The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-03-11

the edge had been taken from appetite
the oldest woman in the village would
get into the centre of the group and
would there entertain everybody by con-
torting her face just as children do max
ing faces. lie had noticed, willy fellow,
that the old woman's doings always con-
vulsed pretty Juliana, and he guessed
that if he were ever to capture the girl
he must make his rush at the climax of
the fun, when the old woman, with bulg-
ing eyes, wide, extended mouth and pro-
truding tongue, would call herself
Quarnat-thc moon. 1t was, therefore,
with beating heart and rising emotions
that he watched the well-kuown pro-
gramme of the feast pass on till at last
old Marie Tirra stepped into the ring and
began the fun by looking square at
pretty Juliana and then drawing one side
of her face into remarkable grimace.
Under ordinary circumstances Juliana
would have roared with laughter, but
this time her eyes had been wandering
elsewhere, and she had seen, looking
over the shoulder of her father and past
the head of her unacceptcd lover, an
oomiak or great boat full of strangers
coming around the rocks at the entrance
of the little harbor, while two men in
kayaks padded beside the oomiak. In
stead of laughing she jumped to her feet
and shouted:
"Strangers! Strangers!"
It was a most startling event in the
history of the little settlement.
At the sound of the girls voice every
body stood up and looked toward the
strange boat. Then all fiocked down to
the landing and greeted the newcomers
by shouts and inquiries regarding their
health. It was cordial meeting in ap-
pearance only, however, for according to
custom, one of the strangers had to
wrestle with a picked man of the settle
ment, and under very old custom the
stranger, if defeated, could be killed by
the victor-a custom now obsolete.
Now, the party of strangers included
an old man, his wife, two sons, daugh-
ter-in-law and several children. The
sons were in the kayaks, and it was the
unmarried one who led the way to the
landing. As he stepped from his kayak
the villagers by common instinct turned
toward young Peter Manasse. he had
had hard luck in wooing wife, and
here was his opportunity to show his
proves such as he had never had before.
In some way-probably from the
chatter among the gossips-the young
strang er seemed to apprehcnd the con.
dition of affairs in the village, and looked
at one after another of the maidens stand
ing behind their elders and glancing
shyly at him when they thought he
wouldn't observe them, until at last his
eyes fell on Juliana. Her beauty of face
and form would have convinced less
observant youth that she was the one
sought for, but had anything else been
wanting, her quick flush was enough to
betray her. Thereat the young stranger
picked great dead swan-a very rare
bird in those parts-from the top of his
kayak and carried it to the feet of pretty
Juliana, who said not word, though
she smiled very brightly toward her
mother. Then the young man said:
"My name is Habakik. Who is it
that will meet Habikik2" and young
Peter Manasse stepped from the group
and said that it was he. The two eyed
each other and then, as white athletes
would say, began to wrestle catch-as-
catch-can. It was a mighty and mem-
orable struggle. No such match had
ever been seen by any one present. With
equal strength and skill they pulled and |
pushed and lifted, hither and thither,
about the level beach, till both were
flaming red in the face and bathed in
parspiration. Tien the foot of the
stranger slipped and he stumbled for
ward, head down, under Peters right |
arm. A shout went up from the viii
layers, but before Peter could take ad- |
vantage of the slip Habilzils had grabbed |
the young man about the knees, lifted |
him from his feet and threw him heavily |
with his back on the sand. And there
the two lay painting, while blood oozed
slowly from Peters nose, the shock Of
the fall having burst small blood YES
sci.
After minute or so, when both had
partially recovered their wind, they rose
slowly, ard the villagers began once
moro giving the strangers a CHEEKY well
come, in which, though crcstfallen, Peter
Joined heartily. As he stood before Ha-
bakik, saying it had been fair fight
and we'll won, he saw the pretty Juliana,
her big brown eyes watching the blood
flowing down his face with look of con-
Germ in them that no bright young Eski-
mo man could mistake. She was just
outside of the group of villagers, and
her father and brothers had run down to
help draw the strange oomiak on shore.
Juliana, catching the eye of Peter,
turned her head very quickly away, and
then the long disappointed lover reached
her side with jump, picked her up in
his arms, and fed away in triumph to
his fathers iglu, and there they re-
mained till the rest were through with
the feast.
A week later the moon was full.
Juliana received from her mother new
scraping knife and new butchers knife,
and from her father lamp made of
hollow stone. The white trader gave
her very fine, large iron kettle, coffee
pot and great quantity of bright
colored goods, and beads enough for
new collar foot wide, which, under the
circumstances, was very decent thing
for the trader to do. Juliana, as was