Show the th e vi voice bot of f the aa faeh ir ack by EDISON MARSHALL WW CHAPTER I 1 continued 17 when the ice made a crust over the snow he learned to walk on snow shoes at first there were mere pained ankles and endless floundering in the drifts but between the fall fail a of fresh snow and the thaws that softened the crust he slowly mastered the art snowbird and dan never realized leall leali zed the full significance of her jer name until he saw her flying with incredible grace over the snow laughed at him at first and ran him races that would usually end in his falling headfirst into a ten toot foot snowbank she taught him how bow to ski and more than once she he would mould stop in the middle of an earnest bit of pedagogy to find that he wasn gasn t listening Is at all lie ile would mould seem to be fairly devouring her with ills tits eyes gyes delighting in the play of soft pinks and reds in her cheeks and drinking as a man drinks wine the amazing change of light and shadow in her ees ekes afie seemed to blossom under his gaze trot not one of those short winter minter days went by without the dl discovery co ery of some new trait or little vanity to astonish or delight him sometimes an unlocked unlooked for tenderness toward the weak often a sweet ned philos 0 ophy P by of life or perhaps just a lower I 1 ing n g of her eyelids in which A her eyes would show lustrous through the lashes or r some sweeping exuberant gesture startlingly graceful lennox wakened one in orning with the realization that this was mas one of the hardest winters of his experience he ile began to be very glad of the abundant stores of provisions that overcrowded his pantry savory hams and bacons bacans dried venison sacks of potatoes and evaporated vegetables and of course canned goods past counting with the high thigh fire roaring in the grate the season held no ills for them but sometimes when the bitter cold came down at twilight and the moon looked like a thing of ice fee itself over the snow he began to wonder how bow the wild vold creatures who ho wintered on the tile divide were mere faring of course most of them were mere gone woof long since had grunted and bumb mumbled led his way into a winter lair but the wolves remained strange gray shadows on the snow and possibly a few of the hardier smaller creatures more than once in those long an win ter nights their talk mas w as chopped off short toy by the song of the pack on some distant ridge sometime when the world Is ii old possibly a man will be born tl 11 at can continue to talk tall and keep his mind on his its words while the wolf pack sings but he Is certainly an unknown quantity today the cr sets in vibration curious memory chords and ond tor for a moment he the listener bees sees in his mind s eye his ills ancient home in an ancient world darkness and fear vear and eves shining about the ca cave cae e it carries him back and he knows the wilderness as it really li iq and to have such knon knowledge ledge dries up all inclination to talk as a sponge dries water of course the picture entirely plain it la Is more a thing guessed at a in lit some dark part of an under consciousness that has constantly grown more dim dlin as the centuries have love passed possibly sometime it will fade out altogether and then a man may continue to discuss the weather while the song from the ridge shudders in at the mindo windows but the world m will ill be quite cold by then and end no longer particularly interesting and possibly even the th wolves them selves will then be tamed to play dead and speak pieces which means the wild wilderness ernes itself will be tamed for lor as long as the wild m lid lasts the pack will run through it in the winter they were here in n the beginning and in spite of constant war and constant hatred on the part of men they will be here her in the end the reason Is just that they are the of the wll berness itself and the idea of it continuing to exist without them Is stranger than that of a nation without a flag it quite the same song that dan had listened to in the first days of fall it had been triumphant then and proud with the wilderness pride of course it had bad been sad then too but it was more badnow sad now and it was vms stranger too and crept farther into the souls of its listeners liate nera it was the song of strength that avail against the snow possibly of cold and the despair and courage of starvation these three that heard it were inured to the wilderness hut but a moment was always needed after its last note bad died to regain their gayety gaiety getting lean and getting savage lennox sall one night stretched on his divan before the fireplace lie ile was still unable to walk but the fractures were knitting slowly and the doctor had promised that the summer would find him film well it if we had a dog I 1 wouldn t offer much for his life one of these days well ell find lem cm in a big circle around the house and then we well 11 have to open tip up with fill the rifles but this picture appalled neither of bis his two young listeners no wolf pack vim stand against three marksmen amed with rifles and anz behind oal oaken alls all christmas came and and january brought clear days and an ineffective sun fun shining on the snow theu the u n were ere the best days of all every afternoon dan and snowbird would mould go out on their ekis or on snowshoes snow sno shoes unarmed except tor for the pistol thit that snowbird carried in the deep pocket of her mackinaw mackl naw I 1 cut wh not dan replied to lennous objection she could kill five wolves with five shots or pretty near it and sou know well mell enough that that would hold cm em till we me got home stop to cat eat the five I 1 have haie hard enough time keeping up with her as it Is m without carrying a rifle and lennox mas w as content dan had told the truth when he be that five deaths or even fewer would mould repel the attack of any wolf pack pact he be had ever eier seen there was just one tro troubling liblIng tb thought ought lie he had heard long ngo ago and he had forgotten who ho had told him that in the roost most severe sere m win in the wolves gather in particularly large packs and a quality in the song that they had heard at night seemed to bear it out the chorus had been exceptionally loud and strong and he had hail been unable to pick out individual voices the snow was perfect for skiing previously their sport had bad been ganv times ames interrupted cither either by the fall of fresh now snow or a thaw that had soft oft ened the snow crust but now every afternoon was too perfect to remain indoors they shouted and romped in the silences and they did not dream but that they had the wilderness nil all to themselves the tact fact that one night lennox s keen eyes had seen what looked like the glow of a camp fire in the distance affect this belief of theirs at all it was evidently just the phosphorus glowing in a rotten log from which the winds had blown the snow once or twice talce they caught glimpses of wild life once a it grouse that had buried burled in the snow flushed from their path and blew the snow dust from its wings and one once or twice they saw snow shoe rabbits bounding away on flat feet over the drifts hut dot just one 0 ne day they caught sight of a wolf they were on snow moms shoes boes on a particularly brilliant afternoon late in january he ile waa was a lone mile eviden evidently a straggler gler from the pack and he leaped from the top of a tall thicket that had remained above the snow snoa the man and the girl had bad entirely dIr different ferent reactions dans first impression was mos amazement at the animals condition it I 1 seemed to be in the last stages of starvation unbelievably gaunt with nith rib bones chewing plainly even through the furry hide tilde ordinarily the heavily furred animals do not show signs of famme famine but even enen an inexperienced eye could not make a mistake in this case the eyes were red and they carried dan back to his first adien adventure ture in the oregon forest foret the day he be had shot the mad coyote snowbird thought of the beast as ar an enemy the wolves olves killed her fathers stock they were brigands brigande bri gands of the worst order and she shared the hatred of them thit Is a common trait of all peoples If her erhand hand whipped back seized her bet pis tol and the fired twice at the fleeing figure the second shot baft wa a hit both of them saw the wolf go to its icide then spring up ull and race on shouting both of them sped after him in to a few moments lie he uis out of sight among the distant trees but chev found the blood trail and over the ridge they expected at any moment to find him iving dead hut but the track led them on clear down the next cannon and now they cared not at all whether they found him tt it was simply a in the out nut ot floors and both of them were young with red blood in their veins but all at once dan stopped in his ills tracks the girl sped on for six paces before she missed the sound of his hi snowshoes snow shoes then she turned to find him standing wholly i olly motionless with till ees fixed upon her it startled her and she dian t know why by A companion abruptly freezing in his path his muscles inert and his ills evea filling with mith speculation Is at always ays startling when this occurs it means simply that a thought 39 89 compelling and engrossing that even tile half unconscious physical functions such as walking cannot continue has come into hla his mind and it Is part of the old creed of self preservation to greatly to be left out on any such thought as this if danger Is present the sooner it Is identified the better chat Is it 10 she demanded flem he turned to her curiously intent now how many shells have sou ou in that pistol r she took one breath and answered him it holds five and I 1 shot twice I 1 any others and I 1 don t suppose it ever occurred to you to carry extra ones in your pocket father Is always telling me boand several times I 1 have but I 1 id d shoot thi them thim m away at target practice and for get to take any more there was never any danger except alit night with a cougar I 1 did intend to but si what bat does it matter now IN ere a conate of ol wise ones dries aln after llight wolf with ith unit three our amp n ame of oure courve br by himself K copyright 1930 1920 ty by latew brown co lies he s harmless but les 1 es likely enough to lead us straight toward the pack and onoan snowbird bird I 1 dida t like his fits looks lies too gaunt and hes too hungry and I 1 a it bit of doubt be he malted matted in that brush for us to come intending to attack us and lost bis his nerve the last thin tiling that shows hes des I 1 dont like him and I 1 wouldn tt like his ills pack and a whole pack might not lose its nene nerl e then you think wed ed better turn back so yes I 1 do and not come out more without a whole u hole pocket 0 of shells I 1 to going to carry a rifle too just as lennox haj always hes iles got only a flesh wound you saw what you did with two cartridges got in one flesh wound three of lem ero against n R pack mould nt be a great deal of aid old I 1 don t mean to siy say you cant shoot hut but a jumping lively wolf molt Is worse than a bird in the air weve gone over three miles and hed hied lead us ten miles mile farther even if he go to the pick lets go b bick tel if you say so go nut but I 1 dont think there s the least bit of danger we can always climb a tree and have em make a beautiful circle under it got more pa hence than we have and wed have to come down some time your father cant come to our help you know ats its the sign of the tenderfoot not to think theres any danger and im I 1 m not going to think that way any more they turned back and in silence a long time 1 I suppose you 11 II think I 1 in a coward dan asked her humbly only prudent dan she answered smiling whether she meant it he did not know I 1 in just beginning to un der stand that sou ou liking here only a few months really know and understand all alt this better than I 1 do she stretched her arms wide mide to tile wilder milder ness 1 I guess its your instinct and I 1 do understand he told her earne earnestly S ta y 1 I sensed danger b bick acl there just as sure as I 1 can see sour face that pack and it a a big one Is close and its terribly huigh and you know you can t help but know that the hohes are not to be trusted in famine times 1 I know it only too well she said sald then she paused and basked naked him about A strange gramness gr avness like snow blown by the wind mind on the sky oer the ridge 0 bert cranston walled waited in a clump of exposed thicket on the hillside until he lie saw two black dots that he lie knew were nere dan and snowbird le leip ip the lennox home he ile lay very still as chev circled up the ridge noticing that except for the pistol that he knew snowbird always carried they were unarmed there was no par ocular reason aliv he should be inter ested in that point it was just the mountain way may always to look for weapons and it Is rather difficult to trace the mental processes behind bebin this impulse perhaps it can be laid laid to tho tile fact that many mountain families fire often at feud with one another and anything in the way of violence may before the morning the two to passed out of his sight ind after a long time he be heard the crack of snowbird snowbirds Snow birds s pistol lie ile guessed that she had bad either shot at some somei wild ild creature or else was x as merely at target practice rather a corn com mon inon proceeding for the two when they were on the tile hills together thus it Is to be seen that cranston knew their habits fairly well met and anti since he be had kept a close watch upon them for several this was to be expected lie he had no intention of being bein interrupted in this work he was about to do he ile had planned it all ery well the elder lennor lennox was uns still helpless cranston had noticed that when dan and snowbird went ment out them the were usually gone from tv two to four hours and that gave him plenty of time for ills fits undertaking the moment had come at fit last to make a thorough search of lennous house for those in criminating documents that dan had found near the body of landy hit 1111 dieth the only really dangerous part of his undertaking was ins his approach if by any chance I 1 eanox were looking out of the window he might be found waiting malting with a rifle across his arms it would mould be quite like the old moun kaneer to have his gun beside him film and koshoot to shoot it quick and exceptionally straight without questions question it tin stealing figure in the snow let cranston felt fairly sure that lennox was still too helpless bel to raise a gun to a shooting tich lie ile had observed that the moin mo in tainter spent his ills time alth either er on the fireplace divan or on his own bed neither of these places was mal available lable to the rear windows of the house bo so ery wisely he lie made hit his attack from tile rear TO CE BE |