Ungava

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER THIRTY.

  AN OLD FRIEND AMID NEW FRIENDS AND NOVELTIES--A DESPERATE BATTLE AND AGLORIOUS VICTORY.

  The scene of our story is now changed, and we request our patient readerto 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 theroedeer during the winter, at which season these animals, havingforsaken the mainland in autumn, dwell upon the islands of the sea. Atthe time of which we write the island in question was occupied by atribe of Esquimaux, who had built themselves as curious a village as onecould wish to see. The island had little or no wood on it, and the fewwillow bushes that showed their heads above the deep snow were stuntedand thin. Such as they were, however, they, along with a ledge of rockover which the snow had drifted in a huge mound, formed a sort ofprotection to the village of the Esquimaux, and sheltered it from thecold blasts that swept over the frozen sea from the regions of the farnorth. There were about twenty igloos in the village, all of which werebuilt in the form of a dome, exactly similar to the hut constructed byMaximus on the lake. They were of various sizes, and while some stoodapart with only a small igloo attached, others were congregated ingroups and connected by low tunnels or passages. The doorways leadinginto most of them were so low that the natives were obliged to creep outand in on their hands and knees; but the huts themselves were highenough to permit the tallest man of the tribe to stand erect, and someof them so capacious that a family of six or eight persons could dwellin them easily. We may remark, however, that Esquimau ideas ofroominess and comfort in their dwellings differ very considerably fromours. Their chief aim is to create heat, and for this end theycheerfully submit to what we would consider the discomfort of crowdingand close air.

  The village at a little distance bore a curious resemblance to a clusterof white beehives; and the round, soft, hairy natives, creeping out andin continually, and moving about amongst them, were not unlike (with theaid of a little imagination) to a swarm of monstrous black bees--an ideawhich was further strengthened by the continuous hum that floated on theair over the busy settlement. Kayaks and oomiaks lay about in severalplaces supported on blocks of ice, and seal-spears, paddles, dans,lances, coils of walrus-line, and other implements, were intermingled inrare confusion with sledges, sealskins, junks of raw meat and bones, onwhich latter the numerous dogs of the tribe were earnestly engaged.

  In the midst of this village stood a hut which differed considerablyfrom those around. It was built of clear ice instead of snow. Therewere one or two other igloos made of the same material, but none solarge, clean, or elegant as this one. The walls, which wereperpendicular, 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 topermit the owner of the mansion to enter by stooping slightly. In frontand all around this hut the snow was carefully scraped, and alloffensive objects--such as seal and whale blubber--removed, giving to itan appearance of cleanliness and comfort which the neighbouring igloosdid not possess. Inside of this icy residence, on a couch of deerskinwas 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 arrestedby 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 thesea now rolled at her feet and checked her progress. Terrified at thisunexpected sight, Edith endeavoured to retrace her steps; but she foundto her horror that the ice on which she stood was floating, and that thewind, having shifted a point to the eastward, was driving it across tothe west side of the bay. Here, in the course of the next day, itgrounded, 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 shethought, to die.

  But it was otherwise ordained. In less than half an hour afterwards shewas found by a party of Esquimaux. These wild creatures had come fromthe eastward in their dog-sledges, and having passed well out to theseaward in order to avoid the open water off the mouth of False River,had missed seeing their countrymen there, and therefore knew nothing ofthe establishment of Fort Chimo. In bending towards the land againafter passing the bay they came upon Edith's tracks, and after a shortsearch they found her lying on the snow.

  Words cannot convey an adequate impression of the unutterable amazementof these poor creatures as they beheld the fair child, so unlikeanything they had ever seen or imagined; but whatever may have beentheir thoughts regarding her, they had sense enough to see that she wascomposed of flesh and blood, and would infallibly freeze if allowed tolie there much longer. They therefore lifted her gently upon one of thelarge sleighs, and placed her on a pile of furs in the midst of a groupof women and children, who covered her up and chafed her limbsvigorously. Meanwhile the drivers of the sledges, of which there weresix, with twenty dogs attached to each, plied their long whipsenergetically; the dogs yelled in consternation, and, darting away withthe 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 atall, superior to that of Edith when she opened her eyes and began tocomprehend, somewhat confusedly, her peculiar position. The savageswatched her movements, open-mouthed, with intense curiosity, and seemedoverjoyed beyond expression when she at length recovered sufficiently toexclaim feebly,--"Where am I? where are you taking me to?"

  We need scarcely add that she received no reply to her questions, forthe natives did not understand a word of her language, and with theexception of the names of one or two familiar objects, she did notunderstand a word of theirs. Of how far or how long they travelledEdith could form no idea, as she slept profoundly during the journey,and did not thoroughly recover her strength and faculties until afterher arrival at the camp.

  For many days after reaching the Esquimau village poor Edith did nothingbut weep; for, besides the miserable circumstances in which she was nowplaced, she was much too considerate and unselfish in her nature toforget that her parents would experience all the misery of supposing herdead, and added to this was the terrible supposition that the nativesinto whose hands she had fallen might never hear of Fort Chimo. Thedistracted child did her utmost by means of signs to make themunderstand that such a place existed, but her efforts were of no avail.Either she was not eloquent in the language of signs, or the nativeswere obtuse. As time abated the first violence of her grief, she beganto entertain a hope that ere long some wandering natives might conveyintelligence of her to the fur-traders. As this hope strengthened shebecame more cheerful, and resolved to make a number of little ornamentswith her name inscribed on them, which she meant to hang round the necksof the chief men of the tribe, so that should any of them ever chance tomeet with the fur-traders, these ornaments might form a clue to herstrange residence.

  A small medal of whalebone seemed to her the most appropriate andtractable material, but it cost her many long and weary hours to cut acircular piece of this tough material with the help of an Esquimauknife. When she had done it, however, several active boys who hadwatched the operation with much curiosity and interest, no soonerunderstood what she wished to make than they set to work and cut severalround pieces of ivory or walrus-tusk, which they presented to theirlittle guest, who scratched the name EDITH on them and hung them roundthe necks of the chief men of the tribe. The Esquimaux smiled andpatted the child's fair head kindly as they received this piece ofattention, which they flattered themselves, no doubt, was entirelydisinterested and complimentary.

  Winter wore gradually away, and the ice upon the sea began to showsymptoms of decay opposite to the camp of the Esquimaux. During thehigh winds of spring the drift had buried the village so completely thatthe beehives were scarcely visible, an
d the big black bees walked abouton the top of their igloos, and had to cut deep down in order to getinto them. For some time past the natives had been unsuccessful intheir seal-hunting; and as seals and walruses constituted their chiefmeans of support, they were reduced to short allowance. Edith'sportion, however, had never yet been curtailed. It was cooked for herover the stone lamp belonging to an exceedingly fat young woman whoseigloo was next to that of the little stranger, and whose heart had beentouched by the child's sorrow; afterwards it was more deeply touched byher gratitude and affection. This woman's name was Kaga, and she, withthe rest of her tribe, having been instructed carefully by Edith in thepronunciation of her own name, ended in calling their little guestEeduck! Kaga had a stout, burly husband named Annatock, who was thebest hunter in the tribe; she also had a nephew about twelve or fourteenyears old, named Peetoot, who was very fond of Edith and extremelyattentive to her. Kaga had also a baby--a mere bag of fat--to whichEdith became so attached that she almost constituted herself its regularnurse; 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, andplay with it the whole day, much in the same way as little girls playwith dolls--with this difference, however, that she consideratelyrestrained herself from banging its nose against the floor or punchingout its eyes!

  It was a bright, clear, warm day. Four mock suns encircled and emulatedin brilliancy their great original. The balmy air was beginning to meltthe surface of the snow, and the igloos that had stood firm for fullhalf a year were gradually becoming dangerous to walk over and unsafe tosit under. Considerable bustle prevailed in the camp, for a generalseal-hunting expedition was on foot, and the men of the tribe werepreparing their dog-sledges and their spears.

  Edith was in her igloo of ice, seated on the soft pile of deerskinswhich formed her bed at night and her sofa by day, and worrying Kaga'sbaby, which laughed vociferously. The inside of this house or apartmentbetokened the taste and neatness of its occupant. The snow roof, havingbegun 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 ashelf of ice which had been neatly fitted into the wall by her friendPeetoot lay a rude knife, a few pieces of whalebone and ivory (theremains of the material of which her medals had been made), and an ivorycup. The floor was covered with willow matting, and on the raised halfof it were spread several deerskins with the hair on. A canopy ofwillow boughs was erected over this. On another shelf of ice, near thehead of the bed, stood a small stone lamp, which had been allowed to goout, the weather being warm. The only other articles of furniture inthis simple apartment were a square table and a square stool, both madeof ice blocks and covered with sealskins.

  While Edith and her living doll were in the height of their uproariousintercourse, 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 ashort spear in one hand, and with the other pointed in the direction ofthe shore, at the same time uttering a volley of unintelligible soundswhich terminated with an emphatic "Eeduck!"

  Edith's love for conversation, whether she made herself understood ornot, had increased rather than abated in her peculiar circumstances.

  "What is it, Peetoot? Why do you look so excited? Oh dear, I wish Iunderstood you--indeed I do! But it's of no use your speaking sofast.--(Be quiet, baby darling.)--I see you want me to do or saysomething; 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; butseeing, as he had often seen before, that his young friend did notappear to be much enlightened, he seized her by the arm, and, as a moresummary and practical way of explaining himself, dragged her towards thedoor of the hut.

  "Oh, the baby!" screamed Edith, breaking from him and placing her chargein 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 findout in time, as usual."

  Having led Edith towards the beach, Peetoot pointed to his uncle'ssledge, to which the dogs were already harnessed, and made signs thatEdith 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. Nevermind; 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, withthe fat baby sprawling and laughing on her shoulder. That baby nevercried. It seemed as though it had resolved to substitute laughing inits stead. Once only had Edith seen tears in its little black eyes, andthat was when she had given it a spoonful of soup so hot that its mouthwas scalded by it.

  Several of the sledges had already left the island, and were flying atfull speed over the frozen sea, deviating ever and anon from thestraight line in order to avoid a hummock of ice or a gap of open watercaused by the separation of masses at the falling of the tide, while themen shouted, and the dogs yelled as they observed the flourish of thecruelly long and heavy lash.

  "Shall I get in?" said Edith to Annatock, with an inquiring look, as sheapproached the place where the sledge was standing.

  The Esquimau nodded his shaggy head, and showed a row of remarkablywhite teeth environed by a thick black beard and moustache, by way ofreply to the look of the child.

  With a laughing nod to Kaga, who stood watching them, Edith stepped inand seated herself on a deerskin robe; Annatock and Peetoot sat downbeside her; the enormous whip gave a crack like a pistol-shot, and theteam 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 samemanner as the little sled which had been made for her at Fort Chimo. Itwas very much larger, how ever, and could have easily held eight or tenpersons. The runners, which were shod with frozen mud (a substance thatwas now becoming nearly unfit for use owing to the warm weather), were aperfect wonder of ingenuity--as, indeed, was the whole machine--beingpieced and lashed together with lines of raw hide in the mostcomplicated manner and very neatly. The dogs were each fastened by aseparate line to the sledge, the best dog being placed in the centre andhaving the longest line, while the others were attached by linesproportionably shorter according to the distance of each from theleading dog, and the outsiders being close to the runners of the sledge.All the lines were attached to the front bar of the machine. Therewere many advantages attending this mode of harnessing, among which werethe readiness with which any dog could be attached or detached withoutaffecting the others, and the ease with which Annatock, when soinclined, could lay hold of the line of a refractory dog, haul him backwithout stopping the others, and give him a cuffing. This, however, wasseldom done, as the driver could touch any member of the team with thepoint of his whip. The handle of this terrible instrument was not muchmore than eighteen or twenty inches long, but the lash was upwards ofsix yards! Near the handle it was about three inches broad, being thickcords 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 bya peculiar sleight of hand its serpentine coils can be brought up forinstant use.

  No backwoodsman of Kentucky was ever more perfect in the use of hispea-rifle or more certain of his aim than was Annatock with hismurderous whip. He was a dead shot, so to speak. He could spreadintense alarm among the dogs by causing the heavy coil to whiz over themwithin a hair's-breadth of their heads; or he could gently touch theextreme tip of the ear of a skulker, to remind him of his duty to hismaster and his comrades; or, in the event of the warning beingneglected, he could bring the point down on his flank with a crack likea pistol-shot, that would cause skin and hair to fly, and spread yelpingdismay among the entire pack. And how they did run! The sledge seemeda mere feather behi
nd the powerful team. They sprang forth at fullgallop, now bumping over a small hummock or diverging to avoid a largeone, anon springing across a narrow gap in the ice, or sweeping like thesnowdrift over the white plain, while the sledge sprang and swung andbounded madly on behind them; and Annatock shouted as he flourished hisgreat whip in the excitement of their rapid flight, and Peetoot laughedwith wild delight, and Edith sat clasping her hands tightly over herknees--her hood thrown back, her fair hair blown straight out by thebreeze, her cheeks flushed, her lips parted, and her eyes sparkling withemotion 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 hourmore they arrived at the place where a number of the Esquimaux werescattered in twos and threes over the ice, searching for seal-holes, andpreparing 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 toprotect 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 featureswere concealed. At his feet lay a stout, barbed seal-spear, the handleof which was made of wood, and the barb and lower part of ivory. Atough line was attached to this, and the other end of it was fastenedround the man's waist; for when an Esquimau spears a seal, he preparesto 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 theEsquimau has laid it down as an axiom that a man is more than a matchfor a seal; therefore he ties the line round his waist,--which is verymuch like nailing the colours to the mast. There seems to be noallowance made for the chance of an obstreperously large seal allowinghimself to be harpooned by a preposterously small Esquimau; but wesuppose that this is the exception to the rule.

  As Edith gazed, the Esquimau put out his hand with the stealthy motionof a cat and lifted his spear. The next instant the young ice thatcovered the hole was smashed, and, in an instant after, the ivory barbwas deep in the shoulder of an enraged seal, which had thus fallen asacrifice to his desire for fresh air. The Esquimau immediately layback almost at full length, with his heels firmly imbedded in twonotches cut in the ice at the edge of the hole; the seal dived, and theman's waist seemed to be nearly cut in two. But the rope was tough andthe man was stout, and although the seal was both, it was conquered inthe course of a quarter of an hour, hauled out, and thrown exultinglyupon the ice.

  This man had only watched at the seal-hole a couple of hours, but thenatives frequently sit behind their snow walls for the greater part of aday, almost without moving hand or foot.

  Having witnessed this capture, Annatock drove on until the most of hiscountrymen were left behind. Suddenly he called to the dogs to halt,and spoke in a deep, earnest tone to his nephew, while both of themgazed intently towards a particular quarter of the sea. Edith looked inthe same direction, and soon saw the object that attracted theirattention, but the only thing it seemed like to her was an enormous caskor barrel.

  "What is it?" said she to Peetoot, as Annatock selected his largestspear and hastened towards the object.

  Of course Edith received no reply save a broad grin; but the littlefellow followed up this remark, if we may so call it, by drawing hisfingers 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 nearenough to make certain that it was a walrus, apparently sound asleep,with its blunt snout close to its hole, ready to plunge in should anenemy appear.

  Annatock now advanced more cautiously, and when within a hundred yardsof the huge monster, lay down at full length on his breast, and began towork his way towards it after the manner of a seal. He was so like aseal in his hairy garments that he might easily have been mistaken forone by a more intellectual animal than a walrus. But the walrus did notawake, and he approached to within ten yards. Then, rising suddenly tohis feet, Annatock poised the heavy weapon, and threw it with full forceagainst the animal's side. It struck, and, as if it had fallen on anadamantine rock, it bounded off and fell upon the ice, with its hardpoint shattered and its handle broken in two.

  For one instant Annatock's face blazed with surprise; the next, itrelapsed into fifty dimples, as he roared and tossed up his arms withdelight at the discovery that the walrus had been frozen to death besideits hole!

  This catastrophe is not of unfrequent occurrence to these _elephants_ ofthe northern seas. They are in the habit of coming up occasionallythrough their holes in the ice to breathe, and sometimes they crawl outin order to sleep on the ice, secure, in the protection of theirsuperabundant fat, from being frozen--at least easily. When they havehad enough of sleep, or when the prickling sensation on their skin warnsthem that nothing is proof against the cold of the Polar Seas, and thatthey will infallibly freeze if they do not make a precipitate retreat tothe comparatively warm waters below, they scramble to their holes, crushdown the new ice with their tusks and thick heads, and plunge in. Butsometimes the ice which forms on the holes when they are asleep is toostrong to be thus broken, in which case the hapless monster lays himdown and dies.

  Such was the fate of the walrus which Annatock was now cutting up withhis axe into portable blocks of beef. For several days previous to thethaw which had now set in, the weather had been intensely cold, and thewalrus had perished in consequence of its ambitious desire to repose inthe 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 icehad been broken away and the open water left. The sheet, although muchmelted by the thaw, was still about three inches thick, and quitecapable of supporting a man. While Annatock was working with his backto this ice, he heard a tremendous crash take place behind him. Turninghastily round, he observed that the noise was caused by another enormouswalrus, the glance of whose large round eyes and whose loud snort showedclearly enough that he was not frozen like his unfortunate companion.By this time the little boy had come up with Edith and the sledge. SoAnnatock ordered him to take the dogs behind a hummock to keep them outof sight, while he selected several strong harpoons and a lance from thesledge. Giving another lance to Peetoot, he signed to Edith to sit onthe hummock while he attacked the grisly monster of the deep.

  While these preparations were being made, the walrus dived; and while itwas under water, the man and the boy ran quickly forward a shortdistance, and then lay down behind a lump of ice. Scarcely had theydone so when the walrus came up again with a loud snort, splashing thewater with its broad, heavy flippers--which seemed a sort of compromisebetween legs and fins--and dashing waves over the ice as it rolled aboutits large, unwieldy carcass. It was truly a savage-looking monster, aslarge as a small elephant, and having two tusks of a foot and a halflong. The face bore a horrible resemblance to that of a man. Its crownwas round and bulging, its face broad and massive, and a thick,bristling moustache--rough as the spines of a porcupine--covered itsupper lip, and depended in a shaggy dripping mass over its mouth. Afterspluttering about a short time it dived again.

  Now was Annatock's time. Seizing a harpoon and a coil of line, hemuttered a few words to the boy, sprang up, and running out upon thesmooth ice, stood by the edge of the open water. He had not waited heremore than a few seconds when the black waters were cleft by the blackerhead of the monster, as it once more ascended to renew its elephantinegambols in the pool. As it rose, the Esquimau threw up his arm andpoised the harpoon. For one instant the surprised animal raised itselfbreast-high out of the water, and directed a stare of intenseastonishment at the man. That moment was fatal. Annatock buried theharpoon deep under its left flipper. With a fierce bellow the brutedashed itself against the ice, endeavouring in its fury to reach itsassailant; but the ice gave way under its enormous weight, whileAnnatock ran back as far as the line attached to the ha
rpoon wouldpermit him.

  The walrus, seeing that it could not reach its enemy in this way, seemednow 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 hisposition hastily, and played his line the meanwhile, fixing the point ofhis 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 indisappointment. At this moment Peetoot handed his uncle a harpoon, and,ere the animal dived, the weapon was fixed in his side. Once moreAnnatock changed his position; and once again the spot on which he hadbeen standing was burst upwards. It was a terrible sight to see thatunearthly-looking monster smashing the ice around it, and lashing theblood-stained sea into foam, while it waged such mortal war with theself-possessed and wary man. How mighty and strong the one! howcomparatively weak and seemingly helpless the other! It was the triumphof mind over matter--of reason over blind brute force. But Annatockfought a hard battle that day ere he came off conqueror. Harpoon afterharpoon was driven into the walrus; again and again the lance pierceddeep into its side and drank its life-blood; but three hours had passedaway before the dead carcass was dragged from the deep by the unitedforce of dogs and man. During this terrible combat Edith had looked onwith such intense interest that she could scarcely believe her eyes whenshe 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 withoutassistance, so Annatock determined to return home and tell hiscountrymen of his good fortune.

  It is a custom among the Esquimaux to consider every animal that iskilled as the common property of all--the successful hunter beingentitled to all the titbits, besides his portion of the equal dividend;so that Annatock knew he had only to give the signal, and everyable-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, hestretched out his exhausted frame at full length beside Edith, andcommitted the whip to Peetoot.

  "I'm so glad," cried Edith, with a beaming face, "that we have killedthis beast. The poor people will have plenty to eat now."

  "Ha! ha! _ha_!" roared Peetoot, giving increased emphasis to eachsuccessive shout, and prolonging the last into a yell of delight, as hecracked the ponderous whip from side to side like a volley of pistolry.

  "O Peetoot!" exclaimed Edith, in a remonstrative tone, as the sledgeswayed to and fro with the rate at which they were sweeping over theplain, "don't drive so fast; you will kill the poor dogs!"

  "Ho! ho! _ho-o-o_! Eeduck!" roared the boy, aiming a shot at theleader's left ear, and bringing the thick end of the whip down on theflanks 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 theEsquimau camp like a whirlwind.