- 1 dics al = Bellefonte, Pa., October 3, 1913. Rex Beach Adventure Stories The Test By REX BEACH Copyright by McClure, Phillips & Co. approval in his every attitude as plainly as disgust peered from the seams in his dark face. It lurked in his scowl and in the curl of his long rawhide that bit among the sled dogs. So at least thought Willard as he clung to the swinging sledge. They were skirting the coast, keep- ing to the glare ice, wind swept and clean, that lay outside the jumbled shore pack. The team rau silently in the free gait of the gray wolf, romp- ing in barvess from pure joy of mo- ton and the intoxication of perfect life, making the sled runpers whine like the song of a cutlass. This route is dungerous, of course, from hidden cracks in the floes, and most travelers hug the bluffs, but he who rides with Pierre “Feroce” takes chances. It was this that had won him the name of “Wild” Pierre, the most reckless, tireless man of the trails, a scoffer at peril, bolting through danrger with rush and frenzy, overcoming sheerly by vigor those cb- stacles which destroy strong men in the north, The power that pulsed within him gleamed from Lis eyes, raug in his song, showed iu the aggressive thrust of his sensual face. This particular moruing, bowever, Plerre’'s distemper had crystallized into a great coutempt for his compan- fon. Of all trials the most detestable i= to hit the trail with balf a man, a pale, anaemic weakling like this stran- ger. Though modest iu the estent of his learning, Pierre gloated in a freedom of speech the which no man dared deny him. He turued to eye his com- panion cynically for a second time, ané contempt was puteut in his gaze. Willard appeared slender and pallid in bis furs, though his clear cut fea- tures spoke a certain strength and much retinement. “Bah! | tink you dam poor feller! he said finally. “'Ow you going stan’ thees trip, eh? She's need beeg mans, Lot leetle runt like you.” Amusement at this frankness glim- mered in Willard's eyes “You're like all ignorant people. You think in order to stand hardship a man should be able to toss a sack of flour in his teeth or juggle a cask of salt horse" “Sure ting,” grinved Pierre. “That's right. Look at me. Mebbe you hear ‘bout Pierre ‘Fervce’ some time, eh? “Oh, yes; everybody knows you, knows you're a big bully. [I've seen you drink a quart of this wood alcho- ho! they call whisky up here and then jump the bar frow a stand. but you're all animal—you haven't refinement and the culture that minkes rea! strength. It's the mind that makes us stand punishment.” Pw “FEROCE” showed dis- | | that | | i too, ha! snow lay thick and soft. One man on snowshoes broke trail for the dogs till they reached the foothills. It was hard work, but infiintely preferable to which followed, for now they came into a dangerous stretch of over- flows. The stream. frozen to its bed, clogged the passage of the spring wa- ter beneath, forcing it up through cracks till it spread over the solid ice, | forming pools and sheets covered with treacherous ice skins. Wet feet are fatal to man and beast, and they made laborious detours. wallowing trails | through tangled willows waist deep in 1 “Ha, ha, ba!" laughed the Canadian, “W'at a founny talk! She'll take the bheducate man for stan’ the col’, eh? Mon Dieu!” He roared again till the sled dogs turned fearful glances back- ward and bushy tails drooped under the weight of their fright. Great noise came oftenest with great rage from P.erre, and they had too fre- quently felt them both to forget. “Yes: you haven't the mentality. | Some time you'll use up your physical | resources and go burned wick.” to pleces like a Pierre was greatly amused. His yel- | low teeth shone, aud he gave vent to violent mirth as, following the thought, he pictured a naked mind wandering over the hills with the | quicksilver at 60 degrees. “Did you ever see a six day race? Of course not. You barbarians haven't sunk to the level of our dissolute east, where we joy in [Roman spec- tacles. But if you had you'd see it's will that wins; it's the map that eats bis soul by inches. The educated soldier stands the campaign best. You run too much to muscle You're not balanced.” *] t'ink mebbe you'll ‘ave chance for show ’'im, thees stout will of yours. She's going be long 'mush’ troo the mountains, plentee snow. plentee cold.” Although Pierre's ridicule was gall- fog, Willard felt the charm of the morning too strongly to admit of an- ger or to argue his pet theory. ‘The sun, brilliant and cold. lent a paradoxical cheerfulness to the deso- lation, and, theugh never a sign of life broke the stilluess around them, the beauty of the scintillant, gleam- ing mountains, distin: t ax cameos, that guarded the bay. appealed to him with the strange attraction of the arctics— that attraction that calls and calls in- sistently till men forseke God's coun- try for its mystery He breathed the biting air cleaned by leagues of iifeless barrens and voids of crackliug frost till he ached with the exhilaration of a perfect morning on the Circle. Also before him undulated the grand- 2st string of dogs the coast had known, Seven there were tall and gray, with tails Hke plumes. which none but the snow smother or clinging preca- riously to the overhanging bluffs. As they reached the river's source the sky blackened suddenly and great clouds of snow rushed over the bleak hills, boil ing down into the valley with a furious draft. They flung up their dimsy tent only to have it flattened by the force of the gale, that cut like well honed steel. Frozen spots leaped out white on their faces, while their hands stiff- ened ere they could fasten the guy strings, Finally, baving lashed the tent bot. tom to the protruding willow tops. by grace of heavy lifting they strained their flapping shelter up sufficiently to crawl within. “By gar! She's blow hup ver queeck!” yelled Plerre as he set the ten pound sheet iron stove, its pipe swaying drunkenly with the heaving tent. “Good t'ing she hit us in the brush.” He spoke as calmly as though danger was distant, and a moment later the little box was roaring with its oil soak. ed kindlings. “Will this stove burn green willow tops?” cried Willard. “Sure! She's good stove. She'll burn hicicles eef you get "lm start one times. See 'lm get red?’ They rubbed the stiff spots from their cheeks; then, seizing the ax, Wil- lard crawled forth into the storm and dug at the base of the gnarled bushes. Occasionally a shrub assumed the pro- portions of a man's wrist, but rarely. Gathering an armful, he bore them in- side, and, twisting the tips into withes, he fed the fire. The frozen twigs siz- zled and snapped, threatening to fafl utterly, but with much blowing he sus- tained a blaze sufficient to melt a pot of snow. Bolling was out of the ques- tion, but the tea leaves became soaked and the bacon cauterized. Pierre freed and fed the dogs. Each gulped its dried salmon and, curling in the lee of the tent, was quickly drifted over. Next he cut blocks from the solid bottom snow and built a bar- rieade to windward Then he accumu- imted a mow of willow tops without the tent fly. All the time the wind blew down she valley like the breath of a giant bellows. “Supper!” shouted Willard, and as Merre crawled into the candlelight he found him squatred. fur bundled, over the stove, which setiled steadily into the snow, melting its way downward toward 2 firmer foundation. The heat was insutlicient to thaw the frozen sweat iv his clothes: his “Somebody going ketch ’‘ell.” eyes were bleary and wet from smoke, and his nose needed continuous blow- ing. but he spoke pleasantly, a fact which Plerre noted with approval. i “We'll need a habeas corpus for this i stove if you don't get something to | hold her up, and | might state, If it's worthy of mention. that your nose is frozen again.” Plerre brought an armful of stones | from the creek edge, distributing them | beneath the stove on a bed of twisted willows; then, swallowing their scan- ty, half cooked food, they crawled, shivering, into the deerskin sleeping | bags that animal heat might dry their clammy garments. Four days the wind roared and the ice filings poured over their shelter | i | mountains. ley, for bunger gnawed acutely, and . the dogs. slow and fraught with agony. arctic wastes bared themselves. All Ou the f6fth, without warning, the | storm died and the air stilled to a | play hout, I'm ’fraid.” chewed from between their toes the | ice pellets that had accumulated. A | malamoot is hard pressed to let his feet mass, and this added to the men's | uneasiness. i As they mounted the great divide mountains rolled away on every hand, | barren, desolate, marble white, always | the whiteness, always the listening silence that oppressed llke a weight Myriads of creek valleys radiated be- low in a bewildering maze of twist. ing seams. “Those are the Ass’ Ears, | sup- pose,” sald Willard. gazing at two great fangs that bit deep into the sky line. "Is it true that no man has ever reached them?” “Yes; the Hinjun say that's w'ere hall the storm come from, biccause, w'en the win' blow troo the ass’ ear, look out: Somebody going ketch ell” Dogs’ feet wear quickly after freez- ing. for crusted snow cuts like a knife. Spots of blood showed iu their tracks, growing more plentiful till every print ! was a crimson stain. They limped | pitifully on their raw pads, and oe- cusionally one whined At every stop they sank in track. licking thelr lacer- uted paws, rising only at the cost’ of much whipping. On the second night, faint and | starved, they reached the hut. Dig- | ging away the drifts, they crawled in- side to find it half full of snow —snow | which bad sifted through the crevices. Plerre groped among the shadows and swore excitedly. “What's up?” said Willard. Vocal effort of the simplest is ex- hausting when spent with hunger, and these were the first words he had spoken for hours. ! “By gar, she's gone! Somebody stole my grub!" i Willard felt a terrible sinking, and his stomach cried for food. “How far is it to the Crooked River Roadhouse 7” “One long day drive—forty mile.” “We must make it tomorrow or go hungry, eh? Well, thixz isn't the first dogtish 1 ever ate’ Both men gnawed a moldy dried salmon from | their precious store. As Willard removed his footgear be | groaned. “Wat's the wattaire?” “1 froze my foot two days ago— snowshoe strap too tight” He ex- hibited a heel, from which, in remov- ing his inner sock, the tesh and skin | had come away. “That's all right.” grinned Pierre. “You got the beeg will lef" yet. It take the heducate man for stan’ the col’, you know." ! Willard gritted bis teeth { They awoke to the whine of a gray | windstorm that swept rhe curting snow in swirling clouds and made travel a madness. The nest day was worse. Two days of hunger weigh heavy | when the cold weakens, and they grew gaunt and fell away in their features. “I'm glad we've got another feed for the dogs,” remarked Willard “We can’t let them run hungry, even if we i do.” “1 t'ink she’s be hall right tomor” ventured Plerre. “Thees ain't snow— | jus’ win’; bimeby all blow bout. Sacre! | I'll can eat "nuff fore ‘oie harmy | For days both men had been cold, I and the sensation of complete warmth | bad come to seem strange and unreal, while their faces cracked where the spots bad been. i Willard felt himself on the verge of | collapse. He recalled his words about | strong men. gazing the while ar Pierre. | The Canadian evinced suffering only ip the baggard droop of eye and | mouth; otherwise he looked strong and | dogged. Willard felt his own features bad shrunk to a mask of loose jawed suf- | fering, and he set his mental sinews, | muttering to himself. i He was dizzy and faint as he stretch- | ed himself in the still morning air upon waking and bobbled painfully. | but as his companion emerged from the darkened shelter into the crystal- line brightness he forgot his own mis- ery at sight of him. The big man reel- ed as though struck when the dazzle from the hills reached him. and he moaned, shielding his sight. Snow blindness bad found him in a night, Slowly they plodded out of the val- they left a trail of blood tracks from It took the combined ef- forts of both men to lash them to foot after each pause. Thus progress was As they rose near the pass miles of about towered bald domes, while everywhere stretched the monotonous white, the endless snow unbroken by tree or shrub, pallid and wenacing, maddening to the eye “Thank God. the worst's over!” tighed Willard, flinging himself on to the sled. “We'll make it to the sum- mit next time; then she's downhill all the way to the roadhouse.” Plerre said nothing. Away to the northward glimmered the Ass' Ears, and as the speaker eyed them carelessly he noted gauzy sureds and streamers veiling their tops. The phenomena interested him. for he knew that here must be wind— wind, the terror of the bleak tundra. the hopeless, merciless master of the barrens! However, the distant range ..Cabinet Dockash.. beneath the twin peaks showed clear cut and distinct against the sky, asd ' be did not mention the occurrence to the guide, although he recalled the ! words of the Indians, “Beware of the | wind through the Ass’ Ears.” | Again they labored up the steep | slope, wallowing in the sliding snow. | straining silently at the load; again | they threw themselves exhausted upon | it. Now, as he eyed the panorama | below, it seemed to have suffered a | subtle change, indefinable and odd. | | Although but a few minutes had | | elapsed, the coast mountains no longer | | loomed clear against the horizon, and | his visual range appeared foreshort- ened, as though the utter distances had | lengthened, bringing closer the edge of | things. The twin peaks seemed end- lessly distant and bazy. while the air | had thickened as though congested with possibilities lending a remote vess to the landscape, | “If it blows up on us bere, we're gone,” he thought. “for it's miles to | shelter, and we're right in the saddle of the hills.” | Pierre, half blinded as he was, arose uneasily and cast the air like a wild | beast, his great head thrown back, his | nostrils quivering. | “1 smell the win." he cried. Dieu! She's goin’ blow!" A volatile pennant floated out from a nearby peak, hanging about its rrest | like faint smoke. Then along the brow | of the pass writhed a wisp of drifting, | twisting flakelets, idling hither and yon, ecstatic and nimless, settling in a | hollow. They sensed a thrill and rus- “Mon ' tle to the air. though never a breath had touched them: then, as they! mounted higher, a draft fanned them, | icy as interstellar space. The view, from the summit was grotesquely dis- | torted. ana, glancing upward, they found rhe guardian peaks had gone | a-smoke with clouds of snow that whirled confusedly, while an increas- i ing breath sucked over the summit, [Continued on page 7, Col. 1.] Medical. Just in Time SOME EELLEFONTE PEOPLE MAY WAIT TILL IT'S TOO LATE. | | Don’t wait uatil too late, Be sure to bein time. Just in time with kidrey ills Means curing the backache. the dizzi- | ' ness, the urinary discrcers. That so often come with kidney trou. Doan's Kidney Pills are for this very purpose. ; Here is Bellefonte testimony of their worth. Mrs. H. 1. Taylor. 70 S. Water St., Belle- fonte, Pa.. says: “"Wethink just as high. ly of Doan’s idney Pills today as we did some years ago, when we publicly recom mended them. They were procured at Green's Pharmacy Co. and brought relief from backache and kidney trouble. On several occasions since then we have tak- en Doan’s Kidney Pills and they have al ways been of the greatest benefit.” For sale by al! dealers. Price 50, cents. Foster-Mil>urn Co . Buffalo, New York, sole agents for the United States. Remember the name—Doan’s—and take no other. 58.29 Hardware. Quality The short story of a Cabinet Dockash. Let us show them to you. Olewines Hardware 58-1 ee] Waverly Oils. WAVERLY OIL WORKS CO. Pittsburgh, Pa. GASOLINES LUBRICANTS 5746 ——————L LYON & COMPANY. “LA VOGUE" Coats and Suits ‘ARE HERE For Every Ladies Inspection La Vogue Garments have for many years been alluded to as “The Standard of style.” This title has been honestly earned because they always represent the most modish thought of the world of fashion. The fashions this season show many novel effects which combine with a refreshing orig- inality of clever design. The materials used cover an impressive ar- ray of new fall and winter fabrics, all rich in appearance, some dainty and exquisite in tone, others more defined in color, but each is characterized by refinement and the entire absence of bizarre effect. Every La Vogue Garment is perfect fitting, cut in graceful lines ; is guaranteed to retain its shape until worn out and represents the most minute care as to every detail of cut- ting, tailoring and finishing. Lyon & Co. .... Bellefonte Shoes. Yeager's Shoe Store - *FITZEZY" The Ladies’ Shoe that Cures Corns Sold only at Yeager’s Shoe Store, Bush Arcade Building, 58.27 BE1 LEFONTE, FA. w oh
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