Snow-Blind

orest; its surface shone with an unbearable brightness as of sun-struck glass, every crystal gleaming and quiveri

roof was weighted with drift, so that a curling mass like the edge of a wind-crowded wave about to break hung low over the eaves. Long icicles as thick as a ma

m the skis which he stuck up on their ends in the snow, and removed the fur cap from his head and the huge dark spectacles from his eyes. Then, crouching, he w

. The low room was pleasant to look at, for it had the beauty of brown bark and the salmon tints of old rough boards, and its furniture, wrought painstakingly by an unskil

she might have fostered a charm that lurked somewhere about her small, compact body and in her square, dark face. Her hair of a sandy brown was stretched back brutally so that her bright, devoted eyes-gray and honest eyes, very deep-set beneath their brows-lacked the usual softness and mystery of women's eyes. Her lips were tight set; her chin held out with an air of dogge

r near the stove and gre

aid. "How man

curbs his natural effervescence of greeting like a well-trained

d at him for answer. "Haven'

he floor near the stove, and Hugh now pick

against my legs when I come in," he snarled. "Thanking me for a quiet nap and a saucer of milk, eh? You loafer! What do I keep you for? You gorge the bread and meat I earn by sweating and freezing, and you keep your sluggish mountain of bones cover

t now at a white wall of snow, above which shone the dazzle of the midday. He whistled very softly to himself and sank his hands deep into the pockets of his corduroys.

had come into the room, and the silent smiling youth, Hugh G

one leg and with an ill-proportioned face, malicious, lined, lead-colored; a man who limped and leaped about the ro

ough which her work had been taking her to and fro during Garth's outbreak. Her vo

k, and you only came in about ten minutes before he did. Why don't you speak out? You're getting to be pretty close to a man

redly, "I guess maybe he's tired. Let up, Hugh

st. The attack was so unexpected that Pete staggered, lost his balance, and stepping down into the shallow depression of a pebbled hearth, fell, twisting his ankle. The agony was sharp. After a dumb minute he

in her hands. After the brief pause of consternation she set down the dish and went over to Pete. "Here

f you," he commanded. "You've had your lesson, Pete. After this, I guess you'll do what I tell you to-not choose the work that happens to suit your humor. Don't, for God's

them the woman sat, dyed deep in her sudden unaccustomed wave of scarlet. Pete's whiteness too was stain

ooked s

mean it, I suppos

ence and this dumb exchange of understanding infuriated Garth. He clinch

sts to keep the breath in our three useless bodies. Wouldn't death be better for a man like me? Easier to bear? Fifteen years of it! Fifteen years! My best years!" He stared over Pete's head. "In all that time no

for you to go, Hugh

ot-wat

ce, but he answered with the same gentlen

there was a picture of you t

-possible. They-they've given me up. They've f-forgotten me. They th-think I'm dead. After fifteen years? My God, Pete! Why didn

iting until this trip to see if the picture was

t mean?" whi

s down on the table edge and stood up. He drew his mouth into a crooked smile and looked at the other two as a naughty child looks at its doting but disapproving elders. The smile

emed to know the hopelessness of protest. In the same anxious dumbness they watched Garth make

t risk it. We can get on without supplies until

dventure has me. Who knows what I may meet with out there?" He flung back t

melted to a shamefaced gentleness; his voice softened. "If they get me down there, if I don't come back, you two try to think kindly of me, will you? I

across the floor. Her face was expressionless, her eyes lowered. Garth smiled at th

d men we

ng for

de, but nothing

around by

e around

de, but nothing

f. It lessened from a hissing speech to a hissing whisper. It sighed away. Bella sat down abruptly on a c

murmured. "If he doesn't come