suddenly the magician exclaimed—
“i know! i always knew that i would know, if i only thought hard enough. it is a club for fighting with. when the white men go to war they always use these things.”
grasping it in both hands, he swung it round his head, and made as though he would knock oolalik down with it, causing that young eskimo to shrink back in feigned alarm.
“that may be so,” said cheenbuk, with serious gravity. “i wonder we did not think of it before.”
“but if so,” objected nazinred, who always took things seriously, “what is the use of the hollow in its head, and for what are these lines and ties fixed about it?”
“don’t you see?” said cheenbuk, with increased seriousness, “after knocking your enemy down with it you pour his blood into the hollow till it is full, let it freeze, and then tie it up to keep it safe, so that you can carry it home to let your wife see what you have done.”
the usual quiet glance at anteek had such an effect on that youth that he would have certainly exploded had he not been struck by an idea which displaced all tendency to laugh.
“i know,” he cried eagerly. “you’re all wrong; it is a hat!”
so saying, he seized the leg out of the magician’s hand and thrust it on his head with the toe pointing upwards.
there was a tendency to approve of this solution, and the boy, tying two of the straps under his chin, sprang up, in the pride of his discovery. but his pride had a fall, for the leap thrust the leg through the snow roof of the hut, and the novel head-dress was wrenched off as he staggered back into cheenbuk’s arms.
despite this mishap, it was received by most of those present as a probable explanation of the difficulty, and afterwards anteek went proudly about wearing the wooden leg on his head. the style of cap proved rather troublesome, however, when he was engaged in his researches between decks, for more than once, forgetting to stoop low, he was brought up with an unpleasant jerk.
in a forest, as nazinred suggested, the high crest might have been inconvenient, but out on the floes the unencumbered immensity of the arctic sky afforded the boy room to swagger to his heart’s content.
another discovery of great interest was the carpenter’s cabin. unlike most of the other cabins, the door of this one was locked, and the key gone, though if it had been there no one would have guessed its use. peeping in through a crack, however, cheenbuk saw so many desirable things that he made short work of the obstruction by plunging his weight against it. the door went down with a crash, and the eskimo on the top of it. the sight that met his gaze amply repaid him, however, for there were collected in symmetrical array on the walls, saws, chisels, gimlets, gouges, bradawls, etcetera, while on a shelf lay planes, mallets, hammers, nails, augers—in short, every variety of boring, hammering, and cutting implement that can be imagined.
an hour after the discovery of that cabin, there was not a man or boy in the tribe who was not going about with cut fingers, more or less. experience, however, very soon taught them caution.
and here again the superior knowledge of nazinred came in usefully. like most indians, he was a man of observation. he had seen the fur-traders in their workshops, and had noted their tools. taking up a hand-saw he seized a piece of stick, and, although not an expert, sawed a lump off the end of it in a few seconds. as this would probably have cost an eskimo full half an hour to accomplish with his blunt knives, they were suitably impressed, and cheenbuk, seizing the saw, forthwith attempted to cut off the end of a rod of iron—with what effect it is scarcely necessary to explain.
in the course of a few days the quantity of material brought on shore was so great that it was found necessary to begin a second storehouse. while most of the natives were engaged on this, cheenbuk and the indian continued their researches in the ship, for a vast part of its deep hold still remained unexplored, owing partly to the slowness of the investigation in consequence of the frequent bursts of amazement and admiration, as well as the numerous discussions that ensued—all of which required time.
while going more minutely into the contents of the cabin, they came, among other things, on a variety of charts and books.
“have you ever seen things like these?” asked cheenbuk in a tone of veneration, based on the belief that the indian had seen nearly everything the world contained.
“never—except that,” he replied, pointing to a log-book; “the traders use things like that. they open them and make marks in them.”
cheenbuk immediately opened the book in question and found marks—plenty of them; but of course could make nothing of them, even after turning them sideways and upside-down. as the indian was equally incapable, they returned the whole into the locker in which they had found them, intending to carry them on shore when the new store should be ready for the reception of goods.
this was unfortunate, in some respects, as the next chapter will show.
