The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1923-09-13

ingly as sturdy as ever. Reckless
from fatigue, he chopped on more
fiercely than ever. And suddenly,
with the grinding noise of breaking
wood, the tree started to fall.
And at that instant Ned was face
to face with the eXigency of leaping
for his life. The tree did not fall In
the direction planned An instant be-
fore. weary and aching and out of
breath, Ned would have believed him.
self incapable of swift and powerful
motion. AS that young spruce shat
tered down toward him. like the club
of giant aimed to strike out his life,
supernatural power seemed to
snatch him to one side. Without
realization Of the effort, the needed
muscles contracted with startling
force, and he sprang like a distance
jumper to safety.
But he didn't jump too soon or too
far. The branches Of the tree dashed
at him as it descended, hurting him
headlong in the snow. And there
after there were three things to- cause
him thought
One of them was the attitude OF
Bess-the girl to whom, in weeks past,
he had shown hardly decent courtesy;
the same girl whom, in childish fury
he had cursed the bitter, eventful
night just gone. Above the roar of
the falling tree he heard her quick,
haR-strangled gasp Of horror.
The sound seemed to have the quail
ties that made toward a perfect after
image; because in the silence that fol-
lowed, as he lay in the soft snow. and
the crash of the fallen tree echoed into
nothingness, it still fingered, every
tone perfect and clear, in his minds
ear. There was no denying its tone
of ineffable dismay. Evidently Bess
was of forgiving disposition; in spite
Of his offense of the past night she had
evidently no desire to see him crushed
into jelly under that giants blow.
Bess was staring wide-eyed into his
face, and he smiled quietly in reassur-
ance. Not hurt at ALL" he told her.
Quickly he climbed to his feet. See
that you don't do the same thing that
I did"
He walked with her to her fallen
ak. then inspected the deep cut she
had already made in her tree.
You're doing the same thing I did.
sure enough" he observed. THE
tree will fall your way and crush you.
Let me think"
A moment later he took his AK and
put in a few more strokes in the same
place It was the danger point. he
thought; a deeper cut might fell the
tree prematurely. Presently he
crossed to the opposite side. signaled
Bess out of danger, and began to hack
the tree again, making a cut some
what above that started on the other
side of the trunk. He chopped sturd-
lily; and in a moment the tree started
rection.
He uttered some small sound Of tri-
umph but it was real tragedy to
have the tree fall against a nearby ire
and lodge. Again he had failed to ex
ercise proper foresight.
There was nothing to do but climb
into the adjoining tree with his ak
and laboriously cut the lodged tree
away. In the meantime Bess went
to work on the first tree felled, trim
ming it of it's limbs so to cut it into
lengths.
Ned Joined her at the work, but
long before the first tree was cut
into fuel both were at the edge Of
utter exhaustion.
Doomsdorf had seemed almost in
credible to Ned at first. 1t was as il
he couldn't possibly be true; a fig
ment of nightmare that would vanish
as soon as he wakened. But he was
real enough now Nothing was left
to him but the knowledge how real
he was.
He must not rest, he must not
pause till the work was done. The
fact that Bess had fallen fainting,
in the snow did not effect him; he
must swing his ak and hew the
wood. Day was dying. Grayness
was creeping in from the sea. at was
ike the essence of the sea itself, all
gray, gray like his dreams, gray like
the ashes of his hopes. He must
finish the two trees before the dark
ness came down and kept him from
seeing where to sink the blade.
The ak swung automatically in
his arms; even sense of effort was
gone from him. The only reality that
lived in him now. in that misty twi-
light, was the knowledge that he
must get through.
It was too dark to see, now. how
much of the work remained. The
night was cheating him, after all. He
struck once more at the tough lengths
that lay at his feet-a piece at which
he had already struck uncounted
blows. He gave all his waning
strength to the effort.
The length split open, but the ak
slipped out of his bleeding hands.
falling somewhere in the shadows
beyond. He must crawl after it; he
didn't know how many more lengths
there were to split. it was strange
that he couldn't keep his feet. And
how deep and still was the night that
dropped over him.
How long he CROPPED for the axe
handle in the snow he never knew.
But he lay still at last Twilight
deepened about him, and the wind
wept like a ghost risen from the sea.
The very flame of his life was burn
ing down to embers.
Thus it came about that Dooms.
dorf missed the sound of his axe
against the wood. Swinging a Ian
tern, titanic figure among the snow
ia0en trees, he tramped down to in
yestigate. Bess, semi-conscious again,
NC he