The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-10-09

tOlied. The result was ptiful and the four showed
their calibre in the division of the few pounds Of food
that had been recovered,
Little as IL WAS. the lions share was left with Day
light and Elijah. The men who pulled on with the
dogs. one up the Stewart and one down. would come
mere quickly to grub The two who remained would
have to last out til the others returned Further.
more while the dogs: several ounces each of beans
day. would travel slowly, nevertheless the men
who travelled with them, on pinch would have the
dogs themselves TO eat. But the men who remained
when the pinch GANG. would have no dogs II was
for this reason that Daylight and Elijah took the
more desperate chance They could not do less. nor
did they care 10 do less The days passed and the
winter began merging mperceptibly into the north
land spring that comes like hunderbolt Of sudden.
ness II was the spring of 1896 that was preparing
Each day the farther east Of south remained
longer In the sky and set farther to the west March
ended and April began and Daylight and Elijah lean
and hungry wondered what had become of their two'
comrades Granting every delay and throwing in
generous margins for good measure the time was
long since past when they should have returned
N!-hout doubt they had met with disaster The party
had considered the possibility Of disaster for one man
and that had been the principal reason for despatch
ing the two in different directions But that disaster
should have come both Of them was the fnal
blow
In the meantime hoping against hope Daylight
and Elijah eked out meagre existence The thaw
had not yet begun so they were able 10 gather the
snow about the ruined cache and melt fl in pots and
pals and godpans Allowed TO stand for a while
~hen poured OF thin deposit Of slime was found
on me bottoms Of the vessels. This was the flour
tne lnnnesmal trace OF Il scattered through thou.
sands or cubic yards Of Also, in this slime
occurred intervals watersoaked tea leaf or coffee
and il,
litter. But the further they worked away from The
site Of the cache the thinner became the trace OF
flour. the smaller the deposit Of slime
Elijah was the older man and he weakened first so
that he came % lie up of the time in his flirs
An occasional tree squirrel kept him alive This hunt
Inc fell upon Daylight and il hard work With
but thirty rounds OF ammunition he dared not risk
miss, and since his rifle 1870 he was compelled
10 shoot the small creatures through the head There
were very few Of them and days went by without his
seeing one. When he did he took Infinite precau-
tons He would stalk il for hours. score of times.
with arms that shook from weakness he would draw
sight on the animal aud refrain from pulling the
trigger His inhibition a thing Of iron. He was
the master Not I'll absolute gertrude was his lid
he shoot ~ matter how sharp the pangs OF hunger
aud desire FIR that palpitating morsel Of chaJerng
life he refused to take the slightest risk Of miss
He, born gambler that he was was gambling IN the
bigger way. His life the stake his cards were
his cartridges and he played as only a big gambler
could play-wth Infinite care with infinite precaution
with Infinite consideration. As a result he never
missed Each shot meant squirrel. and though days
elapsed between shots never changed his method Of
play
OF the squirrels nothing was lost. Even the skins
boiled 10 make BROTH the bones pounded into
fragments that could he chewed and swallowed Day
light proSpe-ted through the snow and found O9Ca-
ional patches 81 moSsherrieS the best moSsberres
were composed practically OF seeds and water with A
tough rind 81 skin about them: but the berries he
found Of the preceding year. dry and Shrivelcd.
and the nouriShmcnt they contained verged the
minus quantity. Scarcely better the bark of
young SarlincS. Stewcd for an hour and swallowed
after predictions chewing
April drew toward its close, and spring smOte the
laHd The days stretched out their length. Under
the heat Of the sun the snow began to melt while
from down under the snow arose the trckIing ot
tiny streams For twentyfour hours the chinook
wind blew. and in that twentyfo-r hours the snow
diminished fully foot I'm depth In The late ar
ternoons the melting snow froze again 50 that its
surface became Ice capable Of supporting 4 mans
weight. Tiny white birds appeared from the
South. fingered day and resumed their journey into
the North once, high In the air. looking for open
water ana ahead of the season, a wedced SQUAD
ron Of wild geese honked northward And down by
the river bank clump of dwarf willows burst
into bud, These young buds, stewed. seemed 70
possess an encouraging nutrition. Elijah took
heart Of hope, though lac was cast down again when
Daylight failed 10 find another clump of willows
The sap rising in the trees and daily the trickle
Of unseen streamletS became louder as the frozen
land came back 10 life. But the river held in its
bonds of frost Winter had been long months in
broken not by the thunderbolt Of spring MAJ
came and stray last years mosquitoes full grown
but harmless, crawled ont of rock creyces and rot
ten logs. CricketS began to chirp and more geese
and ducks flew overhead. And still the river held
BY MAY 10 the lie OF the Stewart with great rend-
ing and snGring tore loose from the banks and rose
three feet But ii did not go down stream The
lower Yukon, up which the Stewart flowed into IT,
must first break ana move Until then the ice
of the Stewart could only rise higher and higher on
the Increasing food beneath. When The Yukon would
break was prohlenatical Two thousand miles away
ii flowed into Retiring Sea, and It was the ice con
ditOns Of Rehring Sea that would determine when
the Yukon cOuld rid itself Of the millions of tons of
ice that cluttered its breast
On the twelfth 81 May, carrying their sleeprt:
robes. Jail, an axe and the precious rife the two
men started down the river on the ice. Their plan
was 10 gain to the cached polling boat they had seen
so that at the first open water they could launch It
and drift with the stream TO Sixty Mile In their
weak condition. without food, the going was slow
and difficult Elijah developed a habit OF falling
down and being unable 10 rise. Daylight gave of
his own strength to lift him to his feet. whereupon
the older man would stagger automatically until
he stumbled and fell again.
ON The day they should have reached the boat
Elijah collapsed utterly When Daylight raised him
he fell again Daylight essayed 10 walk with him.
supporting him, out such Dayght's weak
ness that they fell together. Dragging Elijah the
bank a rude camp made and Daylight started
ont IN search Of squirrels. Il AZ this time that
he likewise developed the falling habit. In the even
ing he found his first squirrel but darkness came on
without his getting certain shot With primitive