Argosy All-Story Weekly — "The Purple Limited" — page 84: what you’re looking at

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

650 faded, the form disappeared, and Ku-ro was alone among the icy peaks, but from afar there seemed to float in Then-ai’s gen- tle tones: “It may not be! Wait, my lover; not long!” And to his nostrils there drifted -the faint perfume — well-remembered— which lurked ever in the hair of the Lance of Dawn. _ Ku-ro fell prone upon the ice, and even as he did so the sunlight was blotted out by the dark clouds driving across the sky; a chill wind swept down from the higher peaks, and all about was hid from sight by the sudden rush and sweep of the blinding ‘SROW. Ku-ro got to his feet and staggered a few yards from the crevasse, then sank down once more, utterly forespent. Over and over in his mind he turned the remem- brance of the vision; Then-ai had come from the Place of Good to warn him! Surely the Great Father had need of Ku- ro! And the wisdom of the Great Father, sending the only messenger Ku-ro would heed! Overcome by the thought, by the sure knowledge that the Great Father had him in mind—him, so weak, so little worth among the tribesmen — Ku-ro got to his knges and prayed, asking that he might in truth deserve this sign of favor, that he might well and truly serve the Ta-an. Comforted by his prayer, Ku-ro took from his girdle the remains of a hare he had slain some days before and was sav- ‘Ing, eating a little at a time, that it might last. It was a large beast of its kind, and more than half was left, frozen as hard as stone. This unappetizing meal Ku-ro guiped down, painfully chipping the frozen meat. in fragments-with his dagger and thawing it in his mouth till he could swai- low. And for all that it was raw and frozen, never had he tasted aught so good! Presently his stomach filled, the wolf no longer gnawing in his belly, the youth curled up and slept, falling into slumber with a gentle smile on his lips—the first in many a long day! And softly, silently, touching him almost with a caress, the white snowflakes drifted ever downward through the darkness, covering and wrap- ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. ping that silent form with a feathery man- tle, a blanket which blurred and softened the outlines not- only of Ku-ro’s form, bat of all surrounding objects as well; softly, silently, through the long night they drifted down, till when morning came the aspect of that place of desolation and death was changed well-nigh beyond all recognitign by the curving outlines of the piled and moundel snow. Two things saved Ku-ro’s lfe—nay, three. The vision, first; then after that the full meal, which stimulated his Sagging Strength and made it possible for him to Sleep; last, the snowstorm. Men caught im blizzards rarely die of cold; frightened, terrified, they circle about until exhausted, whereas did they but lie down and rest till it ceased they would often be rescued. Strange it seems, but snow falling over a sleeping man makes a warm protecting oov- ering under which one sleeps well, resting, sheltered from the cold. And thus Ku-r0 slept, though had he Jain out on the bare ice, exposed to the wind, he had never , Wakened. Full thirty-six hours he slept, waking at length to a dim gray twilight. At first be could not remember where he was, but soon memory came back with a rush; Tu-sen’s death, his own resolve to die, the vision, the prayer, the food, these things grew clear, and he stood erect, shaking off the snow, resolute to hasten back to his own people. As he rose and broke through the blanket of snow he was amazed to find that the storm had ceased and the flamimg sun was just breaking over the eastern hills; the gray light to which he woke beneath the snow had caused him to think it yet dusk. But -it was a glorious dawn instead; "the blazing sun, the clear blue arch of the sky, the dazzling snow with its long blue shadows and sparkling lights, and all about the lofty peaks, rising in rank after rank as far 65 the eye could reach—these things seemed to Ku-ro a happy augury, a presage of good to come. Again he prayed to the Great Father, and this done set his face away from the cre- vasse and toward the long journey back to the Valley of the Ta-an. COMmiCcooOokS.€©