23. Fisher's Wife; or Marten and Fisher.
(Lower Uta’mqt.)
(cont.)In the evening, Fisher and his brother walked tip to King-Salmon's house with their loads of crab-apples. After depositing their burdens, they entered, and jumped from the foot of the ladder to the floor. In doing this, Marten fell short; and the people noticed it, and said, "It is strange our sister cannot jump to-night." They went up to the same corner in which the sisters had been wont to sleep. The people talked with them, and soon noticed that one of them (Marten) had a different voice from the woman he impersonated, while the other (Fisher) one's voice was exactly like that of the elder sister. It was partly dark inside the house, and no person noticed anything different about them excepting Raven, whose suspicions were aroused, and who detected a white spot on Marten's throat, and asked how it came to be there. They, answered that it was caused by too much singing. Then he noticed that one of them had a very large nose, with no skin along the bridge, and that pitch had been rubbed over the place to hide it. He said, "How is it your nose is larger than formerly, and you have pitch daubed on it" One of them answered, "My sister was picking apples, when a branch fell down and bruised and skinned her nose so that it swelled, and I rubbed pitch on it to make it heal."
Some time after dark they escorted the new wife of King-Salmon to the water to bathe herself, as this had been the duty of the sisters since their brother obtained .his wife. They carried torches, and Raven watched them from a distance. They told the woman who they were, and asked her to play with King-Salmon, so that he might feel tired and sleep soundly. After washing themselves, they all returned to the house, and soon every one retired for the night. The woman played with King-Salmon a long time; and the people said, "It is very strange our brother's wife is so full of fun to-night, she was wont to be very quiet."
About midnight, when King-Salmon was sound asleep, Fisher rose up quietly, and, taking his knife, cut off Salmon's head. Then all three, steathily leaving the house, hastened to the canoe, carrying Salmon's head along with them. At daybreak Raven discovered that King-Salmon had been murdered, and that the woman had fled. He awakened the people, and they all started in pursuit. When they reached the canoes, they found they had all been holed except one small one, which had escaped the notice of the Rats and Mice. In this the people embarked and gave chase, and soon began to overtake the fugitives, who, when they reached the place where they had hidden their own canoe, embarked in it, and broke up the women's canoe which they had been using. But still their pursuers gained on theirs, for Salmon's head made them heavy. When they saw they would soon be overtaken, they threw the head overboard, and soon began to leave their pursuers behind. When the latter reached the place where the head had been thrown into the water, they began to dive for it; but none of them could dive deep enough.
