Putting on the wings of imagination, good reader, let us once more fly
over the snow-fields of the lone Nor'-west and return to the regions of
thick-ribbed ice. We have to apologise humbly for asking you also to
fly back a little in time, and plunge once more into the dreary winter,
from which, no doubt, you thought you had fairly escaped.
One morning toward the beginning of spring, referred to in last chapter,
while yet the northern seas were covered with their solid garment,
Cheenbuk announced to all whom it might concern that he intended to go
off on a long journey to the eastward--he called it the place where the
Great Light rises--for purposes which he did not see fit publicly to
reveal.
At that time the Great Light to which he referred had begun to show
symptoms of intention to return to the dark regions which it had
forsaken for several months. The glimmer on the eastern sky had been
increasing perceptibly each day, and at last had reached the point of
producing a somewhat rosy twilight for two or three hours before and
after noon. King Frost, however, still reigned supreme, and the
dog-sledge as yet was the only mode of travelling among the islands or
on the sea.
"Why go you towards the rising sun?" asked Nazinred when Cheenbuk
invited him to be one of the party.
"Because it is from my countrymen who dwell there that we get the hard
stuff that is so good for our spear-heads, and lances, and arrows. We
know not where they find the stuff, and they won't tell. I shall go and
find out for myself, and take back plenty of it to our people."
The "hard stuff" referred to was hoop-iron, which, as well as nails and
a few hatchets, the Eskimos of the eastern parts of the Arctic shores
obtained from whale-ships and passed on to their friends in the more
remote regions of the farther north.
"I can tell you how they get it," said the Indian. "White traders to
whom our people go with their furs have spoken of such things, and my
ears have been open. They say that there are white men who come over
the great salt lake from far-off lands in big _big_ canoes. They come
to catch the great whales, and it is from them that the hard stuff
comes."
For some minutes the Eskimo was silent. A new idea had entered his head
and he was turning it over.
"Have you ever seen these white men or their _big_ canoes?" asked
Cheenbuk with great interest.
"Never. The salt lake where they kill the whale is too far from my
people's hunting-grounds. But the white traders I have visited have
seen them. Some traders have come from the same far-off lands in big
canoes of the same sort."
"Is it very far from here to the seas to which these whale-killers
come?"
"Very far from the hunting-grounds of the Dogribs, but it may not be far
from here."
"I will go and see," said Cheenbuk, with much decision, and he went off
forthwith to make preparations. The expedition consisted of one large
sledge with a team of twelve dogs. Being resolved not to risk failure
by taking too many companions, the Eskimo limited the number to seven,
besides himself--namely, Nazinred, with his fire-spouter; Oolalik, whom
he deemed the strongest and bravest among the young men; Anteek, the
most plucky of the big boys; Aglootook, the medicine-man, whom he took
"for luck;" and Nootka, as being the most vigorous and hardworking among
the women. She could repair the boots, etcetera, and do what little
cooking might be required. Cowlik the easy-going was also taken to keep
Nootka company.
It was high noon when the party set out on their mysterious journey, and
a brighter glow than usual was suffusing the eastern sky, while a gleam
of direct sunshine, the first seen that spring, was tipping the peaks of
the higher bergs as if with burnished gold.
It was merely a whim that induced Cheenbuk to throw an air of mystery
over the expedition. Having no definite idea himself of what he was
going in search of, or how long he should be away, he thought it wisest
to look solemn and keep his thoughts to himself; thereby impressing his
kinsmen with the belief that he was one of the wisest men of the tribe,
which in truth he was. Being, as we have said elsewhere, a man of
humour and a good-natured fellow, he thought that the presence of the
magician, whom he believed to be an arrant humbug, would add mystery as
well as interest to the expedition.
Aglootook was himself thoroughly convinced on this point, and sought by
every means to induce the leader to disclose his object and plans, but
as Cheenbuk maintained inflexible reticence on this matter, the magician
made a virtue of necessity, shook his head solemnly when spoken to about
it, and gave it to be understood generally that in his and the leader's
minds there were rolling about thoughts and intentions that were far too
deep for utterance.
Cheenbuk would have offered a seat to Adolay, but her father thought it
better to decline for her. She was therefore left in the camp in care
of old Mangivik and his amiable spouse.
Travelling by dog-sledge among the Eskimos is rapid and exhilarating
when the ice is unbroken. When the explorers left the village and made
for the far east, the plain of ice before them was level and smooth as
far as the eye could reach. They therefore went along at a swinging
pace, the team stretching out at full gallop, a crack from the whip
resounding only now and then, when one of the dogs inclined to become
refractory.
The short day soon vanished, and the long night with its galaxy of stars
and shooting aurora still found them gliding swiftly over the white
plain.
At last a line of hummocks and icebergs rose up before them, as if to
bar their further progress, and the dogs reduced their speed to a trot,
until, on reaching the broken ice, they stopped altogether.
"We will camp here," said Cheenbuk, jumping off and stretching himself.
"Make the igloe there," he added, pointing to a convenient spot in the
lee of a small berg.
The whole party went to work, and in a wonderfully short time had
constructed one of their snow bee-hives large enough to contain them
all.
Here they ate a hasty supper and spent several hours in a slumber so
profound and motionless that it seemed as if they were all dead; not a
sigh, not even a snore, broke the stillness of the night. Next morning
they were up and off long before the first glimmer of dawn proclaimed
the advent of a new day.
Fortunately a passage among the ridges of broken ice was found, through
which the sledge was hauled with comparative ease, and before noon they
had reached the open sea-ice beyond, over which they again set forth at
full swing.
Little food had been brought, for they depended chiefly on their weapons
to supply them, and as seals abounded everywhere, as well as walruses,
they had no lack.
Thus they advanced for several days, sometimes being retarded a little
by broken ice, but for the most part dashing at full speed over smooth
surfaces.
One day they came to a long stretch of land, extending to the right and
left as far as the eye could reach, which seemed to be a check to their
progress, for it was extensively covered with willow bushes. Cheenbuk
climbed a neighbouring berg with Nazinred to have a look at it. The
Eskimo looked rather glum, for the idea of land-travelling and
struggling among willows was repugnant to him.
"I don't like the look of this," he said, turning to his companion;
"there seems no end to it."
"Let not my son be cast down," returned the Indian; "men-of-the-woods
understand the nature of land. This looks like a low flat, running out
from the mainland. If so, it is not likely to be very wide, and we
shall be sure to find the great salt lake on the other side of it.
Besides, away to the left I see something like a small lake. If we go
there we may find hard snow on which the dogs can run."
"There is bad fortune here," said Aglootook, endeavouring to look
oracular, as he came up at that moment with Anteek. "We must go far
away in _that_ direction," he added, pointing to the right, and looking
at his leader with the aspect as well as the wisdom of an owl.
The fact was that from the start the magician had been thirsting for
some opportunity to display his profound sagacity, and in his opinion
the time had arrived, for in other men's extremity he was wont to find
his opportunity. True, he knew no more than the king of Ashantee which
was the best line to take--right or left,--but much of the power he had
acquired over his fellows was due to his excessive self-sufficiency,
coupled with reckless promptitude in taking action. If things went well
he got the credit; if wrong--well, he was ingenious in devising
explanations!
"Aglootook is wise," said Cheenbuk, with gravity and a glance at Anteek;
"I will act on his advice, but first I must take just a little run to
the _left_, to find out something that I see there."
Anteek was not naturally rude, but there was a sensation in him at that
moment which induced him to turn his back on the magician and become
absorbed in the contemplation of a neighbouring berg. When he turned
round again his face was a little flushed.
Nazinred was right. There was not only a lake at the place which he
pointed out, but a chain of small lakes, over which the dogs scampered
as well as if they had been on the open sea. That night, however, they
were obliged to encamp among the willows, but next night they reached
the other side of what was evidently a large promontory, and finally
swept out again on the familiar frozen sea.
The day following they arrived at an obstruction which it appeared as if
neither the wisdom of Aglootook, the sagacity of Nazinred, nor the
determination of Cheenbuk could enable them to surmount.
This was a mighty barrier of broken ice, which had probably been
upheaved by the flow of cross currents when the sea was setting fast in
autumn, or the action of conflicting bergs, many of which were imbedded
in the mass, thus giving to it the appearance of a small mountain range
with higher peaks rising above the general elevation.
On beholding it Aglootook recovered some of his self-respect, and, with
a look of wisdom quite inconceivable by those who have not seen it,
expressed his solemn belief that they would have escaped this difficulty
if they had only acted on his advice, and travelled to the _right_.
Cheenbuk admitted that he seemed to have been mistaken, in a tone which
again set Anteek contemplating one of the neighbouring bergs with a
countenance not altogether devoid of colour, and the leader drove the
team towards the least forbidding part of the ridge.
"You will never get across," said Aglootook in a low voice.
"I will try," returned Cheenbuk.
"It is madness," said the magician.
"People have often called me mad," responded Cheenbuk, "so if they were
right I am well fitted to do it."
It was an exceedingly difficult crossing. In some places the blocks and
masses were heaped together in such confusion that it seemed as if the
attempt to pass were useless, and the magician solaced himself by
frequent undertoned references to the advantage in general of travelling
right instead of left. But always when things looked most hopeless the
indefatigable Cheenbuk found a passage--often very narrow and crooked,
it is true,--through which they managed to advance, and when the way was
blocked altogether, as it was more than once, Cheenbuk and the Indian
cleared a passage with their axes, while Anteek led the dogs over the
obstruction, and Oolalik guided the sledge over it. Nootka usually
stood on a convenient ice-mound and admired the proceedings, while
Aglootook, who had no axe, stood beside her and gave invaluable advice,
to which nobody paid the slightest attention.
At last, after many a fall and slip and tremendous slide, they reached
the other side of the ridge, and once again went swiftly and smoothly
over the level plain.
"We shall not find them," remarked Oolalik, becoming despondently
prophetic as he surveyed the wide expanse of frozen sea, with nothing
but bergs and hummocks here and there to break its uniformity.
"We must find them," replied Cheenbuk, with that energy of resolution
which usually assails a man of vigorous physique and strong will when
difficulties accumulate.
"But, my son, if we do not find them it will not matter much, for the
white traders of the woods have plenty of the hard stuff, and all other
things also, and when we return to the Greygoose River at the opening of
the waters, we may take the teeth of the walrus and the skins of the
seal and begin a trade with them. I have much of their goods in my own
wigwam, and Cheenbuk knows that I can guide him to the home of the
trader on the great fresh lake."
Oolalik glanced at Nootka while the Indian spoke, as if he felt that a
splendid prospect of decorative, ornamental, and other delights was
opening up to her. Nootka returned the glance as if she felt that a
splendid opportunity of securing such delights for her was opening up to
_him_.
Cheenbuk did not reply, being engaged in the profound abysses of thought
which had been opened up by his red friend's suggestion.
Before he could find words to reply, Nazinred, whose vision was keen and
practised, pointed out something that appeared like a cloud on the
horizon ahead of them, and which he declared to be land.
"I have noticed that the eyes of the man-of-the-woods are sharper than
those of the Eskimo," said Cheenbuk.
The Indian received this compliment with a gaze of calm indifference, as
though he heard it not.
Just then an exclamation from Anteek attracted general attention. He
pointed to a mound of snow on the ice a short way to the left of the
track which had a peculiar shape.
"Something covered over with snow," said Cheenbuk, turning the dogs in
that direction by the simple but significant expedient of sending his
long whip with a resonant crack to the right of the team.
"It is a man," remarked Nazinred as they drew near.
He was right. On clearing away the snow they found the dead body of a
man, some portions of whose costume resembled that of a sailor, though
of course none of those who discovered it were aware of that fact.
"Kablunet!" exclaimed Cheenbuk, using the Eskimo term for white man.
How long the poor man had lain there it was not easy to guess, for the
body was frozen stiff, so that decay was impossible, but the fact that
it had not been discovered by bears argued that it could not have lain
long. Its emaciated appearance and the empty sack slung across the
shoulder showed that death must have been the result of starvation.
There was a short loaded carbine lying beside the body, and in a pouch a
flask of powder with a few bullets.
"I think," said Nazinred, after careful inspection of the remains, "that
this is one of the white men who come over the salt lake in their big
canoes."
"If so," said Cheenbuk, "we will follow his track, and may come to the
big canoe itself; perhaps some of the Kablunets may be yet alive."
The Indian shook his head.
"Men do not start off alone on a journey to nowhere," he replied. "The
big canoe must have been crushed in the ice, and the men must have
started off together to search for Eskimos. I think they must all have
died on the way, and this one walked farthest."
"The man-of-the-woods is wise," said Oolalik. "If we follow the track
we shall soon find out."
"Yes," said Aglootook, putting on his most prophetic air. "Go on the
track straight as we can go--that is _my_ advice, and we shall be quite
sure to come to _something_."
Cheenbuk acted on the advice. Having buried the body of the unfortunate
sailor in a snow-grave, and taken possession of the carbine and other
things, they leaped on the sledge again, and continued to advance along
the track, which, though in some places almost obliterated, was easily
followed. They had not advanced more than a mile when another mound was
discovered, with another seaman below it, whom they buried in the same
way, and close to it a third, whose costume being in some parts a little
finer, they correctly guessed to be a chief.
At last they came in sight of a large mound, and on uncovering it found
a boat with four dead men lying near it. All seemed to have died of
starvation, and the reason why some of them had forsaken the boat was
obvious, for it was crushed out of shape by ice; the bottom having been
cut completely away, so that all the provisions they had to depend on
had no doubt been lost.
"This is not the big canoe," remarked the Indian, while they examined
it. "The big one must have been sunk, and they had to try to escape in
the little one."
The party spent a long time in examining the boat, and as there was a
good deal of iron about it which might be useful, they resolved to
re-visit it on the homeward journey.
Setting off again, they now made straight for the land discovered by
Nazinred, which now lay like a dark blue line of hills in the far
distance. From the abrupt termination of the land at either extremity
of the range it was judged to be a large island.
As the night was clear and the ice level, the party travelled all that
night, and arrived at the island about daybreak the following morning.
The shore was rocky and desolate, with high cliffs behind it, so that
further progress to the eastward was evidently impossible, unless by
passing round the island to the north or south of it.
"I said you would come to _something_," said the magician,
sententiously, as they drew near to the forbidding coast.
"You were right, Aglootook. Indeed, it would be impossible for you to
be wrong," replied Cheenbuk, with one of those glances at Anteek which
rendered it hard for the boy to preserve his gravity; yet he was
constrained to make the effort, for the magician was very sensitive on
the point, and suspected the boy.
They were by this time running between the headlands of a small bay, and
suddenly came in sight of an object which caused them all to exclaim
with surprise and excitement--for there, under the shelter of a high
cliff, lay a three-masted ship, or, as the Indian termed it, the white
man's big canoe.