"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. Let us hurry!" "Where?" she asked, sitting up, and
ceasing from her strange mirth.
'"To Akatan," I answered, intent on the light to grow on her face
at the thought. But it became like his, with a sneer to the lips,
and cold anger.
'"Yes," she said; "we will go, hand in hand, to Akatan, you and
I. And we will live in the dirty huts, and eat of the fish and
oil, and bring forth a spawn--a spawn to be proud of all the days
of our life.
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