g bulls on all sides with his harpoon.
The air trembled with infuriated calls, the animals were insane with
brute rage. The other natives, alarmed, paddled to a safe distance and
watched the unequal conflict. While Ootah manipulated his harpoons,
Maisanguaq, in the shelter of the floe, watched him with eager eyes.

He saw Ootah, with almost superhuman dexterity, striking constantly.
Repeatedly he had to renew the metal points on his weapon-handle. One
by one the animals gave up the attack and dispersed, until only an
obdurate bull remained. The battle between man and beast continued,
finally Ootah let the harpoon fly with full strength. It struck the
animal near the heart. Ootah uncoiled the free line attached to the
harpoon point quickly--and the walrus, weighing probably three thousand
pounds, plunged with the impetus of a bulk of iron into the sea. Then
a strange thing happened.

The pan-shaped drag, attached to the extreme end of the long line
securing the harpoon which Ootah had driven into the animal, became
entangled in the lashings on the forepart of Ootah's kayak. Leaning
forward, Ootah tried to disentangle it. He feared that the beast, in
its struggle, might drag all his weapons and paraphernalia into the
sea. He felt it tugging at the line while he unknotted the tangle.
While he was doing this Maisanguaq saw the beast rise to the surface of
the water not far from Ootah and describe a quick circle about his
kayak. Before he realized it, the leather line had wrapped itself
about his chest and under his arms. It took but a minute for the
animal to circle the boat--then it plunged. Maisanguaq saw Ootah
struggle to release himself; then he saw the kayak tilt as the hunter
was drawn, by the mighty impetus of the plunging sea-horse, into the
water. He heard Ootah's cry--saw the blood red waters seethe as they
closed over him. In a brief interval the kayak righted itself--it was
empty.

A murmur of dismay rose from the others. "The _tupilak_! the
_tupilak_!" Maisanguaq exultantly murmured, his eyes alight. "Happy
_angakoq_! Thou shalt have much of Ootah's meat!"

Over the spot where Ootah sank the sun flamed. The water seethed with
the threshing of the animals beneath the sea. Ootah's float finally
rose. The natives watched breathlessly for the reappearance of Ootah.
The float bobbed up and down as the animal's death struggles beneath
the water subsided.

Maisanguaq, looking at the floats w