Here the swarthy hunters glanced askance at the white lad, and not until Kooga had given a long explanation of how he happened to be there, and a glowing account of Phil’s wonderful skill with the rifle, did they consent to admit him to a share of their scanty food supplies and still scantier shelter.
Although Phil did not, of course, understand a word of all this, he guessed what was being said, and was provoked that he should have placed himself in such a position. To his further chagrin, he could not discover one among all the hunters who could speak a word of English. So Serge had been right, and he had acted the part of a headstrong fool, after all.
While his hunger forced him to eat a share of the hunters’ supper, which consisted of nearly raw meat, sea-biscuit so hard that they made his teeth ache, and a cup of tea as strong as lye, he did not relish it, and his thoughts turned with longing to the once despised cabin mess of the Seamew. As for the dainty home-table presided over by his dear Aunt Ruth, he dared not think of it.
If his supper was bad, how much worse were the sleeping accommodations that the bitter chill of the night forced him to share! As the cold wind swept in from the sea with ever-increasing force and charged with stinging sleet, it compelled all hands to crawl into the few wretched little tents, open at both ends, that afforded their only shelter from the inclement weather. They had no blankets, nor bedding of any description, and were forced to huddle together for warmth.
As poor Phil thus lay on the bare rocks between Kooga and another not over-clean Aleut, his mind once more reverted to his far-distant home, with its innumerable comforts, that he had once accepted as a matter of course, without a thought of how they were provided or any feeling of gratitude for them.
“Oh dear! what wouldn’t I give for a few of those things at this minute!” reflected poor Phil. “A warm house, for instance, and a clean soft bed, and clean clothes and soap and towels, and a brush and comb, and, above all, for one of Aunt Ruth’s delicious suppers. But what is the use! I can’t have them, and I am having just what I set out for—a trip to Alaska and a sea-otter hunt. This misery will be over in a few hours at any rate, for I shall make Kooga take me out of this in the morning, and in a week or so from now I shall be looking back on it from Sitka, and telling of it as a most interesting experience.”
Alas for Phil’s hopes! When the morning light came it revealed such a mighty sea rolling in under the lashings of a southwesterly gale, and furiously hurling itself against the rock-bound coast, as would have prohibited the launching of a life-boat, much more a bidarkie. For three days did the gale continue, and for three days did it hold Phil Ryder and the native hunters close prisoners on the island of Saanak. At first the former raged at his detention almost as furiously as did the gale itself, though after a while he wisely determined to make the best of the situation, and discover whatever good points it possessed.
As the wind came off the sea, they could build as many fires as they chose without fear of alarming the wily game of which they had come in pursuit. Thus they could cook food and make tea, which, under the circumstances, was of inestimable comfort. In these occupations, together with smoking and sleeping, most of the hunters spent their time. On the second day, Kooga, taking his rifle and inviting Phil by signs to accompany him, set forth in search of sea-lions, which are highly esteemed as food by all natives of those northern regions. They also use its skin in making their boats, its intestines for their water-proof garments, its back-sinews in place of thread, while the oil extracted from its blubber affords them both light and fuel.