inutes, 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 ashore."

The waters about the whale were growing red, and the carcass 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 shore," 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 shore 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 ashore 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 astonishing 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.

"It's just this way, son," Mr. Strong explained to him. "I'm here in
government employ, taking government