BIG AMOOK AND THE CHILKAT HUNTERS
“A goat is a good thing so far as it goes,” remarked Phil, gravely,
“but one goat divided among one man, two boys, a little chap, and three
awfully hungry dogs isn’t likely to last very long. With plenty of
goats ready to come and be killed as we wanted them we might hold out
here, after a fashion, until the arrival of a tourist steamer. Wouldn’t
that be fun, though? And wouldn’t we astonish the tourists? But how
we should hate goat by that time! Still, I don’t think there is the
slightest chance of our having that experience, for I understand that
mountain goats are among the shyest and most difficult to kill of all
wild animals.”
“That’s right,” said Serge, “and your chance for that shot was one of
the luckiest things I ever heard of. You might hunt goats for years,
and not have it happen again.”
“Which being the case,” continued Phil, “it won’t do for us to live
as though we had goats to squander. Consequently, we must make an
effort to get out of here before our provision is exhausted. As we
have no boat in which to go to Sitka, and the nearest point at which
we can obtain one is Chilkat, that is the place we have got to reach
somehow. So I propose that Serge and I take a prospecting trip into
the mountains to-morrow, and see what chance there is for our crossing
them. We will be back by dark, and, with the knowledge thus gained,
perhaps we can decide to-morrow evening what is best to be done.”
As no better plan than this was offered, Phil and Serge started early
the following morning on their tedious climb. Each carried a gun, and
they took Musky and Luvtuk with them in the hope of getting a bear, as
Serge had heard that bears were plentiful in those mountains. Nel-te
was left to take care of the hospital, in which Jalap Coombs, with his
many aches, and Amook, with his cut feet, were the patients.
That afternoon was so warm that the door of the little cabin stood
wide open. Before a fire that smouldered on the broad hearth Jalap
Coombs dozed in a big chair, while Nel-te romped with Amook on the
floor. Now the little chap was tantalizing the dog with the fur-seal’s
tooth, which, still attached to its buckskin thong, he had taken from
his neck. He would dangle it close to Amook’s nose, and when the dog
snapped at it snatch it away with a shout of laughter.
While the occupants of the cabin were thus engaged the heads of several
Indians were suddenly but cautiously lifted above the beach ridge.
After making certain that no one was in the vicinity of the house,
one of their number swiftly but noiselessly approached it. Crouching
under a side wall, he slowly raised his head. A single glance seemed to
satisfy him, for he immediately began to retrace his steps as quietly
as he had come.
This Indian was one of a party of Chilkat hunters who had come to
Glacier Bay in pursuit of hair seals, which in the early spring delight
to float lazily about on the drifting ice-cakes. They had camped at the
mouth of Muir Inlet the night before, and during the day had slowly
hunted their way almost to the foot of the great glacier. While there
they discovered a thin spiral of smoke curling from the cabin chimney.
This so aroused their curiosity that they determined to investigate
its cause. They imagined that some of the interior Indians, who were
strictly forbidden by the Chilkats to visit the coast, had disobeyed
orders, and come to this unfrequented place to surreptitiously gather
in a few seals. In that case the hunters would immediately declare war,
and the prospect of scalps caused their stolid faces to light and their
dull eyes to glitter.
When it was discovered that a white man was in the cabin, the Indians
were greatly disappointed, but concluded to withdraw without allowing
him to suspect their presence, for the Chilkats have no love for white
men. But for Nel-te and Amook they would have succeeded in this, and
our travellers would never have known of their dusky visitors, or the
chance for escape offered by their canoes.
If the fur-seal’s tooth had been able to speak just then it would have
said, “I am disgusted with the ways of white people. In their hands
I am treated with no respect. They lose me and find me again with
indifference. They even give me to children and dogs as a plaything.
How different was my position among the noble Chilkats! By their
Shamans and chiefs I was venerated; by the common people I was feared;
while all recognized my extraordinary powers. To them I am determined
to return.”
With this the fur-seal’s tooth, which was at that moment dangling from
Nel-te’s hand, gave itself such a vigorous forward swing that Amook
was able to seize the buckskin thong, which immediately slipped into
a secure place between two of his sharp teeth. As Nel-te attempted to
snatch back his plaything, the dog sprang up and darted from the open
doorway.
At that moment the Indian who had inspected the cabin was just
disappearing over the beach ridge. At sight of him Amook uttered a
yelp, and started in pursuit. The Indian heard him, and ran. He sprang
into the canoe, already occupied by his fellows, and shoved it off as
Amook, barking furiously, gained the water’s edge. Lying a few feet
away, and resting on their paddles, the Indians taunted him. Suddenly
one of their number called attention to the curious white object
dangling from the dog’s mouth. They gazed at it with ever-increasing
excitement, and finally one of them began to load his gun with the
intention of shooting the dog, and so securing the coveted trophy that
so miraculously appeared hanging from his jaws. Ere he could carry
out his cruel intention little Nel-te appeared over the ridge in hot
pursuit of his playmate. Without paying the slightest heed to the
Indians, he ran to the dog, disengaged the buckskin thong from his
teeth, slipped it over his own head, tucked the tooth carefully inside
his little parka, and started back towards the cabin. Amook followed
him, while the Indians regarded the whole transaction with blank
amazement.
Both Nel-te and Amook regained the cabin, and were engaged in another
romp on its floor before Jalap Coombs awoke from his nap. A little
later, when he was surprised by the appearance of half a dozen Indians
before the door, he thrust the child and dog behind him, and standing
in the opening, axe in hand, boldly faced the new-comers. In vain did
they talk, shout, point to Nel-te, and gesticulate. The only idea they
conveyed to the sailor-man was that they had come to carry “Cap’n Kid”
back to the wilderness.
“Which ye sha’n’t have him, ye bloody pirates! Not so long as old Jalap
can swing an axe!” he cried, at length wearied of their vociferations
and slamming the door in their faces.
In spite of this the Indians were so determined to attain their object
that they were planning for an attack on the cabin, when all at once
there came a barking of other dogs, and, looking in that direction,
they saw two more white men, armed with guns, coming rapidly towards
them.
“Hello in the house! Are you safe? What is the meaning of all this?”
cried Phil, in front of the closed door.
“Aye, aye, sir!” replied Jalap Coombs, joyfully, flinging it open.
“We’re safe enough so far; but them black swabs overhauled us awhile
ago, and gave out as how they’d got to have Cap’n Kid. I double-shotted
the guns, stationed the crew at quarters, and returned reply that
they couldn’t have him. Then they run up the black flag and allowed
they’d blow the ship out of water. With that I declined to hold further
communication, cleared for action, and prepared to repel boarders.”
In the meantime Serge was talking to the natives in Chinook jargon.
Suddenly he exclaimed:
“They are Chilkats, Phil, and they want something that they seem to
think is in Nel-te’s possession.”
“In Nel-te’s possession?” repeated Phil, in a puzzled tone. “What can
they mean? I don’t see how they can know anything about Nel-te, anyway.
They can’t mean the fur-seal’s tooth, can they?”
“That is exactly what they do mean!” replied Serge, after asking the
natives a few more questions. “They say it is hanging about his neck,
inside of his parka.”
“How long have these people been here, Mr. Coombs?” queried Phil.
“Not more’n ten minutes.”
“Have they seen Nel-te?”
“No, for he hain’t been outside the door.”
“Could they have seen him at any time during the day?”
“Not without me knowing it; for he hain’t left my side sence you boys
went away.”
“Then it is more certain than ever that there is magic connected with
the fur-seal’s tooth, and that the Chilkats are in some way involved
in it. How else could they possibly have known that it was in our
possession, just where to find us, and, above all, the exact position
of the tooth at this moment?”
“It surely does look redicerlous,” meditated Jalap Coombs; while Serge
said he was glad Phil was becoming so reasonable and willing to see
things in a true light.
“How did these fellows get here?” asked Phil.
“They say they came in canoes,” replied Serge.
“Ask them if they will take us to Sitka, provided we will give them the
fur-seal’s tooth?”
“No; the Indians could not do that.”
“Will they give us a canoe in exchange for it?”
“They say they will,” replied Serge, “if we will go with them to their
village and allow their Shaman (medicine-man) to examine the tooth, and
see whether or not it is the genuine article.”
“Won’t that be awfully out of our way?”
“Yes, I should think about seventy-five miles; but then we may find a
steamer there that will take us to Juneau, or even to Sitka itself.”
[Illustration: JUNEAU CITY, ALASKA]
“It would certainly be better than staying here,” reflected Phil. “And
I know that neither Serge nor I wants to try the mountain trail again
after what we have seen to-day. So I vote for going to Chilkat.”
“So do I,” assented Serge.
“Same here,” said Jalap Coombs; “though ef anybody had told me half
an hour ago that I’d been shipping for a cruise along with them black
pirates before supper-time, I’d sartainly doubted him. It only goes to
prove what my old friend Kite Roberson useter say, which were, ‘Them as
don’t expect nothing is oftenest surprised.’”