The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-11-03
Copyright. 1878. BY Irving Bacheller)
CHAPTER l.

CHAPTER l.
"He bas opened h.s eyes Look"
Put gfin gn the skin again re wIll
be strong dog, on l4e fourth month We
VIII name him"
For wnoso7'' raid Aguoraa.
nadia's eye rolled around the skin-lined
snos house til e came 10 14-year-old ko-
s8ko sitting on tire sleeping bench making
a button ~ walTIs ivory. Name h4sn
for me-" said kotako with grin y
shall need BIN some day
Eadlu grinued back ISL his eyes were al
most buried 81 the fat Of his fat cheeks.
and nodded % Amoraa. while bis puppy
fierce mother Ehtned - see her baby
vrlRgilng far out IF reach In enc little
sealskln pouch hung ABOVE the warmth Of
the blabiger lamp Kotuko went on with
his carving and Kadla threw . rolled bum
die 0f leather dos harnesses fnt0 "a tiny
little room tnat opened from one side Of
the house. silDfed or his heavy deer
skin hunting suit. put st into 4 wIaIsoone
net that hung above another lamp and
dropped down on the sleeping bench 10
white al "a piece of frozen seal meat TIL
Amoraq his wlfe should bring he regular
dinner OF boiled meat ard blood soup. BE
had been out since early dawn 81 the
seal holes eight miles away. on the lee
at the edge Of the foe. and had come home
with three big seals HAIR way down the
long lOgv snow passage or tunnel that Jed
70 the inner door of the house you could
hear saappines and yelpiugs. as The dogs
Of his sleigh team. released from their
days work. seualed FOR warm places.
when the yeipiuNs grew too loud kotuko
lqzIly rolled Off ghe sleeping bench, ard,
picking up , dog whip with an eighteen
tnch handle Of sprinZy whalehone and
twenty-five feet OF heavy plated thong,
he diged into Lhe passage where u sound
es az though all ti4e dogs were eating him
sIlve: but that was no more than their
reEa.3r grace before meals when he
ecawlce OUT CT the far end % the passage
han = dozen furry heads followed nm
ylth thcir eyes as he went 10 a short gal
lows Of w1aie jaw bones. from which the
dogs maai was hung. split or the frozen
stuff in big Jumps with 4 hroad-headed
spear. and stood his whip In enc hand and
the meat In the other. Each beast was
called b. nama~the weakest frst-and
woe betido any dog that moved out Of
his turn. for the taocring lash would
shoot out like lhonSed lightning and flick
away an inch or so OF bats and hide. Each
beast simply groUlcd once. snapped once,
choked once over his portion and hurried
back 10 the protection Of the snow pas
cage. while the boy stood on the snow
under the blazing northern tights and
dealt out justice. The last 10 be served
was the big black leader OF the team,
who kept order when they We're har-
messed. and to him Kotuko gave a double
allowance OF meat. as well an extra
crack or the whip
All" said Kotuko. coiling up the lash.
81 have a little one over the lamp that
win make a great many howlugs. Sar-
polk Get In"
lie orawlcd back over the huddled dogs.
dusIed the dry au9w from ais furs with
the whalebone beater that Amoraq kept
By the door. tapned The skip-lined roof u
the house 10 shake of any icicles that
might have fallen from the dome of snow
above and curled up on the bench The
dogs In the passage suorcd and whined IA
their sleep. the boy baby ia Amoraq's deep
fur hood kicked and eho}Sed aud gurRied,
and the mother Of the ucwiy-named puppy
lay at kotuko's side. her eyes fixed on
the bundle az se8lskin-warm ana safe
above the broad. yellow fame OF the
lamp.
And al tbls happened FAR away 10 the
north. beyond Labrador. beyond uud-
sons strait. whore the great tides throw
the Ice about north Of Melville peninsula
north even Of the narrow Fury and
Hecln straits on The north shore Of Baf-
Elm land. where ByIors island stands above
the ice Of Lancaster sound ike pudding
bowl wrong side up North % Lancaster
sound There is nothing We know anything
about except North Devon ana E.llesucre
Land, but even There live q few scattered
people mex, door. as Il were. 10 the very
poie.
Kadiu was an luuii what Won call an
Esquim8u-aud his tribe some fifty per-
sons all told, belonged % tho Tununirmlut
the country lying ~ the back Of somo--
thing" I'm the mans that drsoate coast
Is called Navy Eaar3 inlet. but shp lnuit
name IS best. because tho country i{es M
the very back az everything TN the world
For nine months q the year there Is only