The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1919-03-07

chief bone Of contention, the sugar, had
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 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 a 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 fl-
ture intentions. Weatherbee was also
feeling somewhat better and crawled
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 chimes when nature
falls into such moods there is a sub
dued 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 flame 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 tia 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. It
would be with them tomorrow and the
next day and the next. And it would
stay longer every visit, and a time
would come when 1t 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
blaw and the forests answer; the land
would battle 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 unfulfilled. 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 aater Cuthfert put 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 sudden he raised 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.
'erently had not the two dead men
,ome out from under the stones and
lushed the hot words in his throat.
They led him quite gently from the
ache, which he forgot to close. That
was reached; that some
hing they had whispered to him in
lis dreams was about to happen. They
'uided him gently, very gently, to the
voodpile, where they put the az in
lis hands. Then they helped him
hove open the cabin door, and he felt
ure they shut II after him-at least
le heard 1t slam and the latch fall
harply into place. And he knew they
al -