Evening star., 1938-08-14

separately, with an air of mystery. He asked
polntless questions which served only to
arouse curiosity even in the midst of the COM
ing-of-summer excitement. Nobody noticed
that Etkah's shrewd and rowing eyes noted
down. in each separate hut, the amount of
furs and other valuabies to be seen With the
good fortune of the months now past, the
total value of the village furs was huge
1t was only after much of this hocus- pocus
that Etkah spoke, as he said. officially for the
stranger, and his announcement was work
of art. He said that the stranger was great
hunter in his own tribe, which possessed much
metal from the hunting down of noise-devils,
whose bones were of iron. The stranger,
having been fed and sheltered on Cape Desc
lation during the winter, now presented to
the village the body of the noise-devil he had
killed, but which had scorched him as it died.
If all the Inuit - men and women and chill
dren = climbed to the highland behind the
cape and searched, the stranger assured them
that they would find the corpse of the noise
devil, and with it metal for spearheads and
fshhooks and needles and knives for very
many years to come. But only if all searched,
every one and only if thereafter all men were
very respectful to him.
The last stipulation was improbable, but
the rest was not. The strangers true nara
tive of his arrival had supplied Etkah with an
ideal bait to lure all the villagers away from
their wealth, and the ice was far enough gone
for even solitary man to pilot a loaded
no,u;1k t0 rnarket for S,,ch f,,rS
To people as avid of metal as Kopik and
his fellows, acceptance of Etkah's cunning
plan was inevitable. They believed immedi-
ately. There was excited discussion as to
where the noise-devil fell It was recalled that
Kopik and three others had gone to hunt for
it, at the time they found the stranger in the
snow. The abandonment of that search now
became subject of surprise. The village
began stream toward the highland in a
plodding, eager line.
The stranger heard the unusual sounds of
travel. He asked question of Etkah in his
incomprehensble language Etkah answered
it, grinning. He was amused. He spoke at
length, his eyes derisive.
The stranger grew agitated. He became
enraged. He shouted at the villagers, though
his shout had no meaning. He stood helpless,
a picture of pride and scorn and impotent
fury, shouting wrathfully. Certain words
reiterated themselves. Kopik, among the last
to leave, heard the syllables, ''thief - fools -
thief - FOOLS" repeated over and over again,
but they had no meaning in his ears.
kopik spoke hopefully to Etkah. Since all
the villagers were going up to the highland
and were leaving their dogs - useless in the
softening snow = he asked that Etkah see to
them. If any of them got loose they might rip
all the skin covering off the kayaks and even
the oomioks. on which all their summer hunt
ing would depend Kopik did not add that
without boats the village would be unable to
pursue thief, because he had never heard
of thief.
1t took an hour or more to reach the spot
where the search for the noise-devil should
begin. 1t took other hours to search. But
Kopik and the other Eskimos were successful.
They found the corpse of the noise-devil. and
its bones were made of metal and all its in
ternal organs Also 1t had died horribly, be-
cause parts of it were burst and bent and
crumpled but it was riches incalculable to
the village.
As the Inuit regarded the rusty bones
ecstatically. there came a low muttering
sound to southwark 1t grew louder. From
mutter, it increased to buzzing hum. A dark
sDeck f1Oatei in mid-air II moved back and