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

It was full of fly dope spruce pitch
mixed with caribou talloW. She put
the flask into her foxskin bag, along
with the pouches of tea and salt.
Mr.. Rarnill was already walking
off. Garth had made tump-line for
his pack.As he fitted the band across
his forehead and stood up, rifle in
hand, he glanced over his shoulder
at the girl.
She turned and met his glance. Her
lips curled in their old scornful
smile. What are you waiting for?
Aren't we ever to get out of this
beastly valley?"
He started off without any reply
but with glow of exultance under
his outward show of indifference.
Lilith Ramill thought she was about
to escape from the Wild.
He had promised to guide them all
to the Mackenzie. The probabilities
were now in favor of even her faith
er making it. The girl would 60 back
to what she called civiliZation-to
luxury and self-indulgence, to jazz
and night-clubs-the vapid pursuit
of sensation.
Yet part of her would linger be-
hind in this lost valley of the desc
late subarctic Rockies. She had eat
en- of wild meat; she had smelled
the tang of smoke from mans first
friend, the camp fire. She had come
face to face with the Primitive-and
had lived it.
The real woman of her had awak-
ened-had thrust aside the superb
cial self whose world was made up
of artificiality and dissipation. She
had been compelled to face the raw
realities of Life. And there were
weeks more of it to come.
Fortunately, she had already been
hard. Now she was fit. Under the
smear of mosquito dope, the lines
had smoothed from her face. The
drawn look had disappeared. Instead
of the scarlet of rouge, her lips were
cherry red with healthy natural
color. She had gained weight. Her
body now looked lean rather than
emaciated.
AS Garth overlook the firl's faith
er, he eyed him with a smaller yet
no less genuine satisfaction. For eve
ry pound gained by the daughter, the
father had been rid of three or more
Though still far from hard, the mil
ionaire had worked and sweat into
vastly better condition than at the
start of his training.
Hubby did not come into sight, out
of the placer trough, until the others
were well UP the tundra slope, half
way to the glacier. That gave Garth
an excuse to tell Lilith to ease her
father along while Huxby was clos
ing up with them.
Garth himself swung briskly
ahead. So far, nothing had been said
to Hubby about the cache cave IN
the ice tunnel of the glacier stream.
He knew only that caribou carcasses
had been put on ice.
The one thing of which Garth felt
most certain regarding the engineer
was that he would never give over
trying to get the platinum placer
until every possible scheme had
been baked. Mr.. Ramiu might quit.
He already possessed fortune.
But Hubby was still a relatively
poor man, and he had now made GER
tain that the placer was worth at
least a million dollars. Behind his
polished front, he was no less UNI
scrupulous than his millionaire
partner, and he was absolutely cold
blooded.
Among the cards that the future
was to deal in the game, the ice cave
might prove to be anything from a
two-spot to an aceIf the play should
shift back to the valley, cache full
of meat would most benefit the
player who knew about it. No less
so, the caribou skins. In any event,
it would do no harm and might
prove of advantage to leave Huxby
in doubt regarding the location OF
the cache.
Lilith made the last climb to
Garth without effort. But Hubby
plodded up almost as winded as Mr..
Ramill. He lowered from his shout
ders the small but heavy load in his
wolfskin knapsack. The chunks of
frozen caribou meat beside the bull
ky blanket wrapped bundle on
Garth's blackboard drew his dis
pleased attention.
"You can't expect me to carry any
of that venison. I'm no pack jack of
the woods. Forty pounds is quite
enough to suit me-
Garth hefted the wolfskin sack.
"My guess is forty-five. Figuring
roughly, that makes forty-one troy
pounds, or four, ninetytwo troy
ounces. Call it five hundred even.
Platinum is around sixty dollars an
ounce troy. The values of the alloy
will average at least thirty. That
gives us total of say, fifteen thou
sand dollars. Not so bad for few
days panning."
Huxby's face showed that this was
no news to him. For all his cool self
control, his fingers clutched tight
hold of the wolfskin as he drew it
out of Garth's careless grasp.
Ever since coming into the valley
he had spent the greater part of eve
ry long day scratching spots all over