River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1915-02-18
tContinued from Page 2.y


we got to travel most of the tine il we
amt goin' to starve. an we got to
travel in the right direction"
1T won't make the trip day
longer" Smoke urged. Possibly no
more than mile longer"
"1len has died for as little as mile.
Shorty retorted Get up, you poor
sorefoots, you-get up. Haw! You,
Bright. Hawp'
The lead dog obeyed. and the whole
team strained weakly into the soft
snow.
whoa" Shorty yelled. Its pack
trail
Smoke pulled his snowshoes from
under the sled lashings bound them to
his moccasined feet and went to the
fore to press and pack the light surface
for the dogs.
1t was heavy work. Dogs and men
had been for days on short rations. and
few and limited were the reserves Of
energy they could call upon. The
high rocky walls quickly drew near
together. so that their way led up near
the bottom of a narrow gorge.
Its a trap Shorty said. "The
whole look Of it is rotten. It's hole
in the ground It's the stampin'
ground Of trouble"
Smoke made no reply, and for half
an hour they toiled on in silence that
was again broken by Shorty
shes a-workin" he grumbled.
"Sha's sure a-workin', an I'll tell you
If you're minded to hear an listen"
"GO on" Smoke answered.
"Well, she tells me, plain an simple.
that we amt never goin' to get out of
this hole in the ground in days an
days. We're goin' to find trouble an
be stuck in here q long time an then
some"
Does she say anything about grub?
We haven't grub for days and days
and days, and then some. There's the
beginning Of your trouble" Smoke
said. hating on his snOwshoes and
staring at an object that lay on one
side of the old trail
Shorty left the gee pole and joined
him. and together they gazed down on
the body of man beside the trail.
We'll fed" said Smoke.
Look at them lips" said Shorty.
Stiff rs poker said Smoke, lift
ing an arm that without moving moved
the whole body
The man lay on his side, solidly
frozen. From the fact that no snow
powdered him it was patent that he
hnI I.,i tboro Inn shout tiTpo
There was Il general fall of snow
three days back" said Shorty.
Smoke nodded bending over the
corpse. twisting it half up to face
them and pointing to a bullet wound
in the temple. He glanced to the side
and tilted his head at Il revolver that
lay on top of the snow.
4 hundred yards farther on they
came upon a second body that lay face
downward in the trail Two things
are pretty clear, Smoke said
They're fat. That means no famine
They've not struck it rich. else they
wouldn't have committed suicide
IF they did" Shorty objected
They certainly did. There are no
tracks besides their own. and each is
powder burned" Smoke dragged the
corpse to one side and with the toe
Of his moccaSin nOSed Il revolver out
Of the snow into which it had been
pressed by the body That's what did
the work told you we'd find some
thing"
From the looks of it we amt start
ed yet. Now. what'd two fat geezers
want to kill themselves for:"
when we find that out We'll have
found the rest of your trouble" Smoke
answered Come on. It's blowing
dark.
Quite dark it was when Smokes
snOwshoe tripped him over Il body
He fell across a sled on which lay an
other body, and when he had dug the
snow out Of his neck and struck
match he and Shorty glimpsed a third
body. wrapped in blankets. lying be-
side partially dug grave: also. ere
the match hickered out. they caught
sight OF half dozen additional graves.
"B-r-r-r" Shorty Shivered. suicide
Camp All fed up. l reckon they're
all dead"
NO Peep s. that" Smoke was look
ing farther along 1T dim glimmer OF
light And there's another highland
a third one there Come on Let's hike !
No more corpses delayed them, and
in several minutes. over a hard packed
trail they were in camp.
Its a city" Shorty whispered.
There must be twenty cabins. An
not dog Amt that funny?"
And that explains it." Smoke whis-
pered back excitedly. Its the Laura
Sibley outfit. Don't you remember?
Came up the Yukon last fall on the
Port Townsend No. 6. Went right by
Dawson without stopping. The steam
er must have landed them at the mouth
OF the creek"
"Sure, l remember. They was Nor
MONS
"No-vegetarians." Smoke grinned