4 THE BIG CANOE

huge stately birds, glided slowly out of the cove, the
paddles of the oarsmen glistening in the sunlight as
they were lifted and dipped in the calm waters be-
hind the rocky headland. As soon as the fleet passed
out through the channel into the choppy water of the
straits beyond, the paddling ceased, the sails filled,
and the big canoes skimmed swiftly over the sea
toward the northern hunting-grounds.

“T wish I could go with them,” Kahala sighed, flick-
ing a pebble into the water. “If I had skins of seal
and otter I could buy many things.”

“We need many things,” said Kilsa. “The olachen
grease is all gone and our father grows more feeble
every day. No longer can he make the fine rope for
which he was famous; no longer can his fingers
fashion the beautiful hooks of albatross-bone and
whalebone for which the others gave us the good
grease which our father needs. You and I can do so
little to help him. Our fingers are not skilful enough
to make the things he has always sold to the others.
We can only dig clams and pick berries and fish a
little, and that does not help out very much.”

“If I could only avenge myself upon those Niskas
for killing our mother and leaving our father such a
helpless cripple!” Kahala burst out, his voice shaking
with hatred. “When I am older I will go across the
waters to their village and burn it to the ground.”

“You forget that the sacred ceremony of the
swansdown has taken place between the two tribes,”