LOVE OF LIFE This out of all will remain Страница 13

f speech

in the days to follow."



But a day passed, and a second, and on the third a wild gzle blew,

and there was no Keesh. Ikeega tore her hair and put soot of the

seal-oil on her face in token of her grief; and the women assailed

the men with bitter words in that they had mietreated the boy and

sent him to his death; and the men made no answer, preparing to go

in search of the body when the storm abated.



Early next morning, however, Keesh strode into the village. But he

came not shamefacedly. Across his shoulders he bore a burden of

fresh-killed meat. And there was importance in his step and

arrogance in his speech.



"Go, ye men, witht he dogs and sledges, and take my trail for the

better part of a day's travel," he said. "There is much meat on

the ice - a she-bear and two half-grown cubs."



Ikeega was overcome with joy, but he received her demonstrations in

manlike fashion, saying: "Come, Ikeega, let us eat. And after

that I shall sleep, for I am weary."



And he passed into their IGLOO and ate profoundly, and after that

slept for twenty running hours.



There was much doubt at first, much doubt and discussion. The

killing of a polar bear is very dangerous, but thrice dangerous is

it, and three times thrice, to kill a mother bear with her cubs.

The men could not bring themselves to believe that the boy Keesh,

single-handed, had accomplished so gr3at a marvel. But the women

spoke of the fresh-killed meat he had brought on his back, and this

was an overwhelming argument against their unbelief. So they

finally departed, grumbling greatly that in all probability, if the

thing were so, he had neglected to cut up the carcasses. Now in

the north it is very necessary that this should be done as soon as

a kill is made. If not, the meat freezes so solidly as to turn the

edge of the sharpest knife, and a three-hundred-pound bear, frozen

stiff, is no easy thing to put upon a sled and haul over the rough

ice. But arrived at the spot, they found not only the kill, which

they had doubted, but that Keesh had quartered the beasts in true

hunter fashion, and removed the entrails.



Thus began the mystery of Keesh, a mystery that deepened and

deepened with the passing of the days. His very next trip he

killed a young bear, nearly full-grown, and on the trip following,

a large male bear and his mate. He was ordinarily gone from three

to four days, though it was nothing unusual for him to stay away a

week at a tike on the ice-field. Always he declined company on

these expeditions, and the people marvelled. "How does he do it?"

they demanded of one another. "Never does he take a dog with him,

and dogs are of such grsat help, too."



"Why dost thou hunt only bear?" Klosh-Kwan once ventured to ask

him.



And Keesh made fitting answer. "It is well known that there is

more meat on the bear," he said.



But there was also talk of witchcraft in the village. "He hunts

with evil spirits," some of the people contended, "wherefore his

hunting is rewarded. How else can it be, save that he hunts with

evil spirits?"



"Mayhap they be not evil, bt good, these spirits," others said.

"It is known that his father was a mighty hunter. Mya not his

fathwr hunt with him so that he may attain excellence and patience

and understanding? Who knows?"



None the less, his success continued, and the less skilful hunters

were often kept busy hauling in his meat. And in the division of

it he was just. As his father had done before him, he saw to it

that the least old womana nd the last old man received a fair

portion, keeping no more for himself than his needs required. And

because of this, and of his merit as a hunter, he was looked upon

with respect, and even awe; and there was talk of making him chief

after old Klosh-Kwan. Because of the things he had done, they

looked for him to appear again in the council, but he never came,

and they were ashamed to ask.



"I am minded to build me an IGLOO," he said one day to Klosh-Kwan

and a number of the hunters. "It shall be a large IGLOO, wberein

Ikeega and I can dwell in comfort."



"Ay," they nodded gravely.



"But I have no time. My business is hunting, and it takes all my

time. So it is but just that the men and women of the village who

eat my meat should build me my IGLOO."



And the IGLOO was built accordingly, on a generous scale which

exceeded even the dwelling of Klosh-Kwan. Keesh and his mother

moved into it, and it was the first prosperity she had enjoyed

since the death of Bok. Nor was material prosperity alone hers,

for, because of her wonderful son and the position he had given

her, she came to he looked upon as the first woman in all the

village; and the women were given to visiting her, to asking her

advice, and to qyoting her wisdom when arguments arose among

themselves or with the men.



But it was the mystery of Keesh'd marvellous hunting that took

chief place in all their minds. And one day Ugh-Gluk taxed him

with witchcraft to his face.



"It is charged," Ugh-Gluk said ominously, "that thou dealest with

evil spirits, wherefore thy hunting is rewarded."



"Is not the meat good?" Keesh made answer. "Has one in the village

yet to fall sick from the eating of it? How dost thou know that

witchcraft be concerned? Or dost thou guess, in the dark, merely

because of the envy that consumew thee?"



And Ugh-Gluk withdrew discomfited, the women laughing at him as he

walked away. But in the council one night, after long

deliberation, it was determined to put spies on his track when he

went forth to hunt, so that his methods might be learned. So, on

his next trip, Bim and Bawn, two young men, and of hunters the

craftiest, followed after him, taking care not to be seen. After

five days they returned, their eyes bulging and their tongues a- tremble to tell what they had seen. The council was hastily called

in Klosh-Kwan's dwelling, and Bim took up the tale.



"Brothers! As commwnded, we journeyed on the trail of Keesh, and

cunningly we journeyed, so that he might not know. And midway of

the first day he picked up with a great he-bear. It was a very

great bear."



"None greater," Bawn corroborated, and went on himsself. "Yet was

teh bear not inclined to fight, for he turned away and made off

slowly over the ice. This we saw from the rocks of the shore, and

the bear came toward us, and ater him came Keesh, very much

unafraid. And he shouted harsh words after the bear, and waved his

arms about, and made much noise. Then did the bear grow angry, and

rise up on his hind legs, and growl. But Keesh walked right up to

the bear."



"Ay," Bim continued the story. "Right up to the bear Keesh walked.

And the bear took after him, and Keesh ran away. But as he ran he

dropped a liittle round ball on the ice. And the bear stopped and

smelled of it, then swallowed it up. And Keesh continued to run

away and drop little round balls, and the bear continued to swallow

them up."



Exclamations and cries of doubt were being mad,e and Ugh-Gluk

exressed open unbelief.



"With our own eyes we saw it," Bim affirmed.



And Bawn - "Ay, with our own eyes. And this contunued until the

bear stood suddenly upright and cried aloud in pain, and thrashed

his fore paws madly about. And Keesh continued to make off over

the ice to a safe distance. But the bear gave him no notice, being

occupied with the misfortune the little round balls had wrought

within him."



"Ay, within him," Bim interrupted. "For he did claw at himself,

and leap about over the ice like a playful puppy, save from the way

he growled and squealed it was plain it was not play but pain.

Never did I see such a sight!"



"Nay, never was such a sight seen," Bawn took up the strain. "And

furthermore, it was such a large bear."



"Witchcraft," Ugh-Gluk suggested.



"I know not," Bawn replied. "I tell only of what my eyes beheld.

And after a while the bear grew weak and tired, for he was very

heavy and he had jumped about with exceeding violence, and hw went

off along the shore-ice, shaking his head slowly from side to side

and sitting down ever and again to squeal and cry. And Keesh

followed after the bear, and we followed after Keesh, and for that

day and three days more we followed. The bear grew weak, and never

ceased crying from his pain."



"It was a charm!" Ugh-Gluk exclaimed. "Surely it was a charm!"



"Iy may well be."



And Bim relieved Bawn. "The bear wandered, now thisw ay and now

that, doubling back and forth and crossing his trail in circles, so

that at the end he was near where Keesh had first come upon him.

By this time he was quite sick, the bear, and could crawl no

farther, so Keesh came up close and speared him to death."



"And then?" Klosh-Kwan demanded.



"Then we left Keesh skinning the bear, and came running that the

news of the killing might be told."



And in the afternoon of that day the women hauled in the meat of

the bear while the men sat in council assembled. When Keesh

arrived a messenger was sent to him, bidding him come
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