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"Ioh ioh-h-h!" wailed Ootah. "Her lips are red, Ootah -red as a wound in the throat of a deer." And in the cloud vision Ootah saw the blond chief take the head of Annadoah between his two palms and press her lips fiercely upon his own. Ootah's heart trembled as water. "Ioh io-h-h!" he sobbed, and tears coursed from his eyes.
And while they struggled, in their brief terrible death-to-the-death fight, the floe was tossed steadily onward. Ootah felt his breath giving out. Maisanguaq felt Ootah's hands closing about his throat. He felt the blood pound in his temples. Desperation filled him he determined to kill Ootah by any means. A grim suggestion came to him. He endeavored to release himself.
The mishap was tragic, for, his hands injured, he had lost not only his skill in the hunt but his ability to protect himself in case of accidents. And from the experience of ages all knew that, sooner or later, he was doomed to a comparatively early death. During the first period of the night, and after Ootah's first capture, several prowling bears were shot.
May they wander apart forever seeking and may they never find themselves! May Ootah suffer as never suffered the unhappy dead!" And Maisanguaq's deep voice growled hatefully: "May Ootah's body lie unburied! May he rot upon the earth! May the ravens peck out his eyes! May a murderer drink his blood! May the wolves eat his heart! May the spirit of the fog grow fat upon his entrails!
Then the echoes came back with more startling and terrifying proximity. Ootah's flesh crept. Finally, with an explosive sound, Koolotah let his whip fall. "Aulate halt!" he called. They came to a dead standstill. "Pst!" he whispered. He hit the snapping, whining dogs. "Pst!" They crouched to the ground and whined mournfully. "Dost thou hear?" Koolotah asked in a hushed voice.
She had become much emaciated Ootah did not like that. But when she opened her eyes Ootah saw in them a soft, new light. "Thou art brave, Ootah," she said, essaying a smile of gratitude. "Thou art brave of heart . . . and kind." Ootah's heart stirred.
Maisanguaq, looking at the floats which marked the dead animals, called out: "Ootah hath won Annadoah hah-hah-hah! Hah! Ootah hath won Annadoah only to lose her! We shall take Ootah's catch to Annadoah, but Ootah sleeps. Ootah hath gone to taste the water in the country of the dead! Hah-hah!" At that moment Maisanguaq nearly fell from his kayak.
However, he put out with quick powerful strokes, and with a sense of anticipated triumph, for he was confident that the magician by his necromancy had created in the depths of the sea a tupilak, or artificial walrus, which should attack Ootah. He knew it might upset Ootah's kayak and cause him to be drowned.
Attracted by the barking of Ootah's dogs, several tribesmen soon joined him in dressing the animal. During their task, one suddenly beckoned silence, and whispered softly: "The Voice . . . the Voice . . ." And they paused. A weird whistling sound sang eerily through the skies. The air, electrified, seemed to snap and crackle. It was the voice that comes with the aurora.
"Then the glacial mountainside to which he clung trembled . . . the silver-swimming world of white dust-driven fire became suddenly black and the earth seemed removed from under him . . ." Leaving the low-lying shore, Ootah's path led up through a narrow gorge between two great cliffs. Since he had returned from the mountains the path had been covered by many successive falls of snow.
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