emed over; death seemed inevitable; and
there, on the back of the athaleb, we floated on the waters and waited
for our doom.

CHAPTER XXV

FALLING, LIKE ICARUS, INTO THE SEA

The aurora light, which had flamed brightly, was now extinct, and
darkness was upon the face of the deep, where we floated on the back
of the monster. He swam, forcing himself onward with his hind-legs,
with one broad wing folded up close. Had both been folded up the
athaleb could have swum rapidly; but the broken wing lay expanded
over the water, tossing with the waves, so that our progress was but
slight. Had it not been for this, the athaleb's own instinct might
have served to guide him toward some shore which we might have hoped
to reach before life was extinct; but as it was, all thought of
reaching any shore was out of the question, and there arose before us
only the prospect of death--a death, too, which must be lingering and
painful and cruel. Thus amid the darkness we floated, and the waves
dashed around us, and the athaleb never ceased to struggle in the
water, trying to force his way onward. It seemed sweet at that moment
to have Layelah with me, for what could have been more horrible than
loneliness amid those black waters? and Layelah's mind was made up
to meet death with joy, so that her mood conveyed itself to me. And
I thought that since death was inevitable it were better to meet
it thus, and in this way end my life--not amid the horrors of the
sacrifice and the Mista Kosek, but in a way which seemed natural to
a seafaring man like myself, and with which I had long familiarized my
thoughts. For I had fallen upon a world and among people which were
all alien and unintelligible to me; and to live on would only open the
way to new and worse calamities. There was peace also in the thought
that my death would snatch the prospect of death from Almah. She would
now be safe. It was only when we were together as lovers that death
threatened her; but now since I was removed she could resume her
former life, and she might remember me only as an episode in that
life. That she would remember me I felt sure, and that she would weep
for me and mourn after me was undeniable; but time as it passed would
surely alleviate that grief, and Almah would live and be happy.
Perhaps she might yet regain her native land and rejoin her loved
kindred, whom she would tell of the stranger from an unknown shore who
had loved her, and through whose death