Ungava
Page 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
THE PURSUIT--SEAL-SPEARING--THE GIANT'S DESPAIR.
When the young Esquimau began to recover from the lethargic state intowhich his wound had thrown him, he found himself lying at the bottom ofthe women's oomiak with his old grandfather by his side, and a noisycrew of children and dogs around him. Raising himself on his elbow, hebrushed the clotted blood and hair from his temples, and endeavoured torecall his scattered faculties. Seeing this, the old crone who hadsaved his life laid down her paddle and handed him a sealskin cup ofwater, which he seized and drank with avidity. Fortunately the wound onhis forehead, although it had stunned him severely at first, wastrifling, and in a few minutes after partaking of the cool water, herecovered sufficiently to sit up and look around him.
Gradually his faculties returned, and he started up with a troubledlook.
"Where are the Allat? Where is my wife?" he exclaimed vehemently, ashis eye fell on the prostrate form of his still insensible grandfather.
"Gone," answered several of the women.
"Gone!" repeated the youth, gazing wildly among the faces around him insearch of that of his wife. "Gone! Tell me, is she in one of the otheroomiaks?"
The women trembled as they answered, "No."
"Have the Allat got her?"
There was no reply to this question, but he did not need one. Springinglike 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 hisenergy. Nearly two hours had elapsed since they had commenced theirflight, and as all danger of pursuit was over the moment the Indiansturned their backs on the sea, the Esquimaux had gradually edgedin-shore again, so that a few minutes sufficed to run the prow of theoomiak on the shingle of the beach. Without saying a word, the youngman sprang over the side, drew a hunting-spear from the bottom of theboat, and hurried back in the direction of the deserted village at thetop of his speed. The women knew that nothing could stop him, andfeeling that he was quite able to take care of himself, they quietly putto sea again, and continued their voyage.
The limbs of the young Esquimau, as we have already said, were giganticand powerful, enabling him to traverse the country at a pace which fewof his fellows could keep up with; and although a stern-chase isproverbially a long one, and the distance between two parties travellingin opposite directions is amazingly increased in a short space of time,there is no doubt that he would have overtaken his Indian foes ere manyhours had passed, but for the wound in his head, which, although notdangerous, compelled him more than once to halt and sit down, in orderto prevent himself from falling into a swoon. Hunger had also somethingto do with this state of weakness, as he had eaten nothing for manyhours. In his hasty departure from the boat, however, he had neglectedto take any provisions with him, so that he had little hope of obtainingrefreshment before arriving at the village, where some scraps mightperhaps be picked up.
Slowly, and with a reeling brain, he staggered on; but here no reliefawaited him, for every scrap of food had been either taken away ordestroyed by the Indians, and it was with a heavy sigh and a feelingakin to despair that he sat down beside the blackened ruins of his latehome.
But Esquimaux, more than other men, are accustomed to reverses offortune, and the sigh with which he regarded the ruins of his hut had noreference whatever to the absence of food. He knew that about this timethe mouth of the river would be full of ice, carried up by theflood-tide, and that seals would, in all probability, be found on it; sohe started up, and hastening along the beach soon gained the floes,which he examined carefully. A glance or two sufficed to show him thathe was right in his conjecture. On a sheet of ice not more than acouple of hundred yards from shore were two seals fast asleep. These heprepared to stalk. Between the floe and the shore ran a stream of watertwenty yards broad. Over this he ferried himself on a lump of looseice; and, on reaching the floe, he went down on his hands and knees,holding the spear in his right hand as he advanced cautiously towardshis victim.
The Esquimau seal-spear is a curious weapon, and exhibits in a highdegree the extraordinary ingenuity of the race. The handle is sometimesmade of the horn of the narwal, but more frequently of wood. It has amovable head or barb, to which a long line of walrus hide or sealskin isattached. This barb is made of ivory tipped with iron, and is attachedto the handle in such a way that it becomes detached from it the instantthe animal is struck, and remains firmly imbedded in the wound with theline fastened to it, while the handle floats away on the water or fallson the ice, as the case may be.
When the Esquimau had approached to within a hundred yards, he lay downat full length and slowly worked himself forward. Meanwhile the sealsraised their heads, but seeing, as they imagined, a companion comingtowards them, they did not make for their holes, which were a few yardsdistant from them. Having drawn near enough to render the animalssuspicious, the young giant now sprang up, rushed forward, and gotbetween one seal and its hole just as its more active companion divedinto the water. In another moment the deadly lance transfixed its sideand killed it. This was a fortunate supply to the Esquimau, whosepowers of endurance were fast failing. He immediately sat down on hisvictim, and cutting a large steak from its side, speedily made a mealthat far exceeded the powers of any alderman whatsoever! It requiredbut a short time to accomplish, however, and a shorter time to transferseveral choice [junks] chunks to his wallet; with which replenishedstore he resumed his journey.
Although the man's vigour was restored for a time, so that he travelledwith 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. Glancinground, in order to select a suitable camping ground, he soon observedsuch a spot in the form of a broad, overhanging ledge of rock, beneathwhich there was a patch of scrubby underwood. Here he lay down with theseal blubber for a pillow, and was quickly buried in deep, untroubledslumber. In little more than two hours he awoke with a start, and,after a second application to the contents of the wallet, resumed hissolitary march. The short rest seemed to have quite restored his wontedvigour, for he now stalked up the banks of the river at a rate whichseemed only to accelerate as he advanced. As has been already said,these banks were both rugged and precipitous. In some places the rocksjutted out into the water, forming promontories over which it wasdifficult to climb; and frequently these capes terminated in abruptprecipices, necessitating a detour in order to advance. In other placesthe coast was indented with sandy bays, which more than doubled thedistance the traveller would have had to accomplish had he possessed akayak. Unfortunately in his hasty departure he neglected to take onewith him; but he did his best to atone for this oversight by makingalmost superhuman exertions. He strode over the sands like an ostrichof the desert, and clambered up the cliffs and over the rocks--looking,in his hairy garments, like a shaggy polar bear. The thought of hisyoung and pretty bride a captive in the hands of his bitterest foes, anddoomed to a life of slavery, almost maddened him, and caused his darkeye to flash and his broad bosom to heave with pent-up emotion, while itspurred him on to put forth exertions that were far beyond the powers ofany member of his tribe, and could not, under less excitingcircumstances, have been performed even by himself. As to what were hisintentions should he overtake the Indians, he knew not. The agitationof his spirits, combined with the influence of his wound, induced him toact from impulse; and the wild tumult of his feelings prevented him fromcalculating the consequences or perceiving the hopelessness of an attackmade by one man, armed only with knife and spear, against a body ofIndians who possessed the deadly gun.
Alas! for the sorrows of the poor human race. In all lands they aremuch the same, whether civilised or savage--virtue and vice alternatelytriumphing. Bravery, candour, heroism, in fierce contest withtreachery, cowardice, and malevolence, form the salient points of therecord among all nations, and in all ages. No puissant knight of o
ldever buckled on his panoply of mail, seized his sword and lance, mountedhis charger, and sallied forth singlehanded to deliver his mistress fromenchanted castle, in the face of appalling perils, with hotter haste ora more thorough contempt of danger than did our Esquimau giant pursuethe Indians who had captured his bride; but, like many a daring spiritof romance, the giant failed, and that through no fault of his.
On arriving at the rocky platform beside the spring where we firstintroduced him to the reader, the Esquimau sat down, and, casting hisspear on the ground, gazed around him with a look of despair. It wasnot a slight matter that caused this feeling to arise. Notwithstandinghis utmost exertions, he had been unable to overtake the Indians up tothis point, and beyond this point it was useless to follow them. Themountains here were divided into several distinct gorges, each of whichled into the interior of the country; and it was impossible to ascertainwhich of these had been taken by the Indians, as the bare, rocky landretained no mark of their light, moccasined feet. Had the pursuer beenan 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 almostunnecessary; so that, in difficult circumstances, their sagacity in thisrespect is not equal to the emergency. Add to this the partialconfusion created in the young giant's brain by his wound, and it willnot appear strange that despair at length seized him, when, after asevere journey, he arrived at a spot where, as it were, half a dozencross-roads met, and he had not the most distant idea which he had tofollow. It is true the valley of the river seemed the most probableroute; but after pursuing this for a whole day without coming upon avestige of the party, he gave up the pursuit, and, returning to thespring beside the rock, passed the night there with a heavy heart. Whenthe sun rose on the following morning he quitted his lair, and, taking along draught at the bubbling spring, prepared to depart. Before settingout, he cast a melancholy glance around the amphitheatre of gloomyhills; shook his spear, in the bitterness of his heart, towards the darkrecesses which had swallowed up the light of his eyes, perchance forever; then, turning slowly towards the north, with drooping head, andwith the listless tread of a heart-broken man, he retraced his steps tothe sea-coast, and, rejoining his comrades, was soon far away from thebanks of the Caniapuscaw River.