Argosy All-Story Weekly — "The Purple Limited" — page 81: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE WINGS OF THE SNOW. And now the three, hunted and hunters, were traveling over the great River of Ice. They had passed from the bare and wind- swept rocks, climbing, clinging, slipping to the surface of that vast and mighty glacier, desolate, stern, implacable. They had scaled sheer cliffs and skirted deep preci- pices; they had cut foot-holds across glis- tening snow-fields, or had trodden in those Tu-sen had cut; time and time again they chad missed death by the thickness of a hair, by the breadth of a knife’s edge; and ever they drew closer to their prey. Tu-sen was growing weaker; food was scanty—none was to be had save what they had carried from the low country— and, further, he must pick the way—the hunters could follow in his tracks. Yet even so Ku-ro feared lest the fugitive win across the great peaks to the valleys be- yond, and lose himself in their twists and turns. So he drove himself fiercely, Men- zono-nan following, though he lacked the urging fire which burned in Ku-ro’s heart. At last there came a morning when, ris- ing from sleep on the bare ice, Ku-ro saw Tu-sen not more than a thousand paces in advance. He woke the Son of the Wolf, and together they hastened after the flee- ing man, determined to close with him be- fore night should close down. “ Forget not he is mine!” said Ku-ro, - and the other nodded silently—both men , were nearing exhaustion. On they pressed, and on, and presently .Tu-sen, rounding’ the shoulder of an ice cliff, was lost to view. The two were now crossing a long slant of frozen snow, dig- ging their lances into the slippery crust to hold themselves from sliding—a slip, a fall, and the unfortunate one would have made a long glissade to death. Of a sudden Kuro, looking up, uttered a startled cry and flung himself prone, cling- ing madly to the smooth crust. Menzono- nan did likewise, as from above, far up the slope, there hurtled down upon them a great block of ice, half the height of a man. On it came, faster and faster, leaping, bounding, rushing upon them with irresis- tible force, driving like a thunderbolt! _Ku-ro saw that it was headed directly to- ward them—he closed his eyes—dropped 047 his head—clung—with crash and roar as of a thousand torrents the huge block struck —a muffled cry — something wet splashed on Ku-ro’s hand—he lifted his head—and saw that he was alone on the blinding expanse of white. Before him, where his friend had lain, a horrible splotch of red stained the snow— | far down the slope the great block bound- ed and thundered—Ku-ro looked dazedly at his hand and muttered: “ Blood!” and from above there floated faintly to his ears a jeering laugh! ; That night Ku-ro made camp alone on the surface of the glacier. There was no fuel for a fire, and he ate sparingly of the frozen meat he carried, quenching his thirst with bits of ice melted in his mouth. In» the morning he was afoot betimes, and managed to catch a glimpse of his enemy not more than a quarter of a mile away; he was cheered to see that Tu-sen had reached—or well-nigh reached—the limit of his strength—he was going on all fours. Ku-ro sprang forward in pursuit, en- couraged at finding Tu-sen’s ax where he had flung it away to lighten his }ocad—sure sign that the end was near. But a he stooped to lift it his foot slipped, his ankle twisted under , and with a grunt of pain he fell heavily, cursing. A brief examination showed that no bones were broken, nor was the joint dis- placed, but when Ku-ro tried to rise an agonizing pang shot up his leg, and he fell again. He cursed furiously, realizing that he also must go on hands and knees, but doggedly he took up the chase, determined that this day should see the end. So across the vast and pitiless River of Ice the two journeyed, the doomed man and the avenger, one racked by terror, one driven by the fiends of hatred and blood- lust; on hands and knees they crawled over the vast desert, slipping, falling, struggling ever onward; bleeding from raw wounds worn on knees and palm, or cut by the sharp edges of ice or snow-crust—ever on- ward through agony to death! Ku-ro, glancing up, saw that Tu-sen had changed his course; instead of carrying on straight across, he had turned and was heading at right angles up the long slope. CONNEC DOOLK CO