me hot afoot. But be
thou unafraid. Veil thy movements and lose thy form in the obscurity of
the night and the confusion of men. And when the woman Ipsukuk is anigh
thee,--she who smeareth her face with molasses,--do thou smite her
likewise, and whosoever else that possesseth flour and cometh to thy
hand. Then do thou lift thy voice in pain and double up with clasped
hands, and make outcry in token that thou, too, hast felt the visitation
of the night. And in this way shall we achieve honour and great
possessions, and the caddy of "Star" and the prime smoking, and thy
Tukeliketa, who is a likely maiden.'

"When he had departed on this errand, I bided patiently in the shack, and
the tobacco seemed very near. Then there was a cry of affright in the
night, that became an uproar and assailed the sky. I seized the 'pain-
killer' and ran forth. There was much noise, and a wailing among the
women, and fear sat heavily on all. Tummasook and the woman Ipsukuk
rolled on the ground in pain, and with them there were divers others,
also Moosu. I thrust aside those that cluttered the way of my feet, and
put the mouth of the bottle to Moosu's lips. And straightway he became
well and ceased his howling. Whereat there was a great clamour for the
bottle from the others so stricken. But I made harangue, and ere they
tasted and were made well I had mulcted Tummasook of his copper kettle
and kerosene can, and the woman Ipsukuk of her sugar and molasses, and
the other sick ones of goodly measures of flour. The shaman glowered
wickedly at the people around my knees, though he poorly concealed the
wonder that lay beneath. But I held my head high, and Moosu groaned
beneath the loot as he followed my heels to the shack.

"There I set to work. In Tummasook's copper kettle I mixed three quarts
of wheat flour with five of molasses, and to this I added of water twenty
quarts. Then I placed the kettle near the lamp, that it might sour in
the warmth and grow strong. Moosu understood, and said my wisdom passed
understanding and was greater than Solomon's, who he had heard was a wise
man of old time. The kerosene can I set over the lamp, and to its nose I
affixed a snout, and into the snout the bone that was like a gooseneck. I
sent Moosu without to pound ice, while I connected the barrel of his gun
with the gooseneck, and midway on the barrel I piled the ice he had
pounded. And at the far end of the gun-barrel, beyond the pan of ic