The daily Alaskan., 1922-04-25

Ere wSs only ScEN cOnmn or white smoke. sIt became increasingly diff cult to swing the ax. The trail was almost at It's end.
 The afterla!dnlght hours drew one by one across the face of the wilder ness, anG she thought that the deep enlng cold preSaged dawn. Her fn- gers were numb.
 Once more she went to one of the saplings, but she stumbled and almost went 10 her face at the first blow. IL was the instant that her gray watch CTS had been waiting for. The wolf that stood nearest leaped-a gray streak out of the shadow-and every wolf in the pack shot forward with a yell. IL was a short, eXPeCtant cry; but 1t chopped of short For with a half-soh, and seemingly without men, tai process, she aimed her pistol and fired,
 A fast-leaping wolf Is one of the most difficult pistol targets that can be imagined. It bordered on the miracu- Ions that she did not miss him alto Cether. Her nerves were torn, their control over her muscles largely gone. Yet the bullet courscd down through the lungs, iufictIng a mortal wound. The wolf had leaped for her throat; but he fell short. She staggered from A blow, and she heard a curious sound fin the region of her hip But she didn't know that the fangS had gone home in her soft flesh. The wolf rolled on the ground; and If her pistol had possessed the shocking power Of a rifle. he would have never got up again. AS It was, he shriekcd once, then sped or In the darkness 10 die. Five or six Of the nearest wolves catching the smell of his blood. bayed and sped after him.
 But the remainder of the great pack
 fully l5 of the gray. gaunt creatures came stealing across the snow to- ward her. White fangs had gone home; and a new madness was in the air.
 l
 Straining into the silence a perfect ] lv straight line between CranSton's camp and Snowhird'S, Dan Failing | came muShiug across the snow. His | sense Of direction had never been ! obliged 10 stand such a test as this 1 before. Suowhrds fire was single dot on vast plateau; yet he had gone ! straight toward it.
 / He was riskiug everything for the I sake of speed. He gave no heed to the fallen timber that might have torn the ! web of his snow shoes to ShredS. Be- cause he shut ouu an thought of lt, he i bud no feeling of fatigue. The fight with Crunston had been a frtghtful strain on muscle and nerve; but he scarcely remembered it now. Ills ! whole purpose was t0 return to Snow { bird before the wolves lost the last or their cowardice.
 1 The jerked vcnl~on that he had munched had brought him back much ! of his strength. He was wholly uncon- scIous of his heavy pack. Never did ne glide SD swiftly, so softly, with such merrfng step; and It was noth- l mg more or less than perfect express | sion of the irOn-clad control that his steel nerves had over his muscles.
 Then. through the silence, he heard
 the shout of the pack as the wolf had
 Ieaped at Snowbird He knew what 1t | meant The wolves were attacking
 then, and a great flood of black, hating bitterness poured over him al the
 thought he had been too late. II had all been in vain, and before the thought could fully go home. he heard the dim,
 tar-OfC crack of a pistol.
 Was that the first of the three shots,
 the one she might eNpend on the ! wolves, or had the first two already ] been spent and was she taking the last : gateway of escape? Perhaps even now LennOx was lying still on the sled, and she was standing before the ruin of
 her fire, praying that her soul might have wings. He Shouted with all the power of his lungs across the snow. But Snowbird only heard the soft ! glide of the wolves in the snow. The
 wind was blowing toward Dan; and
 while he had heard the loud chorus of the pack. one of the most far-carrying cries, and the penetrating crack of a pistol. she couldn't hear his answering shout. In fact. the wilderness seemed i prctenaturaiIy still. All was breath less, heary with suspense, and she stood, just as Dan had thought, be-
 tween the ruin of her fire and the sled, and she looked with straight eyes to
 the OnCOming wolves.
 "uurry. Snowblrd," LennoX was
 whispering. Give me the pistol-fOr that last work. We have only a mo- mcnt more"
 ] He looked very calm and brave, half
 raised as he was on the sled, and per haps a half-Smile fingered al his beard ed lips. And the hravest thing of all