chief

  felt beneath his blanket to make sure, and that each chief glanced to his

  neighbor, right and left, with a measuring eye. I was a stripling the things I

  had seen were few; yet I knew it to be the moment one meets but once in

  all a lifetime.

  "The Stick rose up, with every eye upon him, and crossed the room till he

  stood before Ligoun.

  "'I am Opitsah, the Knife,' he said.

  "But Ligoun said naught, nor looked at him, but gazed unblinking at the

  ground.

  "'You are Ligoun,' Opitsah said. 'You have killed many men. I am still

  alive.'

  "And still Ligoun said naught, though he made the sign to me and with my

  strength arose and stood upright on his two feet. He was as an old pine,

  naked and gray, but still a-shoulder to the frost and storm. His eyes were

  unblinking, and as he had not heard Opitsah, so it seemed he did not see

  him.

  "And Opitsah was mad with anger, and danced stiff-legged before him, as

  men do when they wish to give another shame. And Opitsah sang a song

  of his own greatness and the greatness of his people, filled with bad words

  for the Chilcats and for Ligoun. And as he danced and sang, Opitsah threw

  off his blanket and with his knife drew bright circles before the face of

  Ligoun. And the song he sang was the Song of the Knife.

  "And there was no other sound, only the singing of Opitsah, and the circle

  of chiefs that were as dead, save that the flash of the knife seemed to draw

  smouldering fire from their eyes. And Ligoun, also, was very still. Yet did

  he know his death, and was unafraid. And the knife sang closer and yet

  closer to his face, but his eyes were unblinking and he swayed not to right

  or left, or this way or that.

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  "And Opitsah drove in the knife, so, twice on the forehead of Ligoun, and

  the red blood leaped after it. And then it was that Ligoun gave me the sign

  to bear up under him with my youth that he might walk. And he laughed

  with a great scorn, full in the face of Opitsah, the Knife. And he brushed

  Opitsah to the side, as one brushes to the side a low-hanging branch on the

  trail and passes on.

  "And I knew and understood, for there was but shame in the killing of

  Opitsah before the faces of a score of greater chiefs. I remembered the

  Law, and knew Ligoun had it in mind to kill by the Law. And who,

  chiefest of rank but himself, was there but Niblack? And toward Niblack,

  leaning on my arm, he walked. And to his other arm, clinging and striking,

  was Opitsah, too small to soil with his blood the hands of so great a man.

  And though the knife of Opitsah bit in again and again, Ligoun noted it

  not, nor winced. And in this fashion we three went our way across the

  room, Niblack sitting in his blanket and fearful of our coming.

  "And now old hates flamed up and forgotten grudges were remembered.

  Lamuk, a Kake, had had a brother drowned in the bad water of th
e

  Stickeen, and the Stickeens had not paid in blankets for their bad water, as

  was the custom to pay. So Lamuk drove straight with his long knife to the

  heart of Klok-Kutz the Stickeen. And Katchahook remembered a quarrel

  of the Naass River people with the Tongas of north of Dixon, and the chief

  of the Tongas he slew with a pistol which made much noise. And the

  blood-hunger gripped all the men who sat in the circle, and chief slew

  chief, or was slain, as chance might be. Also did they stab and shoot at

  Ligoun, for whoso killed him won great honor and would be unforgotten

  for the deed. And they were about him like wolves about a moose, only

  they were so many they were in their own way, and they slew one another

  to make room. And there was great confusion.

  "But Ligoun went slowly, without haste, as though many years were yet

  before him. It seemed that he was certain he would make his kill, in his

  own way, ere they could slay him. And as I say, he went slowly, and

  knives bit into him, and he was red with blood. And though none sought

  after me, who was a mere stripling, yet did the knives find me, and the hot

  bullets burn me. And still Ligoun leaned his weight on my youth, and

  Opitsah struck at him, and we three went forward. And when we stood by

  Niblack, he was afraid, and covered his head with his blanket. The Skoots

  were ever cowards.

  "And Goolzug and Kadishan, the one a fish-eater and the other a meatkiller,

  closed together for the honor of their tribes. And they raged madly

  about, and in their battling swung against the knees of Opitsah, who was

  overthrown and trampled upon. And a knife, singing through the air,

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  smote Skulpin, of the Sitkas, in the throat, and he flung his arms out

  blindly, reeling, and dragged me down in his fall.

  "And from the ground I beheld Ligoun bend over Niblack, and uncover

  the blanket from his head, and turn up his face to the light. And Ligoun

  was in no haste. Being blinded with his own blood, he swept it out of his

  eyes with the back of his hand, so he might see and be sure. And when he

  was sure that the upturned face was the face of Niblack, he drew the knife

  across his throat as one draws a knife across the throat of a trembling deer.

  And then Ligoun stood erect, singing his deathsong and swaying gently to

 

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