Glacier County chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1931-1940, 1940-05-17

his sons by previous marriage. each
in a disaster. and probably neither Of
these clumsy fatalities would have &C.
CURED If their father had been there
to deal with them! One son had been
swept away by an avalanche, and the
drawn Bob to Carol had been her
strange likeness to his youngest boy.
Lying there slowly freezing in the trap
of snow Carol saw again the light leap
into Bobs' eyes at their first meeting.
He had caught sight of her across
dancing, and the party of skiers, to
which Bob belonged had come in for
a drink on their way home
Carol hadn't met Bob before. though
like everyone else in Sauerfeld she
knew him well by sight
When those fierce, delighted eyes
challenged her across the Stube, Carol
had smiled back.
She had hardly been conscious of
the invitation her eyes had held, but
Bob had been conscious of 1t. He had
crossed the room, in two swift strides.
and taken her straight out of her
partners arms: nor had he let her go
again till far on into the night.
All, If she could only feel once more
the close hard grip of his armS Bob
danced magnlficently, as he did every
thing else. Carol tried to swallow a
lump in her throat that seemed to be
growing larger and larger. They had
been wonderfully happy. even If he was
20 years older than she, and even If
people had been horrible too about Bobs
first wife, All the busybodieS of Sauer-
field taking sides and behaving as If
perfectly ordinary undisputed divorce
was sort OF crime!
Carol herself had never come into
the case at all. and had been properly
married to Bob. After the decree had
ents. though tiresome about the mar
riage at first, had accepted it with
out qualm, and yet people behaved
as If Carol and Bob ought to leave
Sauerfeld, Just because that aggravat-
ing woman insisted on remaining
there!
The first Mrs Endicott was also
first-class skier. but there were other
places than Tyrol, where she could
keep her tops Of mountains to herself!
Fortunately she didn't dance. and
hadn't cafe habit, so they weren't
obliged to meet often. Still with only
one village street, Caro-. had got to
know the lean, tall. muscular figure IN
comfortably well by sight.
Carol started shivering; was it only
the cold that made her flesh creep and
her teeth chatter or was it the memory
Of those light eyes in the lined leathery
face that never moved, when the first
Mrs. Endicott passed Carol in the
street. They were like pools Of glacier
water those hard eyes. so blue. so still,
so cold!
People said freezing to death was
easy. but those who said so couldn't
have tried it. Carol wasn't comfortably
sleepy. she was agonizingly awake She
felt as If the cold had invisible claws
and was slowly pinching her to death
between them. 1t had been a long time
before the thought of death had
reached Carols conscious mind, but
she began to think about 1t now. The
pain In her ankle was furious, 1t was
a grinding. demoralizing pain, stabbing
at every nerve.
Carol still shouted at intervals, US
ing her strength to its fullest limit;
the tears froze her eyelashes together
and made her stiffened cheeks i'm
movable.
Carol began to feel confused. She
lost the sense of where she was, or
what was happening to her The blue
shadows between the trees took odd
shapes, and once she was almost sure
she saw wolf with burning eyes.
She tried to fix her mind on Bob
again. She couldn't remember their
love. she could only remember the sor-
row she had seen in his eyes for his !
dead sons. Once Bob had said to her, |
your hair IS Just like Ted's."
Il won't fail him." Carol reused her
self to cry fiercely. He shan't have |
TO go through it again. Not q third
ttmel" She drew the last remaining