Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-07
NOVEMBER 7, 1909.
THE TEST
CONTINUED from Page 14)

OF Lne 1HOldHS. DtWdIe VI lnS Wlho
through the ASS Ears"
Again they labored up the steep
slope, wallowing in the sliding snow,
straining silently at the load; again
they threw themselves, exhausted
upon 1t. Now, as he eyed the pano-
rama below, it seemed to have suf-
fered a subtle change, indefinable and
odd Although but few minutes had
elapsed, the coast mountains no longer
loomed clear against the horizon, and
his visual range appeared foreshort-
ened, as though the utter distances
had heightened, bring ng closer the
edge of things. The twin peaks seemed
endlessly distant and haZy, while the
air had thickened as though congest-
ed with possibilities, lending remote
ness to the landscape.
"If it blows up on us here, we're
gone," he thought, "for it's miles to
shelter, and we're right in the saddle
of the hills"
Pierre, half blinded as he was, arose
uneasily and cast the air like a wild
beast. his great head thrown back, his
nostrils quivering.
II smell the win'," he cried. Mon
Dieu! She's goin' blow"
A volatile pennant fioated out from
a nearby peak, hanging above its crest
like faint smoke. Then along the brow
of the pass writhed a wisp of drifting.
twisting fiakelets, idling hither and
yon, astatic and aimless, settling in a
hollow. They sensed a thrill and rustla
in the air, though never a breath had
touched them then as they mounted
higher a draught famed them icy as
interstellar space. The view from the
summit was grotesquely distorted,
and glancing upward they found the
guardian peaks had gone a-smoke
with clouds of snow that whirled con-
f11CaHlU while increasing breath
sucked over the summit. stronger each
second. Dry snow began to rustic
slothfully about their feet So swiftly
were the changes wrought that before
the mind had grasped their import the
storm was on them, roaring down
from every side, swooping out of the
boiling sky, a raging blast from the
voids of sunless space
Pierres shouts as he slashed at the
sled lashings were snatched from his
lips in scattered scraps. He dragged
forth the whipping tent and threw
himself upon II with the sleeping bags.
Having cut loose the dogs Willard
crawled within his sack and they
drew the Tapping canvas over them.
The air was twilight and heavy and
efIorescent granules that hurtled past
in a drone.
They removed their outer garments
that the fur might fold closer against
them, ana lay exposed 10 the ruiz nate
of the gale. They hoped to be drifted
over, but no snow could lodge in this
hurricane, and it sifted past dry and
sharp. eddying out bare place
wherein they lay. Thus the wind
drove a chill to their bones bitterly.
An unnourished human body re-
spends but weakly, so, vitated by
their fast and labors. their sufferings
smote them with tenfold cruelty
All night the north wind shouted.
and as the next day waned with its
violence undiminished, the frost crept
in upon them till they rolled and
tossed, shivering. Twice they essayed
to crawl out, but were driven back to
cover for endless, hopeless hours.
a+-
1t is in such black aimless times
that thought becomes distorted. Will
lard felt his mind wandering through
bleak dreams and tortured fancies,
always to find himself harping on his
early argument with Pierre: 'It's the
mind that counts" Later he reused
to the fact that his knees, where they
pressed against the bag, were frozen;
also his feet were numb and sense
less. In his acquired consciousness he
knew that along the course of his
previous mental vagary lay madness,
and the need of action bore upon him
imperatively.
He shouted to his mate, but wild"
Pierre seemed strangely apathetic.
We've got to run for it at day
light. We're freezing. Here! Hold
on! What are you doing? Wait for
daylight" Pierre had scrambled
IL .,,1 hi h