. Upon this, my father, the Otter,
and Skolka, the shaman, had been very clear, with stern promises of
punishment in case they were not obeyed.

"I dipped my paddle and shouted words of scorn after the fleeing
warriors. And the vile things I shouted made them turn their heads in
anger, when they beheld that the young men held back, and that I came
on alone. Whereupon, when they had made a safe distance, the two
warriors drew their canoes somewhat apart and waited side by side for
me to come between. And I came between, spear in hand, and singing the
war-song of my people. Each flung a spear, but I bent my body, and
the spears whistled over me, and I was unhurt. Then, and we were all
together, we three, I cast my spear at the one to the right, and it
drove into his throat and he pitched backward into the water.

"Great was my surprise thereat, for I had killed a man. I turned to
the one on the left and drove strong with my paddle, to meet Death
face to face; but the man's second spear, which was his last, but bit
into the flesh of my shoulder. Then was I upon him, making no cast,
but pressing the point into his breast and working it through him with
both my hands. And while I worked, pressing with all my strength, he
smote me upon my head, once and twice, with the broad of his paddle.

"Even as the point of the spear sprang out beyond his back, he smote
me upon the head. There was a flash, as of bright light, and inside my
head I felt something give, with a snap--just like that, with a snap.
And the weight that pressed above my eyes so long was lifted, and the
band that bound my brows so tight was broken. And a great gladness
came upon me, and my heart sang with joy.

"This be death, I thought; wherefore I thought that death was very
good. And then I saw the two empty canoes, and I knew that I was not
dead, but well again. The blows of the man upon my head had made me
well. I knew that I had killed, and the taste of the blood made me
fierce, and I drove my paddle into the breast of the Yukon and urged
my canoe toward the village of the Mukumuks. The young men behind me
gave a great cry. I looked over my shoulder and saw the water foaming
white from their paddles--"

"Ay, it foamed white from our paddles," said Mutsak. "For we
remembered the command of the Otter, and of Skolka, that we behold
with our own eyes the manner of Lone Chief's death. A young man of
the Mukumuks, on his way to a salmon trap, beheld the comin