And, after they had gone along for a while, when the bows were coming in in front of the log houses the bundles of masts in the bows pushed back the canoes.
The fort people had sung all night for Wawayiê′la, who was acting in the secret society, and slept for weariness from using their voices. When they were asleep they (the Haida) came in front of them.
After some of them had got near some one came out to urinate and discovered them. The Bellabella then began to shoot at them. And when daylight came the Town-of-Djī′gua people[13] went ashore by a reef lying off the point of the island. They then shot on their side. Hu hu hu hu hu, there was a great noise of guns.
By and by they mentioned to Gūnana′otx̣a[14] that they might make peace, but, when the Kloo people came out on the reef, they began to shoot at them again. At that time they killed a chief of the Town-of-Djī′gua people. They tried then to get his body, which was high up on a rock, from behind. And some one thought of a hook he had in one of his boxes. They then fastened this to the end of a pole, pulled it through the skin, and by pulling a little at a time they got it in.
They shot at each other all day. By and by they got into their canoes and started away. They shot at them from the fort. They also shot into some who were ashore. When all got away they pursued them from the fort. They were so strong that they escaped at that time by canoe.
They came back then empty-handed. And they (the people at home) felt good, because while the warriors were gone a man and his wife had escaped and had returned. But, when they brought back the dead body, they felt still more sorrowful than before. They could do nothing.
That winter news came to the Bellabella through a canoe from the Kitkatla people that when summer came Gîtku′n was going to sweep out the inlet from its head like a contagion. Then the Bellabella people said: “When Gîldā′-ił[15] can never be entered how are you going to sweep it out from the head?” When that news came through Kitkatla,[16] the Town-of-Djī′gua people said they would destroy everything before them as when one spits out something.
At that time Ya′koeʟas was showing how he would act when they got hold of him. Ten Bellabella young men seized him, and he threw them about. He said that he would do that to the Kloo people. And in the very middle of summer they went southward fishing. They [[437]]fished there for a long time. They observed the war taboos there for a long time. They drank medicine. And, when they had more than enough dried halibut, they went away.
When they found a good sandy beach they landed. Thence they started off to war. Hu hu hu hu hu, the great crowd of them! After they had prepared for a while they went off. While they were away the women observed the rules in two smokehouses. After ten nights had passed, and the bows [of the warriors’] canoes were turned about, and they had started home, they turned around their sleeping places.[17] One night after that they came home. The noise of guns was heard.
Hu hu hu hu hu, there was a great noise of guns. When they got near, the sound of the war songs came rolling along. In Waters’s canoe the highest war song was sung.[18] When they landed they brought in many slaves. Among them was the great chief, Ya′koeʟas.