THE IRON MEN 61

tain, coming on deck to gaze anxiously toward the
village, noticed the Haida lad upon the shore and
called to him in a loud voice, his words echoing and
reéchoing against the rocky headland.

Weah was so startled that he stood there stock-
still for a moment, staring at the men who came
running on deck and shouted to him in an unknown
tongue. There were people upon this queer canoe
which his tribe believed to be the spirit of Kali
Koustli, and the faces of the people were white!
Even though he was frightened, Weah felt a thrill of
satisfaction that he should have been first of all the
Haidas to look upon these white-faced men who must
have come from the land of Thaimshim the Wonder-
worker far across the sea, where, legend said, lived a
race with light hair and fair skins.

An instant only did Weah linger there upon the
beach; an instant only did he listen to the shouts of the
strangers before he turned and ran wildly into the near-
est thicket. Back to the village he raced and, panic-
stricken, hid in his father’s house. Nor did he dare to
tell of his discovery, important though it was, lest the
shamans should decide that he had ventured too near
the evil spirit and had brought the dreaded pestilence
upon the tribe. If they knew what he had seen, where
he had been, they would punish him; they would
torture him, perhaps, to drive the spirit of the
pestilence from his body, as he had often seen them
torture others.