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Alchise laid Rhoda on the ground while he spoke rapidly to the Indian The old man protested at first but on the repeated use of Kut-le's name he finally nodded and Alchise carried Rhoda into the cahtly, showed a huge, dark room, canvas-roofed and dirt-floored, quite bare except for the soiled blankets on the floor
Rhoda was laid in the center of the hut The old buck knelt beside her He was very old indeed His tied features were lean and ascetic His clay-matted hair was streaked hite; his black eyes were deep-sunk and his tenity about the old azed on Rhoda in silence for some time Alchise and Cesca sat on the floor, and little by little they were joined by a dozen other Indians who forht flickered on the dark, intent faces and on Rhoda's delicate beauty as she lay passing rapidly from stupor to deliriuourd filled with pebbles, and began softly to chant Instantly the other Indians joined hi Rhoda tossed her arh a little from the smoke The chant quickened It was but the h to low Yet it had an indescribable effect ofIt was as hopeless and melancholy as all of nature's chants: the wail of the wind, the sob of the rain, the beat of the waves
Rhoda sat erect, her eyes wild and wide The old buck, without ceasing his song, attempted to thrust her back with one lean brown claw, but Rhoda struck him feebly
"Go away!" she cried "Be quiet! You hurt my head! Don't make that dreadful noise!"
The chant quickened Thethe throb of the song by beating his bare feet on the earth He seee suppleness to flatten his instep paddle-wise and to bring the entire leg frolowing old eyes leave Rhoda's face
The girl, thrown into an to wring her hands The words said nothing to her but the rhythmic repetition of the notes told her a story as old as life itself: that life passes swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and without hope; that our days are as grass and as the clouds that are consumed and are no more; that the soul sinks to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death Rhoda struggled, with horror in her eyes, to rise; but the old man with a hand on her shoulder forced her back on the blanket