“And I knew and understood, for there was but shame in the killing of Opitsah before the faces of a score of greater chiefs.  I remembered the Law, and knew Ligoun had it in mind to kill by the Law.  And who, chiefest of rank but himself, was there but Niblack?  And toward Niblack, leaning on my arm, he walked.  And to his other arm, clinging and striking, was Opitsah, too small to soil with his blood the hands of so great a man.  And though the knife of Opitsah bit in again and again, Ligoun noted it not, nor winced.  And in this fashion we three went our way across the room, Niblack sitting in his blanket and fearful of our coming.

“And now old hates flamed up and forgotten grudges were remembered.  Lamuk, a Kake, had had a brother drowned in the bad water of the Stickeen, and the Stickeens had not paid in blankets for their bad water, as was the custom to pay.  So Lamuk drove straight with his long knife to the heart of Klok-Kutz the Stickeen.  And Katchahook remembered a quarrel of the Naass River people with the Tongas of north of Dixon, and the chief of the Tongas he slew with a pistol which made much noise.  And the blood-hunger gripped all the men who sat in the circle, and chief slew chief, or was slain, as chance might be.  Also did they stab and shoot at Ligoun, for whoso killed him won great honor and would be unforgotten for the deed.  And they were about him like wolves about a moose, only they were so many they were in their own way, and they slew one another to make room.  And there was great confusion.

“But Ligoun went slowly, without haste, as though many years were yet before him.  It seemed that he was certain he would make his kill, in his own way, ere they could slay him.  And as I say, he went slowly, and knives bit into him, and he was red with blood.  And though none sought after me, who was a mere stripling, yet did the knives find me, and the hot bullets burn me.  And still Ligoun leaned his weight on my youth, and Opitsah struck at him, and we three went forward.  And when we stood by Niblack, he was afraid, and covered his head with his blanket.  The Skoots were ever cowards.

“And Goolzug and Kadishan, the one a fish-eater and the other a meat-killer, closed together for the honor of their tribes.  And they raged madly about, and in their battling swung against the knees of Opitsah, who was overthrown and trampled upon.  And a knife, singing through the air, smote Skulpin, of the Sitkas, in the throat, and he flung his arms out blindly, reeling, and dragged me down in his fall.

“And from the ground I beheld Ligoun bend over Niblack, and uncover the blanket from his head, and turn up his face to the light.  And Ligoun was in no haste.  Being blinded with his own blood, he swept it out of his eyes with the back of his hand, so he might see and be sure.  And when he was sure that the upturned face was the face of Niblack, he drew the knife across his throat as one draws a knife across the throat of a trembling deer.  And then Ligoun stood erect, singing his death-song and swaying gently to and fro.  And Skulpin, who had dragged me down, shot with a pistol from where he lay, and Ligoun toppled and fell, as an old pine topples and falls in the teeth of the wind.”