she demanded:
'Who of you saw his evil eyes fixed on Ulka? Who of you heard his evil
song?'
"'I,' and 'I,' and 'I,' came voice after voice.
"'The very air is poisoned that we breathe about him,' they shouted.
'The young man is blameless, his heart is as the sun, but the man who
has used his evil magic has a heart black and cold as the hours before
the dawn.'
"Then Yaada's voice arose in a strange, sweet, sorrowful chant:
My feet shall walk no more upon this island,
With its great, Grey Archway.
My mother sleeps forever on this island,
With its great, Grey Archway.
My heart would break without her on this island,
With its great, Grey Archway.
My life was of her life upon this island,
With its great, Grey Archway.
My mother's soul has wandered from this island,
With its great, Grey Archway.
My feet must follow hers beyond this island,
With its great, Grey Archway.
"As Yaada chanted and wailed her farewell, she moved slowly towards the
edge of the cliff. On its brink she hovered a moment with outstretched
arms, as a sea gull poises on its weight--then she called:
"'Ulka, my Ulka! Your hand is innocent of wrong; it was the evil magic
of your rival that slew my mother. I must go to her; even you cannot
keep me here; will you stay, or come with me? Oh! my Ulka!'
"The slender, gloriously young boy sprang toward her; their hands
closed one within the other; for a second they poised on the brink of
the rocks, radiant as stars; then together they plunged into the sea."
* * * * *
The legend was ended. Long ago we had passed the island with its "Grey
Archway"; it was melting into the twilight, far astern.
As I brooded over this strange tale of a daughter's devotion, I watched
the sea and sky for something that would give me a clue to the
inevitable sequel that the tillicum, like all his race, was surely
withholding until the opportune moment.
Something flashed through the darkening waters not a stone's throw from
the steamer. I leaned forward, watching it intently. Two silvery fish
were making a succession of little leaps and plunges along the surface
of the sea, their bodies catching the last tints of sunset, like
flashing jewels. I looked at the tillicum quickly. He was watching
me--a world of anxiety in his half-mournful eyes.
"And those two silvery fish?" I questioned.
He smiled. The anxious look vanished. "I was right
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