Cast Away in the Cold Part 21

It was not on the land, but out on the frozen sea over which we had travelled. As we approached, the dogs ran very fast. '_Igloo, igloo!_'

exclaimed the savages, pointing, when we neared the village. As we had already learned that _igloo_ meant hut, in their language, we were much rejoiced; for we were very tired with the long journey, and cold besides. But still we fell to wondering what sort of place this was we were coming to, and what strange sight we were next going to see.

"Old Grim drove his sledge close up along side of Eatum's, trying to pa.s.s; and we went into the village with a perfect rush,--the men shouting, the dogs barking, and everything in an uproar generally.

"While this race between Old Grim and Eatum was going on, the Dean and I were for a few moments side by side, and near together. The Dean called out to me, 'Hardy, this don't seem real, does it? These ain't dogs, they are wolves; these ain't men, they're devils'; and, as I looked over at Old Grim, and saw him throwing his long whip to right and left, and heard him calling out to his dogs in a language which seemed like nothing human, and all the while preserving the same immovable expression of countenance, I must confess that there seemed to be a great deal of truth in what the Dean said.

"Thus it was we went rushing into the village. And a strange village, indeed, it proved to be,--nothing but a collection of huts made of frost-hardened snow. There were in all six of them.

"Many more savages were there, who came out to meet us; and their dogs rushed out too, making a great noise; and when we had halted, a number of women joined them, all dressed in furs just like the men, and also children dressed in the same way, and all very curious about us, and all _yeh-yeh_-ing a great deal. Indeed, we made such a commotion in the village as never was seen before.

"But everybody appeared to be kindly disposed towards us, and into one of the huts we were both taken immediately, and down we sat on the floor of the hut, which was covered all over with bear-skins. There were two lamps in it, almost exactly like ours, and two pots were hanging over them. We had soon a good meal, and very quickly after that were sound asleep; and even although it was a snow hut, and among savages, we were thankful in our very heart of hearts. And our thankfulness was because we were among human beings once more, and felt no longer as if we were wholly cast away from the world; and we now felt hopeful that through these savages would come means of escape to our homes. We felt thankful, too, that they treated us so kindly,--the women especially; for, savages though they were, they were possessed of much feeling and sympathy. One of the women made the Dean go to sleep with his head in her lap, which it was easy to see he did not like a bit; and, before this, she had fed him with her own fingers, and, while he was sleeping, she stroked his bright hair away from his handsome face. Another of the women treated me very much in the same way; but being older, and not handsome, like the Dean, I did not come in for so many favors.

"Then, besides that, the women took off our damp fur stockings, and gave us dry ones before we went to sleep; and they seemed to want to do everything they could for us, so that we soon became convinced they meant us no harm. The woman who was particularly kind to me was the wife of Eatum; and the Dean and I at once called her Mrs. Eatum, which made them all _yeh-yeh_ very much; and they got to calling her that too,--as near, at least, as they could p.r.o.nounce it which was, _Impsuseatum_. Her right name was _Serkut_, which means 'little nose'; Eatum's right name was _Tuk-tuk_, that is, reindeer, because he could run very fast. There were two young Eatums; and when I began to play with them, I grew in great favor with the Eatum family.

"The Dean was quite as well off for patrons as I, being specially taken care of by a woman whose husband had been one of our party. Her name I forget now, but it meant 'big toes.' So what with nursing by 'Mrs.

Little-nose' and 'Mrs. Big-toes,' and with plenty of seal meat to eat, the Dean and I got on famously. The name of Mrs. Big-toes' husband was _Awak_, which means walrus. He was a fine hunter, and had plenty of dogs. These dogs, I should mention, were always allowed to run loose about the village; and, no matter how cold it was, they slept on the snow. But their harness had to be taken off, else they would eat it; and everything eatable was buried out of sight in the snow, or brought inside the hut.

"After we had been eating, and sleeping, and enjoying the hospitality of these savages about three days, a young hunter whose name was _Kossuit_, which meant that he was a little dark-skinned fellow, came driving into the village (he had been out prospecting for a hunt), proclaiming, in a very loud voice, that there was a great crack in the ice, and that it was alive with walrus and seal. There was immediately a great stir, and a great harnessing of dogs, and hunting up of whips, and getting together of harpoons and spears and lines. Everybody was going on the hunt, that is, all the men and boys. When all was ready, Eatum came to me, and said, 'Ketchum _awak_, ketchum _pussay_, you go?' meaning, would we go with them, and catch walrus and seals. Of course we said 'yes,'

and off we started at a wild pace; the Dean riding with Kossuit, while I rode with Eatum. We had to go I should think four miles before we came to the crack; and, when we reached it, we found it to be as Kossuit had described it. As soon as the savages saw the crack, they stopped their dogs, which was done by crying, _Eigh, eigh, eigh!_ to them, and whipping then:, fiercely if they did not mind soon enough. The dogs being now fastened by running the points of the runners into the snow, the hunters went forward with their lines and spears and harpoons; and, by approaching the side of the crack very cautiously, they managed at length to get near enough to throw their harpoons into the animals when they came up to the surface to breathe. Their mode of capturing them was almost the same as that which we employed in catching seals, after finding it out for ourselves. Thus you see how all people in the same conditions of life will naturally be led to the same way of providing for their wants,--our senses being given to us all, whether savage or civilized, for the same purpose. I have showed you already how, in our mode of starting a fire, in our lamp, pot, and other domestic implements; our clothing, harpoon, and the like,--we had imitated these savages unconsciously; and the more I was with them, the more I saw how much we were like them.

"Knowing how we killed the seals, it is not necessary to tell you how the savages managed; and catching the walrus was just the same, only more difficult, for a walrus is several times larger than a seal. You know the walrus are those huge marine animals, living in the Arctic seas, that have long white tusks, and look so fierce. They make a very loud and very hideous noise; and in the summer, like the seals, they come up on the ice, or on the rocks along the sh.o.r.e, in great numbers, to bask and sleep in the sun.

"It is enough to say there was a great deal of sport, and a great deal of excitement, not unmixed with danger. One of the hunters got a line tangled about his legs, and was whipped over into the water, where he was not noticed, except to be laughed at, while all the hunters went on with what they were about, letting him shift for himself,--little caring, as it appeared, whether he drowned or not; and I really believe he would have drowned, had it not been for the a.s.sistance of the Dean and myself. This was the first time I had observed how reckless these people were of their lives.

"There were in the party altogether nine sledges, with one good hunter to each sledge. Five of them were old men and four were young men, besides which there were six boys of various ages; and these, with the Dean and myself, made seventeen. By helping each other all round, we caught seven seals and three walruses,--all of which we skinned and quartered, and put on the sledges; and then we returned to the village,--walking back, however, as the load on the sledges was too heavy to allow us to ride.

"When we reached the village, the women came out to meet us, talking very much, and _yeh, yeh_-ing louder than ever; and now I observed that they took all the game we had captured, and butchered it, the men doing nothing at all but look after their dogs. It was thought to be a disgrace for a man to do any work about his hut.

"The Dean and I had taken our full share in the hunt, and won much admiration. Before, they had treated us with a kind of pity, but now they had great respect for us. Eatum said, 'Much good hunter you.'

"Seeing that we were good hunters, they were now going to marry us right off, that we might have wives to cut up our seals when we brought them home, which proposition put us in a great embarra.s.sment. If we refused, they might be offended, as was very natural; so I accepted their offer at once without a moment's hesitation, appearing as if I was very glad, and thought it a great compliment indeed; but at the same time I told them, with a very grave face, that all our relations lived in a far-off country, to which we were obliged to go as soon as a ship came that way; and, of course, when we did go, the wives they gave us would go along.

As none of the young women were willing to take us on these conditions, although not very flattering to us, we got out of the difficulty without offending anybody. At first the Dean was quite indignant, but afterwards he laughed, and said, 'Why, just think of it! Mrs. Hardy and Mrs. Dean in seal-skin breeches and long boots,--a jolly idea indeed!' But one of the girls was fond enough of the Dean for all, only she mustn't show it; for these people are mighty particular about that. When all is arranged by the parents, the girl is obliged, even then, to say she won't have her lover. So the lover has to steal up, and take her unawares, and run off with her bodily. Of coa.r.s.e, if she really likes the fellow, and wants to get married to him, he has an easy time enough of it; but if, on the other hand, she dislikes him, she can readily get away from him.

"Old Grim (whose right name was Metak, meaning eider-duck) had an adventure of this sort, as they told me, which resulted very differently from what usually happens. He was then quite a young man, but, having caught a seal, he thought it was time he had a wife. Meanwhile a wife had been provided for him by his father, who had made the bargain with the girl's father. The girl was told who her husband was to be, but it would have been against all rules to tell her when he was coming after her. Well, as I have said, having caught his first seal, Metak made up his mind to have a wife to butcher it for him; so he set out for the snow hut of his lady-love's father, where the dusky-faced girl was lying fast asleep, all rolled up in furs.

"As it was contrary to custom for any girl to be captured in a hut, but must be taken on the wing, as it were, Metak had to wait for her to come out, which she finally did, and pa.s.sed very near a deep bank of snow, behind which her lover was lying, shivering with cold, and crying with impatience. Quick as a fox to pounce upon an unsuspecting rabbit was Metak to pounce upon the unsuspecting girl. He seized her, and started for his sledge. She screamed, she pulled his hair, she tore his fur, she bit his fingers; but the valiant Metak held manfully to his purpose, and would not let her go. He reached the sledge, and put her on it; he tied her there, and, springing on himself, he whipped up his dogs, and started for his home. But the refractory damsel would not stay tied. She cut the lashings with her teeth, she seized the whip out of Metak's hands, she pushed Metak off the sledge, and sent him sprawling on the snow; and then she wheeled the dogs around, and fairly made them fly again on the backward track to her father's hut, where she crawled once more into her nest of furs, and where the luckless Metak was ever afterwards content to let her stay, satisfied that he was no match for her.

"This story was told by Eatum one evening in the snow hut, while Old Grim was present, and it was evidently a standing joke against him. He did not seem to relish it at all, for he went out of the hut as if driven away by their shouts of laughter. I could not understand the language well enough to fully appreciate the story at the time, but afterward I got Eatum to repeat it to me.

"It proved that the name Old Grim, that the Dean and I had given Metak, was even more appropriate than we thought; for it seemed that he was generally known as the man who laughed with his insides without the help of his face.

"Altogether these savages were a most singular people. They seemed to be happy and cheerful all the time, never caring for anything, so long as they had enough to eat, and plenty of time to tell stories about each other and make each other laugh. But what struck the Dean and I most strangely was that they should be living in this happy state away out there on the sea, a long distance from land, really burrowing in the snow for shelter, and roaming about for food like beasts of prey, and yet enjoying themselves and amusing themselves after the fashion of civilized human beings, so far as their relations to one another were concerned.

"'Well, I do declare,' said the Dean, 'this is an odd party, to be sure.

I'm going to christen them, Hardy.'

"'Christen them, or Christian them'? I asked.

"'Both, perhaps,' answered the Dean; 'but for the present I mean christen,--that is, give them a name.'

"'That I understand; but what's the name?'

"'The Children of the Frozen Sea.'

"'Very good,' I said, 'capital! Children of the frozen sea! Sounds good, at any rate; and all the world is agreed that whatever sounds good must be good.'"

CHAPTER XIX.

The Peculiar People proving to be Savages, the Castaways seize the First Opportunity to leave them, not relishing their Company.

"I have not latterly said much about the Dean; but you may be very sure that such a fine fellow could not fail to be greatly delighted with the change that had come about, as it not only led us away from our desolate life on the desert island, but gave us a promise at least of the rescue which we had so earnestly prayed for. 'We ought to be very thankful,'

said the Dean to me one day, 'very thankful indeed for this deliverance.' But as I did not much relish the habits and customs of the savages, I did not find myself of the same thankful disposition; so I replied to the Dean, that the change looked much like that of the fish who fell out of the frying-pan into the fire. 'You should not say so,'

replied the Dean. 'I see the hand of G.o.d in it; and he who has mercifully preserved us through so many trials and dangers will not desert us now.'

"The Dean said no more at that time, but he became very thoughtful, while, as for myself, I felt quite ashamed that I had spoken so slightingly of the savages, and had shown so much impatience with their rather disagreeable company; for, to tell the truth, their ways were somewhat offensive, as they never washed their faces, and were altogether rather a filthy set.

"The Dean, however, did not stop with preaching about them, but, on the contrary, did everything he could for them. One of the hunters had gone to catch seals, and, the ice breaking up, he was drifted out to sea, where he took refuge on an iceberg, upon which he managed to drag his dogs and sledge. Here he lived through terrible storms and cold for a whole moon (that being the way they reckon time), and he only escaped finally by the iceberg drifting in near the land, when the sea froze around it. After great trouble he got ash.o.r.e, with both of his feet dreadfully frozen, which is easily accounted for when you know that the poor fellow had no shelter at all while on the iceberg, and had nothing to eat but his dogs, all of which died of starvation. This savage had no wife, and the Dean took care of him, and dressed his frost-bites, and was so good to him that the savages all called him '_Paw-weit_', which means 'Little Good-heart.' So the Dean got on famously; but the poor frozen savage that he had been so kind to died at last, and was buried in the snow.

"A child fell on the ice, and broke its arm, and the Dean set it, and made it all right; and to other people he did many things to show his sympathy for them; but, when he began to tell them about our religion, they did not understand him, and had no mind to listen. This very much grieved the Dean; for he wanted to convert the whole of them, and thought, if he only knew their language better, he could persuade them all to be Christians,--which I think very likely, for n.o.body could resist him.

"We remained at the snow village three weeks, but we did not do much more hunting, as the savages seemed to think they had enough for their present wants; and since they are almost constantly moving about from place to place in search of food, they never store up much for the future. Having enough to eat for the present, they let the future take care of itself; and, sure of a good meal, they amuse themselves mostly with telling stories, usually about each other,--that is, when they are not eating or sleeping, which I must say occupies most of their time.

"They had a singular custom in their story-telling which I have never seen among any other people. One person recites the story, and the listeners break in, every now and then, with a laughing chorus that is nothing more than a repet.i.tion of the meaningless words, '_amna aya_', which are sung over and over to any extent. The women generally enjoy it the most, and sing the loudest, especially when a man is concerned. I will give you a specimen of this kind of song,--translated, of course, as I have long ago forgotten how to speak their language.

"Eatum is telling the story of a bear-hunt, and as you will see that it is a kind of song, I will sing it for you, and you can join in the chorus just as well as if you were all little savages yourselves. We will call it

"THE SONG OF KARSUK'S BEAR-HUNT.

"A bear is seen upon the ice, _Amna aya_; Karsuk goes out to hunt the bear, _Amna, amna aya_,

"The dogs get quick upon the trail, _Amna aya_; The dogs are pulling all they can, _Amna, amna, aya_.

"The bear is running all he can, _Amna aya_; The bear gets tired and cannot run, _Amna, amna aya_.

"He turns around to charge Karsuk, _Amna aya_; Karsuk jumps off and runs away, _Amna, amna aya_,

"He runs away all full of fright, _Amna aya_; So full of fright he tumbles down, _Amna, amna aya_,

"Bear kills the dogs and breaks the sledge, _Amna aya_; What girl will marry such a man?

_Amna, amna aya_."

and so on, after that, they keep _aya_-ing, _aya_-ing, and _amna-aya_-ing uproariously, until they are entirely broken down with shouting and laughing, in the midst of which Karsuk is pretty sure to run away.

"In the same manner I have heard the story of Metak's love adventure sung, or rather recited, or _amna-aya_-ed as one might say.