[Illustration]
The Lali being defeated, the next question with the Ammi was what to
do with them. Pounder proposed that they follow them up and kill them
all. Oko seconded this, so far as to follow them up, but suggested that
instead of killing them, they simply take what they have, and let them
go; for his idea of war was robbery.
“Whether they be dead or not,” he said, “does not matter provided we have
their booty.”
Koree having obtained Sosee, the object for which he went to the war, was
willing to abandon the conflict, and return home without anything else.
“There is nothing to fight for now,” he said; “and nothing that we can
get here will be as good as what we can enjoy at home.”
Sosee seconded this proposal, having learned to love the Lali
notwithstanding her captivity among them; and she did not wish to add to
their distress.
“And let us go quickly,” she said, “or Oboo and Ilo will find means of
attacking us again.”
This suggestion about his rivals confirmed Koree in his conviction that
it was best to return home.
After further consultation it was finally agreed to return at once to
Cocoanut Hill.
Here, accordingly, the Ammi parted forever from the Lali, and the
separation proved the greatest turning point in the world’s affairs. The
Lali became lost to history, like the Ten Tribes, and have been since
sought as the “Missing Link.” Wandering for generations in the Cold and
Famine they finally became extinct, the last of a numerous race. Passing
out of the world, as well as out of history, they will be sought forever
in vain. Only under glacial beds, amid fossil bones, may their relics now
be traced.
As the Ammi were making preparations for their homeward march, Oko
suggested that, before departing, they gather up all they had; and he
even went among the dead to see if he could find anything valuable on the
field.
With Cocoanut-scooper and Abroo he then took charge of the baggage,
including their provisions.
“For,” said Cocoanut-scooper, “the Swamp is covered with snow, so that we
may not be able to forage along the way as we did when we came.”
The preparations for the return march were soon completed, being few and
simple, so that in a little while the Ammi were on their way back to the
Cocoanut Hill region.
The snow was deep, and the way difficult, so that, like the march of
Napoleon from Moscow, this return of the Ammi was a journey of suffering
amid ice and snow and privation.
Gladly as the Greeks, who, when led back from Persia by Xenophon, beheld
with tears the Euxine Sea, and cried out with joy, “The Sea!” “The Sea!”
so the warriors of this earlier Anabasis, when they came to the Lake
where they had left their fleet, expressed great joy at the sight of the
shores beyond, which recalled their homes.
They would have shed tears, but having only recently learned to laugh,
they had not yet learned to weep.
The rafts which they had left moored to the shore were fast in the ice,
except one which had fallen to pieces and was now seen strewn about as
stray logs.
But they had no need of rafts; for the water was frozen and they walked
across easily on the ice.
After some small adventures they reached at last their homes with joy,
and the great expedition to the Lali, and their battles with them, were
at an end.
But they found, on reaching home, that their country was much changed.
All was covered with snow where they had left a green earth and tropical
foliage. The swarms of animals which had come from the north, like the
Goths, had, like them, swept away every vestige of improvement, and
devoured the fruits of the neighborhood. The trees which they had left
laden with mangos, figs and nuts, were now bare, their branches breaking
with snow instead of fruit. The Swamp itself seemed deserted, the life
which had filled it being dead or departed.
Their families too, had been depleted. Of those left behind some had
been slain by the cold or famine, while others had wandered away. It was
a desolate home, therefore, to which the returning warriors came, like
Greece when it was regained by the soldiers after the Trojan War.
[Illustration: RETURN OF THE AMMI TO COCOANUT HILL.]
Pounder discovered that some one had taken possession of his wife in his
absence, or of the woman who most nearly corresponded to such personage,
and he immediately slew him, and took her back. The two illegitimate
lovers had in his absence driven out many of the other Ammi who had
remained at home, and taken possession of what was left in their huts.
All this Pounder now took charge of, along with the woman.
One of their number had been lost, and did not return for many years.
He wandered about the Swamp, visiting its many shores, and meeting,
like Ulysses, many strange kinds of apes and other beasts. Long did he
search for his home, and many times he came near the edge of the Swamp,
in sight of Cocoanut Hill; but a perverse mistake each time drove him
farther away. He wandered among thickets and vines, crossed streams and
hid in marshes. He lived on roots dug from under the snow, and on fish
caught under the ice. He suffered many pains and aches and bruises, still
seeking his home. Twice he was chased by the mastodon, and four times he
fought with catamounts. The stars seemed to wander from their places so
that he could not even recognize the heavens; and when he emerged at last
from the Swamp it was to look upon an unknown country. Like the Wandering
Jew he found no rest for his feet, but went on forever, never finding
what he sought. Climbing banks and trees, and walking over ice and rocks,
he yet saw nothing familiar, but always something new; and when at last
he came within sight of his dwelling it was found to be under a mountain
of ice; and as he started to go south, he turned, with his usual fate,
to the north, and the traditions of the Ammi say that he is wandering to
this day.