Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1922-12-22
CHAPTER xxx

In the depth of gloom even the
watch on those that move on
the shadowed trails-did not see
Linda and Bruce ride past
The darkness is usually their time
of dominance, but tonight most of
them had yielded to the storm and the
snow. They hovered in their coverts.
What movement there was among
them was mostly toward the foothills
for the message had gone forth over
the wilderness that the cold had come
to stay. The little gnawing folk,
emerging for another nights work at
filling their larders with food, crept
down into the scarcely less impene-
trable darkness of their underground
burrows. Even the bears, whose furry
coats were impervOuS to any ordinary
cold, felt the beginnings of the cold
trance creeping over them. They
were remembering the security and
warmth of their last winters dens, and
they began to long for them again
The horse walked slowly, head near
the ground. The girl made no effort
to guide him. The lightning had all
but ceased; and in an instant it had
become apparent that only by trust
ing to the animals instinct could the
trail be kept at all almost at once
all sense of direction Was lost to them.
The snow and the darkness obscured
the outline of the ridges against the
sky; the trail was wholly invisible
beneath them.
After the first hundred yards they
had no way of knowing that the horse
was actually on the trail. While ami
mails In the light Of day cannot see
nearly so far or interpret nearly so
clearly as human beings, they usually
seem to make their way much better
at night Many frontiersman has
been saved from death by realization
of this fact; and, bewildered by the
ridges, has permitted his dog to lead
him into camp. But nature has never
devised creature that can see In the
utter darkness, and the gloom that
enfolded them now seemed simply un-
fathomable. Bruce found 1t increas-
ingly hard to believe that the horses
eyes could make out any kind Of dim
pathway In the pine needles The feel.
ing grew on him and on Linda as well,
that they were lost and aimlessly wan
dering in the storm.
OF all the sensations that the wilder
ness can afford, there are few more
dreadful to the spirit than this. It is
never pleasant to lose ones bearings
and In the night and the cold and
miles from any friendly habitation II
felt the age-old menace of the wilder
ness as never before. 1t always seemed
to be crouching, waiting to take a
man at a disadvantage; and like the
gods that first make mad those whom
they would destroy, 1t doesn't quite
play fair. He understood now certain
wilderness tragedies Of which he had
heard; how tenderfeet-lost among
the ridges-had broken into a wild
run that had ended nowhere except
in exhaustion and death.
Bruce himself felt a wild desire to
lash his horse into a gallop, but he
forced 1t back with all his powers Of
will. His calmer, saner self explained
that folly with entire clearness. 1t
would mean panic for the horse, and
then a quick and certain death, either
at the foot Of precipice or from a
blow from low-hanging limb. The
horse seemed to be feeling its way,
rather than seeing.
They were strange, lonely figures
in the darkness; and for long time
they rode almost In silence. Then
Bruce felt the girls breath as she
whispered.
Continued Next Week