t a throb of ecstatic delight; for the first time she had
surrendered to his arms; for the first time he held her close to him;
death--for the moment--lost its terrors--he felt that he would be
willing to die, in that storming darkness, with her heart beating, so
that he felt its every pulse, close, close to his.

The wild winds almost drowned Annadoah's words.

"The women came to me," she panted with difficulty, and Ootah had to
bend his ear to her mouth so as to hear. "They were angry. They said
'She stealeth souls! Annadoah stealeth souls!' They said, 'Annadoah
hath caused the death of many children!' Ootah! Ootah! They came, as
they do when thou art absent. They threatened me--they called upon the
spirits, as they once called to them beneath the sea. And the curse of
the long night--of darkness--hunger--death . . . they invoked . . . of
the dead . . . upon me . . . I was afraid." Ootah felt her shuddering
in his arms. "The women came unto my igloo," she repeated
wildly--"they desired that ravens peck my eyes--that I rest without a
grave--that my body lie unburied and that my spirit never rest. And
the curse of darkness--_io-o-h-h_!--they called the curse of darkness
upon me. They trampled upon me with their feet, and they tore at my
hair . . . They came unto my igloo as the storm came and called upon
the spirits of the skins to strike me; for they said I had again driven
thee to thy death, that I had sent the others to their death. Thou
knowest I lay ill when thou didst depart. But they fell on me one by
one and hurt me--I feared they would kill me. They were angry and they
called upon the dead. The storm strikes; the spirits of the winds are
angry; the ice breaks, and it is the fault of Annadoah. So they said."

Her eyes were wild, her hair dishevelled. Ootah felt her forehead--it
burned with fever.

"How didst thou come hither--and why?" he asked, his heart bounding in
the thought that she had followed him, that of him she sought
protection.

"I know not--methinks I called upon the spirits. I knew thou didst
come this way--I knew thou wouldst save me from the women. And I
followed. The way was dark. The wind held me back. But I knew thou
wert here--my heart led me; my heart found thee as birds find grass in
the mountains. Ootah! Ootah! I fear I shall die!" She collapsed in
his arms. The wind shrieked! In the distance two icebergs
exploded--there was a flash of phosphorus on the