Vernon Parish Democrat. (Leesville, La.) 1917-193?, 1921-11-03
CHAPTER discontinued.

OUT, LennoX objected.
That leaves a workday Of nineteen
hours" Dan persisted. "Not any too
little. Five hours it will be-"
he found where the snow had drift
ed against a great, dead log, leaving
the white covering only a foot in
depth on the lee side. He began to
scrape the snow away, then hacked at
the log with his ak until he had pro-
cured piece Of comparatively dry
wood from its center They all stood
breathless while he lighted the little
pile of kindling and heaped It with
green wood-the only wood procur-
able. But it didn't burn freely. It
smoked f1tfully, 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 uninjured
arm tried to hack enough wood from
the saplings that Dan had cut to keep
-Su0 uEe 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-
plenished systems complained. There
is no better engine in the wide world
than the human body. 1t will stand
more neglect and abuse than the finest
steel motors ever made by the hands
of craftsmen. A man may fast many
days If 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 Snowbird's heart ached
when he tried to encourage her with
smile. 1t was a wan, strange smile
that couldn't quite hide the first sick
ness of despair.
The shadows quickly lengthened-
simply leaping over the snow from the
fast-falling sun. The twilight Deep
ened, the snow turned gray, and then,
in a vague way, the Journey began to
partake of quality of unreallty. II
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. 1t was Just
that their whole effort seemed like
some dreadful, unburdened journey in
a dream-a stumbling advance under
difficulties too many and real to be
true
The first sign was the far-ofe cry
of the wolf pack. It was very faint,
simply a stir in the eardrums, vet II
was entirely clear. That clear, cold
mountain air was a perfect telephone
system, conveying a message distinct
ly, 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 It
was not exactly the cry they had
heard before.
They couldn't have told Just why,
even. If they had wished to talk about
It. In some dim way, It had lost the
strange quality Of despair it had held
before. 1t was as If the pack were
running with renewed life, that each
wolf was calling to another with a
dreadful sort Of exultatiOn. It was an
excited cry, tOO-nOt the long, sad
song they had learned to listen for. Il
sounded Immediately behind them.
They couldn't help but listen. No
auman ears could have shut out the
nut 90
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 a long time, as the darkness 4
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.
smiling into her eyes. Lennox lay as
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. It was that old
est Of wilderness songs, the hunting
cry-that frenzied song of blOod-lust
that the wolf pack utters when 1t is
cumming on the trail Of game. 1t had
found the track Of living flesh at last.
There's no use stopping or trying
to climb a tree" Dan told them sim
ply. "In the FIRST place, Lennox can't
do it. In the second, we've got to take
chance-fOr cold and hunger can get
up a tree where the wolf pack can't"
He spoke wholly without emotion.
Once more he frightened the traces Of
the sled,