When the waves made by the iceberg had calmed down again, Kesshoo
paddled round among the boats.
He said, "I think we'd better land about a mile above here. There's a
stream there, and perhaps we can get some salmon for our dinner."
He led the way in his kyak, and all the other boats followed. They kept
out of the path of the iceberg, which had already floated some distance
from the shore, and it was not long before they came to a little inlet.
Kesshoo paddled into it and up to the very end of it, where a beautiful
stream of clear water came dashing down over the rocks into the sea.
The hills sloped suddenly down to the shore. The sun shone brightly on
the green slopes, and the high cliffs behind shut off the cold north
winds. It was a little piece of summer set right down in the valley.
"Oh, how beautiful!" everybody cried.
The boats were soon drawn up on the beach, the women and children
tumbled out, and then began preparations for dinner.
The women got out their cooking pots, and Koolee set to work to make a
fireplace out of three stones.
They had blubber and moss with them, but how could they get a fire?
They had no matches. They had never even heard of a match.
The Angakok sat down on the beach. He had some little pieces of dry
driftwood and some dried moss.
He held one end of a piece of driftwood in a sort of handle which he
pressed against his lips. The other end was in a hollow spot in another
piece of wood.
The Angakok rolled one driftwood stick round and round in the hollow
spot of the other. He did this by means of a bow which he pulled from
one side to the other. This made the stick whirl first one way, then
back again. Soon a little smoke came curling up round the stick.
Koolee dropped some dried moss on the smoking spot. Suddenly there was
a little blaze!
She fed the little flame with more moss, and then lighted the moss on
the stones of the fireplace. She put a soapstone kettle filled with
water over the fire, and soon the kettle was boiling.
While all this was going on down on the beach, the men took their
salmon spears and went up the river, and Koko and the twins went with
them.
The wives of the Angakok went to find moss to feed the fire. They
brought back great armfuls of it, and put it beside the fireplace.
Koolee was the cook. She stayed on the beach and looked after the
babies and the dogs, and the fire. Everything was ready for dinner,
except the food!
Meanwhile the men had found a good place where there were big stones in
the river. They stood on these stones with their spears in their hands.
There were hundreds of salmon in the little stream. The salmon were
going up to the little lake from which the river flowed.
When the fish leaped in the water, the men struck at them with their
fish spears. There were so many fish, and the men were so skillful that
they soon had plenty for dinner.
They strung them all on a walrus line and went back to the beach.
Koolee popped as many as she could into her pot to cook, but the men
were so hungry they ate theirs raw, and the twins and Koko had as many
fishes' eyes to eat as they wanted, for once in their lives.
When everybody had eaten as much as he could possibly hold, the babies
were rolled up in furs in the sand and went to sleep. The Angakok lay
down on the sand in the sunshine with his hands over his stomach and
was soon asleep, too.
The men sat in a little group near by, and Menie and Koko lay on their
stomachs beside Kesshoo.
The women had gone a little farther up the beach. The air was still,
except for the rippling sound of the water, the distant chatter of the
women, the snores of the Angakok, and the buzzing of mosquitoes!
For quite a long time everybody rested. Menie and Koko didn't go to
sleep. They were having too much fun. They played with shells and
pebbles and watched the mosquitoes buzzing over the Angakok's face.
There were a great many mosquitoes, and they seemed to like the
Angakok. At last one settled on his nose, and bit and bit. Menie and
Koko wanted to slap it, but, of course, they didn't dare. They just had
to let it bite!
All of a sudden the Angakok woke up and slapped it himself. He slapped
it harder than he intended to. He looked very much surprised and quite
offended about it. He sat up and looked round for his wives, as if he
thought perhaps they had something to do with it. But they were at the
other end of the beach. The Angakok yawned and rubbed his nose, which
was a good deal swollen.
Just then Kesshoo spoke, "I think we shall look a long time before we
find a better spot than this to camp," he said. "Here are plenty of
salmon. We can catch all we need to dry for winter use, right here.
There must be deer farther up the fiord. What do you say to setting up
the tents right here?"
When Kesshoo said anything, the others were pretty sure to agree,
because Kesshoo was such a brave and skillful man that they trusted his
judgment.