The Turtles of Tasman

spread in a single bed on a mat of spruce boughs; behind the bed an oblong of canvas stretched to refract the heat. Daw fed the dogs and chopped ice and firewood. Linday's cheeks burned with fro

worried. That day would see them in the canyon, he explained, and if the spring thaw set in the canyon would run open wa

hat evening they complained of the heat, and both agreed that t

'em down in Curry County, Oregon, where I come from, an' we called 'em panther. Anyway, it was a bigger cat than ever

nodded and returned the gaze. Both listened. From far off came a vague disturbance that increased to a vast and sombre roaring. As it neared, ever-increasing, riding the mountain tops as well as the canyon depths, bowing the forest before it, bending the meagre, crevice-r

Chinook,

e river trai

y for a long, considering minute. "We've just had fifteen hours of trail," he shouted

the cooking outfit and unused sleeping furs lashed on the sled. Then, through the darkness, for a night of travel, they churned out on the trail Daw had broken nearly a week before. And all t

n they had wolfed pounds of stra

it shrank. In two hours the snow level sank three inches. From every side, faintly heard and near, under the voice of the spring wind, came the trickling of h

houlder; touched him again;

admiringly. "You

under heavy lids, ackn

helped sew up his in'ards. Doc...." He shook the man, whose eyes had again closed. "I

eep. The going was slow, not more than two miles an hour, and

go to blazes, for we can take to the bank, and it's only ten more miles to camp. Why, Doc, w

re it still held to the shore, the water overran and they waded and slushed across. The Little Peco growled and muttered. C

Doc, an' take a sn

eyes prevented him from

Cakes of ice, borne downward in the rapid current, began to thunder beneath the

ver'll raise a hundred feet in a hundred minutes. It's us for the tops if we can find a way

nt on their bodies dragged the lead-dog backward and in. Swept downstream under the ice, these three bodies began to drag to the edge the two whining dogs that remained. The men held back frantically on the sled, but were slowly drawn along with it. It was all over in the space of seconds. Daw slashed the wheel-dog's traces wit

d the sled was abandoned. Linday resented Daw's

as soon as you ge

m and for half an hour lay where they had fallen. Then came the fire, a pot of coffee, and an eno

ron man, Daw

r first hunt I had a mean idea to show 'm a few. I let out the links good an' generous, 'most nigh keepin' up with the dawgs, an' along comes Rocky a-treadin' on my heels. I knowed he couldn't last that way, and I just laid down an' did my dangdest. An' there he was, at the e

was clean shot out-ptarmigan-an' he had one cartridge left. An' the dawgs tree'd a she grizzly. Small one. Only weighed about three hundred, but

ion. Then things come on real bad. The bear slid down a hollow against a big log. Downside, that log was four feet up an' down. Dawgs couldn't get at bear that way. Upside was steep gravel, an

e to lose his dawgs. He jumps on top log, grabs bear by the slack of the rump, an' heaves over back'ard right over top of that log. Down they go, kit an' kaboodle, twenty feet, bear, dawgs, an' Rocky, slidin', cussin',

hat Linday heard how Rock

e other, like it was some game. An' what do you think the fool game was? I've saw some pretty nervy cusses down in Curry County, but they beat all. They'd got a whoppin' big panther in the trap an' was takin' turns rappin' it on the nose with a light stick. But that wa'n't the point. I just come out of the brush in time to see Harry rap it. Then he chops si

o stick left-only a nubbin, about four inches long, an' it was Rocky's turn. 'Better quit now,' says Harry. 'What for?' says Rocky. 'Because i

x feet slack in its body. An' Rocky's stick four inches long. The cat got him. You couldn't see one fro

t it I'd never have com

ded con

he told me sure not to w

Linday demand

raid some herself. She'll do anything Rocky'll let her. But he's almighty careful with her. Treats her like a queen. No camp-work or such for her. That's why another man an' me are hired on good wages. They've got slathers of money an' they're su

ven't any patience with fools

l be there to-morrow. Just got to cross that last divide an' drop down to the cabin. An' they'

his black eyes warned Daw that he had

I reckon I'm gettin' some cra