Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1933-11-02
CHAPTER IV-Continued

s.
@Name. she AIeut word mean place
Where-E Everything -Gone-Away.s Che
chaquo no say'm."
"Forlorn Island" Eric spoke quietly
Fits 1t pretty well, / should say,
Roy said "Chechaquo, how do near
ly SIXTY people manage to live here?'
We catch salmon, sea lion sometimes
roots. berries, birds, In sea we catch
seals, halibut, Goldfish. But we no dare
go out very far from harbor, bad cur
rents take bidarka into rocks. So fish
halibut, Goldfish mighty scarce. Sixty
people get along: more than sixty
everybody go hungry. So we no have
more than sixty"
He spoke calmly. casually, and Eric
watched him with steely, narrowed
eyes How do you manage it-not
to have more than sixtyY'
I'VE keep count. When one baby
more than sixty born. he die. Mother,
she cry sometime, but she know do
no good. Other women, they put baby
out on beach, wind she blow, baby no
live long"
ARather like an exclusive club Roy
said grimly. Someone has to die of
before another a get In. But don't
look 30 shocked, Ericsson, Plenty OF
primitive people practice infanticide-
some OF the Eskimos. for instance
but It's usually %haphazard. This Is
very new and interesting, keeping an
exact count"
TITS horribIeI When the popula-
ton gets too large, why can't some of
the men defy the danger and strike
out for new lands7 That's the way
real men do"
*And get themselves drowned7
That's romantlcism-in contrast with
good horse sense. The only thing that
Is troubling me is that now the popu-
lati0n is seventy-sfx."
Presently Chechaquo led them to
the church. OF the light that some
~far-saiIing Russian zealot had brought
to Forlorn island nearly two centuries
before, only a dim glimmer remained
In the front half of a two-room tf1rf
house was a crude stone altar. a silver
ikon In the repousse work of old Mos
COW, and n gold ~candlestick. Here
the Aleuts came to chant the prayers
they did not understand, to the white
mans God on whom they had grated
their W animal gods and their
devils of sea and storm. In the rear
room lived Fireheart, direct descend
ant OF the priest, and custodian Of
the magic he passed down.
She came put at once, d slender
girl with slantel black eyes, her tawnv
skin scarcely darker than Mans
golden tan. Only a drop of white
blood flowed Ia her veins, but 1t had
refined her features and ~quickened
her mind. She gazed at the two white
men half in awe, half In exultation.
"Fireheart make prayer for you to
come she told them In soft, throaty
tones. Prayer. him answered. God.
he big, strong god, give Fireheart what
she want"
but why. Fireheart?" Roy asked.
What did yon want of white people?'
"~Fireheart. she hear stories pass
down from priest She think. dream.
wonder about white mans country:
think, pray maybe sometime white
people come here. So she make Che
chaquo talk white mans talk. so she
ready when they come She bean
lonely; tired OF little island. think
maybe white man come, take her
away"
Turning from Roy, she caressed
Eric's bare arm. "Fireheart think
your skin heap pretty, heap smooth.
too, like otter fur" What might be- ! ,
jealous CLEAN came into her slanted |
black eyes 'Fireheart see two white
girls come In boat, with old woman
Maybe n your wife?"
Roy broke In quickly ~Neither IL
his wife. but the girl with the curly
dark hair will be my wife SOON
"Fireheart no are about you. / no
see you come In dream, / see tall man.
with eyes like sea-, with skin like
She reached a brown hand
and stroked Eric's cheek. "You no
marry other girl By'm'by maybe you
marry me-Fireheart, priestess OF lost
people-and we have baby with skin
like snow, too"
Fireheart's black eyes were brfm-
ming, and Eric must answer them
utraight- "A white man does not
marry until he II In love-" he told her
Kindly Love comes to him when it
fomes; he has no power to seize 1t, or
= make II re-
Thsn you no see F1reheart In