|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 49
In a lull of the wind both heard something that made them start.
Aroused from her feverish coma by the two men falling against her,
Annadoah suddenly cried aloud. The two men stood stone-still, locked
in a deadly grip. At that moment Annadoah felt the warmth of their
panting breath as they paused near her. Where she was at first she did
not realize. She heard a clamor of wind and breaking waters. She
imagined herself being tossed through the air in the arms of the
_tornarssuit_. At the same time she became vividly aware of the
desperate struggle nearby. Subconsciously she realized Maisanguaq and
Ootah were engaged in a fight to the death. In the darkness she sensed
them moving away from her. Straining her eyes she began, very
dimly--as Eskimos can even in pitch darkness--to descry the black
outlines of the two men wrestling as they shifted nearer and nearer the
edge of the ice. Then it dawned upon Annadoah's mind that they were
being carried, in the jeopardy of an awful storm, on a floe that was
tossed hither and thither in a maelstrom of angry waters. A frantic
desire to save Ootah surged up within her. Behind him she saw the
swimming blackness of the heaving waves. She attempted to rise. Her
head swam; there was loud ringing in her ears. Her hands were not
free, her ankles were bound--she struggled to release herself.
Twisting her wrists and ankles in the tight lashings until they bled,
it suddenly flashed upon her that she was lashed to the sled. She knew
that at any moment the floe might crash into a glacier and be crushed
to atoms. She knew that Maisanguaq and Ootah were fighting for the
possession of her--that both might perish, or, what was worse, that
Maisanguaq might win. Chaotic terror filled her. Struggling
frantically but ineffectually, she uttered a maniacal scream.
"Ootah! Ootah!"
Ootah did not reply.
The storm howled. The wind lashed the floe--it fell like a whip on her
face. Annadoah felt the surging impetus of the angry sea under them.
She felt herself rising on the crests of mighty waves and being swiftly
hurled into foaming troughs of water. Frigid spray bathed her face.
Still the two vague shadows, darker than the night, slowly and
laboriously moved about her. At times they brushed her lashed
body--then she felt the quick gasps of their breath; she sensed the
strain of Ootah's limbs twisting in the struggle.
Again she perceived the two shifting away and being merged into the
swimming blackness. Presently she saw only the phosphorescent crest of
a mountainous wave . . . rising in the distance . . . She became cold
with white fear--she felt her blood turn to ice . . . She screamed and
struggled vainly with the lashings . . . She felt the floe rise, felt
herself being steadily lifted into the sheer air, and of paralyzed
fright again swooned.
Maisanguaq, by a fierce wrench, managed to release one hand, struck
Ootah a heavy blow and broke away. Leaping to the opposite side of the
sledge, with a terrific pull, he drew one of the harpoons out of the
ice and with his knife speedily cut it loose from the lashings. Ootah,
stunned for a moment, turned upon him. Maisanguaq desperately raised
the weapon. Ootah heard it hiss through the air. He reeled
backward--the harpoon grazed his arm and struck the ice.
At that very instant the oncoming breaker descended with a rush from
behind--a torrent of water washed the floe. Ootah was lifted from his
feet and dashed against the sled. When he rose he waited in silence
for an attack. There was none. He moved over the floe cautiously,
feeling the darkness. Creeping to the edge he saw something dimly
white and blurred on the receding wave. "Maisanguaq," he called,
softly. There was a pang at his heart, for he was truly gentle. He
strained his ears to hear through the din of the elements. The floe
suddenly jolted him as it was carried, with a thud, against
shore-clinging ice. Ootah peered seaward, and called again, loudly--
"Maisanguaq!"
Only the waves replied.
Hurriedly he cut the leather lashings and, leaping from floe to floe,
carried Annadoah to the shelter of the shore. Returning he loosened
the dogs. Only three lived. Biding his time until the floe was ground
securely among others, he then dragged his load of meat ashore.
Sinking to the earth he rubbed Annadoah's hands and breathed with eager
and enraptured transport into her face.
He called her name. Presently she stirred.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|