The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1923-03-01
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 wayF'
Il know that | feel a queer dread
and hOpelessness-'
"And that dread and hopelessness
are just as much danger signals as
the sound of Simun'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 sno and
the fear. The thing to do Is to make
camp, keep as warm rs 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, Bruce"
the girl told him.
Il don't know that we're ever on
the trail"
Turn of, anyway. AS long as we
stay. tOgether-it doesn't matter"
She spoke very quietly. Then he
felt a strange thing. 4 warmth which
ever 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 all her gentle
strength.
CHEEKY expression Of hope could have
meant 50 much. Not defeat, not even
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
N an instant been shown in its true
light. a thing worth while, a sacrifice
atoned for and redeemed.
They headed off into the thickets,
blindly, letting the horse choose the
way. They felt him turn to avoid
some object in ris path-evidently a
fallen tree-and they mounted a slight
ridge or rise. Then they felt the WEI
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 deepened, 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
ality 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 biun-
kets. She knew, however, that more
warmth could he achieved If each of
them took a-blanket and rolled up in
II thus they would get two thick
nesses instead Of u and no openings
10 dulnlI the TepIinS AIR. NhPi 'nlS
was done they lay side by side. con
nmizing the last atom of warmth.
The night hours were dreary and
long. The rain beat into the limbs
above them, and sometimes II 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
Weakened gave him no sense Of relief.
He fought a little battle, lying there
under the s~now-covered limbs of the
fir tree. Because il was n In which
no blows were exchanged, M shots
fired. aud no muscles called into ac-
tion. II was no less a battle. trying
and stern. II was a fight waged in
his own spirit, and II 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