Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1921-05-28
CHAPTER iI--continued.

And we'll try to get five hours sleep.
TOO long, If we're going to make !
out" Lennox objected.
THAT leaves a workday of nineteen
hours Dan persisted "Not any to,
little. Five hours II will be-"
He found where the snow had drift
ed against great, dead log. leaving
the white covering only foot Ii
depth on the lee side He began Il
scrape the snow away. then hacked al
the log with his ak until he had pro
cured a piece OF comparatively dry
wood from its center They all stood
breathless while he lighted the little
pile of kindling and heaped 1t with
green w00d--the only wood procur-
able. But 1t didn't burn freely. 1t
smoked fitfully, threatening to die out,
and emitting very little heat.
But they didn't particularly care.
The sun was warm above, as always
In the mountain winters of southern
Oregon. Snowbird and Dan cleared
spaces beside the fire and slept Len
nox, who had rested on the journey,
lay on his sled and with his unlnjured
arm tried 10 hack enough wood from
the saplings that Dan had cut to keep
the fire burning.
AT three they got up, still tired and
aching In their bones from exposure
Twenty-four hours had passed since
they had tasted food, and their unre-
plenisbed systems complained. There
is no better engine In the wide world
than the human body. It will stand
more neglect and abuse than the finest
steel motors ever made by the hands
of craftsmen. A man may fast many
days II he lies quietly In one place
and keeps warm. But fasting Is a
deadly proposition while pulling
sledges over the snow.
Dan was less hopeful now. His face
told what his words did not. The
lines cleft deeper about his lips and
eyes; and Snowblrd's heart ached
when he tried to encourage her with
smile. 1t was wan, strange smile
that couldn't quite hide the first sick
ness of despair.
The shadows quickly heightened
simply ieaping over the snow from the
fast-falllng sun. The twilight deep
ened, the snow turned gray, and then,
in vague way, the journey began to
partake Of quality of unreality. 1t
was not that the cold and the snow
and their hunger were not entirely
real. or that the wilderness was no
longer naked to their eyes. II was Just
that their whole effort seemed like
some dreadful. unburdened journey in
dream--a stumbling advance under
difficulties too many and real to be
true.
The first sign vas the far-off cry
OF the wolf pack. IT was very faint,
simply stir In the eardrums, yet It
was entirely clear. That clear. cold
mountain air was perfect telephone
system, conveying message distinct
iy. no matter how family. There
were no tall buildings or cities to dis
turb the ether waves. And all three
of them knew at the same instant 1t
was not exactly the cry they had
heard before.
They couldn't have told just why,
even II they had wished to talk about
1t. In some dim way, 1t had lost the
strange quality of despair 1t had held
before II was as If the pack were
running with renewed life, that each
wolf was calling to another with
dreadful sort Of exultatlon. 1t was an
excited cry, too-not the long, sad
song they had learned to listen for. 1t
sounded Immediately behind them.
They couldn't help but listen. No
human ears could have shut out the
sound. But none of them pretended
that they had heard. And this was the
worst sign of all. Each one of the
three was hoping against hope In his
very heart; and at the same time, hop
Ing that the others did not understand.
For long time, as the darkness
deepened about them, the forests were
still. Perhaps, Dan thought, he had
been mistaken after all. His shoulders
Strengthened. Then the chorus blared
again.
The man looked back at the girl,
t,,kn 4 10
if asleep, the lines of his dark face
curiously pronounced. And the girl,
because she was of the mountains,
body and soul, answered Dams smile.
Then they knew that all of them knew
the truth. Not even an inexperienced
ear could have any delusions about
the pack song now. 1t was that old
est OF wilderness songs, the hunting
cry--that frenzied song of blood-lust
that the wolf pack utters when 1t is
running on the trail Of game. 1t had
found the track of Lying flesh at last.
"There's no use stopping, or trying
to climb tree" Dan told them sim.
ply. "In the first place, Lennox can't
do It. In the second, we've got TO take
chancellor cold and hunger can get
up tree where the wolf pack can't"
He spoke wholly without emotion.
Once more he frightened the traces Of
the sled.
"I've heard that sometimes the pack
will chase man for days without at
lacking" Lennox told them. "It all
Aa..s.a. - how lnnn fhnulrn NINA