48 THE BIG CANOE

vast ice cavern, trembling also with fear, the flicker-
ing light of our torches showed something that made
us stop in our tracks, speechless with terror. There,
facing us, stood the Ancient One! His great body
towered almost out of sight in the darkness above us;
his huge legs rose like the trunks of mighty cedars;
his long nose hung down to the ground between curved
a tusks of ivory. He had no fur, but his skin was thick
and dark and wrinkled and thinly covered in places
with long hairs. Dreadful he was to look upon—more
dreadful than anything I had ever imagined. Yet even
though I was terrified, I rejoiced that at last I was
looking upon an animal no other Haida had ever
seen!

Behind this monster were other Ancient Ones, some
standing upright, some lying upon the ground just as
they must have frozen there, long, long ago. All
around were heaps of bones and ivory tusks, as if
other animals had torn some of these great creatures
to pieces. So incredible was the scene, that Loo and I
stood there, silent and trembling. At last we turned
and ran from the cave, and we shouted with joy when
we found ourselves once more out in the sunlight!

At Loo’s suggestion, we returned to his distant
village and guided his people back to the cave. Great
was their amazement when they viewed the Ancient
Ones for the first time; great was their joy when they
looked upon the ivory tusks lying in piles upon the
icy floor, for ivory is valued highly by these Northern