The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1916-03-02
Look" sh cried. "a snowbird!

Look" sh cried. "a snowbird! I,
Is good sign
There was no evidence of the young
men. Either they had died on the 9th
er side of the divide or had turned
back.
There was SO little food that they
dared not eat a tithe of what they
needed, and in the days that followed,
wandering through the lone mountain
land, the sharp sting of life grew blunt
ed. ana the wandering merged half
into a dream. Smoke would become
abruptly conscious to find himself star.
ing at the never ending hated snow.
peaks, his senseless babble still ringing
Ill his ears. And the next he would
know, after seeming centuries, was
that again he was reused to the sound
OF his own maunderings. Labiskwee,
too, was light headed most of the time,
Came a day when it turned cold and
a thick snow, that was not snow, but
| frost crystals of the size Of grains of
sand began to fall. For three DAYS
and nights it continued to fall. 1t was
impossible to travel until it crusted un-
DER the spring sun, SO they lay in their
1urs and rested and ate less because
they rested. So small was the ration
they permitted that it gave no appease.
ment to the hunger pang that was
much of the stomach. but more of the
brain. And Labiskwee. delirious. mad.
deiled by the taste of her tiny portion,
sobbing and mumbling, fell upon the
next days portion and crammed it into
her mouth.
Then it was given to Smoke to see a
wonderful thing. The food between
her teeth reused her to consciousness.
She spat it out and with great anger
struck herself with her clinched fist on
the offending mouth.
1t was given to Smoke to see many
wonderful things in the days vet to
come. After the long snowfall came
on great wind that drove the dry
and tiny frost particles us sand is driv-
ell i'll sandStorm- All through the
night the sand frost drove by. and in
the full light of clear and wind
blown day Smoke looked with SWIM
ming eyes and reeling brain upon what
he took to be the vision of dream.
All about lowered great peaks, and
from the tip of every peak. swaying.
undulating. fiaring out broadly against
the azure sky. streamed gigantic snow
banners. miles in length. milky and
nebuioSs, ever waving lights and shad-
ows and flashing silver from the sun.
Labiskwee sat up among the flirs.
Il dream, Labiskwee,' he said,
Look. Do you. too. dream within nv
dream?"
1T is no dream" she replied This
have the old men told me. And after
tits will blow the warm winds. and
we shall live and win west
+ Smoke shot snowbird. and they
divided it. Once. in valley where
WILLOWS budded standing in the snow.
he shot Il snowshoe rabbit Another
time he got lean white weasel.
ut is summer in the lower valleys"
said Labiskwee. '.Soon will it be sum
mer here"
The days heightened. and the snow
began to sink. Each day the crust
thawed, each night it froze again. and
they Were afoot early and late. being
compelled to camp and rest during the
midday hours of thaw when the crust
could not bear their weight. When
Smoke grew snow blind Labiskwee
towed him on thong tied to her
waist And when she was so blinded
she was toWed by thong to his waist.
And, starving. in a deeper dream, they
struggled on through an awakening
land bare Of any life save their own.
The time came when the last food
was gone. The high peaks receded.
the divides became lower. and the way
opened promisingly to the west. But
their reserves Of strength were gone.
and, without food. the time quickly fol-
lowed when they lay down at night
and in the morning did not arise.
Smoke weakly gained his feet col
lapsed and on hands and knees crawl
ed about the building of fire. But.
try as she would, Labiskwee sank back
each time in an extremity of weak
ness. And Smoke sank down beside
her. wan sheer on his face for the
automatism that had made him strug-
gle for an unneeded fire. There was
nothing to cook, and the day was
warm