s a scout. Raventik was his name. He was
chosen for the duty because of his bold, reckless nature, sharpness of
vision, general intelligence, and his well-known love for excitement and
danger.

"You will always keep well out of sight in advance of us," said Gartok
to this scout, "and the first sight you get of the Fire-spouters, shove
in to some quiet place, land, haul up your kayak, and creep near them
through the bushes as quietly and cleverly as if you were creeping up to
a bear or a walrus. Then come back and tell us what you have seen. So
we will land and attack them and throw them all into the river."

"I will do my best," answered Raventik gravely.

"It is not likely," added Gartok, "that you will find them to-day, for
they seldom come down as far as here, and they don't know we are
coming."

The scout made no reply. Having received his orders he stepped into his
kayak and paddled off into the stream, against which he made but slow
progress, however, for the river happened to be considerably swollen at
the time. He was also impeded at first by his comparative ignorance of
river navigation. Being accustomed to the currentless waters of the
ocean, he was not prepared by experience to cope with the difficulty of
rushing currents. He went too far out into the stream at first, and was
nearly upset. Natural intelligence, however, and the remembrance of
talks to which he had listened between men of his tribe who had already
visited the place, taught him to keep close in to the banks, and make as
much use of eddies and backwater as possible. The double-bladed paddle
hampered him somewhat, as its great length, which was no disadvantage in
the open sea, prevented him from keeping as close to the banks as he
desired. Despite these drawbacks, however, Raventik soon acquired
sufficient skill, and in a short time a curve in the river hid him from
the flotilla which followed him.

Now it so happened that the Indians who were supposed to be a
considerable distance inland were in reality not many miles from the
spot where the Eskimos had held their final conference, which ended in
Raventik being sent off in advance. It was natural that, accustomed as
they were to all the arts of woodcraft, they should discover the
presence of the scout long before he discovered them; and so in truth it
turned out.

The Indians had ten birch-bark canoes, with three warriors in most of
them--all armed, as we have said, with the d