[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

brother, Kamo-tah, sick and groaning and with no meat; so I could not stay and fight with the men and the
boys not yet hunters.
"And I took with me meat and fish, and the lash-marks of Ivan, and I found Kamo-tah no longer groaning,
but dead. Then I went back to Nulato, and, behold, there was no Nulato - only ashes where the great fort had
stood, and the bodies of many men. And I saw the Russians come up the Yukon in boats, fresh from the sea,
many Russians; and I saw Ivan creep forth from where he lay hid and make talk with them. And the next day I
saw Ivan lead them upon the trail of the tribe. Even now are they upon the trail, and I am here, Negore, but no
coward."
"This is a tale I hear," said Oona, though her voice was gentler than before. "Kamo-tah is dead and cannot
speak for thee, and I know only what I know, and I must know thee of my own eyes for no coward."
Negore made an impatient gesture.
"There be ways and ways," she added. "Art thou willing to do no less than what Old Kinoos hath done?"
He nodded his head, and waited.
"As thou hast said, they seek for us even now, these Russians. Show them the way, Negore, even as Old
Kinoos showed them the way, so that they come, unprepared, to where we wait for them, in a passage up the
rocks. Thou knowest the place, where the wall is broken and high. Then will we destroy them, even Ivan.
When they cling like flies to the wall, and top is no less near than bottom, our men shall fall upon them from
above and either side, with spears, and arrows, and guns. And the women and children, from above, shall
loosen the great rocks and hurl them down upon them. It will be a great day, for the Russians will be killed,
the land will be made clean, and Ivan, even Ivan who thrust out my father's eyes and laid the lash of his
dog-whip upon thee, will be killed. Like a dog gone mad will he die, his breath crushed out of him beneath
the rocks. And when the fighting begins, it is for thee, Negore, to crawl secretly away so that thou be not
slain."
"Even so," he answered. "Negore will show them the way. And then?"
"And then I shall be thy woman, Negore's woman, the brave man's woman. And thou shalt hunt meat for me
and Old Kinoos, and I shall cook thy food, and sew thee warm parkas and strong, and make thee moccasins
after the way of my people, which is a better way than thy people's way. And as I say, I shall be thy woman,
Negore, always thy woman. And I shall make thy life glad for thee, so that all thy days will be a song and
laughter, and thou wilt know the woman Oona as unlike all other women, for she has journeyed far, and lived
in strange places, and is wise in the ways of men and in the ways they may be made glad. And in thine old age
will she still make thee glad, and thy memory of her in the days of thy strength will be sweet, for thou wilt
know always that she was ease to thee, and peace, and rest, and that beyond all women to other men has she
been woman to thee."
"Even so," said Negore, and the hunger for her ate at his heart, and his arms went out for her as a hungry
man's arms might go out for food.
"When thou hast shown the way, Negore," she chided him; but her eyes were soft, and warm, and he knew she
looked upon him as woman had never looked before.
Love of Life and Other Stories 75/78
Love of Life and Other Stories
"It is well", he said, turning resolutely on his heel. "I go now to make talk with the chiefs, so that they may
know I am gone to show the Russians the way."
"Oh, Negore, my man! my man!" she said to herself, as she watched him go, but she said it so softly that even
Old Kinoos did not hear, and his ears were over keen, what of his blindness.
Three days later, having with craft ill-concealed his hiding-place, Negore was dragged forth like a rat and
brought before Ivan - "Ivan the Terrible" he was known by the men who marched at his back. Negore was
armed with a miserable bone-barbed spear, and he kept his rabbit-skin robe wrapped closely about him, and
though the day was warm he shivered as with an ague. He shook his head that he did not understand the
speech Ivan put at him, and made that he was very weary and sick, and wished only to sit down and rest,
pointing the while to his stomach in sign of his sickness, and shivering fiercely. But Ivan had with him a man
from Pastolik who talked the speech of Negore, and many and vain were the questions they asked him
concerning his tribe, till the man from Pastolik, who was called Karduk, said:
"It is the word of Ivan that thou shalt be lashed till thou diest if thou dost not speak. And know, strange
brother, when I tell thee the word of Ivan is the law, that I am thy friend and no friend of Ivan. For I come not
willingly from my country by the sea, and I desire greatly to live; wherefore I obey the will of my master - as
thou wilt obey, strange brother, if thou art wise, and wouldst live."
"Nay, strange brother," Negore answered, "I know not the way my people are gone, for I was sick, and they
fled so fast my legs gave out from under me, and I fell behind."
Negore waited while Karduk talked with Ivan. Then Negore saw the Russian's face go dark, and he saw the
men step to either side of him, snapping the lashes of their whips. Whereupon he betrayed a great fright, and
cried aloud that he was a sick man and knew nothing, but would tell what he knew. And to such purpose did
he tell, that Ivan gave the word to his men to march, and on either side of Negore marched the men with the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]