Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1913-12-10
Copyright. Oil,
Dg the BObbS Merrill Co.

The storm thickened with the falling
of night, and he burrowed himself a
great hole in the soft snow and filled
it with balsam boughs for a bed.
When he awakened, hours later, he
stood up and thrust out his head and
found himself buried to the armpits.
With the aid Of his broad snoWshoes
he drew himself out until he stood
knee deep in the surface.
He lifted his pack. As he swung it
before him, one arm thrust through a
strap, he gave a startled cry. Half of
one side of the pack was eaten away!
A thin trickle of flour ran through his
fingers upon the snow. He pulled out
a gnawed pound of bacon, little tea
and that was all.
Frantically he ripped the rent wider
in his search, and when he stood up his
wild face staring into the chaos about
him, he held only the bit OF bacon in
his hand. In it were the imprints of
tiny teeth-sharp little razor edged
teeth that told him what had happen
ed. While he had slept a mink had
IOUUeU Hill OI Ills 1OOU.
With one Of his shoes he began dig
ging furiously in the snow. He tore
his balsam bed to pieces. Somewhere
somewhere not very far away-the
little animal must have cached its
theft. He dug down until he came to
the frozen earth. For an hour he
worked and found nothing.
Then he stopped. Over a small fire
he melted snow for tea and broiled
slice Of the bacon, which he ate with
the few biscuit crumbs he found in
the pack. Every particle of -four that
he could find he scraped up with his
knife and put into one of the deep
pockets Of his caribou coat. After that
. he set out in the direction in which he
thought he woult1 find Lac Balm.
Still he shouted for Dixon and fired
an occasional shot from his rifle. By
noon he should have struck the lake.
Noon came and passed; the gloom of
a second night fell upon him. He
built himself a fire and ate twO-thirds
of what remained of the bacon. The
handful of flour in his pocket he did
not disturb.
1t was still night when he broke his
rest and struggled on. His first fears
were gone. In place Of them there
filed him now a grim sort of pleasure
A second time he was battling with
death for Melissa And this, after all,
was not very hard fight for him.
When he ate the last bit Of his bacon
he made up his mind what he would
do when the end came. In the stock
of his rifle he would scratch a few
last words to Melissa. He even ar
ranged the words in his brain-four Of
them-"Melisse, 1 love you" He re-
peated them to himself as he stagger-
ed on, and that night beside the fire
he built he began by carving her name
Tomorrow he said softly, 81 will
do the rest.''
He was growing very hungry, but he
did not touch the four For six hours
he slept and then dI1nk his fill of hot
tea
"We will travel until day, Jan Tho
reau,'' he informed himself, 'and then,
If nothing turns up, we will build our
last camp and eat the -four. 1t will be
the last of us, for there will be no
meat above this snow for days."
His snowshoes were an impediment
now, and he left them behind along
with one of his two blankets, which
had grown to be like lead upon his
shoulders. He counted his cartridges
ten of them. One of these he fired
into the air.
Was that an echo he heard?
A sudden thrill shot through him.
He strained his ears to catch a repeti
ton Of the sound In a moment it
came again-clearly no echo this time.
The shot came from just over the
mountain.