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When they demanded more biscuits, tobacco or matches than were offered, Olafaksoah bullied them with threats. Yet they hung about him, eager for the almost worthless barter, for the time being valuing a box of crackers and allotments of tea more than their substantial supply of walrus meat. Finally the leader paused before Ootah's loaded sledges. "What'll you take a gun, fire-powder?"

Through the chasm the moon poured its liquid rays. At certain points towering crags shut off the light then Ootah and his companion had to feel their way slowly upward in the dark. Finally Ootah's dogs, with a loud chorus of barking, leaped ahead. Seizing an overhanging ledge of rock Ootah lifted himself to the top of the precipice. Koolotah's team followed.

Still the two vague shadows, darker than the night, slowly and laboriously moved about her. At times they brushed her lashed body then she felt the quick gasps of their breath; she sensed the strain of Ootah's limbs twisting in the struggle. Again she perceived the two shifting away and being merged into the swimming blackness.

Not until the wonder lights were fading did the tribesmen take up the precious bear meat, and according to Ootah's instructions divide portions among the community. His arm full of meat, Ootah joyously entered Annadoah's igloo. Annadoah, sad and lonely, sat by her lamp. Her igloo was like that of all the others.

She crept dangerously closer to the edge of the cliff . . . Slowly, but steadily, Ootah and the child were being swept backward . . . By degrees the steady strokes of Ootah's arm began to waver. Annadoah saw him being carried further and further under the cliff by the irresistible momentum of the waves . . . To be dashed against the jagged rocks beneath she knew meant death.

The blood dripped upon the snow and Ootah's stomach ached. He had not dared to think of eating until now. Their hands shaking with nervous hunger, the two fell upon the remaining meat. They feasted with that savage hungry joy known only to human creatures who have faced starvation. When they started on the return journey there was a new vibrant elasticity in their steps.

She made an irrelevant reply about the women who called upon the spirits and their terrible maledictions. With Maisanguaq ahead driving the dogs, they turned to the south. Annadoah sank helpless in Ootah's arms she could no longer walk. Ootah supported her. At times his feet slipped. He felt himself becoming dizzy. The beloved burden in his arms became unsupportably heavy.

His frail skin kayak was lifted high on the oily crests of waves, and as it descended with swift rushes, Ootah felt exultant thrills in his heart. Far away he heard the resounding explosion of ice bergs colliding. A low bellow arose from a floe immediately ahead. Ootah's blood leaped, the spirit of the hunter throbbed in his veins, his nostrils sensitively quivered.

Something stirred in the heart of Annadoah something fluttered there like the wings of a frightened bird. Ootah's paddle touched the water with the softness of a feather, yet so quickly that the double blades emitted constant flashes of light intermittently on either side. His arms moved with consummate ease. His kayak made a dark blurred line as it sped forward over the yellow waters.

Maisanguaq, his head bent near so as to hear, now yelled into Ootah's ear. Annadoah cowered at the sound of his voice. Ootah felt her trembling, in his arms. "And he . . . is here?" she whispered. "I am afraid." They felt the great ice field rocking on the waves imprisoned beneath them. It trembled whenever it touched a passing berg. Maisanguaq prodded the terror-stricken dogs.