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He shook his head and heaved a great sigh. Koolee looked at Kesshoo. She was very anxious. Kesshoo went out at once to the storehouse. He climbed to the top and got the liver. By this time all the people had crawled out of the igloo again, and were ready to carry home their meat. Kesshoo ran to the Angakok and gave him the bear's liver. The Angakok handed it to one of his wives to carry.
They would have liked it better still if Monnie had been a boy, too, because boys grow up to hunt and fish and help get food for the family. But Kesshoo was the best hunter and the best kyak man in the whole village. So he said to Koolee, "I suppose there must be girls in the world. It is no worse for us than for others."
The dogs were buried under it and had to be dug out, all but Nip and Tup. They stayed inside with the twins and slept in their bed. The twins and their father and mother were glad to stay in the warm hut. At last the snow stopped, the air cleared, and the twins and Kesshoo went out. Koolee stayed in the igloo. She sat on her sleeping bench upon a pile of soft furs.
She put her arms around him and pressed her flat nose to his. That's the Eskimo way of kissing. Menie tried to look as if he killed seals and got carried away on an ice pan every day in the week, but inside he felt very proud, too. When Kesshoo and Koko's father came up with the big seal, Koolee and the other women dragged it to the village, where it was skinned and cut up.
Kesshoo and Koolee and the twins and Nip and Tup were all in the igloo. When they saw the Angakok's face come through the hole they thought, of course, the rest of him would come too. But it didn't, and the Angakok was mad about it. "Why don't they build igloos the way they used to?" he growled. "Every year the tunnels get smaller and smaller! Am I to remain here forever?" he went on.
Kesshoo unharnessed them and gave them some bones, and while they were crunching them and quarreling among themselves, Koolee crawled into the igloo and brought out a bowl. The bowl was made of a hollowed-out stone, and it had water in it. "This is for a charm," said Koolee. "If you each take a sip of water from this bowl my son will always have good luck in spying bears!"
Once during the winter the whole family went thirty miles up the coast by moonlight to visit Koolee's brother in another village. They went with the dog sledge, and it took them two days. They had meat and blubber with them and plenty of warm skins, and when they got tired, Kesshoo made a snow house for them to rest in. The twins thought this was the best fun of all.
"Jump!" shouted Kesshoo. Menie jumped. The ice raft gave a lurch that nearly sent him into the water, but Kesshoo caught him and pulled him to safety. A great shout of joy went up from the shore, and Menie was glad enough to shout too when he felt solid ice under his feet once more!
Then he gave a great sweep with his paddle and lifted his kyak right up on to it. He sprang out, and, seizing the harpoon line, pulled Menie's raft close up to the edge of the firm ice. Menie was still holding tight to the line that held the big seal. Kesshoo threw him another line. Menie caught the end of it. "Now tie the big seal's line fast to that," Kesshoo said.
They were getting quite near the place where the ice had broken with Menie, when suddenly, right near them, they saw the head and great, round eyes of a seal! It was the seal mother. She had come back to find her breathing hole and her baby. The moment Kesshoo saw her he seized his dart, which lay in its place on top of his kyak, and threw it with all his might at the seal.
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