The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1913-09-18


the guide. although he recalled tn
words of the Indians. Beware Of th
wind through the ASS Ears
Again they labored up the stee
slope, wallowing In the sliding snow
straiDing silently at the load; agai
they threw themselves exhausted upo
1t. Now. as he eyed the panoram
below, it seemed to have suffered
subtle change. indefinable and odd
Although but a few minutes hat
elapsed, the coast mountains no longe
doomed clear against the horizon, ant
his visual range appeared foreshort
ened. as though the utter distances haC
heightened. bringing closer the edge Of
things. The twin peaks seemed end
lessly distant and hazy, while the all
had thickened as though congested
with possibilities lending a remote
ness to the landscape.
"If 1t blows up on us here, we're
| gone" he thought. for it's miles tC
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 quiyering.
81 smell the win" he cried. "Mon
Dieu! She's goin' blow!"
A volatile pennant foated out from
a nearby peak, hanging about its crest
like faint smoke. Then along the brow
of the pass writhed a wisp Of drifting,
twisting fakelets, idling hither and
hollow. They sensed a thrill and rus
tie to the air. though never a 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
ing down from every side. swooping
out 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 it with the sleeping bags.
Having cut loose the dogs, Willard
'rawled within his sack, and they drew
he Tapping canvas over them. The
lir was twilight and heavy with efflor-
scent granules that hurtled past in a
lrone.
They removed their outer garments |
hat the fur might fold closer against |
hem and lay exposed to the full hate
# the gale. They hoped to be drifted |
ver, but no snow could lodge in this
hurricane, and 1t sifted past, dry and
harp, eddying out bare place where
n they lay. Thus the wind drove the
hill to their bones bitterly.
An unnourished human body re-
ponds but weakly, so, vitiated by their
asst and labors, their suffering smote
hem with tenfold cruelty.
All night the north wind shouted,
nd, as the next day waned with its
iolence undiminished, the frost crept
/ upon them till they rolled and tossed
hivering. Twice they essayed to
rawl out, but were driven back to
over for endless, hopeless hours.
1t is in such black, aimless times
lat thought becomes distorted Will
I'd felt his mind wandering through
eak dreams and tortured fancies, al
avs to find himself harping on his
Irly argument with Pierre, "It's the
ind that counts" Later he reused
the fact that his knees, where they
essed against the bag, were frozen;
so his feet were numb and senseless.
his acquired consciousness he knew
at along the course of his previous
entail vagarY lay madness, and the
ed of action bore upon him impera- =
ELY. |
ae shouted to his mate. but "Wild"
ere seemed strangely apathetic.
We've got to run for it at daylight.
ere freezing. Here; hold onl What
? you doing? Wait for daylightw
ERE had scrambled stiffiy out Of his
yer, and his gabblings reached Will
d. He raised clinched fist into
, darkness of the streaming night,
sing horribly with words that APP
led the other.
Man, man! Don't curse your God!
Is is bad enough as it is. Cover
Quickr'
Though apparently unmindful of
presence, the other crawled back
ttering. 1
s the dim morning grayed the
other they rose and fought their
y downward toward the valley.
lg since they had lost their gripping -
lger and now held only an apa- r.
tic indifference to food. with a
lging dread of the cold and stub
n sense of their extreme necessity.
hey fell many times, but gradually
W themselves more under control,
exercise suscitating them as they
sgered downward. blinded and buff
d, their only hope the roadhouse.
lizard marveled duly at the
nge in Pierre. His face had shriv-
d to blackened freezes stretched
n bony substructure and lighted
fpypriSh hiool- hIaok II