ARRIVAL AT OKAK 



treading on his heels. "Ajornarpok" (it cannot be 

 done), said the men at the oars. "All right," said 

 the captain, " get a rope get the women get every- 

 body, and let them all pull." As soon as the word 

 went round there was a stampede to the jetty : 

 women came rushing out of the huts, tying bandanna 

 handkerchiefs over their heads to keep their hair tidy 

 in the wind ; children raced from house to house, 

 gathering their friends. " Come and pull," was the 

 password. 



By the time the people were ready the rope 

 had been tied to the lighter and passed ashore. 

 The mate on the ship blew his whistle ; the man 

 in charge of the rope on the jetty waved his hand 

 in answer and yelled to the people. " Atte " (get at 

 it), he shouted, and the people began to pull. 



They tramped along the jetty, clinging to the 

 rope, and singing in time to the march-like beating 

 of their boots on the boards. "Atte, atte," they 

 cried when the pace began to slacken, and then 

 sang and tramped the faster. There was a constant 

 stream up one side with the rope, and down the 

 other side to get a fresh hold, and as fast as the 

 rope came ashore the man at the end was coiling 

 the slack into a neat pile. A jollier lot of people 

 I have never seen ; they sang and tramped, and 

 laughed and sang again, as if they had not a care 

 in the world; and all the while the lighter came 

 steadily on, rising to the waves and breaking them 

 down, stopping for nothing, but riding shorewards 

 in. I went on board the ship to watch their work, 

 and from the deck I could hear the sound of their 

 singing borne on a wind that whistled through the 

 rigging. This was "pulling all together," a practical 



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