THE HEATHEN VILLAGE 23 



cooking pot and knives, and scraper for skins, near 

 to her ghostly hand ; there the burying-place of a 

 Httle child, with childish toys piled up toy spears 

 and lamp and cooking pot with which the little one 

 had played long years ago. A strange, sad sight, 

 but it seems that those old heathen folk believed in a 

 future life, for they thought that the hunter would 

 like his tools close by him where he lay, and the 

 woman her pots and the little child his toys. And 

 they still believe, do some of the people, that the 

 hunter hunts and the housewife cooks, and the child 

 plays when none are near. I asked one weird old 

 man about it ; did he really believe it ? 



He stared at me aghast! "Hush!" he said, 

 and held a warning finger and shook a reproving 

 head. " Hush ! I have heard them hunting in the 

 night ! Hush ! I have seen their footprints in the 

 snow ! ' ' 



