So favoring were the winds that they left Glacier Bay, passed Icy Strait, and headed northward as far as the mouth of Lynn Canal before sunset of that day. During the second day they ran the whole fifty-mile length of the canal, which is the grandest of Alaska's rock-walled fiords, entered Chilkat Inlet, passed the canneries at Pyramid Harbor and Chilkat, which would not be opened until the beginning of the salmon season in June, entered the river, and finally reached Klukwan, the principal Chilkat village.
THEY WERE WELCOMED BY THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF KLUKWAN.
Here, as the smaller canoe had preceded them and announced their coming, our travellers were welcomed by the entire population of the village. These thronged the beach in a state of wildest excitement, for it was known to all that the long-lost fur-seal's tooth was at last come back to them. Even the village dogs were there, a legion of snarling, flea-bitten curs. Ere the canoe touched the beach, Musky, Luvtuk, and big Amook were among them, and a battle was in progress that completely drowned the cries of the spectators with its uproar. The fighting was continued with only brief intervals throughout the night; but in the morning the three champions from the Yukon were masters of the situation, and roamed the village with bushy tails proudly curled over their backs, and without interference. "For all the world," said Phil, "like the Three Musketeers."
The guests of the village were escorted to the council-house, to which were also taken their belongings. Here they were supplied with venison, salmon, partridges, and dried berries; and here, after supper, they received many visitors all anxious for a sight of the magic tooth. Most prominent of these were the head Shaman of the village, and the principal woman of the tribe, whose name was so unpronounceable that Phil called her "The Princess," a title with which she seemed well pleased.
She was the widow of Kloh-kutz, most famous of Chilkat chiefs, and the one who had presented the fur-seal's tooth to Serge Belcofsky's father. On the occasion of this visit she wore a beautifully embroidered dress, together with a Chilkat blanket of exquisite fineness thrown over her shoulders like a shawl, and fastened at the throat with a stout safety-pin. The Princess devoted herself to Serge, whom she evidently considered the most important person in the party, and to little Nel-te, who took to her at once. While she pronounced the fur-seal's tooth to be the same that had belonged to her husband, the Shaman shook his head doubtfully. Then it was handed from one to another of a number of lesser Shamans and chiefs for inspection. Suddenly one of these dropped it to the floor, and, when search was made, it could not be found.
Phil was furious at the impudence of this trick. Even Serge was indignant, while Jalap Coombs said it was just what might be expected from land sharks and pirates.
The Shaman insisted that the tooth was not lost, but had disappeared of its own accord. If it were not the same fur-seal's tooth that belonged to their tribe in former years, it would not be seen again. If it were, it would appear within a few days attached to a hideously carved representation of Hutle, the thunder-bird that stood in one of Kloh-kutz's houses, now used as a place for incantation.
"We don't care anything about all that!" exclaimed Phil, when this was translated to him. "Tell him he can do as he pleases with the tooth, so long as he gives us the canoe we have bargained for."
To this the Shaman replied that they should surely have a canoe as soon as the tooth proved its genuineness by reappearing. In the mean time, if they were in such a hurry to get away that they did not care to wait, he had a very fine canoe that he would let them have at once in exchange for their guns and their dogs. "You may tell him that we will wait," replied Phil, grimly, "but you need not tell him what is equally true that we shall only wait until we find a chance to help ourselves to the best canoe and take French leave."