A thousand deaths by Jack London

And

there is much gold in that place, very much gold.”

AN ODYSSEY OF THE NORTH

12

“Where is Unga?” For all Malemute Kid knew, she might be dying a mile away. He shook

the man savagely, repeating again and again, “Where is Unga? Who is Unga?”

“She–is–in–the–snow.”

“Go on!” The Kid was pressing his wrist cruelly.

“So–I–would–be–in–the snow–but–I–had–debt–to–pay.

It–was–heavy–I–had–a–debt–to–pay–a–debt–to–pay–I–had”–The faltering

monosyllables ceased, as he fumbled in his pouch and drew forth a buckskin sack.

“A–debt–to–pay–five–pounds–of–gold–grub–stake–Mal–e–mute–Kid–I”–The

exhausted head dropped upon the table; nor could Malemute Kid rouse it again.

“It’s Ulysses,” he said quietly, tossing the bag of dust on the table. “Guess it’s all day with

Axel Gunderson and the woman. Come on, let’s get him between the blankets. He’s Indian;

he’ll pull through, and tell a tale besides.”

As they cut his garments from him, near his right breast could be seen two unhealed,

hard-lipped knife thrusts.

III

“I will talk of the things which were, in my own way; but you will understand. I will begin

at

the beginning, and tell of myself and the woman, and, after that, of the man.”

He of the Otter Skins drew over to the stove as do men who have been deprived of fire and

are afraid the Promethean gift may vanish at any moment. Malemute Kid pricked up the

slush-lamp, and placed it so its light might fall upon the face of the narrator. Prince slid his

body over the edge of the bunk and joined them.

“I am Naass, a chief, and the son of a chief, born between a sunset and a rising, on the

dark seas, in my father’s oomiak. All of a night the men toiled at the paddles, and the

women cast out the waves which threw in upon us, and we fought with the storm. The salt

spray froze upon my mother’s breast till her breath passed with the passing of the tide. But

I,–I raised my voice with the wind and the storm, and lived.

“We dwelt in Akatan—-”

“Where?” asked Malemute Kid.

“Akatan, which is in the Aleutians; Akatan, beyond Chignik, beyond Kardalak, beyond

Unimak. As I say, we dwelt in Akatan, which lies in the midst of the sea on the edge of the

world. We farmed the salt seas for the fish, the seal, and the otter; and our homes

shouldered about one another on the rocky strip between the rim of the forest and the

yellow beach where our kayaks lay. We were not many, and the world was very small.

AN ODYSSEY OF THE NORTH

13

There were strange lands to the east,–islands like Akatan; so we thought all the world was

islands, and did not mind.

“I was different from my people. In the sands of the beach were the crooked timbers and

wave-warped planks of a boat such as my people never built; and I remember on the point

of the island which overlooked the ocean three ways there stood a pine tree which never

grew there, smooth and straight and tall. It is said the two men came to that spot, turn

about, through many days, and watched with the passing of the light. These two men came

from out of the sea in the boat which lay in pieces on the beach. And they were white like

you, and weak as the little children when the seal have gone away and the hunters come

home empty. I know of these things from the old men and the old women, who got them

from their fathers and mothers before them. These strange white men did not take kindly

to our ways at first, but they grew strong, what of the fish and the oil, and fierce. And they

built them each his own house, and took the pick of our women, and in time children

came.

Thus he was born who was to become the father of my father’s father.

“As I said, I was different from my people, for I carried the strong, strange blood of this

white man who came out of the sea. It is said we had other laws in the days before these

men; but they were fierce and quarrelsome, and fought with our men till there were no

more

left who dared to fight. Then they made themselves chiefs, and took away our old laws and

gave us new ones, insomuch that the man was the son of his father, and not his mother, as

our way had been. They also ruled that the son, firstborn, should have all things which

were

his father’s before him, and that the brothers and sisters should shift for themselves. And

they gave us other laws. They showed us new ways in the catching of fish and the killing

of

bear which were thick in the woods; and they taught us to lay by bigger stores for the time

of famine. And these things were good.

“But when they had become chiefs, and there were no more men to face their anger, they

fought, these strange white men, each with the other. And the one whose blood I carry

drove his seal spear the length of an arm through the other’s body. Their children took up

the fight, and their children’s children; and there was great hatred between them, and black

doings, even to my time, so that in each family but one lived to pass down the blood of

them

that went before. Of my blood I was alone; of the other man’s there was but a girl, Unga,

who lived with her mother. Her father and my father did not come back from the fishing

one

night; but afterward they washed up to the beach on the big tides, and they held very close

to each other.

“The people wondered, because of the hatred between the houses, and the old men shook

their heads and said the fight would go on when children were born to her and children to

me. They told me this as a boy, till I came to believe, and to look upon Unga as a foe, who

AN ODYSSEY OF THE NORTH

14

was to be the mother of children which were to fight with mine. I thought of these things

day

by day, and when I grew to a stripling I came to ask why this should be so. And they

answered, ‘We do not know, but that in such way your fathers did.’ And I marveled that

those which were to come should fight the battles of those that were gone, and in it I could

see no right. But the people said it must be, and I was only a stripling.

“And they said I must hurry, that my blood might be the older and grow strong before hers.

This was easy, for I was head man, and the people looked up to me because of the deeds

and the laws of my fathers, and the wealth which was mine. Any maiden would come to

me,

but I found none to my liking. And the old men and the mothers of maidens told me to

hurry, for even then were the hunters bidding high to the mother of Unga; and should her

children grow strong before mine, mine would surely die.

“Nor did I find a maiden till one night coming back from the fishing. The sunlight was

lying,

so, low and full in the eyes, the wind free, and the kayaks racing with the white seas. Of a

sudden the kayak of Unga came driving past me, and she looked upon me, so, with her

black hair flying like a cloud of night and the spray wet on her cheek. As say, the sunlight

was full in the eyes, and I was a stripling; but somehow it was all clear, and I knew it to be

the call of kind to kind. As she whipped ahead she looked back within the space of two

strokes,–looked as only the woman Unga could look,–and again I knew it as the call of

kind. The people shouted as we ripped past the lazy oomiaks and left them far behind. But

she was quick at the paddle, and my heart was like the belly of a sail, and I did not gain.

The wind freshened, the sea whitened, and, leaping like the seals on the windward breech,

we roared down the golden pathway of the sun.”

Naass was crouched half out of his stool, in the attitude of one driving a paddle, as he ran

the race anew. Somewhere across the stove he beheld the tossing kayak and the flying hair

of Unga. The voice of the wind was in his ears, and its salt beat fresh upon his nostrils.

“But she made the shore, and ran up the sand, laughing, to the house of her mother. And a

great thought came to me that night,–a thought worthy of him that was chief over all the