Lucile did not reply. She was too deeply perplexed for words. But the boy, seeming to have caught something of the purport of Marian"s words, tore a splinter from the board wall of the cabin, and, having held it in the blaze of the seal-oil lamp until it was charred, began to draw on the floor.
First he drew a large circle, then a small one. Next, on the large circle he drew lines to represent men, as children often do, a straight line for the back and one each for an arm and a leg, with a circle for a head. When he had drawn many of these, he drew a square within the smaller circle, and within the square drew two characters to represent persons. He next drew, between the two circles, many irregular figures. In the midst of this ma.s.s of irregular figures he drew a character for a person.
He made a motion with his hand to indicate that the irregular figures between the circles were in motion. Next he made a motion with his charcoal pencil to indicate that the lone person was moving across the irregular figures between the circles. This motion was halting, as if the person, many times, stumbled and fell. The course of the charcoal at last reached the edge of the square, and there it drew the reclining figure of a person.
Lucile had watched every move intently.
"Do you see what he is telling us?" she cried excitedly. "It is the old native way of telling stories by drawings. He has said, by the two circles, that there are two islands, one large, one small. On the large one are many people--his people--on the small one, a house--the house we are in. Between the two islands there is floeing ice. A figure is attempting to cross the ice. He is that one. He falls many times, but at last reaches the island and this house."
"And," said Marian, "probably the people, many of them, live on this island. They were probably over there when the ice came. They did not dare to attempt to cross. When the floe is steady and solid, as it will be after this storm, then they will cross. And then--" she paused.
"Yes, and then?" said Lucile, huskily.
With the setting of the sun, the wind fell. The snow-fog drifted away and the moon came out. Lucile crept out of the cabin and went in search of some new form of food. She found the spare-ribs of a seal hanging over a pole on one of the caches. It seemed fairly fresh, and when a piece was set simmering over the seal-oil lamp it gave forth an appetizing odor.
The two girls stood by the window as the food cooked. They were looking out over the sea, which was now a solid ma.s.s of ice.
"I almost believe I can catch the faint outline of that other island,"
said Lucile.
"Yes, I think you can," said Marian. "But what was that?" She gripped her companion"s arm.
"What?" said Lucile.
"I--thought--yes, there it is; out there to the right. Some dark object moving among the ice-cakes."
"Yes, now I see it. And there"s another and another. Yes, perhaps twenty or more. What can they be?"
"Men--and--dogs," said Marian, slowly. "The tribe is coming home."
There was a little catch in her voice. Every muscle in her body was tense. They were far from their homes, not knowing where they were; and these people, a strange, perhaps wild, tribe of savages.
Then there came to Marian the words of the great bishop: "Humanity is very much the same everywhere," and for a time the thought comforted her.
They remained there standing in full view in the moonlight, watching until the men could be distinguished from the dogs; until the whole company, some fifty or more people, left the ice and began to climb the slope that led to the village.
But now they all stopped. They were pointing at the cabin, some of them gesticulating wildly.
After a time they came on again, but this time much more slowly. In their lead was a wild-haired man, who constantly went through the weird dance motions of these native tribes; weird, wild calisthenics they were, a thrusting out of both hands on this side, then that, a bowing, bending backward, leaping high in air. And now they caught the sound of the witch song they were all chanting:
"I--I--am--ah! ah! ah!
I--I--I ah! ah! ah!"
As they neared the cabin Lucile turned away.
"I--I think," she said unsteadily, "we had better bar the door."
At that she lifted the heavy bar and propped it against the door.
CHAPTER XVIII
A NEW PERIL
Long hours in the cranny of the cliff Phi was wrapped in heavy slumber.
Dressed as he was in deerskin and sealskin garments, he did not feel the cold. The bed was soft, his "house" well sheltered from the wind.
He awoke at last to start and stare. The sun was painting the peaks of distant ice-piles with a touch of pink and gold. He experienced a strange sensation. For one brief moment he fancied himself on the mainland of Alaska. This, he realized, was not entirely impossible; the ice-floe might have circled about to carry him near to the coast again.
So possessed was he with the idea that he grew impatient at the slow broiling of their one remaining bird. Once the meal was over, having hidden the bird net in the crevice, that he might return to it in case of necessity, he hurried away. With Rover at his heels, he crossed the uneven surface of the plateau, keeping well toward the edge of the rocky cliff that he might discover a path, if there should be one, leading down to a village or a miner"s cabin.
In his mind"s eye he pictured himself sitting down to a meal of "mulligan" and sourdough flapjack in some friend"s mining shack, and, if this dream came true, how quickly he would shape his course toward the spot he had been directed to by the ciphered note in the blue envelope!
"I"d walk in on them like old Rip Van Winkle." He smiled and glanced at his dog.
"You look the part of Rip"s dog, old fellow," he laughed; "you surely do."
Yet, as he thought more soberly, he realized that there was really no reason for supposing that the ice-floe had returned him to the mainland of America.
"Might be a point of the mainland of Asia," he reasoned. "The people who come here hunting may be Chukches."
Had his mind been less occupied with these speculations he might have taken note of some movement off to the right of him. As it was, he walked straight on.
Suddenly a small, dark object flew past his head. Before he could turn to investigate, a second, better aimed, struck him in the side. Caught off his balance, he went crashing to the ground. The next moment the dog gave a yelp of pain. He too had been struck by one of these flying missiles which proved to be rocks.
Stunned, but not seriously injured, Phi rose upon hands and knees and made all haste to fortify himself behind a ma.s.sive bowlder. Growling defiance, the old dog crouched by his side.
It was a moment of suspense. What could this mean? Into the boy"s mind there crowded many questions. Had he been carried to the sh.o.r.e of some island of the far north where the white man had never set foot?
Was he about to be attacked by a murderous band of superst.i.tious natives? He had seen no one. How many were there and why did they use only stones for weapons? The bow and arrow are known to the most ignorant savage.
To these questions he could form no answer. He could only crouch there and wait.
He did not have long to consider what his next move should be, for a rock grazed his ear. A quick glance in the direction from whence it came showed him the form of a single native. Instantly the man vanished, but a moment later a second rock flew through the air. It came from exactly the same spot.
"May be only one," he murmured.
Encouraged by this thought, he proceeded to stalk his enemy by hurrying around the bowlder and peering out at him from the other end.
The ruse worked. He found the man standing in full view, craning his neck to look around the side of the rock which the boy had just left.
Presently the native took a few steps forward. Phi thought he walked with a kind of stagger.
"It"s strange he"d have the courage to attack me alone, armed only with rocks," he murmured.
A yelp from the old dog roused him to action. The native"s rock had found a mark. His back was turned to the boy and with a sudden, swift rush Phi leaped out and landed full upon his back. The two of them went crashing to earth.
For a moment the man struggled with almost demoniacal strength, then suddenly he crumpled in the boy"s grasp and sank lifeless to the ground.