Evening star., 1938-12-11

along on one foot. the other dragging.
Sometime during that first gruelling
hour, to outwit the blizzard became
Terry's sole objective.
The line fence Rawson had guided
him there Rawson had also yelped
out some explanation of why he had
ventured out in his car. with the storm
we'll started. To hell with Rawson!
God" he had said. II would have
died if you hadn't come"
He would have died, he had SAID.
But what was death? Terry CROPPED
along the fence. head down, his lungs
crumpling within him from the intense
cold. The wind was lessening, but he
knew what that meant. 1t was forty
below zero, now, most likely. Once he
dared to look up and saw violently
clear in the loosening sky single sar-
donic green star. His feet moved. one
before the other, but he no longer had
any relation with them. Rawson was
making an heroic effort not to become
a dead weight on his arm. He would
sag, and then curse and become re-
markably light again. Rawson wanted
to live. Confusedly, Terry caught a
glimpse of what it was to want to live.
to foil this thing called Death.
Three miles to go two miles -
But they could never make it! Terry
was crawling at last, hand over hand.
down beside Rawson, the snow almost
smothering him. But he could see the
fence now, and did not have to cling
to it for guidance.
His brain was light and clear as that
star up there. he thought. He saw how
it was - the ultimate Enemy was
winning. This was the Enemy. the
adversary. this earth with her ruthless
toying with all life. A germ. or
storm, or gun - what did it matter!
The earth's wilderness was here, and
the wilderness would claim these two
who had been caught in its unleashed
fury. But the wilderness was every
where. in the city. in gentle farm
steads, in the hearts of men. This
happened merely to be literal wilder
ness. stronger, more clean-handed
foe. Suddenly strength beyond his
dreams of strength surged up within
Terry Minteer. Half-consciously he
knew that the fight had done him in,
that he was irrational now - but with
his last gleam of will he was deter
mined that the wilderness should not
be the victor.
After measureless space. he was
aware that they had entered Rawson's
woodland. The moon was coming out,
and the lodge was dark wedge
against the moonlight. Terry got from
Rawson the key to the door. RawsOn
pulled himself up with one hand on
Terry's shoulder, plunged into the
dark room and threw himself upon a
couch
Terry closed the door and hobbled
over to the wall where he remembered
the fireplace had been He sat down
on the floor and pulled off his shoes
carefully. His heels and toes were
quite without feeling. as were some OF
his fingers, the tip of his nose, and his
ears. From the sounds on the couch hc
knew that Rawson was profoundly
asleep; the mans stamina had nothing
in reserve. and so he might still die of
gangrenc or plain exposure. the wilder
ness claiming him after all.
Terry was lightheaded. of course.
There was something crazy about his
obstlnacy to defeat that force out
there in the night they had just come
through. He remembered clearly. how
ever. having glimpse of something
piteous and awful i living creatures
passion to live.
There were things he had to do. A
fire must be built. He must attend to
himself. and after that he would have
to do something about Rawson. Re-
move his shoes. give him crude first
aid. He had become oddly discon
nected with Rawson in any way except
through the experience of the last two
hours. To him Rawson would strangely