A few days thereafter our adventurers arrived at the settlement of the Kablunets; and these northern Eskimos soon forgot their rough experiences under the influence of the kind, hospitable1 reception they met with from the Moravian Brethren.
The joy of the brethren at welcoming Hans Egede, too, was very great, for they had heard of his recent expedition, and had begun to fear that he was lost. Not the less welcome was he that he came accompanied by a band of Eskimos who seemed not only willing to listen to the Gospel but more than usually able to understand it. The interest of these devoted2 men was specially3 roused by Angut, whom they at once recognised as of greatly superior mental power to his companions.
“I cannot help thinking,” said Egede, in commenting on his character to one of the brethren, “that he must be a descendant of those Norse settlers who inhabited this part of Greenland long, long ago, who, we think, were massacred by the natives, and the remains4 of whose buildings are still to be seen.”
“It may be so,” returned the brother; “your Viking countrymen were vastly superior in brain-power to the Eskimos. We are glad and thankful that our Father has sent Angut to us, for it is not improbable that he may one day become an evangelist to his brethren in the far north.”
But of all those who were assembled at the station at that time, Red Rooney was the man who rejoiced most, for there he found an English vessel5 on the eve of starting for the “old country,” the captain of which was not only willing but glad to get such an able seaman6 to strengthen his crew.
“Angut,” said Rooney, as they walked one evening by the margin7 of the sea, “it grieves me to the heart to leave you; but the best of friends must part. Even for your sake, much though I love you, I cannot remain here, now that I have got the chance of returning to my dear wife and bairns and my native land.”
“But we shall meet again,” replied Angut earnestly. “Does not your great Book teach that the Father of all is bringing all people to Himself in Jesus Christ? In the spirit-land Angut and Nunaga, Okiok, Nuna, Simek, and all the Innuit friends, when washed in the blood of Jesus, will again see the face of Ridroonee, and rejoice.”
This was the first time that Angut had distinctly declared his faith, and it afforded matter for profound satisfaction to Rooney, who grasped and warmly shook his friend’s hand.
“Right—right you are, Angut,” he said; “I do believe that we shall meet again in the Fatherland, and that hope takes away much o’ the sadness of parting. But you have not yet told me about the wedding. Have you arranged it with the Brethren?”
“Good; an’ the next day we sail—so, my friend, I’ll have the satisfaction of dancing at your wedding before I go.”
“I know not as to dancing,” said Angut, with a grave smile, “but we are to have kick-ball, and a feast.”
While they were speaking they observed a youth running towards them in great haste, and in a state of violent excitement. A whale, he said, had stranded10 itself in a shallow bay not far off, and he was running to let the people of the settlement know the good news.
The commotion11 occasioned by this event is indescribable. Every man and boy who could handle a kayak took to the water with harpoon12 and lance. Ippegoo, Arbalik, Okiok, Simek, Norrak, and Ermigit were among them, in borrowed kayaks, and mad as the maddest with glee. Even Kajo joined them. He was as drunk as the proverbial fiddler, having obtained rum from the sailors, and much more solemn than an owl13.
While these hastened to the conflict, the women and children who could run or walk proceeded by land to view the battle.
And it was indeed a grand fight! The unlucky monster had got thoroughly14 embayed, and was evidently in a state of consternation15, for in its efforts to regain16 deep water it rushed hither and thither17, thrusting its blunt snout continually on some shoal, and wriggling18 off again with difficulty and enormous splutter. The shouts of men, shrieks19 of women, and yells of children co-mingled in stupendous discord21.
Simek, the mighty22 hunter, was first to launch his harpoon. It went deep and was well aimed. Blood dyed the sea at once, and the efforts of the whale to escape were redoubled. There was also danger in this attack, for no one could tell, each time the creature got into water deep enough to float in, to what point of the shore its next rush would be.
“Look out!” cried Rooney in alarm, for, being close to Arbalik in a kayak, he saw that the whale was coming straight at them. It ran on a shoal when close to them, doubled round in terror and whirled its great tail aloft.
Right over Arbalik’s head the fan-like mass quivered for one moment. The youth did not give it a chance. Over he went and shot down into the water like an eel23, just as the tail came down like a thunder-clap on his kayak, and reduced it to a jumble24 of its shattered elements, while Rooney paddled out of danger. Arbalik swam ashore25, and landed just in time to see the whale rise out of the water, lifting Ippegoo in his kayak on its shoulders. The electrified26 youth uttered a shriek20 of horror in which the tone of surprise was discernible, slid off, kayak and all, into the sea—and was none the worse!
By this time some dozens of harpoons27 had been fixed in the body of the whale, and the number of bladders attached to them interfered28 slightly with its movements, but did not render an approach to it by any means safer. At last Simek, losing patience, made a bold rush in his kayak, and drove his lance deep into the huge creature’s side. The act was greeted with a cheer—or something like one,—which was repeated when Red Rooney followed suit successfully. Okiok and his two sons were not slow to repeat the process. Other Eskimos rushed in, hovered29 round, and acted their part, so that finally the whale was killed and hauled nearly out of the water by the united exertion30 of the entire population of the land.
Then succeeded the distribution of the prize.
Eskimos have peculiar31 and not unreasonable32 laws on such matters. If two hunters strike a seal at the same time, they divide it. The same holds in regard to wild-fowl or deer. If a dead seal is found with a harpoon sticking in it, the finder keeps the seal, but restores the harpoon to the owner. The harpooner33 of a walrus34 claims the head and tail, while any one may take away as much as he can carry of the carcass. But when a whale is captured, the harpooners have no special advantage. There is such a superabundance of wealth that all—even spectators—may cut and come again as often and as long as they please.
When, therefore, the whale whose capture we have described was dead, hundreds of men and boys mounted at once, knife in hand, on the carcass, and the scene of blood and confusion that ensued baffles description.
“Won’t we stuff to-night!” remarked Kabelaw to her sister, as they went home bending under a weight of blubber.
“Ay—and to-morrow,” replied Sigokow.
“And some days beyond to-morrow,” observed old Kannoa, who staggered after them under a lighter35 load of the spoil.
But it was not the Eskimos alone who derived36 benefit from this unexpected prize. The captain of the English ship also got some barrels of oil and a large quantity of whalebone to fill up his cargo37, and the bright shawls and real iron knives that were given in exchange soon graced the shoulders of the native women and the belts of the men.
It was indeed a time of immense jubilation—for every one was gratified more or less—from the chief of the Moravian Brethren down to Tumbler and Pussi, who absolutely wallowed in fun and unctuous38 food, while Angut and Nunaga were of course supremely39 happy.
The wedding ceremony, performed by Hans Egede, we need hardly say, was simple, and the festivities which followed were not complex. The game at kick-ball which preceded the wedding was admittedly one of the best that had ever been played at that station, partly, no doubt, because the captain and crew of the English ship, headed by Red Rooney, took part in it.
Strange to say, the only man who seemed to be at all cast down on that occasion was Ippegoo. He was found by his mother in the evening in a retired40 spot by the sea, sitting on the rocks with a very disconsolate41 countenance42.
“My son, what is the matter?”
“Mother, my heart is heavy. I cannot forget Ujarak.”
“But he treated you ill, my son.”
“Sometimes—not always. Often he was kind—and—and I loved him. I cannot help it.”
“Grieve not, Ippe,” rejoined pleasant little Kunelik. “Do we not know now that we shall meet him again in the great Fatherland?”
The poor youth was comforted. He dried his eyes, and went home with his mother. Yet he did not cease to mourn for his departed wizard friend.
We will not harrow the reader’s feelings by describing the leave-taking of the Eskimos from their friend the Kablunet. After he was gone those men of the North remained a considerable time at the settlement, listening to the missionaries43 as they revealed the love of God to man in Jesus Christ.
What resulted from this of course we cannot tell, but of this we are certain—that their “labour was not in vain in the Lord.” When the time comes for the Creator to reveal His plans to man, surely it will be found that no word spoken, no cup of water given, by these Danish and Moravian Christians44, shall lose its appropriate reward.
When at last the northern men and their families stood on the sea-shore, with their kayaks, oomiaks and families ready, Angut stood forth45, and, grasping Hans Egede by the hand, said earnestly—
“Brother, farewell till we meet again. I go now to carry the Good News to my kindred who dwell where the ice-mountains cover the land and sea.”
But what of the Kablunet? Shall we permit him to slip quietly through our fingers, and disappear? Nay46, verily.
He reached England. He crossed over to Ireland. There, in a well-remembered cottage-home, he found a blooming “widow,” who discovered to her inexpressible joy that she was still a wife! He found six children, who had grown so tremendously out of all remembrance that their faces seemed like a faint but familiar dream, which had to be dreamed over again a good deal and studied much, before the attainment47 by the seaman of a satisfactory state of mind. And, last, he found a little old woman with wrinkled brow and toothless gums, who looked at and listened to him with benignant wonder, and whose visage reminded him powerfully of another little old woman who dwelt in the land of ice and snow where he used to be known as the Kablunet.
This Kablunet—alias Ridroonee,—now regretfully makes his bow and exit from our little stage as Red Rooney, the Last of the Crew.
The End
The End
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1
hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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seaman
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| n.海员，水手，水兵 | |
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margin
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| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
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8
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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stranded
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| a.搁浅的，进退两难的 | |
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commotion
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| n.骚动，动乱 | |
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harpoon
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| n.鱼叉；vt.用鱼叉叉，用鱼叉捕获 | |
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13
owl
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| n.猫头鹰，枭 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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15
consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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16
regain
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| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
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17
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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18
wriggling
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| v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的现在分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等）；蠕蠕 | |
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19
shrieks
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| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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20
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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21
discord
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| n.不和，意见不合，争论，（音乐）不和谐 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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eel
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| n.鳗鲡 | |
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jumble
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| vt.使混乱，混杂；n.混乱；杂乱的一堆 | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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electrified
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| v.使电气化( electrify的过去式和过去分词 )；使兴奋 | |
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harpoons
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| n.鱼镖，鱼叉( harpoon的名词复数 )v.鱼镖，鱼叉( harpoon的第三人称单数 ) | |
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28
interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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29
hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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32
unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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33
harpooner
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34
walrus
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| n.海象 | |
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35
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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36
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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38
unctuous
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| adj.油腔滑调的，大胆的 | |
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supremely
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| adv.无上地，崇高地 | |
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40
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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41
disconsolate
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| adj.忧郁的，不快的 | |
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42
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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43
missionaries
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| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
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44
Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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45
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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46
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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attainment
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| n.达到，到达；［常pl.］成就，造诣 | |
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