"If any of our people were along," said John, as they headed the dory
back toward the mouth of the creek, "I would say we could have a pretty
good time here."
"I don't doubt," answered Rob, "that we can get along all summer without
trouble. I believe, too, that the natives come here so often we may be
able to send out word even if we can't get out ourselves. We can't
possibly be a hundred miles from Kadiak town, and although we might get
there in our dory, the chances are so much against it that I think we
would do better to stay right where we are for a time at least. As we
were saying not long ago, this country furnishes a living without much
trouble."
"And without much work," added John, "as long as we have Jimmy."
"He's stronger than we are," admitted Rob; "still, each of us must do
his share of the work around camp, because that's the only right way to
do. He's a good teacher, for we're in his country and will have to live
in his way--What's on his mind now, do you suppose?" Rob continued, as
Jimmy suddenly stopped rowing and began to look keenly off toward shore.
"I see him!" exclaimed Jesse, eagerly. "It's a seal! Look at him!"
About sixty yards away there was a round object with two shining spots
on it standing just above the water--the head of a seal which was
closely examining the strange object which approached it. All at once,
as they looked at it, the seal suddenly sank out of sight. Without
instruction the Aleut now bent to his oars as hard as he could, and
hurried to the beach which lay not far beyond. Hurriedly pulling the
dory up, he motioned to Rob to get out with his rifle.
"There he is again!" called John, pointing. "He's closer in now. Look,
he isn't a hundred yards away! You try him, Rob; you're the best shot."
Crouching down, Rob hurried toward a big rock which lay at the water's
edge. Here he rested his rifle and, taking quick aim, fired. The splash
of the ball on top of the intervening wave showed that he had missed.
Once more the seal sank, but in the course of a few minutes it appeared
yet again, this time still closer in. Carefully Rob fired a second time,
and this time they all heard distinctly the thud of the bullet, which
proved that the shot had struck true. With a splash the seal
disappeared, but giving a shout the Aleut pushed off the dory and called
to them all to get in. In a few moments he brought them alongside the
still struggling body of the seal, which appeared now above and now
beneath the surface of the water. Hurriedly catching up his long spear,
the native made a thrust at the seal and fastened it with the barb, and
with many grunting chuckles drew it alongside. Soon, with a heave, he
got it inboard--a small hair seal not much more than three feet in
length.
"_Karosha!_" exclaimed the Aleut, with a grin.
"He means that it's good--that it's all right," explained John, who
seemed to be the official interpreter.
"Well, I don't believe that I care to eat seal meat," said Rob; "but
maybe Jimmy knows what he can do with the hide, or something else. We'll
skin Mr. Seal and peg his hide out up at the camp. It's time now we got
the bear hides stretched so that they can begin to dry."
Much elated with their successful day's work, the boys now assisted the
native in stretching all the green hides, flesh side upward. The native
showed them how to flesh and scrape the hides, and they spent an hour or
so at this until each complained that his back was aching.
"Suppose we cross the creek and take a little climb up the
mountain-side," suggested Rob. "We can get a good look out from there."
"All right," said John. "Of course we'll have to take our _tillicum_
along. Mush on, Jimmy!"
The Aleut, although apparently a native of the country where the
language of the dog-train was little known, nevertheless seemed to
understand the Alaskan command to "March!" He stood ready, only looking
to see which way they wished him to go. Rob set off in advance, and they
all splashed through the waters of the shallows at the lower end of the
lagoon.
"Here's where Jimmy has a good deal the best of us," said Rob, pointing
to their wet feet. "Our shoes will be gone in a little while; but look
at his seal boots with high tops. They keep his feet dry."
"They call them _tabosas_," said John. "The Eskimos use boots like that,
but they call them _mukluks_. You see, I used to know a native from
up-coast who was a waiter in a restaurant at Valdez. That's how I
picked up my knowledge of the Aleut language--which, you see, is quite
considerable," he concluded, swelling out his chest a trifle.
"I see now why he wanted that seal," commented Rob. "Every country has
its own way of getting along, hasn't it? Now, I suppose Jimmy here is
about as comfortable when he is at home as we are in our houses down in
Valdez; and he certainly does know how to make his living off the
country."
They now continued their slow climb up the steep mountain-side, which
lay beyond the little creek. Here the deep moss or tundra extended quite
to the top of the smallest peak, but although heavy snow-fields lay at
the top, the spring sunshine had now melted the snow at the lower
levels, so that continually they were walking in little pools of
ice-water, none too pleasant to persons shod as they were.
Jesse, the youngest of the party, now and then stopped for a moment to
catch his breath; and, in fact, he seemed none too happy with some of
these hardships of their experience.
"Come on," said Rob; "we'll stop when we get to the thicket just up
above there. Jimmy acts as though he was looking for something up
there--I don't know what."
They toiled on upward, now and again turning to look at the great
expanse of country which lay below them--the wide bay shining in the
sunlight, the magnificent panorama of the mountains beyond, and the line
of the deep sea beyond the entrance to the bay. They turned as they
heard a sudden exclamation from Jimmy, who was prowling at the edge of
the alder thicket where they had stopped for the moment. As he pointed
down they saw the surface of the ground among the alders ripped up as
though by a giant plough.
Jimmy held up three fingers and pointed below toward their camp, the
smoke of whose fire they could dimly see. At first they could not
understand him, until he made motions as if digging, and swung his head
from side to side, grunting in such plain imitation of a bear that they
could not mistake. Then they saw that this had probably been the
feeding-ground of the three bears which they had killed. Apparently the
bears had been living high up in the mountains for a long time, waiting
for the salmon run to begin. The country was all torn up where they had
dug for roots and bulbs.
"Well, now, what's Jimmy going to do this time?" asked Jesse,
interested.
The Aleut, talking to himself in some unknown words, was down on his
hands and knees, himself digging in the holes among the alders.
"_Karosha!_" said he, at length, holding up several long, white bulbs
about as thick as his finger; and he made a motion as though to eat
them.
"Ah, ha!" said Rob. "This is an Aleut potato-patch, it seems. All right,
we'll just gather some of these and use them for vegetables. They'll
help out the meat and fish, perhaps."
As Jimmy dug the bulbs they put them into the folds of their jackets and
sweaters until they had a good supply. After this they made their way
down the mountain, splashed through the creek again, and threw down
their new discoveries beside the meat scaffold. Jimmy indulged in a
broad smile.
"Plenty soup!" said he, suddenly.
"The beggar!" said Rob. "I shouldn't wonder if he understood English as
well as we do!"
They could not, however, induce him to use any further words than this,
which is common among the Aleuts as the meaning of "food" or "plenty to
eat," they having got this word from their association with
English-speaking persons. The Aleut language now is a mongrel, made up
largely of Russian, with many native words and a few of English.
Jimmy proceeded to show that he meant to use in his "soup" some of these
bulbs which they had brought down, for now he began to strip them down
to the clean white inner portion and half filled their water-can with
them, presently setting it on the fire to stew. The boys never knew the
name of this bulb, but they found it not unpleasant to eat--rather
sweetish and insipid without salt, however.
They were all very tired that night; but they felt it necessary to keep
some watch upon their Aleut prisoner, obliging as he had proved himself
throughout the day. Again Rob stood the first watch, until he grew so
sleepy that he was obliged to waken the others. Thus the long and
uncomfortable night wore away, the prisoner being the only one who slept
undisturbed.