Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1914-05-14
I'm The Smokehouse.


the heavily wooded ranges ofthe foothills.
They rode buckskin cayuses, and drove
a couple Of pack horses before them.
The trail was rough, and the journey OF
thirty miles to the new homestead took
the better part of two days.
The two brothers plannedto live through
the winter in the one room log cabin left
by former holder of the homestead,
who had become discouraged, and to
spend the time in trapping, hunting, and
"bucking'' wood. In the spring Isaac
was to return to his job in the roundhouse,
and John was TO ''hold down" the ranch.
For month The weather was perfect,
and the young men worked from day
light until dark occasionally they went
hunting in the hills. Isaac shot deer on
the ridge behind the cabin, and hung the
meat in the rudely built smokehouse.
Then early one afternoon snow began
to fall by nine o'clock it lay knee-high
in front of the door. When the boys
tumbled out of bed in the morning, the
single window was walled in with white
mass of snow.
"There'S nothing TO do except sit tight
and wait for thaw," Isaac said.
Six weeks passed, however, with only
an occasional softening of the surface
snow at midday. A heavy crust had
formed, so that it was possible to lead
the cayuses over it. But supplies were
running short.
"And the worst OF it is" John said,
gloomily, "there doesn't seem to be an
other deer or an edible critter OF any kind
left in the hills. We must have tramped
ten miles yesterday without seeing a
track"
Isaac nodded. "Ifthe coldSnap doesn't
break within three days, l'll have to
make trip into town. III take the four
cayuses and pack out Stuff enough TO last
till spring"
Two days later, when the young men
rounded up the cayuseS for their evening
feed of hay, one of the animals was miss
ing. "ltll show up by morning." Isaac
said.
They shut the other thee cayuSes into
the barn. Morning came without bring
ing the fourth horse; search OF the
neighborhood failed to reveal him.
81 can't wait any longer" said Isaac.
There's nothing but peas and bacon
left, and despise the sight and smell OF
pea soup. The horse has found a fir
thicket to hide in and feed from.
wouldn't bother to hunt for him-he'l
come back when he gets ready"
He climbed into the saddle, and five
minutes later John saw him disappear
over ridge TO the south.
John went back to the cabin, threw
some chunks of pine upon the bed OF
Goals in the fireplace, and for awhile
tried to busy himself with cleaning his
carbine. There was something oppres-
sive in the silence, however, and he gave
up the loD IN disgust.
"I'm going 10 have another look for
that cayuse," he decided.
He passed the barn, and was following
a slightly marked trail over the frozen
crust, when vague curiosity prompted
him to part the bushes at his left and peer
down into an old stump hole. The next
moment he pushed his way through the
bushes, and leapiDg down into the hol-
low, stood above the carcass ofthe miss
ing cayuse. A few patches of fur were
scattered about over the snow. There
were crimson stains here and there, and
in one place the crust had been broken,
probably by the cayuse as it fought
against its adversaries. And those ad-
versaries Whatever they were, they
had come and gone as silently as the
shadow OF one OF the great pines on the
hill.
John went back 10 the cabin, and finish
ed cleaning the carbine. For awhile after
that he tried to read an old magazine.
Idleness was intolerable in the fearful
silence, however. Taking up his axe,
he went down to an alder thicket along
the little stream, and put in the morning
and most OF the afternoon slashing the
slim gray trunks into windrows.
The fire was out when he returned to
he house. He split up block OF pitch
wood, and soon had a yellow blaze
cracking on the hearth. Over this be
swung the smokeblackened kettle, half
filled with water, in which cupful OF
dried peas had been soaking. Then he
picked up a thin-bladed skinning knife
and went out for some bacon.
Darkness was beginning to gather in
thevalley. John pushed openthe smoke
house door and groped his way into the
marky darkness OF the little room. At
one end, over the rafters, a board had
been laid. John reached up and groped
for the bacon.
Suddenly he turned toward the door.
A sound had come to hlm-a Snuffllng
whine. For a single instant he stood
staring at half-dozen lean, evil heads
in the doorway. Tne next moment he
had swung himself up on the rafter
above, and was looking down at the gray
pack that had crept silently into the
room.
Directly below, as he looked down,
stood a huge, gray-maned, lean-flanked
brute, his teeth exposed as he snarled up
at the boy on the rafter. Another wolf
crowded him, and he whirled, with a
snarl that turned John sick, and snapped
at his companion. The other leaped
back, and for awhile the pack circled
discreetly round the selt-proclaimed
leader. Aside from subdued whine or
snarl, the wolves were silent But every