Nogales international., 1936-07-25

llQuC rays ullO TIC (dliy Yum: II ~ NhA\
delicate harbinger had perished at
birth In the western sky strange
ly hued pail of vapor was sitting
the sun CLEANS.
From bank above him, the mall.
amute, Rusty, gave low whine and
nosed the wind with a faint brlstl-
ing of his guard fur.
Warned by its nervousness, Matt.
land slowed his tools. He thought
it strange that the dog should show
so much uneasiness about still
distant storm, and wondered if there
might be something else in the SEEM
ingly lifeless air.
Taking length of rawhide, Matt
land leased the dog in squaw
hitch, and gave it its head, curious
to learn what was troubling it. The
dog halted at last on the crest of a
long ravine. A lifting shiver ran
through the malamute's fur. He
gave trailing deso1ate howl
Out of the canyon rose vaguely
prolonged moan like the tremor of
deep organ stop. With that breath,
incredibly cold, the air came to life.
1t was like gasping exhalation
from the indraught that had made
the void. And now the pail from
the West came streaming, in needle
points, a flick ahead of the blast
Instantly the moan in the canyon
leaped to snarling below, and to
a whine and a whistle and a scream
from the bending timber on the
cliffs.
Maitland, already slanting with
the wind toward the canyon, was al
most swept off his feet. The mala-
mute kited before him at the end
of the lease.
In a seething draw at the foot of
the slope, he caught a momentary
glimpse of the tracks of some animal
l-erased before his eyes by pow
dered drift. Shortly afterwards, as
he came out of the wallow he saw
below him, dimly through the blind
ed air, the efigy of riderless white
horse, standing with it's tail to the
wind and its head low.
The malamute's pull on the line
carried him on till he staggered
against the flank of the white horse
itself. When he groped to its head
he had vague glimpse of Rusty, a
yard away, standing over a mound
in the dancing snow.
A cold foreboding of the truth al
ready chilled his heart. He stopped
down, brushing the snow from the
head of the fallen rider with one
hand, while he dropped Rusty's
tether from the other to try and
unblind his eyes with stitfened nm,
gers. A murmur of protest choked
him at sight of a golden glimmer IN
the snow. 1t was Pete!
He raised the boys slight form.
Clumsily he lifted the light burden
to his shoulder, and felt for RuSty's
line.
The dog was gone The mala-
mute. he thought, had answered
simple savage law, and was finding
it's own shelter.
From one ravine to another he
battled through the tearing maze
for what seemed mile. Swaying
in the storm, with it's ghastly chaos
screaming in his ears, he stopped
to marshal his senses. He was lost.
He changed his direction on a mere
gamble. Fortunately he was pre-
vented from testing it.
He had hardly started when
something dark wisped by him, like
fragment of tumbling storm
wrack; the sight of it stung his
blood into sharper life and halted
him. 1t appeared again, and his
heart leaped with great thankful
ness as Rusty's wolhsh head pushed
through the welter within reach of
his hand. The malamute was peer
inp I'D at him through rimed Sits
of eve1ids, it's guard hair plastered
and parted by the driving scud'
Unable to trust his fingers, he
wound the line round his arm. The
rest Law with the dog; and Rusty's
first move turned him from the
course he had almost taken. Within
few minutes they were in the river
canvon. After a timeless struggle
up that roaring gut, they brought
up against the cabin root.
Careful still of his burden, he slid
down through the drift that smoked
around the door, and stumbled IN
side
He slid to the floor beside the
low bunk and placed Pete into
it. He slipped tarpaulln under the
1ifeless figure and scooped a bucket
full of snow from the drift. With
out knowing whether raw whlskey
was the right medicine, he forced
spoonful between the white teeth,
praying that it was. To remove
the riding boots, he slit the leather
down the seams. He cut through
every tight garment in order to save
time.
At sight of the form he revealed,
murmur of complete astonishment
fell from him. The adolescence of
the slim, virginia. figure had con-
cea1ed the strange fact that Pete
was a girl!
Amazed as he was, his hands did
not pause. Covering her with snow,
he rubbed the snow crystals against
her flesh, with a cold fear in his
heart that he was too late.
Nntinued Next Week