Show wa ma the fie wisdom of the T rail sitka charley indian though he was knew and failed not in the fight with grim death by JACK LONDON copyright by jaak london ap CH ITNA LEY had achieved the impossible other indians indiana might have known as much of the wisdom of 0 the trail as did lie but lie alone knew the white man roana 3 wisdom the honor of the trail and the law but those these things had not come to him in it day the mind Is slow to generalize and many faco repeated often are arc required to comp compass an understanding sitka charley from boyhood had bad been thrown continually with white men and as a roan lie had elected to cast ills hla fortunes with them expatriating himself once and for nil all from his own people even then respecting almost venerating their power and pondering over it lie hod had yet to divine its secretes secret essence the lionor honor and tile law and it was only by tho the cumulative evidence of years thit lie had finally come to understand being an alien when lie did know he knew it better than the white man mail himself being tin an indian he had achieved the impossible and of these things had been bred a certain contempt for lily ills own people a contempt which he had mado made it a custom to conceal but which now burst forth in a polyglot whirlwind of oc curses upon the heads of enli chucto and combee they cringed before him like n brace of snarling wolf w olf dogs doga too cow ordly to spring too wolfish to cover their fangs they were not handsome creatures neither was sitka charley all three were frightful looking there was no lesli flesh to their faces their cheek bones were massed with hideous sentis scabs which had cracked and frozen alternately under the intense frost whilo their eyes burned luridly with the lie light which Is born lioi n of desperation and hunger men lien so situated beyond tho the pale little of the lionor and the lie law tire arc not to ile be trust trusted sitka charley Cli arley knew this and this was why lie ho lind had forced to abandon their rifles with the rest of the camp outfit ten days before ills rifle und and captain epping wells were the only ones that remained Inn ined come got get a fire started lie commanded drawing out the precious match box with etli ltd its attendant strips of dry birch bark mhd two in felt fell sullenly to the task of gathering bend brandies branches and underwood rhey were ere weak and paused often catching themselves in itie alie act of stooping with giddy motions or staggering to the center of operations with their flidr knees shaking sli allne like castanets after each trip they rested tor for a moment as though sick and dead ly weary at times lines their eyes took on the patient of dumb suffering and again the ego seemed almost bursting forth with its wild cry 1 1 I 1 I want to exist the dominant note of the whole living universe A light breath of air blew from the south nipping tile exposed portions of their and driving tho the frost in needles of 0 fire through fur and flesh to the bones so when the fir fire ila had grown ili anty ty and thawed it a damp circle in the snow enow about it sitka Ch charley tirley forced his reluctant comrades to lend it hand bund lit in pitching a fly it was it print pilm etive affair merely a blanket stretched Im parallel with the fire and to windi windward varl of it nt at tin an angle of perhaps forty five alvo degrees degre this shut out the chill wind und throw threw tho the heat backward and down upon those who were to huddle in its shelter then i layer of green soruco boughs was spread that their bodies might not conio come in contact with the snow when this task w was as completed anh chucto and glowhee proceeded to take care of at their feet their fee lound bound moccasins were sadly worn by much travel and the sharp ice of the river jams lied cut them to rags their socks were similarly shul hirly conditioned and when ft hen these had 11 ad been thawed and removed the dead white tips of tile tho toes in tile the various stages of mortification told their simple tato talo ot at the trail leaving tho the two to the alic drying of their footgear fltka charley turned back over tho the course lie had come cattle lie ile too had ft a mighty longing to at sit by lie ho fire and tend tits his complaining coin pla ining flesh but tile tho lionor honor and the law forbade ila iio tolled painfully over the frozen field each step a protest every muscle lit in revolt rii volt several thues where the open water between the jams lind had recently crusted lie was forced to miserably accelerate his movements as the fragile tooting footing swayed and threatened beneath him in such places death was quick and easy but it wa was a not ills his desire to endure more ills his deepening anxiety vanished tie as two indians indiana dragged into view round it bend in the river they staggered and panted like men under heavy burdens yet et the packs on their backs wert were a matter of 0 but few pounds lie ile questioned them thein eagerly and their replies se seemed to relieve him lie ile hurried on next nest came two white men inen supporting between them it a woman they also behaved its as though drunken drun Len and their limbs shook with ea kness but the woman leaned upon them choosing to carry herself forward tier own stran li at sight of her a flash of joy cast its fleeting light across sitka charleys race face lie ile cherished a very groat great regard for mrs irs I 1 lie lind ilal seen nany many white women but tills this was waa tile alie first to travel the trail with him when captain kp bp proposed the hazardous undertaking der taking and made ailin tin an offer for ills his services lie he had shaken his hend head gravely for it was an unknown journey through tile dismal vast nesses of the northland tind and lie be knew it to be of the kind that tidy try to tile the uttermost the souls of men hut but when lie lea learned ra that tho the captains wife was anva to accompany tl in iii lie lind had refused antly flatly to have anything further to do with it alad it been a woman of his own V NN 4 t 00 41 g do 7 k they cringed before him race he would have harbored no objections but these women of the northland no no they were too soft too tender for such enterprises sitka charley did not know this kind of woman five minutes before he did not even dream ot of taking chargo charge of the expedition but when she came to him with tier her wonderful smile and tier her straight clean english and talked to the point without pleading or persuading sua ding he had incontinently yielded lind had there been a softness and appeal to mercy in the eyes a tremble to tho the voice a taking advantage of sex he would mould have hae stiffened to steel instead tier clear searching eyes and clear ringing voice olce tier her utter frankness and tacit assumption of equality had robbed him of his reason lie ile felt then that this was a now new breed of woman i and ere they had been trail mates tor for many days he knew why the sons of such women mastered the land and sea and why the sons of tits his own womankind woma a could not prevail against them tender and soft I 1 day after day he witt watched elied tier lier muscle weary exhausted indomitable ind the words beat in upon hita lit in it perennial refrain tender and soft I 1 ila iio know knew tier her feet had been born to easy paths and sunny lands strangers to the moccas ined pain of tho the north by the chill lips of the frost and lie he watched and marveled manelea tit at them twinkling ever through tho the weary day she lind had always a smile and a word ot of cheer from which not even the meanest leanest packer was excluded As the way grew darker she seemed to stiffen and gather greater strength and when kah chucto and gosbee who had bragged that they know knew every landmark of the way as it a child did the skin bales of tho the tepee acknowledged that they knew not where they were it was she who raised a forgiving voice amid the curses of the men she had sung to them that night till they felt the weariness fall from them and were ready to anee the future with fresh hope and when the food failed and each scant stint wits was measured jealously she it was who rebelled against the machinations of tier her husband and charley and demanded and received a share neither greater nor less than that of the others sitka charley was proud to know this woman A new richness greater breadth hall had como coma into ills his life with tier her presence hitherto he had been tits ills own on mentor had turned to right or left sit at no mans beck he hail had mould ed cd himself according to his own onn dictates nourished his manhood regardless of all save ills hs own opinion for tho the first time he had felt a call from froin without for tho the best that was in him just a glance of front from tho the clear searching eyes a word of thanks from the clear ringing voice olce just a slight wreathing of the lips lo in tit the wonderful ond erful smile and lie he walked with the gods tor for hours to come it was a new stimulant to ills his manhood for the first thue lie he thrilled with n conscious pride in ills wisdom of tho the trail and between the twain they ever lift lifted 0 d the sinking hearts of their comrades the faces of the two men and the woman brightened us as they saw hini him for after nil all lit ho was the staff they leaned upon but fltka charley rigid us its was tits his wont conceal lug pain lin and pleasure impartially beneath an lion iron exterior asked them the welfare of the rest told the distance to the lire and continued on the back trip next nest lie ito met a single indian bened limping lapi ond eyes ces set with the pain of a foot in the quick fought a busing battle with tile the dead all possible cae had been taken of oc him but in the last extremity the weak aid unfortunate must perish and fltka charley deemed ills his days to be few the man could not keep up tip for long so lie gave gao him rough cheering words after that cattle came two more Ind indians laus to whom lie imd allotted tho the task of helping along joe the third willie white inan of tho ulu larty baity they aliey hall had de sert d him sitka charley Cli urley saw at a glance tile the lurking spring in their bodies and knew they had tit at last cast oft off lits his mastery so lie he was w as not talk un un when lie he ordered them back lit in quest of their abandoned charge and saw tile tho gleam of tile hunting knives that they drew from tile the sheaths A pitiful spectacle three weak men lifting their puny pully strength lit iu the face at 0 tile the mighty fastness ness but tile the two recoiled under tinder the fierce rifle blows of at the one and returned like beaten dogs to tile tho leash two to hours later with alth joe reeling lb between them and suka sitka hurley bringing up tile the rear they came to the lire fire where ako tko remainder of the expedition crouched la in tho shelter of the lly fly A few words my comrades before we sleep fltka charley said after they had and devoured their stint slim rations of 0 unleavened broad bread lie he was speaking to the Ind indians inns in their own tongue having already given the import to the whites A few words my coni com indes for your own good that yo way may yet t perchance llo live I 1 shall give you the lie low law on his own lead head bo be tile the death bif him that breaks it wo we have hae passed the hills of silence and ve now ti avel tile the head reaches of the stuart it may be one sleep it may be several it may be many sleeps but in tsuio ve Q shall conie come among the men of the lie yukon who have mufti grub giuli it well that we look to the law today kah chucte and Gow goshee lice whom I 1 commanded to break trail forgot they men and like frightened children ran away true they forgot so BO let us forget hut but hereafter let them remember it if it should happen they do not ile ho touched tits his rifle carelessly grimly tomorrow they shall carry tho the lour flour and sea neo that the white man joe lies n not ot down by the trail tile cupfuls vf of flour are counted should so much as aj an lunce be wanting at nightfall do ye understand today there were others that forgot moose head and three salmon left tho the white wan man joe to lie ile in the snow let them forget no more with the light of day shall they go forth and break trail yo have heard the law look well test lest yo ye break it sitka charley found it beyond him to keep the line close up from moose head and three salmon who broke trail in advance to kah chucte guw cow hee hec and joe it struggled straggled out over a mile each staggered tell fell or rested as he saw lit fit the line of march wits was a progression through a chain of arregu lar halts each drew upon the last remnant a 0 tits strength and stumbled onward tl ti it was expended td but in some inara ulous ious way there was always another last rein remnant nant each time it man fill fell it was with the firm belief that ho he would rise ilse no more yet lie did rise in at iraln and again the llesh flesh yielded iteld cd ne cie will conquered but each triumph way was a tragedy trag cd the in ili dlan dian alth the frozen foot no longer erett erect crawled forward on hand and knee ile he rarely rested for he knew tile penalty exacted by the frost E een ven mrs ells lips were at last set hot in a smile and tier her eyes tw av not often she stopped pressing a hand to her heart gasping and dizzy joe the white man had bad passed beyond the stage of suffering I 1 ho to no longer begged to be let alone prayed to die but was soothed and content under tile the anodyne of delirium kali chucte and Gow elice dragged him on roughly venting upon him many a savage glance or blow to them it was tile the acme of injustice their hearts were bitter with hate bate heavy with fear why should they the cumber their strength with tits his weakness to do so meant death not to do so and they remembered the law of sitka charley and the rifle joe fell with greater frequency as the daylight weaned und and so hard was lie he to raise that they dropped farther and farther behind sometimes all three pitched into the snow so weak had and the indians indiana become yet on their backs was life and strength and war warmth nith within the flour sacks backs were nil all the potentialities of existence they could not but think of this and it was a i toa could not keep up for or long not I 1 strange that which came to p puss a mm they ey hod had fallen by the side of it great timber ibar baut where hero a thousand cords of firewood waited tile the match near ear by anvils s an air hole through the ice kali chucto urte looked on jhb wood and the wa ter as 05 did glowhee then they looked on each other never a word was spoken cowl gowley struck a fire kali kah chuto tilled filled a tin till cup with water und and heated it joe babbled or of things in nn other land in t n tongue they did not understand they mixed flour with tile the aurin winter water till it was it 11 thin and of this they dranly many cupfuls cup fuld they d did not otter offer any to joe JOB hut but ito ho did not mind lie it did not mind any thing not even hla his which scorched and smoked alio A crystal mist of 0 snow fell about them softly caressingly wrapping them in clinging robes of T ailbe and their feet would have yet trod many amny trails had not destiny brushed tile clouds aside and cleared tile ner nay ten minutes mirl utes delity delay would have been salvation sitka charley charle V looking back bach saw tile the d of their fire lind guessed and lie ho looked ahead nt those who were faithful and tit ni mrs Epping wet so my lay good cd ye have aaen ag if S smiled vivaciously at the wisdom of the trail forgotten that you were men good very good there will be fewer bellies to feed charley retted the flour na as he spoke strapping |