he will not do to-day, and that what he
does to-day he will not do to-morrow?" Ebbits shook his head sadly.
"There is no understanding the white man. Yesterday he takes Yamikan to
the land under the sun and makes him fat with much grub. To-day he takes
Bidarshik and--what does he do with Bidarshik? Let me tell you what he
does with Bidarshik.

"I, Ebbits, his father, will tell you. He takes Bidarshik to Cambell
Fort, and he ties a rope around his neck, so, and, when his feet are no
more on the ground, he dies."

"Ai! ai!" wailed Zilla. "And never does he cross the lake large as the
sky, nor see the land under the sun where there is no snow."

"Wherefore," old Ebbits said with grave dignity, "there be no one to hunt
meat for me in my old age, and I sit hungry by my fire and tell my story
to the White Man who has given me grub, and strong tea, and tobacco for
my pipe."

"Because of the lying and very miserable white people," Zilla proclaimed
shrilly.

"Nay," answered the old man with gentle positiveness. "Because of the
way of the white man, which is without understanding and never twice the
same."

THE STORY OF KEESH

Keesh lived long ago on the rim of the polar sea, was head man of his
village through many and prosperous years, and died full of honors with
his name on the lips of men. So long ago did he live that only the old
men remember his name, his name and the tale, which they got from the old
men before them, and which the old men to come will tell to their
children and their children's children down to the end of time. And the
winter darkness, when the north gales make their long sweep across the
ice-pack, and the air is filled with flying white, and no man may venture
forth, is the chosen time for the telling of how Keesh, from the poorest
_igloo_ in the village, rose to power and place over them all.

He was a bright boy, so the tale runs, healthy and strong, and he had
seen thirteen suns, in their way of reckoning time. For each winter the
sun leaves the land in darkness, and the next year a new sun returns so
that they may be warm again and look upon one another's faces. The
father of Keesh had been a very brave man, but he had met his death in a
time of famine, when he sought to save the lives of his people by taking
the life of a great polar bear. In his eagerness he came to close
grapples with the bear, and his bones were crushed; but the bear had much
meat on him and the peop