CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
A FIGHT IN DEFENCE OF WOMAN, AND RIFLE-SHOOTING EXTRAORDINARY.
When the excitement had somewhat abated, Leo stepped to the side ofOblooria, and laying his hand on her shoulder said firmly, throughAnders:--
"Pardon me, Grabantak, this girl is _not_ the wife of Koyatuk; she is my_sister_!"
The chief frowned, clenched his teeth, and grasped a spear--
"When did Kablunet men begin to have Eskimo sisters?"
"When they took all distressed women under their protection," returnedLeo promptly. "Every woman who needs my help is my sister," he addedwith a look of self-sufficiency which he was far from feeling.
This new doctrine obviously puzzled the chief, who frowned, smiled, andlooked at the ground, as if in meditation. It seemed to afford greatcomfort to Oblooria, who nestled closer to her champion. As forKoyatuk, he treated the matter with an air of mingled surprise andscorn, but dutifully awaited his father's pleasure.
Koyatuk was physically a fine specimen of a savage, but his spirit wasnot equal to his body. Like his father he was over six feet high, andfirmly knit, being of both larger and stronger build than Leo, whom henow regarded, and of course hated, as his rival--a contemptible one, nodoubt; still--a rival.
The warriors watched their chief in breathless suspense. To them it wasa thoroughly new and interesting situation. That a white stranger, talland active, but slender and very young, should dare single-handed todefy not only their chief, but, as it were, the entire tribe, includingthe royal family, was a state of things in regard to which theirprevious lives afforded no parallel. They could not understand it atall, and stood, as it were, in eager, open-mouthed, and one-leggedexpectation.
At last Grabantak looked up, as if smitten by a new idea, and spoke--
"Can Kablunet men fight?" he asked.
"They love peace better than war," answered Leo, "but when they seecause to fight they can do so."
Turning immediately to his son, Grabantak said with a grim smile--
"Behold your wife, take her!"
Koyatuk advanced. Leo placed Oblooria behind him, and, being unarmed,threw himself into a pugilistic posture of defence. The young Eskimolaid one of his strong hands on the Englishman's shoulder, intending tothrust him aside violently. Leo was naturally of a tender disposition.He shrank from dealing a violent blow to one who had not the remotestidea of what was coming, or how to defend himself from the human fistwhen used as a battering-ram.
But Leo chanced to be, in a sense, doubly armed. During one of hisholiday rambles in England he had visited Cornwall, and there hadlearned that celebrated "throw" which consists in making your haunch afulcrum, your right arm a lever, and your adversary a shuttlecock. Hesuddenly grasped his foe round the waist with one arm. Next moment theGrabantaks saw what the most imaginative among them had never till thenconceived of--Koyatuk's soles turned to the sky, and his head pointingto the ground! The moment following, he lay flat on his back lookingupwards blankly.
The huk! hi! ho! hooroos! that followed may be conceived, but cannot bedescribed. Some of the men burst into laughter, for anything ludicrousis irresistible to an Eskimo of the very far north. A few werepetrified. Others there were who resented this indignity to theheir-apparent, and flourished their spears in a threatening manner.These last Grabantak quieted with a look. The incident undoubtedlysurprised that stern parent, but also afforded him some amusement. Hesaid it was an insult that must be avenged. Oddly enough he made use ofan expression which sounded curiously familiar to Leo's ears, astranslated by Anders. "The insult," said Grabantak, "could only be_washed out in blood_!"
Strange, that simple savages of the far north should hold to thatridiculous doctrine. We had imagined that it was confined entirely tothose further south, whose minds have been more or less warped bycivilised usage.
A ring was immediately formed, and poor Leo now saw that the matter wasbecoming serious. He was on the eve of fighting an enforced duel inOblooria's service.
While the savages were preparing the lists, and Koyatuk, havingrecovered, was engaged in converse with his father, Leo whispered toAnders--
"Perhaps Oblooria has no objection to be the wife of this man?"
But the poor girl had very strong objections. She was, moreover, soemphatic in her expressions of horror, and cast on her champion such alook of entreaty, that he would have been more than mortal had herefused her. It was very perplexing. The idea of killing, or beingkilled, in such a cause was very repulsive. He tried to reason withGrabantak about the sin of injuring a defenceless woman, and theabstract right of females in general to have some say in the selectionof their husbands, but Grabantak was inexorable.
"Is the Kablunet afraid?" he asked, with a glance of scornful surprise.
"Does he _look_ afraid?" returned Leo, quietly.
Koyatuk now stepped into the middle of the ring of warriors, with ashort spear in his right hand, and half-a-dozen spare ones in his left,whereby Leo perceived that the battle before him was not meant to be amere "exchange of shots," for the "satisfaction of honour." There wasevidently no humbug about these Eskimos.
Two men mounted guard over Anders and Oblooria, who, however, wereallowed to remain inside the ring to witness the combat. A warrior nowadvanced to Leo and presented him with a small bundle of spears. Hetook them almost mechanically, thanked the giver, and laid them down athis feet without selecting one. Then he stood up, and, crossing hisarms on his breast, gazed full at his opponent, who made a hideous faceat him and flourished his spear.
It was quite evident that the Eskimos were perplexed by the whiteyouth's conduct, and knew not what to make of it. The truth is thatpoor Leo was almost beside himself with conflicting emotions anduncertainty as to what he ought to do. Despite all that had takenplace, he found it almost impossible to persuade himself that he wasactually about to engage in mortal combat. He had not a vestige ofangry feeling in his heart against the man whom he was expected to fightwith to the death, and the extraordinary nature of the complex facesthat Koyatuk was making at him tended to foster the delusion that thewhole thing was a farce--or a dream.
Then the knowledge that he could burst through the ring, get hold of hisrifle, and sell his life dearly, or, perhaps, cause the whole savagetribe to fly in terror, was a sore temptation to him. All this, coupledwith the necessity for taking instant and vigorous action of some sort,was enough to drive an older head distracted. It did drive the bloodviolently to the youth's face, but, by a powerful effort ofself-restraint, he continued to stand perfectly still, like a livingstatue, facing the Eskimo.
At last Koyatuk became tired of making useless faces at his rival.Suddenly poising his spear, he launched it.
Had Leo's eye been less quick, or his limbs less active, that spear hadlaid him low for ever. He had barely time to spring aside, when theweapon passed between his side and his left arm, grazing the latterslightly, and drawing blood which trickled to the ends of his fingers.
There could be no further doubt now about the nature of the fight.Catching up a spear from the bundle at his feet he was just in time toreceive the Eskimo, who sprang in on him with the intention of coming atonce to close quarters. His rush was very furious; probably with a viewto make it decisive. But the agile Leo was equal to the occasion.Bending suddenly so low as to be quite under his opponent's desperatethrust, he struck out his right leg firmly. Koyatuk tripped over it,and ploughed the land for some yards with his hands, head, and knees.
Considerably staggered in mind and body by the fall, he sprang up with aroar, and turned to renew the attack. Leo was ready. The Eskimo, bythat time mad with pain, humiliation, and rage, exercised no caution inhis assault. He rushed at his rival like a mad bull. Our Englishmansaw his opportunity. Dropping his own spear he guarded the thrust ofhis adversary's with his right arm, while, with his left fist, heplanted a solid blow on Koyatuk's forehead. The right fist followed theleft like the lightning flash, and al
ighted on Koyatuk's nose, which,flat by nature, was rendered flatter still by art. Indeed it would bethe weakest flattery to assert that he had any nose at all afterreceiving that blow. It was reduced to the shape of a small pancake,from the two holes in which there instantly spouted a stream of blood socopious that it drenched alike its owner and his rival.
After giving him this double salute, Leo stepped quickly aside to lethim tumble forward, heels over head, which he did with the onlyhalf-checked impetuosity of his onset, and lay prone upon the ground.
"There, Anders," said the victor, turning round as he pointed to hisprostrate foe, "surely Grabantak's son has got enough of blood now towipe out all the insults he ever received, or is likely to receive, fromme."
Grabantak appeared to agree to this view of the case. That he saw andrelished the jest was obvious, for he burst into an uproarious fit oflaughter, in which his amiable warriors joined him, and, advancing toLeo, gave him a hearty slap of approval on the shoulder. At the sametime he cast a look of amused scorn on his fallen son, who was beingattended to by Merkut.
It may be observed here that Merkut was the only woman of the tribeallowed to go on this war-expedition. Being the chief's wife, she hadbeen allowed to do as she pleased, and it was her pleasure to accompanythe party and to travel like the warriors in a kayak, which she managedas well as the best of them.
Grabantak now ordered his men to encamp, and feed till the gale shouldabate. Then, calling Leo and the interpreter aside, he questioned themclosely as to the condition of the Poloese and the numbers of the whitemen who had recently joined them.
Of course Leo made Anders give him a graphic account of the preparationsmade by his enemies to receive him, in the hope that he might be inducedto give up his intentions, but he had mistaken the spirit of the Eskimo,who merely showed his teeth, frowned, laughed in a diabolic manner, andflourished his spear during the recital of Amalatok's warlikearrangements. He wound up by saying that he was rejoiced to learn allthat, because it would be all the more to his credit to make his enemygo down on his knees, lick the dust, crawl in his presence, andotherwise humble himself.
"But tell him, Anders," said Leo, earnestly, "that my white brothers,though few in number, are very strong and brave. They have weapons toowhich kill far off and make a dreadful noise."
Grabantak laughed contemptuously at this.
"Does the Kablunet," he asked, "think I am afraid to die--afraid of anoise? does he think that none but white men can kill far off?"
As he spoke he suddenly hurled his spear at a gull, which, with manyothers, was perched on a cliff about thirty yards off, and transfixedit.
"Go to the boat, Anders, and fetch my rifle," said Leo in a low tone.
When the rifle was brought a crowd of Eskimos came with it. They hadbeen closely observing their chief and the stranger during theconference, but remained at a respectful distance until they sawsomething unusual going on.
"Tell the chief," said Leo, "to look at that peak with the solitary gullstanding on it."
He pointed to a detached cone of rock upwards of two hundred yardsdistant.
When the attention of the whole party was concentrated on the bird inquestion, Leo took a steady aim and fired.
Need we say that the effect of the shot was wonderful? not only did thebraves utter a united yell and give a simultaneous jump, but several ofthe less brave among them bolted behind rocks, or tumbled in attemptingto do so, while myriads of sea-fowl, which clustered among the cliffs,sprang from their perches and went screaming into the air. At the sametime echoes innumerable, which had lain dormant since creation, or atbest had given but sleepy response to the bark of walruses and the cryof gulls, took up the shot in lively haste and sent it to and fro fromcliff to crag in bewildering continuation.
"Wonderful!" exclaimed Grabantak in open-mouthed amazement, when hebeheld the shot gull tumbling from its lofty perch, "Do it again."
Leo did it again--all the more readily that another gull, unwarned byits predecessor's fate, flew to the conical rock at the moment, andperched itself on the same peak. It fell, as before, and the echoeswere again awakened, while the sea-birds cawed and screamed moreviolently than ever.
The timid ones among the braves, having recovered from their firstshock, stood fast this time, but trembled much and glared horribly. Thechief, who was made of sterner stuff than many of his followers; did notmove, though his face flushed crimson with suppressed emotion. As tothe sea-birds, curiosity seemed to have overcome fear, for they camecircling and wheeling overhead in clouds so dense that they almostdarkened the sky--many of them swooping close past the Eskimos and thenshearing off and up with wild cries.
An idea suddenly flashed into Leo's head. Pointing his rifle upwards hebegan and continued a rapid fire until all the bullets in it, (ten ortwelve), were expended. The result was as he had expected. Travellingthrough such a dense mass of birds, each ball pierced we know not howmany, until it absolutely rained dead and wounded gulls on the heads ofthe natives, while the rocks sent forth a roar of echoes equal to acontinuous fire of musketry. It was stupendous! Nothing like it hadoccurred in the Polar regions since the world first became a littleflattened at the poles! Nothing like it will happen again until theconjunction of a series of similar circumstances occurs. The timidbraves lost heart again and dived like the coneys into holes and cornersof the rocks. Others stood still with chattering teeth. Even Grabantakwavered for a moment. But it was only for a moment. Recovering himselfhe uttered a mighty shout; then he yelled; then he howled; then heslapped his breast and thighs; then he seized a smallish brave near himby the neck and hurled him into the sea. Having relieved his feelingsthus he burst into a fit of laughter such as has never been equalled bythe wildest maniac either before or since.
Suddenly he calmed, stepped up to Leo, and wrenched the rifle from hisgrasp.
"I will do that!" he cried, and held the weapon out at arms-length infront of his face with both hands; but there was no answering shot.
"Why does it not bark?" he demanded, turning to Leo sternly.
"It will only bark at my bidding," said Leo, with a significant smile.
"Bid it, then," said the chief in a peremptory tone, still holding therifle out.
"You must treat it in the right way, otherwise it will not bark. I willshow you."
Having been shown how to pull the trigger, the chief tried again, but asharp click was the only reply. Grabantak having expected a shot, henervously dropped the rifle, but Leo was prepared, and caught it.
"You must not be afraid of it; it cannot work properly if you areafraid. See, look there," he added, pointing to the conical rock onwhich another infatuated gull had perched himself.
Grabantak looked earnestly. His timid braves began to creep out oftheir holes, and directed their eyes to the same spot. While theirattention was occupied Leo managed to slip a fresh cartridge into therifle unobserved.
"Now," said he, handing the rifle to the chief, "try again."
Grabantak, who was not quite pleased at the hint about his being afraid,seized the rifle and held it out as before. Resolved to maintain hisreputation for coolness, he said to his followers in imitation of Leo:--
"Do you see that gull?"
"Huk!" replied the warriors, with eager looks.
Leo thought of correcting his manner of taking aim, but, reflecting thatthe result would be a miss in any case, he refrained.
Grabantak raised the rifle slowly, as its owner had done, and frownedalong the barrel. In doing so, he drew it back until the butt almosttouched his face. Then he fired. There was a repetition of previousresults with some differences. The gull flew away from the rock unhurt;one of the braves received the bullet in his thigh and ran off shriekingwith agony, while the chief received a blow from the rifle on the nosewhich all but incorporated that feature with his cheeks, and drew fromhis eyes the first tears he had ever shed since babyhood.
That night Grabantak sat for hours staring in m
oody silence at the sea,tenderly caressing his injured nose, and meditating, no doubt, on thingspast, present, and to come.