he not hear the hill spirits speaking? Did he not carry
food to them, and wood and arrow points for weapons? And in _ookiah_
(winter) did they not strike? Did they not kill one Otaq, who hated
Sipsu? Did Sipsu not go unto the lower land of the dead--did he not
speak to those who freeze in the dark? Yea, did Sipsu not learn how
the world is kept up, and the souls of nature are bound together? And
hath he not the power to separate them, yea, as a man from his shadow?"

"Thou evil-tongued wretch, well doth Maisanguaq believe thee! Here--I
promise thee meat. I follow Ootah upon the chase. There are walrus on
the sea. Invoke the curse of destruction upon Ootah--and I will give
thee meat for the long winter."

"Ootah--Ootah--yah--hah! Ootah!" Sipsu snapped the name viciously.
"With joy shall I bring the great evil unto Ootah. For hath he not
despised my art, hath he not scoffed at my spirits! But thou--what
reason hast thou to desire his death?"

"Ootah findeth favor with Annadoah," said Maisanguaq briefly. "I would
she never make his _kamiks_ (boots)."

"Yea, and she shall not. She shall not!" the old man shrieked in a
sudden access of rage. "So saith Sipsu, whose spirits never fail."

Lying on the floor Sipsu closed his eyes and, moving his head up and
down, called repeatedly:

"_Quilaka Nauk_! _Quilaka Nauk_! Where are my spirits? Where are my
spirits?"

Presently he rose, and swaying his body crooned:

"_Tassa quilivagit_! _Tassa quilivagit_! My spirits are here--they
are here! _Tassa quilivagit_!"

Grasping a drum made of animal tissue strung over a rib-bone he began
to dance. He beat a slow, uneasy measure on the drum. His face
grinned hideously. His voice at times rose to a harsh shriek, then
suddenly it trailed away until it seemed like the voice of one speaking
very far off. In a curious sort of intermittent crooning and shrieking
ventriloquism he called down curses upon Ootah. His dance increased;
he beat the drum frenziedly. His legs twisted under him, he described
short running circles and jumped up and down in accesses of hysteria.
His scraggy arms, with their tattered clothes, writhed in the air as he
beat the drum above him. His head began to nod from side to side; his
eyes glowed like coals; his tongue hung from his mouth; foam gathered
at his lips.

"Ootah! Ootah! May his _kaneg_ (head) swell with the great fire! May
he see horrors that do not exist--what the wicke