"This one isn"t," laughed Serge; "though I suppose it would be if I hadn"t happened to see one of the Indians slip that bit of tobacco into Nel-te"s hand."
"What could have been his object in giving such a thing as that to a child?"
"Oh, the Chilkat children use it as well as their elders; and I suppose he wanted to gain Nel-te"s good-will, seeing that he is the guardian of the fur-seal"s tooth. I shouldn"t be surprised if he hoped in some way to get it from the child before we reached the village."
"Which suggests an idea," said Phil, removing the trinket in question from Nel-te"s neck and handing it to Serge. "It is hard to say just who the tooth does belong to now, it has changed hands so frequently, but it will be safer for the next day or two with you than anywhere else.
Besides, it is only fair that, as it came directly from the Chilkats to you, or, rather, to your father, you should have the satisfaction of restoring it to them."
So Serge accepted from Phil the mysterious bit of ivory that he had given the latter more than a year before in distant New London, and hung it about his neck.
"Last night," said Phil, after this transfer had taken place, "Mr.
Coombs and I only needed a pipeful of tobacco and a knowledge of how we were to escape from here to make us perfectly happy. Now we have both."
"The blamed pipe won"t draw at all," growled Jalap Coombs.
"While I," continued Phil, "am bothered. I know we must go with those fellows, but I don"t trust them, and shall feel uneasy so long as we are in their power."
"Do you think," asked Serge, "that these things go to prove that there isn"t any such thing in this world as perfect happiness?"
"No," answered Phil; "only that it is extremely rare. How is it with you, old man? Does the approaching end of our journey promise you perfect happiness?"
"No indeed!" cried Serge, vehemently. "In spite of its hardships, I have enjoyed it too much to be glad that it is nearly ended. But most of all, Phil, is the fear that its end means a parting from you; for I suppose you will go right on to San Francisco, while I must stay behind."
"I"m afraid so," admitted Phil. "But, at any rate, old fellow, this journey has given me one happiness that will last as long as I live, for it has given me your friendship, and taught me to appreciate it at its true worth."
"Thank you, Phil," replied Serge, simply. "I value those words from you more than I should from any one else in the world. Now, I want to tell you what I have to thank the journey for besides a friendship. I believe it has shown me what is to be my life-work. You know that missionary at Anvik said he was more in need of teachers than anything else. While I don"t know very much, I do know more than those Indian and Eskimo boys, and I did enjoy teaching them. So, if I can get my mother to consent, I am going back to Anvik as soon as I can and offer my services as a teacher."
"It is perfectly splendid of you to think of it," cried Phil, heartily, "and all I can say is that the boys who get you for a teacher are to be envied."
So late did the lads sit up that night talking over their plans and hopes that on the following morning the Indians had arrived and were clamorous for them to start before they were fairly awake. By sunrise they, together with the three dogs, were embarked in a great long-beaked and marvellously-carved Chilkat canoe, hewn from a single cedar log, and painted black. Two of the Indians occupied it with them, while the others and the sledge went in a second but smaller canoe of the same ungraceful design as the first.
As with sail set and before the brisk north breeze that ever sweeps down the glacier the canoes sped away among the ice floes and bergs of the inlet, our boys cast many a lingering backward glance at the little cabin that had proved such a haven to them, and at the stupendous ice-wall gleaming in frozen splendor on their horizon. Under other conditions they would gladly have staid and explored its mysteries. Now they rejoiced at leaving it.
So favoring were the winds that they left Glacier Bay, pa.s.sed Icy Strait, and headed northward as far as the mouth of Lynn Ca.n.a.l before sunset of that day. During the second day they ran the whole fifty-mile length of the ca.n.a.l, which is the grandest of Alaska"s rock-walled fiords, entered Chilkat Inlet, pa.s.sed the canneries at Pyramid Harbor and Chilkat, which would not be opened until the beginning of the salmon season in June, entered the river, and finally reached Klukwan, the princ.i.p.al Chilkat village.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THEY WERE WELCOMED BY THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF KLUKWAN.]
Here, as the smaller canoe had preceded them and announced their coming, our travellers were welcomed by the entire population of the village.
These thronged the beach in a state of wildest excitement, for it was known to all that the long-lost fur-seal"s tooth was at last come back to them. Even the village dogs were there, a legion of snarling, flea-bitten curs. Ere the canoe touched the beach, Musky, Luvtuk, and big Amook were among them, and a battle was in progress that completely drowned the cries of the spectators with its uproar. The fighting was continued with only brief intervals throughout the night; but in the morning the three champions from the Yukon were masters of the situation, and roamed the village with bushy tails proudly curled over their backs, and without interference. "For all the world," said Phil, "like the Three Musketeers."
The guests of the village were escorted to the council-house, to which were also taken their belongings. Here they were supplied with venison, salmon, partridges, and dried berries; and here, after supper, they received many visitors all anxious for a sight of the magic tooth. Most prominent of these were the head Shaman of the village, and the princ.i.p.al woman of the tribe, whose name was so unp.r.o.nounceable that Phil called her "The Princess," a t.i.tle with which she seemed well pleased.
She was the widow of Kloh-kutz, most famous of Chilkat chiefs, and the one who had presented the fur-seal"s tooth to Serge Belcofsky"s father.
On the occasion of this visit she wore a beautifully embroidered dress, together with a Chilkat blanket of exquisite fineness thrown over her shoulders like a shawl, and fastened at the throat with a stout safety-pin. The Princess devoted herself to Serge, whom she evidently considered the most important person in the party, and to little Nel-te, who took to her at once. While she p.r.o.nounced the fur-seal"s tooth to be the same that had belonged to her husband, the Shaman shook his head doubtfully. Then it was handed from one to another of a number of lesser Shamans and chiefs for inspection. Suddenly one of these dropped it to the floor, and, when search was made, it could not be found.
Phil was furious at the impudence of this trick. Even Serge was indignant, while Jalap Coombs said it was just what might be expected from land sharks and pirates.
The Shaman insisted that the tooth was not lost, but had disappeared of its own accord. If it were not the same fur-seal"s tooth that belonged to their tribe in former years, it would not be seen again. If it were, it would appear within a few days attached to a hideously carved representation of Hutle, the thunder-bird that stood in one of Kloh-kutz"s houses, now used as a place for incantation.
"We don"t care anything about all that!" exclaimed Phil, when this was translated to him. "Tell him he can do as he pleases with the tooth, so long as he gives us the canoe we have bargained for."
To this the Shaman replied that they should surely have a canoe as soon as the tooth proved its genuineness by reappearing. In the mean time, if they were in such a hurry to get away that they did not care to wait, he had a very fine canoe that he would let them have at once in exchange for their guns and their dogs. "You may tell him that we will wait,"
replied Phil, grimly, "but you need not tell him what is equally true that we shall only wait until we find a chance to help ourselves to the best canoe and take French leave."
So they waited, though very impatiently, in Klukwan for nearly a week, during which time Phil had ample opportunities for studying Chilkat architecture and totem poles. The houses of the village were all built of heavy hewn planks set on end. They had bark or plank roofs, with a square opening in each for the egress of smoke. Many of them had gla.s.s windows and ordinary doors; but in others the doors were placed so high from the ground as to be reached by ladders on both outside and inside.
The great totem poles that stood before every house were ten, twenty, or thirty feet tall, and covered with heraldic carvings from bottom to top.
During this time of waiting the Shaman made repeated offers to sell the strangers a canoe, all of which were indignantly declined. That they did not appropriate one to their own use was for the very simple reason that all, except a few very small or leaky canoes, mysteriously disappeared from the village that first night.
At length the tricky medicine-man was forced to yield to the threats of the Princess, who had taken the part of our travellers from the first, and to popular clamor. He therefore announced one evening that he had been informed during a vision that the fur-seal"s tooth would reappear among them on the morrow.
On the following morning Phil and his companions were aroused by a tremendous shouting and firing of guns, all of which announced that the happy event had taken place.
"Now," cried Phil, "perhaps we will get our canoe."
But there were no canoes to be seen on the beach, and the Shaman coolly informed them that, though the precious tooth had indeed come back to dwell with the Chilkats, they would still be obliged to wait until some of the canoes returned from the hunting expeditions on which they had all been taken.
At this Phil fell into such a rage that, regardless of consequences, he was on the point of giving the old fraud a most beautiful thrashing, when his uplifted arm was startlingly arrested by the deep boom of a heavy gun that seemed to come from the mouth of the river.
[TO BE CONTINUED.]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Begun in HARPER"S YOUNG PEOPLE No. 801.
OAKLEIGH.
BY ELLEN DOUGLAS DELAND.
CHAPTER III.
When Cynthia asked at Mrs. Parker"s door if that lady were at home it was not necessary for her to give her name. The maid recognized Miss Trinkett at once.
"Yes, she"s at home, ma"am. And won"t you please step into the parlor, Miss Trinkett? Mrs. Parker"ll be glad to see you."
Mrs. Parker came hurrying down.
"Dear Miss Trinkett, how are you? Why, I should scarcely have known you!
What have you done to yourself?"
Cynthia laughed her great-aunt"s high _staccato_ laugh.
"Well, now, I want to know, Mrs. Parker! Don"t you see what it is? Why, my nieces at Oakleigh, they saw right away what the difference was. I thought "twas about time I was keeping up with the fashions, and so I bought me a fine new piece of hair for my front. I was growing somewhat gray, and I thought "twas best to keep young on Silas"s account. It isn"t that I care for myself, but you have to be particular about men-folks, as you"ll know when you"ve seen as much of them as I have."