Part 3 (2/2)
”The white an ”The white reatly, and is very wise But the white man of one day is not the whitehis always in the same way And ay his next way is to be, one cannot knoays does the Indian do the one thing in the one way Always does the h mountains when the winter is here Always does the salone out of the river Always does everything do all things in the same way, and the Indian knows and understands But the white s in the same way, and the Indian does not know nor understand
”Tobacco be very good It be food to the hungry ry ry Also is tobacco of value It is of very great value The Indian gives one large salmon for one leaf of tobacco, and he chews the tobacco for a long tiood When it runs down his throat it ood inside But the white man! When his mouth is full with the juice, what does he do? That juice, that juice of great value, he spits it out in the snow and it is lost Does the white man like tobacco? I do not know But if he likes tobacco, why does he spit out its value and lose it in the snow? It is a great foolishness and without understanding”
He ceased, puffed at the pipe, found that it was out, and passed it over to Zilla, who took the sneer at the white man off her lips in order to pucker the back into his senility with the tale untold, and I demanded: ”What of thy sons, Moklan and Bidarshi+k? And why is it that you and your old woman are without meat at the end of your years?”
He roused hihtened up with an effort
”It is not good to steal,” he said ”When the dog takes yourwith a club Such is the law It is the law themust live to the law, else will it suffer the pain of the club When man takes your meat, or your canoe, or your wife, you kill that ood to steal, wherefore it is the law that the man who steals reat hurt to die”
”But if you kill the ?” I asked
Old Ebbits looked at me in childlike wonder, while Zilla sneered openly at the absurdity of my question
”It is the way of the white nation
”It is the foolishness of the white man,” snapped Zilla
”Then let old Ebbits teach the whiteis not killed, because it must pull the sled of the man No man pulls another man's sled, wherefore the man is killed”
”Oh,” I murmured
”That is the law,” old Ebbits went on ”Now listen, O White Man, and I will tell you of a great foolishness There is an Indian His name is Mobits From white man he steals two pounds of flour What does the white man do? Does he beat Mobits? No Does he kill Mobits? No What does he do to Mobits? I will tell you, O White Man He has a house He puts Mobits in that house The roof is good The walls are thick He rub to eat It is good grub Never in his all days does Mobits eat so good grub There is bacon, and bread, and beans without end Mobits have very good ti lock on door so that Mobits does not run away This also is a great foolishness Mobits will not run away All the tirub in that place, and war fire
Very foolish to run away Mobits is not foolish Three months Mobits stop in that place He steal two pounds of flour For that, white ood care of hiar, of bacon, of beans without end Also, Mobits drink much tea After three o Mobits does not want to go He is like dog that is fed long time in one place He want to stay in that place, and the white e, and he is very fat That is the whiteit It is a foolishness, a great foolishness”
”But thy sons?” I insisted
”Thy very strong sons and thine old- age hunger?”
”There was Moklan,” Ebbits began
”A strong man,” interrupted the ht and never stop for the need of rest He ise in the way of the salmon and in the way of the water He was very wise”
”There was Moklan,” Ebbits repeated, ignoring the interruption ”In the spring, he went down the Yukon with the young men to trade at Caoods of the white man, and a trader whose name is Jones Likewise is there a white man's medicine man, what you call missionary Also is there bad water at Caoes slim like a maiden, and the water is fast, and the currents rush this way and that and coether, and there are whirls and sucks, and always are the currents changing and the face of the water changing, so at any two times it is never the same Moklan is my son, wherefore he is brave man - ”
”Was not my father brave man?” Zilla deed, with the air of one ill keep peace in the house at any cost ”Moklan is thy son and mine, wherefore he is brave Mayhap, because of thy very brave father, Moklan is too brave It is like when too much water is put in the pot it spills over So too much bravery is put into Moklan, and the bravery spills over
”The young men are much afraid of the bad water at Ca, Ho! ho! and he goes forth into the bad water But where the currents coether the canoe is turned over A whirl takes Moklan by the legs, and he goes around and around, and down and down, and is seen no more”
”Ai! ai!” wailed Zilla ”Crafty and as he, and my first- born!”
”I aiven the woet into canoe and journey down to Cambell Fort to collect the debt!”
”Debt!” interrupted ”What debt?”
”The debt of Jones, who is chief trader,” cae country”
I shook norance, and Ebbits looked compassion at me, while Zilla snorted her customary contempt
”Look you, O White Man,” he said ”In thy caive thatYou make payment Is it not so? Also, if you have in thy country bad hunting, or bad water, you must make payo over into the Tanana Country and get killed by a bear? And did not the Tanana tribe pay my father , and the Tanana people
”So I, Ebbits, journeyed down to Cambell Fort to collect the debt Jones, who is chief trader, looked at ive payment I went to the e talk about the bad water and the payment that should be s He talk about where Moklan has gone, now he is dead There be large fires in that place, and if missionary make true talk, I know that Moklan will be cold no o when I as He say that I areat darkness Which is a lie And I say that the day coht coe it is no more dark than at Cao e die be different things from the matter of paye anger, and call o away And so I come back from Cambell Fort, and no paye I am without fish and meat”
”Because of the white man,” said Zilla
”Because of the white s because of the white man There was Bidarshi+k One way did the whitedid the white man deal with Ya e and who chanced to kill a white ood to kill a reat trouble It was not the fault of Yamikan that he killed the white man Ya from a stick But this white ht-tiht Yamikan cannot run away, and the white man tries to kill him Yamikan does not like to die, so he kills the white reat trouble We are e payment to the white man's people, and we hide our blankets, and our furs, and all our wealth, so that it will seem that we are poor people and cantime white men come They are soldier white reat noise and throw ashes in her hair, for she knows Yae knows that Yalad that no payone out of the river One year go by, two years go by It is spring-tione out of the river And then Yamikan, who is dead, comes back to us, and he is not dead, but very fat, and we know that he has slept warrub to eat He has athered large wisdoe
”And he has strange things to tell of the way of the white reat travel into the white man's country First place, soldier whiteway All the way do they take him down the river to the end, where it runs into a lake which is larger than all the land and large as the sky I do not know the Yukon is so big river, but Yamikan has seen with his own eyes I do not think there is a lake larger than all the land and large as the sky, but Yamikan has seen Also, he has told e thing and beyond understanding
”But the White Man knows all theseof them Only will I tell hiive Yarub All the tirub The white man lives under the sun, so said Yamikan, where there be reen things grow large and strong and become flour, and beans, and potatoes And under the sun there is never farub I do not know Ya that befell Yaive hirub They take hi as the sky He is on white man's fire-boat, what you call steaer than steamboat on Yukon Also, it is made of iron, this boat, and yet does it not sink This I do not understand, but Yamikan has said, 'I have journeyed far on the iron boat; behold! I am still alive' It is a white man's soldier-boat with many soldiertime, Yamikan comes to a land where there is no snow I cannot believe this It is not in the nature of things that inter comes there shall be no snow But Yamikan has seen Also have I asked the white men, and they have said yes, there is no snow in that country But I cannot believe, and now I ask you if snow never come in that country Also, I would hear the name of that country I have heard the naain, if it be the same - thus will I know if I have heard lies or true talk”
Old Ebbits regarded me with a wistful face He would have the truth at any cost, though it was his desire to retain his faith in the marvel he had never seen
”Yes,” I answered, ”it is true talk that you have heard There is no snow in that country, and its name is California”
”Cal-ee-forn-ee-yeh,” heintently to the sound of the syllables as they fell from his lips He nodded his head in confirmation ”Yes, it is the sanized the adventure of Yamikan as one likely to occur in the early days when Alaska first passed into the possession of the United States Such abefore the instalht well have been taken down to the United States for trial before a Federal court
”When Yamikan is in this country where there is no snow,” old Ebbits continued, ”he is taken to large house wheretime men talk Also many questions do they ask Yamikan By and by they tell Yamikan he have no more trouble Yamikan does not understand, for never has he had any trouble All the tirub
”But after that they give hiive him money, and they take hie things which are beyond the understanding of Ebbits, who is an old man and has not journeyed far After two years, Yae, and he is head man, and very wise until he dies
”But before he dies, e things he has seen And Bidarshi+k, who is my son, sits by the fire and listens; and his eyes are very wide and large because of the things he hears One night, after Yaone home, Bidarshi+k stands up, so, very tall, and he strikes his chest with his fist, and says, 'When I am a man, I shall journey in far places, even to the land where there is no snow, and see things for myself'”