206 THE BIG CANOE

stretched out into the water, like the legs of a crab,
so that from earliest times it had been called the Crab
Rock.

Thousands of gulls lived on the rocky island and
screamed noisily around it all day long; and except
at low tide the waves dashed so hard against its steep
sides that it was almost impossible to land there. So
far as Teka knew, no one had ever climbed up on the
Crab Rock or had even thought of going there; but
something told him that now Shim was going to the
rock which had once been the crab that bit Thaim-
shim’s tongue. Teka’s heart beat more quickly and
his flesh prickled. Perhaps Thaimshim’s pipe was
there, on top of the Crab Rock.

Then came another thought, even more startling.
Perhaps Kilko was there also. Perhaps Shim had
lured him there. Perhaps he was bound and hungry
and cold, for the March nights were chilly and the
wind that blew down the Nass was coming from the
snow-covered mountains to the eastward.

When Shim came to the long reef that lay between
the Crab Rock and the shore, he stood still and
glanced cautiously up and down the beach. Then he
started across the reef, while Teka stood and stared
after him. In the moonlight Shim seemed to fly from
one jagged rock to another.

Teka’s heart sank. He knew he could not leap from
rock to rock like that. Young and agile though he was,
he could not possibly keep up with Shim. But he