The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-01-10
0TIMIAH chanted, "Metek,
5 E'
| O
IEA .@l

5a l@|l were no humao ears to
- hear the tormenting words.
except these in the four foc!orn lgloos
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
live in the cold blue ravines of the
great bergs always hear of it when a
man is nahme; the evil spirtts'of tine
cliffs and those that dwell in the caves
under the ice-belt hear of it.
And when a man is thus marked,
sooner or later he goes forth from the
village never to return. For the
mighty help only the strong. The Arc
tic has small use for a man who is
nshme. She blots him out.
Ever since his father had been
caught in his ussuk line and dragged
under the foe, Metek had tried man
fully to provide for his mother inc
baby sister. But fortune had been
against him. For two months the
family had lived on charity, and this
during q winter Of unprecedented
want.
The. three men of the tiny village
never asked him to go hunting with
them low. They paid less attention to
him than to little Tooky. still Graded
i'll her mothers hood.
They spoke to Ootimiah. on the con-
trary, as one man to another, n
Ootimiah was barely a year older than
Metek. But Ootimiah, the lucky, had
brought two seals home to the fam
ished mouths.
Thus Metek pursued his despairing
thoughts in q circle, and although they
sometimes swiricd 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 Oh his vain
excursions over The foe, or climbed to
the ice-cap of the cliffs to inspect his
fox traps.
The day came, however, when Metek
turned on his tormentoc.
Silence, lump of fat" he shouted.
His eyes glittered dangerously. Put
the dogs to thy .siedge and we will see
who is nahme. We will come back
with meat or not at all.
Ootimiah stared at him like an appre-
hensiye dumping. Underneath his furs
his mean little heart bounded at this
surprising outbreak. He had thought
that Metek was cowed by adversely.
"Ho." he said, when he had recov-
cred himself somewhat. "If you are
SO 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 lotund person into more
furs, until his coats lay upon him like
the shards Of an onion. Also he put
under the sledce apron two strips of
blubber and 4 frozen sea hipper, which
is excellent to .gnaw on. Ootimiah be-
90. aieEed that~Metek was 'bluting," but
HE wished to make sure of catching
him.
Metek's mother. merely grunted, and
took a fresh grip with her bare toes
OH the stiff reindeer skin she was sew
ing when Metek babe her good-by. He
crawled out through the tocksoo and
jumped on his sledge as cheerfully as
If he expected TO see her again.
The sunless winter sky hung over
them, and it was piercing cold; but
the air was still. The %granulated sur
face Of the foe afforded the dogs a
firm foothold.
Ootimiah tried 10 entice Metek into a
race; but when the latter refused to
force his team, he lolled back against
the upstanders and crooned fatty to
himself, thinking how he would jeer
atsMetek when the excursion was over.
1 At noon they halted for a rest. Ooti-
Amiah gluttonous!y bolted his blubber,
but Metek save the larger part Of his
Ecanty' stock of provisions to his dogs.
"Huhr granted Ootimiah. looking
with scornful eyes at this proceeding.
"You have only 4 woman's heart. To-
morrow you will be whining for food"
"'Tis no: l who drags the sledge,"
id Metek. "A good hunter cares for
5 Gogs first"
tOotimiah, still scornful. tucked him
# snugly into the isledge and cracked
whip.
the afternoon wore on, the ice
me rougher. Here and there the
bad squeezed and forced up great
5 Of crystal; but lanes of level
hn between, and the dogs went
ly forward.
e3he rode, Ootimiah'S glance swept
gray 'eXpanse. There was not Il
Jack or a hole to be seen. The dead
bund of the dogs feet told his expert
: enced ear that the ice had %thickened.
Pale spots in the dusk ahead betrayed
the presence of bergs. Bleak and drear
as it was about the igloo village. this
was a region still more inhospitable.
Toward night the wind rose. Ooti-
miah, who vas bored, began to feel
cold and uneasy. He blew out his
cheeks to warm them, and now and
then he glanced curiously at Metek.
He had not expected to find his COM
panion so obstinate.
When they camped for the night in
the lee Of Z hummock. Ootimiah
thought it was the last half Of tho