This was more than he had hoped for; if it cut his finger by simply passing it over the edge, how much more apt would it be to cut into an animal when it was sent from the bow! On and on he worked, until he had enough splinters or scales to make the arrow-head; then forth he went to try his luck. Not an animal escaped. Just as sure as he struck a bear, or a fox, or a seal, with the arrow, just so sure the animal was his; and the more he used the arrow the sharper it became, until the thought came to him that this iron stone would make better knives than those of stone and ivory which his people now used, if he could only succeed in getting the pieces off.
He returned to his people, and told them of the good luck the heaven-born stone had brought him, and then he showed them the bright, sharp arrow-head, and they all agreed that good knives could be made of this iron stone. Then all the natives of this village set out at once, and travelled many miles, until they came to the front of a great river of ice called a glacier. This great ice stream comes creeping slowly down the mountain side, and pushes in front of it great heaps of stones and dirt. From among these stones the natives selected the hard smooth cobbles of what we call trap-rock, but which they knew only as very hard stones.
“Then for the Hunt”
Loading their sledges with their tents and as many of these stones as they could carry, they travelled over the snow and ice to Meteorite Island. Here they camped, and while the women put up the tents, and got them ready, the men cleared away the snow from the stones and began to work. For many “sleeps,” as the Eskimos say, they pounded and hammered and worked, until they had fashioned a few arrow-heads and also some rude knives. Then for the hunt, which lasted a week. They could hardly believe their eyes, when at the end of that time they saw the number of slaughtered animals,—more than had ever before fallen to their lot in a whole season. Nearly all the hunters would be able to have new fur clothing, and every family would have a new, soft, warm deerskin for the bed.
“Dogs that could draw their Masters on a Sledge”
The Eskimos living hundreds of miles up the coast from here heard of the wonderful arrows and knives made from the heaven-sent stones; but as they did not have dogs and sledges enough to bring all the hunters and their families down where the stones lay, half a dozen of the strongest men took the best dogs and sleds and started for the iron mountain, promising to bring back a piece of the iron large enough to make knives and arrow-heads for all. First they stopped at one of the great glaciers, and gathered a sledge-load of the trap rocks; then on they went to Meteorite Island. They were delighted with the knives and arrow-heads which their friends proudly brought forth, and when they were told how deadly the arrow-head was, and shown the pile of meat procured in the hunt, they could wait to hear no more, but hurried over to the iron woman, eager to begin their work. By working steadily, they were able to secure enough scales of the metal to tip their arrow-heads and make their knives, but it seemed impossible to pound off the large piece which they had promised to bring back with them. Long and patiently they worked, chipping and pounding day after day, while the returning sun kept getting higher in the sky, the days grew longer, and the air warmer. The great sheet of snow-covered sea-ice over which the hunters had driven their dogs and sledges was beginning to soften under the caresses of the summer sun. Pools of water began to collect like cool green shadows on the white rolling surface, while numerous black specks on the white sheet showed where sleeping seals were sunning themselves beside their front doors, which opened into the deep sea. Soon the ice would break up and move out, and then the hunters could not return to their families until the Arctic winter set in again, which would not be for three or four months. This idea did not please them, so they redoubled their efforts to break off the large lump upon which they had been working; and just as they were about to give up, the head of the iron woman came off This head must have weighed five hundred pounds, and would supply the people up the coast with all the iron they would need for arrows and knives for a long while. The precious package was carefully done up in sealskins, and placed on one of the sledges, and two of the hunters rode beside it, to take care that it did not slide off, and also to drive the dogs, ten of the finest and strongest animals in the pack. The other sledges were loaded with the meat and furs of the animals which had been killed during their stay at the island, and then the little party joyfully started for home.
A Short Rest