Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1921-10-21
The Voice of the Pack |
By EDISON MARSHALL
Copyright 1920, by Little. Brown & Co

Copyright 1920. by Little. Brown & Go.
with n steel cable, but an ordinary
line or leader breaks like cubWeb.
When his majesty the steclhead takes
the fly and decides to run, II can he
learned after a time that the one
thing that may be done is to let out all
the line and with prayer and humble
ness try to keep up with him.
Dan no longer wore his glasses,
Every day his eyes had strengthened.
He could see more clearly now, With
his unaided eyes, than he had ever
seen before with the help Of the lens.
And the moonlight came down through
rift in the trees and showed than his
face had changed, too. il was no
longer so white. The eyes were more
intent. The lips We're strashtcr,
ITS been two months" Silas Len
nox told him, half the four that you
gave yourself after you arrived tere.
And you're twice as good now as when
| you came
Dan nodded. "Iwice! Ten times
as good l was a wreck when came.
Today ! climbed halfway up Baldy--
within a half mile OF Snowbird's cab
in-without stopping to rest"
Lennox looked thoughtful. More
than once, of late, Dan had climbed up
toward Snowbird's cabin. 1t was true
that his guest and his daughter had
become the best of companions In the
two months; but on second thought.
Lennox was not in the least afraid OF
complications. The love of the noun
tain women does not go out to phys
ica interiors. "Whoever gets her."
he had said, will have to tame her."
and his words still held good. The
mountain women rarely mistoOk ma
ternal tenderness for an appealing
man for love. II wasn't that Dan was
weak except from the ravages of his
disease; but he was still long way
from Snowbird's ideal. Although Dan
had courage and that same rigid self
control that was an old quality in his
breed, he was still long way from
II physically strong man. 1t was still
an even break whether he would ever
wholly recover from his malady.
But Dan was not thinking about
this now. All his perceptions had
sharpened down to the finest focal
. point, and he was trying to catch the
spirit Of the endless forest that
, stretched in front of the house. His
pipe had gone out. and for long time
Lennox hadn't spoken. He seemed to
N he straining too, with ineffective
senses. trying to recognize and name
the faint sounds that came so tingling
and tremulous out of the darkness As
always they heard the stir and rustic
\ of the gnawing people; the chipmunks
\ In the shrubbery. the gophers who,
i like blind misers. had ventured forth
4 from their dark burrows; and per
4 haps even the scaly glide of those
H most-dreaded poison people that had
n lairs in the rock piles.
H Dan felt that at last the wilderness
v itself was speaking to him. He hat
\ waited long time to hear its voice
| His thought went back to the wise
! men of the ancient world, waiting t.
hear the riddle of the universe from
the Hips Of the Sphinx, and how h
himself--more In his unconscious self
rather than consciOus-had sought thu
| eternal riddle of the wilderness. III
| had asked questions-never In tn
| form of words but only ineffabl
yearnings of his soul-and at last !
had responded. The strange risin
and falling song was its own voice, tn
1 articulation of the very heart and sou
of the wilderness.
4 "Its the wolf pack" Lennox tOl
him softly. 1.-THE wolves have jus
Joined together for the fall rutting
"Then this means the end of tn
summer?" Dan asked.
id I'm a way, but yet we don't cOuI
the summer ended until the rain
a. break. Heavens, wish they wOul
1T start! I've never seen the hills s
d. dry, and I'm afraid that either Be-
s. Cranston or some of his friends wi
a decide it's time to make a little moi
r. ey fighting forest fires Dan. I'm su
/. picious of that gang. l believe they,
st got regular arson ring, maybe wit
n INSCRIPTIONS stockmen behind ther
no and perhaps just penny-winning de-
pg Of their own. ! suppose you kno
rs about Landy Hildreth-how he's pror
ps Used to turn states evidence that wi
en- send about dozen of these vipers
KS the penitentiaryT'
al "Snowbird told me something abo