CHAPTER XIV.
We set up a Military Despotism on "Isle Aktok."-- "No Better than Filibusters!"-- The Seizure of the Oomiak .-- The Seal-Tax .-- A Case of Discipline .-- _Wutchee_ and _Wunchee_ .-- The Inside of a Husky Hut.--"Eigh, Eigh!"-- An Esquimau Ball .-- A Funeral .-- Wutchee and Wunchee's Cookery .-- The Esquimau Whip.
"Raed, will you act as leader, or captain ?" Kit asked.
"I decline," was the reply.

"It is hardly fair to ask me, I think.
That honor--if you look upon it as such--is clearly yours." "Very well, then.

All hands launch the boat!" It was done.
"Load in the walrus-hides." They were rolled up and thrown in.
"Ship the _spider_ too." I carried it aboard.
"Now each man spend fifteen minutes attending to his musket! Get off all rust! See that the locks move easily! Load them, and fix the bayonets!" This done, we called Guard, and embarked; not forgetting to take our dipper of salt, the walrus-tusks, and Wade's broken bayonet.
"Give 'way!" was the order.
Weymouth and Donovan dipped the oars; and we darted out from the little cove beneath the ledges where for seven days we had kept our camp-fire blazing.

Kit took up a paddle, and from the stern directed our course toward the larger island.
"I can't see what better we are than any gang of desperadoes or filibusters," Raed remarked.
"Circumstances alter cases, Raed," replied Kit.
"Now, for God's sake, don't shed the blood of any of the poor wretches!" Raed said.
"Never fear: we will manage it without killing any of them, I guess." On coming up within a quarter of a mile of the shore, we surveyed it carefully.

There were none of the Esquimaux in sight, however, to oppose our landing; and the boat was rowed along to within four or five hundred yards of the place where the _oomiak_ and _kayaks_ had been drawn up on the shore.