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Page 36
With frantic eagerness they explored the valley. The green grass
whereon Ootah had seen the splendid animals grazing months before was
covered with ice. There was no sign of the _ahmingmah_. Ootah's heart
sank. He felt very much like weeping.
Suddenly the dogs began to sniff the air and bark hungrily.
"_Ahmingmah_!" Koolotah cried, joyfully.
Ootah released the team--the dogs made a misty black streak in their
dash over the ice. The men followed.
In the shelter of a cave they found five musk oxen. They were huddled
together and half numb with cold. They roared dully as the howling
dogs assaulted them, and rushed lumberingly from the cave into the
moonlight. Five great black hulks, with mighty manes of coarse hair,
they ambled over the ice for a space of five hundred feet and then,
surrounded by the dogs, assembled in a circle, their backs together,
their heads facing the howling dogs. Thus they were prepared to
protect themselves from attack.
The dogs, frantic with hunger, made fierce rushes at the animals. Now
and then, as the dogs dashed forward, one of the great beasts would
charge, its head lowered, and the dogs would leap backward into the air
and scatter. Then turning, the animal would rush back to its
companions as fast as its numbed legs could carry it.
Through the white vapor of their breath, which half hid their great
horned heads, Ootah could see the eyes of the musk-oxen--they were
greenish and phosphorescent. Occasionally the creatures roared
sullenly, but the fight was less exciting than it would have been had
they been less torpid from hunger and cold.
Ootah called away the dogs, and raised his gun, one which Olafaksoah,
in payment for the five sledloads of walrus blubber which he
confiscated after Ootah's flight to the mountains, had left with a
generous supply of ammunition with a companion. Ootah now realized the
value of the payment which he had scorned.
There was a yellow flash in the moonlight--a mighty roar went up. The
dogs, with a cyclonic dash, swooped upon the fallen monster, snapping
viciously at it as it roared in its death agony. Frightened, the other
four scattered--one rushed into the shelter of the cave, the other
three, dispersing, soon became diminishing black specks in the
moonlight. The dogs would have followed, but Ootah called them back.
One animal was even more than they could manage.
With quick despatch they fell upon the animal with their knives.
Neither spoke--they worked breathlessly. With marvellous skill they
peeled off the heavy skin, and with amazing dexterity carved great
masses of bleeding meat clean from the bones. When they had finished,
only a great skeleton remained. Outside the cave, eager, whining, the
starving dogs obediently crouched. When they had completed the task of
dressing, Ootah lifted his hand and the canines, with howling avidity,
fell upon the steaming mass of entrails.
Upon the two sledges the hunters loaded and lashed securely their
treasure of meat. In the moonlight the hot steam rose from the
tremulous masses and Ootah's nostrils dilated with eager, anticipatory
delight. The blood dripped upon the snow and Ootah's stomach ached.
He had not dared to think of eating until now. Their hands shaking
with nervous hunger, the two fell upon the remaining meat. They
feasted with that savage hungry joy known only to human creatures who
have faced starvation. When they started on the return journey there
was a new vibrant elasticity in their steps.
Ootah snapped his whip and sang.
And his heart sang, too, of Annadoah.
Looking at the clouds, as they drifted through the valley, Ootah
imagined he saw Annadoah lying upon her couch asleep, and in the faint
light of an oil lamp he saw upon her face a pleased smile.
"Of what doth Annadoah dream?" Ootah asked the winds.
"Of springtime when the flowers bloom," the winds replied.
"And Annadoah will move to a new skin tent with Ootah!" he said,
joyously, exultantly. "Ootah will bring food unto Annadoah and she
will reward him with her love."
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