The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1921-06-23
CHAPTER CONTINUED.

@bONs NV NNAhNN 90 Dh iAC
shoes. At first there were panied
ankles and endless foundering In the
drifts. But between the fall of fresh
snow and the thaws that softened the
crust, he slowly mastered the art.
Snowbirdtr-and Dan never realized the
full significance OF her name until he
saw her Tying with Incredible grace
over the snow-laughed at him at first
and ran him races that would usually
end In his falling headfirst INTO a ten
foot ~snowbank. She taught him how
10 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 hlm-sometimes
an u~nlooked-for tenderness toward the
weak. often a sweet, untained philos-
ophy Of life. or perhaps just a lower
ing OF her eyelids in which her eyes
would show lustrous through the
lashes. or some sweeping, exuberant
gesture startlIngly graceful.
Lennox Weakened one morning with
the realization that this was n of
the hardest winters of his experience.
He began to be very glad of the abun-
dans stores Of pi DIVISIONS that over
crowded his pantry-savory hams and
bacons, dried y%enison. sacks of pota-
toes and evaporated vegetables, and,
of course, canned goods past count
ing. With the high fire roaring In the
lgrate, the season held no Ills for them.
But sometimes, when the bitter cold
came down at twilight, and the moon
looked like a thing Of Ice itself over the
snow, he began to wonder how the
divide were farlng. OF course most
OF them were gone. Wool, 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 a 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 IN some
distant ridge. Sometime. when the
world Is old. possibly a man viii be
barn 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 a 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
land to have such knowledge dries up
all inclination to talk, as a o n
ldries water. OF course the picture
isn't entirely plain. 1t Is more a thing
Guessed at, a photograph In some dark
part Of en- under-consciousness that
has constantly grown more dim as the
centuries have passed. Possibly some
time II will fade out altogether; and
then a man may continue to discuss
the weather while the Song from the
ridge shudders In at the windows. But
the world viii be quite cold by then,
and no longer particularly interesting.
land possibly even the wolves them
selves viii then be tanned 70 play dead
and speak pieces-whlch means the
wilderness Itself will be tanned. For
MS long as the wild lasts. the pack Will
/ run through It In the winter. They
were here In the beginning. and IN
spite OF constant war and constant
hatred on the part of men, they viii
be here In the end. The reason is Just
that they are the symbol OF the VIII
derness itself. and the idea OF It con-
~tinuing TO exist without them Is
stranger than that Of a nation without
q flag.
II wasn't quite the same song tnat
Dan had listened to In the first days
Of fall. II had been triumphant then,
and proud with the wilderness pride
EtOf course 1t had been sad then, TOO
but Ii was more sad now. And II was
stranger, too, ard crept farther INTO
the souls OF Its listeners. II was the
song OF strength that couldn't avail
against the snow, possibly of cold and
! the despair and courage Of starvation.
These three that heard It were Injured
/ TO the wilderness; but a momens was
always needed after Its last Q { q
died to regain their gayety.
They're getting lean and they're
Retting savage" Lennox said one
night, stretched on his divan before
the fireplace. He was still unable 70
walk ; but the fractures were knitting
slowly and the doctor had promised
that the summer would find him well.
isrf we had q dog. \ wouldn't ofrer
much Cor his life. One Of these days
ven 6nd 'em In a big circle around
the house-4and then wen have 70
open up with the rifles"
But this picture appalled, neither 81
his two young listeners. No wolf PACK
can stand against three marksmen'
armed with rifles and behind oaken