Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1921-06-04
cuaprER li-continued.

"wbat else can you 40! ne "eh'
-. tic traces and drew the sled
I0o Yards farther. He didn't seem TO
800 .ho oauDt wolf that backed OH
info the shadows as he approacieu'
Ia rosrsad TO notice that the pack
soon,od 70 be steadily growing bolder'
HUMAN hunters usually had guns that
corld blast and destroy from as
tance. hut even an animal ihtehi-
pence could perceive that these three
soemed 10 be without this means OF
nfiicting death.
,,oif &c ever so much more intelli-
gent than a crow-yet crow SHOWS
ittIe fear of an unarmed man and is
wholly unapproachable by a boy with
a pnn The ugly truth was simply that
In their increasing madness and ex-
citement and hunger, they were becom-
Ing less and less fearful of these three
strange humans with the sled.
1t was not a good place for camp.
They worked a long time before they
cleared a little patch of ground of its
snow mantle. Dan cut a number of
sanlings-laboriously with his ax-and
built fire with the comparatively
dry core of dead tree. True, 1t was
feeble and pickering, but as good as
could be hoped for, considering the
difficulties under which he worked.
The dead logs under the snow were
soaked with water from the rains and
thaws. The green wood that he cut
smoked without blazing.
mo more time to be lost" Dan told
Snowbird. ut lies In your hands to
keep the fire burning. And don't leave
the circle of the fire light without
that pistol in your hand"
you don't mean," she asked, unbe-
lieving, that you are going to go out
there to fight Cranston-unarmed?
"0f course, Snowbird. You must
keep the pistol"
But it means death; that's all it
means. What chance would you have
against a man with a rifle? And as
soon as you get away from this fire,
the wolves will tear you to pieces"
And what would you and your ia
Their do, if / took 1t? You can't get
him into a tree. You can't build a
big enough fire to brighten them.
Please don't even talk about this mat
ter, Snowbird. My minds made up. l
think the pack will stay here. They
usually-God knows how-know who
is helpless and who isn't Maybe with
the gun, you will be able to save your
lives"
What's the chance of that?"
you might-with one cartridge
kill one of the devils; and the others
but you know how they devour their
own dead. That might break their
famine enough so that they'd hold off
until 1 can get back. That's the prize
I'm playing for"
And what If you don't get backT
He took her hand in one of his and
with the other he caressed for sin
gle moment, the lovely flesh Of her
throat. The love he had for her spoke
from his eyes-such speech as no hui
man vision could possibly mistake
Both of them were tingling and breath
less with a great, sweet wonder
Never let those fangs tear that
softness, while you live" he told here
gently. Never let that brave old man
on the sled go to his death with the
pack tearing at him. Cheat EN-
SnOwbirdi Beat 'em the last minute
If no other way remains Show EN-
who's boss, after all-of all this Tor
est"
"You mean-?" Her eyes wldened
II mean that you must only spend
one of those three shells in fghtihg
off the wolves. Save that till the mo-
ment you need 1t most. The o'ler
two must be saved-for something
else"
She nodded, shuddering an inslan,
at menacing shadow that moVeu
within 60 feet Of the fire.
"Then goodby, DAM" she told MN
And she stretched up her arms me
thing l said--that day on the hlilsiue
doesn't hold any more"
His own arms encircled her, but ne
made no effort to claim her lips Len
nox watched them quietly; IN tIis
moment OF crisis not even pretending
to look away. Dan shook his heau 10
her entreating eyes. at isn't JUST
kiss, darling" he told her soberIy' ~
goes deeper than that. It's a syihDol,
1t was your word, too, and mine' anu
words can't be broken, things being DIS
they are. Can't / make you uhuef-
standT
She nodded. His eyes burned, feF-
haps she didn't understand, as far as
actual functioning of the brain was
concerned. But she reached up 10
him. as women-knowing life IN lhe
concrete rather than the abstract
have always reached up to men anu
she dimly caught the CLEAN Oh solne
eternal principle and right behlllu n''
words. This strong man of the noun
tains had given his word, had Deen
witness to her own promise 10 nm
and to herself, and law that sV's
down to the roots of life preVel'e'
him from claiming the kiss.
Many times, since the worlo "%s
new, comfort-happiness LIE '.seI
have h-oo ooptinoant IN thp nrcaklut