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The father of Keesh had been a very brave man, but he had met his death in a time of famine, when he sought to save the lives of his people by taking the life of a great polar bear. In his eagerness he came to close grapples with the bear, and his bones were crushed; but the bear had much meat on him and the people were saved.
But it was the mystery of Keesh's marvelous hunting that took chief place in all their minds. And one day Ugh-Gluk taxed him with witchcraft to his face. "It is charged," Ugh-Gluk said ominously, "that thou dealest with evil spirits, wherefore thy hunting is rewarded." "Is not the meat good?" Keesh made answer. "Has one in the village yet to fall sick from the eating of it!
Thus began the mystery of Keesh, a mystery that deepened and deepened with the passing of the days. His very next trip he killed a young bear, nearly full-grown, and on the trip following, a large male bear and his mate. He was ordinarily gone from three to four days, though it was nothing unusual for him to stay away a week at a time on the ice-field.
By this time he was quite sick, the bear, and could crawl no farther, so Keesh came up close and speared him to death." "And then?" Klosh-Kwan demanded. "Then we left Keesh skinning the bear, and came running that the news of the killing might be told." And in the afternoon of that day the women hauled in the meat of the bear while the men sat in council assembled.
We shall be blood brothers to men, not squaws; and the Thlunget be squaws." A deep silence fell, and all eyes centred on Keesh. He looked about him carefully, deliberately, full into the face of each grown man. "So," he said passionlessly. And "So," he repeated. Then turned on his heel without further word and passed out into the darkness.
I, Keesh, have said it!" Jeers and scornful laughter followed him out of the igloo, but his jaw was set and he went his way, looking neither to right nor left. The next day he went forth along the shore-line where the ice and the land met together.
Always he declined company on these expeditions, and the people marveled. "How does he do it?" they demanded of one another. "Never does he take a dog with him, and dogs are of such great help, too." "Why dost thou hunt only bear?" Klosh-Kwan once ventured to ask. And Keesh made fitting answer. "It is well known that there is more meat on the bear," he said.
The bear grew weak, and never ceased crying from his pain." "It was a charm!" Ugh-Gluk exclaimed. "Surely it was a charm!" "It may well be." And Bim relieved Bawn. "The bear wandered, now this way and now that, doubling back and forth and crossing his trail in circles, so that at the end he was near where Keesh had first come upon him.
"But it is ofttimes old and tough, this meat, and, moreover, it has an unusual quantity of bones." The hunters, grizzled and gray, and lusty and young, were aghast. The like had never been known before. A child, that talked like a grown man, and said harsh things to their very faces! But steadily and with seriousness, Keesh went on.
Only remained the hoof-marks in the meadow and the torn hillside to mark the boisterous trail of the life that had broken the peace of the place and passed on. Keesh lived long ago on the rim of the polar sea, was head man of his village through many and prosperous years, and died full of honors with his name on the lips of men.
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