The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-01-10

..METEK, THE PROVIDER..
By Fisher Ames, Jr.

.@1 Xxx

game. Surely Metek would cry off in
the morning. Then he, Ootimiah,
would have his laugh again. and re-
sumo his insulting chant with new
zeSt.
He did not feel like laughing now
There was a sense of something in the
air that cowed him. 1t seemed to
him, although he could not see them,
that black storm clouds were stealing
in from the sea and massing overhead;
that the sky was setting its scenery
for one Of it's sudden dramas.
GO That night the great skin that holds
back the north winds burst. and it
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 frantically 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 it's deep
bed, thrusting upward against the foe
with mighty shoulders. Swift shivers
ran through the ice. 1t groaned and
doomed with the tumult Of q battle
field. Now, with a noise of thunder.
wide chasms opened and the white
water gushed out, seething. Now,
with a 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 t~housand.ton
blocks crashing upon the foe.
Poor Ootimiah prayed to the things
that haunt their ravines that they
would spare him. His belief in the
efficiency Of his prayers was not great,
but they were straws, at least, at
which to clutch.
The black morning found the wind
still blowing a gale, and sweeping with
it a veil of cutting snow. 1t was mad
ness to 60 on in the teeth of such a
storm, with no food for themselves OF
for the dogs.
WHIT Sudil We OO. QSheu 1Ac
frightened Ootimiah. Even the brown
anuk himself. could not face such
weather"
"We will go on" said Metek, tran
GULLY, and he threw out the long whip
lash. Its report was lost in the roar
of the wind.
Dimly Ootimiah began to perceive the
presence Of a master : spirit. This
Metek, younger than himself. whom he
had called nahme, had set his teeth in
q purpose, and neither cold nor hunger
nor the dark wings Of death itself
would cause him to relax bis hold.
The mere inkling Of such tenacity
alarmed flabbly little Ootimiah almost
as much as the riot of the elements.
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 feel
more alone than he had ever felt when
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 backw
he shouted through the roar of wind
and ice.
Metek turned his head. The rim of
his hood was feathered thick with
frost, and his eyes shone like crumbs
of new ice. Silently he stretched a
mittened hand toward the north.
From the lofty cliffs inland a sudden
great sound greeted them. 1t rolled,
majestic, over their heads, and died
gradually away far to the eastward.
"'Tis the anuk thing" shouted
Metek. "He is calling to his children.
Onwardr'
Ootimiah had heard OF the colossal
genius of the walrus tribe that lives on
the tops of bare and beetling cliffs.
He had no desire to make his &C.
quaintance. "Die if you wishw he
called, shrilly, to Metek. II am going
back. There is nothing here but ice
devils and that beast thing that be-
witches men,"
He swung his dogs about, and they
came willingly. AS they Strengthened
out on the homeward road, he cast a
last look at the squat. %purposeful back
in the foXskin jumper. Then the dark
ness blotted It out.
The anuk thing did not speak again,
but Metek knew that he was there,
watching him with friendly eyes. He
was sure the creature was bene1cent
when presently the confusing snow
ceased to fall. In the darkness he
could feel now the clear arch of the
frozen sky, a vast bubble of black
steel under which the laboring ice ran,
Changing.
The hunters never left the igloos
when the foe was squeezing, but
Metek was not afraid. He had only
one thought-to redeem himself and
bring back meat to his starving people.
On he drove, his gaze fixed on the
pale outlines of a vast berg, which
seemed to stretch an impregnable bar
rier across his path. AS he drew
nearer he heard the sinister chant of
the wind moaning through its sharp
notches. And all at once his. ear
caught a gruf, explosive, putting
sound.
Rising to his knees, he looked for
ward. A long, dark discoloration lay
at the foot of the berg. 1t was fresh
black ice making over a recent break
in the foe. With a shout he let out his