Ilatsiak - 37

At Amitsoq lake there were sometimes stories told about white people, kabloonat they were called, how they would fight and shout and fire their guns. These began to bother David because people were obviously frightened. Then, more or less by accident David discovered that many of these stories were quite old. They described events on the mainland, far to the south of King William Land.
More out of curiosity now than anything else he found himself thinking he should return to the ships to check for himself what was happening. The last time he had asked if the Inuit might return to the ships, David was surprised to hear Agayuq say only a sort of maybe in the evasive way he had discovered these people sometimes had of giving only a very non-committed sort of answer. Were they saying, don’t ask me that again, because I cannot give you the answer you want to hear? People were definitely being evasive. It was nearly impossible to learn if there really was trouble brewing at the ships? He couldn't discover if they still at the north end of the island or if they had they somehow moved closer to where they were going. Whether Agayuq had heard something that David hadn’t picked up in the usual gossip that went around from tent to tent was hard to discover. In fact, asking questions only made it worse as he seemed to get shut off from them wherever the subject came up. It was as if the topic was a taboo, an unmentionable and people just ignored him when he brought it up.
David continued to listen quietly to the stories however and pieced together that while people seldom visited the northern area where the ships lie frozen into the ice, even to hunt in times gone by, they were even more reluctant than ever to go there now. In fact, the whole of the island’s west coast seemed to be off-limits to everyone for some reason. He was aware that any place known to harbour possible problems and difficulties was a place to avoid in the peoples view. In the end, David decided that groups of men from the ships had indeed been seen walking down the west coast, even as far as the crossing-over point to the mainland. They had been seen during the spring, pulling light sleds. Several times guns had also been heard as well. After that, the men returned to the ships. During the summer several other groups of men were seen hunting birds, but like the first time, no one had talked with them. People seemed to be afraid of them and it reminded David of the earlier stories he had heard of people being killed. For David, there was no question of his being able to travel alone in search of the ships. In the end he let that matter drop. That way, everyone seemed happier and whatever the rumours were about the ships and their crews, David would have to wait for more definite news, particularly about the ships moving further south.
In the meantime, although the decision had been made to leave for the southern coast, most people continued to linger and life continued. David and his friends became closer and closer. His attachment to Qayaq became greater and together they would steal secret glances at each other and now and then they began to spend some secret time together, although with so few places to go and the land providing such a flat expanse, there was little opportunity to be alone out of sight of others for long. It seemed as it even the largest rocks on the landscape were designed to be too small for a couple to hide behind!
David amazed everyone one warm day at the lake. Stripping to his underwear, he jumped into one of the shallow ponds which was by now fairly warm for the arctic. He then began swimming around, a feat he had learned early in life, but which was completely unknown to any of the onlookers. They simply stood on the shore watching, some in horror and others in wonder at how this swimming thing was possible. At one point, David dove under and swam some distance under-water, staying down for thirty seconds or so. The gathering on shore was sure he was dead and when he at last surfaced, bursts of laughter held forth and many people began stripping. They wanted to be able to perform this miracle as well. David could not even begin to teach so many the art of swimming all at once, but a few did manage to paddle a few strokes and were determined to improve their skills. Those who tried to replicate his under-water feat, found themselves spluttering and gasping for air. Everyone had fun splashing and playing about in the shallow water and many stayed in until the sun began to lose its warmth in the late afternoon and they retreated to look for their clothes now strung out all along the shore, thanks to the ones who only watched, but hadn’t gone in.
While the young people played, a number of elders huddled together in Agayuq’s tent asking themselves what might become of this new person in their midst, with his strange and mysterious abilities, especially now that news that men from the ships had been wandering southward. Some hunters travelling westward had heard people shooting geese around Terror Bay. Finally another story told how one of the ships had been crushed by the ice and then sank in Erebus Bay, but others denied this was true. Some people began talking about going to see if any wood remained they could use. In the end it was decided it was better to wait until Spring. By then the whitemen will probably all have gone away.