SAVAGE LOVE--A WIFE PURCHASED--THE ATTACK--THE FLIGHT--THE ESCAPE--THE
WOUNDED MAN.
Scarcely had the stout Esquimau proceeded a few steps along the shore,
when he was met by a young girl who laid her hand on his arm. Taking
her gently by the shoulders, he drew her towards him and kissed her on
both cheeks--an action which caused her to blush deeply as, with a half
smile half frown on her face, she pushed him away.
Love is the same all the world over, whether it glows beneath the
broad-cloth and spotless linen of a civilised gentleman, or under the
deerskin coat of a savage. And its expression, we suspect, is somewhat
similar everywhere. The coy repulse of pretended displeasure came as
naturally from our plump little arctic heroine as it could have done
from the most civilised flirt, and was treated with well-simulated
contrition by our arctic giant, as they walked slowly towards the huts.
But the Esquimau had other matters than love in his head just then, and
the girl's face assumed a grave and somewhat anxious look as he
continued to whisper in her ear.
At the little hamlet they separated, and the maiden went to her
grandfather's abode; while her lover, lifting the skin-curtain door of a
rudely-constructed hut, entered his own humble dwelling. The room was
empty, and its owner did not seem as if he meant to cheer it with his
presence long. In one corner lay a pile of miscellaneous articles,
which he removed, and, taking the tusk of a walrus which lay near his
hand, began to dig with it in the sand. In a few seconds it struck a
hard substance, and the Esquimau, putting his hand into the hole, drew
forth a glittering axe, upon which he gazed with supreme satisfaction.
Now be it known to you, reader, that among the Esquimaux of the frozen
north iron is regarded with about as much delight as gold is by
ourselves. And the reason is simple enough. These poor people live
entirely upon the produce of the chase. Polar bears, seals, walruses,
and whales are their staff of life. To procure these animals, spears
are necessary; to skin and cut them up, knives are needful. But bone
and stone make sorry knives and spears; so that, when a bit of iron, no
matter how poor its quality or small its size, can be obtained, it is
looked on as the most valuable of possessions; and the ingenuity
displayed by Esquimaux in fashioning the rudest piece of metal into the
most useful of implements is truly astonishing, proving, in the most
satisfactory way, that necessity is indeed the mother of invention. The
precious metal is obtained in two ways: by the discovery of a wreck,
which is extremely rare; and by barter with those tribes which sometimes
visit the Moravian settlements of Labrador. But neither source is very
productive. Even a nail is treasured as a blessing, while an axe is a
fortune! When our giant, therefore, drew forth the shining implement,
and gazed with delight at its keen edge, he experienced as great
satisfaction as a miser does when gloating over his banker's book!
Having satisfied himself that the axe was free from all approximation to
rust, he stuck it into a belt of raw hide, which he put on for the
express purpose of sustaining it, as Esquimaux do not generally wear
belts. He then sallied forth, and walked with the air of a man who
wears the grand cross of the Legion of Honour. As he went to the hut in
which lived the oldest man of the tribe, the shade of anxiety, which had
clouded his brow more than once during the day, again rested on his
face. On entering, he observed the old Esquimau listening with anxious
countenance to the young girl whom we have already introduced to the
reader.
Now this girl--Aneetka by name--was by no means an angel in Esquimau
habiliments. Among civilised folk probably she would not have been
deemed even pretty. Nevertheless, in the eyes of her lover she was most
decidedly beautiful, and round, and fat, and rosy, and young, awkward,
and comfortable! And the giant loved her--never so strongly, perhaps,
as when he saw her striving to allay the fears of her old grandfather.
But this same grandfather was obstinate. He wanted her to become the
wife of an Esquimau who lived far to the westward, and who once had
dealings with the fur-traders, and from whom he expected to derive
considerable advantages and gifts of bits of hoop-iron and nails. But
_she_ wanted to become the giant's wife; so there the matter stood.
"The spirits o' the wind and sea protect us, and may the god o' the mist
cover us!" said the old man, as the young Esquimau sat down on a dead
seal beside him. "Is it true that you saw the men of fire?"
This was, of course, said in the language of the Esquimaux, and we
render it as literally as possible.
"Yes, it is true," replied the young man. "I saw them at the rapid
water in Caniapuscaw, and I took kayak to bring the news."
Various exclamations of mingled surprise and anger escaped from the
compressed lips of several stalwart natives, who had crowded into the
tent on hearing of the arrival of their comrade.
"Yes," continued the young man, "we must go away this night. They had
fire-tubes, and there were thirty men. We have only ten."
Again a murmur ran through the listeners, but no one spoke for a few
seconds.
"Did they see you?" asked the old man anxiously.
"No. I came on them suddenly, when I was chasing deer, and almost ran
into their camp; but I saw, and fell in the grass. I thought the chief
raised his head quickly when I fell; but he looked down again, and I
crawled away."
In this the young Esquimau was mistaken. He knew little of the craft
and the quickness of the Red Indian, and easily fell into the snare of
his savage enemy, who, having been momentarily startled by the sudden
sound of the Esquimau approach, had endeavoured to throw him off his
guard, by pretending that although he heard the sound he thought nothing
of it. But no sooner had the Esquimau retired than he was closely
followed and watched by the whole party. They could have easily shot
him, but refrained from doing so, that he might unwittingly be their
guide to the habitations of his people. The rapid flight of his kayak
distanced his pursuers at first, but they made up for this during an
hour or two in the night, when the tired Esquimau allowed himself a
short season of repose to recruit his energies for the following day's
journey. During this period the Indians shot far ahead of him, and when
he arrived at the coast next day they were not much in the rear.
"And now, old man," said our young Esquimau, "it is time that I should
have my wife. If the Allat [see note 1] come here to-night, as I know
they will, I want to have a right to defend her, and carry her away when
we flee. Are you willing?"
The young giant said this with a degree of roughness and decision that
at any other time would have made the obstinate old grandfather refuse
point blank; but as there was every probability of having to flee for
his life ere the break of another day, and as his old heart trembled
within him at the thought of the dreaded guns of the Indians, he merely
shook his head and pondered a little.
"What will you give me?" he said, looking up.
The young man answered by drawing the axe from his belt and laying it on
the ground before him. The old man's eyes glistened with pleasure as he
surveyed the costly gift.
"Good; that will do. Take her and go."
A second bidding was not needed. The young man arose hastily, took his
blushing bride by the hand, and led her from the tent of her grandfather
towards his own. Here she set to work instantly to assist her husband
in hurriedly packing up their goods and chattels; and, immediately
afterwards, the little village became a perfect Babel of confusion, as
the alarmed inhabitants, on learning the threatened danger, prepared for
instant flight. In less than an hour the most of them were ready. The
men launched their kayaks, while the women, having loaded their oomiaks
with their goods, tossed their dogs and children on the top of them.
The oomiak, or women's boat, is quite a different affair from the kayak,
in which the men travel singly. It is usually made large and capacious,
in order to hold the entire household of the Esquimau. Like the kayak
it is made of skin, but has no covering above, and is propelled by means
of short single-bladed paddles, which are worked by the women, upon whom
devolves the entire care and management of the oomiak. It is a clumsy
affair to look at, but, like the boats of savages generally, it is
uncommonly useful and a good sea-boat.
While the Esquimaux were busied in completing their arrangements, one of
the dogs rushed towards the bushes that lined the shore just behind the
village, and barked vociferously. Instantly it was joined by the whole
pack, and the Esquimaux, who, ever since they had heard of the proximity
of their Indian foes, were in a state of the utmost trepidation, made a
general rush towards their canoes. Before they reached them, however, a
volley of musketry was fired from the bushes, and three of their
number--a man and two women--filled the air with their death-shriek, as
they fell dead upon the beach; while the Indians sprang from their
concealment, and, brandishing their knives and tomahawks, rushed with a
fearful yell upon the terror-stricken Esquimaux.
Shrill and terrible though the Indian war-cry is proverbially known to
be, it was excelled in appalling wildness by the shriek which arose from
the Esquimaux, as they hurried tumultuously into their canoes and put
off to sea. These poor creatures were naturally brave--much more so,
indeed, than their assailants; but the murderous effects of the terrible
gun caused the sternest brow among them to blanch and the stoutest heart
to quail. The arrow and the spear, however rapid, could be avoided, if
observed in time; but this dreaded implement of destruction was so
mysterious to them, and its death-dealing bullet so quick, and the
smoke, the fire, and the loud report so awful, that they shuddered even
when they thought of it. No wonder, then, that they uttered a
despairing cry when it actually sounded in their ears.
When the dogs first gave tongue, our tall Esquimau was alone in his hut,
having just sent his wife down with a bundle to the oomiak. When the
volley rang in his ears, he rushed towards the beach, supposing that she
was there before him. This was not the case, however. Aneetka had gone
towards her grandfather's hut, and when the Indians fired she rushed in
to assist him to fly. But the old man was already gone. Turning
instantly, she sprang nimbly towards the shore. At that moment a single
shot was fired, and she saw her husband stumble forward and fall
headlong to the earth, where he lay motionless. Her first impulse was
to run towards the body and throw herself upon it; but this intention
was effectually checked by a strong, dark-skinned arm which encircled
her waist, and, despite her cries and struggles, bore her away into the
bushes. Her captor was the Indian whose gun once before on that day had
been levelled at her lover's head.
When the young Esquimau fell, as already related, he was so close to the
water that he stumbled into it, and, fortunately, not a yard distant
from an oomiak which the women were frantically thrusting into the sea.
They had no time to lift so heavy a weight on board, but, as the light
craft darted from the shore, an old woman, who had often received kind
attentions from the good-natured youth, leant over the stern and seized
him by the hair. In this manner he was dragged through the water until
they were out of gun-shot, when he was lifted inside and laid beside the
dogs and children.
Meanwhile the Indians had rushed into the water up to their middle, in
the hope of catching the last of the little fleet, but without success.
Mad with disappointed rage, they waded back to the shore, and, standing
in a line along the edge of the waves, reloaded their guns with the
utmost rapidity. The poor Esquimaux knew well what would follow, and
strained every nerve to increase their distance. Once more the guns
belched forth their leaden shower, which went skipping over the water
towards the flotilla. Only one kayak was hit by the discharge. It was
that of the old grandfather already mentioned. The ball ripped up the
side of the canoe, which filled and upset, and the poor old man would
certainly have been drowned but for the opportune coming up of the
oomiak containing his wounded grandson. The old woman who had already
saved the life of the young giant of the tribe, again put forth her
skinny hand and grasped the patriarch, who was soon hauled on board in
safety. A few minutes more placed the whole party out of danger.
In the meantime, the Indians, furious with disappointment, scalped the
three dead bodies and tossed them into the sea; after which they went
into the huts in order to collect all the valuables that might have been
left behind. Very little, however, was to be found, as the entire
property of an Esquimau is not worth much to a red man. The most useful
thing they laid hands on was the axe which the old grandfather had left
behind in his hurried flight. Having taken all they could carry, the
savages destroyed the rest; and then, setting fire to the village, they
returned to the bush. Here a fire was made, and a council of war held.
When the Indian who had captured the Esquimau girl led her forward
towards the fire, there was a general yell of indignation. Tomahawks
were grasped, and more than one knife was unsheathed. But the chief
commanded silence.
"What does White Heart mean to do with the Eater-of-raw-flesh?" he
inquired, turning to the young man.
"He will take her to the hunting-grounds of the Crees."
"That cannot be," said the chief. "The girl must die, and White Heart
must kill her."
The young man made no reply.
"If," continued the chief sarcastically, "White Heart is afraid to see
blood on his knife, another warrior will show him how to do it!"
As he spoke, a dark-visaged savage drew his scalping-knife, and, with
one stride, stood beside the trembling girl, who, during the
consultation of the savages, had stood silently beside her captor
listening intently to the words which she did not comprehend.
Seizing her by the shoulder, the savage plunged his knife at her bosom;
but, ere the keen point reached it, the arm was caught by the young
Indian, and the scowling savage was hurled violently back. With dilated
eye and expanded nostril, the young man, not deigning to bestow a glance
upon his fallen comrade, turned to his chief and said--
"Did not I take her? The girl is mine. I will carry her to my tent and
make her my _wife_."
"Be it so," replied the chief abruptly. Then turning to his followers,
he gave orders to start immediately.
In a few minutes all was ready. The chief led the way into the bush.
The Esquimau girl and her captor followed; and the whole band, silently
and in single file, commenced to retrace their steps to the far distant
hunting-grounds of the Cree Indians.
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Note 1. Esquimau name for Indians.