IN WHICH A GREAT HUNT IS DESCRIBED, A WAR EXPEDITION FRUSTRATED, AND A
HERO ENNOBLED.
Now, in a fit of unwise ambition, Anders the interpreter resolved to
signalise himself, and display his valour on the occasion of this hunt.
He borrowed a kayak of one of the natives, and went as an independent
hunter. Leo, being quite able to row his boat alone, with Oblooria to
steer, did not object.
The whale which had been selected was a thorough-going Arctic monster of
the largest size, nearly a hundred feet long, which, while on his
passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific through Behring Straits, had
paused for a nap off the isles of Flatland.
The fleet of kayaks converged towards the fish like a flock of locusts.
Despite his utmost efforts, Leo could not do more than keep up in rear
of the hunters, for the sharp shuttle-like kayaks shot like arrows over
the smooth sea, while his clumsier boat required greater force to propel
it.
In a few minutes those Eskimos who were best paddlers crept ahead of the
rest. Grabantak and his son took the lead, whether because of right or
because of superior strength it was hard to say. Anders, who was a
powerful fellow, and an expert canoeman, kept close alongside of them.
Not content with this, he attempted to pass them; but they saw his
intention, put on what sporting men call a "spurt," and in a few seconds
left him several yards behind.
On nearing their victim, Grabantak and Koyatuk checked their speed and
got their spears ready. A few minutes later and a dozen of the
followers were up and prepared to act, but they all held back--all
except the excitable Anders--while the chief and his son glided
cautiously towards the fish, one on either side. Suddenly each grasped
a spear and drove it with all the force of both arms deep into the
whale's flesh. It was a rude awaking! Of course the fish dived
instantly. In doing so it flung its tail on high with a superb sweep,
sending tons of water, and the impatient Anders, into the air.
The interpreter came down in a cataract of spray, with his kayak doubled
up but himself uninjured, while the Eskimos greeted the event with a
shout of alarm. This changed into laughter when it was found that the
ambitious man was none the worse for his toss; and the women in one of
the oomiak; paddling quickly up, hauled the drenched and crestfallen man
out of the sea. They also picked up his spear with the sealskin buoy
attached. Giving him the place of honour in the bow, they put the spear
in his hand, and bade him keep up heart and do better next time.
Meanwhile the whale, having got over its first surprise, and feeling the
two large sealskin-floats a somewhat heavy as well as unusual drag, soon
came again to the surface, not far from the spot where Leo lay on his
oars, an amused as well as interested spectator of the scene.
"Ho!" shrieked Oblooria, whose eager little heart was easily excited.
She pointed to the fish, and gazed at Leo with blazing eyes.
You may be sure our hero did not lose time. The india-rubber boat
leaped over the water as if it had suddenly been endowed with life. The
smart little woman carefully arranged the spear and buoy ready to hand.
Several of the kayaks which chanced to be nearest to the whale rushed
towards it like sword-fish; but they had no chance, Leo being so near.
He did not check his speed on reaching the fish, but allowed the boat to
run tilt on its back. The smooth india-rubber glided up on the slippery
surface till more than half its length was on the creature's back. It
was thus checked without a shock--probably unfelt by the whale.
Leo seized the spear, leaped up, and, with both hands, drove it deep
into the flesh, just as the chief and his son had done. The force with
which he drove it was so great that it thrust the boat back into the
water. This was fortunate, for it enabled them narrowly to escape the
vortex that was instantly made by the diving of the now enraged monster;
a few back-strokes of the oars took them out of the sea of foam left
behind.
The masterly manner in which this was done called forth shouts of
admiration from the entire fleet, and it greatly surprised Leo himself,
for it was the first time he had attempted to use the harpoon.
"It _must_ have been chance," he muttered to himself as he again lay on
his oars awaiting the whale's reappearance, "a sort of happy accident.
I feel convinced I could not do it so well a second time."
The fish took a longer dive on this occasion, and when he retained to
the surface for another breath of air, was at a considerable distance
from all parts of the fleet. The instant he was seen, however, every
paddle flashed into the sea, and the kayaks darted away in pursuit.
They soon came up with their victim, and another spear, with its
accompanying sealskin buoy, was fixed in its side. Down it went a third
time, and reappeared in quite an opposite direction from that in which
it had been looked for.
This uncertainty in the movements of the whale was a matter of small
moment to the occupiers of the light kayaks, but it told rather heavily
on Leo in his clumsier boat. He therefore resolved to paddle gently
about, take things easy, watch the progress of the chase, and trust to
the chapter of accidents giving him another chance.
"You see, Oblooria," he said in the Eskimo tongue, which he was picking
up rapidly, "it's of no use my pulling wildly about in all directions,
blowing myself for nothing; so we'll just hang off-and-on here and watch
them."
As this remark called for no direct reply, Oblooria merely smiled--
indeed she more than smiled--but said nothing. It is just possible that
Leo's rendering of the phrase "off-and-on" into Eskimo may have sounded
ridiculous.
However this may be, the two sat there for some time, absorbed and
silent spectators of the chase.
"How long will they take to kill it?" asked Leo when he saw Grabantak
thrust somewhere about the thirty-fifth spear into the victim.
"All day," answered Oblooria.
"All day!" repeated Leo in surprise.
"If they could lance him far in," said the girl, "he would die soon, but
his flesh is thick and his life is deep down."
Leo relapsed into silence. The idea of remaining a mere spectator all
day was distasteful to his active mind and body. He had almost made up
his mind to ask one of the natives to lend him a kayak and change
places, when a puff of wind sent a few cats-paws over the hitherto
glassy sea.
He looked quickly in the direction whence it came, and observed a blue
line on the horizon. It was a coming breeze. Ere long it touched them,
blowing gently, indeed, but steadily. A glance upwards showed that it
was steadier and stronger in the upper regions, and blew towards the
south-east, in which direction the chase was being prosecuted with
unflagging activity.
"If there was only enough," muttered Leo, "to take the kite up, I'd soon
be alongside of the whale; come, I'll try. Lend a hand, Oblooria."
The Eskimo girl had, during her voyage to Flatland, become so well
acquainted with the operation of extending and setting up the kite, that
she was able to lend effective assistance. In less than ten minutes it
was expanded, and although Leo was nearly pulled into the water before
he got fair hold of the regulator, while Oblooria was thrown down by an
eccentric whisk of the tail, they managed at last to get it fairly over
their heads, and soon sent it shooting upwards into the stronger air
current above. Of course they began to rush over the sea at a pace that
would have quickly left the best kayak in the fleet far astern, but Leo
did not wish to act precipitately. He sat down in the bow to attend to
the regulator, while Oblooria held the steering-oar.
"Keep her away a bit, Oblooria; starboard--I mean to _that_ side. So,
we won't spoil their sport too soon."
He pulled the regulator as he spoke, and eased the pace, while the
Eskimo girl, with eyes glittering from expectancy and hope, turned the
boat off to the right.
Leo seemed to be meditative at first, as if uncertain how to proceed.
Soon this condition of mind passed. He let go the regulator, and,
taking up the long whale lance with which he had been provided, examined
its blade and point. The full force of the breeze filled the kite and
carried them along at not less than ten miles an hour.
Hitherto the Eskimos had been so intent on their prey that they had no
eyes for anything else. Again and again had the whale been pierced by
the stinging harpoons, and the number of inflated sealskins which he was
obliged by that time to drag down into the deep was so great that his
dives had become more frequent and much shorter. It was obvious that
the perseverance of his little foes would in the end overcome his mighty
strength. It was equally evident, however, that there was still a great
deal of fighting power left in him, and as some of the harpoons had come
out while several of the floats had broken loose, there was just a
possibility that he might yet escape if not vigorously followed up.
Suddenly one of the Eskimos was seen to drop his paddle and point with
both hands to the sky, uttering at the same time a cry of surprise and
alarm. There was no mistaking the cry. Every paddle ceased to dip, and
every eye was turned to the sky. Of course every voice gave forth a
howl!
"A mystery!" shouted Grabantak.
"An evil spirit!" cried Koyatuk.
"A new kind of bird!" roared Teyma.
At that moment a cry louder than ever arose. Leo's boat was observed
coming like a narwhal over the sea, with the foam flying from its bows!
The "new kind of bird," so they at first imagined, had let down a long
thin tail, caught the boat of the white man, and was flying away with
it!
Into the midst of them the boat rushed. They dashed aside right and
left. Leo was standing in the bow. He moved not, spoke not, looked at
no one, but stood up, bent a little forward, with a stern frown on his
brow, his lips compressed, and the long lance held level in both hands
as if in the act of charging.
"Catch hold of him!" yelled Grabantak as they flew past. As well might
they have tried to catch a comet!
"Steer a little to the left," said Leo in a low tone.
Obedient, on the instant, the girl made a sharp stroke with the oar.
"Steady--so. Now, Oblooria, hold on tight for your life!"
They were going straight at the whale. Leo did not dare to think of the
result of his intended attack. He could not guess it. He hoped all
would be well. He had no time to think of _pros_ and _cons_. They were
close to the victim. On it, now, sliding over its back, while the sharp
lance entered its body with the full momentum of the charge,--deep down
into its vitals! Blood flew out like a waterspout. The lance was torn
from Leo's grasp as he fell backwards. Oblooria leaped up, in wild
excitement, dropped her oar, and clapped her hands. At that instant the
stout traction-line snapped, and the boat remained fast, while the kite
descended in a series of helpless gyrations into the sea. Next moment
the whale went down in a convulsive struggle, and the boat, with its
daring occupants, was whelmed in a whirlpool of blood and foam.
No cry proceeded from the Eskimos during this stupendous attack. They
seemed bereft alike of voice and volition, but, on beholding the closing
catastrophe, they rushed to the rescue with a united roar.
Before they could gain the spot, Leo was seen to emerge from the deep,
dripping with pink and white foam like a very water-god. Oblooria
followed instantly, like a piebald water-nymph. The boat had not been
upset, though overwhelmed, and they had held on to it with the tenacity
of a last hope.
Looking sharply round, as he gasped and swept the water from his eyes,
Leo seized the oars, which, being attached to the boat, were still
available, and rowed with all his might away from the approaching
Eskimos as if he were afraid of being caught by them. They followed
with, if possible, increased surprise at this inexplicable conduct.
They made up to him; some even shot ahead of him. Poor Leo was not a
moment too soon in reaching his kite, for these people were about to
transfix it with their whale-harpoons, when he dashed up and ordered
them to desist.
Having rescued the miserable-looking thing from the sea and hastily
folded it, he placed it in the bow. Then breathing freely, he began to
look about him just as the whale came again to the surface in a dying
flurry. It so chanced that it came up right under Grabantak's kayak,
which it tossed up end over end. This would not have been a serious
matter if it had not, the next moment, brought its mighty tail down on
the canoe. It then sheered off a hundred yards or so, leaped half its
length out of the water, and fell over on its side with a noise like
thunder and died.
Every one turned to the place where the chief's kayak lay a complete
wreck on the water. Its owner was seen swimming beside it, and was soon
hauled into one of the women's oomiaks. Evidently he had been severely
hurt, but he would not admit the fact. With characteristic dignity he
sternly ordered the fleet to lay hold of the whale and make for the
shore.
"Tell him his arm is broken," said Leo that evening to Anders, after
examining the chief's hurts in the privacy of his own hut, "and let him
know that I am a medicine-man and will try to cure him."
Grabantak received the information with a look of anger.
"Then," said he, "Amalatok must live a little longer, for I cannot fight
him with a broken arm. Go," he added, looking full at Leo with
something like admiration, "go, you have done well to-day; my young men
want to make your nose blue."
The peremptory nature of the chief's command forbade delay. Leo was
therefore obliged to creep out of his hut, wondering intensely, and not
a little uncomfortably, as to what having his nose made blue could mean.
He was quickly enlightened by Anders, who told him that the most
successful harpooner in a whale hunt is looked on as a very great
personage indeed, and is invariably decorated with what may be styled
the Eskimo order of the Blue Ribbon.
Scarcely had he received this information, when he was seized by the
young men and hurried into the midst of an expectant circle, where he
submitted with a good grace to the ceremony. A youth advanced to him,
made a few complimentary remarks, seized him by the right ear, and, with
a little wet paint, drew a broad blue line across his face over the
bridge of his nose. He was then informed that he had received the
highest honour known to the Eskimos of the far north, and that, among
other privileges, it gave him the right of marrying two wives if he felt
disposed to do so! Accepting the honour, but declining the privilege,
Leo expressed his gratitude for the compliment just paid him in a neat
Eskimo speech, and then retired to his hut in search of much-needed
repose, not a little comforted by the thought that the chief's broken
arm would probably postpone the threatened war for an indefinite period.
That night ridiculous fancies played about his deerskin pillow, for he
dreamed of being swallowed by a mad whale, and whisked up to the sky by
a kite with a broken arm and a blue stripe across its nose!