The Jasper news., 1921-06-09
CHAPTER I--contInued.

Wutu In6 uuut u CNCA
snow, he learned to walk on snow
shoes. At first there were paineo
ankles and endless fioundering In the
drifts. But between the fall OF fresn
snow and the thaws that softened the
crust, he slowly mastered the art
Snowbird-and Dan never realized tno
full significance of her name unth no
saw her flying with incredible grace
over the snow-Iaughed at him at hrst
and ran him races that would usuans
end In his falling headflrst into ten
foot snowbank. She taught him now
to ski and more than once she Wouiu
stop in the middle Of an earnest DIT
Of pedagogy to find that he wasn't us
tening at oil. He would seem 10 DO
fairly devouring her with his eyes, oe
lighting In the play Of soft plnks anu
reds In her cheeks. and drinking. as
man drinks wine, the amazing chahSe
of light and shadow In her eyes,
She seemed to blossom under MS
gaze. Not one of those short winter
days went by without the discovery
OF some new trait or little vanity 10
astonish or delight him-sometimes
an unlooked-for tenderness toward the
weak, often a sweet, untained phiios-
ophy Of life. or perhaps just lower
ing of her eyelids In which her eyes
would show lustrous through the
lashes, or some sweeping, exuDerant
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 ana
bacons, dried venison, sacks OF pota-
toes and evaporated vegetables, and,
of course. canned goods past count
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 a thing Of Ice Itself over the
snow, he began to wonder how the
wild creatures who wintered on the
Divide were faring. OF course mort
OF them we're gone. Woof, long since,
had grunted and mumbled his way
into a winter lair. But the wolves re-
mained, 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 OF
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 ne 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
cave. II carries him back, and ht
knows the wilderness as 1t really Is
and to have such knowledge dries NJ
all inclination to talk, as a spong'
dries water. OF course the pictur'
isn't entirely plain. 1t is more thin
guessed at, a photograph In some darl
part of an under-consciousness tina
has constantly grown more dim as tn
centuries have passed. Possibly some
IlIuc IL VIII luuC Out ditObClhCAs uil
then man may continue to discus
the weather while the Song from tn
ridge shudders In at the windows. Blu
the world will be quite cold by theE
and no longer particularly interesting
And possibly even the wolves then
selves will then be tanned to play dea
and speak pieces-which means tn
wilderness itself will be tanned. Fo
as long as the wild lasts, the pack wi
run through It in the winter. The
were here in the beginning, and
spite of constant war and constar
hatred on the part OF men, they wi
be here in the end. The reason is tuI
that they nre the symbol of the wi
derness Itself, and the Idea Of It col
tinuing to exist without them
stranger than that Of a nation withoV
q flag.
II wasn't quite the same song thi
Dan had listened to in the first da!
Of fall. 1t had been triumphant the
and proud with the wilderness prid
OF course It had been sad then. to
but II was more sad now. And II vi
stranger, too, and crept farther in
the souls of its listeners. 1t was d
song of strength that couldn't aVi
against the snow, possibly OF cold al
the despair and courage OF starvatiO
These three that heard 1t were lnur
TO the wilderness; but a moment W
always needed after its last note h
died to regain their gayety.
They're getting lean and they
getting savage" Lennox said o
night, stretched on his divan befC