The Tomahawk., 1918-01-10


been divided equally between them.
They guarded their separate sacks.
stored up in the cache, with Jealous
eyes, for there were but few cupfuls
left. and they were totally devoid of
faith in each other. But'One day Cuth-
fert made a mistake. Hardly able to
move, sick with pain, with his head.
swimming and eyes blinded, he crept
into the cache, sugar canister in hand,
and mistook Weatherbee's sack for his
own.
January had been born but few
days when this occurred. The sun had
some time since passed its lowest
southern declination and at meridian
now threw Haunting streaks of yellow
light upon the northern sky. On the
day following his mistake with the
sugar bag Cuthfert found himself feel
ing better both in body and in spirit.
AS nOOntime drew near and the day
frightened he dragged himself outside
to feast on the evanescent glow, which
was to him an earnest of the suns 'fu-
ture intentions. Weatherbee was also
out beside him. They propped them
selves in the snow beneath the move
less wind vane and waited.
The stiffness Of death was about
them. In other climes when nature
falls into such moods there is a SUBJ
Gued air Of expectancy, a waiting for
some small voice to take up the broken
strain. Not so in the north. The two
men had lived seeming aeons in this
ghostly peace. They could remember
no song of the past; they could conjure
no song of the future. This unearthly
calm had always been-the tranquil
silence Of eternity.
Their eyes were fixed upon the
north. Unseen. behind their ba cks, be-
hind the towering mountains to the
south, the sun swept toward the zenith
of another sky than theirs. Sole spec
tators of the mighty canvas, they
watched the false dawn slowly grow.
A faint fame began to glow and
shoulder. 1t deepened in intensity,
ringing the changes of reddish yellow,
purple and saffron. So bright did it
become that Cuthfert thought the sun
must surely be behind it-a miracle,
the sun rising in the north! Suddenly,
without warning and without fading
the canvas was swept clean. There
was no color in the sky. The light
had gone out of the day. They caught
their breaths in half sobs. But, 10,
the air was a-glint with particles of
scintillating frost, and there, to the
north, the wind vane lay in vague
outline on the snow! A shadow! A
shadow! It was exactly midday. They
jerked their heads hurriedly to the
south. A golden rim peeped over the
mountains snowy shoulder, smiled
upon them an instant, then dipped
from sight again.
There were tears in their eyes as
they sought each other. A strange
sOftening came over them. They felt
irresistibly drawn toward each other.
The sun was coming back again. 1t
would be with them tomorrow and the
next day and the next And it would
stay longer every visit, and time
would come when it would ride their
heaven day and night, never once drop
ping below the sky line. There would
be no night. The ice locked winter
would be broken; the winds would
blow and the forests answer; the land
would bathe in the blessed sunshine
and life renew. Hand in hand they
would quit this horrid dream and jour-
ney back to the southland. They
lurched blindly forward, and their
hands NEITHER poor MANNED hands,
swollen and distorted beneath their
mittens.
But the promise was destined to re-
main unfnlfllled. The northland is the
northland, and men work out their
souls by strange rules, which other
men who have not journeyed into far
countries cannot come to understand.
An hour later Cuthfert put a pan of
bread into the oven and fell to specu-
lating on what the surgeons could do
with his feet when he got back. Home
did not seem so very far away now.
Weatherbee was rummaging in the
cache. OF a sudden he raised a whirl-
wind of blasphemy, which in turn
ceased with startling abruptness. The
other man had robbed his sugar sack.
Still, things might have happened diff
ferently had not the two dead men
come out from under the stones and
hushed the hot words in his throat.
They led him quite gently from the
cache, which he forgot to close. That
consummation was reached; that some
thing they had whispered to him in
his dreams was about to happen. They
guided him gently, very gently, to the
woodpile. where they put the Ak in
his hands. Then they helped him
shove open the cabin door, and he felt
sure they shut it after him-at least
he heard it slam and the latch fall
sharply into place. And he lew they
were waiting just without, waiting for
him to do his task.
'Carter! I say, Carter!"
Percy Cnthfprf waS frightened 0t