The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1906-01-17
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WIS dlleNldtlOh w
IO Metek's anguish that there
@ @|N were no human ears to
hear the tormenting words.
except those in the four forlorn igloos
that broke the white level Of the fore
shore like snow blisters.
Shame travels on the wind, and goes
one cannot tell where. The things that
i've in the cold blue ravines Of the
great bergs always hear Of 1t when
man is nahme; the evil spirits Of the
cliffs and those that dwell in the caves
nnder the ice-belt hear Of it.
Ever since his father had been
eaught in his ussuk line and dragged
under the foe, Metek had tried man.
fully to provide for his mother and
baby sister. But fortune had been
against him. For two months the
family had lived on charity, and this
during a winter of unprecedented
want.
The three men Of the tiny village
never asked him to go hunting with
them now. They paid less attention to
him than to little TOoky, still Graded
In her mothers hood.
They spoke to Ootimiah. on the con-
trary, as one man to another, and
Ootimlah was barely year older than
Metek. But Ootimiah, the lucky, had
brought two seals home to the fam
lshed mouths.
Thus Metek pursued his despairing
thoughts in a circle, and although they
sometimes swirled up so thick and
black and angry that he yearned to
strike at Ootimiah with his keenest
lance, he kept doggedly at his work.
Every day he went forth on his vain
excursions over the foe, or climbed to
the ice-cap of the cliffs to inspect his
FOX traps.
"Silence, lump Of fatr' he shouted.
His eyes gllttered dangerously. "Put
the dogs to thy sledge and we will see
who is nahme. We will come back
s. with meat or not at all"
e|Ootimiah stared at him like an appre-
tensive dumping. Underneath his furs
bis mean little heart bounded at this
that Metek was cowed by adversely.
"How he said, when he had recov-
ered himself somewhat. "If you are
% hungry 1 will! make you eat your
words. Then you will have plenty Of
wind in the belly, which is filing"
He laughed unctuously at his joke
but at the same time he fastened the
three best dogs of his fathers pack to
The light sledge of pieced bone, and
forced his rotund person into more
furs, until his coats lay upon him like
the shards Of an onion. Also he put
nnder the sledge apron two strips Of
blubber and frozen sea flipper, which
h excellent to gnaw on. Ootimiah be-
heved that Metek was "bluffing," but
he wished to make sure Of catching
him.
Metek's mother merely grunted, and
took fresh grip with her bare toes
on the stiff reindeer skin she was sew
ing when Metek bade her good-by. he
crawled out through the tocksoo and
Jumped on his sledge as cheerfully as
H he expected to see her again.
The sunless winter sky hung over
chem, and it was piercing cold; but
the air was still. The granulated sur
face Of the foe afforded the dogs q
arm foothold.
Ootimlah tried to entice Metek into a
rage; but when the latter refused to
force his team, he lolled back against
che upstanders and crooned fatty to
himself, thinking how he would jeer
at Metek when the excursion was over.
At noon they halted for rest. Ooti-
miah gluttonously bolted his blubber,
but Metek gave the larger part Of his
scanty stock Of provisions to his dogs.
"HuhW grunted Ootimish, looking
with scornful eyes at this proceeding,
"You have only a woman's heart. To.
morrow you will be whining for food" 4"
"'Tis not / who drags the sledge,"
said Metek. "a good hunter cares fol-
his dogs first"
Ootimiah, still scornful, tucked him
self snugly into the sledge and cracked
his whip.
As the afternoon wore on, the ict
became rougher. Here and there tn,
doe had squeezed and forced up grea'
blocks Of crystal; but lanes of leve
ace ran between, and the dogs wen
briskly forward.
As he rode, Ootimiah's glance swep
the gray expanse. There was not {
crack or hole to be seen. The deat
sound of the dogs feet told his expert
enced ear that the Ice had thickened
Pale spots In the dusk ahead betraye,
the presence of bergs. Bleak and drea
as it was about the igloo village, thi
was q region still more inhospitable.
Toward night the wind rose. 0oti
uiah, who was bored, began to fee