He had followed the trail of his fleeing people for eleven days, and
his pursuit had been in itself a flight; for behind him he knew full
well were the dreaded Russians, toiling through the swampy lowlands and
over the steep divides, bent on no less than the extermination of all
his people. He was travelling light. A rabbit-skin sleeping-robe, a
muzzle-loading rifle, and a few pounds of sun-dried salmon constituted
his outfit. He would have marvelled that a whole people--women and
children and aged--could travel so swiftly, had he not known the terror
that drove them on.
It was in the old days of the Russian occupancy of Alaska, when the
nineteenth century had run but half its course, that Negore fled after
his fleeing tribe and came upon it this summer night by the head waters
of the Pee-lat. Though near the midnight hour, it was bright day as he
passed through the weary camp. Many saw him, all knew him, but few and
cold were the greetings he received.
"Negore, the Coward," he heard Illiha, a young woman, laugh, and
Sun-ne, his sister's daughter, laughed with her.
Black anger ate at his heart; but he gave no sign, threading his way
among the camp-fires until he came to one where sat an old man. A young
woman was kneading with skilful fingers the tired muscles of his legs.
He raised a sightless face and listened intently as Negore's foot
crackled a dead twig.
"Who comes?" he queried in a thin, tremulous voice.
"Negore," said the young woman, scarcely looking up from her task.
Negore's face was expressionless. For many minutes he stood and waited.
The old man's head had sunk back upon his chest. The young woman
pressed and prodded the wasted muscles, resting her body on her knees,
her bowed head hidden as in a cloud by her black wealth of hair. Negore
watched the supple body, bending at the hips as a lynx's body might
bend, pliant as a young willow stalk, and, withal, strong as only
youth is strong. He looked, and was aware of a great yearning, akin in
sensation to physical hunger. At last he spoke, saying:
"Is there no greeting for Negore, who has been long gone and has but
now come back?"
She looked up at him with cold eyes. The old man chuckled to himself
after the manner of the old.
"Thou art my woman, Oona," Negore said, his tones dominant and
conveying a hint of menace.
She arose with catlike ease and suddenness to her full height, her eyes
flashing, her nostrils quivering like a deer's.
"I was thy woman to be, Negore, but thou art a coward; the daughter of
Old Kinoos mates not with a coward!"
She silenced him with an imperious gesture as he strove to speak.
"Old Kinoos and I came among you from a strange land. Thy people
took us in by their fires and made us warm, nor asked whence or why
we wandered. It was their thought that Old Kinoos had lost the sight
of his eyes from age; nor did Old Kinoos say otherwise, nor did I,
his daughter. Old Kinoos is a brave man, but Old Kinoos was never a
boaster. And now, when I tell thee of how his blindness came to be,
thou wilt know, beyond question, that the daughter of Kinoos cannot
mother the children of a coward such as thou art, Negore."
Again she silenced the speech that rushed up to his tongue.
"Know, Negore, if journey be added unto journey of all thy journeyings
through this land, thou wouldst not come to the unknown Sitka on the
Great Salt Sea. In that place there be many Russian folk, and their
rule is harsh. And from Sitka, Old Kinoos, who was Young Kinoos in
those days, fled away with me, a babe in his arms, along the islands
in the midst of the sea. My mother dead tells the tale of his wrong; a
Russian, dead with a spear through breast and back, tells the tale of
the vengeance of Kinoos.
"But wherever we fled, and however far we fled, always did we find the
hated Russian folk. Kinoos was unafraid, but the sight of them was a
hurt to his eyes; so we fled on and on, through the seas and years,
till we came to the Great Fog Sea, Negore, of which thou hast heard,
but which thou hast never seen. We lived among many peoples, and I grew
to be a woman; but Kinoos, growing old, took to him no other woman, nor
did I take a man.
"At last we came to Pastolik, which is where the Yukon drowns itself in
the Great Fog Sea. Here we lived long, on the rim of the sea, among a
people by whom the Russians were well hated. But sometimes they came,
these Russians, in great ships, and made the people of Pastolik show
them the way through the islands uncountable of the many-mouthed Yukon.
And sometimes the men they took to show them the way never came back,
till the people became angry and planned a great plan.
"So, when there came a ship, Old Kinoos stepped forward and said he
would show the way. He was an old man then, and his hair was white;
but he was unafraid. And he was cunning, for he took the ship to where
the sea sucks in to the land and the waves beat white on the mountain
called Romanoff. The sea sucked the ship in to where the waves beat
white, and it ground upon the rocks and broke open its sides. Then
came all the people of Pastolik, (for this was the plan), with their
war-spears, and arrows, and some few guns. But first the Russians put
out the eyes of Old Kinoos that he might never show the way again,
and then they fought, where the waves beat white, with the people of
Pastolik.
"Now the head-man of these Russians was Ivan. He it was, with his two
thumbs, who drove out the eyes of Kinoos. He it was who fought his way
through the white water, with two men left of all his men, and went
away along the rim of the Great Fog Sea into the north. Kinoos was
wise. He could see no more and was helpless as a child. So he fled away
from the sea, up the great, strange Yukon, even to Nulato, and I fled
with him.
"This was the deed my father did, Kinoos, an old man. But how did the
young man, Negore?"
Once again she silenced him.
"With my own eyes I saw, at Nulato, before the gates of the great
fort, and but few days gone. I saw the Russian, Ivan, who thrust out
my father's eyes, lay the lash of his dog-whip upon thee and beat
thee like a dog. This I saw, and knew thee for a coward. But I saw
thee not, that night, when all thy people--yea, even the boys not yet
hunters--fell upon the Russians and slew them all."
"Not Ivan," said Negore, quietly. "Even now is he on our heels, and
with him many Russians fresh up from the sea."
Oona made no effort to hide her surprise and chagrin that Ivan was not
dead, but went on:
"In the day I saw thee a coward; in the night, when all men fought,
even the boys not yet hunters, I saw thee not and knew thee doubly a
coward."
"Thou art done? All done?" Negore asked.
She nodded her head and looked at him askance, as though astonished
that he should have aught to say.
"Know then that Negore is no coward," he said; and his speech was very
low and quiet. "Know that when I was yet a boy I journeyed alone down
to the place where the Yukon drowns itself in the Great Fog Sea. Even
to Pastolik I journeyed, and even beyond, into the north, along the rim
of the sea. This I did when I was a boy, and I was no coward. Nor was
I coward when I journeyed, a young man and alone, up the Yukon farther
than man had ever been, so far that I came to another folk, with white
faces, who live in a great fort and talk speech other than that the
Russians talk. Also have I killed the great bear of the Tanana country,
where no one of my people hath ever been. And I have fought with the
Nuklukyets, and the Kaltags, and the Sticks in far regions, even I, and
alone. These deeds, whereof no man knows, I speak for myself. Let my
people speak for me of things I have done which they know. They will
not say Negore is a coward."
He finished proudly, and proudly waited.
"These be things which happened before I came into the land," she said,
"and I know not of them. Only do I know what I know, and I know I saw
thee lashed like a dog in the day; and in the night, when the great
fort flamed red and the men killed and were killed, I saw thee not.
Also, thy people do call thee Negore, the Coward. It is thy name now,
Negore, the Coward."
"It is not a good name," Old Kinoos chuckled.
"Thou dost not understand, Kinoos," Negore said gently. "But I shall
make thee understand. Know that I was away on the hunt of the bear,
with Kamo-tah, my mother's son. And Kamo-tah fought with a great bear.
We had no meat for three days, and Kamo-tah was not strong of arm nor
swift of foot. And the great bear crushed him, so, till his bones
cracked like dry sticks. Thus I found him, very sick and groaning upon
the ground. And there was no meat, nor could I kill aught that the sick
man might eat.
"So I said, 'I will go to Nulato and bring thee food, also strong men
to carry thee to camp.' And Kamo-tah said, 'Go thou to Nulato and get
food, but say no word of what has befallen me. And when I have eaten,
and am grown well and strong, I will kill this bear. Then will I return
in honor to Nulato, and no man may laugh and say Kamo-tah was undone by
a bear.'
"So I gave heed to my brother's words; and when I was come to Nulato,
and the Russian, Ivan, laid the lash of his dog-whip upon me, I knew
I must not fight. For no man knew of Kamo-tah, sick and groaning and
hungry; and did I fight with Ivan, and die, then would my brother die,
too. So it was, Oona, that thou sawest me beaten like a dog.
"Then I heard the talk of the shamans and chiefs that the Russians
had brought strange sicknesses upon the people, and killed our men,
and stolen our women, and that the land must be made clean. As I say,
I heard the talk, and I knew it for good talk, and I knew that in
the night the Russians were to be killed. But there was my brother,
Kamo-tah, sick and groaning and with no meat; so I could not stay and
fight with the men and the boys not yet hunters.
"And I took with me meat and fish, and the lash-marks of Ivan, and
I found Kamo-tah no longer groaning, but dead. Then I went back to
Nulato, and, behold, there was no Nulato--only ashes where the great
fort had stood, and the bodies of many men. And I saw the Russians come
up the Yukon in boats, fresh from the sea, many Russians; and I saw
Ivan creep forth from where he lay hid and make talk with them. And the
next day I saw Ivan lead them upon the trail of the tribe. Even now are
they upon the trail, and I am here, Negore, but no coward."
"This is a tale I hear," said Oona, though her voice was gentler than
before. "Kamo-tah is dead and cannot speak for thee, and I know only
what I know, and I must know thee of my own eyes for no coward."
Negore made an impatient gesture.
"There be ways and ways," she added. "Art thou willing to do no less
than what Old Kinoos hath done?"
He nodded his head, and waited.
"As thou hast said, they seek for us even now, these Russians. Show
them the way, Negore, even as Old Kinoos showed them the way, so that
they come, unprepared, to where we wait for them, in a passage up the
rocks. Thou knowest the place, where the wall is broken and high. Then
will we destroy them, even Ivan. When they cling like flies to the
wall, and top is no less near than bottom, our men shall fall upon them
from above and either side, with spears, and arrows, and guns. And the
women and children, from above, shall loosen the great rocks and hurl
them down upon them. It will be a great day, for the Russians will be
killed, the land will be made clean, and Ivan, even Ivan who thrust
out my father's eyes and laid the lash of his dog-whip upon thee, will
be killed. Like a dog gone mad will he die, his breath crushed out of
him beneath the rocks. And when the fighting begins, it is for thee,
Negore, to crawl secretly away so that thou be not slain."
"Even so," he answered. "Negore will show them the way. And then?"
"And then I shall be thy woman, Negore's woman, the brave man's woman.
And thou shalt hunt meat for me and Old Kinoos, and I shall cook thy
food, and sew thee warm parkas and strong, and make thee moccasins
after the way of my people, which is a better way than thy people's
way. And as I say, I shall be thy woman, Negore, always thy woman.
And I shall make thy life glad for thee, so that all thy days will be
a song and laughter, and thou wilt know the woman Oona as unlike all
other women, for she has journeyed far, and lived in strange places,
and is wise in the ways of men and in the ways they may be made glad.
And in thine old age will she still make thee glad, and thy memory
of her in the days of thy strength will be sweet, for thou wilt know
always that she was ease to thee, and peace, and rest, and that beyond
all women to other men has she been woman to thee."
"Even so," said Negore, and the hunger for her ate at his heart, and
his arms went out for her as a hungry man's arms might go out for food.
"When thou hast shown the way, Negore," she chided him; but her eyes
were soft, and warm, and he knew she looked upon him as woman had never
looked before.
"It is well," he said, turning resolutely on his heel. "I go now to
make talk with the chiefs, so that they may know I am gone to show the
Russians the way."
"Oh, Negore, my man! my man!" she said to herself, as she watched him
go, but she said it so softly that even Old Kinoos did not hear, and
his ears were over keen, what of his blindness.
* * * * *
Three days later, having with craft ill-concealed his hiding-place,
Negore was dragged forth like a rat and brought before Ivan--"Ivan the
Terrible" he was known by the men who marched at his back. Negore was
armed with a miserable bone-barbed spear, and he kept his rabbit-skin
robe wrapped closely about him, and though the day was warm he shivered
as with an ague. He shook his head that he did not understand the
speech Ivan put at him, and made that he was very weary and sick, and
wished only to sit down and rest, pointing the while to his stomach in
sign of his sickness, and shivering fiercely. But Ivan had with him a
man from Pastolik who talked the speech of Negore, and many and vain
were the questions they asked him concerning his tribe, till the man
from Pastolik, who was called Karduk, said:
"It is the word of Ivan that thou shalt be lashed till thou diest if
thou dost not speak. And know, strange brother, when I tell thee the
word of Ivan is the law, that I am thy friend and no friend of Ivan.
For I come not willingly from my country by the sea, and I desire
greatly to live; wherefore I obey the will of my master--as thou wilt
obey, strange brother, if thou art wise, and wouldst live."
"Nay, strange brother," Negore answered, "I know not the way my people
are gone, for I was sick, and they fled so fast my legs gave out from
under me, and I fell behind."
Negore waited while Karduk talked with Ivan. Then Negore saw the
Russian's face go dark, and he saw the men step to either side of him,
snapping the lashes of their whips. Whereupon he betrayed a great
fright, and cried aloud that he was a sick man and knew nothing, but
would tell what he knew. And to such purpose did he tell, that Ivan
gave the word to his men to march, and on either side of Negore marched
the men with the whips, that he might not run away. And when he made
that he was weak of his sickness, and stumbled and walked not so fast
as they walked, they laid their lashes upon him till he screamed with
pain and discovered new strength. And when Karduk told him all would he
well with him when they had overtaken his tribe, he asked, "And then
may I rest and move not?"