The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1920-12-02


Never in all the history of Ills family,
so far as Dan knew, had there been q
death from the malady that afflicted
him. Yet his sentence was signed and
sealed.
But he harbored no resentment
against his mother. It was all in the
game. She had done what she thought
was best. And he began to wonder
in what way he could get the greatest
pleasure from his last six months O&
life.
"Good Lord p he suddenly breathed.
Il may not be here to see the SHOWS
Gomez Dan had always been partial
to the winter season. When the snow
lay all over the farm lands and bowed
down the limbs Of the trees, it had
always wakened a curious food of
feelings in the wasted man. It seemed
to him that he could remember other
winters, wherein the snow lay for end
less miles over an endless wilderness
and here and there were strange
lnany-toed tracks that could be. fol-
lowed in the icy dawns. But of course
it was just fancy. He wasn't in the
least misled about 1t. He knew that
he had never, in his lifetime, seea
the wilderness. OF course his grand
father had been frontiersman of thu
first order, and all his ancestors be.
fore h1T1a-a- rangy, hardy breed whose
wings would crumple in civilization
but he himself had always lived in
cities. Yet the falling SHOWS, soft and
gentle but with a kind Of remorseless-
ness he could sense but could not un-
derstand. had always stirred him.
He'd often imagined that he would
like to see the forests in winter.
In him you could see a reflection Of
the boy that played beside the pond
OF snow water, twenty years before.
His dark gray eyes we're still rather
large and perhaps the wasted flesh
around them made them seem larger
than they were. But 1t was q little
hard to see them, as he wore large
glasses. His mother had been sure,
years before, that he neeG9d glasses;
and she had easily found nm ocul1st
that agreed with her.
Now that he was alone ON the path.
the utter absence of color in his
cheeks was startling. That meant the
absence of red-that warm glow OF
the blood eager and alive in his
veins. Perhaps an observer would
have noticed lean hands, with big
knuckled fingers, rather firm mouth,
and closely cropped dark hair. He
was twenty-nine years Of age, but he
looked somewhat older. BE know now
that he was never going to be any
older. A doctor as sure Of himself as
the one he had just consulted couldn't
possibly be mistaken.
He sat down on park bench, JUGS
beneath the spreading limb of a greaF
tree. He would sit here, he thought
until he finally decided what he WOULD
do with his remaining six months.
He hadn't been able to go to- wan
The recruiting officer had been very
kind but most determined. The boys
had brought him great tales of France
1t might be nice to go to France and
live in some country inn until he died.
But he didn't have very long to think
upon this vein. For at that instant
the squirrel came Down to see If he had
q nut.
It was the squirrel Of Destiny. But
Dan didn't know it then.
Bushy-tan was not particularly
afraid of the human beings that
passed up and down the park, because
he had learned by experience that they
usually attempted no harm to him
But, nevertheless, he had his Instincts
He didn't entirely trust them. After
several generations, probably the
squirrels of this park would climb all
over it's visitors and sniff in their ears
and investigate the back Of their
necks. But this wasn't the way Of
Bushy-taiI. He had come too recent.
ly from the wild places. And he Won
aereds most intensely, whether tl1is
tall, fOrked creature had pocket full
Of nuts. He swung down on the
grass to see.
"Why, you little devil" Dan said
in a whisper. His eyes suddenly
sparkled with delight. And he forgot
all about the doctors words and hia
own prospects in his bitter regrets
that he had not brought a pocketful
of nuts.
And then Dan did a curious thing
Even later, he didn't know why he dld
it, or what gave him the idea that he
co,lld decoy the squirrel ZIP to him by
doing it. That was his Only purpose
Just to see how close the squirrel
would come to him. He thought he
would like to look into the bright eyes
at close range. All he did was sud-
denly to freeze into one position-m
an instant rendered as lnotionless az
the rather MISUNDERSTANDING stone
tain.