, 1922-11-08
The Strength of the Pines

still on it-and try to slip through to-
morrow. You see what's going to hap
pen If we keep on going this way?'
II know that l feel a queer dread
and hopelessness-"
And thai dread and hopelessness
are just as much danger signals as
the sound of Simon's horse behind
us. 1t means that the cold and the
snow and the fear are getting the
better of Us. Linda, It's a race with
death. Don't misunderstood me or
disbelieve me. 1t isn't Simon alone
now. It's the cold and the snow and
the fear. The thing to do is to make
camp, keep as warm as We can in our
blankets, and push on In the morn
ing. It's two full days ride, going
fast, the best we can go-and God
knows what will happen before the
end"
"Then turn off the trail, Brace"
the girl told him.
81 don't know that we're even. on
the trail"
Turn off, anyway. AS long as we
stay together-it doesn't matter"
ohC oPOhC NCiS QulCtiys 4ntn ne
felt a strange thing. A warmth which
even that growing, terrible cold could
not transcend swept over him. For
her arms had crept out under his
arms and encircled his great breast,
then pressed with al her gentle
strength.
No word of encouragement, no
CHEEKY expression of hope could have
meant so much. Not defeat, not ever
the long darkness of death itself could
appall him now. All that he had CIV
en- and suffered and endured. all the
mighty effort that he had made had
in an instant been shown in its true
light, a thing worth while, q sacrifice
atoned for and redeemed.
They headed off into the Tickets,
blindly. letting the horse choose the
way. They felt him tdrn to avoid
some object in his path-evidently a
fallen tree-and they mounted a slight
ridge or rise. Then they felt the we.
touch of fir branches against their
cheeks.
Bruce stopped the horse and both
~dismounted. Both of them knew that
under the dropping limbs Of the tree
they would find. at least until the
SHOWS d%eepened. comparative shelter
from the storm. Here, rolled In their
blankets. they might pass the remain
der of the night hours.
Bruce tied the horse, and the girl
unrolled the blankets. But she did
not lay them together to make a rude
bed-and the dictates of convention
atty had nothing whatever to do with
it. If one jot more warmth could have
been achieved by it, these two would
have lain side by side through the
night hours between the same blan-
kets. She knew, however, that more
warmth could be achieved If each of
them took a blanket and rolled up in
1t; thus they would get two thick
nesses instead of one and no openings
to admit the freezing air. When this
was done they lay side by side. econ
Omizing the last atom of warmth.
The night hours were dreary and
long. The rain beat into the limbs
above them, and sometimes 1t sifted
through. At the first gray of dawn
Bruce opened his eyes.
His dreams had been troubled and
strange, but the reality to which he
wakened gave him no sense Of relief.
He fought a little battle, lying there
under the s-now-covered limbs of the
fir tree. Because 1t was one In which
no blows were exchanged, no shots
fired, and no muscles called into ac-
ton, 1t was no less a battle, trying
and stern. 1t was a fight waged In
his own spirit, and 1t seemed to rend
him in twain.
The whole issue was clear In his
mind at once. The cold had deepened
In these hours Of dawn, and he was
MWxAA