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Show y ' " lL lLl l 1 1i i Ltm Ltmc c _ _ Coyyhl , gv f fwHu wHu s sA A nME SERV/C SERV C / I .t t . e .tbf bf bfCHAPTER b CHAPTER IX-Continued IX Continued 1X-Continued 1X 1XContinuedi - 1 i 115 y y15 -15- 15 - 15jc 15e - H.Se HSe . e unrolled unrol1ed the thawed wol"erlneand wolverineand wolverine wol\"erlne wol "erlne erlne wolverinet \ " | t and sho\\ sho showed shoed \ ed n a big bug hank hl1n1 . of cat catWith catwith catS4 jc , . With his knife hnlfe he started st'uted stuted . ' toFe to tofpe I Ipe fpe pe Fe caribou skins sldns sl.ins slins . for pirkas p1rhas parkas and andsers andsers andfeiscrs | sers LIlith Llllths s eyes brightened brightenedsoftened brightenedITh ITh IThsoftened brightened11 softened a length of cntgut catgut Inmelted inmelted In melted lampfat , , and asked foreedle foreedle for foreedle eedleill eedle . 11 ill _ the remainder of that diy d1Y day ofth ofth of ofJh th and storm , both of them thcm plIed plIedand pliedand piledand and buckskin buchsldn needle and c\t c t cut cttJlre'ld cutthread cittlireid ' \ Jh tJlre'ld tJlreld thread tJlre'ldelther ' selther \elther elther reftlier ! \ ? WR was . < ; an nn Lclnmostrecg Eskimostress Eskimo Lclnmo Eskimoastrc : -astrc astrc - strecg stress ; . ' . But their stitches stitchesft stitches"ugh " "ugh ugh Ugh gh coarse , \ were crc strong B ByUall BS By " 'htfall htfall ' Uall tf lJ they finished the first1t1lbOtl first1cElbou first firstIbou 1t1lbOtl 1cElbou Ibou skin SlID sult-\\ sult sultaistlong sult-sialstlong sult sialstlong suit - \ walstlong aistlong sock sockIIJf1lgS sockI sockngs sockrings IIJf1lgS I [ ; [ ngs , and park parki parl'l parll . ' + i i " with "ltl1 ltl1 Itir hood front frontgaged fronttgcd gaged ged with woh wolverine woherine erlne fur . , skitter Atiter ! ter another nnother meil me11 meal of broiled broiledit broiledI St it t , Garthent Garth \ went \\ent ent \ out and climbed cJlmbed climbedSylateral 'Jlateral Jlateral ' Iateral moraine to gather s-ather s ather : - a antity aitity Sylateral " ntlty ntity of caribou cnrlbou moss from trom been heen be- be he- he bezn - - - < > , zn en the snowdrifts ou on the \ wind \ Ind , , pt tundrathen tundrawhen tundra vhen \then then when \ he returned , Llllth Lilith Lillth hvr.oeep lavbeep Iiv hv lav Iiveep r.oeep roeep beep . eep on one of the uncut skins shins skinsva va ' had sunk down , completely completel\ completel complctely completeltd \ " --td td - * ' 'id id ' " ( d out . . Garth covered her ovei 0\"e1 0 "e1 e1 over overeked oveicked \ " . , -eked eked -cked cked - ked the roof hole with a chunk chunkoft chunksoft lOft chunklOft oft snow , and spread bis his own ownfe'mat ownmat ownItn-mat ownItn mat fe'mat femat [ ' ' - mat on the other Bide side of the1If theIf the theSit -1If 1If - If from the girL He lay do down downIt n ntIt tIt 1it 1 : Sit it and sn snuffled out the light . . . \ CHAPTER X X4 -4 4 - 4r r The Bedeviling BedevilingITII BedevilingITII BedevilingiITII ITII opened her cses eyes e es as Garth Garthnlshed Garthnislied GarthInished nlshed nislied his hast hasts hasty . } mcil me.l mel meal ' ! . of lamp lampd d meat and anll fat He etIJlained explained etIJlainedlans explainedlans : explainedilans lans to her Her hands clutcbed clutched clutcbedher clutchedher clutchedLher her until they si " "hltened hltened hitened whitened'ou whitenedou hitenedYouyou You-you You ' ou--youII ou youII - you 11 II be carefuP careful ? ' .NC\ .NC .NCer . , , .Neti Neti . cvcrfear \ er fear , . Ill 111 Iii come bick b1.ch b1ch buck . to look lookfor blowni lookJfor looktror tror for you The storm has blo\\ blo blon blown blownClear blown11 \ n 'tClear tClear blo'tClear i ' Clear 51 sks sky . ) and about nbout ten belowthD belowKeep below belowo thD o Keep treating sour your our ankle anlle an and andk d tk 1k andtk tkon | k on your suIt suit"You'll suitYoull . , . " J 4 ou'll oull ou'11 ou11 ' freeze freeze\ freeze freezehat " " \ ; y : yat t tat hat at " won "on on a smile from him This 'TbIs TbIs 'TbIsj 'TbIsEshlmo ' Thisn * [ a n , Eskimo Eshlmo rig I ve ye sat In one oneours onehours j 1 1ours ours before a seal hole , , at 40 40w 40W 40W w zero Finish ; } sour your our suIt suit , . , and andjVI andvl jVI 1 out to enjoy the frost Only OnlyKE , 4 4keep 'arcful arcful areful ' reful of or that ankle When Wben outUd outtl out Ud tl keep close to the igloo , and andJ'j andiSc andiKy J'j Jj ! ' iSc Inside it Ir if you see anyone elsemyself else ' . , m myself ins . } self . . " " ' - K e a flung ftun6 out her hands * ' Oh If ifI If,1 If1 , , I could go along to help I ! I'm Im I'mraid I'mBraid ' I'mfrald Imfrald ' raid he'll hell ' find you All those thosehe thoseI Braid he and his men-you men you men - you , empty- empty emptyed emptyE empty.W emptyW . - , ed tt ttth ' " E ( irth th met the almost frantic out outwith outwith outt with a look- look lookof ' - - of or cool Irony Ironyyou ironyyou Ironyyou you take me for tor 11 11chechahco " & chechahco ? i - [ thIs-that thIs that this - that scoundrel Huxby HU"tby HUtby " Is Isan ish isan Isban h an who ho s 8 In danger " th thig thIs assurance . , Garth crept creptrough creptrough crepthrough -rough rough - rough the tunnel , . shoving his hishoes hishoes hisShoes ( hoes ahead of him Snow had hadnued hadnued badnued nued to fall after nfter the wind had hadown hadaown | 0 own " n That meant easy track trackIn trackIn trackIn [ In the dim starlight , he had hadess hadess hadless ess at the covering cOerlng coiering cO\ cO \ erlng of his trailstream trail trailstream stream channelthe channelthe channel ---the the - the other bank . , he plowed atrail atrail a trail up Into the Ice tunnel tunnelb'rought tunnelbrought , "rought rought ' " rought from the storage cave cavet cavef cavebt t f the remaining legs of or carl earl- earl earlHe cari-f'Se cari f'Se fSe . - - He ' left the meat atop the thene thene theinc ne . , and started down the tunalt tun tunpi alt 8 s fast as he could travel by bybt byI -I I - , pi pivn bt lit btn litn vn n was sins as graying over 0er otter 0\ 0 \ er the cast east casttnin eastse oasttain se tnin thin wall of or the valley when whenared whenNI whenpared NI ared the lake Ho crossed crossedhe crossedb crossedEthe toR b he frozen trozen ford and went event to toat toat toat R [ at the three-seater three seater - - - plane In Inowing inowing Inowing owing twilight twllIght . . Itttood Ittltood Itastood much muchthan muchthan muchthan than he had left Itose It Itlose 0 0ose lose ose view 'VIew ' showed showtd that the en ennd enad enand nd ad his men had managed to tohe tohe tothe he craft above nbove water by crIb crIbogs cribogs criboga ponY ogs under the shattered ponTho pon Y Tho The top logs of ot the crib cribt cribbit t the bottom of the fio'lts fiolts floats fio'ltslth floatsith floitsIvlth ' . lth ith the thickening skim shIm Ice iceoles Iceole8 ? oles had been set to brace bracegs bracegs bracengs gs against thg thr the . , wind gusts gustsh h swung aboard As he exall ex , all aU the food bad had been takenSo taken | So bo also had llad been the breaL break breakis breakits . I lluxbybt Huxbybt ts is from the magneto lluxby Huxby Uuxbyibt bt had figured that the canoemight canoemight canoe might repair tho floats with withe " withIe Ith Ithe e , andrun and run a away ay with the theeater theJ theeater theeater J ) eater . To balk baIl the engineer , > , , Garth helped himself blmself to the thecam thees ther 0 es ' camumped cam camUmped t 0t o oumped Umped back on the bank , , andeast and > R > east eastward ard along the shore shoredim shoredim shoredim dim gra grasness grayness . } ness At first , thick thickIders thickIders thickalders Iders and willows mows cut oft off all allt allf allt trotst0 t f the lake . . He did not trou trots trou-seek trou seek - . had1 hadd t0 t0eek eek an nn opening until unlfl he had hada d a halt half mllo mile There he came camemembered camemembered cameemembered partlyt membered stretch of partly partlyan'b partlytank t an'b anb anh ' . , . , lb lbgh gb gh the gray dawn had gro"n gron srosin " less lcss gro"nlcss srosinless faint taint , , he peered for tor sevomenh lie\- lie sev- sev lieomenta eev-omenta eev omenta \ - - omenta omenh without elghting sighting the thelane lane ane It seemed as It 1t if Its ponmuch ponmuch pon ' much hivo hc have h \c c \ been sawedby sawedby sawed ? by the sharp edged ctlged sheet sbctt sbect ot of otthat ofthat of.that ofthat ' . that the aircraft had bad toun form tounn forma founn n a deep water . hen ben ho he made out va vaguely uely n a nhape ahope alhape hape hope against ngaInst the white or of orWCO ofwcoffered otw-covercd otw covercd W-CO\ W CO WCOered w-coffered w coffered - - \ ered Ice A short dashhJm dashhim dash : hJm him close to the grounded plane It lay In shallow water cater a ter , , sur sur- surrounded sur- sur surrounded surrounded - - rounded by frce7lng tree71ng free7ing slush The Thebl11'Z Theb117zard Theblizzard bl11'Z bl11Z b117zard ' 11 rd had lilt hit the lake lahe hard hardenough hardenough hardenough enough to breik bre'lk brelk break ' up the sheet shcet Ice and andcrack andcrack andcrack crack it Into pleccst pleceq pieces too small sman to togrind togrind togrind grind through the sides sldcs of the pon pontoons pontoons pontoons pontoonsThe toons toonsThe The plane had been drh driven drisen en across acrossInto acrossinto acrossInto Into tills thIs corner of the lake , along alongwith alongwith with lth the sludoC sludoe sludge The shore\\ shore shoreard shoreward shorewardswung shorewardswung \ ard ards s\\ s sung swung \ \ ung tall tail was onl\ onl on1\ on1 onh onla on1n \ \ a n biscuit toss tossout tossout tossout out from tlie the solid bank Garth h1.s h1s his h1.stened histened histened . tened to fetch small amaH trunks ancI and ancIpieces andpieces andpieces pieces of rotted logs from trom the down downtimber downtimber downtimber timber un under er the nearest trees By Bytossing Bytossing Bytossing tossing out chunks chunhs of logs on the thesno thesnow thesnow sno\\ sno snow snoCO \ \ CO\ CO covered CO'red cotered \ 'red red ( ' sludge and bog he hewas hewas hewas was able aille to mike m1he a slender foot foot- footbridge footbridge . - bridge brillge \ with \ lth plirs p'llrs pllrs pilrs ' of trunhsThe trunksThe trunks trunhs trunksTlie Tlie The last la < < t extension e\.tenslon e.tenslon e .tenslon tenslon \ . proved touch touchand touchand touchand and go o Cross pieces and stringers stringersdt stringersdrove stringersdiove dt drove ovc down don do\\ do \ \ n under his weight Into Intothe intothe Intotlie the sludge-filled sludge filled - - - witer w1ter water and the mud mudi mudbeneath mudbeneath 'But But ' i beneath But he had made a dash dashfor dashfor . for It It . . . His hands bands clutched hold of ofI ofthe ofthe I the rudder rudller before he could cou1 1 < sinkHe sink slnl sinkHe . He climbed cl1mbed upon the tall tail ran for forhard forward . \\ard ard hard \ to tlie tlle the cibin c'1bln c1bln cabin ' , and swung in inboard inhoard Inboard board hoard The frozen body of Constable ConstableDillon ConstableDlllon DIllon lay on the floor where he hehad hehad hehad had placed It It . . He buckled buchled the car cartrldge cartridge cartndge trldge tridge belt bell with Its Us bolstered holstered pistol pistolabout pistolabout pistolabout about hl his own waist , took the ke keys keysand kessand s saDd aDd and handcuffs from DIIlon's DIIlons Dillon's Dillons Dlllon's Dlllons ' ' pocket pocketand pocketand and climbed out to scramble for forward forward forward ward Into the cockpit . The side of the cockpit hid h'ld hld ' beenpierced been beenpierced beenpierced pierced bv by se\ se several seeral \ eral bullets But when whenHuxby whenHusby whenHuxby Huxby Husby fired at the drifting drICtlng plane planeIn , In his attempt to kill lclll the supposedly supposedlyhidden supposedlyhidden supposedlyhidden hidden fugitive , he had aimed v.lth vlth siith v.lthgre'lt siithgre . withgreit gre gre'lt grelt ' it care to avoid nvold dimage d'lmage dlmage damage ' to the theinstruments theinstruments theInstruments instruments and controls and tbe the tbemotor themotor themotor themotorAfter motor motorAfter After remo\ remo removing remoIng \ Ing the breaker points pointsfrom pointsfrom pointsfrom from the magneto . , Garth ran back backto backto backto to the tall of the plane Here came camethe camethe camethe the greatest of his risks rlsls , ' The 'lhe lhe bridge bridgepoles bridgepoles bridgepoles poles had risen to the surface again again.but againbut . , but the outermost cross logs re- re remained re- re remained re remained - - mained embedded in the mud under underthe underthe the sitter sitterlie \ w \ 1 ' iter iterHe ter terHe He lie let himself hlmseIr down sldewi\s sldewi s sl.dew\\s sl.dews sl.dew sldew sidewiss . ' \ \ As Ashis Ashis his moccasins touched the slender slendertrunks slendertrunks slendertrunks trunks he lei let go of the rudder and andleaped andleaped leaped Though the ends of bf the thepoles thepoles thepoles poles chot shot ; < ; hot down downwards ards his swiftdash swift swiftdash swiftdash dash carried him up their sharp sharpsl1nt sharpslant sharpslint sl1nt slant to the next nel.t nelt neat : . pair of trunhsThe trunksThe trunks trunhs trunksThe The rest of the Improvised brIdge bridgewas bridgewas was \ \ ns fairly firm A single misstep misstepanywhere misstepanywhere misstepanywhere anywhere along it would have land landed landed landed ed him bins in deep bog ; but he had haddone haddone haddone done far tar too much canoeing amI and amIrough andrough andrough rough ground running to lack bal balnnce balonce balnnce nnce once or sure footednessS'lfe footednessSafe footedncss footedness footedncssSite Site S'lfe Slfe Safe ' back on idid solid olId ground he at atonce atonce atonce once stepped into his snoshoes snowshoes enow sno\\ sno \ shoes and andheaded andheaded andheaded headed straight away a\\ny a ny \ \ from the theshore theshore tlieshore shore into a dense growth of spruce spruceThere spruceThere spruceThere There he circled to the rlgh right to towards towards towards wards the glacier gulch , keeping'Well keepingwell keeping well 'Well ' back from the 1'1heMldlIY likeMidway ' like 1'1he 11he likeMidway Midway Mld\\lIY Mld lIY \ to the stream channel cllannel he hestopped hestopped hestopped stopped \ where here , through separateIstas separatevistas separate I separateI , vistas Istas he could see both planes The Thegray Thegray Thegray gray dawn had brightened enough enoughto to make maho thorn them th m visible at a distance distanceHe distanceHe distanceHe He sat down on a log to wait In Inthe Inthe Inthe the Eskimo Isklmo : suit . , the cold was wasnegligible wasnegligible wasnegligible wasnegligibleA negligible negligibleA A look at the constables constable s pIstol pIstolshowed pistolshowed pistolshowed showed It to be fully tully loaded londed Hp Hptook HPtook HPtook took off oft the belt and buckled It on onagaIn onagain onagain agaIn up under the loose fullness of ofhis ofhis ofhia his parka parha Holstercd RoIstered Holstered between the thecaribou thecaribou thecaribou caribou skin and his rabbit fur un undersuit undersult ersult dersuit , . the oil 011 In the pistol mecb meth mecbnnlsm methanism mechanism nnlsm anism would become becomo warm Cold Coldoil Coldoil 011 oil is apt to Jam a gunAfter gunAfter gun gunAfter After making eure aure sure of the pIstol pistol.he pistolhe . , he had nothing notblng to do except give givehis givehis givehis his face an gccasional occasional ccaslonal rub to prevent pre prevent prevent vent frostbite He lie eat sat re&tfully retfully restfully r & ttully re re- . relaxed re relaxed - laxed , , as patient as fiS an Isklmo Eskimo Isklmohunter Eskimohunter : Eskimohunter hunter beside a seal sool hole Verv Very Vervslowly Veryslowly |