AN OLD FRIEND AMID NEW FRIENDS AND NOVELTIES--A DESPERATE BATTLE AND A
GLORIOUS VICTORY.
The scene of our story is now changed, and we request our patient reader
to fly away with us deeper into the north, beyond the regions of Ungava,
and far out upon the frozen sea.
Here is an island which for many long years has formed a refuge to the
roedeer during the winter, at which season these animals, having
forsaken the mainland in autumn, dwell upon the islands of the sea. At
the time of which we write the island in question was occupied by a
tribe of Esquimaux, who had built themselves as curious a village as one
could wish to see. The island had little or no wood on it, and the few
willow bushes that showed their heads above the deep snow were stunted
and thin. Such as they were, however, they, along with a ledge of rock
over which the snow had drifted in a huge mound, formed a sort of
protection to the village of the Esquimaux, and sheltered it from the
cold blasts that swept over the frozen sea from the regions of the far
north. There were about twenty igloos in the village, all of which were
built in the form of a dome, exactly similar to the hut constructed by
Maximus on the lake. They were of various sizes, and while some stood
apart with only a small igloo attached, others were congregated in
groups and connected by low tunnels or passages. The doorways leading
into most of them were so low that the natives were obliged to creep out
and in on their hands and knees; but the huts themselves were high
enough to permit the tallest man of the tribe to stand erect, and some
of them so capacious that a family of six or eight persons could dwell
in them easily. We may remark, however, that Esquimau ideas of
roominess and comfort in their dwellings differ very considerably from
ours. Their chief aim is to create heat, and for this end they
cheerfully submit to what we would consider the discomfort of crowding
and close air.
The village at a little distance bore a curious resemblance to a cluster
of white beehives; and the round, soft, hairy natives, creeping out and
in continually, and moving about amongst them, were not unlike (with the
aid of a little imagination) to a swarm of monstrous black bees--an idea
which was further strengthened by the continuous hum that floated on the
air over the busy settlement. Kayaks and oomiaks lay about in several
places supported on blocks of ice, and seal-spears, paddles, dans,
lances, coils of walrus-line, and other implements, were intermingled in
rare confusion with sledges, sealskins, junks of raw meat and bones, on
which latter the numerous dogs of the tribe were earnestly engaged.
In the midst of this village stood a hut which differed considerably
from those around. It was built of clear ice instead of snow. There
were one or two other igloos made of the same material, but none so
large, clean, or elegant as this one. The walls, which were
perpendicular, were composed of about thirty large square blocks,
cemented together with snow, and arranged in the form of an octagon.
The roof was a dome of snow. A small porch or passage, also of ice,
stood in front of the low doorway, which had been made high enough to
permit the owner of the mansion to enter by stooping slightly. In front
and all around this hut the snow was carefully scraped, and all
offensive objects--such as seal and whale blubber--removed, giving to it
an appearance of cleanliness and comfort which the neighbouring igloos
did not possess. Inside of this icy residence, on a couch of deerskin
was seated Edith Stanley!
On that terrible night when the child lost her way in the dreary plain,
she had wandered she knew not whither, until she was suddenly arrested
by coming to the edge of the solid ice on the shores of Ungava Bay.
Here the high winds had broken up the ice, and the black waters of the
sea now rolled at her feet and checked her progress. Terrified at this
unexpected sight, Edith endeavoured to retrace her steps; but she found
to her horror that the ice on which she stood was floating, and that the
wind, having shifted a point to the eastward, was driving it across to
the west side of the bay. Here, in the course of the next day, it
grounded, and the poor child, benumbed with cold and faint with hunger,
crept as far as she could on to the firm land, and then lay down, as she
thought, to die.
But it was otherwise ordained. In less than half an hour afterwards she
was found by a party of Esquimaux. These wild creatures had come from
the eastward in their dog-sledges, and having passed well out to the
seaward in order to avoid the open water off the mouth of False River,
had missed seeing their countrymen there, and therefore knew nothing of
the establishment of Fort Chimo. In bending towards the land again
after passing the bay they came upon Edith's tracks, and after a short
search they found her lying on the snow.
Words cannot convey an adequate impression of the unutterable amazement
of these poor creatures as they beheld the fair child, so unlike
anything they had ever seen or imagined; but whatever may have been
their thoughts regarding her, they had sense enough to see that she was
composed of flesh and blood, and would infallibly freeze if allowed to
lie there much longer. They therefore lifted her gently upon one of the
large sleighs, and placed her on a pile of furs in the midst of a group
of women and children, who covered her up and chafed her limbs
vigorously. Meanwhile the drivers of the sledges, of which there were
six, with twenty dogs attached to each, plied their long whips
energetically; the dogs yelled in consternation, and, darting away with
the sledges as if they had been feathers, the whole tribe went hooting,
yelling, and howling away over the frozen sea.
The surprise of the savages when they found Edith was scarcely, if at
all, superior to that of Edith when she opened her eyes and began to
comprehend, somewhat confusedly, her peculiar position. The savages
watched her movements, open-mouthed, with intense curiosity, and seemed
overjoyed beyond expression when she at length recovered sufficiently to
exclaim feebly,--"Where am I? where are you taking me to?"
We need scarcely add that she received no reply to her questions, for
the natives did not understand a word of her language, and with the
exception of the names of one or two familiar objects, she did not
understand a word of theirs. Of how far or how long they travelled
Edith could form no idea, as she slept profoundly during the journey,
and did not thoroughly recover her strength and faculties until after
her arrival at the camp.
For many days after reaching the Esquimau village poor Edith did nothing
but weep; for, besides the miserable circumstances in which she was now
placed, she was much too considerate and unselfish in her nature to
forget that her parents would experience all the misery of supposing her
dead, and added to this was the terrible supposition that the natives
into whose hands she had fallen might never hear of Fort Chimo. The
distracted child did her utmost by means of signs to make them
understand that such a place existed, but her efforts were of no avail.
Either she was not eloquent in the language of signs, or the natives
were obtuse. As time abated the first violence of her grief, she began
to entertain a hope that ere long some wandering natives might convey
intelligence of her to the fur-traders. As this hope strengthened she
became more cheerful, and resolved to make a number of little ornaments
with her name inscribed on them, which she meant to hang round the necks
of the chief men of the tribe, so that should any of them ever chance to
meet with the fur-traders, these ornaments might form a clue to her
strange residence.
A small medal of whalebone seemed to her the most appropriate and
tractable material, but it cost her many long and weary hours to cut a
circular piece of this tough material with the help of an Esquimau
knife. When she had done it, however, several active boys who had
watched the operation with much curiosity and interest, no sooner
understood what she wished to make than they set to work and cut several
round pieces of ivory or walrus-tusk, which they presented to their
little guest, who scratched the name EDITH on them and hung them round
the necks of the chief men of the tribe. The Esquimaux smiled and
patted the child's fair head kindly as they received this piece of
attention, which they flattered themselves, no doubt, was entirely
disinterested and complimentary.
Winter wore gradually away, and the ice upon the sea began to show
symptoms of decay opposite to the camp of the Esquimaux. During the
high winds of spring the drift had buried the village so completely that
the beehives were scarcely visible, and the big black bees walked about
on the top of their igloos, and had to cut deep down in order to get
into them. For some time past the natives had been unsuccessful in
their seal-hunting; and as seals and walruses constituted their chief
means of support, they were reduced to short allowance. Edith's
portion, however, had never yet been curtailed. It was cooked for her
over the stone lamp belonging to an exceedingly fat young woman whose
igloo was next to that of the little stranger, and whose heart had been
touched by the child's sorrow; afterwards it was more deeply touched by
her gratitude and affection. This woman's name was Kaga, and she, with
the rest of her tribe, having been instructed carefully by Edith in the
pronunciation of her own name, ended in calling their little guest
Eeduck! Kaga had a stout, burly husband named Annatock, who was the
best hunter in the tribe; she also had a nephew about twelve or fourteen
years old, named Peetoot, who was very fond of Edith and extremely
attentive to her. Kaga had also a baby--a mere bag of fat--to which
Edith became so attached that she almost constituted herself its regular
nurse; and when the weather was bad, so as to confine her to the house,
she used to take it from its mother, carry it off to her own igloo, and
play with it the whole day, much in the same way as little girls play
with dolls--with this difference, however, that she considerately
restrained herself from banging its nose against the floor or punching
out its eyes!
It was a bright, clear, warm day. Four mock suns encircled and emulated
in brilliancy their great original. The balmy air was beginning to melt
the surface of the snow, and the igloos that had stood firm for full
half a year were gradually becoming dangerous to walk over and unsafe to
sit under. Considerable bustle prevailed in the camp, for a general
seal-hunting expedition was on foot, and the men of the tribe were
preparing their dog-sledges and their spears.
Edith was in her igloo of ice, seated on the soft pile of deerskins
which formed her bed at night and her sofa by day, and worrying Kaga's
baby, which laughed vociferously. The inside of this house or apartment
betokened the taste and neatness of its occupant. The snow roof, having
begun to melt, had been removed, and was replaced by slabs of ice,
which, with the transparent walls, admitted the sun's rays in a soft,
bluish light, which cast a fairy-like charm over the interior. On a
shelf of ice which had been neatly fitted into the wall by her friend
Peetoot lay a rude knife, a few pieces of whalebone and ivory (the
remains of the material of which her medals had been made), and an ivory
cup. The floor was covered with willow matting, and on the raised half
of it were spread several deerskins with the hair on. A canopy of
willow boughs was erected over this. On another shelf of ice, near the
head of the bed, stood a small stone lamp, which had been allowed to go
out, the weather being warm. The only other articles of furniture in
this simple apartment were a square table and a square stool, both made
of ice blocks and covered with sealskins.
While Edith and her living doll were in the height of their uproarious
intercourse, they were interrupted by Peetoot, who burst into the room,
more like a hairy wild-man-o'-the-wood than a human being. He carried a
short spear in one hand, and with the other pointed in the direction of
the shore, at the same time uttering a volley of unintelligible sounds
which terminated with an emphatic "Eeduck!"
Edith's love for conversation, whether she made herself understood or
not, had increased rather than abated in her peculiar circumstances.
"What is it, Peetoot? Why do you look so excited? Oh dear, I wish I
understood you--indeed I do! But it's of no use your speaking so
fast.--(Be quiet, baby darling.)--I see you want me to do or say
something; what can it be, I wonder?"
Edith looked into the boy's face with an air of perplexity.
Again Peetoot commenced to vociferate and gesticulate violently; but
seeing, as he had often seen before, that his young friend did not
appear to be much enlightened, he seized her by the arm, and, as a more
summary and practical way of explaining himself, dragged her towards the
door of the hut.
"Oh, the baby!" screamed Edith, breaking from him and placing her charge
in the farthest and safest part of the couch. "Now I'll go with you,
though I don't understand what you want. Well, I suppose I shall find
out in time, as usual."
Having led Edith towards the beach, Peetoot pointed to his uncle's
sledge, to which the dogs were already harnessed, and made signs that
Edith should go with them.
"Oh, I understand you now. Well, it is a charming day; I think I will.
Do you think Annatock will let me? Oh, you don't understand. Never
mind; wait till I put on my hood and return the baby to its mother."
In two minutes Edith reappeared in her fur cloak and Indian hood, with
the fat baby sprawling and laughing on her shoulder. That baby never
cried. It seemed as though it had resolved to substitute laughing in
its stead. Once only had Edith seen tears in its little black eyes, and
that was when she had given it a spoonful of soup so hot that its mouth
was scalded by it.
Several of the sledges had already left the island, and were flying at
full speed over the frozen sea, deviating ever and anon from the
straight line in order to avoid a hummock of ice or a gap of open water
caused by the separation of masses at the falling of the tide, while the
men shouted, and the dogs yelled as they observed the flourish of the
cruelly long and heavy lash.
"Shall I get in?" said Edith to Annatock, with an inquiring look, as she
approached the place where the sledge was standing.
The Esquimau nodded his shaggy head, and showed a row of remarkably
white teeth environed by a thick black beard and moustache, by way of
reply to the look of the child.
With a laughing nod to Kaga, who stood watching them, Edith stepped in
and seated herself on a deerskin robe; Annatock and Peetoot sat down
beside her; the enormous whip gave a crack like a pistol-shot, and the
team of fifteen dogs, uttering a loud cry, bounded away over the sea.
The sledge on which Edith was seated was formed very much in the same
manner as the little sled which had been made for her at Fort Chimo. It
was very much larger, how ever, and could have easily held eight or ten
persons. The runners, which were shod with frozen mud (a substance that
was now becoming nearly unfit for use owing to the warm weather), were a
perfect wonder of ingenuity--as, indeed, was the whole machine--being
pieced and lashed together with lines of raw hide in the most
complicated manner and very neatly. The dogs were each fastened by a
separate line to the sledge, the best dog being placed in the centre and
having the longest line, while the others were attached by lines
proportionably shorter according to the distance of each from the
leading dog, and the outsiders being close to the runners of the sledge.
All the lines were attached to the front bar of the machine. There
were many advantages attending this mode of harnessing, among which were
the readiness with which any dog could be attached or detached without
affecting the others, and the ease with which Annatock, when so
inclined, could lay hold of the line of a refractory dog, haul him back
without stopping the others, and give him a cuffing. This, however, was
seldom done, as the driver could touch any member of the team with the
point of his whip. The handle of this terrible instrument was not much
more than eighteen or twenty inches long, but the lash was upwards of
six yards! Near the handle it was about three inches broad, being thick
cords of walrus-hide platted; it gradually tapered towards the point,
where it terminated in a fine line of the same material. While driving,
the long lash of this whip trails on the snow behind the sledge, and by
a peculiar sleight of hand its serpentine coils can be brought up for
instant use.
No backwoodsman of Kentucky was ever more perfect in the use of his
pea-rifle or more certain of his aim than was Annatock with his
murderous whip. He was a dead shot, so to speak. He could spread
intense alarm among the dogs by causing the heavy coil to whiz over them
within a hair's-breadth of their heads; or he could gently touch the
extreme tip of the ear of a skulker, to remind him of his duty to his
master and his comrades; or, in the event of the warning being
neglected, he could bring the point down on his flank with a crack like
a pistol-shot, that would cause skin and hair to fly, and spread yelping
dismay among the entire pack. And how they did run! The sledge seemed
a mere feather behind the powerful team. They sprang forth at full
gallop, now bumping over a small hummock or diverging to avoid a large
one, anon springing across a narrow gap in the ice, or sweeping like the
snowdrift over the white plain, while the sledge sprang and swung and
bounded madly on behind them; and Annatock shouted as he flourished his
great whip in the excitement of their rapid flight, and Peetoot laughed
with wild delight, and Edith sat clasping her hands tightly over her
knees--her hood thrown back, her fair hair blown straight out by the
breeze, her cheeks flushed, her lips parted, and her eyes sparkling with
emotion as they whirled along in their mad and swift career.
In half an hour the low village was out of sight, and in half an hour
more they arrived at the place where a number of the Esquimaux were
scattered in twos and threes over the ice, searching for seal-holes, and
preparing to catch them.
"What is that man doing?" cried Edith, pointing to an Esquimau who,
having found a hole, had built a semicircular wall of snow round it to
protect him from the light breeze that was blowing, and was sitting,
when Edith observed him, in the attitude of one who listened intently.
The hood of his sealskin coat was over his head, so that his features
were concealed. At his feet lay a stout, barbed seal-spear, the handle
of which was made of wood, and the barb and lower part of ivory. A
tough line was attached to this, and the other end of it was fastened
round the man's waist; for when an Esquimau spears a seal, he prepares
to conquer or to die. If he does not haul the animal out of the hole,
there is every probability that it will haul him into it. But the
Esquimau has laid it down as an axiom that a man is more than a match
for a seal; therefore he ties the line round his waist,--which is very
much like nailing the colours to the mast. There seems to be no
allowance made for the chance of an obstreperously large seal allowing
himself to be harpooned by a preposterously small Esquimau; but we
suppose that this is the exception to the rule.
As Edith gazed, the Esquimau put out his hand with the stealthy motion
of a cat and lifted his spear. The next instant the young ice that
covered the hole was smashed, and, in an instant after, the ivory barb
was deep in the shoulder of an enraged seal, which had thus fallen a
sacrifice to his desire for fresh air. The Esquimau immediately lay
back almost at full length, with his heels firmly imbedded in two
notches cut in the ice at the edge of the hole; the seal dived, and the
man's waist seemed to be nearly cut in two. But the rope was tough and
the man was stout, and although the seal was both, it was conquered in
the course of a quarter of an hour, hauled out, and thrown exultingly
upon the ice.
This man had only watched at the seal-hole a couple of hours, but the
natives frequently sit behind their snow walls for the greater part of a
day, almost without moving hand or foot.
Having witnessed this capture, Annatock drove on until the most of his
countrymen were left behind. Suddenly he called to the dogs to halt,
and spoke in a deep, earnest tone to his nephew, while both of them
gazed intently towards a particular quarter of the sea. Edith looked in
the same direction, and soon saw the object that attracted their
attention, but the only thing it seemed like to her was an enormous cask
or barrel.
"What is it?" said she to Peetoot, as Annatock selected his largest
spear and hastened towards the object.
Of course Edith received no reply save a broad grin; but the little
fellow followed up this remark, if we may so call it, by drawing his
fingers through his lips, and licking them in a most significant manner.
Meanwhile Annatock advanced rapidly towards the object of interest,
keeping carefully behind hummocks of ice as he went, and soon drew near
enough to make certain that it was a walrus, apparently sound asleep,
with its blunt snout close to its hole, ready to plunge in should an
enemy appear.
Annatock now advanced more cautiously, and when within a hundred yards
of the huge monster, lay down at full length on his breast, and began to
work his way towards it after the manner of a seal. He was so like a
seal in his hairy garments that he might easily have been mistaken for
one by a more intellectual animal than a walrus. But the walrus did not
awake, and he approached to within ten yards. Then, rising suddenly to
his feet, Annatock poised the heavy weapon, and threw it with full force
against the animal's side. It struck, and, as if it had fallen on an
adamantine rock, it bounded off and fell upon the ice, with its hard
point shattered and its handle broken in two.
For one instant Annatock's face blazed with surprise; the next, it
relapsed into fifty dimples, as he roared and tossed up his arms with
delight at the discovery that the walrus had been frozen to death beside
its hole!
This catastrophe is not of unfrequent occurrence to these _elephants_ of
the northern seas. They are in the habit of coming up occasionally
through their holes in the ice to breathe, and sometimes they crawl out
in order to sleep on the ice, secure, in the protection of their
superabundant fat, from being frozen--at least easily. When they have
had enough of sleep, or when the prickling sensation on their skin warns
them that nothing is proof against the cold of the Polar Seas, and that
they will infallibly freeze if they do not make a precipitate retreat to
the comparatively warm waters below, they scramble to their holes, crush
down the new ice with their tusks and thick heads, and plunge in. But
sometimes the ice which forms on the holes when they are asleep is too
strong to be thus broken, in which case the hapless monster lays him
down and dies.
Such was the fate of the walrus which Annatock was now cutting up with
his axe into portable blocks of beef. For several days previous to the
thaw which had now set in, the weather had been intensely cold, and the
walrus had perished in consequence of its ambitious desire to repose in
the regions above.
Not far from the spot where this fortunate discovery had been made,
there was a large sheet of recently-formed black ice, where the main ice
had been broken away and the open water left. The sheet, although much
melted by the thaw, was still about three inches thick, and quite
capable of supporting a man. While Annatock was working with his back
to this ice, he heard a tremendous crash take place behind him. Turning
hastily round, he observed that the noise was caused by another enormous
walrus, the glance of whose large round eyes and whose loud snort showed
clearly enough that he was not frozen like his unfortunate companion.
By this time the little boy had come up with Edith and the sledge. So
Annatock ordered him to take the dogs behind a hummock to keep them out
of sight, while he selected several strong harpoons and a lance from the
sledge. Giving another lance to Peetoot, he signed to Edith to sit on
the hummock while he attacked the grisly monster of the deep.
While these preparations were being made, the walrus dived; and while it
was under water, the man and the boy ran quickly forward a short
distance, and then lay down behind a lump of ice. Scarcely had they
done so when the walrus came up again with a loud snort, splashing the
water with its broad, heavy flippers--which seemed a sort of compromise
between legs and fins--and dashing waves over the ice as it rolled about
its large, unwieldy carcass. It was truly a savage-looking monster, as
large as a small elephant, and having two tusks of a foot and a half
long. The face bore a horrible resemblance to that of a man. Its crown
was round and bulging, its face broad and massive, and a thick,
bristling moustache--rough as the spines of a porcupine--covered its
upper lip, and depended in a shaggy dripping mass over its mouth. After
spluttering about a short time it dived again.
Now was Annatock's time. Seizing a harpoon and a coil of line, he
muttered a few words to the boy, sprang up, and running out upon the
smooth ice, stood by the edge of the open water. He had not waited here
more than a few seconds when the black waters were cleft by the blacker
head of the monster, as it once more ascended to renew its elephantine
gambols in the pool. As it rose, the Esquimau threw up his arm and
poised the harpoon. For one instant the surprised animal raised itself
breast-high out of the water, and directed a stare of intense
astonishment at the man. That moment was fatal. Annatock buried the
harpoon deep under its left flipper. With a fierce bellow the brute
dashed itself against the ice, endeavouring in its fury to reach its
assailant; but the ice gave way under its enormous weight, while
Annatock ran back as far as the line attached to the harpoon would
permit him.
The walrus, seeing that it could not reach its enemy in this way, seemed
now to be actually endued with reason. It took a long gaze at Annatock,
and then dived. But the Esquimau was prepared for this. He changed his
position hastily, and played his line the meanwhile, fixing the point of
his lance into the ice, in order to give him a more effective hold.
Scarcely had he done so than the spot he had just left was smashed up,
and the head of the walrus appeared, grinning and bellowing as if in
disappointment. At this moment Peetoot handed his uncle a harpoon, and,
ere the animal dived, the weapon was fixed in his side. Once more
Annatock changed his position; and once again the spot on which he had
been standing was burst upwards. It was a terrible sight to see that
unearthly-looking monster smashing the ice around it, and lashing the
blood-stained sea into foam, while it waged such mortal war with the
self-possessed and wary man. How mighty and strong the one! how
comparatively weak and seemingly helpless the other! It was the triumph
of mind over matter--of reason over blind brute force. But Annatock
fought a hard battle that day ere he came off conqueror. Harpoon after
harpoon was driven into the walrus; again and again the lance pierced
deep into its side and drank its life-blood; but three hours had passed
away before the dead carcass was dragged from the deep by the united
force of dogs and man. During this terrible combat Edith had looked on
with such intense interest that she could scarcely believe her eyes when
she found, from the position of the sun, that the day was far advanced.
It was too late now to think of cutting up the carcasses without
assistance, so Annatock determined to return home and tell his
countrymen of his good fortune.
It is a custom among the Esquimaux to consider every animal that is
killed as the common property of all--the successful hunter being
entitled to all the titbits, besides his portion of the equal dividend;
so that Annatock knew he had only to give the signal, and every
able-bodied man in the village, and not a few of the women and children,
would descend like vultures on the spoil. Jumping into his sledge, he
stretched out his exhausted frame at full length beside Edith, and
committed the whip to Peetoot.
"I'm so glad," cried Edith, with a beaming face, "that we have killed
this beast. The poor people will have plenty to eat now."
"Ha! ha! _ha_!" roared Peetoot, giving increased emphasis to each
successive shout, and prolonging the last into a yell of delight, as he
cracked the ponderous whip from side to side like a volley of pistolry.
"O Peetoot!" exclaimed Edith, in a remonstrative tone, as the sledge
swayed to and fro with the rate at which they were sweeping over the
plain, "don't drive so fast; you will kill the poor dogs!"
"Ho! ho! _ho-o-o_! Eeduck!" roared the boy, aiming a shot at the
leader's left ear, and bringing the thick end of the whip down on the
flanks of the six hindmost dogs.
Thus, amid a volley of roars, remonstrances, yells, yelps, and pistolry,
Edith and her friends scoured over the frozen sea, and swept into the
Esquimau camp like a whirlwind.