“You had better think twice,” said Rooney, as he was about to push off the boat. “He may give you some trouble.”
“Fear not,” returned Okiok, with a grin, in which there were mingled fun and contempt. “I have thought twice—three—four—ten times,” and he extended the fingers of both hands.
“Very good; we’ll keep an eye on you,” said Rooney, with a laugh.
“He runs no risk,” remarked Egede, taking up one of the paddles to share in the work. “His plan is one which Eskimos frequently adopt when one of their kayaks has been destroyed by rocks or walruses.”
The plan referred to consisted in making the man whose kayak has been lost lie out on what may be called the deck of a friend’s kayak. The well-known little craft named the “Rob Roy Canoe” bears much resemblance to the Eskimo kayak—the chief difference being that the former is made of thin, light wood, the latter of a light framework covered with sealskin. Both are long and narrow; decked entirely over, with the exception of a hole in the centre; can hold only one person, and are propelled with one double paddle having a blade at each end. The only way, therefore, of helping a friend in distress with such craft is to lay him out flat at full length on the deck, and require him to keep perfectly still while you paddle to a place of safety.
Okiok intended to take the helpless drunkard across the bay in this fashion, but for the sake of safety, resolved to do it in an unfriendly manner.
When the boat had shot away, he pushed the kayak into the water until it was afloat in the fore-part, arranged the spears which formed its armament, made fast the various lines, and laid the paddle across the opening. Then he went up to Kajo, who had been watching his movements with much curiosity, not quite unmingled with discomfort.
“Go,” he said, pointing to the kayak, “and lay yourself out in front, on your face.”
Kajo looked earnestly at the speaker. There was much less of the heroic in his gaze by that time, and therefore more of manly determination; but Okiok said “go” again. And Kajo went.
When he was laid flat on his face in front of the opening, with his feet on either side, and his head towards the bow, Okiok proceeded to tie him down there.