UNAFRAID, Tuktu rode in the midst of the great herd¹. How long it was before she had a chance to slip from Whitefoot’s back, she had no idea. But presently from sundry² sounds, dull but unmistakable, which reached her through the fog, she knew that the deer were bedding down. They were lying down to chew the cud, as you have so often seen cattle do. Whitefoot stopped. Tuktu slipped from his back. A moment later Whitefoot lay down. Tuktu snuggled up against his back. Despite the dampness of the fog, she was conscious of a pleasant warmth. In a few minutes she was asleep.

 

Tuktu was awakened³ by the sound of a bell. She knew it was a bell, because she had once heard a bell on a ship which had come in close to the shore when they were camped there. But this bell was sweeter far than had been that bell on the ship, though that had seemed the most wonderful sound that she and Aklak had ever heard. Slowly she opened her eyes. Abruptly⁴ she sat upright and rubbed both eyes with her knuckles⁵. Her first thought was that she was still in the fog. But when she looked up, she saw there was neither fog nor cloud. It was only when she looked below that she saw a fog, and this fog was not like any fog she ever had known. It was a mist of many colors, that shimmered⁶ and blended and parted and flashed, as she had so often seen the northern lights, or Aurora⁸, do in the winter. And somewhere, hidden by that wondrous⁹ colored mist, was that silver bell. Do you wonder that Tuktu rubbed her eyes?

 

She was on the slope of a great hill. All about her, contentedly¹⁰ chewing their cuds, were the deer people. As far as she could see in either direction, and across on the sides of the opposite hill, the deer lay. She knew that not only was Kutok’s herd here, but also many other

分享到：