At the same time Mrs Barnett raised the poor girl’s head, and managed
to pour a few drops of rum between her parted lips. She then bathed her
forehead and temples with cold water, and waited.
A few minutes passed by, and neither of the watchers were able to utter
a word, so anxious were they lest the faint spark of life remaining to
the young Esquimaux should be quenched.
But at last Kalumah’s breast heaved with a faint sigh, her hands moved
feebly, and presently she opened her eyes, and recognising her preserver
she murmured—
“Mrs Barnett! Mrs Barnett!”
The lady was not a little surprised at hearing her own name. Had Kalumah
voluntarily sought the floating island, and did she expect to find her
old European friends on it? If so, how had she come to know it, and
how had she managed to reach the island, two hundred miles from the
mainland? How could she have guessed that the ice-field as bearing Mrs
Barnett and all the occupants of Fort Hope away from the American coast?
Really it all seemed quite inexplicable.
“She lives—she will recover!” exclaimed Madge, who felt the vital
heat and pulsation returning to the poor bruised body.
“Poor child, poor child’“ said Mrs Barnett, much affected; “she
murmured my name when she was at the point of death.”
But now Kalumah again half opened her eyes, and looked about her with a
dreamy unsatisfied expression, presently, however, seeing Mrs Barnett,
her face brightened, the same name again burst from her lips, and
painfully raising her hand she let it fall on that of her friend.
The anxious care of the two women soon revived Kalumah, whose extreme
exhaustion arose not only from fatigue but also from hunger. She had
eaten nothing for forty-eight hours. Some pieces of cold venison and
a little rum refreshed her, and she soon felt able to accompany her
newly-found friends to the fort.
Before starting, however, Kalumah, seated on the sand between Mrs
Barnett and Madge, overwhelmed them with thanks and expressions of
attachment. Then she told her story: she had not forgotten the Europeans
of Fort Hope, and the thought of Mrs Paulina Barnett had been ever
present with her. It was not by chance, as we shall see, that she had
come to Victoria Island.
The following is a brief summary of what Kalumah related to Mrs
Barnett:—
Our readers will remember the young Esquimaux’s promise to come and
see her friends at Fort Hope again in the fine season of the next year.
The long Polar night being over, and the month of May having come round,
Kalumah set out to fulfil her pledge. She left Russian America, where
she had wintered, and accompanied by one of her brothers-in-law, started
for the peninsula of Victoria.
Six weeks later, towards the middle of June, she got to that part of
British America which is near Cape Bathurst. She at once recognised the
volcanic mountains shutting in Liverpool Bay, and twenty miles farther
east she came to Walruses’ Bay, where her people had so often hunted
morses and seals.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account