Part 27 (1/2)
He shook his head ”I can't--I can't go any farther I can't see the way”
”But I'll lead you” By her intuition she guessed his despair; and she coainst her breast ”Don't you know I'll lead you?” she cried, a world of pleading in her tone ”Oh, Bill--you can't give up You must try If you die, I'll die too--here beside you Oh, Bill--don't you know I need you?”
The words stirred and wakened himto hio on Could he refuse that appeal? Could any wish of hers, as long as he lived and was able to strive for her, go ungranted? The blood th flowed back into his thews
There could be no further question of giving up He struggled with himself, and his voice was almost his ohen he spoke ”Give me more food--and more whisky,” he commanded ”Take so holed to his feet He reeled, nearly fell; but her arave hi liquid
”It's a race against tiet you into the cabin before the reaction coot, Bill--for me!”
She need make no other appeal She took his hand, and they startedover the drifts
The ainst the wolf pack, the ferocious little er ht than these taged on the way to the cabin There was no htfully worn and spent froinia had lent her own young strength to him Often he reeled and faltered, and at such times her ar
A iving cheinia had never drea muscles: a spirit born of an unconquerable will rose within her and bore her on
She are of no physical pain; the nificent exertion of her ht for the lives of their babes she fought for hiht of giving up was intolerable, and such spirit is the soul of victory!
They won at last Without the stimulant and the nutritious food defeat would have been certain But all these factors would have been unavailing except for the fighting spirit that her appeal to hirown, in her own soul
They mused up to the cabin, and Harold stared at theh the doorway Virginia led him to her own cot, then drew the blankets over him And she was not so exhausted but that she could continue the fight for his recovery
”Build up the fire, and do it quickly,” she ordered Harold Her tone was terse, co, and curiously he leaped to obey her She rearments, and as Harold went out to procuresnow, she began to rub Bill's right hand, the hand that had been frozen in his effort to grope for the trail Quick and hard as needed to save it
Harold came to her aid, but she put him to other work She wanted to do this task herself Then she aroused the woodsive him coffee, cup after cup of it that used up the last of their er supply
It is one of the peculiar faculties of the human body to recover quickly from the effects of severe cold Even coupled with exhaustion his hardshi+ps had wrought no lasting organic injury, and the h body ca sleep, wholly clear-headed and free froroped and in a inia's hands But an instant he held theh to know that she was near He realized that he was out of danger now: such tenderness as she had given hi beside his bed, wrapped in a blanket
He started to get up so that she could have her own cot; but she wakened at his ht now,” he told her ”I'o to et some sleep”
”No I'm not sleepy yet”
But the dull tones of her voice--even thought Bill could not see the white fatigue in her face--belied her words Bill laughed, the sa his feet to the floor ”It's my turn to be nurse--now,” he told her ”Get in quick”
”But I've had Harold bring some blankets here and spread theo to sleep there, when--I'ht now”
With his strong arms he half-lifted her and laid her in his warratefully, and he drew the blankets about her shoulders The touch of his hand was in so only a little, he groped his way to the bed she had ht,” he called, when he had pulled his blankets up Guided by a hope that flooded his heart with tremulous anticipations, he held out his hand in the darkness toward her
As if by ainto his Nothey had acted: but neither see in the darkness It was simply the Mystery that all men see and no man understands
He held the little hand in his for just a breath, as athat a prophet had blessed Then he let it go
”Good night, Bill,” she told hi slu there was but one curious circu it seemed to him that he heard the faint prick of a rifle, far away The truth was that for all his heavy sleep, souardian senses were awake to receive impressions, and the sound was a reality