uggle, saw his arm frenziedly but
ineffectually beating the water, saw his head disappear . . . for
longer and still longer periods . . . She caught a last vision of his
white upturned face, of his eyes, filled with importunate devotion,
gazing directly at her from out the blinding waters . . .

Then she fell to her knees, and lowering her body, gazed wildly, for a
long, long time, into the sea . . .

Suddenly she uttered a low, sharp, involuntary cry--and the waiting
tribesmen, recoiling as though stunned, understood. They all loved
Ootah--none dared, none could speak. Silent, grief-stricken, they
turned away their faces--even their dogs were still. Annadoah still
peered, searchingly, for a long time, into the sea.

No, there was nothing there--nothing. On the aureate waves was no
speck of life.

Rising, Annadoah gazed with wide-open, solemn eyes seaward; for the
moment she felt in her heart only a dull ache.

Along the horizon to the east the sun, irradiant and magnified, lay low
over the heaving seas. Over its face, like a veil of gold, translucent
vapors--the breath of _Kokoyah_, the god of waters--rose from the
melting floes. A strange spell seemed suddenly to have fallen over the
earth. Out on the ocean the great bergs, which had majestically moved
southward like the phantoms of perished ships, seemed to pause. The
little birds which had clustered about the rocks disappeared. High in
the sky above her, a sinister black bird poised motionless in the air.

At her feet the roaring clamor of the waves seemed resolved into the
solemn sobbing measure of some chant for the dead.

Slowly and by degrees the utter realization of her loss dawned upon the
soul of Annadoah. And to her in that magical spell the spirits of
nature and the souls of the dead began to manifest themselves.

Out of the crimson-shot vapors mystical forms took shape. Annadoah saw
the beautiful face of _Nerrvik_, and in the mists saw her watery green
and wondrous tresses of uncombed hair. She saw the nebulous shadow of
the dreaded _Kokoyah_, the pitiless god of the waters, to whose cold,
compassionless bosom had been gathered Ootah and Little Blind Spring
Bunting.

Along the horizon Annadoah saw the clouds moving to the south. Higher
up they moved to the west, and toward the zenith stray flecks moved to
the north. The spirits of the air were not at peace among themselves.
And dire things were brooding. From the inland highlands