I could see it, though he no
longer spoke; and when his lips moved, they moved without sound.
'As I say, he was a great man, and my heart spoke for softness;
but I read back in my life, and remembered the cold and hunger of
the endless forest by the Russian seas. Besides, Unga was mine,
and I had paid for her an untold price of skin and boat and bead.
'And in this manner we came through the white forest, with the
silence heavy upon us like a damp sea mist. And the ghosts of the
past were in the air and all about us; and I saw the yellow beach
of Akatan, and the kayaks racing home from the fishing, and the
houses on the rim of the forest. And the men who had made
themselves chiefs were there, the lawgivers whose blood I bore
and whose blood I had wedded in Unga. Aye, and Yash-Noosh walked
with me, the wet sand in his hair, and his war 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.
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