Gilpin observer., 1918-01-24


side.
By this time 1t was broad day, and
she breathed a sigh of relief when she
saw that the storm had passed. 1t was
bitterly cold. 1t seemed to her that
she had never known it to be so cold
in all her life. The fire was COM
pletely out. Kazan was huddled in
round ball, his nose tucked under his
body. He raised his head, shivering,
as Joan came out. With her heavily
moccasined foot Joan scattered the
ashes and charred sticks where the fire
fhad been. There was not spark left
In returning to the tent she stopped
for a moment beside KaZan, and pat
ted his shaggy head.
"Poor Wolff" she said. II wish 1
had given you one of the bearskins !"
She threw back the tent-fiap and
entered. For the first time she saw
her fathers face in the Highland out
side, Kazan heard the terrible moan
ing cry that broke from her lips. No
one could have looked at Pierre Raids
sons face once-and not have under
stood.
After that one agonizing cry Joan
flung herself upon her fathers breast,
sobbing so softly. that even Kazan's
sharp ears heard so sound. She re-
mained there in her grief until every
vital energy of womanhood and moth
erhood in her girlish body was reused
to action by the wailing cry Of baby
Joan. Their she sprang to her feet
| and ran out through the tent opening.
Kazan tugged at the end of his chain
to meet her, but she saw nothing of
him now. The terror of the wilderness
is greater than that of death. and in
an instant it had fallen upon Joan. 1t
was not because of fear for herself. 1t
was the baby. The wailing cries from
the tent pierced her like knife-thrusts.
And then, all at once, there came to
her what old Pierre had said the night
before-his words about the river the
| airholes, the home forty miles away.
| you couldn't lose yourself, JOAN" He
| had guessed what might happen.
She bundled the baby deep in the
| furs and returned to the fir bed. Her
one thought now was that they must
have fire. She made little pile of
birch bark, covered it with half-burned
hits of wood, and went into the tent
for the matches. Pierre Radisson car
ried them in a waterproof box in n
pocket of his bearskin coat. She
sobbed as she kneeled beside him
again, and obtained the box. AS the
fire flared up she added other bits of
wood, and then some of the larger
pieces that Pierre had dragged into
camp. The fire gave her courage.
Forty miles-and the river led to their
homel She must make that, with the
baby and Wolf. For the first time
she turned to him, and spoke his name
as she put her hand on his head. After
that she gave him a chunk of meat
which she thawed out over the fire,
and melted snow for tea. She was
not hungry, but she recalled how her
father had made her eat four or five
times day, SO she forced herself to
make breakfast of n biscuit, shred
of meat and as much hot tea as she
could drink.
The terrible hour she dreaded fol-
lowed that. She wrapped blankets
closely about her fathers body, and
tied them with babiche cord. After
that she piled all the furs and blan-
kets that remained on the sledge close
to the fire. and snuggled baby Joan
deep down In them. Pulling down the
tent was task. The ropes were stiff
and frozen. and when she had finished
one of her hands was bleeding. She
piled the tent on the sledge, and then,
half covering her face, turned and
looked back.
Pierre Radisson lay 6n HIS balsam
bed, with nothing over him now but
the gray sky and the spruce-tops. Ka-
zan stood stiff-legged and snifred the
air. His spine brlstled when Joan
went back slowly and kneeled beside
the blanket-wrapped object. When she
returned to him her face was white
and tense. and now there was strange
and terrible look in her eyes as she
stared out across the barren. She
put him in the traces, and fastened
about her slender waist the strap that
Pierre had used. Thus they struck
out for the river fioundering knee-deep
In the freshly fallen and drlfted snow
Halfway Joan stumbled in drift and
fell, her loose hair flying In simmer
Ing veil over the snow. With mighty
pull Kazan was at her side, and his
! cold muzzle touched her face az shs