"_Ioh--ioh-h-h_!" Ootah moaned.
"Thou wouldst that Annadoah's face be blighted as frozen land in
winter," laughed the winds, mockingly. "Thou dotard Ootah! Thou
lovest the face of Annadoah. It is very fair. It is golden as the
radiant face of _Sukh-eh-nukh_. Her eyes are as bright as stars in the
winter night. Oh-h-h, Ootah! Into the eyes of Olafaksoah Annadoah
gazes, yea, she faints with joy, thou silly Ootah!"
"_Ioh--ioh-h-h_!" wailed Ootah.
"Her lips are red, Ootah---red as a wound in the throat of a deer."
And in the cloud vision Ootah saw the blond chief take the head of
Annadoah between his two palms and press her lips fiercely upon his
own. Ootah's heart trembled as water.
"_Ioh--io-h-h_!" he sobbed, and tears coursed from his eyes.
The constant haunting thought of Annadoah's face pressed close to that
of Olafaksoah somehow made his face burn and his bosom ache.
"Ootah, Ootah, thou wouldst that Annadoah's heart might wither, yea, as
a frozen bird in the blast of winter, foolish Ootah, who lovest
Annadoah! Soft beats the heart of Annadoah upon the bosom of
Olafaksoah; yea, for very joy it flutters as a mating bird in summer
time. Thou wouldst that beasts might rend her little breasts--safe are
they now in the embrace of the strong man from the south. Ootah!
Ootah!"
Ootah wrung his hands.
"Thy curses fall dead upon the ears of Annadoah, she who hears only the
voice of Olafaksoah."
In the winds Ootah heard the whisper of Olafaksoah in the dim tent. He
heard Annadoah's rapturously murmurous replies.
"Olafaksoah shareth the igloo of Annadoah," whispered the winds
suggestively. And Ootah knew the Eskimo custom.
Annadoah, by sharing her simple habitation with him, had by choice
formally become the wife of Olafaksoah. And according to the unwritten
law of ages she was now as much his property as his dogs. He might
abuse her, and desert--and thus divorce--her whenever he chose. She
might, at his pleasure, be loaned as a wife to another, and in this she
would have no word. Or she might be given away, and dare not protest.
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