Part 4 (2/2)
”Go, ye es, and take my trail for the better part of a day's travel,” he said ”There is rown cubs”
Ikeega was overcome with joy, but he received her dea, 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 wasof a polar bear is very dangerous, but thrice dangerous is it, and three times thrice, to kill athele-handed, had accoreat a marvel
But the woht on his back, and this was an overwhelainst their unbelief So they finally departed, gru 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 e 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 fashi+on, and rean the mystery of Keesh, aof the days His very next trip he killed a young bear, nearly full-grown, and on the trip following, a large one fro unusual for him to stay away a week at a time on the ice-field Always he declined company on these expeditions, and the people marvelled ”How does he do it?” they de with hireat help, too”
”Why dost thou hunt only bear?” Klosh-Kwan once ventured to ask hi 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,” so is rewarded How else can it be, save that he hunts with evil spirits?”
”Mayhap they be not evil, but good, these spirits,” others said ”It is known that his father was a hty hunter May not his father hunt with him so that he ? 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 wo 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 s he had done, they looked for hiain 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 nua and I can dwell in coravely
”But I have no ti, and it takes all my tie who eat my meat should build ly, 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 cae; and the wo her advice, and to quoting her wisdo themselves or with the men
But it was thethat took chief place in all their h-Gluk taxed hih-Gluk said ominously, ”that thou dealest with evil spirits, wherefore thy hunting is rewarded”
”Is not the e yet to fall sick fro of it? How dost thou know that witchcraft be concerned? Or dost thou guess, in the dark, h-Gluk withdrew disco at hi deliberation, it was determined to put spies on his track when he went forth to hunt, so that his ht be learned So, on his next trip, Bicare 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 coly we journeyed, so that he ht not know And reat he-bear It was a very great bear”
”None greater,” Bawn corroborated, and went on hiht, for he turned away and made off slowly over the ice Thisfrom the rocks of the shore, and the bear came toward us, and after him came Keesh, very much unafraid And he shouted harsh words after the bear, and waved his arry, and rise up on his hind legs, and growl But Keesh walked right up to the bear”
”Ay,” Biht up to the bear Keesh walked And the bear took after him, and Keesh ran away But as he ran he dropped a little round ball on the ice And the bear stopped and smelled of it, then sed it up And Keesh continued to run away and drop little round balls, and the bear continued to s the h-Gluk expressed open unbelief
”With our own eyesit,” Bim affirmed
And Bawn - ”Ay, with our own eyes And this continued until the bear stood suddenly upright and cried aloud in pain, and thrashed his fore paws madly about And Keesh continued to ave hi occupied with the ht within him”
”Ay, within him,” Bim interrupted ”For he did claw at himself, and leap about over the ice like a playful puppy, save frorowled 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 furtherh-Gluk suggested
”I know not,” Bawn replied
”I tell only of what reeak and tired, for he was very heavy and he had ju the shore-ice, shaking his head slowly froain to squeal and cry And Keesh followed after the bear, and we followed after Keesh, and for that day and three daysfroh-Gluk exclaimed ”Surely it was a charm!”
”It may well be”
And Bim relieved Bawn ”The bear wandered, now this way 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 de the bear, and caht be told”
And in the afternoon of that day the women hauled in the meat of the bear while the er was sent to hi that he was hungry and tired; also that his IGLOO was large and comfortable and could holdon the men that the whole council, Klosh-Kwan to the fore, rose up and went to the IGLOO of Keesh He was eating, but he received thea was proud and embarrassed by turns, but Keesh was quite coht by Bim and Bawn, and at its close said in a stern voice: ”So explanation is wanted, O Keesh, of thyIs there witchcraft in it?”
Keesh looked up and sht of witches, and of witches I know nothing I have but devised a means whereby I may kill the ice-bear with ease, that is all It be headcraft, not witchcraft”
”Andsilence The
”Andandand wilt thou tell us, O Keesh?” Klosh-Kwan finally asked in a tremulous voice
”Yea, I will tell thee” Keesh finished sucking a marrow-bone and rose to his feet ”It is quite simple Behold!”
He picked up a thin strip of whalebone and showed it to them The ends were sharp as needle-points The strip he coiled carefully, till it disappeared in his hand Then, suddenly releasing it, it sprang straight again He picked up a piece of blubber