t warms for Annadoah; so doth thine: therefore, thou or I must
die." Maisanguaq's deep voice sounded hoarse through the storm.

"As thou sayest," Ootah replied, "but why?"

"Annadoah must be thine or mine; dead, she cannot choose thee, and with
thee dead, my strength shall cow her. As men did of old I shall carry
her away by force. She shall be mine."

"Annadoah hath already chosen--her heart is in the south," Ootah
replied, sadly.

"Fool!" the other man shrieked. "Didst thou not go to the mountains to
get her food; didst thou not thieve from thine own self to give oil to
her; didst thou not fawn upon her and perform the services of a woman?
Thou liest if thou sayest thou wilt not have her for thy wife. No man
doeth this unseeking of reward."

"I love Annadoah," Ootah said, bitterly.

"Yea, and thou hast hope."

"Perchance--perchance I have hope."

"And Annadoah looks with favor upon thee--I have seen it in her eyes.
Did she not greet thee as women greet their lovers when thou camest
from the mountains, and did she not bind thy wounds with strange
ointment?"

"She thought of another--her heart was in the south."

"Hath she not sought thee hither--upon the ice--when the women fell
upon her with their curses? Her heart wings to thee, did she not say,
as birds to green grasses in the mountains?"

"Her heart is in the south," Ootah sadly moaned.

"The heart of woman changes always," cried Maisanguaq. "The heart of
woman always yields to force. _Pst_?"

Seeing Ootah turn slightly toward Annadoah, Maisanguaq sprang at his
throat. Their arms closed about one another. Maisanguaq breathed the
wrath of the spirits upon Ootah. He fought with the fierce strength of
one insane with jealous, murderous rage. The icy floe rocked beneath
them. They slipped to and fro on the treacherous ice. The sharp snow
beat their faces. Water washed under their feet. At times they
reached, in their frightful struggle, the very edge of the floe, and
seemed about to tumble into the seething sea. Ootah felt Maisanguaq
trying to force him into the watery abyss--but he fought backward . . .
time and time again . . . They constantly fell over the unconscious
woman on the sledge. About them the darkness roared; they felt the
heaving sea beneath them. 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 ha