Jack London 2 страница

my sack, called for a "tab," and drew me over to the scales, where

the weigher nonchalantly cashed him out fifty dollars in dust.

 

"And now we`ll drink," he said; and later, at the bar, when he

lowered his glass: "Reminds me of a little brew I had up Tattarat

way. No, you have no knowledge of the place, nor is it down on the

charts. But it`s up by the rim of the Arctic Sea, not so many

hundred miles from the American line, and all of half a thousand

God-forsaken souls live there, giving and taking in marriage, and

starving and dying in-between-whiles. Explorers have overlooked

them, and you will not find them in the census of 1890. A whale-

ship was pinched there once, but the men, who had made shore over

the ice, pulled out for the south and were never heard of.

 

"But it was a great brew we had, Moosu and I," he added a moment

later, with just the slightest suspicion of a sigh.

 

I knew there were big deeds and wild doings behind that sigh, so I

haled him into a corner, between a roulette outfit and a poker

layout, and waited for his tongue to thaw.

 

"Had one objection to Moosu," he began, cocking his head

meditatively--"one objection, and only one. He was an Indian from

over on the edge of the Chippewyan country, but the trouble was,

he`d picked up a smattering of the Scriptures. Been campmate a

season with a renegade French Canadian who`d studied for the

church. Moosu`d never seen applied Christianity, and his head was

crammed with miracles, battles, and dispensations, and what not he

didn`t understand. Otherwise he was a good sort, and a handy man

on trail or over a fire.

 

"We`d had a hard time together and were badly knocked out when we

plumped upon Tattarat. Lost outfits and dogs crossing a divide in

a fall blizzard, and our bellies clove to our backs and our clothes

were in rags when we crawled into the village. They weren`t much

surprised at seeing us--because of the whalemen--and gave us the

meanest shack in the village to live in, and the worst of their

leavings to live on. What struck me at the time as strange was

that they left us strictly alone. But Moosu explained it.

 

"`Shaman SICK TUMTUM,` he said, meaning the shaman, or medicine

man, was jealous, and had advised the people to have nothing to do

with us. From the little he`d seen of the whalemen, he`d learned

that mine was a stronger race, and a wiser; so he`d only behaved as

shamans have always behaved the world over. And before I get done,

you`ll see how near right he was.

 

"`These people have a law,` said Mosu: `whoso eats of meat must

hunt. We be awkward, you and I, O master, in the weapons of this

country; nor can we string bows nor fling spears after the manner

approved. Wherefore the shaman and Tummasook, who is chief, have

put their heads together, and it has been decreed that we work with

the women and children in dragging in the meat and tending the

wants of the hunters.`

 

"`And this is very wrong,` I made to answer; `for we be better men,

Moosu, than these people who walk in darkness. Further, we should

rest and grow strong, for the way south is long, and on that trail

the weak cannot prosper.`"

 

"`But we have nothing,` he objected, looking about him at the

rotten timbers of the igloo, the stench of the ancient walrus meat

that had been our supper disgusting his nostrils. `And on this

fare we cannot thrive. We have nothing save the bottle of "pain-

killer," which will not fill emptiness, so we must bend to the yoke

of the unbeliever and become hewers of wood and drawers of water.

And there be good things in this place, the which we may not have.

Ah, master, never has my nose lied to me, and I have followed it to

secret caches and among the fur-bales of the igloos. Good

provender did these people extort from the poor whalemen, and this

provender has wandered into few hands. The woman Ipsukuk, who

dwelleth in the far end of the village next she igloo of the chief,

possesseth much flour and sugar, and even have my eyes told me of

molasses smeared on her face. And in the igloo of Tummasook, the

chief, there be tea--have I not seen the old pig guzzling? And the

shaman owneth a caddy of "Star" and two buckets of prime smoking.

And what have we? Nothing! Nothing!`

 

"But I was stunned by the word he brought of the tobacco, and made

no answer.

 

"And Moosu, what of his own desire, broke silence: `And there be

Tukeliketa, daughter of a big hunter and wealthy man. A likely

girl. Indeed, a very nice girl.`

 

"I figured hard during the night while Moosu snored, for I could

not bear the thought of the tobacco so near which I could not

smoke. True, as he had said, we had nothing. But the way became

clear to me, and in the morning I said to him: `Go thou cunningly

abroad, after thy fashion, and procure me some sort of bone,

crooked like a goose-neck, and hollow. Also, walk humbly, but have

eyes awake to the lay of pots and pans and cooking contrivances.

And remember, mine is the white man`s wisdom, and do what I have

bid you, with sureness and despatch.`

 

"While he was away I placed the whale-oil cooking lamp in the

middle of the igloo, and moved the mangy sleeping furs back that I

might have room. Then I took apart his gun and put the barrel by

handy, and afterwards braided many wicks from the cotton that the

women gather wild in the summer. When he came back, it was with

the bone I had commanded, and with news that in the igloo of

Tummasook there was a five-gallon kerosene can and a big copper

kettle. So I said he had done well and we would tarry through the

day. And when midnight was near I made harangue to him.

 

"`This chief, this Tummasook, hath a copper kettle, likewise a

kerosene can.` I put a rock, smooth and wave-washed, in Moosu`s

hand. `The camp is hushed and the stars are winking. Go thou,

creep into the chief`s igloo softly, and smite him thus upon the

belly, and hard. And let the meat and good grub of the days to

come put strength into thine arm. There will be uproar and outcry,

and the village will come hot afoot. But be thou unafraid. Veil

thy movements and lose thy form in the obscurity of the night and

the confusion of men. And when the woman Ipsukuk is anigh thee,--

she who smeareth her face with molasses,--do thou smite her

likewise, and whosoever else that possesseth flour and cometh to

thy hand. Then do thou lift thy voice in pain and double up with

clasped hands, and make outcry in token that thou, too, hast felt

the visitation of the night. And in this way shall we achieve

honour and great possessions, and the caddy of "Star" and the prime

smoking, and thy Tukeliketa, who is a likely maiden.`

 

"When he had departed on this errand, I bided patiently in the

shack, and the tobacco seemed very near. Then there was a cry of

affright in the night, that became an uproar and assailed the sky.

I seized the `pain-killer` and ran forth. There was much noise,

and a wailing among the women, and fear sat heavily on all.

Tummasook and the woman Ipsukuk rolled on the ground in pain, and

with them there were divers others, also Moosu. I thrust aside

those that cluttered the way of my feet, and put the mouth of the

bottle to Moosu`s lips. And straightway he became well and ceased

his howling. Whereat there was a great clamour for the bottle from

the others so stricken. But I made harangue, and ere they tasted

and were made well I had mulcted Tummasook of his copper kettle and

kerosene can, and the woman Ipsukuk of her sugar and molasses, and

the other sick ones of goodly measures of flour. The shaman

glowered wickedly at the people around my knees, though he poorly

concealed the wonder that lay beneath. But I held my head high,

and Moosu groaned beneath the loot as he followed my heels to the

shack.

 

"There I set to work. In Tummasook`s copper kettle I mixed three

quarts of wheat flour with five of molasses, and to this I added of

water twenty quarts. Then I placed the kettle near the lamp, that

it might sour in the warmth and grow strong. Moosu understood, and

said my wisdom passed understanding and was greater than Solomon`s,

who he had heard was a wise man of old time. The kerosene can I

set over the lamp, and to its nose I affixed a snout, and into the

snout the bone that was like a gooseneck. I sent Moosu without to

pound ice, while I connected the barrel of his gun with the

gooseneck, and midway on the barrel I piled the ice he had pounded.

And at the far end of the gun-barrel, beyond the pan of ice, I

placed a small iron pot. When the brew was strong enough (and it

was two days ere it could stand on its own legs), I filled the

kerosene can with it, and lighted the wicks I had braided.

 

"Now that all was ready, I spoke to Moosu. `Go forth,` I said, `to

the chief men of the village, and give them greeting, and bid them

come into my igloo and sleep the night away with me and the gods.`

 

"The brew was singing merrily when they began shoving aside the

skin flap and crawling in, and I was heaping cracked ice on the

gun-barrel. Out of the priming hole at the far end, drip, drip,

drip into the iron pot fell the liquor--HOOCH, you know. But

they`d never seen the like, and giggled nervously when I made

harangue about its virtues. As I talked I noted the jealousy in

the shaman`s eye, so when I had done, I placed him side by side

with Tummasook and the woman Ipsukuk. Then I gave them to drink,

and their eyes watered and their stomachs warmed, till from being

afraid they reached greedily for more; and when I had them well

started, I turned to the others. Tummasook made a brag about how

he had once killed a polar bear, and in the vigour of his pantomime

nearly slew his mother`s brother. But nobody heeded. The woman

Ipsukuk fell to weeping for a son lost long years agone in the ice,

and the shaman made incantation and prophecy. So it went, and

before morning they were all on the floor, sleeping soundly with

the gods.

 

"The story tells itself, does it not? The news of the magic potion

spread. It was too marvellous for utterance. Tongues could tell

but a tithe of the miracles it performed. It eased pain, gave

surcease to sorrow, brought back old memories, dead faces, and

forgotten dreams. It was a fire that ate through all the blood,

and, burning, burned not. It stoutened the heart, stiffened the

back, and made men more than men. It revealed the future, and gave

visions and prophecy. It brimmed with wisdom and unfolded secrets.

There was no end of the things it could do, and soon there was a

clamouring on all hands to sleep with the gods. They brought their

warmest furs, their strongest dogs, their best meats; but I sold

the hooch with discretion, and only those were favoured that

brought flour and molasses and sugar. And such stores poured in

that I set Moosu to build a cache to hold them, for there was soon

no space in the igloo. Ere three days had passed Tummasook had

gone bankrupt. The shaman, who was never more than half drunk

after the first night, watched me closely and hung on for the

better part of the week. But before ten days were gone, even the

woman Ipsukuk exhausted her provisions, and went home weak and

tottery.

 

"But Moosu complained. `O master,` he said, `we have laid by great

wealth in molasses and sugar and flour, but our shack is yet mean,

our clothes thin, and our sleeping furs mangy. There is a call of

the belly for meat the stench of which offends not the stars, and

for tea such as Tummasook guzzles, and there is a great yearning

for the tobacco of Neewak, who is shaman and who plans to destroy

us. I have flour until I am sick, and sugar and molasses without

stint, yet is the heart of Moosu sore and his bed empty.`

 

"`Peace!` I answered, `thou art weak of understanding and a fool.

Walk softly and wait, and we will grasp it all. But grasp now, and

we grasp little, and in the end it will be nothing. Thou art a

child in the way of the white man`s wisdom. Hold thy tongue and

watch, and I will show you the way my brothers do overseas, and, so

doing, gather to themselves the riches of the earth. It is what is

called "business," and what dost thou know about business?`

 

"But the next day he came in breathless. `O master, a strange

thing happeneth in the igloo of Neewak, the shaman; wherefore we

are lost, and we have neither worn the warm furs nor tasted the

good tobacco, what of your madness for the molasses and flour. Go

thou and witness whilst I watch by the brew.`

 

"So I went to the igloo of Neewak. And behold, he had made his own

still, fashioned cunningly after mine. And as he beheld me he

could ill conceal his triumph. For he was a man of parts, and his

sleep with the gods when in my igloo had not been sound.

 

"But I was not disturbed, for I knew what I knew, and when I

returned to my own igloo, I descanted to Moosu, and said: `Happily

the property right obtains amongst this people, who otherwise have

been blessed with but few of the institutions of men. And because

of this respect for property shall you and I wax fat, and, further,

we shall introduce amongst them new institutions that other peoples

have worked out through great travail and suffering.`

 

"But Moosu understood dimly, till the shaman came forth, with eyes

flashing and a threatening note in his voice, and demanded to trade

with me. `For look you,` he cried, `there be of flour and molasses

none in all the village. The like have you gathered with a shrewd

hand from my people, who have slept with your gods and who now have

nothing save large heads, and weak knees, and a thirst for cold

water that they cannot quench. This is not good, and my voice has

power among them; so it were well that we trade, you and I, even as

you have traded with them, for molasses and flour.`

 

"And I made answer: `This be good talk, and wisdom abideth in thy

mouth. We will trade. For this much of flour and molasses givest

thou me the caddy of "Star" and the two buckets of smoking.`

 

"And Moosu groaned, and when the trade was made and the shaman

departed, he upbraided me: `Now, because of thy madness are we,

indeed, lost! Neewak maketh hooch on his own account, and when the

time is ripe, he will command the people to drink of no hooch but

his hooch. And in this way are we undone, and our goods worthless,

and our igloo mean, and the bed of Moosu cold and empty!`

 

"And I answered: `By the body of the wolf, say I, thou art a fool,

and thy father before thee, and thy children after thee, down to

the last generation. Thy wisdom is worse than no wisdom and thine

eyes blinded to business, of which I have spoken and whereof thou

knowest nothing. Go, thou son of a thousand fools, and drink of

the hooch that Neewak brews in his igloo, and thank thy gods that

thou hast a white man`s wisdom to make soft the bed thou liest in.

Go! and when thou hast drunken, return with the taste still on thy

lips, that I may know.`

 

"And two days after, Neewak sent greeting and invitation to his

igloo. Moosu went, but I sat alone, with the song of the still in

my ears, and the air thick with the shaman`s tobacco; for trade was

slack that night, and no one dropped in but Angeit, a young hunter

that had faith in me. Later, Moosu came back, his speech thick

with chuckling and his eyes wrinkling with laughter.

 

"`Thou art a great man,` he said. `Thou art a great man, O master,

and because of thy greatness thou wilt not condemn Moosu, thy

servant, who ofttimes doubts and cannot be made to understand.`

 

"`And wherefore now?` I demanded. `Hast thou drunk overmuch? And

are they sleeping sound in the igloo of Neewak, the shaman?`

 

"`Nay, they are angered and sore of body, and Chief Tummasook has

thrust his thumbs in the throat of Neewak, and sworn by the bones

of his ancestors to look upon his face no more. For behold! I went

to the igloo, and the brew simmered and bubbled, and the steam

journeyed through the gooseneck even as thy steam, and even as

thine it became water where it met the ice, and dropped into the

pot at the far end. And Neewak gave us to drink, and lo, it was

not like thine, for there was no bite to the tongue nor tingling to

the eyeballs, and of a truth it was water. So we drank, and we

drank overmuch; yet did we sit with cold hearts and solemn. And

Neewak was perplexed and a cloud came on his brow. And he took

Tummasook and Ipsukuk alone of all the company and set them apart,

and bade them drink and drink and drink. And they drank and drank

and drank, and yet sat solemn and cold, till Tummasook arose in

wrath and demanded back the furs and the tea he had paid. And

Ipsukuk raised her voice, thin and angry. And the company demanded

back what they had given, and there was a great commotion.`

 

"`Does the son of a dog deem me a whale?` demanded Tummasook,

shoving back the skin flap and standing erect, his face black and

his brows angry. `Wherefore I am filled, like a fish-bladder, to

bursting, till I can scarce walk, what of the weight within me.

Lalah! I have drunken as never before, yet are my eyes clear, my

knees strong, my hand steady.`

 

"`The shaman cannot send us to sleep with the gods,` the people

complained, stringing in and joining us, `and only in thy igloo may

the thing be done.`

 

"So I laughed to myself as I passed the hooch around and the guests

made merry. For in the flour I had traded to Neewak I had mixed

much soda that I had got from the woman Ipsukuk. So how could his

brew ferment when the soda kept it sweet? Or his hooch be hooch

when it would not sour?

 

"After that our wealth flowed in without let or hindrance. Furs we

had without number, and the fancy-work of the women, all of the

chief`s tea, and no end of meat. One day Moosu retold for my

benefit, and sadly mangled, the story of Joseph in Egypt, but from

it I got an idea, and soon I had half the tribe at work building me

great meat caches. And of all they hunted I got the lion`s share

and stored it away. Nor was Moosu idle. He made himself a pack of

cards from birch bark, and taught Neewak the way to play seven-up.

He also inveigled the father of Tukeliketa into the game. And one

day he married the maiden, and the next day he moved into the

shaman`s house, which was the finest in the village. The fall of

Neewak was complete, for he lost all his possessions, his walrus-

hide drums, his incantation tools--everything. And in the end he

became a hewer of wood and drawer of water at the beck and call of

Moosu. And Moosu--he set himself up as shaman, or high priest, and

out of his garbled Scripture created new gods and made incantation

before strange altars.

 

"And I was well pleased, for I thought it good that church and

state go hand in hand, and I had certain plans of my own concerning

the state. Events were shaping as I had foreseen. Good temper and

smiling faces had vanished from the village. The people were

morose and sullen. There were quarrels and fighting, and things

were in an uproar night and day. Moosu`s cards were duplicated and

the hunters fell to gambling among themselves. Tummasook beat his

wife horribly, and his mother`s brother objected and smote him with

a tusk of walrus till he cried aloud in the night and was shamed

before the people. Also, amid such diversions no hunting was done,

and famine fell upon the land. The nights were long and dark, and

without meat no hooch could be bought; so they murmured against the

chief. This I had played for, and when they were well and hungry,

I summoned the whole village, made a great harangue, posed as

patriarch, and fed the famishing. Moosu made harangue likewise,

and because of this and the thing I had done I was made chief.

Moosu, who had the ear of God and decreed his judgments, anointed

me with whale blubber, and right blubberly he did it, not

understanding the ceremony. And between us we interpreted to the

people the new theory of the divine right of kings. There was

hooch galore, and meat and feastings, and they took kindly to the

new order.

 

"So you see, O man, I have sat in the high places, and worn the

purple, and ruled populations. And I might yet be a king had the

tobacco held out, or had Moosu been more fool and less knave. For

he cast eyes upon Esanetuk, eldest daughter to Tummasook, and I

objected.

 

"`O brother,` he explained, `thou hast seen fit to speak of

introducing new institutions amongst this people, and I have

listened to thy words and gained wisdom thereby. Thou rulest by

the God-given right, and by the God-given right I marry.`

 

"I noted that he `brothered` me, and was angry and put my foot

down. But he fell back upon the people and made incantations for

three days, in which all hands joined; and then, speaking with the

voice of God, he decreed polygamy by divine fiat. But he was

shrewd, for he limited the number of wives by a property

qualification, and because of which he, above all men, was favoured

by his wealth. Nor could I fail to admire, though it was plain

that power had turned his head, and he would not be satisfied till

all the power and all the wealth rested in his own hands. So he

became swollen with pride, forgot it was I that had placed him

there, and made preparations to destroy me.

 

"But it was interesting, for the beggar was working out in his own

way an evolution of primitive society. Now I, by virtue of the

hooch monopoly, drew a revenue in which I no longer permitted him

to share. So he meditated for a while and evolved a system of

ecclesiastical taxation. He laid tithes upon the people, harangued

about fat firstlings and such things, and twisted whatever twisted

texts he had ever heard to serve his purpose. Even this I bore in

silence, but when he instituted what may be likened to a graduated

income-tax, I rebelled, and blindly, for this was what he worked

for. Thereat, he appealed to the people, and they, envious of my

great wealth and well taxed themselves, upheld him. `Why should we

pay,` they asked, `and not you? Does not the voice of God speak

through the lips of Moosu, the shaman?` So I yielded. But at the

same time I raised the price of hooch, and lo, he was not a whit

behind me in raising my taxes.

 

"Then there was open war. I made a play for Neewak and Tummasook,

because of the traditionary rights they possessed; but Moosu won

out by creating a priesthood and giving them both high office. The

problem of authority presented itself to him, and he worked it out

as it has often been worked before. There was my mistake. I

should have been made shaman, and he chief; but I saw it too late,

and in the clash of spiritual and temporal power I was bound to be

worsted. A great controversy waged, but it quickly became one-

sided. The people remembered that he had anointed me, and it was

clear to them that the source of my authority lay, not in me, but

in Moosu. Only a few faithful ones clung to me, chief among whom

Angeit was; while he headed the popular party and set whispers

afloat that I had it in mind to overthrow him and set up my own

gods, which were most unrighteous gods. And in this the clever

rascal had anticipated me, for it was just what I had intended--

forsake my kingship, you see, and fight spiritual with spiritual.

So he frightened the people with the iniquities of my peculiar

gods--especially the one he named `Biz-e-Nass`--and nipped the

scheme in the bud.

 

"Now, it happened that Kluktu, youngest daughter to Tummasook, had

caught my fancy, and I likewise hers. So I made overtures, but the

ex-chief refused bluntly--after I had paid the purchase price--and

informed me that she was set aside for Moosu. This was too much,

and I was half of a mind to go to his igloo and slay him with my

naked hands; but I recollected that the tobacco was near gone, and

went home laughing. The next day he made incantation, and

distorted the miracle of the loaves and fishes till it became

prophecy, and I, reading between the lines, saw that it was aimed

at the wealth of meat stored in my caches. The people also read

between the lines, and, as he did not urge them to go on the hunt,

they remained at home, and few caribou or bear were brought in.

 

"But I had plans of my own, seeing that not only the tobacco but

the flour and molasses were near gone. And further, I felt it my

duty to prove the white man`s wisdom and bring sore distress to

Moosu, who had waxed high-stomached, what of the power I had given

him. So that night I went to my meat caches and toiled mightily,

and it was noted next day that all the dogs of the village were

lazy. No one suspected, and I toiled thus every night, and the

dogs grew fat and fatter, and the people lean and leaner. They

grumbled and demanded the fulfilment of prophecy, but Moosu

restrained them, waiting for their hunger to grow yet greater. Nor

did he dream, to the very last, of the trick I had been playing on

the empty caches.

 

"When all was ready, I sent Angeit, and the faithful ones whom I

had fed privily, through the village to call assembly. And the

tribe gathered on a great space of beaten snow before my door, with

the meat caches towering stilt-legged in the rear. Moosu came

also, standing on the inner edge of the circle opposite me,

confident that I had some scheme afoot, and prepared at the first

break to down me. But I arose, giving him salutation before all

men.

 

"`O Moosu, thou blessed of God,` I began, `doubtless thou hast

wondered in that I have called this convocation together; and

doubtless, because of my many foolishnesses, art thou prepared for

rash sayings and rash doings. Not so. It has been said, that