This was not boast; the lad only felt very sure of himself and intensely in earnest; so his friend answered seriously:
“That is true. You can learn. But if you want to learn to shoot you must come to Herschel Island where there are shops to buy bullets—and it is a long, long way.”
“I don’t care! I’ll go! I’d like first rate to see places and shops and bullets. May I go along with you?”
Our lad had yet to understand the words he used; but he was throbbing with wild ambition; his gray eyes sparkled, and his perfect teeth gleamed in a double row. He looked a volcano of enthusiasm.
The white man laughed. “Wait, youngster! Wait! You go too fast for me. To-morrow we will try out what kind of traveler you are.”
That set the boy’s heart glowing with pride and hope. Well Kak knew he could prove himself a man on the trail. Had he not been to the village before; to fresh fishing grounds and new hunting grounds; indeed, half over Victoria Island? For his father was a restless soul, always moving from place to place and dragging Guninana and the children after him.
“Huh, all right! It’s a bargain,” was the satisfied answer.
Kak had a chance to prove his endurance next day for they struck from deserted site to deserted site, going many miles around out of their road in order to cling to the remnant of a faint track which would surely lead where the people now were. They camped after dark and rose early to find themselves in view of the town—a cluster of houses looking from a distance like so many snow cakes you might have turned out of a patty pan. Then Taptuna bade the strangers wait while he and Kak raced ahead to announce them and tell the people they were friends. Otherwise, if the dogs stirred and the Eskimos grew alarmed, they might dash out and try to kill the whole party.
Kak ran faster than his dad and reaching Kitirkolak’s home first vanished out of sight. He did not have to go into an underground tunnel, for this house was built with a doorway and a long shed leading to it.
“I am Kak,” he cried. “I am coming in,” and immediately popped his head through the hole in the wall.