The Elk Mountain pilot., 1921-01-13


pleasant subjects. 1t was true that he
read the documents over twice as he
lay in bed. Then he tied them into
neat packet and put them away where
they would be quickly available. Then
he thrust his head out of the window
and let the great snowflakes sift down
upon his face. 1t was winter at last.
the season that he loved.
He didn't stir from the house that
drst day of the storm. Snowbird and
he found plenty of pleasant things to
do and talk about before the roaring
fire that he built in the crate. He was
glad of the great pile of wood that
lay outside the door. 1t meant life it.
self, in this season. Then Snowbird
led him to the windows, and they
watched the white drifts pile up over
die low underbrush.
When finally the snowstorm ceased,
ave days later, the whole face Of the
wilderness was changed. The buck
crush was mostly covered, the fences
were out of sight; the forest seemed
a clear, clean sweep of white, broken
only by an occasional tall thicket and
oy the great, snow-covered trees.
When the clouds blew away, and
the air grew clear, the temperature
began to fall. Dan had no way of
knowing how low 1t went. Thermome-
ters were not considered essential at
the Lennox home But when his eye
lids CONCEALED with the frost. and his
mittens froze to the logs of firewood
that he carried through the door, and
the pine trees exploded and cracked in
the darkness, he was correct in his
belief that it was very. very cold.
But he loved the cold. and the 81
Ience and austerity that went with it.
The wilderness claimed him as never
before. The rugged breed that were
his ancestors had struggled through
such seasons as this and passed love
of them down through the years to
him.
When the ice made crust over the
snow, he learned to walk on snow
shoes. At first there were panied
ankles and endless floundering in the
drifts. But between the fall of fresh
snow and the thaws that softened the,
Snowbird-and Dan never realized the
full significance of her name until he
saw her flying with incredible grace
over the snow-laughed at him at first
and ran him races that would usually
end in his falling headfirst into ten
foot snowbank. She taught him how
to ski and more than once she would
stop in the middle of an earnest bit
Of pedagogy to find that he wasn't lis
tening at all. He would seem to be
fairly devouring her with his eyes. de-
lighting in the play Of soft pinks and
reds in her cheeks, and drinking, as a
man drinks wine. the amazing change
of light and Shadow in her eyes.
She seemed to blossom under his
gaze. Not one of those short winter
days went by without the discovery
of some new trait or. little vanity to
astonish or delight him-sometimes
an unlooked-for tenderness toward the
weak, often sweet, untained philos-
ophy of life, or perhaps just lower
ing of her eyelids in which her eyes
would show Iustrous through the
lashes, or some sweeping. exuberant
gesture startlingly graceful.
Lennox wakened one morning with
the realization that this was one of
the hardest winters of his experience.
He began to be very glad of the abun-
dant stores of provisions that over
crowded his pantry-savory hams and
bacons, dried venison, sacks of pota-
toes and evaporated vegetables. and.
% =
Ing. With the high fire roaring in the
crate. the season held no ills for them.
But sometimes, when the bitter cold
came down at twilight, and the moon
looked like thing of ice itself over the
snow. he began to wonder how the
wild creatures who wintered on the
Divide were faring. OF course most
of them were gone. Woof. long since.
had grunted and mumbled his way
into a winter lair. But the wolves re-
manned, strange gray shadows on the
snow, and possibly n few of the
harder smaller creatures.
More than once in those long win
ter nights their talk was chopped off
short by the song of the pack on some
distant ridge. Sometime. when the
world is old. possibly a man will be
born that can continue to talk and
keep his mind on his words while the
wolf pack sings. But he is certainly
an unknown quantity today. The cry
sets in vibration curious memory
chords. and for moment the listener
sees in his minds eye his ancient
home in an ancient world-Darkness
and Fear and Eyes shining about the
cave. 1t carries him back, and he
knows the wilderness as it really is;
and to have such knowledge dries up
MI inclination to talk, as sponge
.lres water. OF course the picture
'm'' entirely plain. IT is more thing