Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: July 27, 2025
Then their hilarity rang out more boisterously. When they saw the kayaks approaching the shore the strangers shouted. The hunters replied. Only Ootah remained silent. Disapproving of the spectacle, his thoughts were busier elsewhere; his heart glowed. "Ho, ho, what there?" some called. "Aveq soah," Maisanguaq replied.
The chorus replied: "Thou lurest the walrus and seal from the sea, thou enticest the caribou, ahmingmah and birds unto thee! Thou hast learned the language of nature, and the happy spirits are kind to thee! Marvellous is thy power, Ootah." And in the chorus, deep, hoarse, sneeringly ironical rang the words of Maisanguaq: "Marvellous is thy power, Ootah," and his low bitter laughter followed.
Sipsu seized it avidly. "Ootah goeth to the mountains," Maisanguaq said, panting for breath. The old man sneered bitterly: "He cannot brave the spirits. No man can live in the mountains. The breath of the spirits is death." "Yea, he goeth. He says that he knows where the ahmingmah abound. The air is still; the moon rises for ten sleeps. By then, so he saith, he can return with meat."
Not far away they heard the tumultuous crash of the rising waves. As they were lashing the blubber to Ootah's sledge, a resounding detonation vibrated through the ice under him the field on which they stood slowly but unmistakably began to move! Maisanguaq spoke. The wind drowned his voice. Above its clamor they heard the ice separating with the splitting sound of artillery.
Ootah sang for joy. Again he had achieved distinction on the hunt, and so, with all the better chances of success, he believed he might pursue his suit for the hand of Annadoah. With powerful, steady strokes of their paddles the hunters, in their processions of kayaks, towed the walrus through the sea shoreward. They joined unrestrainedly in Ootah's hunting chant. Only Maisanguaq was silent.
Before them a snaky space of water, blacker than the darkness about them, and capped with faintly phosphorescent crests of tossing waves, separated them Ootah knew not how far from the land. "To the right!" Ootah called. "Let us go onward!" "Huk! Huk!" Maisanguaq encouraged the dogs. "The floe may land near the glacier," Ootah cried. He spoke to Annadoah.
Land ice steadily thickened about them. Maisanguaq realized that they were actually being carried to the sheltering harbor of the arm-like glacier south of the village. Ootah quickly began unlashing Annadoah so as to be prepared to seize her and spring, when the opportunity came, from cake to cake, to safety.
Thus, Ootah would be helpless the rest of his days and as he died all the dreadful horrors of the curses would come upon him. Thus would Maisanguaq be revenged. As the midnight sun dipped below the horizon, the sea became more deeply golden. To the women watching along the shore, the multitude of kayaks became mere black specks.
But thou what reason hast thou to desire his death?" "Ootah findeth favor with Annadoah," said Maisanguaq briefly. "Yea, and she shall not. She shall not!" the old man shrieked in a sudden access of rage. "So saith Sipsu, whose spirits never fail." Lying on the floor Sipsu closed his eyes and, moving his head up and down, called repeatedly: "Quilaka Nauk! Quilaka Nauk! Where are my spirits?
Impelled by a warning instinct, Ootah suddenly looked up from his task, and felt rather than saw Maisanguaq near and about to leap upon him. Maisanguaq's eyes dimly glowered in the dark. Ootah rose quickly. Maisanguaq drew back and uttered an exclamation of chagrin. Ootah understood. With rescue possible, Maisanguaq had quickly come to a desperate resolution. The girl lay between them.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking