m things she could not express; a vague comprehension of the
pure spirituality of the man who had died to save her child, a response
to the love that had stirred in the bosom now cold beneath the sea.
All the primitive deep profundity of the devotion of that wild-hearted
man who had brought a wealth of food to her from over the mountains,
who had faced death for her on the frozen seas, who had tended her in
her time of trial with the gentleness of a woman, his indomitable
heroism, the splendor, the dauntless unselfishness and bravery of his
offering to father her sightless child--all this--all this, and
more--welled up in the heart of Annadoah.

"_Nerrvik_! _Nerrvik_! To him who loved her Annadoah lied. Dead, she
told him, was her heart as a frozen bird in wintertime--but her heart
was only sleeping! And now the wings are beating--beating within her
breast! _Ootah_! _Ootah_! _Ioh-h, ioh-h_!"

Her voice broke. She beat her little breasts. She bent over the sea
and listened. For a long while she watched.

Then, from the shadows in the clouds, the answer came. Truly Ootah was
brave, and his heart was marvellously kind; unsurpassed was his skill
on the hunt and of every animal did he kill; and great was his love for
Annadoah. Even the spirits had marvelled and spoken of it among
themselves; but Annadoah had chosen her fate; she had denied the love
that had unfalteringly pursued her, and now that she desired it, even
so to her was that love to be denied. That was fate.

Then in a clamorous outbreak did Annadoah plead with Kokoyah. She
grovelled on the ground. She called upon all the spirits of the winds
and air. In a tremulous, heart-broken plaint she finally called upon
the spirits of her father, her mother, and those who had gone before
them.

But unrelenting, passionless, the answer came--from the shadows in the
clouds, from the winds, from the moaning sea. To warm the wild heart
under the water was beyond the power of all the spirits. They repeated
to her, as in mockery, all that she had told them that Ootah had done,
of his mighty love for her; but nevermore might she soothe his injured
limbs, nevermore might she touch his gentle hands, nevermore might she
look into his tender and adoring eyes. His hands were cold, his eyes
were closed, his heart was still. It throbbed with the thought of her
no more--and that would be forever. That was fate.

A frail, pitiful figure, Annadoah stood on the c