’The last stretch we dragged Unga between us, and we fell often, but in the end we made the cache.  And lo, there was no grub.  It was well done, for he thought it the wolverines, and damned them and his gods in one breath.  But Unga was brave, and smiled, and put her hand in his, till I turned away that I might hold myself.  “We will rest by the fire,” she said, “till morning, and we will gather strength from our moccasins.”  So we cut the tops of our moccasins in strips, and boiled them half of the night, that we might chew them and swallow them.  And in the morning we talked of our chance.  The next cache was five days’ journey; we could not make it.  We must find game.

’"We will go forth and hunt,” he said.

’"Yes,” said I, “we will go forth and hunt.”  ’And he ruled that Unga stay by the fire and save her strength.  And we went forth, he in quest of the moose and I to the cache I had changed.  But I ate little, so they might not see in me much strength.  And in the night he fell many times as he drew into camp.  And I, too, made to suffer great weakness, stumbling over my snowshoes as though each step might be my last.  And we gathered strength from our moccasins.

’He was a great man.  His soul lifted his body to the last; nor did he cry aloud, save for the sake of Unga.  On the second day I followed him, that I might not miss the end.  And he lay down to rest often.  That night he was near gone; but in the morning he swore weakly and went forth again.  He was like a drunken man, and I looked many times for him to give up, but his was the strength of the strong, and his soul the soul of a giant, for he lifted his body through all the weary day.  And he shot two ptarmigan, but would not eat them.  He needed no fire; they meant life; but his thought was for Unga, and he turned toward camp.

’He no longer walked, but crawled on hand and knee through the snow.  I came to him, and read death in his eyes.  Even then it was not too late to eat of the ptarmigan.  He cast away his rifle and carried the birds in his mouth like a dog.  I walked by his side, upright.  And he looked at me during the moments he rested, and wondered that I was so strong.  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.