volition, but, on beholding the closing
catastrophe, they rushed to the rescue with a united roar.

Before they could gain the spot, Leo was seen to emerge from the deep,
dripping with pink and white foam like a very water-god. Oblooria
followed instantly, like a piebald water-nymph. The boat had not been
upset, though overwhelmed, and they had held on to it with the tenacity
of a last hope.

Looking sharply round, as he gasped and swept the water from his eyes,
Leo seized the oars, which, being attached to the boat, were still
available, and rowed with all his might away from the approaching
Eskimos as if he were afraid of being caught by them. They followed
with, if possible, increased surprise at this inexplicable conduct.
They made up to him; some even shot ahead of him. Poor Leo was not a
moment too soon in reaching his kite, for these people were about to
transfix it with their whale-harpoons, when he dashed up and ordered
them to desist.

Having rescued the miserable-looking thing from the sea and hastily
folded it, he placed it in the bow. Then breathing freely, he began to
look about him just as the whale came again to the surface in a dying
flurry. It so chanced that it came up right under Grabantak's kayak,
which it tossed up end over end. This would not have been a serious
matter if it had not, the next moment, brought its mighty tail down on
the canoe. It then sheered off a hundred yards or so, leaped half its
length out of the water, and fell over on its side with a noise like
thunder and died.

Every one turned to the place where the chief's kayak lay a complete
wreck on the water. Its owner was seen swimming beside it, and was soon
hauled into one of the women's oomiaks. Evidently he had been severely
hurt, but he would not admit the fact. With characteristic dignity he
sternly ordered the fleet to lay hold of the whale and make for the
shore.

"Tell him his arm is broken," said Leo that evening to Anders, after
examining the chief's hurts in the privacy of his own hut, "and let him
know that I am a medicine-man and will try to cure him."

Grabantak received the information with a look of anger.

"Then," said he, "Amalatok must live a little longer, for I cannot fight
him with a broken arm. Go," he added, looking full at Leo with
something like admiration, "go, you have done well to-day; my young men
want to make your nose blue."

The peremptory nature of the chief's command forbad