American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1921-05-13


Again the wilderness reminded them
OF Its might, and their brave spirits
were almost broken by the utter re.
morselesSness of the blow, The girl
went on her face with a crack Of wood.
Her snow shoe had been cracked by
her fall OF the day before, when run.
ming TO the fire, and whether she
struck some other obstruction In the
snow, or whether the cracked wood
had simply given way under her
weight, mattered not wen enough for
them to investigate. AS in all great
disasters, only the result remained.
The result In this case was that her
smowshoe, without which she could moi
walk at all in the snow, was irrepara'
bly, broken.
Fate has stacked the cards against
us" Lennox told them. after the first
moments horror from the broken
snowshoe.
But no one answered him. The girl,
~white-faced, kept her wide eyes OF
Dan. He seemed to be peering into the
shadows beside the trail, as II he were
watching for the gray forms that now
and then glided from tree to tree. In
reality, he was not looking for wolves.
He was gazing down into Ills W soul,
measuring his owl spirit for the trial
that lay before him.
The girl, unable to step with the
broken ~snowshoe, rested her weight on
one foot and hobbled like a bird with
broken wings across to him. No sight
OF all this terrible journey had been
more dreadful In her fathers eyes
than this. II seemed to split open
the strong heart Of the man. She
touched her hand to his arm.
"Tm sorry, Dam" she told him. "you
tried so hard"
Just one little sound broke from his
throat-a strange, deep gasp that
could not be suppressed, Then he
caught her hand In his and kissed it
again and again. DO you think l care
about that?" he asked her. II only
wish | could have done more-and
what have done doesn't count. Just
as In my fight with Cranston, nothing
counts because | didn't win. It's just
fate, Snowbird. It's no ones fault, but
maybe, in this world, nothing Is ever
anyone's fault" For In the twilight OF
those winter woods, I'm the shadow of
death itself, perhaps he was catching
glimmerlngs of eternal truths that are
hidden from all but the most far-see-
ing eyes.
And this is the endr she asked
him. She spoke very bravely.
moi" His hand frightened on hers.
mo, so long as an ounce of strength
remains. To hght-never to give up
may God give me spirit for II till I
die"
And this was no idle prayer. His
eyes raised to the starry sky as he
spoke.
but, son." Lennon asked him rath-
er quietly, "what can you dor The
wolves aren't going to wait a great
deal longer, and we can't go on"
There's one thing more-one more
trial 10 make" Dan answered. ~
thought about II at first, but II vas too
long a chance to try If there was any
other way. And ! suppose you thought
OF II too"
Overriding CranstonT
"Of curse. And It sounds like a
crazy dream. But listen, both OF you.
If we have got TO die, up here In the
snow-and II looks like we had-what
Is the thing you want done worst be-
fore we gof"
Lennox's hands clasped, and he
leaned forward on the sled. "Pay
Cranstoni !" he said.
"Yesl" Dams voice rang. "Crans-
toms eve going to be paid unless we
do 1t. There will be no signs Of In
cendiarlsn at the house, and no
proofs. They'll find our bodies In the
snow, and wen just be a mystery,
with no n made to pay. The evil
dence in my pocket will be taken by
Cranston, some time this winter. If l
don't make him'pay, he never will pay.
And that's n reason why I'm going
to try to carry out this plan I've got.
"The second reason is that it's the
n hope we have left I take II that
none OF us are deceived on that point.
And no man can die tamely--lf he is
a man-while there's a chance. | mean
a young man, like me-not one who is
old and tired. II sounds perfectly silly
to talk about finding Cranston's win
ter quarters. and then, with my bare
hands, conquering him, taking his food
and his blankets and his snowshoes
and his rifle, to fight AWAY these
wolves, and bringing EN- back here"
you wouldn't be barehanded," the
girl reminded him. you could have
the pistol"
He didn't Y seem 20 hear her.
I've been thinking about It. It's a
long, long c~hance-much worse than
the chance we had OF getting out by
straight walking. ! think we could
have made II. II the wolves had kept
on and the snowshoe hadn't broken.
II would have nearly killed US, hut I
believe we could have got out. That's
why ] didn't try this other way FIRST.