At this suggestion, Balt rose ponderously and began to rave. To see his vengeance slip from his grasp enraged him. He cursed shockingly, clinching his great fists above his head, and grinding forth imprecations which caused Fraser to quail and cry out aghast:
"Hey, you! Quit that! D'you want to hang a Jonah onto us?"
But the fisherman only goaded himself into a greater passion, during which Petellin, the storekeeper, entered, and forthwith began to cross himself devoutly. Observing this fervent pantomime, Balt turned upon the trader and directed his outburst at him:
"Where in hell is this steamer?"
"Out to the westward somewhere."
"Well, she's a mail-boat, ain't she? Then why don't she stop here coming back? Answer me!"
The rotund man shrugged his fat shoulders. "She's got to call at Uyak
Bay going east."
Emerson looked up quickly, "Where is Uyak Bay?"
"Over on Kodiak Island," Big George answered; then turned again to vent his spleen on the trader.
"What right have them steamboat people got to cut out this place for an empty cannery? Why, there ain't nobody at Uyak. It's more of that damned Company business. They own this whole country, and run it to suit themselves."