“Outer edge of the Shumagin Banks, and I s’pose we’re here to fish,” was the brief answer.
They evidently were there to fish, and all hands were set at it as soon as breakfast was over. With bits of seal blubber for bait, they hauled in cod as fast as they pleased. Very soon a portion of the crew were told off to split and salt these, while the rest continued to add to the catch. By nightfall a sufficient number of fine large fish to suit Captain Duff’s purpose had been caught, split, and salted away on top of the seal-skins already packed in the kenches below-deck. His desire for the valuable furs had only been increased by the successful issue of his voyage up to this time, and he had determined upon a bold move that would secure him as many more seal-skins as he already had if it could be successfully carried out. He did not disclose his intentions even to his mate, but merely ordered the anchor up at the conclusion of that day of fishing, and laid a course to the westward.
[CHAPTER XVI]
A VENTURE INTO FORBIDDEN WATERS
On the morning following that of the day of fishing the Seamew was skirting a wild-looking coast, against the bald headlands of which the huge blue billows of the Pacific thundered with a ceaseless roar. The scene was one of awful grandeur and desolation, though not of utter solitude, for though no sign of human life was visible, sea-lions disported in the tumultuous breakers, huge whales rolled lazily on the long swells, and myriads of sea-fowl circled with harsh cries above the precipitous rocks. Above all towered the symmetrical snow-capped peak of a lofty mountain, from the summit of which a thin banner of smoke trailed to leeward. It was Shishaldin, the most beautiful peak of all the Aleutian Islands, and as it was the first volcano Phil Ryder had ever seen, he gazed upon it with delight and wonder. The forbidding coast they were skirting, and which was Phil’s first bit of Alaska, was the south side of the island of Oonimak, one of the largest of the entire Aleutian chain, and also the only one of any size absolutely without inhabitants.
After a while the schooner reached the western extremity of this inhospitable island, and turning into the broad channel of the Oonimak Pass, was soon breasting the green waters of Bering Sea. Here her course was again altered, so that she now followed the northern coast of the island, and was headed towards its upper or eastern end. This shore was much less abrupt than the other, and broad levels of mossy tundra broken by foot-hills stretched away to the mountains that had risen so sheer from the Pacific side.
At length towards evening anchor was dropped in a small, well-sheltered bay at the extreme eastern end of the island, and Captain Duff caused himself to be rowed ashore. In a short time he returned, and to the surprise of all hands informed his crew that he wished his cargo of seal-skins broken out at once and transferred to a place on shore that he would point out.
So actively was this job of night-work carried forward, that before morning every seal-skin had been taken from the schooner, carried ashore, and safely salted away in a kench constructed within the ruins of an old stone hut. This was but one of a number still standing, which showed that at some previous time Oonimak Island had supported at least one populous village.