Brown Wolf and Other Jack London Stories - Chosen and Edited By Franklin K. Mathiews by Jack London
page 86 of 219 (39%)
page 86 of 219 (39%)
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rewarded. How else can it be, save that he hunts with evil spirits?"
"Mayhap they be not evil, but good, these spirits," others said. "It is known that his father was a mighty hunter. May not his father hunt with him so that he may attain excellence and patience and understanding? Who knows?" None the less, his success continued, and the less skilful hunters were often kept busy hauling in his meat. And in the division of it he was just. As his father had done before him, he saw to it that the least old woman and the last old man received a fair portion, keeping no more for himself than his needs required. And because of this, and of his merit as a hunter, he was looked upon with respect, and even awe; and there was talk of making him chief after old Klosh-Kwan. Because of the things he had done, they looked for him to appear again in the council, but he never came, and they were ashamed to ask. "I am minded to build me an _igloo_," he said one day to Klosh-Kwan and a number of the hunters. "It shall be a large _igloo_, wherein Ikeega and I can dwell in comfort." "Ay," they nodded gravely. "But I have no time. By business is hunting, and it takes all my time. So it is but just that the men and women of the village who eat my meat should build me my _igloo_." And the _igloo_ was built accordingly, on a generous scale which exceeded even the dwelling of Klosh-Kwan. Keesh and his mother moved into it, and it was the first prosperity she had enjoyed since the death |
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