CHAPTER XXIX
A CLEVER EXPEDIENT
A CLEVER EXPEDIENT
A CLEVER EXPEDIENT
“You see these books,” said Bobby, Billy and Fred and Mouser clustering round him eagerly while he spoke in a low voice. “Well, there’ll be no trouble getting them away from here, because Mooloo already thinks that’s what we came for. He’ll take it as a matter of course that we’ve found them, and he won’t make any difficulty about our taking them back.”
“But who wants to take them back?” broke in Mouser. “They’re as heavy as lead and they’re not worth house room to anybody.”
“Just hold your horses,” counseled Bobby. “As far as Mooloo is concerned, they’ll be simply books that we’re taking back. But they won’t really be books. They’ll be the treasure.”
The others looked at Bobby as though he were crazy.
“Come again,” said Fred, as he scratched his head in perplexity. “I don’t get you.”
“When I was at home during the Christmas holidays,” went on Bobby, “my father was reading aloud from the paper about some of the tricks that are used in smuggling. One of them is to take a big book, scoop out the pages in the center and fill the space with diamonds. Now what those fellows did with the diamonds we’ll do with the money.”
A shout arose that was instantly repressed for fear that Mooloo would hear.
“Bobby, that headpiece of yours is a wonder!” exclaimed Fred enthusiastically.
“It’s a dandy scheme,” chuckled Billy.
“It’ll sure put it over,” declared Mouser.
“Now, the first thing to do,” continued Bobby, “is to lug a lot of these books into the cabin where Mooloo’s sleeping. When he wakes up, we’ll show them to him and turn over the pages so that he’ll see they’re all there. Ten to one he won’t do more than grunt and think we’re dippy for taking any interest in such things. But we’ll keep on until he’s got the idea fairly planted in his head that the books consist of nothing but leaves, for which he doesn’t care a rap. Then he’ll have no further curiosity, and will probably never look at them again.
“That’ll be the first step. Then the next time he goes out hunting we’ll get busy and cut big hollows in the center of the books. We’ll pack these with as much gold as they will hold, and by the time we get through we’ll have disposed of the whole thing. Then we’ll bind each book around with thongs so as to hold the covers securely together. And those books won’t be unbound until we’re safe and sound again at home.”
“But how about the money to pay Mooloo and the other Eskimos for their trouble?” objected Billy.
“I’ve thought of that,” replied Bobby. “We’ll save some out loose in our clothes so that we won’t have to unfasten any of the books. They won’t know but that we had that money with us when we came North. And we’ll pay them so handsomely that they’ll be tickled to death and think we’re regular fellows. I want especially to see that Kapje and his family get plenty for being so kind to us. And as for Mooloo, he’ll get enough to make him a high muck-a-muck among the Eskimos.”
The boys lost no time in carrying out their plan. They lugged a dozen of the ponderous volumes into their living quarters, and when Mooloo awoke he found them poring over them with a great appearance of interest. He jumped at once to the conclusion that these were the documents that they had come to find.
“Find um-huh?” he inquired.
“Just what we wanted,” replied Bobby with perfect truth, taking the book he was busied with and turning over the pages before Mooloo’s eyes.
The latter glanced at them with dull indifference. If he had any pronounced feeling at all, it was one of disgust that these queer strangers should be interested in such trivial things when there were seals and bears and walruses to be hunted.
Bobby kept on turning the pages of one book after another until Mooloo yawned and turned away his eyes. Still Bobby persisted, until with an impatient grunt the Eskimo pushed the book away and fell to mending one of his spears.
This was just what Bobby had hoped for. It was safe to say that only main force could make Mooloo look again at one of the books for which he had conceived a profound contempt.
The snow still persisted, and for this the boys were intensely grateful. They had never thought that they would be thankful for being snowbound on that bleak Arctic coast. But now they needed time above everything else, for the work they had in hand must be done with exceeding care to avoid any possibility of a slip.
The rest of that day was lost for the purpose, for Mooloo had done all the hunting he cared for, and he had plenty of work on hand in skinning the seal. But the next morning he again went out to try his luck, and then the boys worked with feverish energy to carry out their plan.
Before the guide returned, this time in a bad humor because his efforts had been fruitless, they had made notable progress. Mooloo was getting restless and wanted to return to his home, but he knew that it would be unwise under present weather conditions. But he gruffly announced his belief that on the second day from then the storm would have so far abated that they might make the return trip in safety.
The delay was to the boys what a reprieve would be to a condemned man, and they so well employed the next day that when Mooloo returned in the evening with two seal carcasses and in high feather their work was done. The snow had stopped falling and it was arranged that they should set out bright and early on the following morning.
The day broke clear but terribly cold. Still, by this time, the boys had become partly used to the climate and they were sustained by an internal fire that made them flout the cold.
While Mooloo got the boat ready and bestowed in it his hunting weapons and other belongings, the boys lugged out the books and put them in the boat. The books were now much heavier than they had been with their former paper contents, and the boys wanted nobody to handle them but themselves. They did not have to fight for this privilege, for Mooloo was only too content to let them handle their burdens alone, and he gave them an occasional glance that had in it something of amused contempt at the store they set on such worthless things.
Still, if these queer people wanted to indulge in such things it was no affair of his as long as he got paid for his trouble. And it may have been the desire to have his pay that made him put especial force in the strokes with which he drove his craft along. Of course he may also have had a desire to see again as soon as possible Mrs. Mooloo and the little Mooloos, but Mooloo was not sentimental.
The boys had arranged with Mooloo to keep right on with them to the little settlement where the simple-hearted Kapje lived. For this they had a double reason. It was nearer the coast and further south where trading vessels would be more likely to touch, and then, too, they felt much safer with Kapje than they did with Mooloo.
The latter had at first hesitated at the proposition, but Bobby removed his objections by promising him double pay.
It was a long trip and a perilous one, for the sea was rough, the ice floes were churning and grinding, and icebergs were numerous. But Mooloo seemed to have a sixth sense that carried him through all dangers and at last they sighted the little settlement that was their destination. They approached it just as Kapje and his son, after a day’s fishing and hunting, were drawing their boat up on the shore.
The latter greeted the lads with as much emotion as Eskimos ever permit themselves to show, and cordially invited them to make their igloo their home as long as they chose. The boys accepted this invitation, the more readily now because they knew that they were in a position to reward their benefactors for all they had done for them.
It seemed almost like home again to be in the simple igloo which had so many associations attached to it as the place where they had been welcomed to safety after that memorable night on the icy seas.
The Eskimo woman greeted them just as warmly as had her husband and son, and soon had set before them a steaming savory meal which they ate with the appetites of famished wolves.
Mooloo, too, took part in the meal and stayed overnight, as it was then too late to think of returning to his own igloo. In the morning, Bobby drew from his pocket some gold pieces and delighted the guide by giving to him three times what he had promised.
As he was preparing to go, a thought struck Bobby.
“That walrus tooth!” he said to Mooloo. That token Takyak sent! Where is it?
“Mooloo got it here,” replied the guide, touching his breast. “Big totem. Good medicine. Bring luck. Mooloo keep it.”
“It brought us luck sure enough,” Bobby thought to himself, “and I’d like to keep it all my life.” Aloud he said: “You want to sell?”
Mooloo’s eyes glistened.
“Mebbe,” he said. “How much?”
Bobby took out three gold pieces.
“More,” said Mooloo.
Bobby made it five.
“More,” said Mooloo.
Bobby shook his head and was about to put the money back in his pocket, but Mooloo grabbed his arm.
“All right,” he said, and the token changed hands.
The first stage of their journey had been accomplished and they had avoided the greatest peril—that of Mooloo’s avarice. They had the books containing the treasure tucked away under a pile of furs in Kapje’s dwelling where they had received only a passing glance and provoked no inquiry.
Now, however, they were faced with the great problem of how to get back home. They were in a perfect fever of impatience. The thought of the misery their families must be enduring was a dagger in their hearts. In the hard work and excitement of their ship-journey and their later adventures they had been able to keep this at bay to some extent. But now they had nothing to do but wait, and the torment was insistent.
So it was with immense relief and rejoicing that a few days later they learned from Kapje that a trading vessel had arrived at a little settlement a few miles further down the coast where it expected to stay a week or so while the captain dickered with the natives. They besieged Kapje with earnest pleas to guide them there.
“All right,” agreed Kapje. “I take to-morrow.”