Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1913-08-26
r Elk BEACH
ADVENTURE
s T o R 1E S
The Test
us. 54aas5
BY REX BEACH
Copyright by Mcclure. Phillip. Z Co.


The Canadian evinced suffering only
IN the haggard droop Of eye and
mouth: otherwise he looked strong and
doggsA-
willard felt his own features had
shrunk to mask Of loose jawed suf-
3erinN and hs set his mental sinews,
muttsring to himself.
He MAS dizzy and faint % he stretch
Cd himself in the stu morning air
spon waking and hobbled painfully,
but % his companion emerged from
the darkened shelter into the crystal
line brightness he forgot his own mis-
cry It sight Of him. The big man reel
ed a. though struck when the dazzle
from the hills reached him. aud hs
moaned. shielding his sight. Snow
blindness had found him in q night.
Slowly they plodded out Of the val
lsy. for hunger gnawed acutely, and
they left trail Of blood tracks from
tie dogs. It took the combined ct.
forts Of both men to lash them to foot
after each pause. Thus progress was
slow and fraught with agony.
As they rose near the pass miles Of
arctic wastes barred themselves. All
about lowered bald domes, while
everywhere stretched the monotonous
white, the endless snow unbroken by
tree 1r shrub, pallid and menacinG
maddening to the eye.
Thank God, the worst's overr'
sighed Willard, finging himself on to
the sled. "We'll make it to the sum-
NIT next time; then she's downhill
al the way to the roadhouse."
Pierre said nothing.
Away to the northward glimmered
the ASS Ears, and as the speaker
eyed them carelessly he noted gau1y
shreds and steamers yelling their
tops. The phenomena interested him,
for he knew that here must be wind
the hopeless. merciless master Of the
barrens! However, the distant range
beneath the twin peaks showed clear
cut and distinct against the sky, and
he did not mention the occurrence to
the guide. although he recalled the
words Of the Indians, Beware Of the
wind through the ASS Ears
Again they labored up the steep
slope. wallowing in the sliding snow,
straininE silently at the load: again
they threw themselves exhausted upon
1t. Now, a. he eyed the panorama
below, It seemed to have suffered
subtle change. indehnable and odd.
Although but q 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. bringing closer the edge OF
things The twin peaks seemed end
lesaly distant and hazy, while the air
had thickened as though congested
with possibilities lending remote
ness tosthe landscape.
III 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 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 doated out from
. nearby peak, hanging about its crest
IKE faint smoke. Then along the brow
pf the pass writhed wisp of drifting,
twisting hakelets, id!!ng htther and
yon, ecstatic and aimless, settling in
hollow. They sensed thrill and rus
tie to the air, though never q breath
had touched them; then, as they
mounted higher, draft famed them,
Icy as interstellar space. The view
from the summit was grotesquely dis
torted, and, glancing upward, they
found the guardian peaks had gone
a-smoke with clouds Of snow that
whirled confusedly, while an increas-
ing 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, roar
ing down from every side, swooping
ont Of the boiling sky, raging blast
from the voids Of sunless space.
Pierre's 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 1t with the sleeping bags.
Having cut loose the dogs, Willard
erawled within his sack, and they drew
the tapping canvas over them. The
sir was twilight and heavy with efaor-
,sscsnt granules that hurtled past in
drone.
They removed their outer garments
hat the fur might fold closer against
thcm and lay exposed to the full hate
Sc he gale. They hoped to be drifted
oyes. but NO snow could lodge In this
hurricane, and 1t sifted past, dry and
4 sharp, 0ddying out bare place where
"a In they lay. Thus the wind drove the
ehall to. their bones bitterly.
An unnourished human body re-
i ppoods but weakly, 50, vitiated by their
tRst ana labors, their suffering smots
theu with tenfold cruelty.
Al night the north wind shouted,
md. @ the next day waned with its
vlo1ence undiminished, the frost crept
8 Ipon them till they rolled and tossed
sbsveeine. Twice they essayed to
efaWl out, but were driven back to
sevee 1oe endless, hopeless hours
q ieSin such black. aimless tunes
~ tieught becomes distctted: WI
~ 2 : ~ 80 y u l1E1nG ftnngA
- ~,