Free Laura by George Sand Page A

southern Greenland.
    I was going to ask my uncle at what stage of the voyage he had made this agreement, when I saw a multitude of red dots dancing on the ice around the ship’s imprisoned flanks, and, by the muted glow of these resin torches, I was able to make out the strange companions who were reaching us. It was a band of hideous Eskimos accompanied by a band of dogs—thin, famished, hackles raised and more like fierce beasts than domesticated animals, harnessed in threes, fives or sevens to a long line of sledges of varying sizes, some of which were carrying light canoes. When they were within shouting distance, my uncle addressed the leader of the band in a loud voice:
    Silence your beasts, put out your torches and line up here. Let me count you and let me see you.
    We are ready to obey you, great chief
angekok
, replied the Eskimo, thus hailing my uncle with the title consecrated in his language to magicians and prophets; but, if we put out our torches, how will you be able to see us?
    That does not concern you, replied my uncle; do what I tell you.
    He was obeyed instantly, and that repugnant phantasmagoria of swarthy, stocky beings, misshapen in their sealskin clothes, those faces with their flattened noses, walrus mouths and fish eyes returned, to my great satisfaction , into the darkness.
    All the same, the relief did not last long. A bright light, which for a moment I thought emanated from me, flooded the ship, the caravan and the ice as far as the eye could see, piercing or rather dispersing the fog around our encampment. I did not have to wait long to discover the cause of this phenomenon, for, as I turned back towards my uncle, I saw that he had placed upon his hat the magnificent eastern diamond which up to then had been so difficult to gaze upon, and now was as helpful to us as a portable star would have been; for, at the same time as it was lighting up the horrible night for a considerable distance, it was spreading a warmth as gentle as that of an Italian spring.
    When they saw and felt this prodigy, all the Eskimos were stunned and delighted, and prostrated themselves upon the snow, while the dogs, ceasing the hoarse murmurs which had followed their piercing cries, began to yap and bound as a sign of joy.
    You see, my uncle then said, you shall never lack for warmth or light with me. Stand up and send the strongest and least ugly among you up here. They shall load all the provisions your sleds can contain. I want only half the men; the rest will over-winter here, if that seems acceptable to them. I shall leave them this ship and all it contains when I have taken what I need.
    Sublime
angekok
, cried out the chief, trembling with fear and greed, if we take your ship, will your crewmen not kill us?
    My crewmen will not kill anyone, replied Nasias in a sinister voice. Come up without fear, but none of you must think of stealing the smallest item from what I intend to retain for myself, for at that same moment I shall set light to the ship and all those who are aboard.
    And, to prove to them that he had the power, he tapped his diamond with his finger and made a jet of flame shoot forth from it. It flew into the air, sending out a rain of sparks.
    I did not involve myself in the Eskimos’ work, nor with loading their vehicles. In spite of the spell that enveloped me, I thought only of Nasias’s mysterious words and the lugubrious silence that had long since succeeded the din of the orgy on the ship. There was not one sailor on deck. The man on watch and the helmsman had abandoned their posts. The natives’ noisy arrival had not troubled any of our companions in their drunken slumber.
    I understood clearly that my uncle was taking away or giving to the new arrivals all the food and all the clothes necessary to the crew. Was he also abandoning the lives of these now-defenceless unfortunates to them?The Eskimos have no hint of ferocity in their character, but they are as voracious as sharks and as