g
the same with everything but the furs which enveloped Mason. These he
wrapped and lashed tightly about him, fastening either end of the robes
to the bent pines. A single stroke of his hunting knife would release
them and send the body high in the air.

Ruth had received her husband's last wishes and made no struggle. Poor
girl, she had learned the lesson of obedience well. From a child, she
had bowed, and seen all women bow, to the lords of creation, and it did
not seem in the nature of things for woman to resist. The Kid permitted
her one outburst of grief, as she kissed her husband--her own people
had no such custom--then led her to the foremost sled and helped her
into her snowshoes. Blindly, instinctively, she took the gee pole and
whip, and 'mushed' the dogs out on the trail. Then he returned to
Mason, who had fallen into a coma, and long after she was out of sight
crouched by the fire, waiting, hoping, praying for his comrade to die.

It is not pleasant to be alone with painful thoughts in the White
Silence. The silence of gloom is merciful, shrouding one as with
protection and breathing a thousand intangible sympathies; but the
bright White Silence, clear and cold, under steely skies, is pitiless.

An hour passed--two hours--but the man would not die. At high noon the
sun, without raising its rim above the southern horizon, threw a
suggestion of fire athwart the heavens, then quickly drew it back.
Malemute Kid roused and dragged himself to his comrade's side. He cast
one glance about him. The White Silence seemed to sneer, and a great
fear came upon him. There was a sharp report; Mason swung into his
aerial sepulcher, and Malemute Kid lashed the dogs into a wild gallop
as he fled across the snow.

The Son of the Wolf

Man rarely places a proper valuation upon his womankind, at least not
until deprived of them. He has no conception of the subtle atmosphere
exhaled by the sex feminine, so long as he bathes in it; but let it be
withdrawn, and an ever-growing void begins to manifest itself in his
existence, and he becomes hungry, in a vague sort of way, for a
something so indefinite that he cannot characterize it. If his comrades
have no more experience than himself, they will shake their heads
dubiously and dose him with strong physic. But the hunger will continue
and become stronger; he will lose interest in the things of his
everyday life and wax morbid; and one day, when the emptiness has
become unbea