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Updated: June 21, 2025
"Are you sure, Chingatok, that there is no more ice in this sea?" asked the Captain. "No more great packs; only a little here and there, and a few ice-mountains," answered the Eskimo. "And no more islands?" "No more islands till you come to the land where I and my people dwell. There are more islands beyond that with people on them people who are not friendly to us."
No doubt the northern savage meant this self-condemning speech to be understood much in the same way in which it is understood by civilised people. "When the oomiak swelled I thought it was going to burst," added the chief. "So did I, when I first saw it," said Chingatok. Father and son paused a few minutes. They usually did so between each sentence. Evidently they pondered what they said.
Chingatok and his father, with a large band of their followers and some of their women, had also encamped, by permission, round the Pole, where, in the intervals of the chase, they watched, with solemn and unflagging interest, the incomprehensible doings of the white men.
"What says Chingatok?" asked the Captain of the Eskimo, who was still seated with the sketch on his knees in profound meditation. "Blackbeard has trouble before him," answered the uncompromising giant, without removing his eyes from the paper. "There," he said, pointing to the pack, "you have three days' hard work. After that three days' easy and swift work. After that no more go on.
"What does Blackbeard mean by coming here?" asked Chingatok of Anders, as they lay side by side, gazing up at the blue sky awaiting sleep. "We cannot swim over the sea, and we have no boats." "I don't know," answered the interpreter. "Our chief is a wonderful man. He does things that seem to be all wrong, but they turn out mostly to be all right."
Chingatok was a real man of moderate size not more than seven feet two in his sealskin boots with a lithe, handsome figure, immense chest and shoulders, a gentle disposition, and a fine, though flattish countenance, which was sometimes grave with thought, at other times rippling with fun.
Behind came the sledge of Chingatok, which, besides being laden with bear-rugs, sealskins, junks of meat, and a host of indescribable Eskimo implements, carried himself and the precious persons of Toolooha and Tekkona. Next came the sledge of the laughter-loving Oolichuk, with the timid Oblooria and another woman.
"That is just what I want, Chingatok," said the Captain with a joyful look, "only aid me in this matter, and I will reward you well. I've already told you that my ship is wrecked, and that the crew, except those you see here, have left me; but I have saved all the cargo and buried it in a place of security with the exception of those things which I need for my expedition.
I may not know all things, Chingatok, nevertheless I know a deal more than you can guess at. Come now, let's have supper, Anders; we can't wait for the wanderers." As he spoke, three of the wanderers came into camp, namely Leo, Benjy, and Butterface. "What's come of Alf?" asked the Captain.
Then, perceiving at once that he had got possession of a key to the affections of the strangers, he offered to shake hands with Leonard and his brother, stooping with regal urbanity to them as he did so. By this time the Captain and first mate, with Benjy and several of the crew, were approaching. Instead of exhibiting fear, Chingatok advanced to meet them, and shook hands all round.
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