"Have the Allat got her?"
There was no reply to this question, but he did not need one. Springing
like a tiger to the stern of the oomiak, he seized the steering paddle,
and turning the head of the boat towards the shore, paddled with all his
energy. Nearly two hours had elapsed since they had commenced their
flight, and as all danger of pursuit was over the moment the Indians
turned their backs on the sea, the Esquimaux had gradually edged
in-shore again, so that a few minutes sufficed to run the prow of the
oomiak on the shingle of the beach. Without saying a word, the young
man sprang over the side, drew a hunting-spear from the bottom of the
boat, and hurried back in the direction of the deserted village at the
top of his speed. The women knew that nothing could stop him, and
feeling that he was quite able to take care of himself, they quietly put
to sea again, and continued their voyage.
The limbs of the young Esquimau, as we have already said, were gigantic
and powerful, enabling him to traverse the country at a pace which few
of his fellows could keep up with; and although a stern-chase is
proverbially a long one, and the distance between two parties travelling
in opposite directions is amazingly increased in a short space of time,
there is no doubt that he would have overtaken his Indian foes ere many
hours had passed, but for the wound in his head, which, although not
dangerous, compelled him more than once to halt and sit down, in order
to prevent himself from falling into a swoon. Hunger had also something
to do with this state of weakness, as he had eaten nothing for many
hours. In his hasty departure from the boat, however, he had neglected
to take any provisions with him, so that he had little hope of obtaining
refreshment before arriving at the village, where some scraps might
perhaps be picked up.
Slowly, and with a reeling brain, he staggered on; but here no relief
awaited him, for every scrap of food had been either taken away or
destroyed by the Indians, and it was with a heavy sigh and a feeling
akin to despair that he sat down beside the blackened ruins of his late
home.
But Esquimaux, more than other men, are accustomed to reverses of
fortune, and the sigh with which he regarded the ruins of his hut had no
reference whatever to the absence of food. He knew that about this time
the mouth of the river would be full of ice, carried up by the
flood-tide, and that seals would, in all probability, be found on it; so
he started up, and hastening along the beach soon gained the floes,
which he examined carefully. A glance or two sufficed to show him that
he was right in his conjecture. On a sheet of ice not more than a
couple of hundred yards from shore were two seals fast asleep. These he
prepared to stalk. Between the floe and the shore ran a stream of water
twenty yards broad. Over this he ferried himself on a lump of loose
ice; and, on reaching the floe, he went down on his hands and knees,
holding the spear in his right hand as he advanced cautiously towards
his victim.
The Esquimau seal-spear is a curious weapon, and exhibits in a high
degree the extraordinary ingenuity of the race. The handle is sometimes
made of the horn of the narwal, but more frequently of wood. It has a
movable head or barb, to which a long line of walrus hide or sealskin is
attached. This barb is made of ivory tipped with iron, and is attached
to the handle in such a way that it becomes detached from it the instant
the animal is struck, and remains firmly imbedded in the wound with the
line fastened to it, while the handle floats away on the water or falls
on the ice, as the case may be.
When the Esquimau had approached to within a hundred yards, he lay down
at full length and slowly worked himself forward. Meanwhile the seals
raised their heads, but seeing, as they imagined, a companion coming
towards them, they did not make for their holes, which were a few yards
distant from them. Having drawn near enough to render the animals
suspicious, the young giant now sprang up, rushed forward, and got
between one seal and its hole just as its more active companion dived
into the water. In another moment the deadly lance transfixed its side
and killed it. This was a fortunate supply to the Esquimau, whose
powers of endurance were fast failing. He immediately sat down on his
victim, and cutting a large steak from its side, speedily made a meal
that far exceeded the powers of any alderman whatsoever! It required
but a short time to accomplish, however, and a shorter time to transfer
several choice [junks] chunks to his wallet; with which replenished
store he resumed his journey.
Although the man's vigour was restored for a time, so that he travelled
with great speed, it did not last long, owing to the wound in his head,
which produced frequent attacks of giddiness, and at last compelled him,
much against his will, to halt for a couple of hours' repose. Glancing
round, in order to select a suitable camping ground, he soon observed
such a spot in the form of a broad, overhanging ledge of rock, beneath
which there was a patch of scrubby underwood. Here he lay down with the
seal blubber for a pillow, and was quickly buried in deep, untroubled
slumber. In little more than two hours he awoke with a start, and,
after a second application to the contents of the wallet, resumed his
solitary march. The short rest seemed to have quite restored his wonted
vigour, for he now stalked up the banks of the river at a rate which
seemed only to accelerate as he advanced. As has been already said,
these banks were both rugged and precipitous. In some places the rocks
jutted out into the water, forming promontories over which it was
difficult to climb; and frequently these capes terminated in abrupt
precipices, necessitating a detour in order to advance. In other places
the coast was indented with sandy bays, which more than doubled the
distance the traveller would have had to accomplish had he possessed a
kayak. Unfortunately in his hasty departure he neglected to take one
with him; but he did his best to atone for this oversight by making
almost superhuman exertions. He strode over the sands like an ostrich
of the desert, and clambered up the cliffs and over the rocks--looking,
in his hairy garments, like a shaggy polar bear. The thought of his
young and pretty bride a captive in the hands of his bitterest foes, and
doomed to a life of slavery, almost maddened him, and caused his dark
eye to flash and his broad bosom to heave with pent-up emotion, while it
spurred him on to put forth exertions that were far beyond the powers of
any member of his tribe, and could not, under less exciting
circumstances, have been performed even by himself. As to what were his
intentions should he overtake the Indians, he knew not. The agitation
of his spirits, combined with the influence of his wound, induced him to
act from impulse; and the wild tumult of his feelings prevented him from
calculating the consequences or perceiving the hopelessness of an attack
made by one man, armed only with knife and spear, against a body of
Indians who possessed the deadly gun.
Alas! for the sorrows of the poor human race. In all lands they are
much the same, whether civilised or savage--virtue and vice alternately
triumphing. Bravery, candour, heroism, in fierce contest with
treachery, cowardice, and malevolence, form the salient points of the
record among all nations, and in all ages. No puissant knight of old
ever buckled on his panoply of mail, seized his sword and lance, mounted
his charger, and sallied forth singlehanded to deliver his mistress from
enchanted castle, in the face of appalling perils, with hotter haste or
a more thorough contempt of danger than did our Esquimau giant pursue
the Indians who had captured his bride; but, like many a daring spirit
of romance, the giant failed, and that through no fault of his.
On arriving at the rocky platform beside the spring where we first
introduced him to the reader, the Esquimau sat down, and, casting his
spear on the ground, gazed around him with a look of despair. It was
not a slight matter that caused this feeling to arise. Notwithstanding
his utmost exertions, he had been unable to overtake the Indians up to
this point, and beyond this point it was useless to follow them. The
mountains here were divided into several distinct gorges, each of which
led into the interior of the country; and it was impossible to ascertain
which of these had been taken by the Indians, as the bare, rocky land
retained no mark of their light, moccasined feet. Had the pursuer been
an Indian, the well-known sagacity of the race in following a trail,
however slight, might have enabled him to trace the route of the party;
but the Esquimaux are unpractised in this stealthy, dog-like quality.
Their habits and the requirements of their condition render it almost
unnecessary; so that, in difficult circumstances, their sagacity in this
respect is not equal to the emergency. Add to this the partial
confusion created in the young giant's brain by his wound, and it will
not appear strange that despair at length seized him, when, after a
severe journey, he arrived at a spot where, as it were, half a dozen
cross-roads met, and he had not the most distant idea which he had to
follow. It is true the valley of the river seemed the most probable
route; but after pursuing this for a whole day without coming upon a
vestige of the party, he gave up the pursuit, and, returning to the
spring beside the rock, passed the night there with a heavy heart. When
the sun rose on the following morning he quitted his lair, and, taking a
long draught at the bubbling spring, prepared to depart. Before setting
out, he cast a melancholy glance around the amphitheatre of gloomy
hills; shook his spear, in the bitterness of his heart, towards the dark
recesses which had swallowed up the light of his eyes, perchance for
ever; then, turning slowly towards the north, with drooping head, and
with the listless tread of a heart-broken man, he retraced his steps to
the sea-coast, and, rejoining his comrades, was soon far away from the
banks of the Caniapuscaw River.