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Updated: May 2, 2025
"They were starving," returned Ujarak quickly; "but two walruses and four seals were brought in yesterday and my torngak has told me that he will point out where many more are to be found if I consult him on the night of the feast. Will you come back with me?" Okiok glanced at the Kablunet. "I cannot leave my guest," he said. "True, but we can take him with us." "Impossible.
They were now about to test their workmanship and practise their drill. "Do they leak?" shouted Okiok, as the lads pushed off. "Not more than I can soak up," replied Norrak, looking back with a laugh. "Only a little," cried Ermigit, "and hoh! the water is still very cold." "Paddle hard, and you'll soon warm it," cried Rooney.
It is good to eat at all times." "Except when we are stuffed quite full," murmured Okiok, casting at Nunaga a sly glance, which threw that Eskimo maiden into what strongly resembled a suppressed giggle. It was catching, for her brothers Norrak and Ermigit were thrown into a similar condition, and even the baby crowed out of sympathy.
"Did your torngak tell you that he was a Kablunet?" asked Okiok simply so simply that there was no room for Ujarak to take offence. "No; my eyes told me that." "I did not know that you had ever seen a Kablunet," returned the other, with a look of surprise. "Nor have I. But have I not often heard them described by the men of the south? and has not my torngak showed them to me in dreams?"
The event which had so suddenly interrupted the singing duel was a matter of secret satisfaction to Ujarak, for he felt that he was no match for Okiok, and although he had intended to fight the battle out to the best of his ability, he knew that his ultimate defeat was so probable that its abrupt termination before that event was a piece of great good-fortune.
Ujarak then, coming forward, led him into Angut's hut, which was lighted as usual with several cooking-lamps. The people flocked in after them till it was nearly full; but spaces in the centre and upper end were kept comparatively free. Near the lamp the Kablunet was seen seated, observing the proceedings with much gravity; Okiok sat near him.
Ujarak chanced to be the buffer who received the shock, and his big body was well able to sustain it. At the same moment he deftly caught the ball. "Ho! his torngak helps him!" shouted Okiok ironically. "So he does," cried the wizard, with a scoffing laugh, as he hurled the ball aloft; "why does not your torngak help you?"
"Where is your husband, Nuna?" asked the sailor, sitting down on a walrus skull. "Out after seals." "And Nunaga?" "Visiting the mother of Arbalik." The seaman looked thoughtfully at the lamp-smoke for a few moments. "She is a hard woman, that mother of Arbalik," he said. "Issek is not so hard as she looks," returned Mrs Okiok; "her voice is rough, but her heart is soft."
He understood enough of what was said, however, to see the drift of his visitor's meaning. "Huk!" he exclaimed, with a look of satisfaction; "Angut will be glad to hear this." "Who is Angut?" asked the sailor. The whole party looked peculiarly solemn at this question. "Angut is a great angekok," answered Okiok, in a low voice.
Suddenly the little woman glanced at her slumbering household, cast a meaning look at her husband, and laughed silently of course. "Has Nuna become a fool that she laughs at nothing?" demanded Okiok simply.
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