The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1936-11-12

different angle. She opened the
wolfskin sack to peer inside. At sight
of the nodules, she dropped the flap,
with look Of disgust. Mere value
meant nothing to her. The alloy
looked dull and uninteresting.
Worth only fifteen thousand dol
lars" she bantered her fiance.
you've dug dirt all this time for a
trifle like that, and 1ugged it all the
way up here. Don't tell me you're so
dumb that you plan to pack it for
the weeks Alan says we'll need to
get back to the Mackenzie. Forty
five pounds of that stuff -how silly!
From what Alan told us, we may
have all we can do to carry our
selves on this cross-country hike"
with my blanket and the meat
that's in it, I'm starting off with
something like two hundred pounds
Garth said. Game was scarce on the
other side of the pass when ! went
out the other time. The weight of
our metal in meat may be worth
more than the fifteen thousands dol
lars. Let Huxby choose which he
prefers to pack"
The engineer compromised by
showing one of the twenty pound
chunks of caribou meat into the
sack, on top of the metal This left
second chunk of equal weight.
Lilith bent over to put it in her own
sack.
LAY off," said Garth. ''It is his
choice. Besides, frozen meat soon
spoils when it thaws. Fall into In
dian file Here goes"
He backed up to his boulder
perched pack, slipped the tump-line
over his forehead, and started up
/ the great cleft as if his 200-pound
pack weighed no more than Huxby's
SIS pounds of meat and metal.
He halted only when the other
men were compelled to stop for
breath. Huxby, though carrying a
load only third the weight of
Garth's, had soon begun to strain
and pull as hard as Mr.. Ramill. He
was larger than Garth and seeming
ly stronger-muscled. But he lacked
Garth's wind and endurance and the
knack of back-packing. At every
halt he sank down on the ice or a
moraine stone, painting.
Garth merely eased his back
breaking pack upon a boulder, slip
ped the tump-line from his forehead,
and waited for the other men to re-
cover. Lilith RamilIs pack was too
light to hamper her. She climbed
with the agility of goat.
In places the pitch of the glacier
became too steep for ordinary climb
ing. Garth had to draw his belt-ax
and chop foot holds. The last of
these steep rises was far up towards
the head of the pass.
The remaining distance to the
summit was not so steep, and there
were no dangerous crevasses. Garth
made the climb at swinging pace.
He was halfway down before he met
Hubby plodding slowly upwards
with Mr.. Ramill. The engineer look
ed at him with cold-eyed rancor.
Mr.. Ramil painted a wistful ques-
ton: 'Wh-when-do we-eat?"
"At the top. Take your time"
Lilith had chosen to wait for
Garth down where he had left them
all. His pack lay on the snow below
the holder upon which he had set it.
She pointed her slender finger at the
fallen bundle
II tried to find out if you were ly-
ing about the weight. I couldn't even
lift one end. But you see how the
top of the stone slopes. The beastly
thing slid off"
'"That's all right, Miss Ramill. Easy
enough to up-end it again"
"Easy!"Her blue eyes glowed with
an odd light. "You carried Dad back
to camp that day. But it was down
hill Now-to pack this frightful load