Part 4 (2/2)

”Tyee Klake best harpoon-thrower of all the Thlinkits;” said Kalitan, proudly. ”Watch!”

Ted needed no such instructions. His keen eyes pa.s.sed from fish to man and back again, and no movement of the Tyee escaped him.

The instant the harpoon was thrown, the Tyee paddled furiously away, for when a harpoon strikes a whale, he is likely to lash violently with his tail, and may destroy his enemy, and this is a moment of terrible danger to the harpooner. But the whale was too much astonished to fight, and, with a terrific splash, he dived deep, deep into the water, to get rid of that stinging thing in his side, in the cold green waters below.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ”AWAY WENT ANOTHER STINGING LANCE.”]

The Tyee waited, his grim face tense and earnest. It might have been fifteen minutes, for whales often stay under water for twenty minutes before coming to the surface to breathe, but to Kalitan and Ted it seemed an hour.

Then the spray dashed high into the air again, and the instant the huge body appeared, Klake drew near, and away went another stinging lance again, swift and, oh! so sure of aim. This time the whale struck out wildly, and Kalitan held his breath, while Ted gasped at the Tyee's danger, for his _kiak_ rocked like a sh.e.l.l and then was quite hidden from their sight by the spray which was dashed heavenward like clouds of white smoke.

Once more the creature dived, and this time he stayed down only a few minutes, and, when he came up, blood spouted into the air and dyed the sea crimson, and Kalitan exclaimed:

”Pierced his lungs! Now he must die.”

There was one more bright, glancing weapon flying through the air, and Ted noticed attached to it by a thong a curious-looking bulb, and asked Kalitan:

”What is on that lance?”

”Sealskin buoy,” said Kalitan. ”We make the bag and blow it up? tie it to the harpoon, and when the lance sticks into the whale, the buoy makes it very hard for him to dive. After awhile he dies and drifts ash.o.r.e.”

The waters about the whale were growing red, and the carca.s.s seemed drifting out to sea, and at last the Tyee seemed satisfied. He sent a last look toward the huge body, then turned his _kiak_ toward the watchers on the banks.

”If it only comes to sh.o.r.e,” said Kalitan.

”What will you do with it?” asked Ted.

”Oh, there are lots of things we can do with a whale,” said Kalitan. ”The blubber is the best thing to eat in all the world. Then we use the oil In a bowl with a bit of pith in it to light our huts. The bones are all useful in building our houses. Whales were once bears, but they played too much on the sh.o.r.e and ran away to sea, so they wore off all their fur on the rocks, and had their feet nibbled off by the fishes.”

”Well, this one didn't have his tail nibbled off at any rate,”

laughed Ted. ”I saw it flap at the Tyee, and thought that was the last of him, sure.”

”Tyee much big chief,” said Kalitan, and just then the old man's _kiak_ drew near them, and he stepped ash.o.r.e as calmly as though he had not just been through so exciting a scene with a mighty monster of the deep.

CHAPTER VI

THE ISLAND HOME OF KALITAN

Swift and even were the strokes of the paddles as the canoes sped over the water toward Kalitan's Island home. Ted was so excited that he could hardly sit still, and Tyee Klake gave him a warning glance and a muttered ”Kooletchika.”[7]

[Footnote 7: ”Dangerous channel.”]

The day before a big canoe had come to the camp, the paddlers bearing messages for the Tyee, and he had had a long conversation with Mr.

Strong. The result was astonis.h.i.+ng to Teddy, for his father told him that he was to go for a month to the island with Kalitan. This delighted him greatly, but he was a little frightened when he found that his father was to stay behind.

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