Part 8 (1/2)
”Sure That is, if we start first thing to-h the snow most of the way--our own trail, cooin' and not safe to wait”
”Then I suppose--the horses will be sent down below, because of the snow That's another reason why they can't even search for the bodies”
”Yes Of course they a and be seen sohted their pipes, and the horror of the tragedy began slowly to pass fro snow and the cold and their own discohts There was only one ray of light,--that in thethey could turn back out of the terrible wilderness, doard the cities of men
They didn't try to sleep The snow and the cold and the shrieking wind made rest an impossibility They did doze, however, between times that they rose to cut more fuel for the fire The hours seemed endless
Darkness still lay over the river when they went again to their toil
Lounsbury, himself offered to cook breakfast and tried to convince himself the act entitled him to praise In reality, he was only iry horses, slyly depositing portions of their supplies and equiphten his oork He further lightened the packs by putting a load on Mulvaney And they clilance onceany more,” Lounsbury said at last
”Of course not Get on your horse” Then they rode away, these torthy men, back toward the settlements Some of the pack horses--particularly the yellow Baldy and his kind--ed directions But Vosper had to urge Mulvaney on with oaths and blows
VIII
In Virginia's first uish realities froht before seehtmare But disillusionment came quickly She opened her eyes to view the cabin walls, and the full dreadfulness of her situation swept her in an instant
Her tears came first She couldn't restrain them, and they were simply the natural expression of her fear and her loneliness and her distress
For long inia was of good metal, and in the past few days she had acquired a certain le with her tears They would waken Bill, she thought--and she had not forgotten his bravery and his toil of the night before She conquered theo back to sleep
Her muscles pained her, her throat was raw from the water, and when she tried toBut she knew she had to look her position in the face She turned, pains shooting through her fraazed about her
The cabin, she could see, was rather larger than any of those in which they had camped on their journey It ell-chinked and sturdy, and even had the luxury of aFor the one out Then, e of her cot, she looked over intending to locate the clothes she had taken off the night before Then she saw him, stretched on the floor in the farthest corner of the roo dropped with exhaustion and fallen to sleep where he lay She could see that he still wore the tattered overcoat he had found hanging on the wall, and the two blankets were still wrapped about hiht before Morning was vivid and full at the , but he still lay in heavy slumber
She resolved not to call him; and in spite of her own uely touched; so so helpless and exhausted in sleep, went straight to some buried instinct within her and found a tenderness, a sweet graciousness that had not in her past life manifested itself too often
But the tenderness was supplanted by a wave of icy terror She was a woht suddenly came to her that she holly in this man's power, naked except for the blankets around her, unarmed and helpless and lost in the forest depths What did she know of him? He had been the soul of respect heretofore, but noith her uncle on the other side of the river--; but she checked herself with a revulsion of feeling The strength that had saved her life would save hiet out to-day; and she thought that this, at least, she need not fear
He had been busy before he slept His clothes and hers were hung on nails back of the little stove to dry He had cut fresh wood, piling it behind the stove She guessed that he had intended to keep the fire burning the whole night, but sleep had claiht was of supplies The simple matter of food and warmth is the first issue in the wilderness; already she had learned this lesson Her eyes glanced about the walls There were two or three sacks, perhaps filled with provisions, hanging fro, safely out of the reach of the omnivorous pack-rats that often wreak such havoc in unoccupied cabins But further than this the place seemed bare of food
Blankets were in plenty; there were a few kitchen utensils hanging back of the stove, and some sort of an ancient rifle lay across a pair of deer horns Whether or not there were any cartridges for this latter article she could not say Strangest of all, a sraph, evidently packed with difficulty into the hills, and a small stack of records sat on the crude, wooden table Evidently a real and fervent love of music had not been omitted from Bill's make-up
Then Bill stirred in his sleep She lay still, watching She saw his eyes open And his first glance was toward her
He flashed her a smile, and she tried pitifully to answer it ”How are you?” he asked
”Awfully lame and sore and tired Maybe I'll be better soon And you----?”
”A little stiff, not e, Miss Tremont I've seen too much of hardshi+p But I've overslept--and there isn't another second to be lost I've got to dress and go and locate Vosper and Lounsbury”
”I suppose you'd better--right away They'll be terribly distressed--thinking we're drowned” She turned her back to him, without nonsense or embarrassment, and he started to dress She didn't see the slow smile, half-sardonic, that was on his lips