The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1906-01-03
..METEK, THE PROVIDER.


BY Fisher Ames, Jr.

sumo his insulting chant with new
zest.
He did not feel like laughing now
There was sense of something in the
air that cowed him. 1t seemed to
| him. although he could not see them,
that black storm-clouds We're stealing
in from the sea and massing overhead;
that the sky was setting its scenery
for one of its sudden dramas.
That night the great skin that holds
back the north winds burst. and il
blew as if it meant to strip the world
of its atmosphere. The bitter ,eddies
and back-drafts caught at the sledges
till they jerked frantlcally at their
lance anchors. and the reindeer robes
broke loose many times from under the
boys bodies.
While the wild air tore above them,
underneath the sea surged in its deep
bed, thrusting upward against the foe
with mighty shoulders. Swift shivers
ran through the ice. 1t groaned and
doomed with the tumult of battle
field. Now. with noise of thunder,
wide chasms opened and the white
water gushed out, seething Now
with slow, grinding roar, a pressure
ridge would lift its long rampant across
the ice. But dominating all other
storm sounds was the cannonade of the
bergs as they hurled their thousand ton
blocks crashing upon the foe.
Poor Ootimiah prayed to the things
that haunt their ravlnes that they
would spare him. His belief in the
efficiency of his prayers was not great.
but they We're straws, at least, at
which TO clutch.
The black morning found the wind
Pstlll blowing gale, and sweeping with
it veil of cutting snow. 1t was mad
ness to go on in the teeth of such a
storm. with no food for themselves or
for the dogs
"What shall we do?" asked the
frightened Ootimiah. Even the brown
anuli himself could not face such
weather"
eve will go on said Metek. tran
quily. and he threw out the long whip
lash. It's report was lost in the roar
, of the wind.
Dimly Ootlmiah began to perceive the
presence Of a master spirit This
Metek. younger than himself, whom he
had called nahme, had set his teeth in
a purpose, and neither cold nor hunger
nor the dark wings of death itself
would cause him to relax his hold.
The mere inkling of such tenacity
: alarmed fiabbly little Ootimiah almost
| nc ttnttch ,;a zf
The blue and white fox-skin jumper
even the waving fox-tail which Metek
held between his teeth to protect his
? face from the wind--assumed an un.
cannily unfamiliar aspect. This was
| not the Metek he had known, this
squat, silent thing that made him fee
3 more alone than he had ever felt whe1
t hunting by himself far out on the foe.
Fear swelled in his heart, and he
} urged his dogs forward till they ran as
= one team with Metek's. "Come back!
t he shouted through the roar of wlnt
: and Ice
Metek turned his head. The rim Of
4 his hood was feathered thick witt
$ frost, and his eyes shone like crumbs
: of new ice. Silently he stretched A.;
@ mittened hand toward the north.
d From the lofty cliffs inland a.suddeI
S great sound greeted them. 1t rolled
majestic, over their heads, and die,
+ gradually away far to the eastward.
[ "'Tis the anuk thlngw shouted
= Metek. "He is calling to his children
a Onwardr
Ootlmlah had heard of the colossa
q genius Of the walrus tribe that lives sol
o the tops of bare and beetling cliffs
It He had no desire to make his ac
o quaintance. "Die If you wishr' h
r called, shrilly, to Metek II am golnj
:. back. There is nothing here but ice
l. devils and that beast thing that be
t, witches men,"
Is He swung his dogs about, and the,
5. came Willingly. AS they straightene,
g out on the homeyard road, he cast
g last look at the squat, purposeful bacl
D. in the foxslin jumper Then the dark
)" ness blotted it out
!" The anuk thing did not speak agar
)r but Metek knew that he was there
watching him with friendly eyes. II
D. was sure the creature was beneficen
ID when presently the confusing sno,
ceased to fall. In the darkness h
&c could feel now the clear arch of til
ie frozen sky, vast bubble of blac
At steel under which the labotlng ice RAJ
el Changing.
nt The hunters never left the igloc
when the foe was squeezing, bl
pit Metek was not afraid. He had onl
a one thought-to redeem himself an
I'd bring back meat to his starving peopl
r. On he drove, his gaze fixed on I'll
d. pale outlines of vast berg, whic
ed seemed to stretch an impregnable ba
ar rier across his path AS he Dire
lis nearer he heard the sinister chant ,
the wind moaning through its shai
H. notches. And all at once his ei
'el caught a gruif, explosive, pufiir
lis sound.
nd Rising to his knees, he looked 10
X. ward. A long. dark discooration Ii
m- at the foot of the berg. 1t was frei
black Ice making over a recent brea
in In the Zoe. With shout he let out
all long whip-lash,
he Metek droSe as near as be dare
a " "A. n. M