Yet I knew that this could not endure for very long, and committed
my soul to God as well as I was able in my half-drowned state, wishing
that my miseries were ended.
The darkness came down, but still the thunder roared and the lightning
blazed, and by the flare of it I caught sight of snow-capped mountains
far away upon the coast, also of Kari clinging to the reeds of the
_balsa_ at my side, and from time to time kissing the golden image of
Pachacamac which hung about his neck. Presently he set his lips against
my ear and shouted:
"Be bold! Our gods are still with us in storm."
"Yes," I answered, "and soon we shall be with our gods--in peace."
After this I heard no more of him, and fell to thinking with such wits
as were left to me of how many perils we had passed since we saw the
shores of Thames, and that it seemed sad that all should have been for
nothing, since it would have been better to die at the beginning than
now at the end, after so much misery. Then the glare of the lightning
shone upon the handle of the sword Wave-Flame, which was still strapped
about me, and I remembered the rune written upon it which my mother had
rendered to me upon the morning of the fight against the Frenchmen.
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