Part 4 (1/2)
”Always did Bidarshi+k journey in far places,” Zilla interrupted proudly
”It be true,” Ebbits assented gravely ”And always did he return to sit by the fire and hunger for yet other and unknown far places”
”And always did he re as the sky and the country under the sun where there is no snow,” quoth Zilla
”And always did he say, 'When I have the full strength of a o and see for myself if the talk of Yamikan be true talk,'” said Ebbits
”But there was no way to go to the white o down to the salt lake that is big as the sky?” Ebbits demanded
”And there was no way for him across the salt lake,” said Zilla
”Save in the white er than twenty steamboats on the Yukon,” said Ebbits He scowled at Zilla, whose withered lips were again writhing into speech, and compelled her to silence ”But the white man would not let him cross the salt lake in the fire-boat, and he returned to sit by the fire and hunger for the country under the sun where there is no snow'”
”Yet on the salt lake had he seen the fire-boat of iron that did not sink,” cried out Zilla the irrepressible
”Ay,” said Ebbits, ”and he saw that Yas he had seen But there was no way for Bidarshi+k to journey to the white rew sick and weary like an old o forth to kill er did he eat the meat placed before him,” Zilla broke in ”He would shake his head and say, 'Only do I care to eat the grub of the white row fat after the manner of Yamikan'”
”And he did not eat the rew into a great sickness until I thought he would die It was not a sickness of the body, but of the head It was a sickness of desire I, Ebbits, who areat think I have no more sons and I do not want Bidarshi+k to die It is a head-sickness, and there is but one way to make it well Bidarshi+k e as the sky to the land where there is no snow, else will he die I reat think, and then I see the way for Bidarshi+k to go
”So, one night when he sits by the fire, very sick, his head hanging down, I say, 'My son, I have learned the way for you to go to the white lad 'Go,' I say, 'even as Yamikan went' But Bidarshi+k is sick and does not understand 'Go forth,' I say, 'and find a white man, and, even as Yamikan, do you kill that white et you, and even as they took Yamikan will they take you across the salt lake to the white man's land And then, even as Yas you have seen, your head filled isdom'
”And Bidarshi+k stands up very quick, and his hand is reaching out for his gun 'Where do you go?' I ask 'To kill the white ood in the ears of Bidarshi+k and that he will groell again Also do I know that my words have been wise
”There is a white round, nor after furs in the forest All the tis and flies, then why does he seek after them? I do not know Only do I know that he is a funny white s of birds He does not eat the eggs All that is inside he takes out, and only does he keep the shell Eggshell is not good to eat Nor does he eat the eggshells, but puts them away in soft boxes where they will not break He catch many small birds But he does not eat the birds He takes only the skins and puts theood to eat And this strange white s out of the ground
”But he is not a fierce white man, and I knoill die very easy; so I say to Bidarshi+k, 'My son, there is the white man for you to kill' And Bidarshi+k says that oes to a place he knohere are s up very e white lad His face shi+nes like the sun, and he sladness as he looks at the bones He bends his head over, so, to look well at the bones, and then Bidarshi+k strikes hie white man kicks and is dead
”'Now,' I say to Bidarshi+k, 'will the white soldier men come and take you away to the land under the sun, where you will eat row fat' Bidarshi+k is happy Already has his sickness gone fro of the white soldier men
”Hoas I to know the way of the whiteupon me fiercely ”Hoas I to know that what the white man does yesterday he will not do to- day, and that what he does to-day he will not do to-morrow?” Ebbits shook his head sadly ”There is no understanding the white man Yesterday he takes Yarub To-day he takes Bidarshi+k and - what does he do with Bidarshi+k? Let me tell you what he does with Bidarshi+k
”I, Ebbits, his father, will tell you He takes Bidarshi+k to Cambell Fort, and he ties a rope around his neck, so, and, when his feet are no round, he dies”
”Ai! ai!” wailed Zilla ”And never does he cross the lake large as the sky, nor see the land under the sun where there is no snow”
”Wherefore,” old Ebbits said with grave dignity, ”there be no one to hunt ry by rub, and strong tea, and tobacco forand very miserable white people,” Zilla proclaientle positiveness ”Because of the way of the whiteand never twice the sao on the rih many and prosperous years, and died full of honors with his nao did he live that only the old ot from the old men before them, and which the old men to come will tell to their children and their children's children down to the end of tialessweep across the ice-pack, and the air is filled with flying white, and noof how Keesh, froe, rose to power and place over theht boy, so the tale runs, healthy and strong, and he had seen thirteen suns, in their way of reckoning time For each winter the sun leaves the land in darkness, and the next year a new sun returns so that they ain and look upon one another's faces The father of Keesh had been a very brave man, but he had ht to save the lives of his people by taking the life of a great polar bear In his eagerness he carapples with the bear, and his bones were crushed; but the bear had much meat on him and the people were saved Keesh was his only son, and after that Keesh lived alone with his ot the deed of his father; and he being but a boy, and his otten, and ere long came to live in the ht, in the big IGLOO of Klosh-Kwan, the chief, that Keesh showed the blood that ran in his veins and the nity of an elder, he rose to his feet, and waited for silence amid the babble of voices
”It is true that meat be apportioned h, this meat, and, moreover, it has an unusual quantity of bones”
The hunters, grizzled and gray, and lusty and young, were aghast The like had never been known before A child, that talked like a grown s to their very faces!
But steadily and with seriousness, Keesh went on ”For that I know reat hunter, I speak these words It is said that Bok brought home more meat than any of the two best hunters, that with his own hands he attended to the division of it, that with his own eyes he saw to it that the least old woman and the last old man received fair share”
”Na! Na!” the men cried ”Put the child out!” ”Send hiraybeards!”
He waited calh-Gluk,” he said, ”and for her dost thou speak And thou, too, Massuk, a mother also, and for them dost thou speak My h Bok be dead because he hunted over-keenly, it is just that I, who aa, who isas there be meat in plenty in the tribe I, Keesh, the son of Bok, have spoken”
He sat down, his ears keenly alert to the flood of protest and indignation his words had created
”That a boy should speak in council!” old Ugh-Gluk was s we shall do?” Massuk demanded in a loud voice ”Am I a man that I should be er boiled a white heat They ordered him to bed, threatened that he should have no s for his presuan to flash, and the blood to pound darkly under his skin In theto his feet
”Hear ain, never again till the men come to me and say, 'It is well, Keesh, that thou shouldst speak, it is well and it is our wish' Take this now, ye reat hunter I, too, his son, shall go and hunt the meat that I eat And be it known, now, that the division of that which I kill shall be fair And nonor weak one shall cry in the night because there is no reat pain for that they have eaten overmuch And in the days to co men who have eaten overhter followed him out of the IGLOO, but his jaas set and he went his way, looking neither to right nor left
The next day he went forth along the shore-line where the ice and the land o noted that he carried his boith a goodly supply of bone-barbed arrows, and that across his shoulder was his father's big hunting-spear And there was laughter, and much talk, at the event It was an unprecedented occurrence Never did boys of his tender age go forth to hunt,of heads and prophetic a, and her face was grave and sad
”He will be back ere long,” they said cheeringly
”Let hio; it will teach him a lesson,” the hunters said ”And he will come back shortly, and he will be meek and soft of speech in the days to follow”
But a day passed, and a second, and on the third a wild gale 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 mistreated the boy and sent hio in search of the body when the stor, however, Keesh strode into the village But he came not shamefacedly Across his shoulders he bore a burden of fresh-killed ance in his speech