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"Verily he hath found hatred in his heart for Ootah. For Ootah hath had no need of his powers. Did not Ootah's mother sew into his cap the skin from the roof of a bear's mouth? And hath he not become as strong as the bear? Did not his father place in his ahttee the feet of a hawk and have not his own feet the swiftness of the wings of a bird? And doth not Sipsu hate him for his strength?
Finally he fell to the floor in a writhing paroxysm. "Pst!" Maisanguaq's eyes lighted. Outside he heard the sharp barking of dogs. "Huk! Huk!" Ootah's voice called. Others joined in the clamor. The entire tribe seemed to wake as from a sleep of the dead. "He starts for the mountains," said Maisanguaq. "Thinkest thou the spirits will strike?" Sipsu opened his eyes and glared wildly at Maisanguaq.
"He despiseth them." Rising from his sitting posture Sipsu seized his drum and began moving his body. He groaned with extreme pain. By degrees his dance increased. He improvised a monotonous spirit song. His face grimaced demoniacally. As his conjuration approached the climax, his voice rose to a series of shrieks. He shuddered violently; he seemed to suffer agonies in his limbs.
Then the village disappeared behind them. The voices of their tribesmen trailed shudderingly into silence. The assembled tribe watched the teams diminishing in the distance. Presently someone whispered a terrible thing. "Sipsu hath cursed Ootah." A low ominous murmur passed from lip to lip among the gathered men and women.
Indian after Indian stalked into the firelight, tall and grim, fur-clad and silent, their shadows dancing grotesquely on the snow. One, the witch doctor, spoke gutturally to Sipsu. His face was daubed with savage paint blotches, and over his shoulders was drawn a wolfskin, the gleaming teeth and cruel snout surmounting his head. No other word was spoken. The prospectors held the peace.
As he uttered this terrible curse, desiring that Ootah's shadow, wherein exists the soul, might depart from his still-living body, and thus cause the most excruciating bodily anguish, Sipsu sank exhausted to the ground. He writhed in a paroxysm.
He laughed harshly. Maisanguaq impatiently repeated his question: "Can Sipsu invoke the great curse? Ha, what dost thou mean? Art thou a fool? Have not many died upon the word of Sipsu, Sipsu whose spirits never desert him! Harken! Did not Sipsu go unto the mountains in his youth? Did he not hear the hill spirits speaking? Did he not carry food to them, and wood and arrow points for weapons?
Of late years Sipsu's conjurations for recovery had resulted in few cures; his heart was not in them; but with greater vehemence did he enter upon seances of malediction. With almost unerring exactness he prophesied many deaths. For this the tribe did not love him. Nor did Sipsu love the tribe; especially did he hate the youthful, and those who courted and were newly wed.
But thou what reason hast thou to desire his death?" "Ootah findeth favor with Annadoah," said Maisanguaq briefly. "Yea, and she shall not. She shall not!" the old man shrieked in a sudden access of rage. "So saith Sipsu, whose spirits never fail." Lying on the floor Sipsu closed his eyes and, moving his head up and down, called repeatedly: "Quilaka Nauk! Quilaka Nauk! Where are my spirits?
On the other side his face barely touched a furry garment which he knew clothed a body. This must be Sipsu. Though he wished she would speak again, he resolved to risk it. He could hear the chief and the witch doctor talking high, and in a far corner some hungry child whimpering to sleep. Squirming over on his side, he carefully raised his head, still just touching the furry garment.
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