Argosy All-Story Weekly — "The Purple Limited" — page 93: what you’re looking at

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

THE WINGS OF THE SNOW. ter was solved; a thick growth of feathers spreading out ‘from the toes was-evidently - Meant to suppert the bird, and Ku-ro threw the feet away in disgust—a man could not grow feathers on his toes! Rolling himself once more in his skins, he slept. But with the coming of morning the prob- lem recurred, insistent, clamoring for at- tention. All the while that Ku-ro was hunt- ing down and cooking and eating a hare it hammered at his brain, demanding to‘be solved—there must be some way a man could walk on the snow! _ Fed, Ku-ro ‘went to a bush and cut from it a bundle of small branches, tying them to his feet with thongs of hide in imita- tion of the feathers of the partridge, then endeavored to walk by their aid. The attempt was a failure; the twigs bent, tangled, got underfoot and tripped him, till at length he gave up, stripped them off in disgust, and resumed his laborious ' wallowing through the powdery white blanket. Throughout the day he traveled mechanically, guidimg his steps by the sun without conscious effort, his mind busy with the obsessing problem—there must be away! When night came he built a fire under another great tree, cooked the remains of the hare, and resolutely put the problem from his mind that he might sleep. Toward morning he woke to a rustling sound, and lay silent, motionless, eyes wide, till he had identified the noise, then sat up suddenly and threw more fuel on his fire, causing it to blaze high. By the leaping blaze he saw ringing about him some two- score pairs of green and shining sparks gleaming through the underbrush, and his heart sank, for he knew that a pack of hunting wolves had fallen upon his trail and would follow till they pulled him down. He shuddered, for his imagination pic- tured the quick rush, the leap, the swift hamstringing slash of knife-keen teeth, the snarling fight over his body—only a mira- cle could throw them off his track, and sooner or later, his vigilance relaxed, his eyelids heavy, they would pull him down. But he resolved to live as long as might be; to sleep in trees by night and travel by day with a blazing brand ever in his grip, to ward off the danger while he might 659 —to struggle on as long as life remained. ' And to that end he built up his fire high, stripping twigs from the low-flung branches of the tree, then set his back to the trunk, and prepared far a long vigil. Through the rest of the night Ku-ro al- ternately dozed and waked to pile brush on the fire. Outside the little circle of light the forest shadows lurked black and im- penetrable, thick and heavy; on the near- by tree-trunks the ruddy light shone warm and rich, gleaming brightly from the snow; in and out among the brush sparkled and shifted and winked those menacifig sparks, those deadly eyes, merciless. - The only sounds were the crackle of the fire, the sighing of the wind in the bare boughs overhead, and from time to time the faint rustle of a wolf, brushing against the twigs as he moved. At length, just as the gray light of dawn filtered through the forest to pale the fire- light and lay strong yellow shafts on the white snow there rang through all the wood- land aisles a wild wolf-howl, and Ku-ro was conscious that the beasts which watched him had withdrawn. Presently there rose not far away a terrific uproar, mingled snarling, howling, crash of bushes, and over all a thunderous trumpeting which told in no uncertain manner what had occurred. A mammoth, leaving for some reason the | tundras which were its range, had wan- dered into the forest, and the Gray Slayers had left the scent of man for this easier quarry. Ku-ro knew that his safety was well-nigh certain; whichever proved victor, he at least would be no more troubled by this pack, and Wisdom told him to be on his way. But curiosity was stronger—he had never seen such a fight, though an old hunter of the tribe had told him of one that he had witnessed—and Ku-ro tumed toward the sounds. A hundred paces through the forest, and he came to the edge of a little glade some twenty paces across and halted on the mar- gin, hiding behind a tree to watch. Fair in the center of the open space stood a huge bull mammoth, facing toward the young man, his long hair flecked with blood. Twice the height of a tall man at the shoul- der he stood, feet braced and head thrown CGONMUC ~ NOOK CO