The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-11-03

shtTe-e9 between ksdiu's knees. Then ne
hair rose about his neck and ne growled
as though a stranger were A. the door;
then ne barked 5oyouSly and rolled on the
ground ard a. kotuko's boot ike l puppy.
What is it, said kotuko. for he was
beginning 70 be afraid
The Sickness" kadiu answered. 1T IS
the d0g-sickness." Kctuko tire deg lifted
his nose and howIed and howled again.
i rave not s4en this before. " hat VIII
he do?" said katuko
kaalu shrugged one shoulder a little and
crossed the hut for his short sta5blng har-
poon- The big deg looked at him, howled
again and skunk away down the passage.
wllIe the other dogs drew aside right and
tsft % give him ample room. When he
was cut on the snow he barked furiously.
as though on the trail Of a musk-ox. and
barking and leaping and frisking passed
cut of sight. This was nos hydTophoota,
but simple plain madness. The cold and
the munger and above all the dark had
turned his head: and when the terrible
oog-S5cEress once shows itself in 8 team il
spreads Ike wild-fire. Next hunting day
another dog sickened and was killed then
and there By kOtuko as ne bit and strug-
g4ed among the traces. Then the black
second dog who had been the leader in the
old days suddenly gave tongue on an i'm
ag1nary reindeer track. and when they
sApPe1 him from the patu he few 81 the
throat Of an ice-cllT. and ran away as his
leader mad done, his harness on his back.
After that no one would take the dogs out
again. They needed them for something
else and the dogs knew II. and though
they were tied down and fed by hand their
eyes were full OF despair and fear. To
make things worse, the old women began
10 tell ghost tales and TO say that they
had met the spirits OF the dead hunters
iosi that autumn, who prophesied ali sorts
Of horrible things.
kotuko grieved more for the loss Of his
dog than anything else, for though an
mutt eats enormously ne also knows
when 10 starye- But the hunger, the dark
ness. the cold and the exposure told on
his strength. and he began to hear voices
inside MS head and to see people. who
were not there. out Of the tail Of his eye.
one night he had unbuclzled himself after
ten hours waiting above a blind seal
hole and was staggering back TO the vii
lage faint and dlzzy-he halted TO lean his
back against a bowldeT which happened
to be supported like rocking-stone on
single Jutting point OF Ice. His weight dis
t1rbed the balance of the thing, it rolled
over ponderously, and as Kotuko sprang
eside 10 avoid ii il slid after him squeak
ing and Kissing on the ice slope.
That was enough for Kotuko. He had
been brought up TO believe that every rock
ard bOwlder had its owner Qts inua) who
was generally q one-eyed kind Of a wo-
a tornaq meant to help a man she rolled
after him inside her stone house and ask f.
ed him whether he would take her for a
guardian spirit In summer thaws the
ice-held rocks and powders roll and slip
all over the face of the land, so you can
easily see how the idea of live stones
arose.) kotuko heard the blood beating
Ia his ears as he had heard 1t all day and
he thought it was the tornaq of the stone
speaking to him. Before he reached home
he was quite certain that he had held a
long conversation with her, and, as all
his people believed that this was quite pos
sible, no one contradicted him.
she said to me: I jump down. | jump
down from my place on the snow" cried
Kotuko with hollow eyes. leaning forward
in the half lighted hut. she said: 1 viii
be a guide She says: i viii guide you
to the good seal holes Tomorrow l Will
go and the tornaq viii guide me"
Then Angekok. the village sorcerer,
came in and Kotuko told him the tale a
second time. 1t lost nothing in the tell
ing.
Follow the tornait 0he spirit of the
stonesl and they Will bring US food again.
said the AnEekok
Now the girl from the north had been
lying near the lamp. eating very little and
saying less for days past, but when
Amoraq and Kadlu NEXT morning packed
and dashed a little hand sleigh for Kotuko
and loaded it with his hunting gear and