"We could kill all we wanted now with the rifles," commented Rob; "but, as I said awhile ago, I don't think we ought to use rifle ammunition for killing birds. No one can tell how much we may need our cartridges later on. No, I don't think we will get any geese unless we can catch them with our hands. I haven't much faith in those throwing-cords that Skookie was showing us." John turned to his friend Skookie. "S'pose you catch-um geese, Skookie?" he asked. The Aleut boy surprised them very much by his sudden use of English. "Sure!" he said. He had perhaps learned this word from associating with whites somewhere down the coast. His prompt reply made them all laugh, but none the less it was of yet greater interest than this. "How do you mean, Skookie?" asked Rob. "How can you catch a goose when you have no gun? You can't get close enough." It was always a problem how much English the Aleut understood or did not understand. Now he made his answer by diving into the back of the barabbara and coming out with the curious bunch of thongs which the boys had noticed him carrying when they first encountered him on the beach--a dozen thongs attached to a common centre, each being a couple of yards in length, and each bearing at its extremity a perforated ivory ball perhaps of an ounce or so in weight. "Well, that don't look very much like a goose-hunt to me," said John; "but it seems to me I've read about the Eskimos using something of this sort. Maybe it'll work on geese, though it looks like a mighty funny kind of shot-gun to me." "It's an old weapon of wild people," said Rob. "I've read about that sort of thing. They use it in South America for catching animals, and there they call it the _bolas_, or balls. I think they use stones down there, and of course they are a great deal heavier than these little ivory weights." He motioned to Skookie to show how he proposed to use this curious device. The Aleut, understanding perfectly what was required, again caught the thongs by their central ring and deftly began to whirl them about his head. Aiming at a post which stood up in the grass near the barabbara, he finally cast loose his whirling thongs, which promptly wrapped tightly around the post as they flew. The young brown hunter grinned at this, and all the boys were surprised at the force with which the thongs clung about the object of the aim. "Jinks!" said John. "I shouldn't wonder if they'd kill a bird, if they hit it, or anyhow tie it up. The question is, how can you get close enough to the geese to catch them with this sort of arrangement. A goose is about the wildest thing in the world. I don't suppose Skookie could hit anything very far." "I don't know," mused Rob. "But why not let him try? If the birds are done nesting, and the young ones are flying, they would make a mighty good addition to our table if we could get some of them." Another flock of geese passed by. Rob pointed from the thong-cords toward the geese.