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Updated: May 14, 2025
"Let him keep his creek and be blessed!" "Forget it, boys, and come to the Kobuk with me," laughed one. "Let's give him the calico and beads, but cut out the grub," finally from one of the most generous, while Kuiktuk sat stolidly smoking. The latter would not compromise.
If it hadn't been for the old rascal's appetite we would have made Kuiktuk come the entire way to Midas; but he lowered our grub so fast it was no use." "No, but be sure you don't lose his rude map and directions to Midas in your notebook.
The one solitary sound to be heard at intervals was the snapping in the fire of some pine knot, long since broken and dead upon the ground, or clipped from its parent stem by the axe of the prospector. When the storm had cleared and the two miners were able to look about them sufficiently, they discovered the creek described by Kuiktuk.
Thus Kuiktuk continued to reason. He was not revengeful by nature; he could easily have slipped a deadly draught into the drinking cup of the man, but he had no wish to kill. He only thought to send Gibbs away about his business in order that his own peace of mind might be left undisturbed.
"Yes, yes, you shall have the cow-cow," impatiently cried Dunbar, "but not until you show us the place." "Me want cow-cow ameluktuk," again muttered the man, still slowly but more firmly. "Oh, he wants the grub before we leave," said Gibbs. "The devil he does!" cried another, who then tried to explain to Kuiktuk that he must produce the gold-bearing creek before he was given the food in payment.
A consultation of miners, including Kuiktuk was held. Plans for the trip were laid, the route selected and all preparations completed. The shaman would lead the men up the Selawik Rive; to its head waters, as the trails on the ice, though poor, were level and much better than across the country, where mountain ranges intercepted. They would then head due south.
She was proud of keeping her house and person as tidy as possible, while her versatility allowed her the use of many English words and sentences. It was not long after his arrival in camp the year before, that the young prospector and miner, Gibbs by name, began looking upon the wife of the old shaman, Kuiktuk, in a way that boded trouble for someone. The old Eskimo was not slow to perceive it.
Dunbar was angered that he, an innocent man, should have been made the scapegoat for the shortcomings of his companion; declaring that in doing this Kuiktuk had overreached himself.
Given an igloo, a boat, fishing and hunting tackle, and they were happy and satisfied; but the white man should be taught to let the wives of the Eskimos alone, and that, too, right early. All this, and a great deal more, passed through the mind of the shaman. On the evening of the third day after the arrival of the miners, while all sat smoking before the fire, Kuiktuk decided to act.
With this understanding the men parted; Kuiktuk remaining with Dunbar and Gibbs for another day, when, giving them full and explicit directions as to the route to the creek, as well as a complete description of the same, he started back to his own camp. Again the two men pushed southward. "We're up against it now, Dunbar," laughed Gibbs, "and its a question of who'll win out.
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