Part 24 (1/2)
There was little or no wind, or we should have weighed anchor and made off. After watching them a while longer, we went down to read.
But, about four, the captain called us. We went up.
”That was what they were waiting for,” said he, pointing off the starboard quarter.
About a mile below the place where the Esquimaux were collected, a whole fleet of _kayaks_ were coming along the sh.o.r.e.
”Waiting for their boats,” remarked the captain.
”They're coming off to us!”
”Do you suppose they really have hostile intentions?” Raed asked.
”From their movements on sh.o.r.e, and their shouts and howls, I should say that it was not impossible. No knowing what notions they've got into their heads about the 'black man.'”
”Likely as not their priests, if they've got any, have told them they ought to attack us,” said Wade.
”There are fifty-seven of those _kayaks_ and three _oomiaks_ coming along the sh.o.r.e!” said Kit, who had been watching them with a gla.s.s.
”Hark! The crowd on sh.o.r.e have caught sight of them! What a yelling!”
”I do really believe they mean to attack us,” Raed observed. ”This must be some nasty superst.i.tion on their part; some of their religious nonsense.”
”Well, we shall have to defend ourselves,” said Kit.
”Of course, we sha'n't let them board us,” replied Wade.
”Poor fools!” continued Raed. ”It would be too bad if we have to kill any of them.”
”Can't we frighten them out of it in some way?” I inquired.
”Might fire on them with the howitzer,” Kit suggested, ”with nothing but powder.”
”That would only make them bolder, when they saw that nothing came out of it,” said Capt. Mazard.
”Put in a ball, then,” said Kit.
”That would be as bad as shooting them here alongside.”
”It might be fired so as not to be very likely to hit them,” said Raed. ”Couldn't it, Wade?”
”Yes: might put in a small charge, and skip the ball, ricochet it along the water.”
”Let's try it,” said Kit.
The howitzer was pushed across to the starboard side.
”Remember that there's a pretty heavy charge in there now,” said Wade.
”Better send that over their heads!”