Ungava | Page 5

who was inclined to be quizzical. "Why, it's a sort of
sea-carriage that the Esquimaux tie to the tail of a walrus or sea-horse
when they feel inclined for a drive. When they can't get a sea-horse
they catch a white whale asleep, and wake him up after fastening the
dan to his tail. I suppose they have conjurers or wizards among them,
since Massan told us just now that poor Peter was--"
"Bah! gammon," interrupted Francois with a smile, as he turned to the
first speaker. "But tell me, Massan, what is a dan?"
"It's a sort o' float or buoy, lad, used by the Huskies, and is made out o'
the skin o' the seal. They tie it with a long line to their whale spears to
show which way the fish bolts when struck."
"And did they use Peter's skin for such a purpose?" inquired Francois
earnestly.
"They did," replied Massan.
"And did you see them do it?"

"Yes, I did."
Francois gazed intently into his comrade's face as he spoke; but Massan
was an adept at what is usually called drawing the long bow, and it was
with the most imperturbable gravity that he continued--
"Yes, I saw them do it; but I could not render any assistance to the poor
child, for I was lying close behind a rock at the time, with an arrow
sticking between my shoulders, and a score o' them oily varmints
a-shoutin', and yellin', and flourishing their spears in search o' me."
"Tell us how it happened, Massan. Let's hear the story," chorused the
men, as they closed round their comrade.
"Well then," began the stout backwoodsman, proceeding leisurely to
fill his pipe from an ornamented bag that hung at his belt, "here goes. It
was about the year--a--I forget the year, but it don't matter--that we
were ordered off on an expedition to the Huskies; 'xactly sich a one as
they wants us to go on now, and--but you've heerd o' that business, lads,
haven't you?"
"Yes, yes, we've heard all about it; go on."
"Well," continued Massan, "I needn't be wastin' time tellin' you how we
failed in that affair, and how the Huskies killed some of our men and
burnt our ship to the water's edge. After it was all over, and they
thought they had killed us all, I was, as I said, lyin' behind a great rock
in a sort o' cave, lookin' at the dirty villains as they danced about on the
shore, and took possession of all our goods. Suddenly I seed two o'
them carry Peter down to the beach, an' I saw, as they passed me, that
he was quite dead. In less time than I can count a hundred they took the
skin off him, cut off his head, sewed up the hole, tied his arms and legs
in a knot, blew him full o' wind till he was fit to bu'st, an' then hung
him up to dry in the sun! In fact, they made a dan of him!"
A loud shout of laughter greeted this startling conclusion. In truth, we
must do Massan the justice to say, that although he was much in the
habit of amusing his companions by entertaining them with anecdotes

which originated entirely in his own teeming fancy, he never actually
deceived them, but invariably, either by a sly glance or by the
astounding nature of his communication, gave them to understand that
he was dealing not with fact but fiction.
"But seriously, lads," said Francois, whose intelligence, added to a
grave, manly countenance and a tall, muscular frame, caused him to be
regarded by his comrades as a sort of leader both in action and in
council, "what do you think of our bourgeois' plan? For my part, I'm
willing enough to go to any reasonable part o' the country where there
are furs and Indians; but as for this Ungava, from what Massan says,
there's neither Indians, nor furs, nor victuals--nothin' but rocks, and
mountains, and eternal winter; and if we do get the Huskies about us,
they'll very likely serve us as they did the last expedition to Richmond
Gulf."
"Ay, ay," cried one of the others, "you may say that, Francois. Nothin'
but frost and starvation, and nobody to bury us when we're dead."
"Except the Huskies," broke in another, "who would save themselves
the trouble by converting us all into dans!"
"Tush, man! stop your clapper," cried Francois, impatiently; "let us
settle this business. You know that Monsieur Stanley said he would
expect us to be ready with an answer to-night.--What think you,
Gaspard? Shall we go, or shall we mutiny?"
The individual addressed was a fine specimen of an animal, but not by
any means a good specimen of a