spear, broken as he fell upon it, still in his hand. And I knew the
time was meet, and saw in the eyes of Unga the promise.

'As I say, we came thus through the forest, till the smell of the camp
smoke was in our nostrils. And I bent above him, and tore the ptarmigan
from his teeth.

'He turned on his side and rested, the wonder mounting in his eyes, and
the hand which was under slipping slow toward the knife at his hip. But
I took it from him, smiling close in his face. Even then he did not
understand. So I made to drink from black bottles, and to build high
upon the snow a pile--of goods, and to live again the things which had
happened on the night of my marriage. I spoke no word, but he
understood. Yet was he unafraid. There was a sneer to his lips, and
cold anger, and he gathered new strength with the knowledge. It was not
far, but the snow was deep, and he dragged himself very slow.

'Once he lay so long I turned him over and gazed into his eyes. And
sometimes he looked forth, and sometimes death. And when I loosed him
he struggled on again. In this way we came to the fire. Unga was at his
side on the instant. His lips moved without sound; then he pointed at
me, that Unga might understand. And after that he lay in the snow, very
still, for a long while. Even now is he there in the snow.

'I said no word till I had cooked the ptarmigan. Then I spoke to her,
in her own tongue, which she had not heard in many years. She
straightened herself, so, and her eyes were wonder-wide, and she asked
who I was, and where I had learned that speech.

'"I am Naass," I said.

'"You?" she said. "You?" And she crept close that she might look upon
me.

'"Yes," I answered; "I am Naass, head man of Akatan, the last of the
blood, as you are the last of the blood." 'And she laughed. By all the
things I have seen and the deeds I have done may I never hear such a
laugh again. It put the chill to my soul, sitting there in the White
Silence, alone with death and this woman who laughed.

'"Come!" I said, for I thought she wandered. "Eat of the food and let
us be gone. It is a far fetch from here to Akatan." 'But she shoved her
face in his yellow mane, and laughed till it seemed the heavens must
fall about our ears. I had thought she would be overjoyed at the sight
of me, and eager to go back to the memory of old times, but this seemed
a strange form to take.

'"Come!" I cried, taking her strong by the hand. "The way is long and
dark