"Well, and the Bhoy? What good arre ye, annyway?"
"Hard to say," said the person addressed; but, thinking hard: "Would you like to see me wag my ears?" Some languid interest was manifested in this accomplishment, but it fell rather flat after Potts' splendid achievements with the euchre-deck.
"No, ye ain't good fur much as an enthertainer," said O'Flynn frankly.
Kaviak had begun to cry for more punch, and Mac was evidently growing a good deal perplexed as to the further treatment for his patient.
"Did ye be tellin' some wan, Father, that when ye found that Esquimer he had grass stuffed in his mouth? Sure, he'll be missin' that grass. Ram somethin' down his throat."
"Was it done to shorten his sufferings?" the Colonel asked in an undertone.
"No," answered the priest in the same low voice; "if they listen long to the dying, the cry gets fixed in their imagination, and they hear it after the death, and think the spirit haunts the place. Their fear and horror of the dead is beyond belief. They'll turn a dying man out of his own house, and not by the door, but through a hole in the roof. Or they pull out a log to make an opening, closing it up quick, so the spirit won't find his way back."
Kaviak continued to lament.
"Sorry we can't offer you some blubber, Kaviak."
"'Tain't that he's missin'; he's got an inexhaustible store of his own. His mistake is offerin' it to us."