Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1918-01-11


tiers and were rushing the enh
joined the issue with his ride 49,. ne
and the hoary game of natural 's sa,,
ton was played out with ali tba s s.ss
lessness Of its printeyal enyirona au'n-
Rifle and ak went up ag5 down =.
missed with monotonous ree,,,a ~ or
1.-the bodies flashed with wild aUs
and dripping fangs, and mar sos
beast fought for supremacy To tbo s -.
terest conclusion. Then the ha.s. ~
brutes crept to the edge of tha &c
light. licking their wounds. vo,c;u-
their misery to the stars.
The whole stock Of dried salmon -,
been devoured, and perhaps five ponnS-
II flour remained to tide them oras
700 miles of wilderness. Ruth tnrnes
to her husband, while Malemuta IA
cut up the warm body of one of H.
dogs, the skull of which had hean
crushed by the ak. Every portion was
carefully put away, save the hide ana
offal, which were cast to his felloyvs
OF the moment before.
Morning brought fresh trouble The
animals were turning on each other
Can men, who still chung to her slender
thread of life, was downed by tho
pack. The lash fell among them mn.
needed. They cringed and cried under
the blows, but refused to scatter fin
the last wretched bit had disappeared
bones, hide, hair. everything.
Malemute Kid went about his WORK
listening to Mason. who was back
in Tennessee, delivering tangled dis.
courses and wild exhortations to his
brethren of other days.
Taking advantage of neighboring
pines, he worked rapidly, and Ruth
watched him make cache similar 10
those sometimes used by hunters to
preserve their meat from the wolyer-
ines and dogs. One after the other he
bent the tops of two small pines to-
ward each other and nearly to the
ground, making them fast with thongs
of moosehide.
Ruth had received her husbands last
wishes and made no struggle. Poor
girl! She had learned the lesson Of
obedience well. From a child she had
bowed and seen all women bow to the
lords of creation, and it did not seem
in the nature Of things for woman to
resist. The Kid permitted her one out
burst of grief as she kissed her nus
band-her own people had no such Gus
tom-then led her to the foremost sled
and helped her into her snowshoes.
2lindly, instinctively she took the gee
pole and whip and .'mushedp the dogs
out on the trail. Then the Kid return
ed to Mason, who had fallen into a CO.
ma, and long after she was out Of
sight, crouched by the fire, waiting.
hoping, praying for his comrade to lie.
It is not pleasant to be alone with
painful thoughts in the white silence.
The silence OF gloom is merciful,
shroudinG one as with protection and
breathing a thousand intangible SYM
pathies, but the bright white silence.
clear and cold, under steely skies, is
pitiless.
An hour passed, two hours, but the
man would not die. At high noon the
sun, without raising its rim above the
southern horizon, threw suggestion
of fire athwart the heavens, then quick
~ drew it back. Malemute Kid reused
and dragged himself tc his comrades
side. Ee cast one glance about him.
The white silence seemed to sneer, and
a great fear came upon him. There
was a sharp report, Mason swung into
his aerial sepulchre, and Malemute
Kid dashed the dogs into a wild gallOp
as he fed across the snow.