The daily Alaskan., 1922-04-18


 CranSton had been mistaken. after all. in thinking that In fear of himself Dan would be afraid to keeS the packet on hls person. and would crav- pnIy conceal It in rhe house. He would have been even more surprised To know that Dan had lived in constant hope Of meeting CranSton on the ridges. showing him what it contained and fighting him for it, hands to hands. And even yet, perhaps the day would come when CranStOn would know at last that Snowhird'S wordS after the fight of long ago, were true.
 The twilight was failing overs the snow. so Snowbird and Dan turned to the toll of building sled
 The snow was steel-gray In the moonlight when the little party made their start down the long trail. Their preparations. simple and crude as they were. had taken hours of CcuSeeSS labor on the part of the three. The ax, Its edge dulled by the flame and its handle burned away, had been cooled in the snow, and with one sound arm. Lennox had driven The hOt nails that SnOwbird gathered from tbe ashes of one of the outhuildingS. The embers of the house itself still glowed red in the darkness.
 Dan had cut the green limbs of the trees and planed them with his ay. The sled had been completed. handles attached for pushing it. and piece of fence wire fastened with nails as rope tO pull It. The warm maCklnaws of both Of them as well as the Oue blanket that LennOX had saved from tue fire were wrapped about the cld frontiersman's wasted hody-Dnn and Snowhlrd hoping 10 keep warm by The exercise Jf propellIng the sled. Ex- cept for the dull ax and the half. empty pistol. their only equipment was a single charred pot for melting snow that Dan had recovered from the ashes Of the kitchen.
 The three had worked almost In silence. Words didn't help now. They wasted DO sorely needed breath. But they did have one minute to taIk when they got to the top of the little ridge that had overlooked rhe house.
 "WeTl travel mostly at night" Dan told them. I've can see iD the snow. and by taking our rest in the daytime. when the sun Is bright and warm. we can save our strength We. won't have to keep such big fires then--and at night our exertiOn will keep uS as warm as We can hope for. Getting up all night to cut green wood with this dull ax in the snow would break Us 10 pieces very soon for remember that we haven't any food know how 10 build fire even In the snow-es- peclally If can find thp dead try heart of a rotten lOg-hut It isn't any fun 10 keep II going with green wood. We don't want tO have 10 spend any more of our strength stripping of wei bark and hacking at saplings than we can help; and thai means we'd better do our resting in the heat of the day After all. It's a fight against starva. tion more than anything else"
 "Jusr think" the girl told them, re oroarhing herself, If had shot straight at that wolf today, we could have gone back and got his body. II might have carried us through"
 Neither of the others as much as looked surprised al these amazing re grets over the lost unSuvOry flesh Of a wolf They were up against reall ties. and they didn't mlnce words Dan smiled at her gently, and his
 great shoulder leaned against the traces.
 They moved through a dead world. The eyer-present manifestations of wild life that had been such a delight tO Dun tn the summer and fall Were