A Number of Peculiar People appear, and the Castaways
disappear from the Rock of Good Hope.
"We worked away at the sledge as fast as possible, being bent upon
having it finished and getting off from the island as quickly as we
could.
"At last it was completed, and we dragged it down to the beach and out
upon the ice. Finding that it went better than we had dared to expect,
we returned to our hut, and, bundling together such of our furs and
other things as we thought we should require on the long journey before
us, carried them down and stowed them on the sledge. Among them were
included one lamp, one pot, and one cup. We could not drag a very heavy
load, even if the sledge would bear up under it, so we had to limit
ourselves to the least possible allowance of everything. Food was, of
course, more important to us than anything else, and of this we
determined to take all that we could put upon the sledge with safety.
"All this time we felt very sad, and we worked in a very gloomy spirit.
Everything appeared so uncertain before us; the journey we were about to
undertake, at first seeming to promise so hopefully, had become a very
doubtful undertaking; and, since day after day passed by without
bringing the savages upon us, we got to be less afraid of them, and in
this same proportion was reduced our confidence in the propriety of
leaving the island in this manner for an unknown place, and in utter
ignorance as to whether the savage had told us truth about the ships.
"However, as you have seen before, when the Dean and I got an idea in
our heads we did not easily abandon it. Once determined to make the
trial, we had persevered until we had obtained a sledge; and now, as I
have told you, it was already half loaded.
"But we might have saved ourselves all this trouble, as you will soon
see.
"While in the very midst of our packing, we were suddenly startled by a
loud noise. Looking up from our work, and turning in the direction
whence the sound proceeded, there, to our horror and dismay, were the
very savages we had been for so long a time expecting. They were just
rounding a point of the island, and were nearing us at a rapid pace.
"We soon discovered them to be five in number, each riding upon a
sledge, drawn by wild and fierce-looking dogs, that made a great outcry
as soon as they saw us, as did also the savages on the sledges.
"'At last,' thought I, 'our time has come. We shall be murdered now for
certain, and then be given to the dogs for food.'
"'Oh!' exclaimed the Dean, 'if our poor mothers only knew where we
were!'
"Dangerous as appeared to be our situation, I could still not help
asking the Dean whether he did not think it would be quite as much to
the purpose if we only knew where we were ourselves,--to which, however,
he made no reply, for the savages were almost upon us. Seizing our
weapons, we prepared to defend ourselves, since there was no use trying
to run away, as the dogs would be atop of us before we could reach the
hut.
"But there was not the least use of our being so much alarmed, for the
savages soon convinced us that they meant no harm. They would not let
their dogs come near us, but kept them off, and, stopping, tied them
fast. Then, without any weapons in their hands, they came up to us in a
most friendly manner, all _yeh-yeh_-ing at a wonderful rate. So we took
the five of them right off up to the hut, and now our fears were turned
into rejoicing and our sorrow into joy. One of them was Eatum, and they
all proved to be just as singular-looking people, and were as curious
about us and about everything we had as Eatum had been. Their faces were
on a broad grin all the while.
"Having learned something of their language from Eatum, as I told you
before, we contrived to make them understand, with the aid of a great
many signs, how the ship had been wrecked, and how we got first to the
ice and then to the land,--for this they were most curious about,--and
they were greatly puzzled to know how we came to be there at all. After
this they treated us quite affectionately, patting us on the back, and
exclaiming, _Tyma, tyma_, which we knew to mean 'Good, good,' as Eatum
had told us. Then Eatum wanted to show himself off in our language, and,
pointing to us, he said, 'Hunter plenty good, plenty eat get. All same,'
(pointing to himself by way of illustration, and thus finishing it,)
'_tyma? yeh-yeh, yeh!_' which was the way he had of laughing, as I told
you before, and all the rest _yeh, yeh_-ed just like him. One of them we
called at once 'Old Grim,' because he _yeh-yeh_-ed with his insides;
but no laugh ever showed itself in his face.
"After their curiosity was satisfied, they imitated Eatum, and began to
call loudly, _drinkum_ and then _eatum_,--_yeh-yeh_-ing as before in a
very lively manner; so that, what with their _yeh-yeh_-ing and _eatum_
and _drinkum_, there was quite a merry time of it. Meanwhile, however,
we were busying ourselves to satisfy their wants, and it was not long
before the savages were as full as they could hold. It was a curious
sight to see them eat. They would put one end of a great chunk of meat
in the mouth, and, holding tight to the other end, they would cut it off
close up to the lips. Our seal-blubber they treated in the same way. To
this blubber they seemed to be very partial; and, indeed, all people
living in cold climates soon grow fond of fat of every kind. It is such
strong food, which people require there as much as they do warm
clothing, and in great quantities too. The people living in the Arctic
regions have little desire for vegetable food; and the savages there eat
nothing but meat, fish, and fat.
"Our guests did not leave off eating until each had consumed a quantity
of food equal at least to the size of his head; and then they grew
drowsy, and wanted to _singikpok_, which we knew from Eatum meant sleep;
and in _singikpok_ we were glad enough to indulge them, although greatly
to our inconvenience, for they nearly filled our hut.
"But before this we went down to the sledge and brought up the furs and
other things we had stowed upon it for our journey, as we needed them
for the accommodation of our visitors. The savages went with us, and
when they saw what a sledge we had made, and understood what sort of
journey we were going upon, they laughed.
"You must understand, however, that we did not give up the journey; but,
on the contrary, were more than ever disposed to make it. For, although
we could see no harm in the savages, yet we put no trust in them,--they
appeared to have no serious side to them at all, but treated everything
with such levity that we could not tell what to make of them. Sometimes
we wished they would go away; and then again we wished they would stay;
and then we wished they would take us with them, and then again we were
afraid to trust them. Thus did our hopes and fears alternately get the
better of us.
"The savages slept very soundly for a while; but one by one they woke
up, and, as soon as their eyes were open, they fell to eating again
until they were satisfied, and then in a minute afterwards they were
fast asleep. This they kept up for about two days, and you may be sure
they made way with a great deal of our provisions before they had
finished.
"When they had thoroughly gorged themselves, and slept all they could,
they were ready to start off again; and now we found that they had come
to take us away,--a discovery which was both agreeable and disagreeable;
for we could not tell what to make of the savages at all, we could
understand so little of what they meant, or of what they said, or of
what their designs might be respecting us.
"'However,' we thought, 'after all here is a possible chance of escape
and rescue,' and, like a drowning man catching at a straw, we could not
seriously think of allowing the opportunity to slip; besides, there
proved in the end to be little chance of our having our own will in the
matter, since the savages never once asked us if we would go with them,
but began to bundle up our furs, food, and blubber, and everything else
we had, as if resolved to take us whether or no.
"At first we felt a little alarm,--without expressing it, however; but,
seeing how good-natured they were about it, and how considerate they
appeared to be for us, we had no further fear, but trusted them
entirely.
"The savages went to work with a hearty good-will to get us off. Not a
thing escaped them,--not a piece of fur of any kind; fox-skins,
bird-skins, bear-skins, pots, lamps, and everything else, were picked up
and carried off just as if we had no right to them at all; and although
there were, as I have said, five sledges, yet these were all quite
heavily laden.
"As we passed down by our sledge, the savages set up another laugh at
it. It seemed to amuse them very much, but they showed no disposition to
take it along.
"At last we were all ready. The sledges were all stowed, everything was
tightly lashed down, and off we started,--I riding on the sledge with
Eatum, while the Dean was on the sledge of 'Old Grim.'
"The Dean carried his 'Delight,' of course, while I held on to 'Old
Crumply.' Nor were our 'palm and needle,' and jack-knife, that had done
such good service, forgotten. Indeed, we brought away everything.
"Of course we were very much rejoiced to get away from the Rock of Good
Hope, even although our fortunes were yet very uncertain; still, it had
been our rock of refuge and safety, and, in our thankfulness, we could
not fail to cast upon it a look of tender regret at parting from it.
Together there the Dean and I had achieved many triumphs which were to
us a source of great pride, and would always continue to be as long as
we lived; while, on the other hand, if we had suffered many discomforts
and sorrows, these would not, we knew, linger long in the memory.
Besides, on the Rock of Good Hope, and in the hut we were leaving, we
had learned to know each other, and to love each other, and to be bound
together by a strong bond of friendship, which, as it was formed in
adversity, was not likely to be broken.
"But then, on the other hand, the prospect that loomed up ahead of us
was not of a very encouraging description. 'Where were the savages
taking us? what would they do with us?' were questions which kept
haunting us all the time. We could see nothing clearly; and no matter
what might happen in the end for our advantage, we must, in any case,
live among these wild people for an indefinite time, subject to their
savage caprices and savage and lawless ways of life.
"But we soon had to give up speculating about the prospect ahead, and
had to let the Rock of Good Hope, and the hut, and the life we had led
there, with its struggles and trials and triumphs, pass away as some
vaguely remembered dream; for on we sped, with our caravan of sledges,
over the frozen sea,--the dogs all lively, and galloping away with their
bushy tails curled over their backs, and their heads up; their savage
drivers crying to them, now and then, '_Ka-ka! ka-ka!_' and snapping
their whips to keep them at a brisker run, and all the while talking to
each other in a loud voice,--sometimes, as we could clearly understand,
about ourselves, sometimes whether they should go off on a bear-hunt.
Occasionally one of the teams would scent a seal-hole, and away the dogs
would rush towards it as hard as they could go, all the other teams
following after, pell-mell; and, when they reached the hole, it was all
the hunters could do, by whipping and shouting and scolding, to keep the
teams from coming atop of each other, and getting into a snarl. Once
this happened with two of the teams. The dogs all became tangled in each
other's traces, the sledges got locked together, and the animals fell to
fighting, one team against the other, in a most vicious manner.
"This was such a novel mode of travelling that we enjoyed it immensely,
even although it was pretty cold and the journey was very long. It
seemed strange to us to be thus wandering, without chart or compass,
over the great ice-desert on the sea; for all around us was nothing but
a great plain of whiteness, only broken here and there by an iceberg,
which glittered like a great diamond in the bright sunshine.
[Illustration: The Children of the Frozen Sea.]
"We must have gone at least sixty or seventy miles before we made a
single halt; and then we came to the village where these savages lived.
It was not on the land, but out on the frozen sea over which we had
travelled. As we approached, the dogs ran very fast. '_Igloo, igloo!_'
exclaimed the savages, pointing, when we neared the village. As we had
already learned that _igloo_ meant hut, in their language, we were much
rejoiced; for we were very tired with the long journey, and cold
besides. But still we fell to wondering what sort of place this was we
were coming to, and what strange sight we were next going to see.
"Old Grim drove his sledge close up along side of Eatum's, trying to
pass; and we went into the village with a perfect rush,--the men
shouting, the dogs barking, and everything in an uproar generally.
"While this race between Old Grim and Eatum was going on, the Dean and I
were for a few moments side by side, and near together. The Dean called
out to me, 'Hardy, this don't seem real, does it? These ain't dogs, they
are wolves; these ain't men, they're devils'; and, as I looked over at
Old Grim, and saw him throwing his long whip to right and left, and
heard him calling out to his dogs in a language which seemed like
nothing human, and all the while preserving the same immovable
expression of countenance, I must confess that there seemed to be a
great deal of truth in what the Dean said.
"Thus it was we went rushing into the village. And a strange village,
indeed, it proved to be,--nothing but a collection of huts made of
frost-hardened snow. There were in all six of them.
"Many more savages were there, who came out to meet us; and their dogs
rushed out too, making a great noise; and when we had halted, a number
of women joined them, all dressed in furs just like the men, and also
children dressed in the same way, and all very curious about us, and all
_yeh-yeh_-ing a great deal. Indeed, we made such a commotion in the
village as never was seen before.
"But everybody appeared to be kindly disposed towards us, and into one
of the huts we were both taken immediately, and down we sat on the floor
of the hut, which was covered all over with bear-skins. There were two
lamps in it, almost exactly like ours, and two pots were hanging over
them. We had soon a good meal, and very quickly after that were sound
asleep; and even although it was a snow hut, and among savages, we were
thankful in our very heart of hearts. And our thankfulness was because
we were among human beings once more, and felt no longer as if we were
wholly cast away from the world; and we now felt hopeful that through
these savages would come means of escape to our homes. We felt thankful,
too, that they treated us so kindly,--the women especially; for, savages
though they were, they were possessed of much feeling and sympathy. One
of the women made the Dean go to sleep with his head in her lap, which
it was easy to see he did not like a bit; and, before this, she had fed
him with her own fingers, and, while he was sleeping, she stroked his
bright hair away from his handsome face. Another of the women treated me
very much in the same way; but being older, and not handsome, like the
Dean, I did not come in for so many favors.
"Then, besides that, the women took off our damp fur stockings, and gave
us dry ones before we went to sleep; and they seemed to want to do
everything they could for us, so that we soon became convinced they
meant us no harm. The woman who was particularly kind to me was the wife
of Eatum; and the Dean and I at once called her Mrs. Eatum, which made
them all _yeh-yeh_ very much; and they got to calling her that too,--as
near, at least, as they could pronounce it which was, _Impsuseatum_. Her
right name was _Serkut_, which means 'little nose'; Eatum's right name
was _Tuk-tuk_, that is, reindeer, because he could run very fast. There
were two young Eatums; and when I began to play with them, I grew in
great favor with the Eatum family.
"The Dean was quite as well off for patrons as I, being specially taken
care of by a woman whose husband had been one of our party. Her name I
forget now, but it meant 'big toes.' So what with nursing by 'Mrs.
Little-nose' and 'Mrs. Big-toes,' and with plenty of seal meat to eat,
the Dean and I got on famously. The name of Mrs. Big-toes' husband was
_Awak_, which means walrus. He was a fine hunter, and had plenty of
dogs. These dogs, I should mention, were always allowed to run loose
about the village; and, no matter how cold it was, they slept on the
snow. But their harness had to be taken off, else they would eat it; and
everything eatable was buried out of sight in the snow, or brought
inside the hut.
"After we had been eating, and sleeping, and enjoying the hospitality of
these savages about three days, a young hunter whose name was _Kossuit_,
which meant that he was a little dark-skinned fellow, came driving into
the village (he had been out prospecting for a hunt), proclaiming, in a
very loud voice, that there was a great crack in the ice, and that it
was alive with walrus and seal. There was immediately a great stir, and
a great harnessing of dogs, and hunting up of whips, and getting
together of harpoons and spears and lines. Everybody was going on the
hunt, that is, all the men and boys. When all was ready, Eatum came to
me, and said, 'Ketchum _awak_, ketchum _pussay_, you go?' meaning, would
we go with them, and catch walrus and seals. Of course we said 'yes,'
and off we started at a wild pace; the Dean riding with Kossuit, while I
rode with Eatum. We had to go I should think four miles before we came
to the crack; and, when we reached it, we found it to be as Kossuit had
described it. As soon as the savages saw the crack, they stopped their
dogs, which was done by crying, _Eigh, eigh, eigh!_ to them, and
whipping then:, fiercely if they did not mind soon enough. The dogs
being now fastened by running the points of the runners into the snow,
the hunters went forward with their lines and spears and harpoons; and,
by approaching the side of the crack very cautiously, they managed at
length to get near enough to throw their harpoons into the animals when
they came up to the surface to breathe. Their mode of capturing them was
almost the same as that which we employed in catching seals, after
finding it out for ourselves. Thus you see how all people in the same
conditions of life will naturally be led to the same way of providing
for their wants,--our senses being given to us all, whether savage or
civilized, for the same purpose. I have showed you already how, in our
mode of starting a fire, in our lamp, pot, and other domestic
implements; our clothing, harpoon, and the like,--we had imitated these
savages unconsciously; and the more I was with them, the more I saw how
much we were like them.
"Knowing how we killed the seals, it is not necessary to tell you how
the savages managed; and catching the walrus was just the same, only
more difficult, for a walrus is several times larger than a seal. You
know the walrus are those huge marine animals, living in the Arctic
seas, that have long white tusks, and look so fierce. They make a very
loud and very hideous noise; and in the summer, like the seals, they
come up on the ice, or on the rocks along the shore, in great numbers,
to bask and sleep in the sun.
"It is enough to say there was a great deal of sport, and a great deal
of excitement, not unmixed with danger. One of the hunters got a line
tangled about his legs, and was whipped over into the water, where he
was not noticed, except to be laughed at, while all the hunters went on
with what they were about, letting him shift for himself,--little
caring, as it appeared, whether he drowned or not; and I really believe
he would have drowned, had it not been for the assistance of the Dean
and myself. This was the first time I had observed how reckless these
people were of their lives.
"There were in the party altogether nine sledges, with one good hunter
to each sledge. Five of them were old men and four were young men,
besides which there were six boys of various ages; and these, with the
Dean and myself, made seventeen. By helping each other all round, we
caught seven seals and three walruses,--all of which we skinned and
quartered, and put on the sledges; and then we returned to the
village,--walking back, however, as the load on the sledges was too
heavy to allow us to ride.
"When we reached the village, the women came out to meet us, talking
very much, and _yeh, yeh_-ing louder than ever; and now I observed that
they took all the game we had captured, and butchered it, the men doing
nothing at all but look after their dogs. It was thought to be a
disgrace for a man to do any work about his hut.
"The Dean and I had taken our full share in the hunt, and won much
admiration. Before, they had treated us with a kind of pity, but now
they had great respect for us. Eatum said, 'Much good hunter you.'
"Seeing that we were good hunters, they were now going to marry us right
off, that we might have wives to cut up our seals when we brought them
home, which proposition put us in a great embarrassment. If we refused,
they might be offended, as was very natural; so I accepted their offer
at once without a moment's hesitation, appearing as if I was very glad,
and thought it a great compliment indeed; but at the same time I told
them, with a very grave face, that all our relations lived in a far-off
country, to which we were obliged to go as soon as a ship came that way;
and, of course, when we did go, the wives they gave us would go along.
As none of the young women were willing to take us on these conditions,
although not very flattering to us, we got out of the difficulty without
offending anybody. At first the Dean was quite indignant, but afterwards
he laughed, and said, 'Why, just think of it! Mrs. Hardy and Mrs. Dean
in seal-skin breeches and long boots,--a jolly idea indeed!' But one of
the girls was fond enough of the Dean for all, only she mustn't show it;
for these people are mighty particular about that. When all is arranged
by the parents, the girl is obliged, even then, to say she won't have
her lover. So the lover has to steal up, and take her unawares, and run
off with her bodily. Of coarse, if she really likes the fellow, and
wants to get married to him, he has an easy time enough of it; but if,
on the other hand, she dislikes him, she can readily get away from him.
"Old Grim (whose right name was Metak, meaning eider-duck) had an
adventure of this sort, as they told me, which resulted very differently
from what usually happens. He was then quite a young man, but, having
caught a seal, he thought it was time he had a wife. Meanwhile a wife
had been provided for him by his father, who had made the bargain with
the girl's father. The girl was told who her husband was to be, but it
would have been against all rules to tell her when he was coming after
her. Well, as I have said, having caught his first seal, Metak made up
his mind to have a wife to butcher it for him; so he set out for the
snow hut of his lady-love's father, where the dusky-faced girl was lying
fast asleep, all rolled up in furs.
"As it was contrary to custom for any girl to be captured in a hut, but
must be taken on the wing, as it were, Metak had to wait for her to come
out, which she finally did, and passed very near a deep bank of snow,
behind which her lover was lying, shivering with cold, and crying with
impatience. Quick as a fox to pounce upon an unsuspecting rabbit was
Metak to pounce upon the unsuspecting girl. He seized her, and started
for his sledge. She screamed, she pulled his hair, she tore his fur, she
bit his fingers; but the valiant Metak held manfully to his purpose, and
would not let her go. He reached the sledge, and put her on it; he tied
her there, and, springing on himself, he whipped up his dogs, and
started for his home. But the refractory damsel would not stay tied. She
cut the lashings with her teeth, she seized the whip out of Metak's
hands, she pushed Metak off the sledge, and sent him sprawling on the
snow; and then she wheeled the dogs around, and fairly made them fly
again on the backward track to her father's hut, where she crawled once
more into her nest of furs, and where the luckless Metak was ever
afterwards content to let her stay, satisfied that he was no match for
her.
"This story was told by Eatum one evening in the snow hut, while Old
Grim was present, and it was evidently a standing joke against him. He
did not seem to relish it at all, for he went out of the hut as if
driven away by their shouts of laughter. I could not understand the
language well enough to fully appreciate the story at the time, but
afterward I got Eatum to repeat it to me.
"It proved that the name Old Grim, that the Dean and I had given Metak,
was even more appropriate than we thought; for it seemed that he was
generally known as the man who laughed with his insides without the help
of his face.
"Altogether these savages were a most singular people. They seemed to be
happy and cheerful all the time, never caring for anything, so long as
they had enough to eat, and plenty of time to tell stories about each
other and make each other laugh. But what struck the Dean and I most
strangely was that they should be living in this happy state away out
there on the sea, a long distance from land, really burrowing in the
snow for shelter, and roaming about for food like beasts of prey, and
yet enjoying themselves and amusing themselves after the fashion of
civilized human beings, so far as their relations to one another were
concerned.
"'Well, I do declare,' said the Dean, 'this is an odd party, to be sure.
I'm going to christen them, Hardy.'
"'Christen them, or Christian them'? I asked.
"'Both, perhaps,' answered the Dean; 'but for the present I mean
christen,--that is, give them a name.'
"'That I understand; but what's the name?'
"'The Children of the Frozen Sea.'
"'Very good,' I said, 'capital! Children of the frozen sea! Sounds good,
at any rate; and all the world is agreed that whatever sounds good must
be good.'"