Then he sank; from the height where I stood I could see the body roll
over and over in the fierce current which made for the outmost point to
the north-east of the promontory. I ran over as fast as I could, Gormala
following. When I came to the rock, which here shelved, I plunged in and
after a few strokes met by chance the body as it rolled upward. With a
desperate effort I brought it to land.
The struggle to lift the body from the water and to bear it up the rock
exhausted me, so that when I reached the top of the cliff I had to pause
for a few seconds to breathe hard. Since the poor fellow's struggle for
life had begun I had never for an instant given the prophecy a thought.
But now, all at once, as I looked past the figure, lying limp before me
with the poor arms twisted unnaturally and the head turned--away past
the moonlit sea and the great, golden orb whose track was wrinkled over
the racing tide, the full force of it burst upon me, and I felt a sort
of spiritual transformation. The air seemed full of fluttering wings;
sea and land alike teemed with life that I had not hitherto dreamed
of. I fell in a sort of spiritual trance. But the open eyes were upon
me; I feared the man was dead, but Briton-like I would not accept
the conviction without effort. So I raised the body to my shoulders,
determined to make with what speed I could for Whinnyfold where fire and
willing hands could aid in restoration. As I laid the limp body across
my shoulders, holding the two hands in my right hand to steady the
burden whilst with the left I drew some of the clothing tight, I caught
Gormala's eye. She had not helped me in any possible way, though more
than once in distress I had called to her. So now I said angrily:
"Get away woman! You should be ashamed of yourself never to help at
such a time," and I took my way unaided. I did not heed at the time
her answer, spoken with a certain measure of deprecation, though it
afterwards came back to me:
"Am I to wark against the Fates when They have spoken! The Dead are dead
indeed when the Voice has whispered in their ears!"
Now, as I passed along with the hands of the dead man in mine--the true
shell of a man whose spirit could be but little space away whilst the
still blood in the veins was yet warm--a strange thing began to happen.
The spirits of earth and sea and air seemed to take shape to me, and all
the myriad sounds of the night to have a sentient cause of utterance. As
I panted and struggled on, my physical effort warring equally with the
new spiritual experience so that nothing remained except sentience and
memory, I could see Gormala walking abreast me with even steps. Her eyes
glared balefully with a fierce disappointment; never once did she remit
the vigilant, keen look which seemed to pierce into my very soul.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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