The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-09-15

but at evening another dog was dead.
And so on till that bitter morning when
Wood saw the red sun peek up and
duck down behind the peaks. all in that
mere breath of time while he stood
alone and watched and listened, and
all he heard was the roaring of his own
ear drums. He sank down upon the
sled and rested with his blankets
wrapped about him. Then the awful
loneliness of the north obSesSed him,
and gathering up as much of the gold
as he could carry he FASTENED away.
At the end of a mile he paused and
thought of the gold he had left be-
hind He mOaned aloud, lay down the
sack he carried and covered it with
snow. Then he staggered back to the
sled, put the remainder of the dust in
a sack by itself and went back to the
cache. This meant going the trail
three times instead of one, but he
would have the gold He gained an
other mile with the treasure in this
way Then another, and there, stand
ing on a hluock, he saw the ChllcOOt
in full view. with a scattered mass of
gray and black dots in front of it,
which he knew for camps and campers
1t was not more than five miles away,
but that meant fifteen. and he was
breathing short while his heart was
going like cobbler'S hammer. He
pulled the last bit of bareback from
his pocket as he took UP the lost trail.
All. the WEAKNESS of his load; how con-
centrated was the weight of it. He was
a strong man and could endure, but
he had undertaken to carry $50 pounds
of gold, seventy-five pounds at time,
for a score of miles.
When he bent and blew hard and
| Jagged YEARLY, he cheered himself
with thoughts of the yellow gold. He
painted on in deIirium of gold, too far
gone to think of dropping his burden
and going to get help. Gold seemed
everywhere. but, ah. the weary, weary,
weight of it, At last the black dots
grew to be men and beasts He made
/ his last cache within a Quarter mile
of the camp. All the gold was there.
/ He lay down and tried to rest, but the
/ fuel of life seemed nearly burned out.
and the cold sought his marrow. SO he
/ arose and took a few steps toward the
! camp Men were coming down to meet
him. He turned about to see if the
cache were a safe one. A fringe of fur
was exposed. He tried to kick the
! snow over it. and losing his footing
/ fell heavily upon the hidden gold. This
] sinking to earth lessened his heart
! beats and he lay as one dead.
That's him-thats my mani" rang
| the voice of John McQuade. Lets see
what he's got there"
They pushed away the snow and
! lifted the sacks.
How in Gods name did he ever get
| II HeEe- dShtO = HlSn-NOAEeu uldI
He never could have packed it But
where's his sleigh?"
Il dunno" said McQuade Hello
john" he said, bending over Wood.
You got the best o. me. didn't you?
But the Smith outfit picked me up.
HelIol''
Wood reused and rallied at the
sound of McQuade's voice.
You shan't have it, he shouted,
throwing himself upon the gold. It's
mi 10 !
squander it all. And I've gone through
hell for it."
"A pretty Geld hell observed Nc
| Quade, but it's not so cold as the deal
4 you gave me-"
No he ought to hang for that, E"
said one of the men. AT any rate,
| they'll order him out of camp"
Not until he's fed and rested said
John McQuade, his heart still in him.
I'VE ought to give him a few days
notice.
They took Wood and the gold into
! camp on the sled. When the half-fam-
| ished man had eaten and slept and lay
about for the three days, he was sent
/ could carry. He looked pleadingly
back at McQuade and tried for his soft
side again
You ought to give me my share,
JOHN he said. pitifully.
! But McQuade turned his back and
| Wood plodded through the snow. mum
bling: Thirty thousand dollars
1 thirty thousand-and he'll squander it
/ all"
John you look cold Come and have
nip" said a man coming up.
mot if L froZe in my tracks. That's
not the way to succeed in the fruit
| business"
! Fruit business?'
Yes. sir; I'm going TO have the pref
! test prune orchard in the hull Sanity
! Clara valley inside o. three months.
An I'm goin' to have a team. Say, you
/ ought to see my horsesi"
He looked up the pass and saw a
dark figure trailing along behind the
procession of dog teams. The figure
was that of Wood, bent and spiritless.
McQuade watched it plod up the path.
Once he put forth his hand to beckon
back the transgressor. A great spring
/ of pity welled up within him and
showed itself in two great tears. The
bent figure. faring on, turned with the
trail and passed from sight
/ BAILEY WILLARD.
/ Copyrighted. 1901. by w r. Hearst.)