Then he quickly cut the harpoon line by which he was towing the ice
raft, and set it adrift again. As soon as he was free he paddled away
after the bladder, which was now bobbing along over the water at some
little distance from the boat.
Menie sat perfectly still and watched his father. Kesshoo reached the
bladder and began to pull on the line, but just at that moment the big
seal turned round and swam right under the kyak!
In a second the kyak turned bottom side up in the water! Menie
screamed. The people watching on the shore gave a great howl, and
Koko's father started up the beach after his own kyak.
He thought perhaps Kesshoo could not manage both the ice raft and the
seal, and he meant to go to help him.
But in one second Kesshoo was right side up again. No water could get
into the kyak because Kesshoo's skin coat was drawn tight over the hole
in the deck, and Kesshoo was in the coat!
Kesshoo often turned somersaults in the water in that way. Sometimes he
even did it for fun! He said afterward that he could have turned the
boat right side up again with just his nose, without using either his
paddle or his arms, if only his nose had been a little bigger, and
though he meant this for a joke, the twins believed that he really
could do it.
The moment he was right side up again, Kesshoo gave chase once more to
the bladder. The seal was very weak now, and Kesshoo knew that it would
soon come to the surface and float and that then he could tow it in.
He had not long to wait. The bladder bobbed about for a while and then
was still. Kesshoo drew up the line, and paddled back to the ice raft,
towing the big seal after him.
"Catch this," he said to Menie. He threw him the end of the line. "Wind
the line six times round the harpoon," he said, "and hold tight to the
end of it."
Menie did as he was told. Then Kesshoo tied together the two ends of
the harpoon line, which he had cut, and began to tow the ice raft back
to share again.
Menie kept tight hold of the other line and towed the seal!
Kesshoo paddled slowly and carefully along, until at last there was
only a little strip of water between the kyak and the solid ice.
But how in the world could Menie get across that strip of water to
safety?
The kyak was between him and the solid ice, and Menie could not
possibly get into the kyak. Neither could he swim. But Kesshoo knew a
way.
He came up closer to the solid ice. Then he gave a great sweep with his
paddle and lifted his kyak right up on to it. He sprang out, and,
seizing the harpoon line, pulled Menie's raft close up to the edge of
the firm ice.
Menie was still holding tight to the line that held the big seal.
Kesshoo threw him another line. Menie caught the end of it.
"Now tie the big seal's line fast to that," Kesshoo said. Menie was a
very small boy, but he knew how to tie knots. He did just what his
father told him to.
"Now," said his father, "pull up the harpoon." Menie did so. "Tie the
harpoon line to the little seal." Menie did that. "Now throw the
harpoon to me," commanded Kesshoo.
Menie threw it with all his might. His father caught it, and stood on
the firm ice, holding in his hands the line that the big seal was tied
to, and the harpoon, with its line fastened to the little seal.
"Now hold on to the little seal, and I will pull you right up against
the solid ice, and when I say 'Jump,' you jump," said Kesshoo.
Slowly and very, carefully he pulled, until the raft grated against the
solid ice.
"Jump!" shouted Kesshoo.
Menie jumped. The ice raft gave a lurch that nearly sent him into the
water, but Kesshoo caught him and pulled him to safety.
A great shout of joy went up from the shore, and Menie was glad enough
to shout too when he felt solid ice under his feet once more!
While he helped his father pull in the little seal, all the people came
running out on to the ice to meet them, but Kesshoo sent back every one
except Koko's father. He was afraid the ice might break again with so
many people on it. Koko's father helped pull the big seal out of the
water and over the ice to the beach.
Menie dragged his own little seal after him by the harpoon line, and
when he came near the beach, the people all cried out, "See the great
hunter with his game!" And Koolee was so glad to see Menie and so proud
of her boy that she nearly burst with joy!
"I knew the charm would work," she cried. "Not only does he spy
bears--he kills seals! And he only five years old!"
She put her arms around him and pressed her flat nose to his. That's
the Eskimo way of kissing.
Menie tried to look as if he killed seals and got carried away on an
ice pan every day in the week, but inside he felt very proud, too.
When Kesshoo and Koko's father came up with the big seal, Koolee and
the other women dragged it to the village, where it was skinned and cut
up. Every one had a piece of raw blubber to eat at once, and the very
first piece went to Menie.
While they were eating it, Koko came back. He had gone so far up the
shore hunting little auks that he hadn't seen a thing that had
happened. And he hadn't killed any little auks either.
Koko felt that things were very unequally divided in this world. He
wanted to kill a seal and get lost on a raft and be a hero too.
But Koolee gave him a large piece of blubber, and that made him feel
much more cheerful again. He just said to Monnie, "If I had been with
Menie, this never would have happened! I should not have let him get so
near the edge of the ice! But then, you know, I am six, and he is only
five, so, of course, he didn't know any better."
Everybody in the village had seal meat that night, and the Angakok had
the head, which they all thought was the best part. He said he didn't
feel very well, and his Tornak had told him nothing would cure him so
quickly as a seal's head. So Koolee gave it to him.
The skin of the little white seal Koolee saved and dressed very
carefully. She chewed it, all over, on the wrong side, and sucked out
all the blubber, and made it soft and fine as velvet; and when that was
done, she made out of it two beautiful pairs of white mittens for the
twins.