Classic Audiobook Collection - The Snow-Burner by Henry Oyen ~ Full Audiobook [folklore]

Starting point is 00:00:00 part one chapter one of the snow burner by henry oyen part one the natural man chapter one help the brisk november sunrise breaking over the dark jackpines lighted up the dozen snow-covered frame buildings comprising the so-called town of railhead and presently reached in through the uncurtained windows of the northern light saloon where it shone upon the curly head of young topy treplin as pillowed on his crossed forearms it lay in repose on one of the saloon tables it was a sad strange place to find topy treplin one time all-american halfback but for the last four years all around moneyed loafer and waster railhead was far from the beaten path it lay at the end of sixty miles of narrow-gauge track that rambled westward into the big woods from the iron range railroad line and it consisted mainly of a boxcar depot an alleged hotel and six saloons none of the latter being in any too good repute with the better element round about the existence of the saloons might have explained toppy's presence in railhead had their character and wares been of a nature to attract one of his critical tastes, but in reality Toppy was there because the Iron Range Limited, bearing Harvey Duncombe's private hunting car, had stopped for a moment the night

Starting point is 00:01:41 before, out where the narrow gauge met the Iron Range Railroad tracks. Toppy, at that faded moment, was out on the observation platform alone. There had been a row, and Toppy had rushed out in a black rage. within the car reeked with the mingled odors of cigarette smoke and spilled champagne out of doors the first snowfall of the season faintly tinted by a newly risen moon lay unmarked undefiled a girl small young brisk and business-like alighted from the car ahead and walked swiftly across the station platform to the narrow-gauge train that stood waiting the anger and champagne raging in him had moved toppy to one of those wild pranks which had made his name among his fellows synonymous with irresponsibility he would get away from it all away from harvey duncombe and his champagne and all that sort of thing he would show them toppy had stepped off the limited suddenly glided away toppy lurched over to the narrow gauge and that was the last thing he had remembered of that memorable night as the sun now revealed him mr robert lovejoy treplin in spite of his deplorable condition

Starting point is 00:03:12 was a figure to win attention of a not entirely unfavorable sort still clad in mackinaw and hunting clothes his two hundred pounds of bone and muscle and just a little too much fat were sprawled picturesquely over the chair and table the six-foot gracefulness of him being obvious despite his rough apparel and awkward position his cap had fallen off and the sun glinted on a head of boyish brown curls it was only in the lazy good-natured face puffy and loose-lipped that one might read how recklessly toppy treplin had lived since achieving his football honors four years by before the sun crept up and found his eyes and toppy stirred slowly even painfully he raised his head from the table and looked around him the crudeness of his surroundings made him sit up with a start he looked first out of the window at the snow-covered street across the way he saw a small unpainted building bearing a scraggly sign hotel beyond this the jackpines loomed in a solid wall topy shuddered he turned his face toward the man behind the bar who had been regarding him for some time with a look of mingled surprise and amusement top he shuddered again the man was a half-breed and he wore a red woollen shirt worse there was not a sign of a mirror behind the bar it was distressing Good morning, brother, said Toppy, concealing his repugnance.

Starting point is 00:05:02 Might I ask you for a little information this pleasant morning? The half-breed grinned appreciatively, but skeptically. Little drink, I guess you mean, don't you? said he. Go ahead. Toppy bowed courteously. Thank you, brother, thank you. I am sorely puzzled about too little mad. Where am I, anyway? And if so, how did I get here?"

Starting point is 00:05:32 The grin on the Halfbreed's face broadened. He pointed at the table in front of Toppy. "'You've been sleeping there since about midnight last night,' he explained. Toppy waved his left hand to indicate his displeasure at the inadequacy of the bartender's reply. "'Ovious, my dear Watson, obvious! obvious he said i know that i'm at this table because here i am and i know i've been sleeping here because i just woke up let's broaden the range of our information what town is this if it is a town and if it is how did i happen to come here may i ask the half-breed's grin disappeared gradually to give place to an expression of amazement you mean to say you come to this town and don't know what town it is he demanded then why you come what you do here toppy's brow corrugated in an expression of deep puzzlement that's another thing that's rather puzzling too brother he replied why did i come i'd like to know that too like very very much to know that

Starting point is 00:06:52 where am i how did i come here and why three questions i'd like very very much to have answered he sat for a moment in deep thought then turned toward the bartender with the pleased look of a man who has found an inspiration i tell you what you do brother you answer the first two questions and in the light of that information i'll see if i can't ponder out the third the half-breed leaned heavily across the single plank bar and watched toppy closely this town is railhead he said slowly as if speaking to some one of whose mental capacity he had great doubts you come here by last night's train you bring the train crew over to have a drink then you fall asleep you've been sleeping ever since now you remember ah the puzzled look went out of toppy's eyes now i remember row with harvey duncombe wanted me to drink two to his one stepped outside saw little train saw little girl stepped off big train got on little train and here i am fine little business you went to sleep in the train coming up the conductor told me volunteered the half-breed you told them you wanted to go as far as you could so they took you up here to the end of the line you remember now hey why you come here only too well brother replied toppy wearily i-i just came up to see your beautiful little city the bartender laughed bitterly you come to a fine place didn't you ever hear about railhead he asked

Starting point is 00:09:00 i guess not or you wouldn't have come this town's the jumping-off place that's what she is it's the most godforsaken hopeless excuse for a town in the whole north country there's only two kind of business here shipping men out to hell camp and skinning them when they come back that's all what do you think of that for a fine town you've landed in eh fine said toppy i see you love it dearly indeed the half-breed nodded grimly it's all right for me i own this place anybody else his sucker to come here, though. You ain't a bohunk fool, so I don't think you come here to hire out for Hell Camp. You just got too drunk, eh? I suppose so, said Toppy, yawning. What's this Hellcamp thing? Pleasant little name. And pleasant little place, supplemented the man, mockingly. Ain't you never heard about Hellcamp? its boss, Revers, the Snowburner?

Starting point is 00:10:18 Huh. Perhaps you want hire out there for job? Perhaps, agreed Toppy. What is it? Oh, it ain't nothing so much. Just big log camp run by man named Revers. That's all. Indians call him snow burner.

Starting point is 00:10:40 Twenty-five, thirty miles out in the bush at Cameron Dam. That's all. Very big camp. Everybody who comes to this town is going out there to work, or else hiding out. I see. But why the name? Hell camp! The bartender's grin appeared again.

Starting point is 00:11:03 Then, as if a second thought on the matter had occurred to him, he assumed a non-committal expression and yawned. Oh, that's just nickname the boy's giving. you see the boys from camp come to town here in the spring then sometimes they raise hell that's why some people call it hell camp that's all cameron dam camp is the right name i see toppy was wondering why the man should take the trouble to lie to him of course he was lying even topy with his bleared eyes could see that the man had started to berate Hellcamp, even as he had berated railhead, and had suddenly switched and said nothing. It hurt Toppy's head. It wasn't fair to puzzle him this morning. I see. Just—just a nickname.

Starting point is 00:12:04 That's all, said the bartender. Briskly changing the subject, he said, Well, how about it, stranger? You're going to have a... eye-opener this morning?" "'I suppose so,' said Toppy, absently. He again turned his attention to the view from the window. On the low stairs of the hotel were seated half a dozen men, whose flat, ox-like faces and foreign clothing marked them for immigrants,

Starting point is 00:12:36 newly arrived, of the Slavic type. Some sat on wooden trunks, oddly marked, others stood with bundles beneath their arms they waited stolidly blankly with their eyes on the hotel door as oxen wait for the coming of the man who is going to feed them to toppy looked on with idle interest i didn't think you could see anything like that this far away from ellis island he said what are those fellows brother bohunks said the bartender with a contemptuous jerk of the head. They waiting to hire out for the Cameron Dam camp. The agent, he comes to the hotel. Well, what are you going to have?

Starting point is 00:13:25 Bring me a whiskey sour, said Toppy, without taking his eyes off the group across the street. The half-breed grinned and placed before him a bottle of whiskey and a glass. Toppy frowned. A whiskey sour, I said. he protested. When you get this far in the woods, laughed the man, they all come out of one bottle. Drink up.

Starting point is 00:13:54 Once more, Toppy shuddered. He was bored by this time. Your jokes up here are worse than your booze, he said wearily. He poured out a scant drink and sat with the glass in his hand while his eyes were upon the group across the street he was about to drink when a stir among the men drew his attention the door of the hotel opened briskly topy suddenly set down his glass the girl who had gotten the narrow gauge out at the junction the night before had come out and was standing on the stairs looking about her with an expression which to topy seemed plainly to spell help end of chapter one recording by roger maline chapter two of the snow-burner by henry oyen this librovoc's recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline

Starting point is 00:15:05 chapter two the girl toppy sat and stared across the street at her with a feeling much like awe the girl was standing forth in the full morning sunlight And Toppy's first impulse was to cross the street to her, his second to hide his face. She was small and young, the girl, and beautiful. She was a blonde, such a blonde as is found only in the north. The sun lighted up the oriole of light hair surrounding her head, so that even Toppy behind the windows of the northern light caught a vision of its fineness. her cheeks bore the red of perfect health showing through a perfect fair complexion and even the thick red mackinaw which she wore did not hide the trimness of the figure beneath what in the dickens is she doing here gasped toppy she doesn't belong in a place like this but if this were true the girl apparently was entirely unconscious of it

Starting point is 00:16:14 among that group of ox-like slavs she stood with her little chin in the air as much at home apparently as if those men were all her good friends only she looked about her now and then as if anxiously seeking a way out of a dilemma what can she be doing here mused toppy a little pretty thing like her she ought to be back home with mother and father and brother and sister going to dancing school and all the rest of it to toppy was no stranger to pretty girls he had met pretty girls by the score while at college he had been adored by dozens after college he had met still more none of them had interested him to any inconvenient extent after all a man's friends are all men but this girl toppy admitted struck him differently he had never seen a girl that struck him like this before he pushed his glass to one side he was bored no longer for the first time in four years the full shame of his mode of living was driven home to him for as he feasted his eyes on the sun-kissed vision across the street his decent instincts whispered that a man who squandered and swilled his life away just because he had money had no right to raise his eyes to this girl you're a wester that's what you are said toppy to himself and she's one of those sweet he was on his feet before the sentence was completed in her perplexity the girl had turned to the men about her and apparently had asked a question at first their utter unresponsiveness indicated that they did not understand then they began to smile looking at one another and at the girl

Starting point is 00:18:18 the brutal manner in which they fixed their eyes upon her sent the blood into toppy's throat white men didn't look at a woman that way then one of the younger men spoke to the girl topy saw her start and look at him with parted lips the group gathered more closely around the young man spoke again grimacing and smirking bestially and toppy waited for no more he was a waster and half drunk but after all he was a white man of the same breed as the girl on the stairs and he knew his job he came across the snow-covered street like toppy treplin of old bent upon making a touch-down into the group he walked head up shouldering and elbowing carelessly toppy caught the young speaker by both shoulders and hurled him bodily back among his his fellows. For an instant they faced Toppy, snarling, their hands cautiously sliding toward hidden knives. Then they groveled, cringing instinctively before the better breed. Toppy turned to the girl and removed his cap. She had not cried out, nor moved, and now she looked Toppy square in the eye. Toppy promptly hung his head. He had been thinking of her as

Starting point is 00:19:47 something of a child. Now he saw his mistake. She was young, it is true, little over twenty, perhaps, but there was an air of self-reliance and seriousness about her, as if she had known responsibilities beyond her years. And her eyes were blue, Toppy saw, the perfect blue that went with her fair complexion. "'I beg pardon,' stammered Toppy. I just happened to see it looked as if they were getting fresh, so I thought I'd come across and see if there was anything

Starting point is 00:20:25 anything I could do. Thank you, said the girl, a little breathlessly. Are you the agent? Toppy shook his head. The look of perplexity instantly returned to the girl's face. I'm sorry, I wish I was. said toppy if you'll tell me who the agent is and so on he included most of the town of railhead in a comprehensive glance i'll probably be able to find him in a hurry

Starting point is 00:21:00 oh i couldn't think of troubling you thank you ever so much though she said hastily they told me in the hotel that he was outside here some place i'll find him myself thank you she stepped off the stairs into the snow of the street every inch and line of her from her solid tan boots to her sensible tassel cap expressing the self-reliance and independence of the girl who was accustomed and able to take care of herself under trying circumstances the bright sun smote her eyes and she blinked squinting deliciously she paused for a moment threw back her head and filled her lungs to the full with great draughts of the invigorating november air her mackinaw rose and fell as she breathed deeply and more color came rushing into the roses of her cheeks apparently she had forgotten the existence of the slavs who still stood glowering and her eyes at her and Toppy." "'Isn't it glorious?' she said, looking up at Toppy, with her eyes puckered prettily from the sun. "'Doesn't it just make you glad you're alive?'

Starting point is 00:22:17 "'You bet it does,' said Toppy eagerly. He saw his opportunity to continue the conversation and hasten to take advantage. "'I never knew air could be as exciting as this. I never felt anything like it. It's my first experience up here in the woods. I'm an utter stranger around here. Having volunteered this information, he waited eagerly. The girl merely nodded.

Starting point is 00:22:50 Of course, anybody could see that, she said simply. Toppy felt slightly abashed. Then you, you're not a stranger around here? he asked. She shook her head, the tassels of her cap and her oriole of light hair tossing gloriously. I'm a stranger here in this town, she said, but I've lived up here in the woods, as you call it, all my life, except the two years I was away at school. Not right in the woods, of course, but in small towns around. My father was a timber estimator before he was hurt, and naturally we had to live close to the woods naturally agreed toppy though he knew nothing about it he tried to imagine any of the girls he knew back east excepting a stranger as a man and a brother who could be trusted at first hand and he failed

Starting point is 00:23:53 i say he said as she stepped away just a moment please about this agent thing won't you please let me go and look for him he waved his hands at the sick saloons you see there aren't many places here that a lady can go looking for a man in she hesitated frowning at the lowly groggeries that constituted the major part of railhead's buildings that's so she said with a smile of course it is said toppy eagerly and the chances are that your man is in one of them no matter who he is because that's about the only place he can be here you tell me who he is or what he is and i'll go hunt him up that's very kind of you she hesitated for a moment then accepted his offer without further parley it's the employment agent of the cameron dam company that i'm looking for i am to meet him here according to a letter they sent me and he is to furnish a team and driver to take me out to the dam then she added calmly i'm going to keep books out there this winter end of chapter two recording by roger maline chapter three of the snow-burner by henry oyen this librivox recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter three toppy gets a job topy gasped in the first place he had not been thinking of her as a working girl none of the girls that he knew belonged to that class the notion that she with the childish dimple in her chin and the roses in her cheeks was a girl who made her own living was hard to assimilate

Starting point is 00:26:06 the idea that she was going out to a camp in the woods out to hell camp to work was absolutely impossible keep books said toppy bewildered do they keep books in a in a logging camp it was her turn to look surprised do you know anything about cameron dam she asked nothing admitted toppy it's a logging camp though isn't it rather more than that as i understand it she replied they are building a town out of the town out of the town of out there, according to my letter. There are over 200 people there now. At present, they're doing nothing but logging and building the dam. But they say they've found ore out there, and in the spring, the railroad is coming, and the town will open up. And—and you're going to keep books there this winter?

Starting point is 00:27:08 She nodded. They pay well. They're paying me seventy-five dollars a month. month and my board. And you don't know anything about the place? Except what they've written in the letter engaging me. And still you're going out there to work? Of course, she said cheerfully.

Starting point is 00:27:32 Seventy-dollar jobs aren't to be picked up every day around here. I see, said Toppy. He remembered Harvey Duncombe's champagne bill of the night before and grew thoughtful. He himself had shuddered a short while before at waking in a bar where there was no mirror, and he had planned to wire Harvey for five hundred to take him back to civilization. And here was this delicate little girl, as delicate to look upon as any of the petted and pampered girls he knew back east, cheerfully, even eagerly, setting her face toward the wilderness, because therein lay a job, paying the colossal sum of $75 a month.

Starting point is 00:28:21 And she was going alone. A reckless impulse swayed, Toppy. He decided not to wire Harvey. I see, he said thoughtfully. I'll go find this agent. You'd better wait inside the hotel. He crossed the street and systematic. began to search through the sick saloons in the third place he found his man shaking dice with an indian the agent was a lean long-nosed individual who wore thick glasses and talked through his nose

Starting point is 00:28:59 yes i'm the cameron dam agent he drawled curiously eyeing toppy from head to toe simmons is my name what can i do for you i want a job said toppy a job out at hell camp the agent laughed shortly at the name you're wise are you he said and still you want a job out there well i'm sorry that load of bohunks across the street fills me up i can't use any more rough labor just at present i'm looking for a blacksmith's helper but i guess that that's ain't you." That's me," said Toppy, resolutely. That's the job I want, blacksmith's helper. That's my job." The agent looked him over with the critical eye of a man skillfully appraising bone and muscle.

Starting point is 00:30:01 You're big enough, that's sure, he drawled. You've got the shoulders and arms, too, but let's see your hands. toppy held up his hands huge in size but entirely innocent of calluses or other signs of wear the agent grinned soft as a woman's he said scornfully when did you ever do any blacksmithing long time ago wasn't it before you were born i guess toppy's right hand shot out and fell upon the agent's thin arm slowly and steadily he squeezed until the man writhed and grimaced with pain wow let go the agent peered over his thick glasses with something like admiration in his eyes say you're there with a grip all right big fellow where'd you get it swinging a sledge lied toppy solemnly and i've come here to get that job simmons shook his head i can't do it he protested if i should send you out and you shouldn't make good reavers would be sore who's this man reavers the agent's eyes over his glasses expressed surprise i thought you were wise to hell camp he said oh i'm wise enough said to toppy impatiently

Starting point is 00:31:40 i know what it is but who's this revers he's the boss said simmons shortly do you mean to say you never heard about hell-camp reavers the snow-burner no i haven't replied toppy impatiently but that doesn't make any difference you send me out there i'll make good don't worry he paused and sighed his man up. Come over here, Simmons, he said with a significant wink, leading the way toward the door. I want that job. I want it badly. Toppy dived into his pockets. Two bills came to light, two-twenties. He slipped them casually into Simmons' hand. That's how bad I want it. Now, how about it? The fashion in which Simmson's 's thin fingers closed upon the money, told Toppy that he was not mistaken in the agent's character. "'You'll be taking your own chances,' warned Simmons, carefully pocketing the money.

Starting point is 00:32:55 "'If you don't make good, well, you'll have to explain to Revers, that's all. You must have an awful good reason for wanting to go out.' "'I have—' "'Hiding from something made. said Simmons. Maybe, said Toppy. And say, there's a young lady over at the hotel who's looking for you. Said you were to furnish her with a sleigh to get out to Cameron Dam.

Starting point is 00:33:27 An evil smile broke over the agent's thin face as he moved toward the door. The new bookkeeper, I suppose, he said, winking at Toppy. Aha, now I understand why you... Tappy caught him two steps from the door. His finger sank into the man's withered biceps. No, you don't understand, he hissed grimly. Get that? You don't understand anything about it.

Starting point is 00:34:01 All right, snapped the cowed man. Let go my arm. I was just joshing. You can take a joke, can't you? Well, then come along. As long as you're going out, you might as well go at once. I've got to get a double team anyhow, for the lady. And you've got to start now to make it before dark.

Starting point is 00:34:25 Ready to start now? All ready, said Toppy. At the door, the agent paused. Say, you haven't said anything about wages yet. he said quizzically that's so said toppy as if he had forgotten how much am i going to get sixty a month the agent couldn't understand why the new man should laugh it struck toppy as funny that a little girl with a baby dimple in her chin should be earning more money than he also he wondered what harvey duncombe and the rest of her little girl with a baby dimple in her chin should be earning more money than he also he wondered what harvey duncombe and the rest of the bunch would have thought had they known toppy followed the agent to the stable behind the hotel where simmons routed out an old hunchback driver who soon brought forth a team of rangy bays drawing a light double-seated sleigh company outfit explained simmons have to have a team one horse can't make it

Starting point is 00:35:35 you can ride in the front seat with a driver the lady will ride behind as toppy clambered in simmons hurriedly whispered something in the ear of the driver who was fastening a trace the hunchback nodded i got this job because i can keep my mouth shut he muttered don't you worry about anybody pumping me he stepped in beside toppy and the bays prancing in the snow, went around to the front of the hotel on the run. There was a wait of a few minutes. Then Simmons came out, followed by the girl carrying her suitcase. Toppy sprang out and took it from her hand. You people are going to be together on a long drive, so I'd better introduce you, said Simmons. Miss Pearson, Mr. Treplin, said Treplin, said Triclin.

Starting point is 00:36:35 puppy, honestly. Traplin, concluded Simmons. New bookkeeper, new blacksmith's helper. Get in the back seat, Miss Pearson. Cover yourself well up with those robes. Bondle in, that's right. Put the suitcase under your feet. That's right.

Starting point is 00:36:57 All right, Jerry, he drawled to the driver. You'd better keep going pretty steady to make it before dark. don't nobody need to tell me my business said the surly hunchback tightening the lines and without any more ado they were off the snow flying from the heels of the meddlesome bays for the first few miles the horses fresh from the stable and exhilarated to the dancing point by the sun air and snow provided excitement which prevented any attempt at conversation then when their dancing and shying had ceased and they had settled down to a steady long-legged jog that placed mile after mile of the white road behind them with the regularity of a machine topy turned his eyes toward the girl in the back seat he quickly turned them to the front again miss pearson snuggled down to her chin in the thick sleigh robes her eyes squinting deliciously beneath the shore sharp son, was studying him with the frankness that was disconcerting. And Toppy, probably for the first time in his life, felt himself gripped by a great shyness

Starting point is 00:38:17 and confusion. There was wonderment in the girl's eyes and suspicion. She's wise, thought Toppy, sadly. She knows I've been hitting it up, and she knows I made up my mind to come out here after I talked to. with her. A fine opinion she must have of me. Well, I deserve it. But just the same, I've got to see the thing through now. I can't stand for her going out all alone to a place with a reputation like Hell Camp. I'm a dead one with her, all right, but I'll stick around and see that she gets a square deal. consequently the drive which toppy had hoped would lead to more conversation and a closer acquaintance with the girl resolved itself into a silent monotonous affair which made him distinctly uncomfortable he looked back at her again this time also he caught her eyes full upon him but this time after an instant scrutiny she looked away with a trace of hardness about her her lips i'm in a bad at the start with her sure groaned toppy inwardly she doesn't want a thing to do with me and quite right at that his tentative efforts at opening a conversation with the driver met instant and convincing failure i hear they've got quite a place out there began toppy casually

Starting point is 00:39:57 none of my business if they have grunted the driver toppy laughed you're a sociable brute why don't you bark and be done with it the driver viciously pulled the team to a dead stop and turned upon toppy with a look that could come only from a spirit of complete malevolence don't try to talk to me young feller he snapped showing old yellow teeth. My job is to haul you out there, and that's all. I don't talk. Don't waste your time trying to make me. Get up! He cut viciously at the horses with his whip, pulled his head into the collar of his fur coat,

Starting point is 00:40:46 with the motion of a turtle retiring into its shell, and for the rest of the drive, spoke only to the horses. Toppy, snubbed by the drive, and feeling himself shunned perhaps even despised by miss Pearson now had plenty of time to think over the situation calmly the crisp november air whipping his face as the sleigh sped steadily along drove from his brain the remaining fumes of harvey buncombe's champagne he saw the whole affair clearly now and he promptly called himself a great fool what business was it of his if a girl wanted to go out to work in a place like hell camp probably it was all right probably there was no necessity no excuse for his having made a fool of himself by going with her why had he done it anyhow getting interested in anything because of a girl was strange conduct for him he couldn't call to mind a single tangible reason for his actions he had acted on the impulse as he had done scores of times before and as he had also done scores of times before he felt that he had made a fool of himself he tried to catch the girl's eyes once more to read in them some sign of relenting some excuse for opening a conversation but as he turned his head miss pearson also turned and looked away with uncompromising severity

Starting point is 00:42:28 topy studied the purity of her profile the innocence of the baby dimple in her chin out of the corner of his eye and as he turned and glanced at the evening face of the hunchback driver he settled himself with a sigh and thought nevertheless and notwithstanding the fact that i've been a fool i am glad that i'm here at noon the road plunged out of the scant jack pine forest into the gloom of a hemlock swamp topy shuddered as he contemplated what the fate of a man might be who should be unfortunate enough to get lost in that swamp a mile in the swamp on a slight knoll they came to a tiny cabin guarding a gate across the road an old bearded woodsman came out of the cabin and opened the gate and the hunchback pulled up and proceeded to feed his team dinner's waiting inside called the gate tender come in and eat miss and you too i suppose you're hungry he added to toppy and hurry up too growled the hunchback i give you twenty minutes thank you very much said the girl diving into her suit-case i've brought my own lunch she brought out some sandwiches and proceeded to nibble at them without moving from the sleigh tommy tumbled into the cabin in company with the hunchback driver a rough meal was on the table and they fell too without a word topy noticed that the old woodsman sat on a bench near the door where he could keep an eye on the road above the bench hung a pair of field glasses a repeating shotgun

Starting point is 00:44:29 and a high-power winchester rifle any hunting around here asked toppy cheerily sometimes said the old watcher with a smile that made toppy wonder he did not pursue the subject for there was something about the lonely cabin the bearded old man and the rifle on the wall that suggested something much more grim than sport the driver soon bolted his meal and went back to the sleigh topy followed and twenty minutes after pulling up they were on the road again with each mile that they passed now the swamp grew wilder and the gloom of the wilderness more oppressive to right and left among the trees topy made out stretches of open water great springs and little creeks which never froze and which made the swamp even in winter a treacherous morass toward the end of the short afternoon the swamp suddenly gave way to a rough untimbered ridge red rocks which toppy later learned contained iron ore poked their way like jagged teeth through the snow the sleigh mounted the ridge the runners grating on bare rock and dirt dipped down into a ravine between two ridges, swung off almost at right angles in a cleft in the hills, and before Toppy realized that the end of the drive had come, they were in full view of a large group of log buildings

Starting point is 00:46:11 on the edge of a dense pine forest, and were listening to the roar of the waters of Cameron Dam. End of Chapter 3 Recording by Roger Maline Chapter 4 of the Snow Burner by Henry Oyen. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 4. Hell Camp Revers In the face of things, there was nothing about the place to suggest that it deserved the title of Hell Camp. The Cameron Dam Camp, as Toppy saw it now, consisted of seven neat-log buildings.

Starting point is 00:47:04 Of these, the first six were located on the road which led into the camp, three on each side. These buildings were twice as large as the ordinary log buildings which Tappy had seen in the woods, but they were thoroughly dwarfed and overshadowed by the seventh, which lay beyond them, and into the enormous doorway of which the road seemed to disappear. This building was larger than the other six combined, was a large, was built of huge logs, apparently 15 feet high, and its wall, which stretched across the road, seemed to have no windows or openings of any kind,

Starting point is 00:47:45 save a great double door. Tappy had no time for a careful scrutiny of the place, as the hunchback swiftly pulled up before the first building of the camp, a well-built double log affair, with large front windows and a small sign, office and store. Directly across the road from this building was one bearing the sign Blacksmith's shop, and Toppy gazed with keen curiosity

Starting point is 00:48:14 at a short man with white hair and broad shoulders, who, with a blacksmith's hammer in his hand, came to the door of the shop as they drove up. Probably this was the man for whom he was to work. A. Jerry! greeted the blacksmith with a blacksmith with a Burr in his speech that labeled him unmistakably as a Scott. Hey, Scotty, replied the hunchback.

Starting point is 00:48:41 Did you bring me a helper? Yes, grunted Jerry. Good, said the blacksmith, and returned to his anvil. The hunchback turned to the girl as soon as the team had come to a standstill. This is where you go, he said, indicating the office with a nod. You, he grunted to Tappy, sit right where you are till we go see the boss. An Indian squaw, nearly as broad as she was tall, came waddling out of the store as Miss Pearson stepped stiffly from the sleigh. Tappy wished for courage to get out and carry the girl's

Starting point is 00:49:24 suitcase, but he feared that his action would be misinterpreted, so he sat still, eagerly watching out of the corner of his eyes. "'I carry them,' said the squaw, as the girl dragged forth her baggage. "'You go in!' Then the sleigh drove abruptly ahead toward the great building at the end of the road, and Toppy's final view of the scene

Starting point is 00:49:50 was Miss Pearson stumping stiffly into the office building with the squaw, the suitcase held in her arms, waddling behind. Miss Pearson did not look in his direction. And now Toppy had his first shock, for he saw that the building toward which they were hurrying was not a building at all, but merely a stockade wall, which seemed to surround all of the camp except the six buildings which were outside. What he had thought a huge doorway was in

Starting point is 00:50:23 reality a great gate. This gate swung open at their approach, and Toppy's second shock came when he saw that the two hard-faced men who opened it carried in the crooks of their arms wicked-looking short-barreled repeating shotguns. One of the men caught the horses by the head as soon as they were through the gate and brought them to a dead stop, while the other closed the gate behind them. Can't you see the boss is busy? snapped the man who had stopped the team. You wait right here till he's through. Toppy now saw that they had driven into a quadrangle, three sides of which were composed of long, low, log buildings,

Starting point is 00:51:09 with doors and windows cut at frequent intervals, the fourth side being formed by the stockade wall through which they had just passed. The open space which thus lay between four walls of solid logs was perhaps fifty yards long by twenty-five yards wide. in his first swift sight of the place topy saw that with the stockade gate closed and two men with riot guns on guard the place was nothing more nor less than an effective prison then his attention was riveted spellbound by what was taking place in the yard on the sunny side of the yard a group of probably a dozen men were huddled against the log wall two things struck toppy as he looked at them their similarity to the group of slavs he had seen back in railhead and the complete terror in their faces as they cringed tightly against the log wall perhaps ten feet in front of them and facing them stood a man alone and toppy as he beheld the terror with which the dozen shrank back from the one and as he looked at the man alone and topy as he beheld the terror with which the dozen shrank back from the one

Starting point is 00:52:27 and as he looked at the man knew that he was looking upon hell camp reavers the man who was called the snow-burner toppy treplin was not an impressionable young man he had lived much and swiftly and among many kinds of men and it took something remarkable in the man line to surprise him but the sight of reavers brought from him a start and he sat staring completely fascinating by the manager's presence. It was not the size of Revers that held him, for Toppy, at first glance, judged correctly that Revers and himself might have come from the same mold so far as height and weight were concerned.

Starting point is 00:53:14 Neither was it the terrible physical power, which fairly reeked from the man. For though Reaver's rough clothing seemed merely like draperies on the huge muscles that lay beneath, Toppy had played with strong men, professionals and amateurs, enough to be blasé in the face of a physical colossus. It was the calm, ghastly brutality of the man,

Starting point is 00:53:39 the complete brutality of an animal, dominated by a human intelligence that held Toppy spellbound. Revers, as he stood there alone, glowering at the poor wretches who cowered from him like pygmies, was like a tiger preparing to spring and carefully calculating where his claws and fangs might sink in with most damage to his victims he stood with his feet close together his thumbs hooked carelessly in his trousers pockets his head thrust far forward toppy had a glimpse of a long thin nose thin lips parted in a sneer heavily browed eyes and beneath a black thrust cap a mass of curly light hair hair as light as the girls then reever spoke roski he said in a voice that was half snarl half bellow there was a troubled movement among the dozen men huddled against the wall but there came no answer

Starting point is 00:54:49 rossi step out commanded reavers in a tone whose studied ferocity made toppy shudder in response a tall broad-shouldered slav the oldest and largest man in the group stepped sullenly out and stood a yard in front of his fellows he had taken off his cap and held it tightly in his clenched right hand and the expression on his flat face as he stood with hanging head and scowled at reevers was one half of fear and half of defiance you no can hit me he muttered doggedly i citizen i got first papers reever's manner underwent a change hit you hit you he muttered he repeated softly. Who wants to hit you? I just want to talk with you. I hear you're thinking of quitting. I hear you've planned to take these fellows with you when you go.

Starting point is 00:55:53 How about it, Roski? I got papers, said the man sullenly. I, citizen. I quit job when I want. Yes, said Revers gently. It was like a tiger playing with a hedgehog, and Toppy sickened. But you signed to stay here six months, didn't you? The gentleness of the manager had deceived the thick-witted Slav, and he grew bold.

Starting point is 00:56:26 I drunk when I sign, he said loudly. All these fellows drunk when they sign. I quit. They quit. You know can keep us here. if we know want stay. I can't. Still, Revers saw fit to play with this victim.

Starting point is 00:56:47 No, said the man. And you no dare hit us again, no. No, purred Revers, softly. No, certainly not. I wouldn't hit you. You're quite right, Roscy. I won't hit you. No.

Starting point is 00:57:07 He was still. standing at least seven feet from his man, his feet close together, his thumbs still hooked in his trousers' pockets. Suddenly, and so swiftly that Roski did not have time to move, Revers took a step forward and shot out his right foot. His boot seemed barely to touch the shin bone of rossky's right leg but toppy heard the bone snap as the slav with a shriek of pain and terror fell face downward prone in the trampled snow at reevers's feet and reavers did not look at him he was standing as before as if nothing had happened as if he had not moved his eyes were upon the other men who appalled at their leader's fate huddled more closely against the log wall well how about it demanded revers icily after a long silence any more of you fellows think you want to quit half of the dozen cried out in terror no no we no quit please boss we no quit a smile of complete contempt curled reever's thin upper lip

Starting point is 00:58:27 you poor scum of course you ain't gonna quit he sneered you'll stay here and slave away until i'm through with you and don't you even dare think of quitting rosky thought he kept his plans mighty secret, thought I wouldn't know what he was planning. You see what happened to him. I know everything that's going on in this camp. If you don't believe it, try it out and see. Now, pick this thing up. He stirred the groaning Roski contemptuously with his foot, and carry him into his bunk. I'll be around and set his leg when I get ready. then get back to the rock pile and make up for the time it's taken to teach you this lesson the brutality of the thing had frozen top emotionless where he sat in the sleigh at the same time he was conscious of a thrill of admiration for the dominant creature who had so contemptuously crippled a fellow man a brute reavers certainly was and well he deserved the name of hell camp reavers but a born cat captain he was too though his dominance was of a primordial sort turning instantly from his victim as from a piece of business that is finished reavers looked around and came toward the sleigh

Starting point is 00:59:58 some primitive instinct prompted to step out and stretch himself leisurely his long arms above his head his big chest inflated to the limit at the sight of him a change came over reevers face the brutality and contempt went out of it like a flash his eyes lighted up with pleasure at the sight of toppy's magnificent proportions and he smiled a quick smile of comradeship such as one smiles when he meets a fellow and equal and held out his hand to toppy university man i'll wager he said in the easy voice of a man of culture glad to see you more than glad these beasts are pawling on me they're so cursed physical no mind no spirit in them nothing but so many pounds of meat and bone old campbell my blacksmith is the only other intelligent being in camp and he's scotch and believes in predestination and original sin so his conversation's rather trying for a steady diet topy shook hands amazed beyond expression except for his shaggy eyebrows brows that somehow reminded toppy of the head of a bear he had once shot reavers now was the sort of man one would expect to meet in the university club rather than in a logging camp the brute had vanished the gentleman had appeared and toppy was forced to smile and answered a reaver's genial smile of greeting and yet somewhere back in reaver's blue eyes to toppy saw lurking something which said i am your master doubt it if you dare

Starting point is 01:01:57 i hired out as blacksmith's helper he explained my name's trepland he did not take his eyes from reavers somehow he had the sensation that Reaver's will and his own had leaped to a grapple. Revers laughed aloud in friendly fashion. Blacksmith's helper, eh? he said. That's good. That's awfully good. Well, old man, I don't care what you hired out for, or what your right name is. You're a developed human being, and you'll be somebody to talk to when these brutes grow too tiresome. He turned to Jerry, the driver.

Starting point is 01:02:42 Well, he said curtly. She's in the office now, he said. All right, Revers turned and went briskly toward the gate. Turn Mr. Treplin over to Campbell. You'll live with Campbell, Treplin, he called over his shoulder as he went through the gate. And you hit the back trail, Jerry, right away. as jerry swung the team around toppy saw that reevers was going toward the office with long eager strides end of chapter four recording by roger maline chapter five of the snow burner by henry oyen this librovoc's recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter five toppy overhears a conversation

Starting point is 01:03:46 old Campbell, the blacksmith, had knocked off from the day's work when a few minutes later Tappy stepped from the sleigh before the door of the shop. Go through the shop to that room in the back, said Jerry. You'll find him in there. And he drove off without another word. Tappy walked in and knocked at a door in a partition across the rear of the shop. Come in, spluttered a moistered. cheery voice and toppy entered the old blacksmith naked to the waist and soaped from shoulders to ears looked up from the steaming tub in which he was carefully removing every trace of the day's smut

Starting point is 01:04:31 he peered sharply at toppy and at the sight of the young man's good-natured face he smiled warmly through the suds come in come in shut the door he cried plunging back into the hot water i take it that you're my new helper well he wiped the suds from his eyes and looked hoppy over though it's plain you never did a daze blacksmith in your life i bid you welcome nevertheless you look like an educated man well twill be a pleasure and an honor for me to teach you something more important than all you've learned before and that is how to work i see you came without baggage of any kind go ye now across to the store before it closes and draw yourself two blankets for your bunk by the time you're back i'll have our supper started and then we'll proceed to get acquainted tell me exploded toppy who could hold in no longer what kind of a man or beast is this revers why i just saw him deliberately break a man's leg out there in the yard what kind of a place is this anyhow a penal colony campbell turned away and picked up a towel before replying revers is a great man who worships after strange gods he said solemnly But you'll have plenty of time to learn about that later. Go you over to the store now without further waiting.

Starting point is 01:06:09 You'll find them closed if you dally longer, and then you'll have a cold night, for there's no blankets here for your bunk. Hustle, lad. We'll talk about things after supper. Toppy obeyed cheerfully. It was growing dark now, and as he stepped out of the shop,

Starting point is 01:06:29 he saw the squaw lighting the long. lamps in the building across the street. Toppy crossed over and found the door open. Inside, there was a small hallway with two doors, one labeled store, the other, office. Toppy was about to enter the store when he heard Miss Pearson's voice in the office, and her first words, which came plainly through the partition, made him pause. Mr. Revers! she was saying in tones that she struggled to make firm.

Starting point is 01:07:04 You know that if I had known you were running this camp, I would never have come here. You deceived me. You signed the name of Simmons to your letter. You knew that if you had signed your own name, I would not be here. You tricked me. And you promised solemnly last summer when I told you I never could care for you that you would never trouble me again. how could you do this you've got the reputation among men of never breaking your word why couldn't you why couldn't you keep your word with me a woman toppy playing the role of eavesdropper for the first time scarcely breathed as he caught the full import of these words then reivers began to speak his deep voice rich with earnestness and feeling i will i am keeping my word to you helen he said i said i would not trouble you again and i will not it's true that i did not let you know that i was running this camp and i did it because i wanted you to have this job and i knew you wouldn't come if you knew i was here you wouldn't let me give you or even loan you the three hundred dollars necessary for your father's operation i know you helen and i know that you haven't had a happy day since you were told that your father would be a well man after an operation

Starting point is 01:08:35 and you couldn't find the money to pay for it i knew you were going to work in hopes of earning it i had this place to fill in the office here i was authorized to pay his high is seventy-five dollars for a good bookkeeper. Naturally, I thought of you. I knew there was no other place where you could earn seventy-five dollars a month and save it. I knew you wouldn't come if I wrote you over my own name. So I signed Simmons' name, and you came. I said I would not trouble you anymore, and I keep my word. The situation is this. You will be in charge of this, office, if you stay, I am in charge of the camp. You will have little or nothing to do with me. I will manage so that you will need to see me only when absolutely necessary. Your living rooms are in the rear of the office. I live in the stockade. Tilly, the squaw, will cook and wash

Starting point is 01:09:40 for you and do the hard work in the store. In four months you will have the $300 that you want for your father i had much rather you would accept it from me as a loan on a simple business basis but as you won't this is the next best thing and you mustn't feel that you are accepting any favor from me on the contrary you will if you stay be solving a big problem for me i simply cannot handle accounts a strange bookkeeper could rob me and the company blind and i never know it i know you won't do that and i know that you're efficient that's the situation i am keeping my word i will not trouble you if you decide to accept go in and take off your hat and coat and tell tilly to prepare supper for you she will obey your orders blindly i have told her to if you decide that you don't want to stay say the word and i will have one of the work teams hooked up and you can go back to railhead tonight but whichever you do helen please remember that i have not broken and never will break my promise to you before revers had begun to speak toppy had hated the man as a contemptible sneak guilty of lying to get the girl at his mercy the end of the manager's speech left him bewildered one couldn't help wanting to believe every word that Revers said, there were so much manliness and sincerity in his tone. On the other hand,

Starting point is 01:11:25 Toppy had seen his face when he was handling the unfortunate Roski, and the unashamed brute that had showed itself then did not fit with this remarkable speech. Then Toppy heard Revers coming toward the door. "'I will leave you. You can make up your mind alone,' he said. I've got to attend to one of the men who has been hurt. If you decide to go back to Railhead, tell Tilly, and she'll hunt me up, and I'll send a team over right away. He stepped briskly out in the hallway, and saw Tappy standing with his hand on the door of the store.

Starting point is 01:12:05 Oh, hello there, he called out cheerily. Campbell tell you to draw your blankets? That's the first step in the process of becoming a a guest at Hell Camp. Get a pair of double X. They're the warmest. He passed swiftly out of the building. I say, Treplin, he called back from a distance.

Starting point is 01:12:30 Did you ever set a broken leg? Never, said Toppy. I'll give you Davis on fractures to read up on, said Revers, with a laugh. I think I'll appoint you in. to this camp dr treplin how would that be his careless laughter came floating back as he made his way swiftly to the stockade for a moment toppy stood irresolute then he did something that required more courage from him than anything he had done before in his life he stepped boldly across the hallway and entered the office closing the door behind him end of chapter five recording by roger maline chapter six of the snow-burner by henry oyen this librovoc's recording is in the public domain recording by roger chapter six nice boy miss pearson toppy spoke as he crossed the threshold then he stopped short the girl was sitting in a big chair before a desk in the farther corner of the door

Starting point is 01:13:53 corner of the room. She was dressed just as she had been on the drive. She had not removed cap, coat, or gloves since arriving. Her hands lay palms up in her lap, her square little shoulders sagged, and her face was pale and troubled. A tiny crease of worry had come between her wonderful blue eyes, and her gaze wandered uncertainly, as if seeking help in the face of a problem that had proved too hard for her to handle alone. At the sight of Toppy, instead of giving way to a look of relief, her troubled expression deepened. She started. She seemed even to shrink from him.

Starting point is 01:14:38 The words froze in Toppy's mouth, and he stood stock still. Don't, he groaned boyishly. Please don't look at me like that, Miss Pearson. I'm not that sort. i want to help you if you need it i heard what reevers just said i-what do you take me for anyhow a mucker who would force himself upon a lady the anguish in his tone and in his honest good-natured countenance was too real to be mistaken he had cried out from the depths of a clean heart which had been stirred strangely and the woman and the girl responded with quick simpins sympathy she looked at him with a look that would have aroused the latent manhood in a cad which toppy was not and toppy in his eagerness found that he could look back why did you come out here she asked plaintively why did you decide to follow me after you had heard that i was coming here i know you did that you hadn't intended coming here until you heard what made you do it

Starting point is 01:15:52 "'Because you came here,' said Toppy, honestly. "'But why, why?' Toppy had regained control of himself. "'Why do you think I did it, Miss Pearson?' he asked quietly. "'I don't want to think what I think,' she stammered. "'And that is that I'm a cad, the sort of a mucker who forces his attentions upon women. who are alone. Well, she looked up with a challenge in her eyes. You had been drinking, hadn't you?

Starting point is 01:16:32 Could you blame me if I did? Not a bit, said Toppy. I'm the one who's to blame. I'm the goat. I don't suppose I had a right to butt in. Of course I didn't. I'm a big fool. Always have been.

Starting point is 01:16:51 I just, I just, couldn't stand for seeing you start out for this hell camp alone, that's all. It's no reason, I know, but there you are. I'd heard something of the place in the morning, and I had a notion it was a pretty tough place. You, you don't look as if you were used to anything of the sort. Well, he wound up desperately. It didn't look right, you're going off alone among all these roughnecks. And, and that's why I butted in."

Starting point is 01:17:26 She made no reply, and Toppy continued. I didn't have any right to do it, I know. I deserve to be suspected— No, she laughed. Please, Mr. Treplin, that was horrid of me. Why was it? he demanded abruptly. Especially after you knew, after this morning. But here's the situation.

Starting point is 01:17:54 I thought you might need a side-kicker to see you through, and I appointed myself to the job. You won't believe that, I suppose, but that's because you don't know how foolish I can be. He stopped clumsily, abashed by the wondering scrutiny to which she was subjecting him. She arose slowly from the chair and came toward him. I believe you, Mr. Trague.

Starting point is 01:18:21 Treplin, she said, I believe you're a decent sort of boy. I want to thank you, but why, why should you think this necessary? She looked at him, smiling a little, and Toppy, wincing from her boy, grew flustered. Well, you're not sorry I came, he stammered. For reply, she shook her head.

Starting point is 01:18:48 Toppy took a long breath. thanks he said with such genuine relief that she was forced to smile but i'm a perfect stranger to you she said uncertainly i can't understand why you should feel prompted to sacrifice yourself so to help me sacrifice cried toppy why i'm the one he stopped he didn't know just what he had intended to say something that he had intended to say something that he had been a man he stopped he didn't know just what he had intended to say something that he had had no business saying, probably. Anybody would have done it, anybody who wasn't a mucker, I mean. You can't have any use for me, of course, knowing what kind of a dub I've been, but if you'll just look on me as somebody you can trust and fall back on in case of need, and who'll do anything you want or need, I'll be more than paid.

Starting point is 01:19:47 I do trust you, Mr. Treplin, she said. and held out her hand. But do I look as if I needed a chaperone? Toppy trembled at the firm grip of the small, gloved fingers. I told you I'd heard what Revers said, he said hastily. I didn't mean to. I was just coming in to get some blankets. I don't suppose you're going to stay here now, are you? She began to draw off her gloves.

Starting point is 01:20:20 Yes. she said quietly mr revers is a gentleman and can be depended upon to keep his word toppy winced once more she had called him a decent boy she spoke of reavers as a gentleman but good gracious miss pearson three hundred dollars if that's all he stopped for her little jaw had set with something like a click are you going to spoil things by offering to lend me that much money she asked didn't you hear that mr revers had offered to do it and mr revers isn't a complete stranger to me as you are she placed her gloves in a pocket and proceeded to unbutton her mackinaw i don't think you could mean anything wrong by it she continued but please don't mention it again you don't wish to humiliate me do you miss pearson stammered toppy miserable don't please don't she said it's all right her natural high spirits were returning everything's all right mr revers never breaks his word and he's promised you heard him you say and you've promised to be my what did you call it side kicker, so everything's fine. Except, a look of disgust passed over her eyes. You're drinking.

Starting point is 01:21:57 Oh, she cried as she saw the shame flare into Toppy's face. I didn't mean to hurt you. But how can nice boys like you throw themselves away? Nice boy. Tappy looked at his toes for a long time. So that was what she thought of him. nice boy do you know much about reavers he asked at last as if he had forgotten her words or don't you want to tell me about him he had sensed that he was infinitely revers inferior in her estimation and it hurt certainly i do she said mr revers was a foreman for the company that my father was estimator for when father was hurt last summer mr revers came to see him on company business it's father's spine he couldn't move revers had to come to him he saw me and two hours after our meeting he asked me to marry him he asked me again a week later and once after that then i told him that i never could care for him and he went away and promised he'd never trouble me again.

Starting point is 01:23:19 You heard our conversation. I hadn't seen or heard of him since, until he walked into this room. That's all I know about him, except that people say he never breaks his word. Toppy winced as he caught the note of confidence in her voice and thought of the sudden deadly treachery of Revers in dealing with Roski. The girl with the live movement threw off her Mackinah.

Starting point is 01:23:49 By Jove! Tappy exploded in boyish admiration. You're the bravest little soul I ever saw in my life. Going against a game like this just to help your father. Well, why shouldn't I? she asked. I'm the only one father has got. We're all alone, father and I. and father is too proud to take help from any one else and-and she concluded firmly so am i as for being brave have you anything against mr revers personally thoroughly routed topy turned to the door good night miss pearson he said politely good night mr treplin and thank you for going out of your way

Starting point is 01:24:45 but had she seen the flash in toppy's eye and the set of his jaw she might not have laughed so merrily as he flung out of the room in the store on the other side of the hallway topy was surprised to find Tilly, the squaw, waiting patiently behind a low counter on which lay a pair of blankets bearing a tag double X. As he entered, the woman pushed the blankets toward him and pointed to a card lying on the counter. Put him name here, she said, indicating a dotted line on the card and offering Toppy a pencil tied to a string. Tappy saw that the card was a receipt. seat for the blankets. As he signed, he looked closely at the squaw. He was surprised to see that she was a young woman and that her features and expressions distinguished her from the other squaws he had seen by the intelligence they indicated. Tilly was no mere clawed in a red skin. Somewhere back

Starting point is 01:25:52 of her inscrutable Indian eyes was a keen, strong mind. How did you, know what I wanted, Toppy asked as he packed the blankets under his arm. The squaw made no sign that he had heard. Picking up the card, she looked carefully at his signature and turned to hang the card on a hook. So you were listening when Revers was talking to me, were you? said Toppy. Did you listen after he went out? Maybe, grunted Tilly. maybe so maybe no and with this she turned and waddled back into the living quarters in the rear of the store toppy looked after her dumbfounded

Starting point is 01:26:42 huh he said to himself i'll bet two to one that reevers knows all about what we said before morning i suppose that will mean something doing pretty quick well the quicker the better end of chapter six recording by roger maline chapter seven of the snow burner by henry oyen this librivox recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter seven the snow-burner's creed when toppy returned to the room in the rear of the blacksmith shop he found campbell waiting impatiently eh lad but you're the slow one greeted the gruff old scott as toppy entered you set a record in this camp no man has yet been able to consume so much time getting a pair of blankets from the wanigan dump em in yon bunk in the corner and set the table i'll have supper in a wink and a half toppy obediently tossed his blankets into the bunk indicated and turned to help to the best of his ability. The place now was lighted generously by two large reflector lamps hung in the walls, and Toppy had his first good view of the room that was to be his home. He was surprised at its neatness and comfort. It was a large room, though a little low under the roof, as rooms have a habit

Starting point is 01:28:29 of being in the north. In the farthest corner were two bunks, the sleeping quarters. Across the room from this, a corner was filled with well-filled bookshelves, a table with a reading-lamp, and two easy-chairs, giving the air of a tiny library. In the corner farthest from this was the cook-stove, and in the fourth corner stood an oil-cloth-covered table, with a shelf filled with dishes hung above it. Though the rough edges of hewn logs shone logs shone here and there through the plaster of the walls, the room was as spick and span as if under the charge of a finicky housewife. Old Campbell himself, bending over the cook stove, was as astonishing in his own way as the room. He had removed all trace of the day's smithing and fairly shone with cleanliness.

Starting point is 01:29:26 His snow-white hair was carefully combed back from his wide forehead, his bushy chin-whiskers likewise showed signs of water and comb, and he was garbed from throat to ankles in a white cook's apron. He was cheerfully humming a dirge-like tune, and so occupied was he with his cookery that he scarcely so much as glanced at Toppy. Now then, lad, are you ready? he asked presently. Already, I guess, said Toppy, giving a final look at the table. you've forgot the bread said campbell also looking you'll find it in yon tin box on the shelf lively now and before toppy had dished out a loaf from the bread box the old man had a huge platter of steak and twin bowls of potatoes and turnips steaming on the table we will now say grace said campbell seating himself after removing the big apron

Starting point is 01:30:33 and toppy sat silent and amazed as the old man bowed his head and in his deep voice solemnly uttered thanks for the meal before him now then he said briskly raising his head and reaching for a fork as he ended fall too the meal was eaten without any more conversation than was necessary when it was over the blacksmith pushed his chair leisurely back from the tail and looked across at Toppy with a quizzical smile. "'Well, lad,' he rumbled, "'what would you say was the next thing to be done by ourselves?' "'Wash the dishes,' said Toppy promptly, taking his cue from the conspicuous cleanliness of the room. "'Aye,' said Campbell, nodding,

Starting point is 01:31:26 "'and as I cook the meal—' "'I'm elected dishwasher,' laughed Toppy. springing up and taking a large dishpan from the wall. He had often done his share of kitchen work on hunting trips, and soon he had the few dishes washed and dried and back on the shelf again. Campbell watched critically. "'Well enough,' he said with an approving jerk of his head when the task was completed. "'Your conscience should be easier now, lad.

Starting point is 01:32:01 You've done something to pay for the me. meal you've eaten, which I'll warrant is something you've not often done. No, laughed Toppy. It just happens that I haven't had to. Haven't had to, snorted Campbell in disgust. Is that all the justification you have? Where's your pride? Are you a helpless infant that you're not ashamed to let other people stuff food into your mouth without doing anything for it? i suppose you've got money and where came your money from your father your mother no matter whoever it came from there are the people who've been feeding you but by the great smoked herring if you stay with david campbell you'll have a change lad ay you'll learn what it is to earn your bread in the sweat of your brow and you'll bless the day you come here no matter what the reason that means

Starting point is 01:33:03 made you come, and which I do not want to hear." Toppy bowed courteously. "'I've got no comeback to that line of conversation, Mr. Campbell,' he said good-naturedly. "'Whenever anybody accuses me of being a bum with money, I throw up my hands and plead guilty. You can't get an argument out of me with a corkscrew.' Old Campbell's grim face cracked in a genial smile. as he rose and led the way to the corner containing the bookshelves.

Starting point is 01:33:38 We will now step into the library, he chuckled. Sit you down. He pushed one of the easy chairs toward Toppy, and from a cupboard under the reading table drew a bottle of Scotch whiskey of a celebrated brand. Toppy's whole being suddenly cried out for a drink as his eyes fell in the familiar four stars. "'Say when, lad,' said Campbell, pouring into a generous glass. "'Well?' he looked at Toppy in surprise, as the glass filled up.

Starting point is 01:34:15 Something had smitten, Toppy, like a blow between the eyes. "'How can nice boys like you throw themselves away?' And the pity of the girl, as he had said it, was large before him. "'Thanks,' said Toppy, seating. himself, but I'm on the wagon. The old Smith looked up at him shrewdly from the corners of his eyes. "'Oh, I,' he grunted, "'I see. Well, by the puffs under your eyes, you have overdone it. And for fleeing the temptations of the world, I know of no better place you could go to than this. For it's certain, neither temptations nor luxuries will be found in Hell-camp.

Starting point is 01:35:03 while the snow-burner's boss now you interest me said toppy grimly the snow-burner hel-camp reavers mr revers the boss what kind of a human being is he if he is human campbell carefully mixed his whiskey with hot water you saw him manhandle rossky he asked seating himself opposite toppy yes but it wasn't manhandling it was brute handling beast handling ay said the scot sipping his drink so think i too but do you know what reevers calls it an enlightened man showing a human clawed the error of his ways oh ay the indians were smart when they named him the snow-burner he does things that aren't natural But who is he, or what is he? He's an educated man, obviously, way above what a logging boss ought to be. What do you know about him?

Starting point is 01:36:17 Little enough, was the reply. Four years ago, I were smithing in Elk Lake Camp over east of here when Revers came walking into camp. That was the first any white man had seen of him around these woods. though afterward we learned he'd lived long enough with the indians to earn the name of the snow-burner it were january and two feet of snow on the level and fifty below revers came walking into camp and the nearest human habitation were forty mile away red pat hainy were foreman a man-killer with the devil's own temper and him revers deliberately set himself to a row'rower rouse. A week after his coming, this same Revers had every man in camp looking up to him, except Red Pat. And Revers drove Pat half mad with that contemptuous smile of his,

Starting point is 01:37:19 and Pat pulled a gun, and Revers says, that's what I was waiting for, and broke Pat's bones with his bare hands and laid him up. Then says he, this camp is going on just the same as if nothing had happened, and I'm going to be boss. That was all there was to it. He's been a boss ever since. And you don't know where he came from, or anything else about him? Oh, he's from England, an Oxford man, for that matter, said Campbell. He admitted that much once when we were argifying. He'll be here soon.

Starting point is 01:38:01 He comes to quarrel with me every evening." "'Why does an Oxford man want to be way out here bossing a logging camp?' grumbled Toppy." Campbell nodded. "'Aye, I asked that of him once,' he said. "'Though it's none of your business,' says he. I'll tell you. I got tired of living where people snivel about laws concerning right and wrong,' says

Starting point is 01:38:31 he, instead of acknowledging that there is only one law ruling life, that the strong can master the weak. That is Mr. Reaver's religion. He was only worshipping his strange gods when he broke Roski's leg, for he considers Roski a weaker man than himself, and therefore tis his duty to break him to his own will. A fine religion, snapped Toppy, and how about his dealings with you." The Scot smiled grimly. "'I'm the best smith he ever had,' he replied, and I've warned him that I'd consider it a duty under my religion to shoot him through

Starting point is 01:39:17 the head did he ever attempt to force his creed upon me.' He paused and held up a finger. "'Hist, lad! That's him coming now! He's come for his regular even and mouthful of converseful of conversation. conversation. Toppy found himself sitting up and gripping the arm of his chair as Revers came swinging in. He eagerly searched the foreman's countenance for a sign to indicate whether Tilly, the squaw, had communicated the conversation she had heard between Toppy and Miss Pearson,

Starting point is 01:39:52 but if she had, there was nothing to indicate it in Reaver's expression or manner. His self-mastery awoke a sullen rage in Toppy. felt himself to be a boy beside Revers. Good evening, gentlemen, greeted Revers lightly, pulling a chair up to the reading table. It is a pleasure to find intelligent society after having spent the last hour handling the broken leg of a miserable brute on two legs.

Starting point is 01:40:23 Bah! The whiskey, Scotty, please. I wonder what miracles of misbreeding have been necessary to turn out alleged human beings. with bodies so hideous compared to what the human body should be treplin if you or i stripped beside those hunkies the only thing we'd have in common would be the number of our legs and arms he drew toward him a tumbler which campbell had pushed over beside the bottle and filling the glass three-quarters full began to drink slowly at the powerful scotch whisky as another man might sip at beer or light wine. Old Campbell rocked slowly to and fro in his chair. "'He that taketh up the sword shall perish by the sword,' he quoted solemnly.

Starting point is 01:41:16 "'No man is a god to set himself up, lord over the souls and body of his fellows. They will put out your light for you one of these days, Mr. Revers. Have care and treat them a little more like men. revers smiled a quick smile that showed a mouthful of teeth as clean and white as a hounds let's have your opinion on the subject treplin he said new opinions are always interesting and scotty repeats the same thing over and over again what do you think of it do you think i can maintain my rule over those hundred and fifty clods out there in the stockade as i am ruling them through the law of strength over weakness do you think one superior mind can dominate a hundred and fifty inferior organisms or do you think with scotty here that the dregs can drag me down toppy shook his head he was in no mood to debate abstract problems with reevers count me out until i'm a little acquainted with the situation he said i'm a stranger in a strange land i've just dropped in from almost another world you might say in a vain attempt to escape taking sides in what was evidently an old argument

Starting point is 01:42:48 he hurriedly rattled off the story of his coming to railhead and thence to hell-camp omitting to mention however that it was miss pearson who was responsible for the latter part of his journey revers smote his huge fist upon the table as toppy finished that's the kind of a man for me he laughed got tired of living the life of his class and just stepped out of it no explanations no acknowledgment of obligations to anybody master of his own soul to hell with the niceties of civilization treplin you're a man after my own scheme of life i did the same thing once only i was sober but let's get back to our subject here's the situation this camp is on a natural town site there's water power ore and timber to use the water power we must build a dam to use the timber we must get it to the saws that takes labor lots of it muscle and bone labor labor is scarce up here it is too far from the pig-sties of towns men would come work a few days and go away the purpose of the place would be defeated unless the men are kept here at work that's what i do i keep them here to do it i keep them locked up at night like the cattle they are. By day I have them guarded by armed man-killers. Every one of my guards is a fugitive from

Starting point is 01:44:37 man's silly laws, principally from the one which says, thou shalt not kill. But my best guard is fear, by which I rule alike my guards and the poor brutes who are necessary to my purpose. There you are, a hundred and fifty of them. Fearing and hating. me, and I'm making them do as I please. No foolishness about laws, about order, about right or wrong. Just a hundred and fifty half-beasts and myself out here in the woods. As a man with a trained mind, do you think I can keep it up? Or do you think there is a mental energy enough in that mess of human protoplasm to muster up nerve enough to put out my light, as Scotty puts it.

Starting point is 01:45:29 It's a problem that furnishes interesting mental gymnastics. He propounded the problem with absolutely no trace of personal interest. To judge by his manner, the matter of his life or death meant nothing to him. It was merely an interesting question on which to expend the energy fulminating in his mind. In his light blue eyes, there seemed to gleam the same. same impersonal brutality which had shown out when he so casually crippled Roski. Oh, it's an impossible proposition, Revers, exploded Toppy, with the picture of the writhing Slav in his mind's eye. You've got to consider right and wrong when dealing with human beings.

Starting point is 01:46:20 It isn't natural. Nature won't stand it. Ah, Reaver's eyes look. light it up with intellectual delight. That's an idea. Scotty, you hear? You've been talking about my perishing by the sword, but you haven't given any reason why. Treplin does. He says nature will revolt,

Starting point is 01:46:45 because my system is unnatural. He threw back his head and laughed coldly. Rot, Treplin, silly, effeminate, bookish rot. he roared nature has respect only for the strong it creates the weaker species merely to give the stronger food to remain strong on old scotty had been rocking furiously now he stopped suddenly and broke out into a furious biblical denunciation of reavers system when he stopped for breath after his first outbreak reavers with a few words and a cold smile, egged him on. Toppy gladly kept his mouth shut. After an hour, he yawned and arose from his chair.

Starting point is 01:47:39 If you'll excuse me, I'll turn in, he said. I'm too sleepy to listen or talk. Without looking at him, Revers drew a book from his pocket and tossed it toward him. Davis on fractures, he grunted. cram up on it to-morrow there will be need of your help before long go on scotty you were saying that a just retribution was nature's law go on and toppy rolled into his bunk to lie wide awake listening to the argument marvelling at the character of reavers and pondering over the strange situation he had fallen into he scarcely thought of what harvey duncombe and the bunch would be thinking about his disappearance his thoughts were mainly occupied with wondering why of all the women he had seen a slender little girl with golden hair should suddenly mean so much to him nothing of the sort ever had happened to him before it was rather annoying could she ever have a good opinion of him

Starting point is 01:48:53 probably not and even if she could what about revers toppy was firmly convinced that the speech which revers had made to miss pearson was a false one reivers might have a great reputation for always keeping his word but toppy after what he had seen and heard would no more trust to his morals than those of a hungry bear if tilly the squaw told revers what she had heard what then well in that case they would soon know whether revers meant to keep his promise not to bother miss pearson with his attentions toppy set his jaw grimly at the thought of what might happen then the mere thought of reavers seemed to make his fists clench hard he lay awake for a long time with reaver's voice coldly bantering campbell constantly in his ears when revers finally went away he fell asleep before his closed eyes was the picture of the girl as in the morning she had kicked up the snow and looked up at him with her eyes deliciously puckered from the sun and in his memory was the stinging recollection that she had called him a nice boy end of chapter seven recording by roger maline chapter eight of the snow-burner by henry oyen this librovoc's recording is in the public domain recording by roger chapter eight toppy works at daylight next morning began toppy's initiation as a blacksmith's helper for the next four days he literally earned his bread in the sweat of his brow as campbell had warned him he would the dower old scott took it as his religious duty to give his helper a severe introduction to the world of manual labor and circumstances aided him in his aim

Starting point is 01:51:13 two dozen huge wooden sleighs had come from the wood butcher the camp carpenter shop to be fitted with cross-rods brace-irons and runners out in the woods the ice roads carefully sprinkled each night were alternately freezing and thawing gradually approaching the solid condition which would mean a sudden call for slays to haul the logs which lay mountain high at the rollways down in the river one cold night and day now and the call would come and david campbell was not the man to be found wanting even if handicapped by a helper with hands as soft as a woman's toppy had no knowledge or skill in the trade but he had strength and quickness and the thoughts of reever's masterfulness and the nice boy in the mouth of the girl spurred him to the limit the heavy sledge work fell to his lot as a matter of course a twenty-pound sledge was a plaything in toppy's hand for the first fifteen minutes after that the hammer seemed to increase progressively in weight until at the end of the first day's work toppy would gladly have credited the statement that it weighed a ton likewise the heavy runner irons which he lifted with ease on the anvil in the morning seemed to grow heavier as the day grew older had toppy been in the splendid condition that had helped him to win his place in the all-american eleven four years before he might have gone through the cruel period of breaking in without faltering but four years of reckless living had taken their toll the same magnificent frame and muscle

Starting point is 01:53:03 were there, the great heart and grit and sand likewise. But there was something else there, too. The softening, weakening traces of decomposed alcohol in organs and tissues, and under the strain of the terrific pace which old Campbell set for Toppy, abused organs, fibers, and nerves, began to creak and groan and finally called out, halt! It was only Toppy's group. the great heart that made him a champion and the desire to prove his strength before Revers that kept him at work after the first day. His body had quit cold. He had never before undergone such expenditure of muscular energy, not even in the fiercest game of his career.

Starting point is 01:53:54 That was play. This was torture. On the second morning his body shrank involuntarily from the spectacle of the torturing sledge, anvil and irons, but pride and grit drove him on with set jaw and hard eyes. Quit? Well, hardly. Revers walked around the camp and smiled as he saw Toppy sweating, and Toppy swore and went on. On the third day, old Campbell looked at him with curiosity. Well, lad, have you had enough? he asked, smiling pityingly. You can get a job helping the cookie if you find man's work too hard for you. Toppy, between clenched teeth, swore savagely.

Starting point is 01:54:44 He was so tired that he was sick. The toxins of fatigue, aided and abetted by the effects of hard living, had poisoned him until his feet and brain fell. as heavy as lead it hurt him to move and it hurt him to think he was groggy all but knocked out but something within him held him doggedly at the tasks which were surely mastering him that night he dragged himself to bed without waiting for supper in the morning campbell was amazed to see him tottering toward his accustomed place in the shop for old campbell had set a pace that had racked his own eyes iron, work-tried body, and he had allowed Toppy two days in which to cry enough. "'Hold up a little lad,' he grumbled. "'We're a way ahead of our job. There's no need laying yourself up. Take you a rest.'

Starting point is 01:55:43 "'You go to hell,' exploded the overwrought toppy. "'Take a rest yourself if you need one. I don't.' He was working on his nerve now, flogging his weary arms and body to do his bidding against their painful protests. And he worked like a madman, fearing that if he came to a halt, the run-down machinery would refuse to start afresh. It was near evening when a teamster drove up with a broken sleigh

Starting point is 01:56:15 from which Campbell and the man strove in vain to tear the twisted runner. Revers from the steps of the store looked on, sneering. toppy his lips drawn back with pain and weariness laughed shrilly at the efforts of the pair yank it off he cried contemptuously yank it off like this he drove a pry iron under the runner and heaved it refused to budge topy gathered himself under the pry and jerked with every ounce of energy in him the runner did not move his left ankle felt curiously weak under the awful strain across the way he heard reavers laugh shortly furiously toppy jerked again the runner flew into the air topy felt the weak ankle sag under him in unaccountable fashion and he fell heavily on his side and lay still sprained his ankle grunted the teamster as they bore him to his bunk i knew something had to give no man ever was made to stand up under that lift but i yanked it off groaned toppy half wild with pain i didn't quit i yanked the darn thing off ay said old campbell you yanked it off lad lay still now till we have off your shoe and holy smoke said the t'n't the team

Starting point is 01:57:55 hemster. What a yank! Hey, whoop! Holy red roaring! He's gone and fainted! This latter statement was not precisely true. Tappy had not fainted, he had suddenly succumbed to the demands of complete exhaustion. The overdriven, tired-out organs, wrenched and abused tissues, and fatigued deaden nerves suddenly had cried, stop, in a fashion that not all of Toppy's willpower could deny. One instant he lay flat on his back on the blankets of his bunk, wide awake, with Campbell tugging at the laces of his shoes. The next, a mighty sigh of peace heaved his big chest. Toppy had fallen asleep.

Starting point is 01:58:46 It was not a natural sleep, nor a peaceful one. The racked muscles refused to be still. the raw nerve centers refused to soothe themselves in the peace of complete senselessness his whole body twitched toppy tossed and groaned he awoke some time in the night with his stomach crying for food drink em said a voice somewhere and a sturdy arm went under his head and a bowl containing something savory and hot was held against his lips hello tilly chuckled toppy deliriously it was quite in keeping with things that tilly the squaw should be holding his head and feeding him in the middle of the night he drank with the avidity of a man parched and starving and the hot broth pleasantly soothed him as it ran down his throat more he said and tilly gave him more good fellow tilly he murmured good medicine who told you snow burner grunted tilly laying his head on the pillow he send me sleep em now sure sighed toppy and promptly fell back into his moaning feverish slumber end of chapter eight recording by roger maline chapter nine

Starting point is 02:00:27 of the snow burner by Henry Oyen. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 9. A fresh start. When he awoke again to clear consciousness, it was morning. The sun which came in through the east window shone in his eyes and lighted up the room. Toppy lay still. He was quite.

Starting point is 02:00:59 content to lie so an inexplicable feeling of peace and comfort ruled in every inch of his being the bored heavy feeling with which for a long time past he had been in the custom of facing a new day was absolutely gone his tongue was cool there was none of the old heavy blood pressure in his head his nerves were absolutely quiet something had happened to him him. Toppy was quite conscious of the change, though he was too comfortable to do more than accept his peaceful condition as a fact. Ho-hum! I feel like a new man, he murmured drowsily. I wonder—' Ow! He had stretched himself leisurely and thus become conscious that his left ankle was bandaged and

Starting point is 02:01:54 sore. His cry brought old Campbell into the room. campbell solemnly arrayed in a long-tailed suit of black white collar black tie spick and span with beard and hair carefully washed and combed hello gasped toppy sleepily where you goin funeral tis the sabbath said campbell reverently as he came to the side of the bunk and how do you feel the day lad fine said toppy considering that i had my ankle sprained last evening the scot eyed him closely so twas last evening you broke your ankle was it he asked cannelly why sure said toppy yesterday was saturday wasn't it we were cleaning up the week's work why what are you looking at me like that for ay said campbell his sunday solemnity forbidding the smile that strove to break through yesterday was saturday but twas not the saturday you sprained your leg a week ago saturday that was lad and you've lain here in a fever out of your head ever since do you mind not of the whole week topy looked up at campbell in silence for a long time

Starting point is 02:03:28 time. Scotty, if you have to play jokes... Jokes, spluttered Campbell, aghast. Lashmon, didn't I tell you t'was the Sabbath? No, tis no joke, I assure you. You did more than sprain your ankle when you tripped that Saturday. You collapsed completely.

Starting point is 02:03:54 Lad, you were in poor condition when you came to camp, and had I known it, I would not have broken you in so hard. But you're a good man, lad, the best man I ever saw, if you keep in condition. And do you really feel good again? Why, I feel like a new man, said Toppy. I feel as if I'd had a course of baths at Hot Springs. Campbell nodded. The snow-burner said you would.

Starting point is 02:04:26 it's tilly he's had doctoring you she's been feeding you some indian concoction and keeping you heated till your blankets were wet through oh you've had scandalous good care lad revers to set your ankle tilly to doctor you indian wise and miss pearson and revers to drop in together now and anon to see how you were standing the gaff no wonder you came through all right The room seemed suddenly to grow dark for Toppy. Revers again, Revers dropping in to look at him as he lay there helpless on his back. Revers in the position of the master again. And the girl with him. Toppy impatiently threw off his covering. "'Give me my clothes, Scotty,' he demanded, swinging himself to the edge of the bunk.

Starting point is 02:05:24 "'I'm tired of lying here on. my back." Campbell silently handed over his clothing. Toppy was weak, but he succeeded in dressing himself and in tottering over to a chair. "'So Miss Pearson came over here, did she?' he asked thoughtfully. "'And with Revers?' "'Aye,' said Scotty dryly. "'With Revers. He has a way with the women, the snow-burner has.

Starting point is 02:05:55 topy debated a moment then he broke out and told campbell all about how revers had deceived miss pearson into coming to hell camp the old man listened with tightly pursed lips as toppy concluded he shook his head sorrowfully poor lass she's got a hard path before her then he said if as you say she does not wish to care for reavers what do you mean well said campbell slowly you'll be understanding by this time that the snow-burner is no ordinary man he's a fiend a savage with an oxford education exploded toppy he is the snow-burner said campbell with finality you know what he is toward men toward women he's worse good heavens not that he is a woman chaser no tis not his way but yon man has the strongest will in him i've ever seen in mortal man and tis the will women bow to he pulled his whiskers nervously and looked away i've known him four years now and no woman in that time that he has set his will upon but in the end his wistker's neverously and looked away i've known him four years now and no woman in that time that he has set his will upon but in the end has, has followed him like a slave. Toppy's fists clenched, and he joyed to find that in spite of his illness, his muscles went hard. You've seen Tilly, continued Scotty with averted eyes.

Starting point is 02:07:41 You'll not be so blind that you've not observed that she's no ordinary squaw. Well, three years ago, Tilly was teacher in the Chippewa Indian school, thin and straight, a Carlisle graduate and all. She met Revers and shunned him at first. Revers did not chase her, tis not his way. But he bent his will upon her, and the poor girl left her life behind her and followed him, and kept following him, until you see her as she is now. She would cut your throat or nursia as she did no matter which but he did command her and she's not been the only one either nor have the rest of them been red the swine muttered toppy more wolf than swine lad perhaps more tiger than wolf i don't think revers intends to break his word to yon lass but i suspect that he won't have to. No, as it looks now he won't. Given the opportunity to put his will upon her, and she'll

Starting point is 02:08:59 change her mind, like the others. He's a beast, that's what he is, said Toppy angrily. And any woman who would fall for him would get no more than she deserves, even if she's treated like Tilly. Why, anybody can see that the man's instincts are all wrong. right in an animal perhaps but wrong in a human being the right kind of women would shun him like poison i dunno said campbell rubbing his chin yon lass over in the office is as sweet and womanly a little lass as i've seen since i was a lad and yet look ye but out of the window lad toppy looked out of the window in the direction in which campbell pointed the window commanded a view of the gate to the stockade revers was standing idly before the gate miss pearson was coming toward him as she approached he carelessly turned his head and looked her over from head to foot from where he sat tommy could see her smile then revers calmly turned his back upon her and the smile on the girl's face died out she stood irresolute for a moment then turned and went slowly back toward the office glancing occasionally over her shoulder toward the gate

Starting point is 02:10:32 revers did not look but when she was out of sight he began to walk slowly toward the blacksmith shop bah toppy turned his eyes from the window and mingled anger and disgust he sat for a moment with a multitude of emotions working at his heart then he laughed bitterly well well well he mocked you'd expect that from a squaw but not from a white woman mr revers is a remarkable man said campbell shaking his head sure said toppy and it's a mistake to look for a remarkable woman up here in the wood I don't know, the Smith looked a little hurt. I don't know about that, lad. Yon lass seems remarkably sweet and ladylike to me. Sure, sneered Toppy, pointing his thumb toward the gate. That looked like it, didn't it?

Starting point is 02:11:38 As for that, you've heard what I've told you about the snow-burner and women, said Campbell sorrowfully. he has a masterful way with them a fine thing to be masterful over a little blond fool like that campbell scowled even though you have no respect for the lass he said curtly i see no reason why you should put it in words why not why shouldn't i or anyone else put it in words after that toppy fairly shouted the words she's made the thing public herself she came creeping up to him right out where anybody who was looking could see her and there won't be a man in camp to-morrow but'll have heard that she's fallen for reavers apparently she doesn't care so why should i or you or anybody else revers has got a masterful way with women ha ha let it go at that it's none of my business that's a cinch no agreed campbell not if you talk that way it's none of your business that's sure topy could have struck him for the emphatic manner in which he uttered the words but topy was beginning to learn to control himself and he merely gritted his teeth the sudden stab which he had felt in his heart at the sight of the girl and reevers had passed

Starting point is 02:13:16 in one flash there had been overthrown the fine structure which he had built about her and his thoughts he had placed her high above himself for some unknown reason he had looked up to her from the first moment he had seen her he had not considered himself worthy of her good opinion and here she was flaunting her subservience to reevers to a cold sneering brute before the eyes of the whole camp. The rage and pain at the sight of the pair had come and gone, and that was all over. And now, Toppy, to his surprise, found that it didn't make much difference. The girl and what she was, what she thought of him or of reavers, no longer were of prime importance to him. He didn't care enough about that now to give her room in his thoughts. reavers was what mattered now reavers with his air of contemptuous dominance reavers who had looked on and laughed when toppy was tugging at the runner of the broken sleigh that laugh seemed to ring in toppy's ears it challenged him even as it condemned him it said i am your master doubted if you dare even as reavers cold smile

Starting point is 02:14:46 had said the same to rosski and the huddled bunch of slavs the girl that was passed but revers had roused something deeper something older something fiercer than the feelings which had begun to stir in toppy at the sight of the girl man raw big thud world old and always new man had challenged unto man and man had answered and man had answered the petty considerations of life were stripped away only one thing was of importance the world to topy treplin had become merely a place for reevers the snow-burner and himself to settle the question which had cried for settlement since the moment when they first looked into each other's eyes which was the better man toppy smiled as he stretched himself and noted the new life that seemed to have come into his body he knew what it meant that strenuous siege of work and a week of fevered sweating had driven the alcohol out of his system he was making a fresh start a few weeks at the anvil now and he would be in better shape than at any time since leaving school he set his jaw squarely and he had set his jaw squarely and he had been in the anvil now and he would be in better shape than at any time since leaving school he set his jaw squarely and he set his jaw squarely and he set his heaved his big arms high above his head well treplin came an unmistakable voice from the doorway you're looking strenuous for a man just off the sick bed end of chapter nine recording by roger maline chapter ten of the snow-burner by henry oyen this librivox recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline

Starting point is 02:16:49 chapter x the duel begins i'm feeling pretty good thank you revers said toppy quietly though the voice of the man had thrilled him with a challenge in it he turned his head slowly and looked up from his chair at revers with an expression of great serenity the big game had begun between them and toppy was an expert at keeping his play hidden much obliged for strapping up my ankle revers he said silly thing to sprain an ankle but thanks to your expert bandaging it'll be ready to walk on soon it wasn't a bad sprain said revers moving up and standing in front of him that was revers all through toppy was sitting revers was standing looking down on him his favorite pose the black anger boiled in toppy's heart but by his expression one could read only that he was a grateful young man no it wasn't a bad sprain continued reavers his upper lip lifting in its customary smile of scorn but a man who attempts such heavy lifts must have no weak spot in him toppy twisted himself into a more comfortable position in his chair and and smiled attempts is hardly the right word there reavers pardon me for differing with you he laughed you may remember that the attempt was a success a glint of amusement in reaver's cold eyes showed that he appreciated that something more weighty than a mere question of words lay beneath that apparently casual remark for an instant his eyes narrowed

Starting point is 02:18:49 as if trying to see beyond toppy's smile and read what lay behind but toppy's good poker face now stood him in good stead and he looked blandly back at reever's peering eyes and continued to smile revers laughed quite right treplin obliged to you for correcting me he said a chap gets rusty out here where none of the laws of speech are observed i'll depend upon you to bring me back to form again later on is your ankle really feeling strong for answer topy rose and stood on it well well laughed reavers then miss pearson's sympathy was all wasted what's the matter treplin aren't you glad to hear that charming young lady is enough interested in you to hunt me up and ask me to step in and see how you are this morning?" "'Not particularly,' replied Toppy, although he was forced to admit to himself a glow at this explanation of the girl's conversation with Revers.

Starting point is 02:20:03 "'What are you interested in?' said Revers, suddenly. Toppy looked up at him shrewdly. "'I tell you what I'd like to do, Revers. I'd like to learn the logging business, learn how to run a camp like this run it efficiently i mean worthy ambition came the instant reply and you've come to the right school how fortunate for you that you fell into this camp you might have got into one where the boss had foolish ideas you might even have fallen in with a humanitarian then you'd never have learned how to make men do things for you and consequently you'd never have learned to run a camp efficiently thank your lucky stars traplin that you fell in with me i'll rid you of the silly little ideas about right and wrong that books and false living have instilled in your head i believe you've got a good head almost as good as mine if for instance you were in a situation where it was your life or the other fellows you'd survive that's the proof of a good head

Starting point is 02:21:21 want to learn the logging business do you good is your ankle strong enough for you to get around on tommy took an axe handle from the corner and using it as a cane hobbled around the room yes it will stand up all right he said what's the idea come with me laughed reavers swinging toward the door we're just in time for lesson number one on how to run a camp efficiently end of chapter ten recording by roger maline chapter eleven of the snow burner by henry oyen this librovoc's recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter eleven hell camp court as revers led the way out of the shop toppy saw that miss pearson was standing in the door of the office across the way he saw also that she was looking at him he did not respond to her look nor volunteer a greeting but deliberately looked away from her as he saw also that she was looking at him he did not respond to her look nor volunteer a greeting but deliberately looked away from her as he kept pace with reevers who was setting the way toward the gate of the stockade it was a morning such as one when back in railhead the girl had kicked up the snow and said to him isn't it glorious but since then toppy felt bitterly that he had grown so much older so disillusioned that never again would he be guilty of the tender feelings that the girl had evoked that morning the sun was bright the crisp air invigorating and the blood bounded gloriously through his young body but toppy did not wax enthusiastic

Starting point is 02:23:23 he was grimly glad of the mighty stream of life that he felt surging within him he would have use for all the might later on but no more the world was a heart a less pretty place than he in his inexperience had fancied it before coming to hell camp what's this lesson he asked gruffly of reavers what are you going to show me a little secret in the art of keeping brute men satisfied with the place in life which a superior mind has allotted to them replied revers what is the first need of the brute food of course and the second is fight give the lower orders of mankind which is the kind to use in running a camp efficiently plenty of food and fight and the problem of restlessness is solved that's history treplin as you know if these foolish timid capitalists and leaders of men who are searching their petty souls for a remedy to combat the ravages of the modern disease called socialism only would read history intelligently they would find the remedy made to order fight war give the lower brute's war let em get out and slaughter one another and then they'd find the remedy made to order fight war give the lower brutes war let em get out and slaughter one another and then they'd soon forget their pitiful, clumsy attempts to think for themselves. Give them guns with a little sharp steel on the end of the barrel.

Starting point is 02:25:02 Turn them loose on each other. Any excuse would do. And they'd soon be so busy driving, said steel into one another's thick bodies, that the leaders could slip the yoke back on their necks and get them underhand again, where they belong. And they'd be happier, too, because a man brute has got to have so much fighting or what he calls his brain begins to trouble him and then he imagines he has a soul and is otherwise unhappy if there is fighting or the certain prospect of fighting there's no alleged thinking there is the solution of all difficulties with the lower orders of course you've noticed how perfectly contented and happy the men in this camp are he laughed turning suddenly on topy yes said topy especially rosky and his bunch the snow-burner smiled appreciatively rosky poor claude hadn't had any fighting i'd overlooked him had i known that thoughts had begun to trouble his poor half-ox brain i'd have given him some fighting and he'd have been as content for the next few weeks as a man who's just been through delirium tremens.

Starting point is 02:26:26 He had no object in life, you see. If he'd had a good enemy to hate and fight, he wouldn't have been troubled by thoughts, and consequently he wouldn't now be lying in his bunk with his leg and splints. There is the system in a nutshell. Give a man an enemy to hate and wish to destroy, and he won't be any trouble to you during, working hours or after. That's what I do. Pick out the ones who might get restless and set them to

Starting point is 02:26:58 hating each other. And now, he concluded, as they reached the gate and passed through, you'll have a chance to see how it works out. The big gate, opened for them by two armed guards, swung shut behind them, and Toppy once more looked around the enclosure, in which he had had his first glimpse of the snowburner's system of handling the men under him the place this morning however presented a different a more impressive scene it was all but filled with a mass of rough-clad rough-moving rough-talking male humanity perhaps a hundred and fifty men were waiting in the enclosure for the greater part they were of the dark thick and heavily clumsy type that taught had learned to include under the general title of bohunk but here and there over the dark ox-like faces rose the fair head of a tall man of some northern breed slavs comprised the bulk of the gathering the scandinavians irish americans the white men as they called themselves were conspicuous only by contrast and by the manner in which they isolated themselves from the slavs and between the two breeds there was not much room for choice for while the faces of the slavs were heavy with brute stupidity and malignity those of the north-bred men reeked with fierceness cruelty and crime

Starting point is 02:28:36 the slavs were at hell camp because they were tricked into coming and forced to remain under shotgun rule the others were there mostly because sheriffs found it unsafe and unprofitable to see seek any man whom the snow-burner had in his camp they were hiding out criminals the majority of them they prayed on the stupid slavs as a matter of course and this situation revers had utilized as he put it to keep his men content though there was a gulf of difference between the extreme types of the crowd toppy soon realized that just now their expressions were strange alike. They were all impatient and excited. The excitement seemed to run in waves. One man moved and others moved with him. One threw up his head and others did likewise. Their faces were expectant and cruel. It was like the milling of excited cattle, only worse. "'Come along, Treplin,' said Reavers, and led the way toward the center of the of the enclosure. The noises of the crowd, the talking, the short laughter, the shuffling,

Starting point is 02:29:58 ceased instantly at his appearance. The crowd parted before him as before some natural force that brushed all men aside. It opened up even to the center of the yard, and then Toppy saw whither Revers was leading. On the bare ground was roped off a square, which Toppy, with practiced eye, saw was the regulation 24-foot prize-fight ring. Rough, unbarked tamaract poles formed the corner posts of the ring, and the ropes were heavy wire logging cable. A yard from one side of the ring stood a table with a chair upon it. Reavers, with a careless, take a seat on the table and keep your eyes open, stepped easily upon the table, seated himself in the chair and looked amused as the men instinctively turned their faces up toward him well men he said in a voice which reached like cold steel into the far corners of the enclosure court is open

Starting point is 02:31:08 the first case is jan torta and his brother mackle against bill sheedy whom they accuse of stealing ninety-eight dollars from them while they slept as he spoke the names two young slavs clumsy but strongly built their heavy faces for once alight with hate and the desire for revenge pushed close to one side of the ring while on the other side a huge red-haired kelt bloated and evil of face stepped free of the crowd bill stole the money all right continued reavers without looking at any of them he had the chance and being a sneak thief by nature he took it that's all right the tortoise boys had the money now bill's got it the question is is bill man enough to keep it that's what we're going to settle now he's got to show that he's a better man than the two fellows he took the money from if he isn't he's got to give up the money or the two can have him to do what they want to with him all right boys get em started there at his brisk order four men whom topy had seen around campus guards stepped forward two to sheedy two to the torta brothers and proceeded first to search them for weapons next to strip them to the waist sheedy hung back not two of them to wants mr revers he asked humbly one after the other it ought to be two to wants that ain't no way

Starting point is 02:32:57 and why not bill asked revers gently you took it from both of them didn't you then keep it against both of them, Bill? Throw him in there, boys. Toppy looked around at the rows of eager faces that were pressing toward the ringside. Prize fights he had witnessed by the score. He had even participated in one or two for a lark, and the brute lust that springs into the eyes of spectators

Starting point is 02:33:28 was no stranger to him. But never had he seen anything like this. There was none of the restructural. imposed upon the human countenance by civilization in the fierce faces that gathered about this ring out of the dull eyes the primitive killing animal showed unrestrained unashamed no dilettante interest in strength or skill here merely the bare bloodthirsty desire to see a fellow animal fight and bleed up above the sky was clean and blue the rough log walls shut out the rest of the world. The breathing of a mob of excited men was the only sound upon the quiet Sunday air. It was the old arena again, the merciless, gore-hungry crowd, the maddened gladiators, and upon the chair on the table, Revers, Lord of it all, the king man,

Starting point is 02:34:31 to whom it was all but an idle moment's play. Revers, above it all, untouched by it all, and yet directing and swaying it all as his will listed. Laws, rules, teachings, creeds, all were discarded. Primitive force had for the knots been given back its rule. And over it, and controlling it, as well as each of the maddened eight-score men around the ring, Revers. and so thoroughly did reavers dominate the whole affair that toppy sitting carelessly in the edge of the table was conscious of it and knew that he too felt instinctively inclined to do as the men did to look to reavers for a sign before daring to speak or make a move the snow-burner was in the saddle it wasn't natural but every phase of the situation emanated from his master man's will

Starting point is 02:35:34 It was even his wish that Toppy should sit thus at his feet and look on, and his wish was gratified. But it was well that the visor of Toppy's cap hid his eyes, else Revers might have wondered at the look that flashed up at him from them. "'Throw them in!' snapped Revers, and the handlers thrust the three combatants, stripped to the waists but wearing calked lumberjack shoes through the ropes. A cry went up to the sky from 150 throats around the ringside, a cry that had close kinship with a joyous, merciless, a-rah! of a wolf about to make its kill. Then an instant silence as the rudely handled

Starting point is 02:36:25 fighters came to their feet and faced for action. Then another hideous yelp rent the still air. The fighters had come together. Queer ring costumes, eh, Trepland? Came Reaver's voice mockingly. Our own rules. The feet as well as the hands. Lord, what oxen! The two Slavs had sprung upon their despoiler like two maddened cattle. Sheedy, rushing to meet them, head down, swung right and left over

Starting point is 02:37:01 hand. And with a mighty smacking of hard fist on naked flesh, one torta rolled on the ground, while his brother stopped in his tracks, his arms pressed to his middle. The crowd bellowed. Yes, I knew Shidi had been a pug, said Revers, judiciously. Sheedy deliberately took aim and swung for the jaw of the man who had not gone down. The Slav instinctively ducked his head, and the blow, slashing along his jawbone, tore loose his ear. Half stunned, he dropped to his knees, and Shidi stepped back to poise for a killing kick. But now the man who had been knocked down first was on his feet, and with the scream of a wounded animal, he hurled himself through the air and went down, his arms close-locked around Shidi's right

Starting point is 02:37:58 leg. Sheedy staggered. The ring became a little hell of distorted human speech. Sheedy bellowed horrible curses as he beat to a pulp the face that sought to bury itself in his thigh. His assailant screeched in slavish terror, and the bull-like roar of his brother, rising to his feet with cleared senses and springing into the battle, intermingled with both. Shidi's red face went pale. Around the ring side, the faces of the Slav shone with relief. The fight was going their way. They roared encouragement and glee in their own guttural tongue.

Starting point is 02:38:43 The others, Irish, Americans, Scandinavians, rooting for Shidi only because he was of their breed, were silent. Hang tough, Bill, said one man quietly. and then in a second the slightly superior brains in Sheedy's head had turned the battle. Like a flash he dropped flat on his back as his fresh assailant reached out to grip him. The furious Slav followed him helplessly in the fall, and a single, gruff, appreciative shout came from the few white men. For they had seen, even as the Slav tumbled,

Starting point is 02:39:23 Bill Sheedy's left legs shooed up like a catapult. bolt, burying the colt shoe to the ankle in the man's soft middle and flinging him to one side, a shuddering, senseless wreck. The man with his arms around Shidi's leg looked up and saw. He was alone now, alone against the big man who had knocked him down with such ease. Toppy saw the man's mouth open and his face go yellow. Nah, nah, nah, he called. cried piteously, as Sheetie's blows again reigned upon him.

Starting point is 02:40:01 I give up, give up, give up! He tried to bury his face in Bill's thigh, and Bill, mad with success, strove to pound him loose. Kill him, Bill, said one of the Irishmen quietly. You got him now, kill him. Stop! Revers did not raise his voice. He seemed so. scarcely interested. Yet the roars around the ring died down. Sheedy stopped a blow half-delivered

Starting point is 02:40:35 and dropped his arms. The Slav released his claw-like hold and ran, sobbing, toward his prostrate brother. All right, Bill, you keep the money, for all them, said Revers. Clear out the ring, boys, and get that other pair in there. The guards, springing into the ring. ring as if under a lash picked up the senseless man and thrust him like a sack of grain through the ropes and onto the ground at the feet of a group of his countrymen. Toppy saw these pick the man up and bear him away. The man's head hung down limply and dragged on the ground and a thin stream of blood ran steadily out of one side of his mouth. His brother followed, loudly calling him by name.

Starting point is 02:41:26 Very efficacious, that left leg of Bill's, eh, Treplin? said Revers lightly. Bill was the superior creature there. He had the wit and will to survive in a crisis. Therefore he is entitled to the rewards of the superior over the inferior, which in this case means the ninety-eight dollars which the Torta boys once had. That's justice, natural justice for you, Treplin. and all the fumbling efforts of the lawmakers who've tried through the ages to reduce life to a pen and paper basis haven't been able to change the old rule one bit i'll admit that courts and all the fakery that goes with them have reduced the thing to a battle of brains but after all it's the same old battle the stronger win and hold and he concluded waving his hand at the crowd you'll admit that bill and those tortoise boys wouldn't be at their best in a contest of intelligence toppy refused revers the pleasure of seeing how the brutality of the affair disgusted him

Starting point is 02:42:41 why don't you follow the thing out to its logical conclusion he said carelessly the thing isn't settled as long as the tortoise boys can possibly make reprisals to be a consistent savage you'd have to let him go to it until one had killed the other but even you don't dare to do that do you reavers revers laughed but the look that he bent on topy's bland face indicated that he was a trifle puzzled then you wouldn't be running the camp efficiently treplin he said it wouldn't make any difference if they were all tortoise but bill's a valuable man he furnishes some one a bellyful of hating and fighting every week no i wouldn't have bill killed for less than two hundred dollars he's one of my best antidotes for the disease of discontent the guards now had pulled two other men up to the ropes and were searching and stripping them toppy stared at the disparity in the sizes of the men as the clothes were pulled off them one stood up strong and straight the muscles bulging big beneath his dark skin his neck short and heavy his head cropped and round he wore a small upturned moustache and carried himself with a certain handy air that indicated his close acquaintance with ring events the other man was short and dark obviously in italian the skin of his body was a sickly white his skin of his body was a sickly white his his face olive green. He stood crouched, and beneath his ragged beard, two teeth gleamed,

Starting point is 02:44:28 like the fangs of a snarling dog. Antonio, the knife expert, and Mahmout, the strangling Bulgarian, announced Revers, laughingly. Tony tried to stick Mahmout because of a little lady back in railhead, and made such a poor job of it that Mamute has offered to meet him in the round. ring. Tony with his knife, Mahmute with his wrestling tricks. Start him off. The Bulgarian was under the ropes and upright in the ring before the Italian had started. He was in his stocking feet, and despite the clumsiness of his build, he moved with a quickness and ease that told of the fine coordination of the effective athlete. When the Italian entered the ring,

Starting point is 02:45:19 he held his right hand behind his back, and in the hand gleamed the six-inch blade of a wicked-looking stiletto. A shiver ran along Tappy's spine, but he continued to play the game. Evidently Mahmoud isn't a valuable man. You don't care what happens to him, he said. Not particularly, replied Revers, seriously. He's a good man in the rollways, nothing extra. still i hardly believe tony can kill him not this time at least the faces around the ring grew fiercer now growled curses and exclamations came through clenched teeth here was the spectacle that the brute spirit hungered for the bare living flesh battling for life against the merciless gleaming steel the big bulgarian moved neatly forward bent bent over at the waist, his strong arms extended, hands open before him in the practiced

Starting point is 02:46:25 wrestler's guard and attack. His feet did not leave the ground as he sidled forward, and his eyes never moved from the Italian's right arm. The latter, snarling and panting, retreated slightly, then began to circle carefully, his small eyes searching for the opening through which he could leap in and drive home his steel. The Bulgarian turned with him, his guard always before him, as a bull turns its head to face the circling wolf. Without a sound, the knife man suddenly stopped and lunged a sweeping slash at the menacing hands. Mamut, grasping for a hold on hand or wrist, caught the tip of the blade in his palm, and a slow bellow of rage shook him as he, saw the blood flow. But he did not lower his guard, nor take his eyes from his opponent.

Starting point is 02:47:25 The Italian retreated and circled again. A horrible sneer distorted his face, and the knife flashed in the sunlight as he slashed it to and fro before the other's hands. The crowd growled its appreciation. Three times Antonio leaped forward, slashed, and leaped back again. and each time the blood flowed from maumut's slashed fingers but the wrestler's guard never lowered nor did he falter in his set plan of battle he was working to get his man into a corner the italian soon saw this and leaping nimbly sidewise lunged for mahmut's ribs the right arm of the bulgarian dropped in time to save his life but the knife deflected from its fatal aim ripped through the top muscles of his back for six inches the mob roared at the fresh blood but mahmut was working silently in his spring the italian had only leaped toward another corner of the ring mahmut leaped suddenly toward him antonio stabbing swiftly at the hands reached out for him jumped back a cry from a countryman in the crowd warned him swiftly he glanced over his shoulder saw that he was cornered and with a low sweeping swing of the arm he threw the knife low at mahmut's abdomen

Starting point is 02:49:01 the blade glinted as it flashed through the air it thudded as it struck home but the death cry which the mob yelped out died short with the expert's quickness mahmut had flung his huge forearms before the speeding blade now he held his left arm up the stiletto quivering from the impact had pierced it through with a fierce roar mahmut plucked out the knife hurled it from the ring and dived forward the italian fought like a fury feet teeth and finger-nails making equal play he sank his teeth in the injured left arm mahmut groped with his one sound hand and methodically clamped a hold on an ankle he made sure that the hold was a firm one then he wrenched suddenly once the italian screamed and stiffened straight up under the appalling pain then he fell flat to the ground and topy saw that his right foot was twisted squarely around and that the leg lay limp on the ground like a twisted rag stop said reavers and mahmut stepped back take tony's knife away from him boys mahmut wins for the time being inconsistent again muttered toppy your scheme is all fallacies reavers you give tony a knife with which he may kill mahmut at one stroke but you don't let mahmut finish him when he's got him down why don't you carry your system to its logical conclusion why don't i chuckled revers stepping down from the table why simply because signor Antonio is the

Starting point is 02:51:00 camp cook, and cooks are too scarce to be destroyed unnecessarily. Now come along, Treplin. Courts adjourned. A light docket today. I've been thinking of your wanting to learn how to run a logging camp. I'm going to give you a change of jobs. You'll be no good in the blacksmith shop till your ankle's normal again. Come along. I'll show you what I've picked out for you. he turned away from the ring as from a finished episode in the day's work that was over whether torta or antonio lived or died were whole or crippled for the rest of their lives had no room in his thoughts

Starting point is 02:51:46 he strode toward the gate as if the yard were empty and the crowd opened away far before him outside the gate he led the way around the stockade toward where the river roared and tumbled through the shoots of Cameron Dam. A cliff-like ledge, perhaps 30 feet in height, situated close to one end of the dam, was Reaver's objective, and he led Tappy around to the side facing the river. Here the dirt had been scraped away in the face of the ledge,

Starting point is 02:52:20 and a great cave torn in the exposed rock. The hole was probably 50 feet wide and ran from 12 to 15 feet wide, feet under the brow of the ledge toppy was surprised to see no timbers upholding the rocky roof which seemed at any moment likely to drop great masses of jagged stone into the opening beneath my little rock pile explained reavers lightly when my brutes aren't good i put em to work here the rock goes into the dam out there just at present rossky's band of wood-be man malcontents are the ones who are suffering for daring to be dissatisfied with the, uh, simplicity, let us say, of Hell Camp. He laughed mirthlessly.

Starting point is 02:53:13 I'm going to put you in charge of this quarry, Treplin. You're to see that they get one hundred wheelbarrows of rock out of here per hour. You'll be here at daylight tomorrow. Toppy nodded quietly. what's the punishment here he asked puzzled it looks like nothing more than hard work to me revers smiled the same smile that he had smiled upon roski look at the roof of that pit treplin he said you've noticed that it isn't timbered up occasionally a stone drops down sometimes several stones but one hundred barrows an hour have to come out of there just the same. And those rocks up there, you'll notice, are beautifully sharp and heavy. Tappy felt Reaver's eyes upon him, watching to see what effect this explanation

Starting point is 02:54:14 would have, and consequently he no more betrayed his feelings than he had at the brutal scene of the court. I see, he said casually, I suppose this is why you made me read up on fracture, "'Partly,' said Revers. He looked up at the jagged rocks in the roof of the pit and grinned. And sometimes an accident here calls for a job for a pick-and-shovel. "'But I'm just, Treplin, only the malcontents are put to work in here.' "'That is, those who have dared to declare themselves something besides your helpless slaves?' or dared to think of declaring themselves thus agreed reavers promptly i see tommy was looking blandly at the roof but his mind was working busily

Starting point is 02:55:13 just why do you give me charge of this whole reavers if you don't mind my asking isn't it rather an unusual honor for a green hand to be put over a crew like this unusual oh how beastly bane'll of you treplin laughed reavers carelessly surely you didn't expect me to do the usual thing did you you say you want to learn how to handle a camp like this you're an interesting sort of creature and i'd like to see you work out in the game of handling men so i give you this chance oh i'll do great things for you treplin before i'm done with you you can imagine all that i've got in store for you the smile vanished and he turned away he was through with this incident too without another word or look at toppy he went back to the stockade his mind already busy with some other project toppy stood looking after him until reevers brought back disappeared around the corner of the stockade no you clever devil he muttered i can't imagine but whatever it is i promise i'll hand it back to you with a little interest or furnish a job for a pick-and-shovel he walked slowly back to the blacksmith shop he was glad to be left alone though he had permitted no sign of it to escape him toppy had been enraged and sickened at what he had seen in the stockade He admitted to himself that it was not the fact that men had been disabled and crippled,

Starting point is 02:57:01 nor the brutal rules that had governed, nor that men had been exposed to death at the hands of others before his eyes that had stirred him so. It was Revers, Revers, sitting up there on the table, playing with men's bodies and lives as with so many cards. Revers, the dominant lord, over his fellows. The vein swelled in Toppy's big neck as he thought of reavers, and his hitherto good-natured face took on a scowl that might have become some ancestral man-captain in the days

Starting point is 02:57:39 of mace and male, but which never before had found room on Toppy's countenance, not even when the opposing half-backs were guilty of slugging. But he was playing another game now, an older one, a fiercer one, and one which called to him as nothing had called before. It was the man game now, and out there in the old stern forest, spurred by the challenge of the man who was his natural enemy, the primitive fighting man in Toppy shook off the restraint with which breeding, education, and living had cumbered him, and stood out in a fashion that would have shocked Toppy's friends back east. Near the shop he met Miss Pearson. By her manner, he saw that she had been

Starting point is 02:58:31 waiting for him, but Toppy merely raised his cap and made to pass on. Mr. Treplin! There was astonishment at his rudeness in her exclamation. Well, said Toppy. Your ankle? Oh, yes. Pardon me for not expressing my thanks before. It's almost well, thanks to you and Mr. Revers. She made a slight shrinking movement and stood looking at him for a moment. She opened her lips, but no words came. Old Scotty told me about your kindness and coming to see me,

Starting point is 02:59:13 you and Mr. Revers together, said Toppy. It was a relief to learn that your confidence in Revers was justified. she looked up quickly straight into his eyes a troubled look swept over her face then with a toss of the head she turned and crossed the road and toppy swung on his way to the room in the rear of the shop and closed the door behind him with a vicious slam end of chapter eleven recording by roger maline chapter twelve of the snow-burner by henry Oyen. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 12. Toppy's first move. Next morning, in the cold stillness which precedes the coming of daylight in the north, Toppy stood leaning on his axe-handled cane and watched his crew of a dozen men file out of the stockade gate and turn toward the stone quarry.

Starting point is 03:00:34 They walked with the driven air of prisoners going to punishment. In the darkness, their squat shapeless figures were scarcely human. Their heads hung, their steps were listless, as if they had just completed a hard day's work, instead of having arisen from a hearty breakfast. The complete lack of spirit evinced by the men irritated Toppy. Was Revers right, after all? were they nothing but clods undeserving a fair and intelligent treatment hey wake up there you look like a bunch of corpses show some life cried toppy

Starting point is 03:01:18 in whom the bitter morning air was sending the red blood tingling the men did not raise their heads they quickened their stumbling their stumbling steps a little as a heavy horse shambles forward a little under the whip one or two looked back beyond where toppy was walking at the side of the line treplin with curiosity followed the glances a grim-lipped shotgun guard with a hideous hawk nose had emerged from the darkness and with his short-barreled weapon in the crook of his arm was following the line at a distance of fifty or sixty feet toppy halted abruptly so did the guard what's the idea demanded toppy reavers send you yes said the guard gruffly does it take two of us to make this gang work toppy was irritated revers he knew would have handled the gang alone the boss sent me said the guard with a finality that indicated that for him that ended the discussion the daylight now came wanly up the gap made in the forest by the brawling river and the men stood irresolute before the quarry and peered up anxiously at the roof of the pit grab your tools said toppy get in there and get to it the men some of them taking picks and crowbars some wheelbarrows were soon ready to be begin the day's work. But there was a hitch somewhere. They stood at the entrance to the

Starting point is 03:03:06 pit and did not go in. They looked up at the threatening roof, then they looked anxiously, pleadingly, at Toppy. But Toppy was thinking savagely of how Revers would have handled the gang alone, and he paid no attention. Get in there! he roared. Come on, get to work! Acustomed to be being driven they responded at once to his command between two fears fear of the dropping rocks and fear of the man over them they entered the quarry and began the day's work the guard took up a position on a slight eminence where he was always in plain sight of the men whether in the cave or wheeling the rock out to the dam he held his gun constantly in the hollow of his arm like a hunter ten minutes after the first crowbar had clanged against rock in the quarry there was a rumbling sound a crash a scream and the men came scrambling out in terror their rush stopped abruptly just outside the cave toppy was standing directly before them the man with the gun had noisily cocked his weapon and brought the black barrel to bear on the heads of the men

Starting point is 03:04:29 half of them slunk at once back into the cave one of the others held up a bleeding hand to toppy ah please boss please he pleaded rock kill us next time please boss there was a moment of silence while toppy looked at the men's terror-stricken faces the shotgun guard rattled the slide on his gun the men began to retreat into the cave, their helplessness and hopelessness writ large upon their flat faces. "'Hold on there,' said Toppy suddenly. After all, a fellow couldn't do things like that, drive helpless cattle like these to certain injury, even possible death. "'I'll take a look in there.' He hobbled and shouldered his way through the men and entered the pit.

Starting point is 03:05:27 A few rocks had dropped from the roof, luckily falling in a far corner beyond where the men were working. But Toppy saw at once how serious this petty accident was, for the whole roof of the cave now was loosened, and as sure as the men pounded and pried at the rocks beneath, they would bring a shower of stone down upon their heads. Like rats in a trap, he thought. hi he called get out of here get out down near the dam he had noticed a huge pile of old timbers which probably had been used for piling while the dam was being put in

Starting point is 03:06:11 thither he now led his men and shouldering the largest piece himself he hobbled back to the cave followed by the gang each bearing a timber a sudden change had come over the men as he indicated what he was going to do they moved more rapidly their terror was gone some of them smiled and some talked excitedly under topy's direction they went to work with a vim shoring up the loosened roof of the cave it was only a half-hour's work to place the props so that the men working beneath were free of any serious danger from above of. Toppy could sense the change of feeling toward him that had come over the men as they saw the timbers go into place, and he was forced to admit that it warmed him comfortably. They sprang eagerly to obey his slightest behest, and the gratitude in their faces was pitiful to behold. "'Now jump,' said Toppy when the roof was safely propped. "'Hustle and make up the time we've lost!'

Starting point is 03:07:23 as he came out of the cave the place fairly rang with noise as the men furiously tore loose the rock and dumped it in the barrows toppy took a long breath and wiped his brow the hawk-nosed guard spat in disgust will you do me a favor said toppy suddenly swinging toward him what is it asked the man take a message to mr reevers from me tell him your services are no longer required at this spot tell him i said you looked like a fool standing up there with your bum gun tell him topy despite his sore ankle had swung up the rise and was beside the guard before the latter thought of making a move. That I said I'd throw you and your gun in the river if you didn't duck. And for your own information, Toppy was towering over the man. I'll do it right now, unless you get out of here, quick!

Starting point is 03:08:32 The guard's shifty eyes tried to meet Toppies and failed. Against the Slavs he would have dared to use his gun, they were his inferiors. Against Toppy, he did not dare even so much as to think of the weapon, and without it he was only a jail rat, afraid of men who looked him in the eyes. The boss sent me here, he said sullenly. Toppy leaned forward until his face was close to the guards. The man shrank. "'Duck!' said Toppy.

Starting point is 03:09:10 That was all. The guard moved away with an alacrity that showed how uncomfortable the spot had become to him. You'll hear about this, he whined from a distance. And Toppy laughed, laughed carelessly and loudly, rampant with the sensation of power. The men, scurrying past with barrows of rock, noted the retreat of the guard and smiled. They looked up at Toppy with slavish admiration, as lesser men look up to the champion who has triumphed before their eyes. One or two of the older men raised their hats as they passed him, their old-world surf-like way of showing how they felt toward him. Jump, ordered Toppy gruffly. Get a move on there. Make up that lost time.

Starting point is 03:10:07 Revers had said. that a hundred barrows an hour must be dumped into the dam with a half hour lost in shoring up the roof there were fifty loads to be caught up during the day if the average was to be maintained carefully timing each load and keeping tally for half an hour toppy saw that a hundred loads per hour was the limit of his gang working at a normal pace to get out the hundred loads they must keep steady at work, with no time lost because of the falling rocks from above. He began to see the method of Reaver's apparent madness in placing him in charge of the gang. With the gang working in the dead, terrorized fashion that had characterized their movements before the timbers were in place, Tappy knew that he would have failed. He could not have got out the hundred loads per hour.

Starting point is 03:11:06 Revers would have proved him to be able to be. his inferior for reavers with his inhumanity would have driven the gang as if no lives nor limbs hung on the issue toppy smiled grimly as he looked at his watch and marked new figures on the tally sheet the men pitifully grateful for their protecting timbers had taken hold of their work with such new life that the rock was going into the dam at the rate of one hundred and twenty loads an hour move number one muttered toppy snapping shut his watch i wonder what the snow-burner's comeback will be when he knows hey you roughnecks keep moving there keep moving the men responded cheerfully to his every command they would gladly obey his will they were safe under him he had taken care of them the helpless ones that evening when they filed back into the stockade under topy's watchful eye one of the older men a swarthy old fellow with large brass rings in his ears sank his hat low as he passed in buna nopte domnull he said humbly what did he say demanded topy of one of the young men who knew a little english please boss old man he magger was the reply he say good night master toppy stood dumbfounded while the line passed through the gate

Starting point is 03:12:52 well he said with a grin what do you know about that end of chapter twelve recording by roger maline chapter thirteen of the snow-burner by chapter thirteen of the snow-burner by henry oyen this libervox recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter thirteen revers replies revers did not come to the shop that night for his evening diversion nor did toppy see him at all during the next day but in the morning following he saw that revers had taken cognizance in his own own peculiar way of Toppy's action in driving the shotgun guard away from the quarry. As the line of rockmen filed out of the stockade in the chill half-light, Toppy saw that the best worker of his gang, a cheerful, stocky man called Mikal, was missing. In his place, walking with a successful Plug-Uglies, insolent swagger, was none other than Bill Sheedy, the appointed truck.

Starting point is 03:14:12 troublemaker of Hell Camp, and Toppy knew that Revers had made another move in his tantalizing game. He went hot, despite the raw chillness of the thought of it. Revers was playing with him, too, playing even as he had played with Roski. And Toppy knew that, like Roski, the Snowburner had selected him too to be crushed, to be marked as an inferior, to be made to acknowledge Revers. as his master. Revers had read the challenge which was in Toppy's eyes and had, with his cold smile of complete confidence and contempt, taken up the gauge. The substitution of Bill Sheedy, Reaver's pet troublemaker, for an effective workman, was a definite move toward Toppy's

Starting point is 03:15:04 humiliation. There was nothing in Toppy's manner, however, to indicate his feelings as he followed the line to the quarry. Toppy allowed Shidi's swagger, by which he plainly indicated that he was hunting for trouble, to go as if unobserved. Sheedy, being extremely simple of mind, leaped instantly to the conclusion that Toppy was afraid of him and swaggered more insolently than ever. He was in an irritable mood this morning, was Bill Shedy, and as soon as the gang was out of sight of the stockade and thought toppy bitterly therefore out of possible sight of reavers he began to vent his irritation upon his fellow workmen

Starting point is 03:15:53 he shouldered them out of his way swore at them threatened them with his fists kicked them carelessly there was no finesse in bill's method he was mad and showed it when the daylight came up the river sufficiently strong to begin the day's work bill had worked himself up to a proper frame of mind for his purpose he stood still while the other men willingly seized their tools and barrows and tramped into the quarry toppy apparently did not notice so far as he indicated by his manner he was quite oblivious of sheedy's existence bill stood looking at toppy with a scowl on his unprety face awaiting the order to go in with the other men the order did not come tommy was busy directing the men where to begin their work he did not so much as look at bill bill finally was forced to call attention to himself damn it he growled spitting generously he ain't goin to get me to work and no hole like that. All right, Bill, said Toppy instantly. All right.

Starting point is 03:17:14 Bill was staggered. His simple mind failed utterly to comprehend that there might lie something behind Toppy's apparently humble manner. Bill could see only one thing. The straw boss was afraid of him. You damn well know it, it's all right, he spluttered. if it ain't i'd damn soon make it all right sure said toppy and without looking toward bill he hurried into the quarry to see how the timbers were standing the strain

Starting point is 03:17:48 bill stood puzzled he had bluffed the straw boss sure enough but still the thing wasn't entirely satisfactory the boss didn't seem to care whether he worked or whether he loafed bill refused to be treated with such little consideration he was of more importance than that hey you he called as toppy emerged from the pit i'm going to wheel rock down to the dam that's what i'm going to wheel it but you ain't gunn't gunn't make me go in there and dig it see i'm going to wheel rock now for the first time toppy seemed to consider bill what makes you think you are he said quietly he was looking at his watch but bill noticed that in spite of his sore ankle and cane the boss had managed to move near to him in uncannily swift fashion you know you can't work here now toppy continued before bill's thick wits had framed an answer you won't go into the quarry so i can't use you bill stared as if bereft of all of his faculties the boss had slipped his watch back into his pocket he had turned away can't use me can't say who says i can't work here roared bill shaking his fists he was standing on the plank on which the wheelbarrows were rolled out of the cave blocking the way of the man with the first loads of the day.

Starting point is 03:19:33 Look out, Bill, said Toppy, softly, turning around. Instinctively, Bill threw up his guard, threw it up to guard his jaw. Toppy's left drove into his solar plexus so hard that Bill seemed to be molded onto the fist, hung there until he dropped and rolled backward on the ground. Get along there, commanded Toppy to the wood. wheelbarrow men. The way's clear. Jump! Grinning and snatching glances of ridicule at the prostrate Sheedy, they hurried past. They dumped their loads in the dam and came back with empty barrows, and still Sheedy lay there like a dumped grain sack to one side of their path.

Starting point is 03:20:23 The flat faces of the men cracked with grins as they looked worshipfully at Toppy. Jump, said he. Get a move on, you roughnecks. And they grinned more widely in sheer delight at his rough ordering. Bill Sheedy lay for a long time as he had fallen. The blow he had stopped would have done for a pugilist in good condition, and Sheedy's midrift was soft and fat. Finally, he raised his head and looked around.

Starting point is 03:20:58 Such surprise and woebegone now. showed in his expression that the grinning Slavs laughed outright at him. Bill slowly came to a sitting posture and drew a hand across his puzzled brow while he looked dully at the laughing men and at Toppy. Then he remembered and he dropped his eyes. Get on your way, Bill, said Toppy casually. If you're not able to walk, I'll have half a dozen of the men help you. You're through.

Starting point is 03:21:30 here. Bill lurched unsteadily to his feet and staggered away a few steps. That terrific punch and the iron-combe manner of the man who had dealt it had scared him. His first thought was to get out of reach, his second, one of anger at the bohunks to dare to laugh at him, Bill Sheedy, the fighting man. But the fashion in which the men laughed took the nerve out of Bill. they were laughing contemptuously at him. They looked down upon him. They were no longer afraid. And there were a dozen of them, and they laughed together, and Bill Shedy knew that his days as camp bully were over.

Starting point is 03:22:17 The straw boss was looking at him coldly, and Bill moved farther away. Fifteen minutes later, the straw boss, who had apparently been oblivious of his presence, swung around and said abruptly, "'What's the matter, Bill? Why don't you go back to Revers?' Bill's growled reply contained several indistinct,

Starting point is 03:22:41 but definitely profane characterizations of Revers. "'I can't go back to him,' Sheedy said sullenly. "'Why not?' laughed Treplin. "'He's your friend, isn't he? He'd let you keep the money you'd stolen and all that.' keep hell growled sheedy he's got that himself made me make him a present of it or or he'd turn me over for a little trouble i had down in deluth toppy stiffened and looked at him carefully telling the truth bill ask him replied sheedy he don't make no bones about it he gets something on you and then he'd grafts on you till you're dry.

Starting point is 03:23:32 Tappy stood silent while he assimilated this information. His scrutiny of Shidi told him that the man was telling the truth. He felt grateful to Shidi. Through him he had got a new light on Reaver's character, light which he knew he could use later on. Through making an ass of yourself here, Bill? he asked briskly. Bill's answer was to hang his head in a way that showed how thoroughly all the fight was taken out of him.

Starting point is 03:24:05 All right, then. Grab a wheelbarrow and get into the pit. Keep your end up with the other men, and there'll be no hard feelings. Try to play any of your tricks, and it's good night for you. Now get to it or get out. Shedys rushed for a wheelbarrow showed how relieved he was. he had been standing between the devil and the deep sea between reavers with his awful displeasure and toppy with his awful punch and he was eager to find a haven i ain't trying any tricks he muttered as he made for the quarry the snow-burner he's the one he copped me dough and sent me down here and told me to work off my mad on you well you've worked it off now i guess said toppy curtly dig in now you're half a dozen loads behind sheedy did not fill the place of the man he had supplanted for in his mixed ale condition he was unable to work a full day at a strong man's pace however he did so well that when toppy checked up in the evening he found that his tally again was well over the stipulated average of a hundred loads of rock per hour.

Starting point is 03:25:30 Move to, he thought. I wonder what comes next. End of chapter 13. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 14 of the snow burner by Henry Oyen. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 14.

Starting point is 03:26:04 joker and deuce is wild when toppy went back to the shop that evening he found old campbell cooking the evening meal with only his right hand in use the left being wrapped in a neat bandage that's what comes of leaving me without a helper grumbled the scot as toppy looked inquiringly at the injured hand i'm on have you back lad i will not be knocking my hands to pieces doing two men's work to play please any man. And yet, he cocked his head on one side and looked fondly at the bandage. I don't know, but was twerth it. I am an old man, and it's long since I had a pretty lass make fuss over me. What? snapped toppy. Oh, go on with you, lad, teased Scotty, holding the bandage up for his admiration. Cannot you see that I'm by nature a favor? with the ladies? Yon lass in the office sold this bandage on my old meat hook.

Starting point is 03:27:11 Does it hurt, Mr. Campbell, says she? Not as much as something that's heavy on my mind, lass, says I. What's that, she says. Mr. Revers and you, lass, says I, and I told her as well as an old man can tell a lass who's little more than a child, just what the snow-burner is. I can't believe it, says she. He's a gentleman. More's the pity, I says. That's what makes him dangerous.

Starting point is 03:27:45 Were you not afraid of him at first, says I? Yes, she says. Tell me honest, as you would your own father, says I. Are you not afraid of him now? With that, she gave me a look like a little fawn that has smelled the wolf circling round it, but she will not answer he can't be what you say he is she says trembling lass says i a week ago you would never have believed it possible that you'd ever wish ought to do with him now you walk with him and talk with him and smile when he does and i told her of tilly it's not so says she it can't be so mr reavers is a gentleman not a gentleman not a man

Starting point is 03:28:34 brute he's too strong and fine says she for such conduct and the bandage being done i was dismissed with a toss of the head ay ay lad but twas fine to have her little fingers sewing away around my old hand yon's a fine sweet lass but i fear me reavers has set his will to winner to toppy made no reply campbell's words aroused only one emotion in him a fresh flare of anger against reavers for it was reavers and his strength and dominance that was responsible topy already was sorry for the swift judgment that he had passed on the girl on sunday and for the rudeness which in his anger he had displayed toward her he knew now the power that lay in reaer will the calm compelling fire that lurked in his eyes men quailed before those eyes and did their bidding and a girl a little girl who must naturally feel grateful toward him for her position could hardly be expected to resist the snow-burner's undeniable fascinations why should she reavers was everything that women were drawn to in men kinglike in his power of mind and body striking in appearance successful in whatever he sought to do it was inevitable that the girl should fall under his spell but the thought of it sent a chill up toppy's spine as from the thought of something monstrous he raged inwardly as he remembered how clearly the girl had let him see his own insignificance in her estimation compared with reavers she had refused to believe campbell

Starting point is 03:30:30 topy knew that she would refuse to listen to him if he tried to warn her against reevers the fashion in which he slammed the supper dishes on the table brought a protest from scotty dinna be so strong with the dishes lad they're not iron said he you tend to your cooking growled topy i'll set this table campbell paused with a spoon in mid-air and gaped at him in astonishment he opened his mouth to speak but the black scowl on topy's brow checked his tongue silently he turned to his cooking he had seen that he was no longer boss in the room behind the shop after supper campbell brought forth a deck of cards and began to play solitaire topy threw himself upon his bunk and lay in the darkness with his troublesome thoughts an unmistakable step outside the door brought him to his feet for he had an instinctive dislike to meeting revers save face to face and standing up revers came in without speaking and shut the door behind him he stood with his hand on the knob and looked over at toppy and shook his head trappelin how could you disappoint me so he asked mockingly after i had reposed such confidence in you too i'm sorely disappointed in you i never looked for you to be a victim of the teachings of weak men and i find ye gods i find that you're a humanitarian by this and this only did revers indicate that he had knowledge of how toppy had protected his men

Starting point is 03:32:23 toppy looked steadily across the room at him a grim smile on his lips did bill sheedy call me that he asked dryly shame on him-shade him if he did i didn't make him slip me the tortoise money as a present reaver's laugh rang instantly through the room so you've won bill's confidence already have you he said without the slightest trace of shame or discomfiture dear old bill he actually seemed to be under the impression that he had a title to that money until i suggested otherwise i ask you treplin as a man with a trained if not an efficient mind is bill sheedy a proper man to possess the title to ninety-eight dollars he swung across the room laughing heartily and reached into the cupboard for scotty's whisky as he did so his eyes fell upon the cards which Scotty was placing upon the table, and for the first time Tappy saw in his eyes the gleam of a human weakness. Reaver stood, paused for an instant, his eyes feasting upon the cards. It was only an instant, but it was enough to whisper to Tappy the secret of the Snowburner's

Starting point is 03:33:47 passion for play. And Tappy exalted in this chance discovery of the vulnerable jopper. joint in Reaver's armor. For Toppy, alas, for his misspent youth, was a master warrior when a deck of cards was the field of battle. "'It's none of my funeral, Revers,' he said carelessly, strolling over to the table where Campbell went on playing, apparently oblivious to the conversation. "'I don't know anything about Sheedy. Of course, if you're serious, the Torto Boys are the only one in camp who've got any right to the money. Revers stopped short in the act of pouring himself a drink.

Starting point is 03:34:33 Campbell, with his back toward Revers, paused with a card in his hand. Toppy yawned and dropped into a chair from which he could watch Campbell's game. But that's none of my business, he said, as if dropping the subject. There's a chance for your black queen, Scotty. Revers poured himself his tumbler full of scotch whiskey, drew up a third chair to the table, and sat down across from Toppy. The latter apparently was absorbed in watching Campbell's solitaire. Revers took a long, contented sip of his fiery tipple and smiled pleasantly.

Starting point is 03:35:15 You turned loose an idea there, Treplin, he said. But can you make your premise stand argument? Are you sure that the tortoise are the ones who have a right to that ninety-eight dollars? On what grounds do you give them the exclusive title to the money? It's theirs. Bill stole it from them. You said he did. That's all I know about it, said Toppy, scarcely raising his eyes from the cards. Why do you say it was theirs, Treplin? persisted Revers, smilingly.

Starting point is 03:35:53 "'Merely because they had it in their possession. Isn't that so?' "'You don't know how they came by it, but because they had in their possession, you speak of it as theirs.' "'Very well. Bill Sheedy took it away from them. It was in his possession,

Starting point is 03:36:11 so, following your line of logic, it was his, for a short while.' "'I took it from Bill.' it's in my possession now therefore if your premise is sound the money is mine why treplin i'm really obliged to you for furnishing me such a clear title to my lute it was ah beginning to trouble my conscience he laughed suddenly punctuating his laughter with a blow of his fist on the table all rot treplin all silly sophistry which weak men have built up to protect themselves from the strong the infernal lie that because a man is in possession of a certain thing it is his to the exclusion of the rest of the world property rights i'll tell you the truth why this money is money is money mine, why I'm the one who has the real title to it. I was able to take it, and I am able to keep it. There's the natural law of property rights, Treplin. What do you say to that?

Starting point is 03:37:25 Fine, laughed Toppy, throwing up his hands in surrender. You bowl me over, Revers. The money is yours, and—he glanced at the cards. and if you and i should play a little game of poker joker and deuce is wild and i should take it away from you it would be mine and there you are the words had slipped out of him apparently without any aim but toppy saw by the sudden glance which reavers dropped to the cards that the gambling hunger in the snow-burner had been awakened joker and deuce is wild he repeated as if fascinated yes that ought to help make a two-handed game fast the whole manner of the man seemed for the moment changed for the first time since toppy had met him he seemed to be seriously interested previously when he played with the lives and bodies of men or deviled their minds with his wiles his interest had never been deeper than that of a man who plays to keep himself from being bored he was the master in all such affairs they could furnish him at their best but an idle sort of interest but not even the snow-burner was master of the inscrutable laws of chance nor was he master of himself when cards were flipping before his eyes

Starting point is 03:38:59 toppy had guessed right reavers had a weakness and it was to be card crazy get over there in that other table with your solitaire campbell he ordered he reached into campbell's liquor cabinet and drew out a fresh pack of cards which he tossed to to poppy you started something mr humanitarian he continued clearing the table open the deck and cut for deal then show me what you've got to stack up against this ninety-eight dollars and he slapped a wad of wad of crumbled bills on the table topy nonchalantly reached into his pockets then he grinned the two twenty-dollar bills which he had paid the agent back in railhead for the privilege of hiring out to hell camp were all the money he had with him he was broke he debated with himself a moment then unhooked his costly watch from the chain and pushed it across to reavers you can sell that for five hundred if you win it he said i'll play it even against your ninety-eight bucks give me forty-nine to start with if you win them give me forty-nine more and the watch is yours right right said revers keeping the watch and dividing his role with Toppy. Dollar jackpots, table stakes. Deal them up.

Starting point is 03:40:36 Toppy lost ten dollars on the first hand, almost before he realized that the game had begun. He called Reaver's bet and had three fours and nothing else in his hand. Revers had two of the wild deuses and a king. Toppy shook his head, like a pugilist, clearing his wits after a knockdown. Why had he called?

Starting point is 03:41:01 He knew his three-fours weren't good. His card sense had told him so. He had called against his judgment. Why? Suddenly, like something tangible pressing against his brain, he felt Reaver's will thrusting itself against his. Then he knew. That was why he had called.

Starting point is 03:41:26 Revers had willed that he do so, and catching him off his guard had had his way. Good work, said Toppy, passing the cards. He was himself again, his wits had cleared. He allowed Revers to take the next three pots in succession without a bet. Revers looked at him, puzzled. The fourth pot Toppy opened for five dollars, and Revers promised. Toppy raised him ten. After the draw, Toppy bet a dollar, and Revers again raised it to ten more. Toppy called. Revers, caught bluffing without a single pair, stared as Toppy laid down his hand

Starting point is 03:42:14 and revealed nothing but his original openers, a pair of aces. A frown passed over Reaver's face. He peered sharply at Toppy from beneath his. his overhanging brows, but Toppy was raking in the pot as casually as if such play with a pair of aces was part of his system. Good work, said Revers, and gathered the cards to him with a jerk. Half a dozen hands later, on Reaver's deal, Toppy picked up his hand and saw four kings. I'll pass, said he. I open for five.

Starting point is 03:42:56 said Revers. Take the money, laughed Toppy, carelessly throwing his hand into the discard. For an instant, Reaver's eyes searched him with a look of surprise. The glance was sufficient to tell Toppy that what he had suspected was true. So he's dealing him as he wants him, thought Toppy.

Starting point is 03:43:22 All right, he's brought it on himself. an hour later revers arose from the table with a smile the money had changed hands toppy was snapping his watch back on its chain and stuffing the bills into his pocket your money now treplin laughed revers until somebody takes it away from you but there was a new note in his laughter he had been beaten and his irritation showed in his laughter he had been beaten and his irritation showed in his laughter, and in the manner in which, after he had taken another big drink of whiskey, he paused in the doorway as he made to leave. "'Great luck, Treplin. Great luck with cards, you have,' he said laughingly. "'Too bad your luck ends there, isn't it?' "'What's that paraphrase of the old saw?

Starting point is 03:44:20 "'Lucky with cards? Unlucky with women?' "'Good night, Treplin.' he went out laughing as a man laughs when he is a joke on the other fellow what did he mean by that asked campbell puzzled i don't know said toppy but he knew now that tilly had told revers of his talk with miss pearson the first evening in camp and that revers had saved it up against him end of chapter fourteen recording by roger maline chapter fifteen of the snow-burner by henry oyen this librovoc's recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter fifteen the way of the snow-burner in the morning before the time for beginning the day's work toppy went to the stockade and with one of his english-speaking slavs acting as interpreter hunted up the torta brothers and returned to them the stolen money which he had won from reavers. He did not consider it necessary to go into the full details of how the money came to be in his possession, or attempt to explain the prejudice

Starting point is 03:45:48 of his kind against keeping stolen goods. Just tell them that Sheedy gave up the money, and that it's theirs again, and they'd better hide it in their shoes so they won't lose it, he directed the interpreter, where at the latter a garrulous young man who had been telling the camp all about the wonderful new boss in the quarry, a boss who saved men's lives, whenever he could get anyone to listen, broke forth into a wonderful tale of how the money came to be returned, and of the wonderful boss that stood before them,

Starting point is 03:46:24 whom they should all take off their caps to and worship. For this was no ordinary man, this boss. No, he was far above all other men. It was an honor to work under him. For instance, as to this money, the boss had heard how the red-haired one, Shidi, had stolen, how he oppressed many poor men and broke the noses of those who dared to stand up against him. The boss had the interests of poor men at heart.

Starting point is 03:46:57 What had he done? He had struck the red-haired one such a mighty blow in the stomach that the red-haired one had flown high in the air, and alighting on the ground, had been moved by the fear of death and disgorged the stolen money that his conscience might be easy. The story of how Toppy had propped up the roof of the stone quarry and save the limbs and possibly lives of his workmen, how he had driven the shotgun guard away, and how he had smitten sheety and laid him low before all men

Starting point is 03:47:32 had circulated through the camp by this time. Everybody knew that the new straw boss, though fully as big and strong as the snow-burner himself, was a man who considered the men under him as something more than cattle and treated them accordingly. True, he drove men hard, but they went willingly for him, whereas under the snow-burner, they hurried merely because of the chill fear

Starting point is 03:48:00 that his eyes drove into their hearts. in short toppy was just such a boss as all men wished to work under strong but just firm but not inhuman even sheedy was loyal to him he laid me out all right he grumbled to a group of white men but give him credit for it he gave me a chance to get up me guard there won't be any breaking your bones when you ain't lookin from him and he wouldn't graft on you either he's right that other one he ain't human the fact that he had been humane enough and daring enough to prop up the roof of the quarry had no effect on the white men toward developing a respect for they despised the slavs too thoroughly to be conscious of any brotherhood with them but that he could put bill sheedy away with a single punch that he could warn bill to put up his guard and then knock him out with one blow that was something to ring respect even from that hard-bitten crew the snow-burner never had done anything like that he had laid low the biggest men in camp but it was usually with a kick or with a blow that was entirely unexpected. The snow-burner never warned anybody. He smiled, threw them off their guard, then smote like a flash of lightning.

Starting point is 03:49:37 He had whipped half a dozen men at once in a stand-up fight, but they had been poor bohunks, fools who couldn't fight unless they had knives in their hands. But to tell a seasoned bruiser like Bill, the best man with his fist in camp, to put up his hands and then beat him to the knockout punch, that was something that not even the snow-burner had attempted to do. That was taking a chance, that was, and the snow-burner never took chances. That was why these cruel fierce white men, though they admired and applauded him for his dominance and his ruthlessness toward the Slavs, hated reavers with a hatred that sprang from the northern man's instinctive.

Starting point is 03:50:23 liking for fair play in a fight. They began naturally to compare him with Toppy, who had played fair and yet won. And naturally, because such were the standards they lived and died by, they began to predict that someday the snow burner and Toppy must fight, and they hoped that they might be there to see the battle. So Toppy, this morning, as he came to the stockade, was in the position of something of a hero to most of the rough men who slouched past him in the gloom to their day's work he had felt it before this hero worship and he recognized it again though the surroundings were vastly different and the men about him of a strange breeding the sense of it was much the same as that he had known at school when a sweater thrown across his huge shoulders he had plowed his way through the groups of worshipping undergrads onto the gridiron. It was much the same here. Men looked up to him. They nudged one another as they passed, lowered their voices when he was near, studied

Starting point is 03:51:38 him appraisingly. Tappy had felt it before, too often to be mistaken, and the youth in his veins responded warmly. The respect of these men was a harder thing to win than the other. he thought of how he had arrived in camp shaky from harvey duncombe's champagne with no purpose in life no standing among men who were doing men's work grimly also he thought of how miss pearson that first evening had called him a nice boy would she call him that now he wondered if she could see how these rough tired men looked up to him would reavers treat him as a thing to experiment with after this thus it was a considerably elated toppy though not a big-headed one who led his men out of the stockade to the quarry to the blow that revers had waiting for him there his first hint that something was wrong was when the foremost men whistling and tool laden made for the pit in the first gray light of day and paused with the first gray light of day and paused with exclamations and curses at its very mouth others crowded around them they looked within then with fallen jaws they turned and looked to the boss for an explanation for help toppy shouldered his way through the press and stepped inside then he saw what had halted his men and made their faces turn white to the last stick the shoring

Starting point is 03:53:21 timbers had been removed from the pit, and the roof, threatening and sharp-edged, hung ready to drop on the workmen below, as it had before Tappy had wrought a change. The daylight came creeping up the river, and a wind began to blow. So still was it there before the pit mouth that Tappy was conscious of these things as he stepped outside. The men were standing about with their wheelbarrows and tools in their hands. They looked to him. His was the mind and will to determine what they should do. They depended upon him. They trusted him. They would obey his word confidently. Toppy felt a cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. He wanted to take off his cap, to bear his head to the chill morning wind, to draw his hand across his eyes,

Starting point is 03:54:20 to do something to ease himself and gather his wits he did none of these things the instinct of leadership arose strong within him he could not show these men who looked up to him as their unquestioned leader that he had been dealt a blow that had taken the mastery from him for topy in that agonized second when he glanced up at the unsupported roof and knew what those loose rocks meant to any men working beneath realized that he could not drive his men in there to certain injury for many possibly death for some it wasn't in him he wasn't bred that way the unfeeling brute had been removed from his big body and spirit by generations of men and women who had played fair with inferiors and by a lifetime of training and education he understood plainly the significance of the thing reavers had done it no one else would have dared he had lifted toppy up to a tiny elevation above the other men in camp now he was knocking him down it was another way for revers to show his mastery the men who had begun to look up to toppy would now see how easily the snow-burner could show himself his superior miss pearson would hear of it he would appear in the light of a nice boy whom the snow-burner had played with these thoughts ran through toppy's mind as he stood outside the pit with his white-faced men looking up to him and groped for a way out of his dilemma within he was sickened with the sense of a catastrophe outside he remained calm and confident to the eye

Starting point is 03:56:17 he stepped farther out to where he could see the end of the dam where he had secured the props for the roof it was as he had expected the big pile of timbers that had lain there was gone to the last stick he turned slowly back and then in the gray light of coming day he looked into the playfully smiling face of reavers who had emerged it seemed from nowhere looking for your humanitarian props treplin laughed the snow-burner oh they're gone they're valuable they served a purpose which nothing else would fill quite so conveniently i used them for a corduroy road in the swamp between men and timbers treplin always save your timbers his manner changed like a flash to one hurried and businesslike what are you waiting for he snarled why don't you get em in there mean to say you're wasting company money because one of these cattle might get a broken back they looked each other full in the eyes but toppy knew that for the time being reavers had the whip hand i mean to say just that he said evenly i'm not sending any men in there until i get that roof propped up again bah reavers disgust was genuine i thought you were a man i find you're a suit of clothes full of emotions like all the rest he seemed to drive away his anger by sheer will force and bring the cold sneering smile back to his lips so we're up against a situation that's too strong for us are we mr humanitarian he laughed

Starting point is 03:58:15 in spite of our developed intelligence we lay down cold in the face of a little proposition like this good-bye to our dreams of learning how to handle men it isn't in us to do it we're a weak sister his bantering mood fled with the swiftness of all his changes toppy and his aspirations as a leader that was another incident of the day's work that was over and done with go back to the shop to scotty treplin he said quietly you're not responsible for your limitations scotty says you make a pretty fair helper be consoled he's waiting for you he turned instantly toward the men toppy with the hot blood rushing in his throat but helpless as he was swung away from the pit without a word as he did so he saw that the hawk-faced shotgun guard had appeared and taken his position on the little rise where his gun bore slantwise on the huddled men before the pit and he hurried to get out of sight of the scene his tongue was dry and his temples throbbing with rage but the cool section of his mind urged him away from the pit in silence between clenched teeth he cursed his injured ankle it was the ankle that made him accept without return the shame which revers had put upon him the canny sense within him continued to whisper that until the ankle was sound he must bide his time time. Revers and he were too nearly a pair to give him the slightest chance for success,

Starting point is 04:00:10 if he assayed defiance at even the slightest disadvantage. Choking back as well as he could the anger that welled up within him, he made his way swiftly to the blacksmith shop. Campbell, bending over the anvil, greeted Toppy cheerily as he heard the heavy tread behind him. promised he'd send you here and losh mon he gasped as he turned around and saw topy's face what's come over ya you look like you're ripe for murder there'll probably be murder done in this camp before the day's over but i won't do it replied toppy as he threw off his mackinaw preparatory to starting work he snapped out the story of the situation at the quarry campbell leaning on his hammer grew grim of lips and eyes as he listened ay i thought at the time it were better for you had you lost at poker last night he said slowly he's taking revenge but they will put out his light for him human flesh and blood won't stand it the snow-burner goes too far he'll hark good heavens hear that for a moment they stood near the open doorway of the shop staring at one another in horrified mute questioning the crisp stillness of the morning rang and echoed with the sharp roar of a shotgun

Starting point is 04:01:50 the sound came from the direction of the quarry across the street they heard the door of the office building open sharply the girl without hat or coat her light-house hair flying about her head, came running like a deer to the door of the shop. Mr. Campbell! Mr. Campbell! she called, tremblingly, peering inside. Then she saw Toppy. Oh, she gasped. She started back a little. There were surprise and relief in her exclamation, in her eyes, in her movement. I was afraid, I thought maybe, she drew away from the door in confusion i only wanted to know-to know what the noise was but toppy had stepped outside the shop and followed closely after her what did you think it was miss pearson he asked what were you afraid of when you heard that shot that something had happened between reavers and myself i-i meant to warn you she said greatly flustered tilly told me all about a lot of things last night she told me that she had told reavers all she heard you say to me that first night here

Starting point is 04:03:15 and that he mr revers she said was your enemy and that he would would surely hurt you yes i didn't want to see you get hurt because you as I felt it was because of me that you came here. I... I don't want anyone hurt because of me. That's all, he asked. She looked surprised. Why, yes! Toppy nodded curtly. Then Tilly told you that Mr. Revers had a habit of hurting people?

Starting point is 04:03:53 At this, the red in her cheeks, rose to a flush. Her blue eyes looked at him. waveringly, then dropped to the ground. It isn't true. It can't be true, she stammered. Did Tilly tell you about herself? he persisted mercilessly. The next instant he wished the words unsaid, for she shrank as if he had struck her. She looked very small just then. Her proud, self-reliant bearing was gone. She was very much all alone."

Starting point is 04:04:30 Yes. The word was scarcely more than a whisper, and she did not look up. But it cannot be so. I know it cannot. Tappy was no student of feminine psychology, but he saw plainly that just then she was a woman who did not wish to believe, therefore would not believe, anything ill of the man who had fascinated her. He saw that Revers had fascinated her, that in spite of herself she was drawn toward him,

Starting point is 04:05:07 dominated by him. Her mind told her what she had heard of the man was true, but her heart refused to let her believe. Tappy saw that she was very unhappy and troubled, and unselfishly he forgot himself and his enmity toward Revers in a desire to help her. "'Miss Pearson, Miss Pearson,' he cried eagerly. "'Is there anything I can do for you? Anything in the world?' "'Yes,' she said slowly. "'Tell me that it isn't so, what Mr. Campbell and Tilly have said about Mr. Revers.

Starting point is 04:05:50 "'I—' he was about to say that he could do nothing of the sort, but something made him halt. Has Revers ever broken his word to you about leaving you alone? No, no! He's left me alone. He's scarcely spoken to me half a dozen times. Toppy looked down at her for several seconds. But you've begun to care for Revers, haven't you? he said. The girl looked up at him uncertainly.

Starting point is 04:06:26 i don't know oh i don't know i don't seem to have any will of my own toward him i seem to see him as a different man i know i shouldn't but i can't help it i can help it he he looks at me and i feel as if-as if her voice died down to a horrified whisper i were nothing and his wishes were the only things in the world "'Toppy bowed his head. "'Then I guess there's nothing for me to say.' "'Don't!' she cried, stretching out her hand to restrain him as he turned away. "'Don't leave me, like that. "'You're so rude to me lately. "'I feel so terribly alone when you aren't nice to me.'

Starting point is 04:07:22 "'What difference can I make?' he said bitterly. I'm not Revers. She looked up at him again. Oh, she cried suddenly. Won't you help me, Mr. Treplin? Can't you help me? Help you, gasped Toppy. May I? Can I? What can I do?

Starting point is 04:07:48 He leaned toward her eagerly. What can I do? he repeated. oh i don't know she murmured in anguish but if you if you leave me oh what was that from the direction of the quarry had come a great scream of terror as if many men suddenly had cried out in fear of their lives then almost ere the echoes had died away came another sound of more sinister significance to toppy there was a sudden low rumble the earth under their feet trembled then the noise of a crash and a thud then it was still again a chill seemed to pass over the entire camp men began running toward the quarry with swift steps their faces showing that they dreaded what they expected to see toppy and campbell looked silently at one another go into the office he said quietly to the girl come on scotty that roofs caved in and without another word they ran swiftly toward the quarry as they reached the river bank they heard reever's voice quietly issuing orders you guards pick those two fellows up and carry them to their bunks you scum that's left pick up and dig into that's left pick up your tools and dig into that

Starting point is 04:09:22 fallen rock. Hustle now. Get right back to work. The first thing the Toppy saw as he turned the shoulder of the ledge was that two of the older Slavs were lying groaning on the ground to one side of where the pit mouth had been. Then he saw what was left of the pit. The entire side of the ledge had caved down, and where the pit had been was only a jumbled pile of jagged rock. Rievers stood in his old position before the pile. The hawk-nosed shotgun guard stood up on the little rise, his weapon ready. The remaining workmen were huddled together before the pile of fallen stone. The terror in their faces was unspeakable.

Starting point is 04:10:13 They were like lost driven cattle facing the butcher's hammer. "'Grab those tools there! Get at it! get at it the rocks right in front of you now get busy reavers voice in no way admitted that anything startling had occurred he glared at the cowering men and in terror they began hastily to resume their interrupted work filling their wheelbarrows from the pile of stone before them reavers turned toward toppy who had bent over the injured men hello dr treplin he laughed lightly a couple of jobs there for you to experiment on get em out of here to their bunks they're in the way patch him up if you can if you can't they're not much loss anyhow they're rather older than i like them the last words came carelessly over his shoulder as he turned back toward the men who were toiling at the rock a string of curses rolled coldly from his lips they leaped to obey him he smiled contemptuously toppy was relieved to see that the two men in the ground were apparently not fatally hurt with the aid of campbell and two guards who had run up he hurried to have the men placed in their bunks in the stockade one of the guards produced a surgeon's kit toppy rolled up his sleeves it wasn't as bad as he had feared it would be apparently only two injured where he had looked for some surely to be killed

Starting point is 04:11:59 one of the men was growing faint from loss of blood from a wound in his right leg toppy turning his attention to him first swiftly slid open the trousers leg and bared the injured limb what what the devil he cried aghast the calf of the man's leg was half torn away and from knee to ankle the flesh was sprinkled with buckshot holes they shot you he asked as he fashioned a tourniquet yes boss snowburner say get to ell in there rocks fall we know go in snow burner hold up hand man with gun shoot i fall other men go in pretty soon rocks fall other men come out he should he should he should me." I know do anything. He shoot me." Toppy choked back the curse that rose to his lips, dressed the man's wound to the best

Starting point is 04:13:10 of his slight ability, and turned to the other, who had been caught in the cave-in of the quarry roof. His right leg and arm were broken, and the side was crushed in a way that suggested broken ribs. Toppy filled a hypodermic syringe and went to work to make the two as comfortable as he knew how. That was all he could pretend to do. Yet when he left the stockade, it was with a feeling of relief that he looked back over the morning. The worst had happened. The danger to the men was over. And so far as Toppy knew, the consequences were represented in the two men whom he had treated and who, so far as he could see, were sure to live.

Starting point is 04:13:59 It hadn't turned out as badly as he was afraid it would. As he passed the carpenter's shop, he saw the wood butcher, sawing two boards to make a cover for a long, narrow box. Toppy looked at him idly, trying to think of what such a box could be used for around the camp. It was too narrow for its length to be of ordinary use. as a box. What are you making there? asked Toppy carelessly. The wood butcher looked up from his sawing.

Starting point is 04:14:35 Didn't you ever see a logging camp coffin? he asked. We always keep a few ready. This one is for that bohunk that's down there under the rocks. Under the rocks, cried Toppy. You don't mean to say there was anybody under that cave in. Is yet, was the laconic reply. One of them was caught way inside. Whole roof on top of him. Won't find him till the pits emptied.

Starting point is 04:15:09 Tappy struggled a moment to speak quietly. Which one was it, do you know? he asked. Oh, it was that old brown-complected fellow, said the carpenter. That old brown, bohunk guy with the big rings in his ears reavers came to the shop at his customary time in the evening nothing in his manner containing a hint that anything unusual had happened during the day he found a solemn and silent pair for campbell had sought relief from the day's tragedy in his customary manner and sat in the light of the student lamp steadily reading his bible while toppy in a darky in a darky in a darky corner sat with his great shoulders hunched forward his folded hands before him and stared at the floor revers paused in the doorway his cold smile broadening as he surveyed the pair poker to-night doctor he said softly and the slur in his tones was like blasphemy toward all that men hold sacred no by hell no

Starting point is 04:16:24 No, growled Toppy. Laughing lightly, Revers closed the door and came across the room. What? Aren't you going to give me my revenge, Doctor? The manner in which he accented Doctor was worse than an open insult. Old Campbell peered over his thick glasses. The sort of judgment is sharpening for you, Mr. Revers, he said Solomon. You have this day sealed your own doom. A life for a life, and you have taken a life today unnecessarily. It is the holy law you will pay. It is so written. Yes, yes, yes, laughed Reavers in great amusement. But you've said that so many times before in just that same way, Scotty.

Starting point is 04:17:22 Can't you evolve a new idea, or at least sing it in a different key? The old Scott looked at him without wavering or changing his expression. You are the smartest man I have ever known, Mr. Revers, and the damnedest fool, he said in the same tone. Do you fancy yourself more than mortal? Lush, man, a knife in the bowels, or a bullet? or axe in the head will as readily make you a bit of poor clay as you've this day made young poor old bohunk. Revers listened courteously to the end, waiting even a moment to be sure that Campbell had had his say.

Starting point is 04:18:10 "'And you, doctor?' he said, turning to Toppy. "'What melancholy thoughts have you to utter?' Toppy said nothing. Oh, come, Treplin, said Revers lightly. Surely you're not letting a little thing like that quarry incident give you a bad evening. Where's your philosophy, man? Consider the thing intelligently instead of sentimentally. There was so much rock to go into that dam in a day,

Starting point is 04:18:43 and, incidentally, today finished the job. That was a useful, necessary work. for that old man to continue in this life was not useful or necessary he was far down in the order of human development centuries below you and me do you think it made the slightest difference whether he returned to the old cosmic mud whence he came and from which he had not come far in to-day's little cave-in or in a dirty bed say ten years from now he accomplished a tiny speck of useful work through my direction he has gone as the wood will soon be gone that is heating that stove there was no spirit there only a body that has ceased to stand upright and you grow moody over it well well i'm more and more disappointed in you doctor toppy said nothing he was biding his time end of chapter fifteen recording by roger maline chapter sixteen of the snow-burner by henry oyen this libervox recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter sixteen the screws tighten that night came the heavy snow for which the loggers had been waiting

Starting point is 04:20:31 and a rush of activity followed in Hell Camp. The logs which had lain in the woods for want of slaying now were accessible. Following the snow came hard freezing nights, and the main ice roads, which Revers had driven into the timber for miles, became solid beds of ice, over which a team could haul log loads to the extent of a carload weight. It was ideal logging weather, and the big can, camp began to hum the mastery of reavers once more showed itself in the way in which he drove his great crew at top speed and beyond the feeling against him on the part of the men had risen to silent tight-lipped heat as the news went around of how the old magir with the earrings had met his death each man in camp knew that he might have been in the old man's shoes each knew that reevers

Starting point is 04:21:31 anger might fall on him next. In the total of a hundred and fifty men in camp, there was probably not one who did not curse Revers and rage against his rule, and there were a few who, if the opportunity had offered, would not cheerfully have taken his life. The feeling against him had unified itself. Before the men had been split into various groups on the subject of the boss, They remained divided now, but on one thing they were unanimous. The snow burner had gone too far to bear. Men sat on the bunk edges in the stockade and cursed as they thought of the boss and the shotgun guards that rendered them helpless.

Starting point is 04:22:21 Revers permitted no firearms of any kind in camp, save those that were carried by his gunmen. The gunmen, when not on guard, kept to the gunmen. their quarters, in the building just outside of the stockade gate, where Revers also lived. When armed, they were ordered to permit no man to approach nearer than ten feet to them, this to prevent a possible rushing and wrestling the weapon from their hands. So long as the guards were there in possession of their shotguns, the men knew that they were helpless. Driven to desperation now, they prayed for the chance to get those guns into their own

Starting point is 04:23:04 hands. After that, they promised themselves that the score of brutality would be made even. Then came the time for rush work, and under the lash of Reaver's will, the outraged men, carried off their feet, were driven with the ferocity that told how completely Revers ignored the spirit of revolt, which he knew was fomenting against him. He quit playing with them, as he expressed it. He began to drive. Long before daylight began to gray the sky above the eastern timber line, the men were out at their posts, waiting for sufficient light to begin the day's work.

Starting point is 04:23:50 Once the work began, it went ahead with a fury that seemed to carry all men with it. reavers was everywhere that a man dared to pause for a moment to shirk his job he used his hands now for a broken leg or rib laid a man up and he had use for the present for every man he could muster he scarcely looked at the men he hit breaking their faces with a sudden treacherous blow cursing them coldly until despite their injuries they leaped at their work then whirling away to fall upon some other luckless one elsewhere he was a fury a merciless elemental force with no consideration for the strength and endurance of men sparing no one any more than he spared himself and rushing his whole force along at top speed by sheer power of the spirit of leadership that possessed him men ceased for the time being to growl and pray that the snow-burner would get his just due they had no thought nor energies for anything but keeping pace in the whirlwind rush of work through which the snow-burner drove them in the blacksmith shop the same condition prevailed as elsewhere in the camp the extra hurry of the work in the timber meant extra accidents which meant breakages there were chain links to be forged and fitted to broken chains sharp two-inch cocks to be driven into the horse's shoes peevies and cant hooks to be repaired besides the regular blacksmith work of the camp which was quite sufficient to keep campbell and one helper comfortably employed there was now added each day a bulk of extra work due to the strain under which men horses and tools were working

Starting point is 04:25:51 old campbell grimly resolute that reavers should have no excuse to fall foul of him drove himself and his helper at a speed second only to that which he had so roughly greeted toppy to the rough world of bodily labor but the toppy who now hammered and toiled at campbell's side was a different man from the champagne-softened youth who had come into camp a little while before the puffiness was gone from under his eyes the looseness from his lips and the fat from around the middle through his veins the blood now surged with no taint of cumbering poison his tissues tingled with life and healthiness day by day he did his share and more in the shop work and instead of the old feeling of fatigue which before had followed any prolonged exertion felt his muscle spring with hardness and new life at each demand made upon them. The old joy of a strong man in his strength came back in him. Strip to the waist, he stretched himself and filled his great lungs with deep draughts. His arms like beams stretched out and above his head.

Starting point is 04:27:12 under the clean skin rosy and moist from exertion the muscles bunched and relaxed tottened instantly to iron hardness or rippled softly as they were called upon in the perfect coordination which results in great athletes old campbell similarly stripped stared at the marvel of a giant's perfect torso beside which his own work-wrought body was ugly in its unequois unequal development losh man but you're full grown he growled in admiration i've seen but one man who could strip anywhere near to you who was he asked toppy the snow-burner day by day toppy hammered and labored at campbell's side holding his end up against the grim old smith and day by day he felt his muscles growing toward that iron condition in which there is no tiring presently to scotty's vexation he was doing more than his share ending the day with a laugh and waking up in the morning as fresh as if he had not taxed his energies the day before he was doing more than his share ending the day before he had not taxed his energy's the day At first he continued to favor his injured ankle, lest a sudden strain delay its recovery. Each night he massaged and bandaged it scientifically. Later on, when he felt that it was stronger, he began to exercise it, slowly raising and lowering

Starting point is 04:28:52 himself on the balls of his feet. In a couple of weeks, the old spring and strength had largely come back, and can campbell snorted in disgust at the antics indulged in by his helper when the day's work was done skipping a rope one two hundred times what brand of silliness do you call that he grumbled have you nothin useful to do with them long legs a yearn that you have to make a jumping jack out of yourself at which topy smiled grimly and continued his training the rush of work had its compensations reavers driving his force like mad had no time to waste either in bantering toppy and campbell in the evening or in paying attention to miss pearson all the power that was in the snow-burner was concentrated upon the problem of getting out every stick of timber possible while the favorable weather continued he spent most of his time in the timber up river where the heaviest logging was going on by day he raged in the thick of the men with only one thought or aim to get out the logs as fast as human and horse-power could do it at night the road crews repairing with pick and shovel and sprinkling tanks the wear and tear of the day's hauling worked under reevers compelling eyes

Starting point is 04:30:29 all night long the sprinkling tanks went up and down the ice-coated roads and the drivers freezing on the seats were afraid to stop or nod not knowing when the snow-burner might step out from the shadows and catch them in the act The number of accidents, always too plentiful in logging camps, multiplied, but Revers permitted nothing short of broken bones to send a man to his bunk. Tappy, besides his work in the shop, cared as best he could for the disabled. Revers had no time to waste that way now. The two men hurt at the quarry were recovering rapidly. One day a tall, lean, white man, a Yankee toploder, came hobbling out of the woods with his foot dangling at the ankle

Starting point is 04:31:25 and mumbling curses through a smashed jaw. How did you get this? asked Toppy as he dressed the cruelly crushed foot. Pinched between two logs, mumbled the man. They let one come down the skids when I wasn't looking. no fault o mine i didn't have time to jump and then when i'm standing there leaning against a tree that devil reavers comes up and hands me this he pointed to his cracked jaw he'll teach me to get myself hurt he says damn that ain't no man he's a devil by god i know what i'd rather have than the wages comin to me and that's a rifle with one good cartridge in it, and that devil standin' afore me. Yet that evening, when Revers came to the top-loader's bunk

Starting point is 04:32:24 and demanded how long he expected to lie there eating his head off, the man cringed and whimpered that he would be back on the job as soon as his foot was fit to stand on. In Reaver's presence, the men were afraid to call their thoughts their own, but behind his back the mumblings and grumblings, of hatred were growing to a volume which inevitably soon must break out in the hell-yelp of a mob ripe for murder revers knew it better than any man in camp to indicate how it affected him he turned the screws on tighter than ever once at least they had him dead as they admitted when he stood ankle-deep in the river with the saw logs thundering over the rollways to the brink of the bluff above his head.

Starting point is 04:33:18 One cunning twist of a peavy would have sent a dozen logs tumbling over the brink on his head. Revers sensed his danger and looked up. He smiled. Then he turned and deliberately stood with his back to the men. And no man dared to give his peavy that one cunning twist. During these strenuous days, Tappy tried in vain to muster up sufficient courage to reopen the conversation with Miss Pearson,

Starting point is 04:33:51 which had been so suddenly interrupted by the cave-in at the quarry. He saw her every day. She had changed greatly from the high-spirited, self-reliant girl who had stood on the steps of the hotel back at Railhead and told the whole world by her manner that she was accustomed and able to take care of herself. a stronger will than hers had entered her scheme of life although she knew now that reavers had tricked her into coming to hell camp because he was confident of winning her the knowledge made no difference the will of the man dominated and fascinated her she feared him yet she was drawn toward him despite her struggles she fought hard against the inclination to yield to the stronger will to let her feelings make her his willing slave as she knew he wished the pain of the struggle shone in her eyes her cheeks lost their bloom there were lines about the little mouth

Starting point is 04:34:59 toppy saw it but an unwonted shyness had come upon him he could no longer speak to her with the frank friendliness of their previous conversations something which he could not place had not place had come upon him-he could not place had, he felt, set them apart. Perhaps it was the fact that he saw the fascination which Revers had for her. Revers was his enemy. They had been enemies from the moment when they first had measured each other eye to eye. He felt that he had one aim in life now, and one only. That was to prove to himself and to Revers, that Revers was not his master. Beyond that, he had no plans. He knew that this meant a grapple which must end with one of them broken and helpless. The unfortunate one might be himself.

Starting point is 04:35:57 In that case, there would be no need to think of the future, and it would be just as well not to have spoken any more with the girl. It might be Revers. then he would be guilty in her eyes of having injured the man for whom the girl now obviously had feelings which toppy could construe in but one way she cared for reevers in spite of herself and she would not be inclined to friendliness toward the man who had conquered him if conquered he should be the more top he thought it over the less enviable to his notion became his standing with the girl he ended by resolutely determining to put her out of his thoughts after all he was no girl's man he had no business trying to be for the present he saw one task laid out before him as inevitable as a revealed fate to prove himself with reavers to get to grips with the cold-blooded master man who had made him feel with every man in camp that the place veritably was a hell camp

Starting point is 04:37:14 reaver's brutal dominance lay like a tangible weight upon toppy's spirit he longed for only one thing for the opportunity to stand up eye to eye with him and learn who was the better man beyond that he did not see nor care he had given up any thought that the girl might ever care for him end of chapter sixteen recording by roger maline chapter seventeen of the snow-burner by henry oyen this librivox recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter seventeen tilly's warning november passed and the first half of december the shortest days of the year were approaching and still the cold crisp weather ideal for logging continued without a break hell camp continued to hum with its abnormal activity a thaw which would spoil the slaying and ice roads for the time being was long overdue with the coming of the thaw would come a temporary lull in the work of the camp. The men prayed for the thaw. Revers asked that the cold weather continue. It had continued now longer than he had expected or hoped, and the output of the camp already was double that of what would have been successful logging at that season. But Revers was not satisfied. The record that he was setting served only to spur

Starting point is 04:39:08 his ambition to desperation. The longer the cold spell hung on, the harder he drove. Each day, as he looked at the low gray sky and saw that there were no signs of a breakup, he turned to and set the pace a little faster than the day before. The madness of achievement, the passion to use his powers to accomplish the impossible, the characteristics which had won him the name of Snigms, no burner, were in possession. He was doing the impossible. He was accomplishing what no other man could do, what all men said was impossible, and the feat only created a hunger to do more. The men were past grumbling now, too tired of body and too crushed of mind to give expression to

Starting point is 04:40:01 their feelings. So long as the rush of work continued, they were as harmless as harnessed and driven cattle, incapable of anything more than keeping step in the mad march that the snow-burner was leading. But all men knew that with the coming of a thaw and the cessation of work would come an explosion of the murderous hatred which Reaver's tactics had driven into the hearts of the men. Now and then a man, driven to a state of desperation which excluded the possibility of fear, stopped and rebelled. One day a young swamper,

Starting point is 04:40:41 a gangling lad of twenty, raging and weeping, threw himself upon Revers like a cat upon a bear. Revers, with a laugh, thrust him off and kicked him out of the way. Another time a huge slav sprang at him with his razor-edged axe upraised

Starting point is 04:41:01 and, quailing before Reaver's calm look, hurled the axe away with a scream and ran blindly away into the trackless woods. Three days later, starving and with frozen hands and feet, he came stumbling up to the stockade and fell in a lump. Feed him up, ordered Revers, smiling. I've got a little use for him when he's fixed up so he can feel. You see, Treplin? He continued to Toppy.

Starting point is 04:41:34 who had been called to bring the man back to life. I'm not all cruelty. When I want to save a man to amuse myself with, I'm almost as much of a humanitarian as you are. He hurried on his way, but before he was out of hearing, he flung back, You remember how carefully I had Tilly nurse you, don't you, doctor? It was only the guards that Revers did not make enemies of.

Starting point is 04:42:04 he knew that he had need of their loyalty at night the white men sat on the edges of their bunks and tried to concoct feasible schemes for securing possession of the shotguns of the guards on the morning of the shortest day of the year toppy heard a scratching sound at the window near his bunk and sprang up it was still pitch dark long before any one should be stirring around camp save the cook and cookies who's there demanded toppy me want talk em with you came the low response from without you know come out no make noise hear through window you can hear em when i talk huh tilly gasped toppy what's up you hear em when i talk asked the squaw again yes yes i can hear you what is it you like em little miss pearson huh said tilly bluntly what toppy's heart was pounding with sudden excitement what what's up tilly there hasn't anything happened to Miss Pearson, has there? Ah, you like them, Miss Pearson? Tell them tilly straight, or tilly go away, and no talk him more with you. You like her, huh? Yes, said Toppy, breathlessly, after a long pause. Yes, I like her. What is it? You no like see him, Miss Pearson get hurt?

Starting point is 04:43:53 No, no, of course not. Who's going to hurt her? Snow burner, said Tilly. Tilly tell you this before she go away. Tilly going way now. Tilly going way far off to father's teepee. Snow burner tell him me go. Snow burner tell him me go last night.

Starting point is 04:44:19 Snow burner say he no want Tilly stay in camp longer. Tilly know why Snowboarder. burner no want her stay in camp snow burner through with tilly snow burner now want a miss Pearson so tilly hold on she had already turned away but she halted at his voice and came close to the window what is this are you going away at once because the snow burner says so? The squaw nodded, stoically submissive. Snow burner say go, till he go, she said.

Starting point is 04:45:03 Snow burner say go before anyone see em me this morning. I go now, must go. Snow burner say so. And Miss Pearson? whispered Toppy frantically. Did he say anything about her? Tillie nodded heavily. Tell him me long ago.

Starting point is 04:45:26 Tell him me before Miss Pearson come. Tell him me he going merry, Miss Pearson, for him Christmas present. Christmas day come soon now. Snowburner no want Tilly here then. Send Tilly away. The breath seemed to leave Tappy's body for an instant. He swayed and caught at the winter.

Starting point is 04:45:50 window frame. "'Marry her! Christmas Day?' he whispered, horrified. "'Yes. He no tell him, Miss Pearson yet. He tell me, no tell him her, no tell him anybody. I tell you. Now go!' Before Toppy had sufficiently recovered his wits to speak again, he heard the crunch of her moccasins on the snow dying away in the darkness, as the the cast-off squaw stolidly started on her journey into the woods. Tilly, called Tappy desperately, but there was no answer.

Starting point is 04:46:32 What's matter? Mirmared Campbell, disturbed in his deep slumber and falling to sleep again before he received a reply. Tappy stood for a long time with his face held close to the window, through which he had heard Tilly's startling news. The shock had numbed him. Although he had been prepared to expect anything of Revers, he now realized that this was something more than he had thought possible, even from him. The snow-burner, marry Miss Pearson,

Starting point is 04:47:06 for a Christmas present. Christmas day! He seemed to hear Tilly repeating the words over and over again, and Revers had not even so much as told Miss Pearson of what he intended to do. He had not even told her that he intended to marry her. So Tilly said, and Tilly knew. What did Revers intend to do then? How did he know he was going to marry her? How did he know she would have him? Toppy shivered a little, as his wits began to work more clearly, and the full significance of the situation began to grow clear to him. He understood

Starting point is 04:47:48 now. Revers had good reason for making his plan so confidently. He had studied the girl until he had seen that his will had dominated hers, that though she might not love him, might even fear him, she had not the willpower against him to say nay to his wishes. He knew that she was helplessly fascinated, that she was his for the taking. He had been too busy to take her until now the serious duties of his position had allowed no time for dalliance so the girl had been safe and unmolested until now and now revers was secretly preparing to make her his own a sudden thought struck toppy and he tiptoed to the door and looked out instead of the crisp coldness of recent mornings there was a warm muggyness in the air and toppy and topy bending down, placed his hand on the snow, and felt that it had begun to soften. The thaw had come.

Starting point is 04:48:58 I thought so, he said to himself. The work will break up now, and he's going to amuse himself. Well, he made a mistake when he told Tilly. She's been civilized just enough to make her capable of jealousy. He went back to his bunk and dung. dressed. What are you stirring around so early for? Grumbled Campbell.

Starting point is 04:49:26 Didn't you get work enough during the day to be getting up in the dark? The thaws come, said Toppy, throwing on his cap. There'll be something doing besides work now. He went out into the dark morning, crossed the road, and softly tried the door to the office. He felt much better when he was. had assured himself that the door was securely locked on the inside then he returned to the shop and waited for the daylight to appear end of chapter seventeen recording by roger maline chapter eighteen of the snow-burner by henry oyen this libravox recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter eighteen canny by nat

Starting point is 04:50:27 old Campbell arose at his usual time surprised and pleased to find that toppy had breakfast already cooked and on the table being a canny scot he did not express his surprise or pleasure but proceeded to look about for signs to indicate the reason of toppy's unwanted conduct all that he could make out was that toppy's eyes were bright with some sort of excitement and that the grim set of his mouth had given way to an expression of relief. So the Scot sat down to eat, shaking his gray head in puzzled fashion. I didn't see that this thaw should be any reason for your parading around before the night's done, he grumbled. Were you so tired of a little useful work that you mon Grida let down with such early rising? Tappy sat down and proceeded to breakfast without venturing a reply. when they had finished the meal he pushed back his chair and looked across at campbell huge and careless he sprawled in his chair the tension and uncertainty gone now that he had made his resolution and campbell studying his face sensed that something was up and leaned forward eagerly

Starting point is 04:51:51 i want to lay off to-day scotty said toppy deliberately i've got a little business that-i business that's the little business that's the little business that you're not going to lay off to-day scotty said toppy deliberately i've got a little business that i want to settle with reevers old campbell did not start nor in any way indicate surprise i he said quietly after a pause i have seen from the first it would have to be that in the end you mon settle which is best man but why to-day because now that the thaw has spoiled the slaying reivers will have time for deviltry and topy went on and told all that he had heard from tilly's lips that morning campbell shook his head angrily as he heard many things has the snow-burner done ill he said and his sins against men and women cry for punishment but that to yon little lass gin he did that that would be worst of all what are your plans lad nothing said toppy i will go and find him and we'll have it out not so said campbell swiftly gyrton you did that would cost you your life did you chance to win over him do you think those devils with the guns would not murder to win favor of the snow-burner him holding the lives and liberties of all of them in his hands as he does nay lad fight ye must you're both too big and spirited to meet without coming to grips but you have i the need of an old head on your side if you're to stand up with reevers on even terms

Starting point is 04:53:36 what think you he would fancy did you go to him with a confident bold challenge as you suggest that you had a trick up your sleeve with the men in on it perhaps and he'd have the guards there with their guns to see he won as sure as we're sitting here talkin no i has seen for weeks twas comin on and i've been using this old head o mine i may even say i've been doing more than thinking i've been talking i've told revers that you are becoming unbearable in this shop and that i could not stand you much longer as my helper toppy looked across the table amazed and pained why what's wrong scotty he stammered tush lad snapped the old man didn't think i meant it i only told revers so for the effect toppy was bewildered i don't see what you're driving at scotty listen then i had told revers that you're gettin a swell head so bad there was no work in you. I had told him you were at heart, nothing but a fresh young whiffitt who needed taming, and given he made me keep you here, I myself would do the taming with an axe handle. Do you begin to get my drift now, lad?' "'I confess I don't,' admitted Tappy.

Starting point is 04:55:07 "'Well, then, Reivers said, that's how I sized him up too. But don't you do the taming, Campbell, says he, I am saving him for myself, he says. But I will not put up with his lip longer, said I. Man, Revers, I says, he thinks he's a fighter, and the other day I slammed him on his back myself, and given I had my old wind, I says, I would have whipped him then and there. Oh, carried on strong, losing my temper and all. Five year ago I would have broken his back, the big young fool, I says. And he swigers around me and thinks he's a boss man because he looked that bloat sheedy.

Starting point is 04:55:55 Ah, I says, I'll stand it till he gives me lip again, then I'll lay him out with whatever I have in my hands, says I. Don't do it, says Revers, smiling to see me so worked up, and surmising, as I intended he should, that I was angry only because I discovered that you were a better man than myself. Save him for me, says he. As soon as I have more time, I will tend to him. In the meantime, he says, let him go on, thinking he is a good man. Lad, he swallowed it all, for its four years since he knew me first, and that was the first lie I'd told him at all. I'll take him under my eyes, as soon as I have more time, says he. He'll not swagger after I've tamed him a little. But I just don't see—Dolt! Didn't you see that no he considers you as an overconfident young

Starting point is 04:56:56 fool whom he's going to take the conceit out of? Didn't you see that now you're in the same category as the other men he's broken down? He'll not think it worthwhile to have his shotgun men handy now when he starts in to do his breaking he'll start it he understand not you t'l be proper so i will go this morning and tell him that the end has come that i cannot stand you longer around me he'll give you something to do under him under him do you see then you must even watch your chance and-and happen i'll manage to be around in case the guard should show up. Better keep out of it altogether, said Toppy. They won't use their guns in an even fight, and you couldn't do anything with your bare hands if they did.

Starting point is 04:57:53 With my bare hands, no, said Campbell, going to his bunk. But I am not so bare-handed as you think, lad. He dug under the blankets and held up a huge black revolver. can he by nature he said thrusting the grim weapon under his trousers band i made no idle threat when i told reavers i would shoot his head off did he ever try to make a broken man out of me i have had this utensil handy ever since scotty cried toppy deeply moved at the old man's staunch friendship when did you begin to plan this scheme campbell looked squarely into his eyes the same day that i talked with yon lassie and learned how reivers had fascinated her why didn't you know nothin about women lad i-what do you mean do you fancy revers could carry his will so strong with folks given you happen to make a beaten man out of him and do you not think you not think yon lass would come back to her right mind given the snow-burner loses his power over her you're not so blind as not to see she's no liking for him but the devil has in a way mesmerized her then you mean

Starting point is 04:59:25 that when you and the snow-burner put up your mitts you'll be fighting for more than just to see whose best man now think that over lad while i go and complain to reavers that I cannot stand you an hour longer, and arrange for him to give you your taming. End of Chapter 18. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 19 of the Snow Burner by Henry Oyen. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 19.

Starting point is 05:00:11 The Fight It was past sunrise now. Ruggedness in the air had fled before the unclouded sun, and the day was pleasantly bright and warm. The sunlight coming in through the eastern window flooded the room. Outside could be heard the steady drip-drip from the melting icicles, and the chirp of the chickadees, industriously seeking a breakfast around the door, made the morning cheery. Toppy sat heaved forward in his chair after Campbell had gone on his errand, and looked out of the open door and waited.

Starting point is 05:00:50 From where he sat he could see the office across the way. Presently he saw Miss Pearson come out, stand for a moment in the doorway, peering around in puzzled fashion, and go in again. Toppy did not move. He knew what that signified, that the girl was puzzled and perhaps frightened over the absence of the squaw, Tilly.

Starting point is 05:01:14 but he had no impulse to cross the street and break the news to her the girl tilly's absence such things were to him only incidentals now he saw the girl as if far away as if she were something that did not greatly concern him through his mind there ran recollections of other moments like this moments of waiting in the training quarters back at school for the word of the coach to trot out on the the field the same ease of spirit after the tension of weeks of hard training the same sinking of all worry and nervousness and the knowledge that now that the test was on he would do the best that was in him and that beyond this there was nothing for a man to think or worry about back there at school there had also been that sense of dissociation from all things not involved in the contest before him the roaring stands the pretty girls waving the bright-hued banners the sound of his name shouted far down the field he had heard them but they had not affected him for the time being then as now he had become a wonderful human machine completely concentrated as machines must be upon the accomplishment of one task then it had been to play a game now it was to fight but it was much the same after all it was all in the man-game a feeling of content was the only emotion that toppy was conscious of in the long minutes during which he waited for campbell to return the drip drip from the eaves and the chirp of the chickadees came as music to his ears

Starting point is 05:03:07 the snow burner and he were going to fight in that knowledge there was relief after the weeks of tension heavy crunching steps sounded on the snow outside and campbell's broad shoulders filled the doorway topy bent over and carefully tightened a shoe lace it's all set said campbell rapidly he says campbell rapidly he says send you to him at once you're in luck he's in the stockade get you up and go to him there is only one guard at the gate i'll follow and be handy in case he should interfere that was all toppy rose up and strode out without a word he made his way to the stockade gate with a carelessness of manner that belied his purpose he noted that the guard stood in the outside of the gate and that the snow all already was squashy underfoot. The gate opened and admitted him and closed behind him. Then he was walking across the yard toward Revers, who stood waiting before the camp kitchen at the far end of the yard. Here and there Toppy saw men in the bunk houses, perhaps 50 in all, and realized that the sudden thaw had at once enforced a period of idleness for some of the men.

Starting point is 05:04:35 He nodded lightly in response to the greeting from one of the men whom he had doctored. Then he was standing before Revers, and Revers was looking at him as he had looked at Roski the day when he broke the bohunk's leg. Toppy looked back, unmoved. For a moment the two stood silent, eye, measuring eye. Then Revers spoke savagely, enraged at finding a will that braved his own. What kind of a game are you trying to play, Treplin? Game, repeated Toppy innocently.

Starting point is 05:05:15 Come, come. Reaver's brows were drawing down over his eyes, and again Toppy, for some reason, was reminded of a bear. You don't suppose I'm as innocent as Campbell, do you? You've been raising hell in the shop, I hear. You're doing that with an object. You're trying some game. I don't care what it is. It doesn't go.

Starting point is 05:05:42 There doesn't anybody try any games in this place, except myself. How about poker games? Suggested Toppy quietly. A man hidden in the darkness of the bunkhouse behind Revers snickered audibly. For Campbell had told the story of how Toppy had bested the boss at poker, and the man understood Toppy's thrust. Reaver's eyes flashed, and his jaw shot out,

Starting point is 05:06:12 but in an instant he had his anger under control again. He smiled. Well, well, so we're playing the wit, are we, doctor? He sneered softly. We're trying to drive that trained mine of ours to be brilliant, are we? Well, I wouldn't, Treplin. the strain on inferior machinery may be fatal suddenly his whole face seemed to change convulsed in a spasm of brute threatening get over there in that corner and dig a slop-sink you hear me reaver's voice was a snarl as he pointed to the corner near the kitchen where a pick and shovel lay waiting

Starting point is 05:06:58 that's what you're gonna do my fine buck with your nerve to dare to come into my camp and think you're my equal dig slop holes for my dago cook that's what you're gonna do do you hear you're going to be the lowest scavenger in this gang of scum i'm going to break you i'm going to keep you here until i'm through with you i'm going to send you out of here so low down that a saloon scrub out would kick you you on general principles. That's what's going to happen to you. I'm going to play with you. I'm going to show you how well it pays to think of yourself as my equal in my own camp. Get over there now, right over there where the whole camp can see you and dig a hole for the dago to throw his slops. Few men could have faced the sight of the snow-burner's face, as the word shot from his iron-like lips, without retreating, but Toppy stood still. He began to smile. Pardon, Revers, he said softly. I never thought of myself as your equal.

Starting point is 05:08:12 Don't whine now. It's too late. Go! Because I know I'm a better man than you ever could be. It grew very still with great suddenness there in the corner of the big yard. the men within hearing held their breaths the drip drip from the eaves sounded loud in the silence and now toppy saw the wolfcraft creeping to its own far back in reevers eyes and without moving he stood tensed for sudden flash-like action so that's it said revers smiling and then he struck with serpent-tongued swiftness and with that blow toppy knew how desperate would be the battle for skilled boxer and on the alert as he was he had time only to snap his jaw to one side far enough to save himself from certain knockout while the iron-like fist tore the skin off his cheek as it shot past revers had not thrown his body behind the blow he stood upright and ready he was a little surprised that his man did not go down toppy recovering like a flash likewise was prepared a tiny instant they faced each other then with simultaneous growls they hurled themselves breast to breast and the fight was on tommy had yielded to the impulse to answer in kind the challenge that had flared in reever's eyes

Starting point is 05:09:52 it wasn't science it wasn't sense it was the blind primitive impulse to come into shock with a foe to stop him to force him back to make him break ground breast upon breast reavers and toppy came together and stopped short two bodies of equal force suddenly meeting neither gave ground neither made a pretence at guarding toe to toe they stood head to head and drove their fists against one another's iron-strong bodies with a rapidity and a force that only giants like themselves could have withstood for a moment it was madness it was murder and the group of men who were watching held their breaths and waited for one or the other to wilt and go down the life knocked out of him by those pile-driver blows then as suddenly as they had come together the pair leaped apart rushed together again gripped into a clinch struggled in tightened fashion with the futile heaving and tripping flew apart once more then volleyed each other with vicious punches a kaleidoscope of springing legs rushing bodies and stiffly driven arms it was a battle that drove the fear of reavers from the heart of the men who witnessed and dragged them forth to form a ring around the two fighters it was a battle to make men roar with frenzy but not a sound came from the ring that expanded and closed as the battle raged here and there the men were at first too shocked to cry out at the sight of any one daring to give the snow-burner fight

Starting point is 05:11:46 and after the shock had worn away they were too wary to give a sign that might bring the guards silently and tight-lipped the ring formed and each pair of eyes that watched shot nothing but hatred for reavers to tommy was the first to recover from the initial frenzied impulse to strive to annihilate in one rush his hated enemy he shook his head his head as he was wont to do after a hearty he shook his head as he was wont to do after a hearty hard scrimmage on the gridiron and his fighting wits were clear again so far he knew he had held his own but only held it perhaps he outbulked reaver slightly in body and was a trifle quicker on his feet but reaver's blows were enough heavier than his to even up this advantage he had driven his fist flush home on his foreman's neck under the ear and the neck had not yielded any more than a column of wood he had felt reever's fist drive home full on his cheek-bone and it seemed that he had been struck by a handful of iron when they had strained breast against breast in the first clash the fact that they were of equal strength had been apparent to both equally matched and both equally matched and both equally determined to win, Toppy knew that the fight would be long, and he began to circle scientifically, striking and guarding with all his cunning, saving himself while he watched for a slip or an opening that might offer an advantage. Suddenly the opening came, as Revers, for a second,

Starting point is 05:13:30 paused, deceived by Toppy's tactics. Like a bullet to the mark, Toppy's right, shot home on the exposed chin. But Revers fell to his knees as if shot, was up like a flash, staggering Toppy with the left on the mouth, and rushing him around and around in fury at the knockdown. An added grimness to Toppy's expression told how he appreciated the significance of this incident. He had put all his force, from toes to knuckles, into that blow, and rebecca. reavers had merely been staggered again toppy began circling deliberately saving himself for a drawn-out battle which now to him seemed uphill the ring of watchers around the pair grew more close more eager all of the men present in the bunk-houses had rushed out to see the fight as toppy circled he saw in the foremost ranks the tortoise boys and most of the most of the bunk-houses and most of the bunk-houses had rushed out to see the fight as toppy circled he saw in the foremost ranks the torta boys and most of the of the gang that had worked under him in the quarry. And by the looks in their eyes, he knew that

Starting point is 05:14:45 he was fighting in the presence of friends. In the next second their looks had turned to dismay, as Revers, swiftly fainting with his left, drove home the right against Toppy's jaw and knocked him to his haunches. But Toppy, rising slowly, caught Revers as he closed in to follow up his advantage and with a heavy swing to the eye stopped him in his tracks a low cry escaped the tight lips around the ring the blood was spurting from a clean cut in reevers brow and a few men called first blood then toppy spat out the blood he had held in after reavers blow the feel of the blood running down his face turned reavers to a fury he rushed with an impetuosity which nothing could withstand his fists playing a tattoo on topy's head and body like a tiger topy fought back but reever's rage for the moment had given him added strength he fought as a man who intends to end a fight in a hurry he rushed and struck with power to annihilate with one blow and rushed and struck again toppy was pressed back a groan came from the crowd as they saw him stagger from a blow on the jaw and saw revers set himself for one last desperate effort

Starting point is 05:16:20 revers rushed his face the face of a demon his left ripping up for the body his right looping overhand in a killing swing at the head and then the crowd gasped for toppy with his superior quick of foot, sidestepped, and as Revers plunged past, dealt him a left in the mouth that flung him half around, and sent him staggering against the outheld hands of the crowd. When Revers turned around, now he was bleeding from the mouth also, and in his eyes was a look of caution that Toppy had never seen there before. The fight now became as dogged as it was furious. each man had tried to end it with a single and failing knew that he must wear his opponent down neither had been seriously damaged by the blow struck and neither was in the least tired the thud of blow followed blow back and forth the pair shuffled first one driving the other with volleys of punches then his antagonist suddenly turning the tables

Starting point is 05:17:36 topy feeling that he was fighting an uphill fight saved himself more than reavers the latter who felt himself the master became more and more enraged as tommy continued to stand up before him and give him back as good as he gave each time the topy reached face or body with a solid blow the savage fury flared in reever's eyes and he lunged forward like a maddened bull always however he recovered himself and resumed the fight with brains as well as brawn toppy never lost his head after the first wild spasm he realized that they were so evenly matched that the loser would love lose by a slip of the mind by letting some weak spot in his character master him. And he held himself in with an iron will. Revers' blows goaded and tempted him to rush in madly, but he held back. The men about the ring thought he was losing, and their voices rose in growled encouragement. Toppy was not losing, as he saw Revers because,

Starting point is 05:18:55 more and more furious, his hopes began to rise. At each opportunity, he reached Reaver's face, cutting open his other eye, bringing the blood from his nose, stinging him into added furies. Toppy was knocked down several times in the rushes that invariably followed such blows, but each time he recovered himself before Revers could rush upon him. suddenly his fighting instinct telegraphed him that revers was about to try something new he drew back a little revers following closely suddenly it came without warning revers kicked the blow took toppy in the groin and he stumbled backward from its force a cry of rage went up from the watching men but toppy sprung erect in his own an instant. All right, he called. It didn't hurt me. Shut up, you fools. Thanks to his training, his hard muscles had turned the kick and saved him from being disabled. What's the matter,

Starting point is 05:20:08 Revers? he taunted as he circled carefully. Losing confidence in your fists? Got to use your feet, huh? Lost your kick, too, haven't you? Well, well. then you certainly are in for a fine trimming again reavers kicked this time aiming low at the shin bone but topy avoided it easily and danced back with a laugh can't even land it any more treplin chuckled show us some more tricks reivers revers had thrown off all restraint now he fought with lowered head and toppy one more as he saw the eyes watching him through the thick brows thought of a bear the savagery at the root of reaver's character was coming to the top it was mastering choking down his intelligence he struck and kicked and gnashed his teeth and curses rolled in a steady stream from his lips one kick landed on topy's thigh with a thud here boss screamed a voice to to poppy and from somewhere in the crowd an axe was pitched at his feet laughingly toppy kicked the weapon to one side and though in deep pain from the last kick continued fighting as if nothing had happened the savage now dominating reavers had seen and been caught by the sight of the flashing steel a gleam of a gleam of animal

Starting point is 05:21:49 cunning showed in the depths of his ferocious eyes. To cripple, to kill, to destroy with one terrible stroke, that was his single passion. The axe opened the way. Craftily, he began rushing systematically. Little by little he drove Toppy back. Closer and closer he came to the spot where the axe lay on the ground. Once more, Toppy's insults. warned him that Revers was after a terrible coup and once more his whole mind and body responded with extra vigilance.

Starting point is 05:22:29 As he circled, presently he felt the axe under his feet and understood. He saw that Revers was systematically working toward the weapon, though apparently unconscious of its existence. It was in Toppy's mind to dance away, to call out to the men to remove the air. axe, but before he could do so, something had whispered to him to hold his tongue. He continued to retreat slowly, fighting back at every inch. Now he had stepped beyond the axe. Now it lay between him and Revers. Now it lay beneath Reaver's feet. And now, as Revers stooped to pick it up, Toppy, like a tiger, flung himself forward.

Starting point is 05:23:19 it was what he had foreseen what had made him hold his tongue the savage in revers had made him reach for the weapon the calmly reasoning brain in toppy's head had foreseen that in that lay his advantage it was for only an instant a few eye-winks that revers paused and bent over for the axe but as toppy had flung himself forward at the psychological moment it was enough reavers was bent over with his hand on the axe and for a flash he had left the spot behind his left ear exposed topy's fist swung from far behind him struck the spot with the sound of a pistol crack revers stooped as he was rolled over and over and lay still topy first picked up the axe and threw it far out of reach then he turned to reavers who was rising slowly a string of foul curses on his lips toppy set himself as the snow-burner came forward his left lifted reavers from his feet even while he was in the air topy's right followed on the jaw the snow-burner wavered then toppy drawing a long breath called into play all the strength he had been saved He struck and struck again so rapidly that the eye could not follow, and each blow found its mark, and each was of deadly power. He drove Revers backward. He drove him as he willed. He beat him till he saw Reaver's eyes grow glassy.

Starting point is 05:25:10 Then he stepped back. The almost superhuman strength of Revers had kept him on his feet until now, spite of the pitiless storm of blows. Now he swayed back and forth once. His breath came in gasps. His arms fell inert, his eyes closed slowly. And as a great tree falls, slowly at first, then with a sudden crash, the snow-burner toppled and fell face downward on the ground. Roger Maline. Chapter 20 of the Snow Burner by Henry Oyen. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 20.

Starting point is 05:26:11 Toppy's way. Toppy stood and looked down at his vanquished foe. The convulsive rise and fall of his breast as he panted for breath, told how desperately and savagely he had fought. Now, as he stood victorious and looked down upon the man he had conquered, the chivalry, innate in him, began to stir with respect and even pity for the man whom he had beaten. He looked at Reaver's bloody face, as the head turned on one side, it lay nuzzled helplessly against the soft ground.

Starting point is 05:26:47 A wave of revulsion, the aftermath of his fury, passed over him, and he drew his hand slowly across his eyes, as if to shut out the sight of the havoc that his fists had wrought. And now happened the inevitable. Tappy had not foreseen it, never had dreamed it possible. But now, the men who had watched cried aloud their hatred of the big man who lay before them. The king man, their master, was down. Upright, they would have quailed before his mere look. But now he was down. The man who had mastered them, broken them, tortured them, lay helpless there before them.

Starting point is 05:27:34 The courage and hate of slaves, suddenly in power over their master, flamed through them. This was their chance. They had him now. We got him! Kill him! Come on, finish him! They roared,

Starting point is 05:27:52 and threw themselves like a pack of wolves, upon the prostrate man. Even as they rushed, Revers raised his head in returning consciousness. Then he went down under a shower of heavily booted feet. With a bellow of command, Tappy flung himself forward. He knew quite well that this was what Revers deserved. He had even at times hoped that the men sometime would have the opportunity for such revenge. But now he discovered that he couldn't stand by and see it done. It wasn't in him. Revers was down, fairly beaten in a hard fight. He was helpless. Toppie's rage suddenly swerved from Revers to the men who were trying to kick the life out of him. Back, get back there, I say, he ordered. He reached in and threw men right and left.

Starting point is 05:28:50 He knocked others down. One he picked up and used as a battering ram, and so he fought his way in and cleared the rabble away from Revers. Revers, with more than human tenaciousness, had retained a glimmer of consciousness. He saw Toppy standing astride of him, fighting for his life, and in that beaten, desperate moment, Revers laughed once more. You're a damn fool, Treplin, said he. You'd better let them feel. finish the job. Tappy dragged him to his feet. A gleam of mastery flashed over the snow

Starting point is 05:29:33 burner as he felt himself standing upright. He swung to face the men. Out of the way there, you scum, he ordered in his old manner. The men laughed in reply. The spell had been broken. The men had seen the snow burner knocked down and beaten. They had seen the snow-burner knocked down and beaten. They had seen that Toppy was his master. They had kicked him. They had had him under them. No longer did he stand apart and above them. They cursed him and swarmed in, striking, kicking, hauling, and dragged him to the ground. Give him to us, boss, they cried. Let us kill him, boss. Some of them hung back. they did not wish to run contrary to the wishes of toppy their boss and champion topy once more got revers on his feet and dragged him toward the gate a knife or two gleamed in the crowd

Starting point is 05:30:38 run for the gate cried toppy revers tottered a few steps and fell over him topy stormed fought commanded but the mob pressed constantly closer then suddenly they stopped striking they began to break toppy looking around for the reason saw campbell and a guard running toward them campbell with his big revolver the guard with his gun at a ready with a last tremendous effort he picked reavers up in his arms and ran to meet them he heard the guard fire once heard campbell ordering the men to stand by back. Then he staggered out of the stockade and dropped his heavy burden on the ground. Behind him, Campbell and the guard slammed shut the gate, and within the cries and curses of the men rose in one awful wail, the cry of a blood mob cheated of its prey. Revers rose slowly, first to his hands and knees, then to his feet. He looked at Toppy, and the only expression. upon his face was a sneer.

Starting point is 05:31:56 You damn fool! he laughed. You poor weak sister! You'll be sorry before morning that you didn't let the men finish that job. He turned, and without another word, went staggering away to the building where he and the guards lived. End of Chapter 20. Recording by Roger Maline. by henry oyen this librovoc's recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter twenty one the end of the boss back in the shop campbell went to work with a will to doctor up to toppy's battered face i dunno lad i don't know lad he muttered as he patched up the ragged cuts it was the poetry of justice that the men should have had him

Starting point is 05:33:02 but i dunno know that i could a left him lie there myself of course you couldn't said toppy a man can't do that sort of thing but say campbell what do you suppose he meant about being sorry before mourning because i saved him although he had won in the contest which he had so longed for although he had proved and knew that he was a better man than reevers toppy for for some reason experienced none of the which he had expected the thing wasn't settled reavers was still fighting he was still boss of hell camp he was fighting with craft now what had that final threat meant it has to do with the lass i'll wager on that said campbell he will i be taking his revenge on her i know the man he has that way the dog ay hold still with that ear now ay it's the way of the man as i know him but i'm thinking some one else will play dog too watchdog i mean and i'm thinking the same will be myself you don't think he'll try the snow-burner will try anything if his mind set even force hold still with your chin you licked em fair lad twas a great fight your best man but i'm glad i have my shooting utensil handy for if i'm any judge hell camp will i deserve its name to-night what do you think will happen tis hard to say but tis sure reevers means to do something desperate and as i know the man tis something that concerns the lass

Starting point is 05:35:01 then there are the men they have tasted blood they have seen the snow-burner beaten his grip has been torn off them they're no longer afraid when the working gangs come in this noon and hear the story there'll be nothing can hold them from doing what they please you know what that will be they're wild to break loose given they lay hands on reavers they'll tell them they'll tell them they'll tell you what that will be they're wild to break loose givin they lay hands on reevers they'll tear him and the camp to pieces ay there'll be things stirring here before evening or i'm a dolt true to campbell's prediction the stockade shook with cheers roars and curses that noon when the workingmen came in and heard the tale of the snow-burner's downfall the discipline of the camp vanished with those shouts the men were no longer cowed they were free and unafraid after they had eaten the straw bosses and guards prepared to lead them back to their work the men laughed the bosses joined them the guards threatened the men jeered reavers the only force that had kept them cowed was lying beaten and helpless in his bunk and not even the shotguns of the guards could cow the fierce spirit that had broken loose in the men when they heard this news shoot damn you shoot they jeered at the guards the guards faltered the whole camp was in revolt and they knew that as sure as one shot was fired the men would rush at no matter how great the cost to themselves

Starting point is 05:36:48 there were a hundred and fifty maddened desperate men in the camp now instead of a hundred and fifty cattle and the guards minus reevers leadership retreated to their quarters and locked the d'her's leadership retreated to their quarters and locked the door. The men did not go back to work. Not an axe, peavy, or can't hook was touched. Not a team was hitched up. The men swaggered and shouted for Revers to come out and boss them. They begged him to come out. They wanted to talk with him. They had a lot to tell him. They wouldn't hurt him. No, they would only give him a little of his own medicine. However, they gave the guards' house a wide berth on account of the deadly shotguns. The short afternoon passed quickly and the darkness came on. Toppy and Campbell were sitting down to supper when they noticed that it was unusually light in the direction of the stockade. Presently there was a roaring crackling, then a chorus of cries, demon-like in their ferocity.

Starting point is 05:37:57 topy sprang to the window and staggered back at the sight that met his eyes great scott campel look look he cried they fired the camp together they rushed to the door from the farther end of the stockade a billow of red pitchy flame was sweeping up into the night and the roar and crackle of the dried pine logs burning was drowned in the cries of the men as they cheered the results of their handiwork toppy and campbell ran toward the stockade gate the gate had been chopped to pieces but the guards from the shelter of their building were shooting at the opening and preventing the men from rushing out the flames at the far end of the stockade rose higher and fiercer as they began to get their hold on the pitchy wood the smoke billowing low came driving back into the faces of campbell and toppy they've done it up brown now swore campbell the wind's this way the whole camp'll go unless yon fires checked over the front of the stockade something flew through the darkness its parabola marked by a string of sparks that spluttered behind it it fell near one side of the guard's quarters a second later it exploded with a noise and shock that shook the whole camp dynamite said scotty the men have been stealing it and saving it for this occasion given one of those sticks lands on that building there'll be dead men inside inside evidently had no mind to wait for such a catastrophe they came rushing out in the darkness slipping quietly out of sight yet firing at the gate as they went one of them rushed past toppy in the direction of the office toppy scarcely noticed him

Starting point is 05:40:03 on second thought something about the man's great size his broad shoulders the hang of his arms attracted him he turned to look the man had vanished in the dark a vague uneasiness took possession of toppy for a moment he stood puzzled my god he cried suddenly that was reavers and he was going to her he started in pursuit revers was pounding on the door of the office when toppy reached him the door was locked open up open up at once he ordered beyond the door toppy heard the voice of the girl oh please please mr revers i'm afraid reever's tone changed nothing to be afraid of miss pearson he said blandly there's a fire in the camp i want to get in to save the books and papers is that why you sent tilly away this morning said toppy quietly coming up behind him revers turned with a start hello treplin he said recovering himself instantly no hard feelings i hope his manner was so at ease that toppy was thrown off his guard i won't make the mistake of fighting with you any more treplin continued revers look at the way you've spoiled my nose you ought to fix that up for me look at it

Starting point is 05:41:46 he came closer and pointed with two fingers to his broken nose topy unsuspecting leaned forward before he could move head or arms reaver's two hands had shot out and fastened like two iron claws upon his unprotected throat. Now, damn you, hissed Revers. Tear me loose or kiss your life goodbye. And Toppy tried to tear him loose, tried with a desperation born of the sudden knowledge that his life depended upon it, and failed. The snow-burner had got his death-hold.

Starting point is 05:42:27 His arms were like bars of steel, his fingers yielded no more to Toppy's skin, tugging than claws of molded iron struggle damn you fight damn you hissed reavers that's right die hard for by god you're done now the eyes seemed staring from toppy's head his brains seemed to be bursting he felt a strange emptiness in his chest things went red then they began to go black he made one final futile attempt he felt his legs sinking felt his whole body sagging felt that the end had come then heard as if far away the office door fly open heard the girl crying stop mr reevers or i'll shoot then the roar of a shot he felt the hands loosen on his throat swayed and fell sidewise as the whole world turned black. He opened his eyes soon and saw by the light of the rising flames that Campbell was running toward him. In the doorway of the office stood the girl, her left hand over her eyes, Campbell's big black revolver in her right.

Starting point is 05:43:52 Down the road, with strange drunken steps, Revers was running toward the river. Behind him ran half a dozen men armed with axes, screaming his vows. name and rage, but Revers, despite his queer gait, was distancing his pursuers. It was some time before Toppy grasped the significance of these sights. Then he remembered, "'You—you saved me!' he said clumsily, rising to his feet. The girl dropped the revolver and burst into a fit of sobbing. "'Twas I handy I thought of giving her the gun, telling her to keep the door locked said campbell do you go in lassie all's well go in eh what's this he cried for in spite of her sobbing she drew sharply away from his sheltering arm as he tried to usher her indoors the smoke from the fire swept down into their faces in a choking cloud toppy looked toward the stockade by this time the whole

Starting point is 05:45:03 whole end of the great building was in flames. The men in pursuit of reavers were howling as they gained on their quarry, and Toppy lurched after them. Bob! Mr. Treplin! Tappy stopped. I mean, Mr. Treplin, you... don't go down there. You're hurt, please! Toppy moved toward her. Was it true? Was it really there, the note in her voice that he yearned to hear. What did you say, please? he stammered. And now it was her turn to be confused. The sobs came back to her.

Starting point is 05:45:45 Toppy took a long breath and nerved himself to desperation. Helen, he said hoarsely. Bob, oh Bob, she whispered. Don't leave me, don't leave me alone. once more topy filled his lungs with air and ground his teeth in desperate resolution he tried to speak but only a gurgling sound came from his throat so he held out his big arms in mute appeal and suddenly he found himself whispering incoherently at a little blond head which lay snuggled in great content against his bosom a maddened yell came from the men who were after reevers but toppy and the girl might have been a thousand miles away for all the attention they paid one end of the stockade fell in with a great roar and a shower of flame and sparks but the twain did not hear ay ay old campbell moved swiftly away he's a grown man now and so he's a right to have his woman ay a real man he had a real man he had to have his woman ay a real man he had

Starting point is 05:47:01 to be to take her away from the snow-burner down by the river the pursuing men gave tongue to a cry with the note of the wolf in it campbell turned from the young couple and stared with gleaming eyes in the direction whence came the cry ah reivers he murmured ye great man gone wrong how goes it with you now reivers can you win through can you i wonder i wonder and as topy and helen holding closely to one another entered the office building the old man hastened to join the throng by the river where the fate of the snow-burner was being spun End of Chapter 21. Recording by Roger Maline. End of Part 1. Part 2. Chapter 22 of the Snow Burner by Henry Oyen. This Libravox recording is in the public domain.

Starting point is 05:48:17 Recording by Roger Maline. Part 2. The Superman. Chapter 22. The Cheating of the River. It's got him! The River! got him he's drowned hell camp reavers he's gone he's done for the snow-burner is dead dead dead like wolves in revolt the men of hell camp lined the bank of the rushing ice-choked river and cursed and roared into the blackness of the night behind them the buildings of the camp seen of the snow-burner's inhuman brutality and dominance over the lives of men were going up in seas of flame which they had started before them the tumultuous river the waters battling the ice which strove to cover it tossed black and white under the red glow of tumbling fire and somewhere out in the murderous current whirled and sucked down by the rushing water buffeted and crushed by the grinding ice a bullet-hole through his shoulder was all that was left of the rushing water whirled and sucked down by the rushing ice

Starting point is 05:49:28 a bullet hole through his shoulder was all that was left of the man whose life they had cried for the river had cheated them like panting wolves their hands outstretched claw-like to clutch and kill they had pursued him closely to the river's edge a cry of rage short sharp unreasoning had leaped from their throats as reavers staggering from his wound had leaped unhesitatingly out on to the heaving cakes of ice spellbound open-mouthed and silent they had stood and watched as their erstwhile oppressor ran zigzagging leaping from cake to cake out toward the black slip of open water which ran silently swiftly in the river's middle. And then they had cried out again. For the open water had caught him. Straight into it, without pausing or swerving, reavers had run on, and the black water had taken him home. Like a stone dropped into its midst, it had taken him plump, a flirt of spray, a gurgle. Then the waters rushed on as before, silent, deadly, unconcerned. And so the men of Hell Camp, drunk with the spirit and success of their revolt, cried out in triumph.

Starting point is 05:50:56 Their cry rose over the roar of flame. It rang above the rumble of crunching ice. It reached, peon-like, up through the star-filled northern night. A cry of victory, of gratification, the old, terrible cry of the kill. for the snow-burner was gone. Wolf-like he had harried them, and wolf-like he had died. No man, not even Hell Camp Revers, they knew,

Starting point is 05:51:27 could live a minute in that black water. They had seen the waters close above him. A flow of ice swept serenely over the spot where he had gone down. He was gone. The world was rid of him. And so, the men of him. Cameron Dam Camp, while their cry still echoed in the timber, turned to carry the news

Starting point is 05:51:51 of the snow-burner's end back to the men who were milling about the burning camp. The snow-burner was dead. Out in the deadly river, Hel-Camp Reaver stayed under water until he knew that the men in the bank counted him drowned. He had sought the open water deliberately, his giant lungs filling themselves with air, as he plunged down to the superhuman test which was to spell life or death for him he realized that if he were to live he must appear to perish in the river before the eyes of the men who pursued him to have won through the open water and over the ice beyond and in their sight have reached the farther shore would have sealed his doom as surely as to have returned to the bank where stood the men the camp had revolted two hundred men had said that he must die and had he been seen to cross the river and enter the timber beyond half of the two hundred probably armed would have crossed the stringers of the dam not to pause or rest until they had hunted him down

Starting point is 05:53:03 he was without weapons of any kind save his bare fists he was bleeding heavily from the bullet hole in his right shoulder he would have died like a wounded wolf run to earth had he been seen to cross the river safely his only chance for life was to appear to die in the river he made no fight as he went down the swift waters sucked him under like a straw they rolled him over the rocky bottom whirled him around and around sunken piles of ice into the sluice-like current of the stream's middle they spewed him over the rocky bottom whirled him around and around sunken piles of ice into the sluice-like current of the stream's middle they spewed him him and the current caught him and shot him into the darkness below the glare of the burning camp he lay inert in the water's grasp recking not how the sharp ice gashed and tore face and hands how the rocks crushed and bruised his body a sweeping ice-fellow caught him and held him down like some great river beast he lay supine beneath it conserving every atom of his giant strength for the test that was to win him life. Then, with the blood roaring in his temples, and his bursting lungs warning him

Starting point is 05:54:21 that the next second must yield him air or death, he drew his body upward against the ice, felt it slip to one side, thrust his upturned face out of the water, caught a finger-hold on another flow that strove to thrust him down, gasped, clawed, and laughed. he was a dead man and he lived men had driven him into the jaws of death and death had engulfed and apparently swallowed him men counted him now as one who had gone hence

Starting point is 05:54:58 far and wide the word would be flung in a hurry the snow-burner was no more hell-camp reavers had passed away the face of the snow-burner as it rode barely above the ice-burner as it rode barely above the ice-burner lapping waters bore but one single expression a sardonic appreciation of the joke he had plain upon men and death the loss of cameron camp of his position of all that he called his own did not trouble him as the current swept him down there he was a beaten man stripped of all things that men struggle for to have and to hold and with but a slippery finger-hold on life itself. Yet he was victorious, triumphant. He had placed himself within the clammy fingers of the river death. The fingers had closed upon him, and he had torn them apart, had thrust death away, had clutched life as it fleeted from him, and had drawn it back to hold for the time being. And Revers laughed contemptuously, tauntingly, at the sucking waters cheated of their prey. Not yet, Nick, old boy, he muttered.

Starting point is 05:56:19 It doesn't please me to boss your Stokers just yet. The current tore the ice from his precarious grip, and he was forced to swim for it. In the darkness, he struck the grinding ice field on the far side of the open water, and like the claws of a bear, his stiffening fingers sought for and found a crevice to afford a secure hold.

Starting point is 05:56:44 a pull a heave and a wriggle and he lay face down on the jagged ice heart lungs and brain crying for the cold air which he sucked in avidly the ice-cakes parted beneath his weight once more he fought through the water to a resting-place on the ice once more the treacherous ice parted and dropped him into the water swimming crawling wriggling his way he fought on at last an outstretched hand groped to a hold on a snow-covered root on the far bank of the river about time he said and slowly drawing himself up on to the bank he rolled over in the snow and lay with his face turned back toward cameron camp the fire which the men had started in the long bunk house when they had revolted against the inhumanity of reavers now had gained full headway in pitchy red billows of flame the dried log walls were roaring upward in the night. Like the yipping of madden demons, the bellowing shouts of the men came back to him, as they danced and leaped around the fire in celebration of the passing of Revers, and of the camp for which his treatment of men had justly earned the title of Hell Camp.

Starting point is 05:58:13 But louder and more poignant than ever, the roar of flame and the shouts of jubilant men, there came to Reaver's ears, a sound which prompted him to drag himself to. to an elbow to listen somewhere out in the timber near the camp a man was crying for mercy a rifle cracked the pleading stopped reavers smiled contemptuously one of the guards they got him he mused the fool that's what he gets for being silly enough to be faithful to me but the fate of the guard one of the shotgun artists who has been a man who is a man who is a fool that's what he gets for being silly enough to be faithful to me but the fate of the guard one of the shot-gun artists who had served him faithfully and brutally in the task of keeping the men of the camp helpless under his heel roused reavers to the need of quick action if the guards had escaped into the woods and were being hunted down by the maddened crew the hunt might easily lead across the dam and up the bank to where he lay once let it be known that he had not perished in the river and the whole camp would come swarming across the dam each man's hand against him resolved to take his trail and hunt him down no matter where the trail might lead or how long the hunt might take the fight through the river ice was but the preliminary to his flight for safety many miles of cold trail between him and the burning camp were his most urgent present needs

Starting point is 05:59:48 and with a curse he staggered to his feet and stood for a moment lowering back across the water to the scene of his overthrow to a lesser man or a better man there would have been deep humiliation in the situation reaver's mind flashed back over the incidents of the last few hours over there across the river he had been beaten for the first time in his life in a fair stand-up fist-fight he had underestimated young treplin and treplin had beaten him following his defeat had come the revolt of the men following that had come flight the power and leadership of the camp had been rested from his hands by a better man he himself had been driven out helpless beaten yet revers only laughed as he stood now and looked back across the river for in the river the snow-burner had died the past was dead a new life was beginning for him it had to be so for if word went back that the snow-burner was still alive the men of cameron dam camp would come clamoring to the hunt to die and yet to live to slew one life as an old coat and to take up another not having the slightest notion of what it might hold that was the great adventure that was something so interesting that the humiliation of defeat never so much as reached to beneath Reaver's skin.

Starting point is 06:01:31 He stood for a moment, looking back at the camp, and he smiled. He waved his left hand in a polished gesture of contemptuous farewell. Goodbye, Mr. Hell Camp Revers, he growled. Hello, Mr. Newman, whoever you are. Let's go and lay up till the puncture in your side heals. Then we'll go out and see what you can do to this silly. old world. With his fingers clutching the hole in his shoulder, he turned and lurched drunkenly away into the blackness of the thick timber. The icy waters of the river had been kind to him in more

Starting point is 06:02:14 ways than one. They had congealed the warm blood spurts from his wound into a solid red clot, and his thick woollen shirt and Mackinaw were frozen stiff and tight against the clot. held to his staggering run for an hour seeking bare spots in the timber traveling on top of windfalls when he found them hiding his trail in uncanny fashion before his body grew warm enough to thaw the icy bandages then he halted and by the light of the cold moon bared his shoulder and took stock it was a bad ragged wound he moved the shoulder and smiled sard as he noted that no bone was touched from the butt of a shattered windfall he tore a flat sliver of clean pine with his teeth he worried it down to a proper size and with handkerchief and belt he bounded over the wound so tightly that it sunk deep into the muscles of the shoulder it shafed and cut the skin and started the blood in half a dozen places but he pulled the belt up another hole despite the inclination to grimace from pain suffer body he muttered suffer all you please you've nothing to say about this your job for the present is merely to serve life by keeping it going later on you may grow whole again i shall need you he buttoned his mackinaw with difficulty and finding an open space turned and took his bearings far behind him a dull red glow on the sky marked the location of cameron dam camp

Starting point is 06:04:08 from this he turned carefully scanning the heavens until above the top of the timber he caught the weird glint of the northern lights that way lay his course the white man's country stopped with the timber in which he stood beyond was indian country the bleak barren dead lands a wilderness too bare of timber to tempt the logger a land of ridge upon ridge of ragged rock unexplored by white man save for a rare mining prospector and uninhabited save for the half-starved camp of the people of tilly the chippewa river's slave by the power of the love she bore him white men shunned the white wastes of the dead lands as in warmer climes they shun the unwatered sands of the desert that was why reever sought it out there in the camp of tilly's people he could lie safe well fed well nursed until his wound healed and the strength of his body came back to him and then cheer up body he chuckled as he started northward we'll make the world pay bitterly for all of this when we're in shape again for the present we're going north going north you can't stop body you can't lay down groan all you want to you're going to be dragged just as far to-night as if you weren't shot up at all end of chapter twenty two recording by roger maline chapter twenty three of the snow-burner by henry oyen this librovoc's recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter twenty three

Starting point is 06:06:17 the girl who was not afraid break of day in wintertime comes to the dead lands slowly and without enthusiasm as if the rose-three the rose-yearer's time comes to the deadlands slowly and without enthusiasm as if the rose morning sun wearied at the hopeless landscape which its rays must illumine. Aimless rock formation was a drug on the creation's market the day that the badlands were made. Gigantic boulders, box-like bluffs, ragged rock spires, cliffs and plateaus of bare rock were in oversupply. Nature, so a glimpse of the place suggests, had resolved to get rid of a vast surplus of ugly, useless stone, and with one cast of its hands flung them solidly down and made the deadlands. There they lie, hogback, ridge, gully, and ravine, hopelessly and aimlessly

Starting point is 06:07:15 jumbled and tumbled, a scene of desolate grayness by summer. By winter the raw, bleak ridges and spires, thrusting themselves through the covering of snow like unto the bones of a half, half-concealed skeleton. Daylight crept wearily over the timber belt and spread itself slowly over the barrenness and struck the highest rise of ground, running crosswise through the barrens, which men called Hogback Ridge. Little by little it lighted up the bleak peaks and tops of ridge and rock spire. A wind came with it, a bleak morning winter wind which whined as it whipped the dry

Starting point is 06:07:59 snow from high places and sent it flying across coolly and valley in the gray light of dawn nothing stirred with the coming of daylight nocturnal animal warned of the day's coming slunk away to its cave no beast or bird of daylight greeted the morning with movement or song the gray half-light revealed no living thing of life upon the exposed hump of the ridge the sun came a ball of dull red rising over the timber line it touched the topmost spires of rock sought to gild them rosily gave up as their sullen sides refused to take the color and turned its rays along the eastern slope then something moved a single speck of life stirred in the vast scene of desolation on the bare ground in the lee of a boulder on the bare ground in the lee of a boulder a man sat with his back to the stone and slept his face was hollow and lined the corners of his mouth were drawn down as if a weight were hung on each of them and the thin cheeks hugging the bone so tightly that the teeth showed through told that the man had driven himself too far on an empty stomach yet even in sleep there was a hint of a sardonic smile on the misshapen lips a smile that condemned and made not the pain and cruelty of his fate the sun crept down the slope of hogback ridge and found him it reached his eyes its rays had no more warmth than the rays of the cold winter moon but its light pierced through the tightly drawn lids

Starting point is 06:09:50 they twitched and finally parted reavers awoke without yawning or moving and looked around it was the second morning after his flight from cameron dam camp and he had yet to reach the winter camp of the people of tilly the squaw somewhere to the west it lay he would reach it and reach it in good time he swore but he had not had a bite of food in his mouth for two days and the fever of his wound had sapped heavily his strength be still body he growled as with the return of consciousness his belly cried out for food you will be fed before life goes out of you he rose slowly and stiffly to his knees and looked down the ridge to where the rays of the sun now were illumining the snow-covered bottom of the valley below the valley ran eastward for a mile or two and at first glance it was empty and dead save for the flurries of wind-swept snow dropping down from the heights above but reavers as he rose to his feet swept the valley with a second glance and suddenly he dropped and crouched down close to the ground far down at the lower end of the valley a black speck showed on the frozen snow and the speck was moving reavers lay on the bare patch of ground as silent and immovable as the rock above him the speck was too large to be a single animal and too small to be a pack of traveling caribou for several minutes he lay scarcely breathing his eyes straining to bring the speck into comprehensible shape his breath began to come rapidly

Starting point is 06:11:47 presently he swore the speck had become two specks now a long narrow speck and a tiny one which moved beside it and they were coming steadily up the valley toward where he lay one and a dog-team one and a dog-team one and a dog-team mused revers he won't be traveling here without grub body wake up you are crying for food yonder it comes get ready to take it slowly with long pauses between each movement and taking care not to place his dark body against the white snow revers dragged himself around to a hiding-place behind the boulder against which he had slept the sun had risen higher now its rays were lighting the valley and as he peered avidly around one side of the stone revers could make out some detail of the two specks that moved so steadily toward him it was a four dog team traveling rapidly and the man on snow-shoes traveled beside his team and plied his whip as he strode reavers brows drew down in puzzled fashion the sledge which whirled behind the running dogs seemed flat and unloaded the dogs ran in a fashion that told they were strong and fresh why didn't the man ride revers drew back to take stock of the situation the man might be a stranger traveling hurriedly through the dead lands or he might be one of the men's from Cameron Dam Camp.

Starting point is 06:13:34 If the former, food might be had for a mere hail and the asking. If the latter... Reaver's nostrils widened, and he smiled. Yet a third possibility existed. The man was traveling in strange fashion,

Starting point is 06:13:51 running beside an apparently empty sled, and whipping his dogs along. So did men travel when they were fleeing from various reasons. and men fleeing thus do not go unarmed nor take kindly to having the trail of their flight witnessed by casual though starving strangers thus there was one chance that a hail and plea for food would be met with a friendly response two chances that they would be met with lead or steel reavers not being a careless man looked about for ways and means to place the odds in his favor a hundred yards to the north of him the valley narrowed into a mere slit between two straight walls of rock through this gap the traveler must pass when revers had crawled to a position on the rock directly above the narrow opening he lay flat down and grinned in peace he was securely hidden and the dog-driver would pass unsuspectingly unready thirty feet beneath where

Starting point is 06:15:01 he lay. Things were looking well. The driver and team came on at a steady pace. Even at a great distance, his stride betrayed his race, and Revers muttered, White Man, and pushed to the edge of the bluff a huge, jagged piece of rock. The man might not listen to Reason, and Revers was taking no chances of allowing an opportunity to feed to slit by. the sleigh still puzzled him as it came nearer and nearer he saw that it was not empty something long and flat lay upon it reavers ceased to watch the driver and turned his scrutiny entirely to the bundle upon the sleigh minute after minute he watched the sleigh to the exclusion of everything else he made out eventually that the bundle was the size and form of a human body soon he saw that it moved now and then as if struggling to rise the sleigh came nearer came into a space where the sunlight streaming through a gap in the ridge

Starting point is 06:16:15 lighted it up brightly and reever's whole body suddenly stiffened upon the ground and his teeth snapped shut barely in time to cut short an ejaculation of surprise the bundle on the sleigh was a woman a white woman and she was bound around from ankle to forehead with thongs passed under the sleigh food and a woman a white woman he mused the new life becomes interesting body get ready he held the rock balanced on the edge of the cliff ready to hurl it down with one supreme effort of his waning strength hugging the cliff hugging the cliff he lay his head barely raised sufficiently to watch his approaching quarry he could make out the face of the man by this time a square face mostly covered with hair with the square-cut hair of the head hanging down below the ears two fang-like teeth glistened in the sunlight when the man opened his mouth to curse at the dogs and he turned at times to leer back at the helpless burden on the sleigh as he approached the narrow defile where the rock walls hid a man and what he might do from the eyes of all but the sky above the man turned to look more frequently more leeringly at his victim revers saw that the woman was gagged as well as bound the driver shouted a command at his dogs and their lope became a walk and even as revers up on the cliff arched his back to hurl his stone the outfit came to a halt directly beneath where he lay.

Starting point is 06:18:05 Revers waited. He had no compunction about disabling or killing the man below. A crying belly knows no conscience. But he would wait and see what was to develop. The man swiftly jerked his team back in the traces and turned toward his victim. Revers, turning his eyes from the man to the woman, received a shirk, shock which caused him to hug closer to the cliff. The woman lay helpless on the sleigh, face up. A cloth gag covered her face up to the nose, and a cap, drawn down over her

Starting point is 06:18:44 forehead, left only the eyes and nose visible. And the eyes were wide open, very wide open, and they were looking quite calmly and unafraid up at Revers. The driver came back and tore the gag from the woman's lips. "'I'll give you a chance,' he exploded, and Revers, up on the cliff, caught the passion-choked note and voice and again held the stone ready. "'I'm stealing you for the chief,

Starting point is 06:19:16 for Shanty Moir, the man who's got your father's mine and who's determined to put shame on you,' read McGregor's daughter. I'm taking you there to him in his camp. You know what they're. that means. Well, I've changed my mind. I'll give you a chance. I'll save you. Come with me. I won't take you up there. We'll go out of the country. You know what it'd mean to go up there. Well, I'll marry you. Many things happened in the next few seconds. The man threw himself

Starting point is 06:19:56 like a wild beast beside the sledge, caught the woman's face in his hands and kissed her beastily upon the helpless lips the girl did not struggle or cry out only her wide eyes looked up to the top of the cliff looked questioningly speculatively calmly he of the hairy face caught the direction of her look and sprang up and whirled about the glove flying from his right hand and a six-shooter leaping into it apparently from no his face was upturned and he fired even as the big rock smote him on the forehead and crushed him shapelessly into the snow revers dragged forward another stone and waited but the man was too obviously dead to render caution necessary he was experienced and quick said revers to the woman but i was too hungry to miss him did you think i did it to save you Oh, no. Just a minute till I get down. You'll know me better. He staggered and fell as he rose to pick his way down, for the cast with the heavy stone had tapped the last reservoirs of his depleted strength, had wrenched open the wounded

Starting point is 06:21:19 shoulder, and started the blood. Painfully he dragged himself on hands and knees to a snow-covered slope, and slipping and sliding made his way to the valley bottom and came staggering up to the sledge. The woman to him, for the time being, did not exist. Steady, body, he muttered as he tore open the grub bag on the sleigh. Here's food! His fingers fell first on a huge chunk of cooked venison, and he looked no farther. Down in the snow at the side of the helpless woman, he squatted and proceeded to eat. Only when the pang in his stomach had been appeased, did he look at the woman.

Starting point is 06:22:06 Then, for a time, he forgot about eating. It was not a woman, but a girl. Her face was fair and her hair golden red. Her big eyes were looking at him, appraisingly. There was no fear in them, no apprehension. She noted the hollowness of his cheeks, the fever in his eyes. Revers almost dropped his meat in amazement. The girl actually was pitying him.

Starting point is 06:22:37 He stood up, thrust the meat back into the grub bag, and stood swaying and towering over her. The girl's eyes looked back unwaveringly. Damn you, growled Revers as he bent down and loosed the thongs. what do you mean why aren't you afraid mcgregor roy was my father she said quietly i am not afraid she sat up as the bonds fell from her and looked at the still figure in the snow he is dead i suppose as dead as he tried to make me sneered reavers a look of annoyance crossed her face then you have spoiled it all she broke out leaping from the sledge spoiled the fine chance i had to find the cave of shanty moyer murderer of my father reaver's jaw dropped in amazement and hot anger surged to his tongue many women of many kinds he had looked in the eyes and this was the first one spoiled it you red-haired what do you mean didn't i save you from our bearded friend yonder or his thin lips curled into their old contemptuous smile or perhaps perhaps you were one of those to whom such attentions are not distasteful

Starting point is 06:24:10 the sudden flare and flash of her anger breaking like lightning out of a winter sky checked his words the contempt of his smile gave place to a grin of admiration tottering and wavering on his feet he did not stir or raise his arms though the thin-bladed knife which seemed to spring into her hands as claws protrude from a maddened cat's paws slipped through his mackinaw and pricked the skin above his heart before her hand stopped troll am i the daughter of mcgregor roy is a helpless squaw who takes kindly to such words from any man on the trail blood o my father pray you cowardly skulker pray his grin grew broader pretty very pretty he drawled but you can't make it good can you you thought you could your little flare of ta'rower temper made you feel big. You were sure you were going to stick me, but you couldn't do it. You're a woman. See, your flash of bigness is dying out. You're growing tame. That's one of my specialties, taming spitfires like you. Oh, you needn't draw back. Have no fear.

Starting point is 06:25:39 I never did have any taste for red hair. A painter would have raved about the daughter of McGregor Roy as she now stood back, facing her tormentor. The fair skin of her face was flushed red, the thin, sharp lines of mouth and nostrils were tremulous with rage, and her wide gray eyes burned. Her head was thrown back in scorn. Her cap was off. The glorious red-golden hair of her head seemed alive with fury. With one foot advanced, the knife held behind her, her breath coming in angry gasps, she stood, a figure passionately, terribly alive in the dead waist of the snows. Oh, what a coward you are, she panted.

Starting point is 06:26:33 You knew I couldn't avenge myself on a sick man. You coward! Revers laughed drunkenly. The fever was blurring his sight, dulling his sight, dulling him. his brain and filling him with an irresistible desire to lie down yes i knew it he mumbled i saw it in your eye you couldn't do it because i didn't want you to i want you-i want you to fix me up hole in the shoulder fever understand i understand that when duncan roy my father's brother catches up with us he will save me the trouble by putting a hole through your head plenty of time for that later on revers fought off the stupor and held his senses clear for a moment have you got my whisky and what if i have answer me he said icily have you duncan roy has whisky she replied reluctantly he will be on our trail now how long how long before he'll get here

Starting point is 06:27:53 yon beast she nodded her head toward the still figure in the snow raided our camp struck me down and stole me away with my team two hours before sundown yester evening duncan roy was out meat-hunting and would be back by dark he'll be two hours behind us and his dogs travel even with these two hours two hours two too long groaned reavers and pitched headlong into the snow end of chapter twenty three recording by roger maline chapter twenty four of the snow-burner by henry oyen this librivox recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter twenty four the woman's way when he came to it was from the bite and sting of the sting of the terrible white whisky of the north being poured down his throat by a rude generous hand ay he's no dead rumbled a voice like unto a bear's growl he lap at the liquor though his eyes closed hoot man ye take it in like mother's milk have done uncle donkin warned another voice the bold free voice of the girl reevers in his semi-consumption made out tis a sick man don't give him the whole bottle let be let be grumbled the big voice but nevertheless revers felt the bottle withdrawn from his lips tis no tender child that a good drink of liquor would hurt that we have here do you not note that mouth and jaw i'm little more pleased with the look of him than with yon thing in the snow

Starting point is 06:30:00 tis a sick helpless being said the girl the big voice rumbled forth an oath and what have we you and i to do with sick helpless beings are we not on the trail to find shanty moyer who is working your father's mine wherever it is and there take vengeance on said shanty for your father's murder as well as recover your own property is this a trail on which tis fit and well we halted to nurse and care for sick helpless beings blood o the devil an unlucky mess what business has man to be sick and ailing on the winter trail here in the north tis the law of nature that such die and do you think that law will be followed here demanded the girl were i alone it would retorted the man our task is the task is that law will be followed here demanded the girl were i alone it would retorted the man our task is to find the place of shanty moir and do him justice and the hospitality of the mcgregors is it like duncan roy to see beast or man needing or wanting help without stretching his hand to help it the man was silent do you think any good could come to you or me if we turned our hearts to stones and let a sick man perish after he had fallen helpless on our hands i tell you what i think hattie mcgregor broke out the big voice i think there is trouble traveling as trail fellow with this man i see trouble in the cut of his jaw and the lines of his mouth there is a fate written there he's a fated man and no else and nothing would please me better than to have him a thousand days mushing away from me and never to see him again

Starting point is 06:31:53 trouble and trouble it's written on him plain who is he whence came he why is he alone dogless foodless weaponless here in the these dead lands. Tis uncanny. Blood of the devil. He might be dropped down from somewhere, or more like shot up from somewhere, from the black pit, for instance. It's not proper for mere human being to be found in his condition out this far in the barons, with no sign of how he came or why. Have no fear, Uncle Duncan, laughed the girl. He's only a common man. revers opened his eyes chuckling feverishly you'll pay for that common you spit fire when i've tamed you he mumbled only a common man uncle duncan repeated the girl steadfastly and i've a bone to pick with him when he's on his feet no longer helpless and pitiable as he is now again revers laughed through the haze of fever he did not have the strength to hold his eyes open but his mind worked on helpless did you notice the incident of the rock he babbled bare primitive two-handed man against a man with a gun who won

Starting point is 06:33:23 ay said the man seriously we owe you thanks for that for a helpless man you deal stout knocks and speak big words snap the girl now around with the teams uncle duncan and back to camp there's ben talk enough we must take him in and shelter and care for him since he has fallen helpless and pitiable on our hands we owe him no thanks can you not lay his head easier the boasting fool there that's better now all that the dogs can stand uncle for i misdoubt we'll be hard pressed to keep the life in him till we get him back to camp reavers heard and strove to reply but the paralysis of fever and weakness was upon him and all that came from his lips was an incoherent babbling in the last vapory stages of consciousness he realized that he was being placed more comfortably upon the sledge that his head was being lifted and that blankets were being strapped about him he felt the sledge being turned heard the runners grate on the snow then ensued an easy sliding movement through space as the rest of dogs started their lope back through the valley the movement soothed him it lulled him to a sensation of safety and comfort the phantasmagoria of fever pounded at his brain his eyes and ears but the steady swishing rush of the sleigh drove them away. He slept, and awoke when a halt was called and more whiskey forced down his throat.

Starting point is 06:35:13 Then he slept again. There were several halts. Once he realized that he was being fed thin soup made from cooked venison and snow water. That was the last impression made on remaining consciousness. After that, the thread snapped. The sledges went on. They left the vent. valley. Through the jumbled ridges of the deadlands, they hurried. They reached a stretch of stunted fur, and still they continued to go. At length they pulled up before a solid little cabin built in a cleft of rocks. The snow burner was carried in and put to bed. After a rest,

Starting point is 06:35:58 Duncan Roy and the fresher of the dog teams took the trail again. They came back after a day and a night, bringing with them a certain Perbatiste, skilled in treating fevers and wounds of the body as well as of the soul. The good curé gasped at the torso which revealed itself to his gaze as he stripped off the clothes to work at the wound. If Le Bon Dieu made him as well inside as outside, this is a very good man, he said simply, and Duncan McGregor smiled grimly. "'God, or the devil, made him to deal stout knocks, that sure,' he grunted. "'Tis a rare animal we have stripped before us.' "'A rare human being, a soul,' reproved Father Batiste. "'And it is Le Bon Dieu who makes us all.'

Starting point is 06:36:53 "'But the devil gets hold of some very young,' insisted the Scotchman. "'Father Batiste stayed in the cabin for two days. He was not meant to die this time, he said later. It will be long, weeks perhaps, before he will be strong enough to take the trail. He will need care, such care as only a woman can give him. If he does not have this care, he will die. If he does have it, he will live. Adieu, my children, you have a sacred human life in your hands.

Starting point is 06:37:30 And he got the care that only a woman could give him. for the next two weeks duncan mcgregor watched his niece's devoted nursing and nod his red beard gloomily trouble trouble trouble he muttered over and over to himself it rides around the man's head like a storm cap hattie mcgregor take care yon man will be a different creature to handle when he has the strength back in his body at the end of a week reavers awoke as a man wakes after a long fever-breaking slumber weak and wasted yet with a grateful sense of comfort and well-being before he opened his eyes he sensed by the warmth and odors of the air that he was in a small tight room and in a haze he fancied that he had fallen in the tepee of tilly the squaw then he remembered he opened his eyes he was lying in a bunk raised high from the floor and above the foot of the bed was a small window shaded by a frilled white curtain revers lay long and looked at the curtain before his eyes moved to further explore the room for once long long ago he had belonged in a world where white frilled curtains and frills of other kinds were not an exception in his physically washed-out condition his memory reached back and pictured that world with uncanny clearness and he turned from the curtain with a frown of annoyance to look straight into the eyes of duncan roy

Starting point is 06:39:12 who sat by the fireplace across the room and studied him from beneath shaggy red brows revers looked the man over idly at first then with a considerable interest and appreciation sitting crouched over on a low stone bench with the light of the fire and of the sun upon him mcgregor resembled nothing so much as an old red-haired bear he was short of leg and bow-legged but his torso and head were enormous his arms folded across the knees were bear-like in length and size and his hair and beard flamed golden-red there was no friendliness in the small gray eyes which regarded reavers so steadily duncan mcgregor was no man to hide his true feelings revers looked inquiringly around she stepped outside to feed the dogs said mcgregor interpreting the look you'll have to put up with my poor company for the time being i accept your apology said revers and turned comfort toward the wall a deep chesty chuckle came from the fireside man whoever are you or whatever are you to take it that duncan mcgregor feels any need to apologize to you the words were further bombed to reever's new-found feeling of comfort and content say that again please he requested drowsily laughingly the giant by the fire repeated his quirk very. Good, murmured Revers. I just wanted to be sure that you didn't know who I am, or rather who I was.

Starting point is 06:41:04 Blood of the devil, laughed the Scotchman. So it's that, is it? Tell me how much rewarders they're offered for you, dead or alive. I'm a thrifty man, lad, and you hardly look like a man who'd have a small price on his head. Wrong, quite wrong, my suspicious friend said reavers i see you've the simple mind of the man who spent much time in lone places you jump at the natural conclusion when you know me better you'll know that that won't apply to me well drawled the scotchman good-naturedly i do not say that it looks suspicious to be found a two days march out in the dead lands without food dog or weapons with an empty belly and a hole through the shoulder but there are people who might draw the conclusion that a man so fixed was travelling because some place behind him was mighty bad for his health but i have no doubt you have an explanation no doubt tis quite the way you prefer to travel under certain circumstances it is said reavers ay under certain circumstances such as an affair with a redcoat for instance wrong again my simple-minded friend

Starting point is 06:42:31 you're quite welcome to bring the whole mounted police here to look me over i'm not on their lists or the lists of any authority in the world as wanted for that insult that i'm the kind that bears tales to the police i'll have an accounting with you later on said mcgregor sure sharply. For the rest, you'll admit that you're under some small obligation to us, will you be kind enough to explain what lay behind you that you should be out on the barons in your condition? I'll have you know that I am no man to ask pay for succoring the sick or wounded. Neither am I the man to let any well-man be near speaking with my ward and niece, Hattie McGregor, without I know what's the straight of him. Revers turned to luxuriously in his bunk and regarded his inquisitor with a smile. Poor dainty, helpless little lady, he mocked.

Starting point is 06:43:31 So weak and frail that she needs a protector. Never carries anything more than an eight-inch knife up her sleeve. You do right, McGregor. Your niece certainly needs looking after. She certainly doesn't know how to take care of herself. But about obligations, I don't quite agree. with you didn't you owe me a little something for that turn with the bearded fellow not that i did it to save the girl he continued loudly as he heard the door open behind him and knew that hattie mcgregor had entered what was she to me nothing but i was hungry i needed food but for that our black-bearded friend might now have been wandering carefree over the snows a red-haired woman still strapped to his

Starting point is 06:44:21 sledge, his taste seeming to run to that color which mine does not. Hattie McGregor stilled her uncle's retort with a shake of her golden-red head, crossed to the fireplace, and took up a bowl that was simmering there, and approached the bed. Revers looked at her closely, striving to catch her eye, but she seated herself beside him without apparently paying the slightest attention. She spoke no word, made no sign of her eye. to welcome him back from his unconsciousness, but merely held a spoonful of the steaming broth

Starting point is 06:44:56 up to his lips. There was a certain dexterity in her movements which told that she had performed this action many, many times before, and there was nothing in her manner to indicate her sensibility of the change in his condition. Revers opened his mouth to laugh, and the girl dexterously tilted the contents of the spoon down his throat. you fool he sputtered half strangling he strove to rise but her round warm arm held him down over by the fireplace duncan mcgregor slapped his thigh and chuckled deep down in his hairy throat but on the face of his niece there was only the determined patience of the nurse dealing with a patient not yet entirely responsible for his behavior she was not surprised at his outbreak rever saw apparently she had fed him many times just so he utterly helpless and childish she capable and calm apparently she was determined to sit there firm and patient until he was ready to take his broth quietly and without fuss indignantly he raised his hands to take the bowl from her then he opened his eyes wide

Starting point is 06:46:18 in surprise. He was so weak that he could barely lift his arms, and when she offered him a second spoonful, he swallowed it without further demur. Ah, well, we'll soon be able to take the trail again, drawled McGregor, mockingly. We're getting strong now. Soon we'll be able to eat with our own hands. Hold tongue, uncle, snapped the girl, and continued to feed her patient. i suppose i must thank you taunted reavers when the bowl was empty hady mcgregor made no sign to indicate that she had heard she put the bowl away felt reaver's pulse laid her hand upon his forehead never looking at him the while arranged the pillows under his head tucked him in and without speaking went out reever's eyes followed her till the door closed behind her the little spit fire he growled in grudging admiration and duncan mcgregor by the fire laughed till the room echoed end of chapter twenty four recording by roger maline chapter twenty five of the snow-by

Starting point is 06:47:45 by henry oyen this librivox recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter twenty five gold next morning when she came to feed him reavers angrily reached for the bowl he was stronger than the day before and he held his hands forth without trembling there is no need of your feeding me by hand any longer said he i assure you i'll enjoy my food much better alone than i do with you feeding me the girl seated herself at the bunk side holding the bowl out of his reach and looked him quietly in the eyes it was the first time she had appeared to notice his return to consciousness and reavers smiled quizzically at her scrutiny she did not smile in return merely studied him as if he were an interesting subject in the gray light of morning revers for the first time saw her with eyes cleared of the fever blur his smile vanished for he saw that this woman to him was different from any woman he had ever known before and he had known many in her wide gray eyes there rode a sorrow that reached out and held the observer despite her evident efforts to keep it hidden but the mouth belied the eyes-theirred the eyes-theirot a sorrow that reached out and held the observer despite her evident efforts to keep it hidden but the mouth belied the eyes it was set with an expression of determination almost superhuman almost savage it was as if this girl just rounding her twenties had turned herself into a force for the accomplishment of an object the mouth was harsh almost lipless in it set yet beneath all this the woman in hattie mcgregor was obvious soft yearning

Starting point is 06:49:43 many women had had a part in reever's life far too many none of them had held his interests longer than for a few months none of them had he failed to tame and break and none of them had reached below the hard husk of him and touched the better man as hattie mcgregor did at this moment his past experiences his past attitude toward women his past manner of life flashed through his mother mind each pitcher bringing with it a stab of remorse remorse the snow-burner remorseful he laughed his old laugh of contempt and defiance of all the world but though he refused to acknowledge it to himself the old invincible self-assured ring was not in it this girl was not to him what other women had been and he saw that he could not tame her as he had tamed them strange thoughts rose in his mind he wished that the past had been different he actually felt unworthy well the past was past it had died with him in the river he was beginning a new life a new name a new man why couldn't he he drove the weak thoughts away what nonsense he hell camp reavers getting soft over a woman pooh i said i could feed myself he snarled give me that bowl i don't want you around for reply she dipped the spoon into the food and held it ready lie down quietly please she said coldly this is no time for keeping up your play of being a big man give me that bowl he commanded

Starting point is 06:51:45 uncle she called quietly her big kinsman came lurching in from the other room of the cabin ay lass said he it looks as if we would have to obey father batiste's directions and feed him by force said the girl quietly he has come out of the fever but he hasn't got his senses back he thinks of feeding himself do you get the straps uncle you recollects you recollects you recollects you recollects he has come out of the fever but he hasn't got his senses back he thinks he thinks of feeding himself do you get the straps uncle you recollect father batiste's orders duncan mcgregor scratched his hairy head in puzzled how now stranger he growled can you no take your food in peace i can take it without anybody's help insisted reavers he knew that the situation was ridiculous but he saw no way of getting the whip hand it was the word of the good father without whom you would now be resting out in the snow with a cairn of rock over you that you should be fed so much and so little for some days after your senses come back said mcgregor slowly i do not ken the right of it quite but the lass does the lass she'll have her way i suspect i can do not but obey her orders get the straps commanded the girl curtly revers glared at her but she looked back without the least losing her self-possession or determination you'll pay for this he snorted will you take your food without the straps said she for a minute their eyes met in conflict oh don't be ridiculous snapped revers have your food without the straps said she for a minute their eyes met in conflict oh don't be ridiculous snapped revers have your

Starting point is 06:53:39 silly way. Good, that's a good boy, she said softly, and Duncan Roy ran from the room, choking. You see, she continued as he swallowed the first spoonful. It isn't always possible to have your own way, is it? I am doing this only for your own good. Hold your tongue, he growled. I've got to eat this food, but I don't have to listen to your talk. quite right she agreed and the meal was finished in silence at noon she fed him again without speaking a word apparently she had given her uncle orders likewise to refrain from talking to reavers for not a word did he speak during the day in the evening the same silent feeding took place after she and her uncle had supped they drew up to the fireplace where in silence Duncan repaired a dog harness, while the girl sewed busily at a fur coat. At short intervals the uncle cast a look toward Reaver's bunk, then choked a chuckle in his beard,

Starting point is 06:54:53 each chuckle bringing a glance of reproof from his niece. No, Haddy, McGregor broke out finally. I cannot hold tongue any longer. Company is not so plentiful in the north that we can sit by and have. have no speech. Do you keep still, if you wish, I must talk? Stranger, are you going to tell me about yourself, as I asked you yester Eve? Does her Royal Highness, the red-headed chieftainess, permit me to speak? Quirried Revers, sarcastically.

Starting point is 06:55:30 "'Twas your own self told me to hold tongue,' said the girl, evenly, without looking up. I am glad to see you are reasonable enough to give in.' Let be, Haddy, grumbled the old man. He's our guest, and we in his debt. Stranger, who are you? Nobody, said Revers. Ah, cried the girl. Now he's come to his senses, sure enough.

Starting point is 06:56:00 Haddy, said the old man ominously. I beg pardon for her uncivility, stranger. "'Never mind,' said Revers lightly. "'Apparently she doesn't know any better. "'Speaking to you, sir, I am nobody. "'I'm as much nobody as a child born yesterday. "'My life, as far as you're concerned, "'began up there in the rocks and the deadlands.

Starting point is 06:56:28 "'I died just a few days before that, "'died as effectively as if a dozen preachers "'had read the service over me. you don't understand that you've got a simple mind but i tell you i'm beginning a new life as completely as if there was no life behind me and as you know all that's happened in this new life you see there's nothing for me to tell you about myself you died repeated the old man slowly i'll warrant you had a good reason a fair one i wanted to live i died to save my life speak plain growled mcgregor you were not fleeing from the law no as i told you yesterday the only law i was fleeing from was the good old one that cheap men make when they become a mob i take it they had a fair reason for becoming a mob the best in the world agreed reavers they wanted to kill me now why they wanted to do that is something that belongs to my other life with the other man

Starting point is 06:57:46 has nothing at all to do with this man with me and therefore i am not going to tell you anything about it except this-i this i didn't come away with anything that belonged to them except possibly my life mcgregor nodded sagely as reevers ended and his own bare life a man has a right to get away with if he can even though its property forfeited to others he said i suppose you have or had a name i did i haven't now i haven't thought of one that would please me how would the woman tamer suit you asked the girl without pausing in her sewing You remember you told me one of your specialties was taming spitfires like me. Reaver smiled. I am glad to see that you've become sufficiently interested in me, Miss McGregor, to select me a name. Interested, she flared, then subsided and bent over her sewing. I will speak no more, Uncle, she said meekly.

Starting point is 06:58:59 "'Good,' sneered Revers. "'Your manners are improving. "'And now, Mr. McGregor, "'what about yourselves, and your brother, and a mine, "'and a man named Moyer that I've heard you speak of?' "'Dunken McGregor tossed a fresh birch chunk into the fire "'and carefully poked the coals around it. "'Outside, the dogs, burrowing in the snow,

Starting point is 06:59:27 "'sent up to the sky their weird, night cry, a cry of prayer and protest, protest against the darkness and mystery of night, prayer for the return of the light of day. A wind sprang up and whipped dry snow against the cabin window, and to the sound of its swishing wail, Duncan McGregor began to speak. Little as you've seen fit to tell about yourself, stranger, he said, tis plain from your behavior out on the rocks that you're no man of the that foul Welsh cut-throat and thief, Shanty Moyer. For the matter in which you dealt with yon man, we owe you a debt.

Starting point is 07:00:08 We owe him nothing, interrupted the niece. Had he not interfered, I would have found the way to Shanty Moire. But as how? What matter is how? What matter what happens to me if I could find what has become of my father and bring justice to the head of Shanty Moor." McGregor shook his head. "'We owe you a debt,' he continued, speaking to Revers,

Starting point is 07:00:37 "'and cannot refuse to tell you how it is with us. It is no pleasant situation we are in, as you may have judged. My brother, father of Hattie, is, or was, we do not know which, James McGregor, Red McGregor, so called in this land, therefore mcgregor roy as is all our breed you would have heard of him did you belong in this country ten year ago we built this cabin he and i and settled down to trap the country for the fur here is good five year ago a cree half-breed gave james a sliver of rock to wait a net with and the rock curse it forever was over half gold the breed could not recall where the rock had come from, save that he had chucked it into his canoe someplace up north. James McGregor stopped trapping then. He began to look for the spot where the

Starting point is 07:01:39 guilty rock came from. Three years he looked and did not find it. Two years ago, Shanty Moire came down the river and bided here, and Moyer was a prospector among other things. together they found it after nearly two years looking together for james took this moyer into partnership and that was the unlucky day of his life mcgregor kicked savagely at the fire and sat silent for several minutes six months gone they found it he continued dully in the summertime they came in for provisions for provisions for all winter a deposit for two men to work they said my brother would not even tell me where they found it the gold had got into his brain it was his life's blood to him we only knew that it was somewhere up yonder he embraced the whole north with a despairing sweep of his long arms and continued then they went back five months two weeks gone to dig out the gold and two of them my brother james and the foul welsh thief shanty moir for foul he has proven in three months my brother had promised he would be back to say all was well with him we have had no word no word in these many months my brother had promised he would be back to say all was well with him we have had no word no word in these many months but shanty moyer we have heard of ay we have heard of him

Starting point is 07:03:17 at fifty mile and at dumont's camp he had been throwing dust and nuggets across the bars and to the painted women boasting he is king of the richest deposit in the north and offering to kill any man who offers to follow his trail to his holdings ay that we have heard and that must mean only one thing the cut-throat moyer has done my brother to death and is flourishing on the gold that drew james mcgregor to his doom well he went on harshly what men have found others can find we have sent word broadcast that we will find shanty moyer and his holdings and that i will have an accounting with him ay an accounting that will leave but one of us above ground if it takes me the rest of my life and mine interjected the girl hotly shanty moyer is mine and i take toll for my father's life it's no matter what comes to me if i can bring justice to shanty moyer for what he has done to my father my hand my own hand will take toll when we run the dog to earth in his bunk revers laughed scornfully i've a good notion to go hunting this moyer and bring him to you just to see if you could make those words good said he with your own hand eh you'd fall of course at the last moment being a woman but it would almost be worth while getting this moyer for you to see what you'd do yes it would be an interesting experiment it was the girl's turn to laugh now her laughter mocking his twould be interesting to see what you would do did you stand face to face with shanty moor

Starting point is 07:05:15 she sneered yes twould be an interesting experiment to see how you'd crawl for this man be said of the villain shanty moyer that he does not run from men to get help from women you bring shanty moyer in how would you do it with your mouth on second thought it would be cruel and unusual punishment to make any man listen to your tongue concluded reavers solemnly. McGregor growled and shook his head. There's no doubt that Shanty Moyer of the Black Heart is a hard-grown, experienced man, said he. Henschmen of his, three of them, Welshmen all, came through here while James and he were hunting the mine,

Starting point is 07:06:07 and he treated them like dogs, and they him like a chieftain. "'Twas one of them you slew with the rock out, yon, and the matter is very plain. Shanty Moyer has got word to them, and they have come to the mine and overpowered my brother James. You may judge of the strong hand he holds over his men, when a single one of them dares to raid my camp in my absence and steal the daughter of James McGregor for his chieftain,

Starting point is 07:06:37 a strong big man. T'will make it all the sweeter when we get him. He will die hard. also being of a thrifty breed you won't feel sorry at getting hold of whatever gold he's taken out suggested reavers that's understood said mcgregor and put a fresh chunk on the fire for the night end of chapter twenty five recording by roger maline chapter twenty six of the snow-burner by henry oyen this libravox recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter twenty six the look in a woman's eyes next morning hattie mcgregor after she had fed him his morning's meal said casually to reavers you have about six days more to pump my uncle and get all he knows about my father's mind in six days you should be strong enough to travel and so long and no longer do i keep you six days repeated reavers i may take it into my head to start before and that's all the good that would do you she replied promptly you don't go from here until you are firm on your feet and that will be six days about

Starting point is 07:08:14 your interest flatters me he mocked interest her laugh was bitter no stray wounded cur even goes from this camp till he's fit to rustle a living on the trail i could do no less even for you and if i should make up my mind and go i would shoot you if necessary to keep you here till my duty by you is done you spit fire you spit fire you fire laughed reavers hiding the admiration that leaped into his eyes and what makes you think i'm going hunting for this alleged mine when i depart from your too warm hospitality pooh tis easy enough to see that you're that kind you with your long hungry nose i was watching you and my uncle babbled away last night you've not a thing in the world but the clothes you stand in what would you do but go snooping around when you hear of gold i see it in your mean eyes well seek all you please you're welcome you'll not interfere with our quest in the first place you have not the heart to stay on the trail long enough to succeed in the second you'd backtrack quick enough did you once come face to face with shanty moyer and you i suppose this bad man shanty moyer will quail when he sees your red hair or perhaps you expect to charm him as you charmed the gentleman who had you tied on the sledge i do not know that she said without irritation but i do know that my uncle and i will run shanty moyer to earth and that he will pay in full for the wrong he has done

Starting point is 07:10:07 you silly childish fool he broke out haven't you brains enough to realize what an impossible wild goose chase you're on since it took your father five years to find the mine you ought to realize that it's pretty hard to locate since he didn't find it until this moyer a prospector came to help him you ought to understand that it takes a miner to find it you're no miner your uncle is no minor you've neither of you had the slightest experience in this sort of thing you wouldn't know the signs if you saw them you'll go wandering aimlessly around maybe walking over shanty moyer's head because since nobody has stumbled across his camp it must be so well hidden that it can't be seen unless you know right where to look find it you're a couple of children mayhap but we are not so aimless as you may think we go to fifty mile and to dumont's camp and stay sooner or later shanty moyer will come there to throw my father's gold over the bars and to worse it may be a month a year it doesn't make any difference but i suppose a great man like you has a quicker and surer way of doing it i have said reavers no doubt i could see your eyes grow greedy when you heard my uncle tell of gold oh no not especially taunted revers the gold is an incident shanty moyer is what interests me he seems to be a gentleman of parts i'm going to get him i'm going to bring you face to face with him i want to see if you face with him i want to see if you can't you see if you can't

Starting point is 07:12:02 could make good the strong talk you've been dealing out as to what you would do you interest me that way miss mcgregor and that way only it will be an interesting experiment to get you shanty moyer thank heaven she said grimly we'll soon be rid of you and your big talk then i can forget that any man gave me the name you gave me and lived to brag about it afterward he laughed as one laughs at a petulant child you will never forget me he said you know that you will not forget me if you live a thousand years i have forgotten better men than you she said and went out slamming the door that evening reever sat up by the fire and further plied old mcgregor with questions concerning the mine you say that your brother claimed the mine lay to the north he said i suppose you have searched the north first of all for a month i have done nothing else was the reply i have not gone far enough north my brother james said it lay north from here and twas north he and shanty moire went when they started on their last trip together from which my brother did not return or send word dumont's camp and fifty mile where moyers's been on sprees lay to the west northwest aye four days hard mushing to fifty mile dumont's hell-holes a day beyond and you think the mine lies to the north of that ay more like in a direct line north of here for twas so they went when they left here reavers hid the smile

Starting point is 07:13:58 of triumph that struggled on his lips. The deadlands were strange country to him, but in the land north of fifty mile, he was at home. In his wanderings he had spent months in that country, in company with many other deluded men, who thought to dig gold out of the bare, frozen tundra. He had found no gold there, and neither had anyone else. There was no gold up there, could be none there, and what was more important to him just now, there was no rock formation, nothing but muskeg and tundra. The mine could not be up north. It must, however, be within easy mushing distance of fifty mile in Dumont's camp, say two or three days, else Shanty Moyer would not have hide himself to these settlements when the need for riot and wassail overcame him.

Starting point is 07:14:53 "'You know the ground between here and fifty-mile, I suppose?' he said suddenly. "'Tis my trapping ground,' replied McGregor. "'So the mine couldn't be east of the settlements. It was to the west or the south. Your brother was particularly careful to keep the location of his find secret even from you.' "'Aye,' said McGregor sorrowfully, it had gone to his head he had searched so long and the find was so big he took no chances that i might know it or his daughter hattie only the thief shanty moir and he said that the mine lay to the north that might mean that it lay to the south west or south of the settlements there his search would lie it was new country to him and as mcgregor well knew before he gave him his confidence a man not knowing the land might wander aimlessly for years without covering those vast broken reaches but mcgregor did not know of the chippewa squaw tilly and her people

Starting point is 07:16:08 and now i suppose you will be able to find it soon snapped hattie mcgregor now that you have pumped my uncle dry i will said revers i'll be there waiting for you when you come along and duncan mcgregor chuckled deeply for the remainder of his stay at the cabin revers maintained a sullen silence toward the girl had she been different had she affected him differently he would have cursed her for daring to disturb him even to this slight extent but he knew that if she had been different she would not have disturbed him at all well he would soon be away and then he would forget her he had an object again his nature was such that he craved power and dominance over men as another man craves food he would not live at all unless he had power he had used this power too ruthlessly at cameron dam camp and it had been rested from him for the time being he was down among the herd but not for long shanty moyer had a mine some place south or west of the settlements and the mine yielded gold nuggets and gold dust for shanty moyer to fling across the bars gold spells power given gold reavers would have back his old-time power over men aye and over women not merely a power up there in the frozen north but in the world to which he had long ago belonged the world of men in dress clothes of light and soft rugs or women soft-speaking women shimmery gowns and white shoulders their eyes and apparel of hair

Starting point is 07:18:02 a constant invitation to the great adventure of love. After all, that was the world that he belonged in. And gold would give him power there, and in that whirl he would forget this red-haired semi-savage who looked him in the eye as no other woman ever had dared. His fists clenched as his thoughts lighted up the future. The snow-burner had died, but he would live again, and he would forget absolutely and completely haddie mcgregor on the morning of the sixth day duncan mcgregor gravely placed before him outside the cabin door a pair of light snow-shoes and a grub bag filled with food for four days

Starting point is 07:18:49 reavers strapped on the snow-shoes and ran his arms through the bag straps without a word stranger said mcgregor holding out his hand i did not like you when first i saw you i do not say i like you now but shake hands revers hurriedly shook hands and tore himself away he had resolved to go without seeing hattie and he was inwardly raging at himself because he found this resolution hard to keep he laid his course for the nearest rise of land half a mile away once over the rise the cabin would be shut out of sight and even though he should weaken and look back there would be no danger of letting her see bent far over head down lunging along with the cunning strides of the trained snowshoer he topped the rise and dropped down on the farther side there he paused to rest himself and draw a breath and as he stood there hattie mcgregor and her dog team swept at right angles across his trail she was riding boy fashion half sitting half lying on the empty sledge driving the dogs furiously for their daily exercise she did not speak she merely looked up at him as she went past then she was gone in a flurry of snow and reavers went forth on his quest of power with a cursive on his lips and in his heart the determination that no weakening memories of a girl's wistful eyes

Starting point is 07:20:31 should interfere with his aim. End of Chapter 26. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 27 of the Snow Burner by Henry Oyen. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 27 On the Trail of Fortune

Starting point is 07:21:02 revers traveled steadily for an hour at the best pace that was in him it was not a good pace for he was far from being in his old physical condition and the lift and swing of a snow-shoe will cramp the calves and ankle tendons of a man grown soft from long bed-lying no matter how cunning may be his stride he swore a little at first over his slow progress he was like a wolf suddenly released from a trap who desires to travel far swiftly and instantly and who finds that the trap has made him lame revers wanted to put the mcgregor's cabin and the scenes about it which might remind him of haddy behind him with a rush but the rush he soon found threatened to cripple him so he must perforce give it up the trail that he had set out to make was not one that any man least of all one recently convalescent could hope to cover in a single burst of speed he was going to the winter camp of the people of tilly the squaw the camp lay somewhere in the north-west how far away he did not know and it was no part of his plans to arrive at the camp of the chippewas depleted in energy and resource the role he had set out to play now called for the character of the snow-burner at his best dominant unconquerable therefore when he found that his first efforts at speed threatened to cripple him with the treacherous snowshoe cramp he resigned himself to a pace which would have shamed him had he been in good condition it was poor snowshoeing but at the end of an hour he had placed between himself and all possible sight of hattie mcgregor

Starting point is 07:22:58 the first ragged rock ramparts of the dead lands and he was content on the western slope of a low ridge he unstrapped his snowshoes and sat down on a bare boulder for a rest his heart throbbed nervously from his exertion and his lungs gasped weakly but with each breath of the crisp air his strength was coming back to him and in his head the brains of the snow-burner worked as of old he smiled with great self-satisfaction he was not considering his condition was not counting the difficulties that lay in his path he was merely picturing with lightning-like play of that powerful mental machinery of his the desperate nature of the adventure toward which he was traveling it was desperate enough even to thrill hell-camp reavers for probably never did born adventurer set forth of his own free will on a more deadly more hopeless-looking trail as he sat on the rock there in the dead lands reavers was in better condition than on his flight from Cameron Dam camp to this extent. The bullet hole in his shoulder was healed, and he had recuperated from the fever brought on by exposure and exhaustion. That was all. He was still the bare man with empty hands.

Starting point is 07:24:29 He possessed nothing in the world but the clothes he stood in, the food on his back, and the gift snowshoes on his feet. He had not even a knife, that might be called a weapon, for the case-knife that old McGregor had given him upon parting could scarcely be reckoned such. In this condition he was setting forth, first to find a cunningly hidden mine, second, to take it and keep it for his own from one shanty Moyer, who treated his henchmen like dogs and was looked up to as a chieftain. The snow-burner lived again as he contemplated the possibility of a clash with moyer if what the mcgregors had said was true shanty moyer was a boss man himself and as instinctively and eagerly as one ten-pronged buck tears straight through timber swamp and water to battle with another buck whose deep-voiced challenge proclaims him similarly a giant so reavers was going toward shanty moyer

Starting point is 07:25:35 he leaped to his feet with flashing eyes at the thought of what was coming then he remembered his weakened condition and sat down again for the immediate present until his full strength returned he must make craft take the place of strength when he was ready to start again revers took his bearings from the sun it being a clear day and laid his trail as straight toward the northwest as the formation of the dead deadlands would allow. He slept that night by a hot spring. A tiny rivulet ran unfrozen from the spring southward down into the maze of barren stone, a thread of dark, steaming water wandering through the white frozen snow. Had he been a little less tired with the day's march, Revers might have paid more attention to this phenomenon that evening. In the morning, he awoke with such eagerness to on toward his adventure that he marched off without bestowing on the stream more than a casual glance, and later he came to curse his carelessness.

Starting point is 07:26:47 Baring steadily toward the northwest, his course lay in the deadlands for the greater part of the day. Shortly before sundown, he saw with relief that ahead the rocks and ridges gave way to the flat tundra, with small clumps of stunted willows dotting the fall. flatness, like tiny islands in a sea of snow. Revers quickened his pace. Out on the tundra, he hurried straight to the nearest bunch of willows. Even at a distance of several rods, the chewed white branches of the willows told him their story, and he gave vent to a shout of relief. The caribou had been feeding there.

Starting point is 07:27:32 The Chippewas lived on the caribou in winter. he had only to follow the trail of the animals and he would soon run across the moccasin tracks of his friends the indians luck favored him more than he hoped for at his shout there was a crash in a clump of willows a hundred yards ahead and a bull caribou lumbered clumsily into the open at the side of him the beast snorted loudly and turned and ran from right and left came other crashes and in the gathering dusk the herd which had been stripping the willows fled in the wake of the sentinel bull their ungainly gait whipping them out of sight and hearing in uncanny fashion reaver smiled the camp of tilly's people would not be far from the feeding ground of the caribou he ate his cold supper crawled into the shelter of the willows and went to sleep dry drifting snow half hid the tracks of the caribou during the night and in the morning he was forced to wait for the late-coming daylight before picking up the trail the herd had gone straight westward and reavers followed the signs his eyes constantly scanning the snow from moccasin tracks or other evidence of human beings in the middle of the forenoon in a birch and willow swamp he he jumped the animals again.

Starting point is 07:29:05 They caught his scent at a mile's distance, and reavers crouched down and watched avidly as they streaked from the swamp to security. To the north of the swamp lay the open, snow-covered tundra, where even the knife-like fore-hoof of the caribou would have hard time to dig out a living in the dead of winter. To the south lay clumps of brush and stunted trees, ideal shelter and feed.

Starting point is 07:29:33 The animals went north. Revers nodded in great satisfaction. There were wolves or Indians to the south, probably the latter. Accordingly, he turned southward. Toward noon he found his first moccasin track, evidently the trail of a single hunter who had come northward, but not quite far enough on a hunt for caribou.

Starting point is 07:30:00 The track looped back southward and Revers trailed it. Soon a set of snowshoe tracks joined the moccasins, and Revers, after a close scrutiny had revealed the Chippewa pattern in the snow, knew that he was on the right track. The tracks dropped down on the bed of a solidly frozen river and continued on to the south. Other tracks became visible. When they gathered together and made a mountain,

Starting point is 07:30:30 hard-packed trail down the middle of the river, Revers knew that a camp was not far away and grew cautious. He found the camp, as the swift winter darkness came in, a group of half a dozen tepees set snugly in a bend of the river, one large tepee in the middle, easy recognizable as that of Tilly, the squaw, chief of the band. Revers sat down to wait. presently he heard the camp dogs growling and fighting over their evening meal and knew that they would be too occupied to notice and announce the approach of a stranger also at this time the people of the camp would be in their tepees supping heavily if the hunter's god had been favorably inclined and gnawing the cold bones of yesterday if that irrational deity had been unkind by the whining note in the growls of the dogs revers judged that the latter was the case this evening and when he moved forward and stood listening outside the flap of the big tepee he knew that it was so within an old squaw's treble rose faintly in a whining chant of which revers caught the despairing motif black is the face of the sun awo the time has come for the old

Starting point is 07:31:56 to die awo a wo there is meat only to keep alive the young a wo we who are old must die awo a any other white man but reavers would have shuddered at the terrible primitive story which the whale told revers smiled his old luck was with him the camp was short of meat and the hunters had given up hopes of making a kill with deft experienced fingers he unloosed the flap of the tepee there was no noise suddenly the old squaw's wail ceased those in the tepee looked up from their scanty supper the snow-burner was standing inside the tepee the flap closed behind him there were six people in the tepee the old squaw an old man two young hunters a young girl and tilly they were gathered around the firestone in the centre making a scant meal of frozen fish tilly by virtue of her position had the warmest place and the most fish no one spoke a word as they became aware of his presence only on tilly's face there came a look in which the traces of hunger vanished revers stood looking down at the group for a moment in silence then he strode forward thrust tilly to one side and sat down in her place for revers knew indians feed me he commanded tossing his grub bag to her he did not look at her as she placed before him the entire contents of the bag having served him she retired and sat down

Starting point is 07:33:54 behind him, awaiting his pleasure. Revers ate leisurely of the bountiful supply of cold meat that remained of his supply. When he had his fill, he tossed small portions to the old squaw, the old man, and the young girl. Hunters are mighty, he mocked in the Chippewa tongue, as the young men avidly eyed the meat. They kill what they eat. The meat they do not kill would stick in their mighty throats. Last of all, he beckoned Tilly to come to his side and eat what remained. Men eat meat, he continued, looking over the heads of the two hunters. Old people and children are content with frozen fish.

Starting point is 07:34:42 When I was here before, there were men in this camp. There was meat in the teepees. The dogs had meat. Now I see the men are all gone. one of the hunters raised his arms above his head a gesture indicating strength and let them fall resignedly to his side a sign of despair the caribou are gone snow-burner he said dully that is why there is no meat all gone the god of good kills has turned his face from us little bear to the old man how long have our people hunted the caribbean here? Little Bear lifted his head, his wizened, smoked face, more a black carved mask than a human countenance. Big Bear, my father, was an old man when I was born, he said slowly.

Starting point is 07:35:40 When he was a boy so small that he slept with the women, our people came here for the winter hunt. Oh, little bear, chanted the hunter. Great was your father, the hunter, the hunter. hunter. Great were you as a hunter in your young days. Was there ever a winter before when the caribou were not found here in plenty? The old man shook his head. Oh, snow-burner, said the hunter. These are the words of little bear, whose age no one knows. Always the caribou have been plenty here along this river in the winter. Longer than any old man's tails reach back, have they fed upon the willows. They are not here this winter. The gods are angry with us. We hunt. We hunt till we lie flat on the snow. We find no signs. There are men still here,

Starting point is 07:36:39 Snow-burner, but the caribou have gone. Have gone, have gone, have gone, have gone, ah wo, chanted the old squaw. Where do you hunt? asked reavers tersersely where we have always hunted where our fathers hunted before us was the reply along the river in the muskag and bush to the south we hunt the caribou are not there they are nowhere the gods have taken them away we must die and go where they are we must go wailed the old squaw the gods refuse us meet we must go her chant of despair was heard beyond the tepee in the smaller tense other voices took up the wail the women were singing the death song their primitive protest and acquiescence to what they considered the irrevocable pleasure of their dark gods revers waited until the last squaw had whined herself into silence even then he did not speak at once he knew that these simple people who for his deeds had given him the expressive name of snow-burner were waiting for him to speak and he knew the value of silence upon their primitive souls

Starting point is 07:38:05 he sat with folded arms looking above the heads of the two hunters you have done well he said nodding impressively but not looking at the two young men you have hunted as men who have the true hunter's heart but what can man do when the gods are against him the gods are against you they are not against me to-morrow i slay you your fill of caribou snow-burner whispered one of the hunters in the awe-stricken silence that followed this announcement there are no caribou here are you greater than the gods reivers looked at him and at the light in his eyes the young man drew back in fright to-morrow i give you your fill of meat he said slowly not only enough for one day but enough for all winter each tepee shall be piled high with meat even the dogs shall eat till they want no more i have promised i alone do you he pointed at the hunters bring me to-night the two best rifles in the camp if they do not shoot true to-morrow do not let me find you here when i return from the hunt and now the rest of you all of you go from here go i will be alone they rose and went out obediently except tilly who watched reevers face with avid eyes as they rose and went out obediently except tilly who watched reever's face with avid eyes as the young girl left the tepee. Then she crawled forward and touched her forehead to his hand,

Starting point is 07:39:52 for Revers had not bestowed upon the girl a glance. Presently, the hunters came back and placed their Winchesters at his feet. He examined each weapon carefully, found them in perfect order, and fully loaded, and dismissed the men with a wave of his arm. Tilly sat with bowed head, humbly waiting his pleasure, but Revers rolled himself in his blanket and lay down alone by the fire. I wish to sleep warm, he said. See that the fire does not go out till the night is half gone. Be ready to go with me in the hour before daylight. Have the swiftest and strongest team of dogs and the largest sledge hitched and waiting to bear us to the hunt. Go! Now!

Starting point is 07:40:43 Now I sleep. End of Chapter 27. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 28 of the Snow Burner by Henry Oyen. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 28 The Snowburner hunts. The snarling of dogs being put into harness awoke him in the morning, but he lay pretending

Starting point is 07:41:23 to sleep until tilly, having overseen the hitching up, came in, prepared food over the fire, which had not gone out all night, and came timidly and laid a hand on his shoulder. It was pitch dark when they went from the tee-pee. The dogs whined at the prospect of a dark trail, and the hunter who held them plied his whip savagely. With the rifles carefully stowed in their buckskin cases on the sledge and a big camp axe as their whole burden, Revers immediately took command of the dogs and headed down the river. Oh, snow-burner, chattered the frozen hunter in disappointment. There are no caribou to the south. It is a waste of strength to hunt there. There are no caribou anywhere for you, retorted Revers. For me, it does not make any difference

Starting point is 07:42:21 where i hunt the spirits are with me stay close to the tepees to-day if anyone follows my trail the spirits will refuse their help ayah mush under the sting of his skilfully wielded whip the big team whirled down the river reavers riding in front tilly behind but they did not go south for long a few miles below the camp reavers abruptly swung the dogs off the river bed and bore westward half a mile of this and he shifted and changed his course to right angles straight toward the north and now mush damn you mush for all that's in you he cried plying the whip you've got many miles to cover before daylight mush mush mush he held straight northward until he left the the bush and reached the open tundra at the spot where the caribou the day before had swung away farther north he knew that the herd being in a country undisturbed by man would not travel far from the willows where he had jumped them the day before and he held cautiously on their trail until the first gray of daylight showed a rise in the land ahead here he halted the dogs and crept forward on foot it was as he expected the caribou had halted on the other side of the height of land feeling secure in that region where no man ever came below him he could see them moving and he realized that he must act at once before they began their travels of the day tilly he whispered coming back to the sledge as soon as you can see the snow on the knoll ahead do you drive the dogs

Starting point is 07:44:21 around there to the right and swing to the left along the other side of the knoll. Drive fast and shout loud. Shout as if the wolves had you. There are caribou over the knoll. When the dogs see them, let them go straight for the herd. But wait till the snow shows white in the daylight. Snatching both rifles from their covers, he ran around the left shoulder of the knoll and ambushed in a trifle.

Starting point is 07:44:51 hollow. He waited patiently, one rifle cocked and in his hand, the other lying ready at his side. The light grew broader, the herd, just out of safe rifle shot, began milling restlessly. Suddenly, from around the right of the knoll, came the sharp yelp of a dog, as Tilly's leader, rounding the ridge, caught scent and sight of living meat ahead. The caribou stopped dead. Then Bedlam broke loose as the dog saw what was before them, and the caribou, trembling at the wolf yells of the dogs, broke into their swift lumbering run

Starting point is 07:45:35 and came streaking straight past Revers at fifty yards distance. Revers waited until the maddened beasts were running four deep before him. Then the slaughter began. no need to watch the sights here the crash of shot upon shot followed as quickly as he could pump the lever there were ten shots in each rifle and he fired them all before the herd was out of range then only the hideous yelps of the maddened dogs tore the morning quiet a dozen caribou some dead some kicking some trying to crawl away were scattered over the snow and revers nodded and knew that his hold on tilly's people was complete the dogs were on the first caribou now snarling yelping fighting eating for the time being as wild and savage as any of their wolf forebears tilly spilled from the sledge in the first mad rush of the team came waddling up to reavers and bowed down before him humbly snowburner i know you are only a man because i alone of my people have seen you among other white men she said yet you are more than other men

Starting point is 07:47:00 snow burner i have lived among white people and know that the talk of spirits is only for children but how knew you that the caribou were here the meat is there said reavers pointing at his kill your work is to take care of it the axe is on the sledge cut off as many saddles and hind quarters as the dogs can drag back to camp the rest we will cash here to your work do not ask questions he reloaded and put the wounded animals out of their misery each with a shot through the head and sat down and watched her as she slaved at her butcher's task tilly had lived among white people had been to the white man's school even but revers knew he would slacken his hold on her if he demeaned himself by assisting her in her toil when the dogs had stayed their hunger he leaped into their midst with clubbed rifle and knocked them yelping away from their prey when they turned and attacked him he coolly struck and kicked till they had enough then with a driving whip he beat them till they lay flat on the snow and whined for mercy by the time tilly had the sledge loaded and the rest of the kill cached under a huge heap of snow it was noon and the dogs started back with their heavy load open-mouthed and panting their excitement divided between fear of the man who had mastered them and the odor of fresh blood that reeked in their avid nostrils end of chapter twenty eight recording by roger maline chapter twenty nine of the snow-burner by henry oyen this libravox recording is in the public domain recording by

Starting point is 07:49:10 according by roger maline chapter twenty nine the white man's will that night in the camp at the river bend the indians feasted ravenously and reavers sitting in tilly's place as the new-made chief looked on without smiling oh snow-burner said the oldest man at last what is it you want with us our furs speak we obey your will furs are good replied reavers when a man has nothing else but gold is better and the gold that another man has is best of all the old man cackled respectfully oh snow-barner do you come to us for gold do you think we would sit here without meat if we had gold no snow-burner what we have you can have your will with the tribe from the tribe from the oldest to the youngest is our law. We owe you our lives. The strength of our young men is yours. The wisdom of our old heads is yours. But gold we have not. Do not turn your frown upon us, Snowburner. You must know it is the truth. Since when, said Reaver sternly, has my friend, old little bear, dared to say that the snow-burner has the foolishness of a woman in his head?

Starting point is 07:50:42 do you think i come seeking gold from you no it is the strength of your young men and the wisdom of your old heads that i want i seek gold you shall help me find it little bear raised his arms and let them fall on the eloquent indian gesture of helplessness white men have been here often to seek for gold the great snow-burner once was one of them they have digged holes in the ground they have taken the sand from creek bottoms did the snow-burner who finds caribou where there are none find any gold here no it is an old story there is no gold here revers leaned forward and spoke harshly listen little bear listen all you people there is gold within three days march from here much gold another man digs it you will find it for me i have spoken silence fell on the tepee the indians looked at one another little bear finally spoke with bowed head we do the snow-burner's will newa the youngest and strongest of the hunters turned to reavers respectfully oh snow-burner newa serves you with the strength of his leg and the keenness of his eyes newa knows that the snow-burner sees things that are hidden to us our oldest men say there is no gold here other white men say there is no gold here the snow-burner says there is gold near here the snow-burner sees what is hidden to others.

Starting point is 07:52:35 Nawa does not doubt. Nawa waits only the snow-burner's commands. But Nawa has been to the settlements at fifty-mile and Dumont's camp. He has heard the white men talk. They talk there of a man who carries gold like gunpowder and gold like bullets, instead of the white man's money. Newa has talked with Indians who have seen this man, they call him iron hair because his hair is black and stiff like the quills of a porcupine oh snow-burner nawa knows nothing he merely tells what he has heard is this the man the snow-burner too has heard of

Starting point is 07:53:19 revers looked around the circle of smoke blackened faces about the fire no expression betrayed what was going on behind those wood-like masks but reavers knew indians and sensed that they were all waiting excitedly for his answer that is the man he said and by the complete silence that followed he knew that his reply had caused a sensation that would have made white men swear what do you know of iron hair newa oh snow-burner said newa dolefully our tribe knows of iron hair to its sorrow two moons ago the big man with the head hair like a porcupine was at fifty mile for whiskey and food he hired small eyes and broken wing of our tribe to haul the food to his camp a day's traveling each way so he said the pay was to be big small eyes and broken wing went so much people know nothing more the sledges did not come back small eyes and broken wing did not come back so much people know nothing more the sledges did not come back small eyes and broken wing did not come back so much do we know of iron hair. Nawa has spoken. Once there were men in these Tee-Ps, said Revers, looking high above Nawa's head.

Starting point is 07:54:45 Once there were men who would have gone from their T-Pies to follow to the end of the trail of their brothers, who go and do not come back. Now there are no men. They sit in the T-Pee's with the women and keep warm. Perhaps small eyes and broken wing were men, and it is. did not care to come back to people who sit by their fires and do not seek to find their brothers who disappear we have sought o snow-burner said newa hopelessly do not think we have only sat by our fires we sought to follow the trail of iron hair out of fifty mile how ran the trail interrupted reavers between the north and the west we went to hunt our brothers but a storm had blotted out the trail iron hair had gone out in the storm who can follow when there is no trail to see once resumed reavers in the tone of contempt there were strong dog-drivers and sharp eyes here they would have found the camp of iron hair in those days our dogs still are strong our young men drive well our eyes are sharp even now snow-burner came newa's weary reply we searched even as we searched for the caribou we searched for the camps of iron hair

Starting point is 07:56:14 we found no camp there is no white man's camp in this country there is no camp at all we searched till nothing the size of a man's cap could be hidden the white men from dumont's camp and fifty mile have searched for the gold which white men are mad for they found nothing at the settlements the white men say this man must be the devil himself and go to hell for his gold because his camp certainly is not in this world where men can see it with their eyes and the cariboo were not in this world either mocked reavers nawa shook his head white men too have looked for the camp of iron hair many white men supplemented old little bear white men always look when they hear of gold they find gold if it is to be found the earth gives up its secrets to them snow-burner they could not find the place where iron hair digs his gold naywa and his hunters could not find the caribou said reavers there was no reply he had driven his will home oh snow-burner said nawa at last as little bear has said we do your will good revers rose and towered over them my will at present is that you go to your tepee's sleep soundly i have work for you in the morning he stood and watched while they filed stooped over through the low opening in the tepee wall

Starting point is 07:57:59 they went without question without will of their own a stronger will than theirs had taught them and held them from hence on they were wholly subservient to the superior mentality which was to direct their actions revers smiled old mcgregor had felt safe in telling about the mine a strange man had no chance to find it but mcgregor did not know of tilly's people revers suddenly turned toward the fire tilly was standing there arrayed in buckskin so white that she must have kept it protected from the t p smoke in hope of his coming at the side of her there came before reever's eyes the picture of hattie mcgregor's face as she had looked up at him when he was leaving the mcgregor cabin that look that came over his face then was new even to tilly you too get out he roared and till he fled from the tepee in terror end of chapter twenty nine recording by roger maline chapter thirty of the snow-burner by henry oyen this librovoc's recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter thirty any means to an end in the big tepee reavers rolled on his blankets and cursed himself for his weakness what had happened to him was he getting to be like other men that he would let the memory of an impudent red-haired girl interfere with his plans or pleasures had he not sworn to forget and yet here came the memory of her the wide gray eyes the suffering mouth the purity of the look of her rising before his eyes like a vision to shame him

Starting point is 08:00:03 to shame him to shame the snow-burner he understood the significance of the look she had given him and which had stood between him and tilly womanhood pure noble womanhood was appealing to his better self his better self revers laughed a laugh so ghastly that it might have come from a bare skull his better self if a man believed in things like that he had to believe in the human race, had to believe in goodness and badness, virtue and sin, right and wrong, and all that silly effeminate rot. Revers didn't believe in that stuff. He knew only one life law, that of strength over weakness, and that was the law he would live and die with, and Miss Hattie McGregor could not interfere. With his terrible willpower, He erased the memory of her from his mind. He did not erase the resentment at his own weakness.

Starting point is 08:01:10 On the contrary, the resentment grew. He would revenge himself for that moment of weakness. There were two ways of finding Moyer and the mysterious mine. One, the way he had first planned to follow, was to scatter his Indians, and as many others as he could bribe with caribou meat, over the country lying to the south of fifty mile, where he knew the mine must be. Moyer or his men must show themselves sooner or later.

Starting point is 08:01:43 In time the Indians would find Moyer's camp. But there was also a shorter and surer way, a shameful way. Moyer, by the talk he had heard of him, came to fifty-mile Anne Dumont's camp for such whiskey and feminine companies might be found. He had even sent one of his henchmen to steal Hattie McGregor. Such a move proved that Moyer was desperate, and by this time, by the non-appearance of the would-be kidnapper, the chief would know that his man was either killed or captured, and that no hope for a woman lay in that quarter. Moire's next move would be to come to 50-mile and Dumont's, or to send a man there, to procure the means of salving his disappointment.

Starting point is 08:02:36 And Revers had two attractive women at his disposal, Tilly and the young girl who was nearly beautiful. Thus did Revers overcome his momentary weakness, the black shamefulness of his scheme he laughed at. Then he went to sleep. He gave his orders to Tilly early night. next morning. Have this tee-p and another one loaded on one sledge, he directed. Have a second sledge loaded with caribou meat. Do you and the young girl prepare to come with me?

Starting point is 08:03:13 We are going on a long journey. You will both take your brightest clothes. He waited with set jaws while his orders were obeyed. No weakness anymore. There was only one law. the strong over the week and he was the strong one a call from tilly apprised him that all was ready and he strode forth to find newa the young hunter waiting with the two women ready for the trail how so he demanded did i say aught about newa oh snow-burner whispered tilly neopah is to be newa's squaw with the coming of spring they wish to go together and i do not wish them to go together said reavers harshly give me that rifle he took the weapon from newa's hands

Starting point is 08:04:11 do you stay here and eat caribou meat and grow fat against the coming of spring newa snow-burner said newa a flash of will lighting his eyes for the moment does neoppa come back to me perhaps said reavers cocking the rifle but if you try to follow you will never come back is it understood nawa bowed his head and turned away neopa made as if to run to him but reavers caught her brutally and threw her upon the lead sledge he had resolved to travel the way of shame no matter what the cost to others mush get on he roared at the dogs and with the rifle ready and with a backward glance at nawa he drove away for fifty mile and dumont's camp end of chapter thirty recording by roger maline chapter thirty one of the snow-burner by henry oyen this librovoc's recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter thirty one of the snow-burner by henry oyen chapter thirty one of the snow-burner by hs chapter thirty one the squaw man a day after reavers drove out of the indian camp dumont's camp had something to talk about a half-witted crippled-up squaw man went through with a couple of squaws and the youngest of the squaws was a bute the old bum hadn't stopped long just long enough to trade a chunk of caribou meat for a bottle of hooch but long enough nevertheless to let the gang get a peek at the squaws dumont's camp opined that it was a good thing for the old cripple that he hadn't stayed longer else he might have found himself minus his squaws especially the young one

Starting point is 08:06:19 but dumont's camp would have been mightily puzzled had it seen how the limp and stoop went out of the squaw man's body the moment he had left their camp behind how the foolish leer and stuttering speech disappeared from his mouth and how straight-backed and stern visaged he threw the bottle of hooch away in contempt and hurried on toward fifty mile reavers had played many strange parts in his tumultuous life and his squaw man was a masterpiece fifty mile had its sensation early next morning the half-witted crippled-up squaw man with the two extremely desirable squaws came through stopped for another bottle of hooch and drove on and made camp just outside the settlement he certainly was one soft-headed old bum said jack raftery leaning on the packing-case that served as bar in his log cabin saloon yes man he certainly is bumped in the bean and locoed in his arms give me that chunk of meat there for a bottle of hooch about fifty pounds it'll weigh i'll give him a gallon but he grins foolish and says bottle one bottle drag your meat in says i well gents will you believe he couldn't make it no sir paralyzed in the arms or something that young squaw his did the toting a beute gents there never was anything put up in a brown hide to touch it and that low-coat old bum running around loose with it tempting providence that's what he is when he comes parading round real men folks with skirts like them shouldn't wonder if something had happened to him one of these cold days

Starting point is 08:08:16 looks like he might a been an awful good man in his day too well built reckon he's been used mighty rough to be locoed and crippled up the way he is i reckon drawled black pete who ran the games at rafteries when there was any money money in sight. I reckon, too, maybe he get handle more rough some time if he's hang around long with them two squaw. That small squaw's too chic, she'd have belonged to an old bum like him. The assembled gents laughed. Had they seen the old bum at that moment, their laughter would have been cut short. Revers, in a gully out of sight of the settlement, had thrown away his hooch, pitched camp, tethered the dogs, and made all secure, with a swiftness and efficiency that belied the characterization Black Pete had applied to him. He had the two teepees set up far apart, the dogs tied between them,

Starting point is 08:09:21 and Tilly and Neoppa had one teepee and Revers the other, alone. Having made camp, Revers knew what the boys would expect of him in his character of sodden squad, man. Having resolved to use the most shameful means in the world to achieve his end, he played his base part to perfection. Do you take this chunk of meat, he directed Tilly, and go down to the saloon and get another bottle of Hooch. Yes, yes, I know I have destroyed one bottle. You are not to ask questions but to obey my commands. Go down and trade the meat for Hooch. Do not stop to speak to the white men. Come back at once. Go. But down in rafteries, the assemblage had no hint of these swift changes, and they laughed merrily at Black Pete's remarks.

Starting point is 08:10:20 What do you reckon his lay is, Jack? asked one. Booze, replied Raftery, instantly. Nothing else. When you see a man who's sure been as good a man in his day as this relic, trailing round with squaw folks, you can just naturally whittle a little marker for him and paint on it. Another white man as the hooch he's got, Sabby? I traits him out as some prospector who's got crippled up and been laying out amongst the Indians, with a good supply of the old frostbite cure alongside of him. Nothing to do but to hit the jug often enough to keep from getting sober and remembering what he used to was. Sabby? Been laying out, sucking the neck of a jug till his old thinkers got twisted.

Starting point is 08:11:12 I've seen dozens of them. You can't fool me when I see one, and I saw him when he was coming through the door. Ran out of hooch and was afraid he'd get sober, so he comes down here to get soaked up some more. Brings his load of meat along to trade in, and these two brown dolls to make sure, in case the caribou have been down this way, which they ain't. Bet the drinks against two bits that he'll be chasing one of the squaws down here for another bottle before an hour's gone. They all do. I've seen his kind before. Black Pete took the bet. Because I'm unlucky, moi, lately, and I want to lose this bet, he explained.

Starting point is 08:12:00 Raftery laughed homerically. what's on your chest jack demanded one of his friends i was just thinking gurgled the saloonist what had happened in case this stiff gent iron hair was to run in about this time by gar laughed pete an iron hair he's just bout due at that moment tilly came waddling in laid down her bundle of meat before raftery and said one bottle what i tell you chuckled raftery handing over the liquor boss get em laid out eh he said to tilly but tilly did not pause for conversation she whipped the bottle under her blanket and waddled out without a word well i'm a son of a gun proclaimed raftery that old bum has got em well trained anyhow black pete pulled his beard reflectively come to think he mused aloud there was one rifle on those sledge i think maybe i know go visit these old bum his camp till she's a little better acquaint with moh end of chapter thirty one recording by roger maline chapter thirty two of the snow-burner by henry oyen this librivox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline.

Starting point is 08:13:43 Chapter 32. The Scorn of a Pure Woman And Fifty Mile Talked. It talked to all who came in from the white waists of the country around. It talked in its tents. It talked while trifling with Black Pete's game of no chance. It talked around raftery's bar. It talked so loudly that men heard it up at Dumont. camp. From fifty mile and Dumont's, the tock spread up and down the trails, and even out to solitary cabins and dugouts where there were no trails. Wherever men were to be found in that desolate region, the talk of fifty miles soon made its way, and the talk was mainly of the young squaw, of the old crippled-up squaw man, and that she was of a beauty to set men's heads a whirling

Starting point is 08:14:37 and make them murder each other for her possession. Men meeting each other on the trails asked three questions in order. Where are you traveling? How's your tobacco? Heard about the butte of a little squad down to fifty mile? Men traveling in the direction of the settlements bent their steps toward fifty mile, even though it lay far out of their course. Men traveling in the opposite direction passed the news to all. all whom they bespoke. Of those who came to the settlement, many strolled casually up the gully

Starting point is 08:15:13 where the squaw man had his camp. And all of them strolled down again with nothing to brag about but a drink of hooch and a mouthful of talk with the squaw man. I don't quite follow that gent's curves, summed up jackeraftery, speaking for the gang. He gets enough hooch here to keep any human gent laid out twenty-six hours out of the twenty-four. But somehow, whenever you come mozieing up to his camp, he's on his pins, ready to give you a drink and a lot of low-code talk. Yes, sir, he sure is locoed, until he needs a guardian, but for one, I don't go to do no rushing of his lady folks, not while he's able to stand on his pins and keep his eyes moving. Jents, there's been one awful stiff man in his day,

Starting point is 08:16:04 and his condition goes to show what booze'll do to the best of him and ought to be a warning to us all line up men about third drink time for me there is something about him agreed black pete i don't know what tis but there is something that whispers to me look out while fifty mile thus debated his character reivers lay in his tepee carefully playing the shameful part he it assumed he knew that by now the news of his arrival or rather the arrival of neoppa in tilly had been brooded far and wide around the settlements soon the news must come to the ears of the man for whose benefit the scheme had been arranged shanty moyer being what he was would become interested when he heard the descriptions of neoppa and also because he was what he was he would waste no time falter at no risks, stop at nothing when his interest had been aroused. Revers had only to wait. Moyer would come. The only danger was that Hattie and her uncle might come before him. On the third day after the squawman's arrival, Fifty Mile had a second sensation. That morning, as Revers, staggering artistically, came out of Raftery's house of poison,

Starting point is 08:17:32 he all but stumbled over a sledge before the door. With his assumed grin of idiocy growing wider, he examined the sledge carefully, next the team which was hitched to it, then lifted his eyes to the man and woman that stood beside the outfit. At first glance he had recognized the sledge, and he needed the time thus gained to recover from the shock.

Starting point is 08:17:59 Hello, Mac, old-timer! he bellowed drunkenly at Duncan McGregor. Come have a drink with me. McGregor looked at him dowerly, disgust and anger on his big red face. Haddy, at his side, looked away. Her lips pressed tightly together to control the anger rising within her.

Starting point is 08:18:22 She had gone deadly pale at the first sight of Revers. Now the red of shame was burning in her cheeks. I shook him. hands with you, stranger, when you left our roof, said McGregor, gruffly. I do not do so now. I thought you were a man. I never did, snapped Hattie, still looking away. I knew it was not a man. Something like a sob seemed to wrench itself from her chest, in spite of her firm lips. I knew it was just what it is. Suddenly, she flared around.

Starting point is 08:19:01 on Revers, her face waned with mingled pain, shame, and anger. Now you are doing just what you are fit for. I've heard, living on your squaws. And you dared to talk big to me, to a decent woman? Blood of my father. You dared to talk to me at all. Drive on, uncle. We'll go on to Dumont's.

Starting point is 08:19:27 We'll get away from this thing. It pollutes the air. ha'ya bones mush mush mush mush reavers leered and grinned foolishly for the benefit of the onlookers as the sledge went on out of sight see he said boastfully i used to know white folks once yes sir used to know lot of em don't now only know indians so long boys got to go home all that day he sat alone in his tepee tilly came to him at noon with food and he cursed her and drove her away in the evening she came to him again and again revers ordered her not to lift the flap on his tepee tilly by this time was fully convinced that the snow-burner had gone mad else why had he repulsed all her advances why had he refused to look at the young and attractive neoppa and now he even spurned food yes the snow-burner had gone mad as white men sometimes go mad in the north but she was still his slave that was her fate reaver sat alone in his tepee once more fighting to put away the face of hattie mcgregor as it rode before his eyes a burning searing memory he was not faltering

Starting point is 08:21:01 the shame for him because he was a white man because she had once had him under her roof that hattie mcgregor had suffered as she saw him now did not swerve him in the least from the way he was going he had decided to do it this way that was settled the shame and degradation of his assumed position he had reckoned and counted as not in the game he was playing any means to an end these same men who were despising him for a sodden squaw man would bow their heads to him when the game was won and he would win it the memory of the face of hattie mcgregor would not halt him in the least rather it would spur him on for when the game was won he would laugh at her and forget for the present it was a little hard to forget that was why he sat alone in the tepee and swore at tilly when she timidly offered to bring him food so the red-headed girl thought that of him did she that he was living on his squaws well let her think it what difference did it make she thought he was that base did she all right she would pay for it all when the time came revers roused himself and strode outdoors his thoughts persisted in including hattie mcgregor in their ramblings as he sat in the tepee and he felt oppressed what he needed was to mingle with other men he'd forget then he condemned the company that was to be found at rafteries but his need for distraction drove him and assuming the stoop limp and leer of the sodden squaw man he slumped off down the gully to the settlement

Starting point is 08:22:57 it was a clear starlit night and as he slumped along he mused on what a fine night it would be for picking out a trail by the stars as he approached rafteries he saw and heard evidence of unusual activity in the bar. A team of eight dogs, hitched to an empty sledge, was tied before the door. Within there was sound of riot and wasale. Over the sound of laughter and shuffling feet rose a voice which drowned the other noises

Starting point is 08:23:32 as the roar of a lion drowns the chirping of birds, a voice that rattled the windows in a terrifying rendition of Jack Hall. oh i killed a man tis said so tis said i killed a man tis said so tis said i kicked his bloody head and i left him lying dead yes i left him lying dead damn his eyes revers opened the door and strode in silently and unobserved he made a base contemptible figure as stooped and shuffling a foolish leer in his face he stood listening apologetically to the song the broad back of the singer was turned toward him as the song ended raftery's roaming eye caught sight of reavers ah there he is here he is iron hair here's here's the man with the squaws i was telling you about the man swung around and reavers was face to face with the man he sought shanty moyer end of chapter thirty two recording by roger maline chapter thirty three of the snow-burner by henry oyen this libravox recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter thirty three of the snow-burner by henry oyen chapter thirty three

Starting point is 08:25:05 shanty moyer reaver's tumultuous scheme of life often had led him into situations where his life had hung on his ability to play artistically the part he had assumed but never had his self-control been put to such a test as now when he faced shanty moyer had he not prepared himself for a shock his surprise must surely have betrayed him for even the snow-burner could not look upon shanty moyer without a maze of his surprise must surely have betrayed him for even the snow-burner could not look upon shanty moyer without a maze to reavers the first impression that came was that he was looking at something as raw and primitive as the sources of life itself shanty moyer had little or nothing in common with the other men in the room he was even shaped differently he belonged so it seemed to revers to the age of the sabretooth tiger the long-haired mammoth and a diet of roots and raw flesh there was about a bound him the suggestion of man just risen to the dignity of an upright position his body was enormous longer wider denser than a man's body should be the legs beneath it short and bowed there was no neck that could be seen his arms seemed to begin close up to the ears and ran downward in curves like giant calipers the hands even with the knees the head fitted the body squat and enormous the forehead running abruptly back from the brows and the face so flat and bony that the features seemed merely to dent it the brow bones came down and half hid the small eyes the nose was small but a pair of great nostrils ran back in the skull the mouth was huge yet it seemed small and there was more of the head below

Starting point is 08:27:05 it than above. Iron hair was well nicknamed. His hair was probably three inches long, and it stood out straight from his head, black, wiry, menacing. Revers, with his foolish grin growing larger on his face, appraised Moyer with considerable admiration. Here was the real thing, the pure, unadulterated man-animal, unweakened, untouched by a feminizing civilization. This man knew no more law or conscience than the ancient cave tiger, whose only dictates sprang from appetite. Revers had rejected morals because it pleased him to run

Starting point is 08:27:50 contrary to all the rest of the world. This man never knew that right or wrong existed. What his appetites told him to take, he took as a matter of course. And it was written in his face, that his appetites were as abnormally powerful as was he. Revers had been a leader of men because his mind was stronger than the minds of the men with whom he had dealt. This man was a leader because of the blind, unintelligent force that was in him. And inwardly, the fighting man in Revers glowed at the prospects of the Titanic clash that would come between them. Shanty Moyer, as he looked from under his bony brows, saw exactly what Revers wished him to see,

Starting point is 08:28:38 a drunken, broken, squaw man, so weak that he could not possibly be the slightest source of trouble. Being primitive of mind, he listed Revers at once as helpless. Having done this, nothing could alter his opinion, and Revers had gained the vantage that he sought. Moyer threw back his head and laughed, softly and behind set teeth when his quick inspection of reavers was ended so that's the wasster who has got the squaws that has the camp upset he said languidly hey sonnies are no men among you that have not got woman stealing by this the waster does not look hard to take a young woman from revers broke into an apologetic snigger don't you try to steal you

Starting point is 08:29:31 my two kids, mister," he whined. You'd be mighty sorry for your bargain if you did. How so, old son? demanded Moyer, with a tolerant laugh. Them kids, if you was to steal them without my permission, one or both of them, they'd make you wish you'd never seen them, lest I was along, chuckled Revers. Speak it up, old son, said Moyer sharply. what's behind thy fool's words them kids they'd die if they was took away from me replied reavers seriously and they'd take the man who stole em to the happy hunting ground along with him he winked prodigiously lots of funny things in this old world mister you wouldn't think to look at me that those two kids wouldn't want to live if i wasn't with em but that's the fact

Starting point is 08:30:31 i wasn't always what i'm now mister once well i was different once and them kids will just naturally manage to poison the first man who touches em unless i give the word the men of fifty mile looked at one another and black peat shuddered the old mootcher sure's got em trained iron hair said raftery he's locoed but those squaws look up to him like a little tin god, and that's no lie." "'Poison?' repeated Moyer, doubtingly. "'Art a medicine man, old son?' Revers shook his head loosely. "'Not me, mister, not me,' he chuckled. "'It's something Indian that I don't savvy.

Starting point is 08:31:22 But there's a couple graves way up where we came from, and they hold what's left of a couple of bad men who raided my camp and stole my kids. i don't know how it happened mister the kids come back to me the same night and the two bad men were stiff and black as black as your hair mister after the first kiss the kiss of death chimed in black pete crossing himself i have heard of it sacre i am the lucky dog moir shanty moyer nodded he too had heard of the method by which indian women of the north on rare occasions revenge themselves upon the brutal white men who steal them from their people having often indulged in that thrilling sport himself moyer was well versed in the obstacles and dangers to be met in its pursuit being crafty with the craft of the lynx that eschews the poisoned deer carcass he had thus thus thus far managed to select his victims from the breed of squaws that do not seriously object to playing a sabine part and he had no intention of decreasing his caution now although what men had spoken of neopa had fired his blood ho ho i see how it is old son he said with a grin of appreciation dost manage well for a wester he suddenly drew his hand from his mackinaw pocket

Starting point is 08:32:55 and held it out, opened toward Revers. Two jagged nuggets of dull gold, the size of big buckshot, jiggled on his palm, and Moyer laughed uproariously at Revers, at the side of them, bent forward, rubbing his hands together, apparently frantic with avarice. "'A, hey!' drawled Moyer, closing his fist as Reaver's fingers reached for the gold.

Starting point is 08:33:22 "'I thought so.' "'Tis tis to-y, cub gold they want eh old sunny well do thee bring me the cattle to look at and we'll try to bargain come up to my camp chattered reavers eyeing the fist that contained the nuggets he was anxious to get out of the bar he had no fear that the primitive moyer would be able to see any flaw in his acting but black pete and jack raftery were less primitive and he knew that they had not quite accepted him for the weakling that he pretended to be. Come and visit me. Buy a bottle of hooch, and we go up to my camp.

Starting point is 08:34:04 Moyer tossed one of the nuggets across the bar to raftery. Is it good enough for a round, lad? He laughed. Raftery cunningly hefted the nugget and set out the bottles. Good for two, he replied. Moyer tossed over the second nugget.

Starting point is 08:34:24 Then that's good for four, said he. Do you boys drink it up while I'm away to the camp of old Sunny here? A bottle, raftery. Now, Sunny, do thee lead on, and if I'm not satisfied, I'll ring thy neck to let thee know my displeasure. End of Chapter 33. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 34 of the Snow Burner by Henry Oyen. this librovoc's recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter thirty four the bargain revers led the way to his tepee and bade moyer wait a moment by the fire while he spoke to tilly

Starting point is 08:35:21 dress yourself and neoppa in your newest he commanded then do you both come in to me bringing food for two men what's wrong sonny laughed moyer seeing reevers come under the door flap alone hast lost the whip over thy cattle they're getting some grub ready replied revers fawningly they'll be here in a minute let's have a drink out of that bottle mister that's the stuff he tipped the bottle to his lips and lowered the burning liquor in a fashion that made even moyer open his eyes in admiration. Takeest a man-sized nip for a broken waster, Sonny, he chuckled, and measuring with his fingers on the bottle a drink larger than Revers, he tossed it gurgling down his hairy throat. Revers took the bottle from his hand.

Starting point is 08:36:21 I always take an eye-opener before my real drink, said Revers, and, measuring off twice the amount that Moyer had taken, he drank it off like so much water. The fiercest liquor made was to Revers, only a mild stimulant. On his abnormal organization, it merely had the effect of intensifying his characteristics. When he wished to drink whiskey, he drank out of full-sized water tumblers. When he did not wish to drink, he put liquor from him with contempt. Now he handed the bottle back to his.

Starting point is 08:37:00 to moir the latter looked at him and at the bottle a trifle puzzled but not dismayed reavers had apparently unconsciously passed the challenge to him and it was not in his nature to play second to any man in a drinking bout shouldst have taken all thee wanted that time sonny said moyer and finished the bottle no more muttered revers vacantly gallons replied moyer whisky enough to drown you dead if your women satisfy look at them said reavers as the door flap was flung back here they are tilly came in first she was dressed in white buckskin her hair hanging in two thick braids down her shoulders neopa followed and the wistfulness that had come into her face from thinking of newa made her the more interesting in shanty moyer's eyes a glance from neoppa's faun-like eyes at the big man whom reavers had brought home with him and then her eyes sought the ground and she trembled tilly looked at moyer with interest save for the snow-burner she had never seen so masterful a man she looked at reevers and saw that he was not watching her so she smiled upon moir slyly she was the snow burner's slave his will was her law but since he refused to notice her smiles it would do no harm to smile upon a man like this iron hair just a little when the snow-burner was not looking moyer read the smile wrong and spoke sharply to reevers take the young one outside for two minutes i've a word to say to this one

Starting point is 08:39:00 to his surprise reivers rose without demur thrust neoppa out before him and dropped the flap listen whispered moir swiftly in her own tongue to tilly we will put this man out of the way it is easily done then you will go with me you and the young one and you will be first in my tepee and the young one your slave speak quickly we will be out on the trail in an hour Still smiling invitingly, Tilly shook her head. "'The snow-burner is the master,' she said seriously. "'I will slay the man who does him harm. "'I cannot do what he does not wish. "'I cannot go away from him.' "'But when he is dead, fool, he can have no wish.'

Starting point is 08:39:54 The smile went from Tilly's full lips, and she took a step toward the opening. stop laughed moyer softly i merely wished to know if you are a true woman all right old sunny he called come on in i takest off cap to you lad he continued as revers and neoppa re-entered hast got thy squaws fair buffaloed his eyes ran over the shrinking neoppa in cruel appraisal now old sunny out with it what's thy idea of the bargain revers looked longingly toward the empty whisky bottle said enough laughed moyer shall have all the hooch thy guts can hold reivers shook his head a sly grin appearing on his lips hooch is good said he but gold is better go on said moyer sullenly you've got gold continued revers i saw it you've got lots of gold i've heard them talk about you down at rafteries you want us to go with you when you go back to your camp don't you moyer nodded angrily i want the women he said brutally i might be able to use you too revers cackled and rubbed his hands

Starting point is 08:41:31 you've got to use me if you're going to have the women he chuckled you know that by this time don't you mister again moyer's black head nodded in grudging assent what then he demanded he demanded i'm a handy man around a camp mister whined reivers you got to take me along if you take the women but i can be a help canst cook snapped moyer suddenly ha ha can i cook revers rubbed his hands i'm an old-i used to be an old sourdough mister did you ever see one of the old timers who couldn't cook might use thee then said moyer my fool of a cook has gone send him after a woman for me and he hasn't come back happened he got himself killed the fool won't kill him myself if he ever shows up without the woman well then if that's settled what's the bargain revers appeared to struggle with indecision in reality the situation was very clear to him him moyer had listed him as a weakling therefore he had no fear of taking him to the mine once there moyer would be confident of winning the loyalty of the two women from their apparently helpless master and as it was apparent that the man whom revers had slain with a rock had been moyer's cook it was probable that he was sincere in his offer to use reavers in that capacity in the spring said revers in reply to moyer's question me and my two kids go north again back among their own people in the spring growled moyer canst go to hell for all of me

Starting point is 08:43:30 i'll be traveling then myself speak out sunny how much plenty of hooch for me all winter revers leered with drunken cunning i said plenty retorted moyer what else gold said reavers rubbing his hands gold enough to buy me hooch for all next summer moyer smiled at the miserable request of the man he was dealing with his eyes ran over the plump tilly over neoppa the supple child woman done he laughed and now old son break up thy camp while i load my sledge with hooch be ready to travel when i come back i'll bring plenty of liquor but none to be drinked till we're on the trail we'll travel fast and far to-night i warn thee but willst have a snug berth in my camp when we get there yes he laughed as he hurried out wilt not be able to tear thyself away end of chapter thirty four recording by roger maline chapter thirty five of the snow-burner by henry oyen this librovoc's recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter thirty five the test of the bottle under reever's sharp orders given in a way that would have startled moyer had he heard tilly and neoppa hurriedly packed the dog sledges with their belongings harnessed the dogs and hooked them to the traces oh snow-burner said neoppa timidly do we go back to newa

Starting point is 08:45:32 in good time said revers for the present you have only to obey my wishes get on the first sledge with bowed head the girl took the place directed and revers turned to find tilly smiling craftily at his elbow snow burner she said softly this is the man iron hair who digs the gold which you want we go to rob him i understand you play a drinking to fool iron hair it is well tilly will help the snow-burner we will kill iron hair and take his gold then the snow-burner will come with tilly to her tepee revers looked at her and for the first time he felt a revulsion against the base part he was playing would he return with tilly to her tepee when this affair was over would he go on with his old way of living the base part of him triumphant over the better self the strange questions wrapped like triphammers on reever's conscience get on the sledge he growled choked with anger she did not stir he struck her cruelly tilly smiled that was like the snow-burner of old and she waddled to her place without further question. Up the gulch from rafteries came Moyer quietly leading his dogs,

Starting point is 08:47:11 the sledge well loaded with cases of liquor. "'We'll have a kiss, first of all,' he laughed excitedly, and catching Neopa in his arms tossed her in the air, kissed her loudly on her averted cheeks, and set her back on the sledge. "'Now, old son, follow and follow quiet. when iron hair travels he wants no fifty-mile gang on his trail say nothing but keep me in sight heyah mush mush out of the gully he led the way swiftly and silently to the open country beyond the settlement there he circled in a confusing way bearing northward after an hour he began circling again doubling on his trail to make a little bit of a small way to make a shortward after an hour he began circling again doubling on his trail to make a it hard for anyone to follow, but finally Revers knew by the stars that the course lay to the

Starting point is 08:48:09 south. Another series of false twists in the trail, then Moyer struck out in determined fashion on a straight course, east and a trifle south from fifty mile. Revers, silently guiding his dogs in the tracks made by Moyer breathed hard as he read the stars. By the pace that Moyer was setting, it seemed certain that he now was making for his camp in a direct line. But if so, if this trail were held, it would take them back toward the deadlands, straight into the country that was Duncan McGregor's trapping ground. Could the mine be in that region? If so, how could it have escaped the notice of the old trapper. It was well past midnight when Reaver saw the team ahead disappear in a depression in the ground and heard Moyer's voice loudly calling a halt. By the time Revers came up with his

Starting point is 08:49:12 two sledges, Moyer had unhitched his dogs on the flat of a frozen riverbed and was hurriedly dragging a bottle from one of the cases on a sledge. "'Hell's fire, old son! Onholly! hook and camp, the liquor's dying in me, and I had just begun to feel good. I was wondering, gasped Revers in assumed exhaustion. I was wondering how much farther you are going before you opened a bottle. Have your squaws get out the grub, ordered Moyer, jamming down the cork. And now you and me will see who drinks the other off his feet. For reply, Revers promptly gulped down a drink that would have strangled most men. Good enough, admitted Moyer.

Starting point is 08:50:04 Here's better, though, and he instantly improved on Reaver's record. The first bottle was soon emptied, a quart of raw, fiery hooch, and a second instantly broached. The food was forgotten by Moyer. The women were forgotten. his primitive mind was obsessed with the idea of pouring more burning poison down his throat than this broken-down waster who dared to drink up to him bolt upright he sat laughing and singing never taking his eyes off reavers while drink after drink disappeared down their throats no movement of reavers escaped moyer's vigilant watch for signs of weakness as reavers gave no apparent sign of toppling over he grew enraged hell's fire wilt sit here till daylight if thou wilt he roared drink on there tis thy turn tilly and neopa got food ready from the grub bag and sat waiting patiently the dogs ceased moving bedded down in the snow and went to sleep and still the contest went on finally revers discerned the slight thickening of speech and the glassy stare in his opponent's eyes that he had been waiting for then and not until then did he begin to betray apparent signs of failing

Starting point is 08:51:39 strong liquor mister he stuttered awful strong liquor moyer cackled in drunken triumph tis bear's milk old son tis made for men drink dam ye drink again revers drank drank longer and heavier than he had yet done there take the maid of that mister and you'll know you've been drinking he stammered moyer's throat by this time had been burned too raw to taste and his sight was too dulled to measure quantities. He tipped the bottle up and drained it. The dose would have killed a normal man. To Shanty Moyer, it brought only an inclination to slumber. His head fell forward on his breast. With a thick-tonged snarl, he sat up straight and looked at Revers. Revers hiccoughed, swayed in his seat, and collapsed with a drunken clatter. Moyer smiled. He winked in unobserved triumph.

Starting point is 08:52:55 Then the superhuman strength with which he had fought off the effects of the liquor snapped like a broken wire, and he pitched forward on his face into the snow. End of Chapter 35. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 36 of the snow burner by Henry Oyen. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline. malign chapter thirty six the snow-burner begins to weaken reavers stood up looked down at his fallen rival and yawned body he mused but for a hard head there lies you

Starting point is 08:53:49 he bent cautiously over moyer the welshman lay with his face half buried in the crusted snow his lungs pumping like huge bellows and the snow flying flying in gusts from around his nostrils at every expulsion of breath. Revers laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. There was no movement. Hey, mister, he called. The undisturbed breathing showed that the words had not penetrated to the clouded consciousness. Deliberately, Revers turned the big man over on his back. Moyer lay as stiff and dead as a log. With swift, Deft hands, Revers searched him to the skin, looking for a trail map, a mark, or a sign of any kind that might indicate the location of Moyer's mine. He was not greatly disappointed when he failed to find anything of the sort.

Starting point is 08:54:46 He had hardly expected that an experienced pirate like Shanty Moyer would travel with his secrets on his person. Next, he considered the dogs. It was barely possible that the dogs knew the way to the mine. If they had traveled the way before, they would know when they were on the home trail, and if so, they would travel thither, if given their heads, even though their master lay helplessly bound on the sledge. Then at the mine, a sudden surprise, and probably a second of sharp work with the rifle on Moyer's henchman. Revers stepped eagerly over to where Moyer's team lay sleeping. He swore softly when he saw them. Moyer had traded his tired team for a fresh outfit at fifty mile,

Starting point is 08:55:38 and the new dogs were as strange to this trail as Revers himself. His triumph over Moore in the drinking bout had been in vain. There was no march to be stolen, even with Moyer lying helpless on the snow. He would have to go through with it as he had planned. Tilly and Neopa must have to be stolen. be the means by which he would obtain his ends. He suddenly looked over to the sledge where the two women were patiently waiting with the food they had prepared. Tilly, squat, and stolid, was sitting

Starting point is 08:56:13 as impassive and content as a bronze figure at the door of the shelter teepee which she had erected. But Nioppa sat bowed over on the end of the sledge, her head on her folded arms, her slim figure shaking with silent sobs. Put back the food and go to your blankets, he commanded harshly. Stop that whining, girl, or you will have something to whine for. He waited until his orders had been obeyed and the women were in the teepee. Then he unrolled his blanket and lay down in the snow. He did not sleep.

Starting point is 08:56:51 He knew that he would not, for all through the day, during his dealing with Moyer, on the night trail under the clean stars, his mind had been fighting to shut out a picture that persisted in running before his eyes. Now, alone in the starlit night, with nothing to occupy him, the picture rushed into being, vivid and living. He could not shut it out. He could not escape it. It was the picture of Hattie McGregor, as he had seen her that morning with the pain and scorn upon her young, fine fain. face. Her voice rang in his ears, the burning words, as clear as if she stood by his side, I knew it was not a man, living on your squaws, and you dared to talk to me, a decent woman. Revers cursed and lay looking straight up at the white stars. From the tepee there came a sound

Starting point is 08:57:51 that brought him up sitting. He listened, amazed and puzzled. it was neoppa sobbing because she had been torn from her young lover newa and in the plaint of her pain-rack tones there was something which recalled with a cursed clearness the rich voice of hattie mcgregor it was probably an hour after he had lain down that revers rose up and quietly hooked his strongest dogs to a sledge tilly neoppa come out he whispered throwing open the flap of the little tepee neoppa came wet-faced and haggard her wide-open eyes showing plainly that there had been no sleep for her that night tilly was rubbing her eyes sleepily protesting against being awakened from comfortable slumber revers pointed northward up the river bed up there on this river one day's march away is the camp of your people which we came from he whispered do you both take this team and drive rapidly thither hold to the river bed and keep away from the black spots where the water shows through the snow do not stop to rest or feed you should reach your people in the middle of the afternoon then do you give newa this rifle tell him to shoot any white man who comes after you now go swiftly neoppa looked at him with her faun-like eyes large with incredibility and hope snow-burner do you let me go back to newa she whispered

Starting point is 08:59:37 get on the sledge he commanded do as i've told you or you'll hear from me as emotion had all but paralyzed the young girl he forced her to a seat on the sledge and thrust the whip into her hand then turned to tilly tilly was making no move to approach the sledge did you hear what i said he demanded tilly smiled strangely has the snow-burner become afraid of iron hair she asked so little afraid that i no longer need you to help me in this matter retorted reavers the shrewd squaw shook her head how will the snow-burner find iron hair's gold now iron hair will not take the snow-burner to his camp alone it is not the snow-burner that iron hair wants it is a woman has the snow-burner given up the fight to get the gold which he wants so much he knows he cannot reach iron-hares camp alone then i will not reach it at all get on the sledge tilly smiled but did not move the snow-burner at last has become like other white men he wishes to do what is right she pointed at the snoring moyer he would not be so weak while revers looked at her in amazement the squaw stepped forward straightened out the dogs kicked them viciously and sent the sledge bearing neoppa alone flying up the Riverbed. To send Neopa back to Newa is well and good, she said, returning to Revers.

Starting point is 09:01:30 She would weep for Newa all day and night, and would grow sick and die on our hands. But there is no Newa waiting for Tilly. Tilly is tired of her tepee with no man in it. Iron hair has smiled upon me, Snowburner. I will smile upon him. His smile will answer mine as the dry pine lights up when the match is touched to it. I have looked in his eyes, and know. He will forget Neopa. Tilly will help the snow-burner rob iron hair. Is it well? Get back to your blankets, commanded Revers. If you wish it, we will let it be so. Sleep long. Do not stir until you hear that iron hair has awakened. End of Chapter 36. Recording by Roger Maline

Starting point is 09:02:27 Chapter 37 of the Snow Burner by Henry Oyen This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline Chapter 37 Into the Jaws of the Bear Shanty Moyer stirred when the first rays of the morning sun glancing off the snow struck his eyes He rose like a muscox lifting itself from its snow

Starting point is 09:03:03 wallow, with mighty heaves and grunts, and looked around. He was blear-eyed and puffed of face. His throat was raw and burning from the unbelievable amount of hooch he had swallowed in the night, but his abnormal organization had thrown off the effects of the alcohol, and he was cold sober. His first move was to cool his throat with handfuls of snow, his second to step over and regard the apparently paralyzed Revers, with a look of mingled triumph and contempt. Hey, old Sonny, would a drink with Shandy Moyer, wouldst ye? he chuckled. Happen thee got thy old soaks, skin filled to overflow that time! Get up, you wester, he commanded, stirring the prostrate form with a heavy foot.

Starting point is 09:03:56 Up with you! Revers did not stir, but he put that touch of the foot down as something extra that Moyer would have to pay for. He was apparently lying steeped in the depths of drunken slumber, and he wished to drive the impression firmly into Shanty Moyer's mind that he had been dead to the world all night. Hence he did not interrupt his snoring as Moyer's foot touched him. "'Layed out stiff,' laughed Moyer. He reached down, lift Reaver's head from the snow, and let it fall heavily. Still, Revers made no sign of awakening. Moyer looked at him for a moment,

Starting point is 09:04:39 then slyly tiptoed toward the shelter teepee and threw up the flap. The next instant a bellow of rage shattered the morning quiet. Like a maddened bear, Moyer was back at Revers, cuffing, kicking, cursing, commanding that he wake up.

Starting point is 09:04:59 Revers awoke only in degree, not until Moyer had opened a new bottle of hooch and poured a drink down his throat did he assay to sit up and open his eyes what's a matter can't a man sleep he protested what's a matter with you "'Matter,' bellowed Moyer. "'Plenty of matter, you old waster. "'Where's the young lass, huh? "'Where's the girl gone? "'Look in the teepee and see what's the matter? "'You told me you had the trawls buffaloed.

Starting point is 09:05:36 "'What's become of the young girl?' "'It was some time before Revers appeared to understand. "'Finally, he stumbled to his feet and started toward the tent, met Tilly as she stepped out rubbing her eyes and recoiled drunkenly. Neoppa, where is she? muttered Tilly. She slept near the door. Now she is gone. She had let her shiny black hair fall loosely over her shoulders, and now she threw it back, looked straight at Moyer, and smiled.

Starting point is 09:06:13 Neoppa, gone? demanded Revers thickly. She can't be. She wouldn't dare. Dare, you fool! Look there! Moyer pointed to the hollows where the missing dog team had lain, and to the tracks that ran straight and true up the riverbed. She's run away! Been gone half a night! Well, what have you got to say? Revers turned with a scowl on Tilly,

Starting point is 09:06:43 but Tilly was comfortably plating. her thick hair. Neopa has run away, back to our people, she said with a smile, as she turned back into the tepee. Tilly does not run away, she added as she disappeared. Moyer sat down on a sledge and cursed Reaver steadily for five minutes, but at every few words his eyes would stray back to the tepee which hid Tilly. We'll go after her, said Reaver.

Starting point is 09:07:16 We'll bring her back. Go after her, snorted Moyer. She has half a night start on us. She'll reach her people before we could get her. Do you think I want half the country following my trail? I'll go after her alone, then, insisted Revers. Will you? Moyer's eyes narrowed to slits.

Starting point is 09:07:44 I think not. let me tell thee something old son he who goes this far on the home trail with shanty moyer goes all the way understand you'll come with me or you'll be wolfmeat out here in the snow no there'll be no following of that kid she's gone the other one's here there is no telling what tail the kid will spin when she meets people or who will be down here looking for our trail therefore we are going to travel and travel quick have the squaw get food in a hurry get your dogs together we'll be on the trail in half an hour moir was masterful and dominant now it was evident that he was more worried over the possibility of some one hearing of his whereabouts through neopa than he was over the girl's escape he gave reavers a second drink of liquor since he seemed to need it to fully awaken him and set about making ready for the trail eat plenty he commanded when tilly served the cold meat and tea the next meal you have will be about sundown he tore down the tepee packed the sledges and had the outfit ready for the start in an amazingly short while now old son he said quietly pointing to the rifle that lay uncovered on top of his sledge do you take good look at her she's a good old betsy and i've knocked over smaller men than you at the half mile

Starting point is 09:09:25 do you keep well up with me on the trail i'll be making this day and there'll be no trouble try any tricks and the wolves will have whisky-soaked meat to feed on there's no turning back now he who comes this far with shanty moyer goes all the way you can't lose me mister stammered reevers i want that money for hooch for next summer like you promised wilt get more than you bargained for old son laughed moyer yes more than you ever dreamed of ha-h-hya buck bugle mush mush up at hiding his trail when he started this time. Apparently, he reasoned that the damage was done. If anyone wished to trail him after hearing Neopa's story, they would have no trouble in finding his tracks, despite any subterfuge he might attempt.

Starting point is 09:10:27 He went straight forward as a man who has nothing to fear if he can but reach his fastness, and Reaver's wonderment grew as the trail held straight toward the rising sun. the course was parallel to the one he had taken westward from mcgregor's cabin to tilly's encampment if it held on as it was going it would lead straight into the heart of the deadlands and within a half days travel of the mcgregor home was it possible that the mine lay in the dead lands duncan mcgregor made this territory his trapping ground how could his brothers find have escaped his trained outdoor eyes eyes. The next instant Revers was cursing himself for a blind fool. There was no trapping in the dead lands. There was no feed there. Except for a stray wolf cave, fur-bearing beasts would shun those barren rocks as a desert, and Duncan McGregor, being a knowing trapper, might trap around it

Starting point is 09:11:34 twenty years without venturing through after a first fruitless search for signs the mine was in the dead lands of course it was as safely hidden there as if within the bowels of the earth and he reavers had probably been within shooting distance of it during his two days wandering in that district the man whom he had killed with the rock had undoubtedly been hurrying with hattie mcgregor straight to his chief's fast it was noon when the ragged ground on the horizon head told revers that his surmises were correct and that they were hurrying straight for the dead lands an hour of travel and the jagged formation of the rock country was plainly distinguishable a little over a mile ahead then moyer for the first time that day called a halt when revers caught up with him he saw that moyer held in each hand a small pouch-like contrivance of buckskin, pierced near the middle with tiny holes, and equipped with draw-strings at the bottom. Come here, lass, he beckoned to Tilly. Must hide that smiling mouth of thine for the present.

Starting point is 09:12:53 With a laugh he threw the pouch over the squaw's head, pulled the bottom tightly around her neck, and tied the strings securely. the same with thee old son he said and treated reavers in the same summary manner you see i do not wish to have to put you away he explained genially and that i would do if by chance thy eyes should see the way to shanty moyer's mind one or two men have been unlucky enough to see it they will never be able to tell the tale he skilfully searched the pair for hidden weapons but reavers had expected this and carried not so much as a knife all right keep in my steps old son presently thou'll get wet do not fear wilt not let thee come to harm neither thee nor the squaw i have use for you both come now i'll go slow the buckskin pouch pierced only by the tiny air-holes masked reever's eyes in a fashion that precluded any possible chance of sight he knew instinctively that moyer was turning first the turn was to the left then back to the right then in a circle and after that straight ahead presently the feel of a sharp rock underfoot told him that they had entered the dead lands he stumbled purposely to one side of the trail and bumped squarely against a solid wall of stone

Starting point is 09:14:33 next he tried it on the opposite side with the same result moyer was leading the way through a narrow defile in the rocks suddenly there came to reever's ears the sound of running water the lazy murmur of a small brook almost at the same instant came the splash of moyer and his dogs going into the stream and moyer's laughing we'll get a little wet here old son but follow on fumbling with his feet reavers found the stream and stepped in to his surprise the water was warm warm water where had he seen warm water recently in this country his thoughts leaped back with a snap there was only one open stream to be found thereabouts and that was the brook that came from the warm springs by which he had camped on his way to tillies warm water laughed moyer wilt find all snug in my camp aye as snug as in a well-kept jail the stream was knee-deep and by the pressure of the water against the back of his legs reivers knew that they were going down stream presently moyer spoke again now if you value the tops of your heads do you duck as low as you can duck now quick and do you keep that position till i tell you to straighten up revers and tilly ducked obediently suddenly the tiny light that had come through the air-holes of their masks was shut out the darkness was complete revers thrust his hand above his bowed head and came in contact with cold clammy rock no wonder it had taken mcgregor and moyer two years to find the mine since the way to it lay by a subterranean river

Starting point is 09:16:38 the light reappeared but it was not the sunny light that had come through the air-holes before they had entered the river tunnel it was gray and dead as the light in a room where the light were the light in a room where the air-holes before they had entered the river tunnel it was gray and dead as the light in a room where the light in a room where the light the sunshine does not enter. Now you can lift your heads, laughed Moyer. Come to the right. Up the bank. Here we are. He jerked Revers out of the water roughly, and roughly pulled the sack from his head.

Starting point is 09:17:08 Revers blinked as the light struck his eyes. Moyer treated him to a generous kick. Welcome, he hissed menacingly. Welcome. to the camp of Shanty Moire. End of Chapter 37. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 38 of the Snowburner by Henry Oyen.

Starting point is 09:17:42 This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 38. McGregor Roy Reaver's first impression was that he was standing in a gigantic stockade. the second was that he was on the floor of a great quarry pit then when the situation grew clear to him he stood dumbfounded the camp of shanty moyer lay in what would have been a solid rock cave but for the lack of a roof it was an irregular hollow in the strange formation of the dead lands perhaps fifty yards long and thirty yards wide at its greatest breadth the hollow was surrounded completely by ragged stone walls about fifty feet in height these walls slanted inward to a startling degree

Starting point is 09:18:38 thus while the floor of the strange spot was thirty yards wide the opening above through which showed the far-away sky could scarcely have been more than half that width the brook ran through the middle of the chasm entering the upper end by a tunnel five feet and height and disappearing in the solid wall of rock at the lower end by a similar opening on each side of the narrow stream and running back to the rock walls was a floor of smooth river sand beneath an overhanging ledge on the side where reavers stood were the rude skin fronts of two dugouts a tin smokestack protruded from the larger of the two habitations the other which was high enough only to admit a man stooping far over was merely a flap of hide hanging down from the rock on the beach at the other side of the creek a fire burned beneath a great iron pan the wood smoke filling the chasm with its pungent odor behind the fire a series of tunnels ran down in the sand under the cliffs from the tunnel immediately behind the fire came a thin spiral of sluggish smoke and reavers knew that this tunnel was being worked and that the fire was being used to thaw the frozen earth a man who resembled moyer on a small scale was at work at the thawing pan breaking the hard earth with his fingers and tossing it into a washing-pan at his side he stood now with a chunk of frozen sand in his hand and at sight of reavers and tilly He tossed the sand recklessly into the air and whooped.

Starting point is 09:20:30 Ha! hast done well this time, shanty, he cried in an accent similar to theirs. Hast made the life endurable! A new horse for me and a woman for thee. Tis high time! Since Blackie went off and did not come back, and the two Indians tried to flee, we've had but one horse to do with. Now we'll have to have two. two we'll clean up in a hurry now and leave in the meanwhile shanty moyer laughed harshly how works the old scott jackass to-day he called the man across the creek shook his head he's never the horse he was when we first put him in harness he chuckled fell twice in his tracks to-day he did and lay there till joey gave him an inch of the prod has been a good beastie the scot has shanty but tis in my mind the climate does not agree with em scarce able to pull his load in the mines at home we knocked such worn beasties in the head and sent him up out of the pit moyer laughed again hast a quaint way o puttin things tammy he said but i mind when ponies were scarce we used them till they crawled their knees raw

Starting point is 09:21:55 tis plenty o time to knock old horse flesh in the head when the job's done they laughed together evidently this was a well-liked camp joke tis a well-coupled animal ye have there shanty said the humorist across the water with a jerk of the head at reevers big in the bone and solid around the withers yon squaw is a solid piece too happened there broke to pull Double? Unbroke stock, Tammy, drawled Moyer leisurely. Gentlemen, squaw man, wester. But breaking stocks are specialty, eh, Tammy? A muffled shout floated up from the mouth of the smoking pit before Tammy could reply. Instantly there followed a dull moan of pain. Moire and Tammy laughed knowingly. Here come sample of our work. said Tammy, nodding toward the tunnel.

Starting point is 09:22:58 Poor Joey! Has to use the prod to start him with each load now. A grating, shuffling sound now came from the mouth of the tunnel. Following it appeared the head of a man. And Revers needed only one glance at the emaciated countenance to know that he was looking upon the father of Hattie McGregor. Get up, Scotch, jackass! roared Moyer in great good humor.

Starting point is 09:23:28 Pull it out of there. That's the horse. Pull! The man came painfully, an inch at a time, out of the pit, and looked across the creek at Chanty Moir. Behind him there dragged a rough wooden sledge loaded with lumps of earth. The man was hitched to this load by a harness of straps that held his arms helpless against his sides.

Starting point is 09:23:53 no straitjacket ever held its victim more utterly helpless than the contrivance which now held james mcgregor in toils as a beast of burden a contrivance of straps about the ankles held his legs close together so short were the traces by which the sledge was drawn that mcgregor could not have stood upright without having lifted the heavy load a foot or more from the ground he made no attempt to stand so but hung half bowed against the harness his eyes gleaming through the matted red hair over his brows straight at shanty moyer it was the eyes that drew and held reever's attention to the face rather than to the man's terrible situation james mcgregor helpless beast of burden to his tormentors that he was was not beaten the same clean-cut nose mouth and chin that revers remembered so well in the daughter were apparent in the father's pain-marked face the eyes gleamed defiance and they were wide and gray revers saw the same as the eyes that haunted him in memory's pictures of the girl who had not feared his glance shanty moyer spoke mcgregor in a voice weak but firm when the devil made you he cursed his own work he cursed you as a misbegotten thing not fit for hell the gut-eating wolverine is a brave beast compared to you skunks would run from your company you think you have done big work you fool you cannot rob me of what belongs to me and mine

Starting point is 09:25:42 you cannot kill me as sure as there is a god in heaven he will let me or mine kill you with bare hands moyer and his men laughed in weary fashion as if this speech were old to them and revers was amazed at an impulse within him to throw himself at chanty moir's throat he joined foolishly in the laughter to hide his confusion what had he to do with such impulses what business had he having any feeling for the poor enslaved man before him he had come to moyer's camp for one purpose to get the gold mined there to get a new start in life was it possible that he was growing weak enough to experience the feeling of pity the impulse to help the helpless nonsense he laughed loudly his plan was one in which silly impulses of this nature had no part and he would go through with it to the end well braid scots jackass said the man at the thawing pan casually now pull the load over here gitty up pull mcgregor leaned weakly against the harness but the sledge had lodged and his depleted strength was insufficient to budget oh ho getting lazy eh came from the tunnel and a thin-faced man came out a short stick with a sharp brad in his hands. Want help, eh? Well, here tis, he chuckled, and drove the bread into McGregor's leg. Again, the strange impulse to leap to the tortured man's rescue, to kill his tormentor

Starting point is 09:27:32 without reckoning the price or what might come after, stirred itself in Reaver's breast, and again he joined in the laughter to pass it off. McGregor started as the iron entered his flesh and the movement loosened the sledge. With weak, faltering steps, he drew the load alongside the fire, where Tammy proceeded to transfer the frozen chunks of earth to the thawing pan. "'Hey-ha! New cattle!' said the man with the prod when he espied Reavers and Tilly. "'Cow and bull!' "'Cow and an old ox, Joey,' laughed Moyer. has even burnt his horns off with hooch, and will go well in the harness when he's broke.

Starting point is 09:28:21 "'Tis time,' said Joey, "'the Scots jackass'll soon drop in his tracks.' "'Not until I've paid you out in full, you devils,' said McGregor, quietly. "'I'll give you an hour of living hell for every prod you've given me, you poor cur.' Joey approached him and unhooked him. the traces from his harness with an air that told how well he was accustomed to such threats must call it a day shanty he said loosening the straps that bound mcgregor's hands so the forearms were free while the upper arms remained bound tightly to his sides old pits full of smoke in bored sort of fashion he kicked mcgregor into the creek to your stable jackass days done mcgregor tripped by the traps about his ankles fell full length in the water floundered across and crawled miserably out of sight behind the skin front of the smaller dugout

Starting point is 09:29:29 moyer and his two henchmen watched him jeering and laughing at a sign the two on the other side of the creek came across and drew close to their chief and now old son snarled moyer swinging around on reavers like a flash. Now, you slick waster, now we'll attend to thee. End of Chapter 38. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 39 of the Snow Burner by Henry Oyen. This Librevox recording is in the public domain.

Starting point is 09:30:14 Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 39. James McGregor's story. The three men moved forward until they were within arm's reach of Revers, and stood regarding him with open grins on their hairy faces. Revers, reading the import of their grins, knew that they were bent upon enjoying themselves at his expense, and tried swiftly to guess what form their amusement might take.

Starting point is 09:30:45 If it were only horseplay, he would be able to continue in the helpless character he had assumed. If it were to be rougher than that, if they set out to break him in real earnest, he feared that his acting was at an end. Even for the sake of the gold that he was after, he would hardly be able to submit, humbly and helplessly, as became a drunken squaw man, to their efforts to make a wreck of him. He calculated his chances of coming through alive, if the situation developed to this extreme, and decided, that the odds were a trifle too heavy against him. The element of surprise would be on his side, but his right shoulder still was weak from the old bullet wound. With his terrible ability to use his feet,

Starting point is 09:31:36 he calculated that he would drop Moyer and Tammy with broken bones as they rushed him. To do that, he would have to drop to his back, and Joey, the third man, wore a long skinning knife on his hip. no if he began to fight he would never get what he had come after he wiped his mouth furtively and swayed from the knees up i want some hooch mister that's what i want he whined shakily you promised you'd give me a drink when we got here you know you did haven't had a drop since morning i wouldn't a come if i'd known you are going to treat me like this then he did the best acting of his life he jumped sideways and shuddered he frantically plucked imaginary bugs off his coat sleeve he stepped high as if stepping over something on the ground his eyes and face muscles worked spasmodically oh give me a drink he begged please give me a drink i'd got to have it

Starting point is 09:32:48 the grins faded from the faces before him they knew full well the signs of an incipient delirium tremens tammy laughed dryly hast brought home more than an old ox and a cow shanty he said hast brought a whole menagerie yon stickle havin de woolly's in a minute if he's not liquored reavers dropped to his knees shuddering his arm shielding his eyes from imagination Beasts of the bottle. Take him away, boys, he pleaded. Kill the big ones. Let the little ones go. With a snarl, Moyer leaped to his sledge and knocked the neck off a bottle of hooch. Drink you, Scott, he growled. I'll have dealings with you when you're sobered up.

Starting point is 09:33:41 Revers drank and began to doze. Moyer kicked him upright. Get into the shed with the other jackass, he commanded, propelling him toward the dugout into which McGregor had crawled. And in the morning you go to work, even though snakes be crawling all over you. A faintly muttered curse greeted Revers as he crawled into the dugout. You poor curs! What do you want with me now?

Starting point is 09:34:11 Came McGregor's voice from a corner of the tiny room. You skunk! Easy, McGregor Roy, whispered Revers quietly. It's not one of the skunks. McGregor Roy! By the light that entered by a slit in the skin flap, Revers could see the Scotchman painfully lifting his head from his miserable bunk, as he hoarsely repeated his own name. McGregor Roy!

Starting point is 09:34:42 Who are you stranger to call James McGregor by his family, name. I'm the man that Shanty Moyer brought in this afternoon, whispered Revers. I know, I know, gasped at McGregor weakly. But men do not call me McGregor, Roy. James McGregor, they call me, unless, unless... Unless they have the Roy straight from the lips of your daughter, Haddy. For a full minute, McGregor sat stricken, speechless. man man speak the unfortunate man came wriggling over and laid his hands pleadingly on reevers don't play with me is my daughter hetty alive and well very much alive replied revers and as well as can be expected of a girl who was worrying her heart over why her father doesn't return or send her word have they not guessed has not my brother duncan guessed by this time gasped mcgregor cannot they understand that i must be dead or held captive since i do not return speak man tell me how it is with them

Starting point is 09:36:00 revers waited until the poor man had become more quiet before replying to him you'd better quiet down a little mcgregor he whispered then you can't tell when your friends might be listening and it wouldn't do either of us any good if they heard what we're saying true said the old man more quietly i'm acting like an old woman but for three months i've been trapped like this and my head fairly swims when I hear you speak of Hattie. How come you to know of her? Revers related briefly that he had been ill and had been cared for at the McGregor cabin. And my little Hattie as well? No harm came to her from the black devil they sent to steal her? You must know, man, they taunted me by sending... I know, interrupted Revers, and he told how he had disposed of the kidnapper. You, you did that? McGregor clutched Reaver's hand.

Starting point is 09:37:06 You saved my little hatty? None of that, snapped Revers, snatching away his hand. I did nothing for your little hatty. Why should I? What is your hatty to me? I simply put that black beard out of business because I needed food, and he had it on the sledge. Yet you're not one of the gang here?

Starting point is 09:37:30 now? You are not anything but a friend of me and mine? A friend? sneered Revers. I'll tell you, Mac. I'm here as my own friend. Absolutely nothing else. But Hattie and my brother Duncan, they understand about me now. They know you're either dead or worse, was the reply. And they're at Dumont's camp now, waiting from Moyer to come there on a spree. when they expect to trail him back to this camp.

Starting point is 09:38:04 McGregor nodded his head weakly. Aye, taken the trail for revenge. No less could be expected. Please heaven, they'll soon win here. And James McGregor will not forget what he owes you, stranger, for the help you gave his daughter, when the time of reckoning comes with Moyer and his poor curs. Revers laughed coldly,

Starting point is 09:38:30 his breath. You speak pretty confidently, old-timer, for a man who's trust up the way you are. God will not let this dog of a moyer have his will with me much longer, said the Scott firmly. It is impossible. This dog of a moir must be a better man than you are, taunted Revers. He fooled you and trapped you as soon as you'd found this mine. did he mcgregor flared up shan't he moyer a better man than me hoot no he fooled me yes for i didn't know that he had got word to these three hellions of his that the mine was here i trusted him he was my partner and when we returned with provisions for the winter the three devils were waiting for us just inside the wall where the creek comes through shanty moyer alone never could a done it the three of them jumped on me from above i had no chance then they strapped me they've kept me strapped ever since i'm draught beasts for them

Starting point is 09:39:45 twice a day they feed me and between whiles shanty moyer taunts me by playing before my eyes with the dust and nuggets that are half mine oh well it doesn't look to me as if there'd be enough gold here to bother about said reavers casually it's nothing but a little freak pocket by the looks of it so it is a freak pocket it could be nothing else in this district twas only by chance we found it exploring the creek in here out of curiosity twas in the bowels of the warm spring up yon where the creek starts that the pocket was originally the spring boiled it out into the creek and the creek washed it down here in its bed of sand The sand lodged here against these rock walls. There is about a hundred feet of the sand running down under the cliffs, and it's all pocket. Not a rich pocket, as you say, but Shanty Moir is filthy with nuggets and dust now, and there'll be some more in the sand that's left to work over. Not a bonanza, man, but a good-sized fortune.

Starting point is 09:41:00 T'would be enough to send my hattie to school! T'would give her all the comforts of the world. T'would make folk look up to her. And Shanty Moyer, the devil's spawn, has it in his keeping. And he'll probably see that it continues in his keeping, too, yon dreevers. Never, swore McGregor, rising to the bait. Shanty Moyer did me dirt too foul to prosper by it. And I'm a better man than he is besides.

Starting point is 09:41:34 the stuff will come into my hands where it belongs some way i dinn't see just how for the present but the stuff and my revenge i will have even shackled as i am i'll have my revenge though it's only to bite the windpipe out of shanty moyer's throat like a mad dog huh reavers was lying face down on some blankets apparently but little interested and suppose you do get shanty moyer what good will that do you i'll bet shanty's got the gold hid where nobody could find it without getting directions from him suppose you get em suppose you get all three of em shanty moyer being dead the nuggets and dust probably would be as completely lost as they were before you two boys found the pocket in the first place for a long time mcgregor sat in his corner of the dugout without replying revers could see that at times he raised his head even opened his mouth as if to speak then sank back undecided at last he hunched himself forward inch by inch to the front of the dug-out and lifted the flap the light of day had gone from the cavern on the sand before the larger dug-out blazed a brisk cooking fire in the confined space the light from its flames was magnified reflecting from rock wall and running water and illuminating brightly the miserable hole in which reavers and mcgregor lay mcgregor held up the flap for several minutes studying reavers and though reavers looked back with the look in his eyes that made most men quail the old man's sharp gray eyes studied him unruffled even as the eyes of his daughter had done before

Starting point is 09:43:33 by the big nail tis a man's man muttered mcgregor dropping the flap at last how in the name of self-respect did the likes of you fall prey to the cur shanty moyer self-respect sniggered reavers did you notice me out there when you are laying your curse on moyer ay you are far gone in liquor then by the looks of you you'll mind i say by the look of you. You are not in liquor now. That's what puzzled. A man does not throw off a load of hoops so quickly. You are playing at being drunk. Now, why might that be? To enable me to get into this hole and leave Moyer thinking I'm a drunken squaw man without brains or nerve enough to do anything but sponge for hooch. I? And your reason for that? my reason for that reavers laughed under his breath why did you ever hear of a more popular reason for a man risking his throat than gold i heard the story of this deal from your brother duncan and your daughter i need or rather i want money shanty moyer had won over you and had gold i came to win over moyer and get the gold away from him isn't that simple simple and spoken well said mcgregor calmly

Starting point is 09:45:12 will you answer me one question did you serve notice on my brother duncan that you were out on this hunt i did Fair enough again. A man has a right to take trail and do what he can if he speaks out fair. I take it you hardly calculated to find me here alive? No, I didn't think Moyer was such an amateur as to take any chances. Ah, he needed a draft beast, lad. That's why I'm alive, and no other reason. And finding me here alive, does it alter your plans any?

Starting point is 09:45:53 only a trifle you see i'd made up my mind to bring moyer and your daughter hattie face to face to see if she could make good on her big talk of taking revenge for putting you out of business now that i see you're still alive well i won't let any foolishness like that interfere with the business i've come on i mean about the gold man revers looked at his questioner in surprise about the gold he repeated yes finding me the rightful owner of half the gold here alive and hoping to win back with my share to my daughter hattie Does it make any change in your plans?" Revers chuckled softly. "'Not in the slightest,' he replied. "'I came to get the stuff that's come out of this mine. Take a look at me.

Starting point is 09:46:55 Do I look like a soft fool who'd let anything interfere with my plans?' McGregor looked and shook his head puzzled. "'I didn't understand you, Mon,' he said. I can I make you out? By the look of you, I'd be wishful to strike hands with you as one good man to another. But your talk, man, is all wrong, all wrong. Half of the stuff that's been taken out of this mine, shanty Moyers have, I have made up my mind shall be yours for the strong blow you dealt to save my hattie from black shame.

Starting point is 09:47:33 Will you not strike hands on a partnership like that between us? reivers yawned why should i you're all in you can't help me any i'll have to do the job of getting the gold away from moyer i came here to get it all i don't want any help and i certainly won't make any unnecessary split man whispered mcgregor in horror is there not but a piece of ice where your heart should be do you not understand stand it's for a poor, unprovided girl I'm talking? A man you might rob, but have you the coldness in your heart to rob my little, unfortunate hattie? Little unfortunate hattie, mocked Revers. Consider her robbed already.

Starting point is 09:48:26 What then? A word to Shanty Moyer, and you're as good as dead, retorted McGregor hotly. Revers long right on. shot out and terrible fingers clutched mcgregor's throat the old man wriggled and gasped and tried to cry out but revers held him voiceless and helpless and smiled one word to shanty moyer and you see he said releasing his hold then your little unfortunate hattie would be robbed for sure man man what are you man or devil gasped mcgregor devil if it suits you said reavers but remember i'll manage to be within reach of you when shanty moyer's about and i rather fancy moyer would be glad to have me put you out of business now listen to me i've no objection to your getting out of here alive if you can i've no objection to you getting your revenge on moyer if you can provided that you're getting your revenge on moyer if you can provided that

Starting point is 09:49:37 that none of this interferes with my getting what I came after. You know now what I can and will do if necessary. Your life lies right there. He opened and closed his right hand significantly. Well, I'll trade you your life for a little information. Where does Shanty keep his gold? McGregor ceased, gasping. He began to laugh.

Starting point is 09:50:07 He leaned. Dover and laughed. He rocked from side to side. Man, man, do you not know that? That proves you're only human, he chuckled. You came out here like a lamb led to slaughter to find where Shanty Moyer keeps his gold. You were on the trail with Shanty. You had him where it was only one man to one.

Starting point is 09:50:34 Well, well, the joke is too good to keep. shanty moyer day and night wears a big buckskin belt about the middle of him and the gold the gold is in the belt end of chapter thirty nine recording by roger maline chapter forty of the snow-burner by henry oyen this librivox recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter forty the white man sentiment. It was very still in the dugout. Suddenly Revers leaned forward to see if McGregor were telling the truth. Satisfied with his scrutiny, he sat back and laughed softly. In a belt around his middle, eh? he said. Good work. Mr. Moyer is cautious enough to be interesting. Cautious, McGregor threw up the flap of the dugout. Look out there, man.

Starting point is 09:51:48 Revers looked. On the sand, directly before the door, lay chained a huge, husky dog, an ugly starved brute with mad eyes. Try but to crawl outside the shack, suggested McGregor. Revers tried. His head had no more than appeared outside when the dog sprang. The chain jerked him back as his teeth.

Starting point is 09:52:14 cleats where reivers had been he leaped thrice more striving to hurl himself into the dugout then returned to his place and lay down growling very cautious agreed revers he peered carefully out toward the cooking fire the fire had died down now and was deserted by the sounds coming from the larger dugout revers knew that moir and his men were occupied with the fire their supper, supplemented by occasional drafts of liquor, and once more he crawled out upon the sand. With a snarl, the great dog leaped again, his bared fangs flashing in the night. The snarl died in a choke. Reaver's long arms flashed out, and his fingers caught the dog by the throat so swiftly and surely that not another sound came from between its teeth. it was a big strong dog and it died hard but out there on the sand reivers sat silently keeping his hold till the last sign of life had gone from the brute's body not a sound rose to attract attention from the larger dugout when the animal was quite dead revers crawled forward and untied the chain that held it to a rock noiselessly he crawled farther on and noiselessly he crawled farther on and noiselessly

Starting point is 09:53:41 slipped the carcass into the brook. The brisk current caught it and dragged it down. Revers waited until he saw the thing disappear into the dark tunnel at the lower end of the cavern, then returned to the dugout and quietly lay down on his blankets. God's blood! gasped McGregor and sat silent. Well, yawned Revers. Our friend Moyer is short one dog. you crazy fool mcgregor was grinding his teeth have you not thought of what shanty moyer will do when he finds what you've done to his watchdog

Starting point is 09:54:23 what i have done revers laughed his idiotic squaw man's laugh do you suppose a poor old bum like me could throttle a man-eater like that beast you'll be the one to be blamed for it why should i touch moyer's dog moir and i came here together chummy as a couple of thieves you would not-you could not do that you could not put it on me man they'd drop me in the river after the beast if you got them to believe it well said reavers gently the scot bit his lip and grew crafty well he said-hear'd be only you left then to do the dirt haul for shanty moyer. Revers nodded appreciatively. You deserve something for that, Mac, said he. He lay silent for a few minutes. Then he chuckled suddenly, as if he had thought of a good joke. Watch me closely now, Mack, he ordered, and if you ever feel like speaking that word to Moyer, I'll holler at you worse than this. He rolled himself to the front of the dugout,

Starting point is 09:55:41 and suddenly there rang out in the cavern such a shriek of terror as stopped the blood in the veins of all who heard twice revers uttered his horrible cry then he began to shout drunkenly take him off take him away oh oh oh big dog coming out of the river take him away big dog swimming in the river take him away help help shanty moyer got to the front of the little dugout in advance of the others he came with a six-shooter in his hand and the gun covered reavers huddled up on the sand as steadily as if held in a vice but revers observed that moyer stopped well out of reach what the roared moyer as he noted the absence of the watch-dog what devil's work the dog chattered revers big dog big as a house came out of the river tried to jump on me jumped back into the river swimming swimming out there shanty moyer swung the muzzle of his six-shooter till it pointed straight at reever's forehead he did not step forward but remained well out of reach steady old son he said quietly steady or this'll go off under the influence of the threat revers pretended to come back to his senses give me a drink mister he pleaded i'm seeing things i was sure there was a big dog out there i'd a sworn i saw him jump into the river now i see there isn't but give me a drink quick bring the old sow a cup o hoot joey

Starting point is 09:57:39 snapped Moyer over his shoulder. We'll see about this. He turned the weapon on the cowering McGregor. Speak quick, Scotch, jackass, or I pull trigger. What's been done here? Where's Tyg? Was it a real dog? cried Revers before McGregor could reply. I saw something. He went into the river.

Starting point is 09:58:07 Speak you, said Moyer to the Scotchman. speak quick he's telling you straight replied mcgregor with a nod toward reavers the dog went into the river i saw him go down out of sight out of sight muttered revers swallowing the drink which joey had brought him so it was a real dog was it he jumped at me and then he jumped back and i guess he broke his chain because he went into the river and never came out moyer stepped over and examined the rock from which reavers had slipped the dog's chain tammy he said quietly tammy came obediently stopping a good two paces away from moyer see that said moir pointing at the rock tammy nodded you tied tig out for the night tammy yes but-and you tied so wide so well the beast got loose and into the river and is lost shanty i swear swear all you want to lad said moyer and dropped him cold with a light tap on the jaw pick him up moyer's moving revolver had seemed to cover everyone present but now the muzzle hesitated on joey carry him into the shack as joey obeyed moyer's moving revolver had seemed to cover everyone present but now the muzzle hesitated on joey carry him into the shack as joey obeyed as joey obeyed moyer stepped back toward the little dugout but stopped well out of reach of a possible rush old son he said slowly and the gun-barrel pointed at reever's right eye

Starting point is 09:59:55 old son if you yell again to-night let it be your prayers because you'll need em dost hear i suspect was thy yelling scared tyg into the river would sent thee down after him only i've use for you in the pits crawl in and lie still if it's lived till daylight damn you wilt pay for the loss of tig i warn you that he turned away and revers fell back on his blankets chuckling boyishly he was in fine fettle the snow-burner was coming back to his old form and in the delight of the moment's difficulties he had temporarily lost the softening memories that had disturbed him of late how was it old-timer he laughed could you pick any flaw in it mcgregor shook his head in wonder i had a man go fe on me once up on slave lake trail he said slowly he let go just such yells as came from your mouth now i'm thinking no man could yell so lest he's fay himself or has travelled with old nicky and stole some of his music quite so exactly the impression i wish to create said reavers i thank you for your compliment but your analysis is all wrong complete control of your vocal organs that's all you see i wish to let out such a yell it was rather hard because my vocal organs never had made such a sound before, and they protested. I forced them to do it. The man with a superior mind can force

Starting point is 10:01:46 his body to do anything. Understand, Mack? It's the superior mind that counts. If you'd had a mind superior to Moyers, you'd be top dog here, with Moyer fetching bones for you. As it is, you're doing the fetching, and Moyers growing fat. And here I come along with a mind's superior to Moyers, and I'm going to be top dog now, and gobble the whole proceeds of your squabbling. The mind, Mac, the gray stuff in the little bone box at the top of your neck, that's all that counts. Nothing else.

Starting point is 10:02:24 And I've got the best gray matter in this camp, and I'm going to be top dog as a matter of course. McGregor flared up hotly. You say, that's all that counts, he said. do you mean to tell me to my face that after i'd struck hands with a man to be my partner as i did with shanty moyer that i'd turn on him and play him the scurvy trick he played me just because i could well if you say that mun you lie and i throw the word smackin your teeth go back on my handshake just to be taut dog and get the bones god's blood there's other things better than bones, and there's other things that count besides a superior mine. How many times do you suppose I could have shot Shanty Moor after we'd found this mine?

Starting point is 10:03:20 Not once. You didn't have it in you. You couldn't do it. If you could, you'd have been the superior man, and you're not. McGregor thought it over. You're right, Mon, I couldn't do it. I thank God I could. I could. I couldn't. I'd rather be the slave I am at present than be able to do things like that. Sentiment, Mack. Foolish, unreasonable sentiment. Sentiment! McGregor spoke hotly, then suddenly subsided. Yes, you're right, lad, he admitted after a while. It's not but sentiment. I see now. It's the kind of sentiment that white men die,

Starting point is 10:04:08 for and that makes them the boss men of the world well lad i am sorry to hear you talk as if twas only your skin was white but i do not see you top dog of this camp yet i'll warrant shanty moyer didn't allow you to slip a gun or knife into camp and did you notice the little tool he had in his hand a six-shooter said reavers a crude weapon compared to a good mind McGregor. Aye, I'm glad to hear you say so, lad, for I've only a mind, such as it is, left me for a weapon, and I'm quite sure I must overcome the six-gun in Chanty's hand, ere I ever win back to lay eyes on my daughter Hattie.

Starting point is 10:04:56 Your daughter, Hattie! Reaver sat up, jarred out of his composure. You forget your daughter, Haddy, you hear, McGregor? And now shut up. up there's been enough yopping to-night i want to sleep he rolled himself tightly in his blankets mcgregor crawled miserably to his corner and huddled down to sleep as best he could in his cruel shackles the dugout grew as still as a tomb faint sounds came from the place where moyer and his men were living but as the night grew older these ceased and a silence as complete and primitive as it knew before a man bent his steps thither fell over the isolated cavern reavers did not sleep mcgregor's last words had done the work my daughter hattie haddy with the clean pure face of her haddy with the wide gray eyes with the look of pain upon her curse mcgregor what business had he mentioning that name

Starting point is 10:06:07 revers had forgotten or thought he had he was himself again and then this old fool curse him curse the whole mcgregor tribe and especially did he curse himself for being weak and foolish enough to permit such trifles to interfere with his sleep he dozed away toward daylight and dreamed that hattie mcgregor was looking at him the hard look on her face had softened a little and she said she was glad he had sent neoppa back to her lover damn you get out of there in his half-waking revers fancied it was his own voice driving the picture from his mind get out beasts and get out quick it was shanty mohers fancied it was his own voice driving the picture from his mind get out beast's and get out quick it was shanty Moyer's voice, and he was calling to McGregor and Revers to get up. End of Chapter 40. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 41 of the Snow Burner by Henry Oyen. This Libravox recording is in the public domain.

Starting point is 10:07:23 Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 41. Shanty Moyer, Temperance Advocate. Revers came forth from the dugout, stooped and shaking the drunken squaw man's morning condition to perfection but in reality alert and watchful for the opportunity he was seeking he had had a bad night and he was anxious to have the job over with and get away with his loot to some place where he could forget a surprise awaited him outside two tin plates loaded with meat and a tin cup half full of liquor were placed on the sand before the dugout ten feet away stood shanty moyer his six-shooter covering the two men as they emerged with the instinct of the wild animal that he was moyer knew the value of clamping his hold firmly on his victims in the cold gray of morning drink and eat he said satisfied with the humility with which the two went to their food eat fast or you'll go into the pit with your belly empty

Starting point is 10:08:34 i thought you hired me for a cook mister whined reivers as he raised the tin cup to his lips i want a cook cook hell sneered moyer the squall do all the cook and done here draught beast with the scotch jackass that's what you'll be old ox hurry up we'll have a little of the prod out of the corner of his eye reever saw that mcgregor was eyeing the cup of liquor wistfully moved by an impulse that was strange to him he took a small drink and held out the cup to his companion as mcgregor eagerly reached for it moyer's gun crashed out and the cup flew from reever's hand the motto of this camp is no treating chuckled moyer hooch is good on the trail we're on the job now you get liquor old son because tis medicine to you and any hooch drinked here i must prescribe across the creek tammy at work building a fire under the thawing pan heard his chief's words and growled faintly yes and ye prescribe terrible small doses too shanty he muttered a good thing can be overplayed has no reason for refusing joey and me a nip before starting work this morning moyer moving like a soft-footed lynx was across the creek and behind tammy before the latter realized what was coming from his position moyer now dominated the whole camp and a sickly smile appeared on tammy's mouth ah shanty he whined

Starting point is 10:10:26 didst only mean it for a joke can take a joke from an old chum canty shanty get into the pit tammy said moyer quietly pointing with his gun to the tunnel where sounds indicated that joey was already at work ah shanty get in slack-jawed with terror tammy crawled into the dark tunnel hey joey my son called moyer down the pit mouth i came back the answer dost ye too think ye should have a drink this morn ay shanty replied the unsuspecting joey have a hot one then Then, roared Shanty, and kicked a blazing log from Tammy's fire into the pit. A mingling of shrieks and protests greeted its arrival. Ah, Shanty, blooded a devil, chief! Kent's not take a joke? I'm taking it now, my sons, laughed Moyer, and kicked more brands down the tunnel.

Starting point is 10:11:39 Gasping and choking from the smoke that filled the tiny pit, Joey and Tammy essayed to crawl out. Bang, went Moyer's six-shooter as they hastily retreated. The tunnel was filled with smoke by this time. Down at the bottom, choking coughs and cries told that the two unfortunate men were being suffocated. Moyer waited until the faintness of the sounds told how far gone the men were. Then he motioned to Revers with his revolver. the smoke was leaving the pit by this time step down and drag em out old son he said come now no hanging back the trigger on this gun is filed down so she pulls very light

Starting point is 10:12:26 revers obeyed climbing into the pit as if trembling with fear and toiling furiously as he dragged the unconscious men out though he could have walked away with one under each arm throw water on em splash em good ten minutes later joey and tammy were sitting up coughing and sneezing and trying their best to make moyer believe they had only been joking good enough my sons so was i chuckled moyer now back to the job and if ever you doubt whose top man here you'll stay in the pit till you're browned well enough to eat dost hear me ay shanty said the two men humbly and hurried back to their tasks and now jackass and old ox step over here and get into the harness commanded moyer he continued to hold the gun in his hand and motioned to the sledge near the thawing pan high sideboards had been placed on the sledge making it capable of holding twice its former load and a looped rope supplemented the traces to which mcgregor was so ignominiously hitched take hold of the rope old son directed moyer he did not approach as mcgregor resignedly led the way to the sledge tammy turned from his thawing pan to hitch the scotchman to his traces and to strap down his hands moyer stood back the gun in his hand dominating all three Now, into the pit.

Starting point is 10:14:11 Joey's got a load waiting, he commanded. And one wine out of you, old ox, and you get the prod. Heya, get up! End of Chapter 41. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 42 of the Snow Burner by Henry Oyen. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline. chapter forty two the snow-burner works for two with mcgregor leading the way revers humbly picked up his rope and helped drag the sledge into the mine

Starting point is 10:14:59 the tunnel high and broad enough only for two men to crawl abreast ran at a steep slant into the sand for probably twenty-five feet at its end it spread into a small room in which joey was at work chopping loose chunks of frozen earth earth. One glance around, and Revers knew from experience that this room had been the home of the pocket, and that, unless the signs lied, the pocket soon would be worked out. Judging by the extent of the excavation, the pocket had been a good-sized one, and the amount of dust and nuggets taken from it undoubtedly would foot up to a neat sum. Yes, it would be a tidy fortune. It would would be plenty to give him a new start in life, plenty to pay him for the trouble he had gone to, plenty even to pay him for the baseness of his present position. He obeyed Joey meekly, when ordered, with curses and insults, to load the sledge.

Starting point is 10:16:06 He could have throttled Joey down there in the mine without a sound coming up to warn those above of what was happening, but Moyer's conduct of the morning had made an impression upon on Revers. A man who kept himself out of reach, who kept his six-shooter pointed at you all the time, and who could shoot tin cups out of your moving hand, was not a man to be despised. The first hour of work that day convinced Moyer and his henchmen that their original, unflattering estimate of Revers, was correct. Even a close observer, regarding him during that period of probation, would have seen nothing to indicate that he was anything but what Shanty Moyer had judged him to be. A miserable, broken-down squaw man, without a will of his own,

Starting point is 10:16:58 and only one ambition, to clamor for as much liquor as possible. That was the character that Revers played perfectly for the benefit of Moyer and his two men. At first they kept an eye on him, watching to see if by any chance the old fool might be dangerous they discovered that he would be dangerous if turned loose to their supply of liquor beyond that he had apparently not a single aim in the world his physical weakness they soon discovered was exactly what was to be expected of a whisky bloat he was able to help haul the sledge loads of frozen earth up the incline of the shaft and that was all even that left him puffing and trembling is an old ox as you said shanty with even the horns burnt off him by the hooch said joey after the first few loads keep a little of the liquor running down his throat each day and he'll be a good draught beast to us nothing to fear of him didst well when you picked him out chief they stopped watching him he was harming he was harmed which was exactly the frame of mind which reavers had worked to create mcgregor alone knew how cleverly reavers was playing his part and he regarded his new companion in misery with greater awe and swore beneath his breath in unholy admiration he had excellent opportunity to appreciate reaver's ability to play the part of a weakling for the snow-burner when not observed caught his free hand in

Starting point is 10:18:44 McGregor's traces and pulled the full weight of the heavy sledge as if it had been a boy's plaything. "'Hey, Mon!' gasped the weakened Scotchman in relief. "'I begin to comprehend now. Tis a surprise you're planning for Shanty Moire. Oh, aye, tis a broad joke. But you, ma'n, I have me finish him, man. Tis my right. And I thank you and will repay you well for the favor you are doing me in my present bunged-up condition. "'Favor your eye,' snapped Revers. "'It's easier to pull the whole thing than have you dragging on it. "'Don't think I'm doing it for your sake.

Starting point is 10:19:29 "'You'll have a rude awakening, my friend, if you're building any hopes on me.' "'I didn't understand you,' said McGregor, with a shake of his head. "'You're different from any man I ever met. but at all events you've made the loads lighter and i think i must have perished soon had you not done so shut up hissed reavers irritably i tell you i'm doing it because it's easier for me his attitude toward the old man was brutally domineering when they were alone and openly abusive when they were in the presence of moyer or the others he showered foul epithets upon him pretended to shoulder the greater part of the work on him and abused him in a fashion that won the approval of the three brutes over them make him do his share old sunny roared moyer wilt have the prod joey give em the prod so he can poke up the jackass when he lags back don't need no prod boasted reaver I can handle him without any prod.

Starting point is 10:20:45 Come on, pull up there, you loafer. Think I'm going to do it all? McGregor, on such occasions, would hold his head low to hide the gleam in his eyes and the grin that strove for room on his tightly pressed lips. His harness was hanging slack. Revers took more of the load upon himself with every curse that he uttered.

Starting point is 10:21:10 all through the day it was reaver's strength that pulled the heavy sledge up the dirt incline of the tunnel and at night when the day's work was done and mcgregor tottering feebly toward his bunk fell helpless through the dugout's flap revers picked him up laid him down gently and placed his own blanket beneath his head god bless you lad whispered mcgregor shut up hissed reavers i don't want any talk like that he looked down at the prostrate man for a moment then with a muttered curse he unloosened the straps that bound mcgregor's arms to his sides and hurled himself over to his own side of the shack he was very angry with himself pity and succor for the helpless had never before been a part of his creed why should he trouble about mcgregor i'll have to strap you up again in the morning he flung out suddenly but it won't hurt to have your hands free for the night shut up lay still i hear somebody coming End of Chapter 42. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 43 of the Snow Burner by Henry Oyen.

Starting point is 10:22:41 This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 43. The penalty of a white man's mind. Oh, Snowburner! It was Tilly who came, bearing the evening food, and Revers crept out. on the sand to meet her.

Starting point is 10:23:04 Oh, snow burner, she whispered quietly. I am weary of this camp. The air is bad, and the country is not open. It is in my heart to poison iron hair as soon as the snow burner says we are ready to go from this place. Reaver stared at her. A short while ago, he would not have been shocked in the slightest degree to have heard this,

Starting point is 10:23:29 to her natural speech, fall from Tilly's lips. But of late, another woman, another kind of woman, had been in his thoughts, and Tilly's words left him speechless for the moment. The squaw continued placidly, The snow-burner comes here after gold? Yes.

Starting point is 10:23:51 And when he has the gold, we go away? Yes. Good. The pig, iron hair, wears a great belt of buckskin about his middle. The gold is in there, much of it. I will poison him tonight, and we will take the belt and go away from here in the morning.

Starting point is 10:24:13 Revers made no reply. Here was success offered him without so much as a move of his hand. He need have no part of it, none at all. Tilly would bring him the gold belt. That was what he had come for, and hitherto he had never let any of it. in the world stand between him and the gratification of his desires. Yet he hesitated. Is there more gold here than iron hair wears in his belt? asked Tilly. Revers shook

Starting point is 10:24:45 his head. Then why wait? Her whisper was full of amazement. It is not like the snow-burner. Was there ever a man who could make him do his will? And yet now the snow-burner labors for iron hair like woman." Like a woman!" he repeated her bold words in surprise, while she sat humbly awaiting the careless backhand blow which knocked her rolling on the sand. "'And was that hand like the hand of a woman?' he asked. Tilly picked herself up with a gleam of hope in her eyes.

Starting point is 10:25:23 It was long since the snow-burner had struck her strongly. oh snow-burner she whispered proudly as she crawled back to his side why do we wait it is all ready the snow-burner knows where the gold is that he came for tilly will do her share the sleep medicine is sewed in the corner of my blanket there is enough to kill this big pig iron hair and his men three times over will not the snow-burner give the sign for tilly to put the sleep medicine in their food then they will sleep and not awaken and the snow-burner and tilly can go away with the gold was it not so that the snow-burner wished to do revers nodded that was what he wished it was very simple only a nod after that the sleep medicine the tasteless indian poison the secret of which tilly possessed and which he would have used on a hundred men had revers given the word yes it was very simple except that he could not forget hattie mcgregor the memory of her each hour had grown clearer more torturing because of it he had taken the killing load of work from her father's shoulders because of it he was growing weak he swore mutteringly as he thought of it he had permitted her memory to soften him to make a boy of him but now he was himself again tilly's words had done their work he turned toward the squaw and she saw by the look in his eyes that the snow-burner at last was going to give the fatal sign

Starting point is 10:27:12 to-night she pleaded let it be to-night it is a bad camp here the air is not good iron hair is a pig let me give the sleep-medicine to-night then we go to-night then we go to-night we go to-night the air is not good iron hair is a pig let me give the sleep medicine to-night then we go from here in the morning together she crept closer to him slyly smiling up at him and suddenly revers flung her away with the movement of loathing and sprang up tall and straight no he said quietly not to-night and tilly crouched at his feet snow-burner she whispered i hear iron hair and his men talk they go away soon they take the gold with them does not the snow-burner want the gold reavers looked down upon her he was standing up stiff and proud as he should stand but as he had not stood since he had begun to play at being a drunken squaw man i do not want you to help me get the gold he said slowly i do not want you to give ironhair the sleep medicine to-night or any night i will take the gold from iron hair without your help i have spoken he stood looking down at her and tilly looking up at him once more was reminded that he was a white man and that the vast gulf between them never might be bridged wearily hopelessly she rose to her feet the snow-burner has spoken i have heard she whispered and went humbly back into the large dug-out revers laughed a small laugh of bitterness as he heard the flap drop behind her he threw his head far back and gazed up at the slit of starlit sky that showed above the mouth of the cavern

Starting point is 10:29:10 and for once in his life he felt the common insignificance of humankind alone in the vast scheme of nature he was weak he had thrown away the easy way to success he had let the memory of hattie mcgregor's face flaring before his eyes in the instant that tilly thrust her lips up to his beat him he threw up his great arms and held them out tense and hard as bars of living steel he felt of his shoulders his biceps his chest his legs and he laughed sardonically body you're just as superior to other men's bodies as you ever were he mused yes body you're just as fit to rend and pray on others as ever but you're handicapped now you're not permitted to do things as you used to do them body you're paying the penalty of being burdened with a white man's mind mcgregor looked up as re-entered the dugout bearing the evening food a tiny fire in one corner lighted up the room and by its flickering flames he saw Reaver's face. "'Blo'd a God!' whispered the old man in awe. "'What's come over you, man?'

Starting point is 10:30:33 He rose on his elbow and peered more closely. "'Man, man! You are not overcome Shanty Moyer! You have not finished him without letting me!' Revers laughed. "'What are you talking about? Do I look as if I'd been fighting?' mcgregor studied him seriously i dunno said he slowly i don't know that you look as if you had been fighting but you come in with your head high up and the look in your eyes of a man who has conquered that i do know

Starting point is 10:31:12 tell me lad what's taken place with you outside none of your business snapped reavers here's your supper and he returned to his side of the dugout to sit down to think he was on his medal now he had put to one side the easy certain way to success that tilly had offered success was not to be so easy as he had thought thus far it had been easy he had met moyer he had won his way into the mine he had learned where the gold was hidden all as he had planned remained to get the gold and get safely away the time to do it in was short revers experienced miner's eyes had told him that the pocket was perilously near to being mined out any day any hour now and the pay streak which they were following might end in barren dirt that would be the end of his opportunity moyer and his men would waste no time in the dead lands after making their clean-up they would pack and travel at once southward to the railroad they would not permit even so harmless an individual as a sodden squaw man to trail them hence revers knew that he must find or make his opportunity without waste of time and strike the instant it was found or made he had been unable to find an opportunity that first day moyer in his camp was a different man from moyer on the trail he was the boss man here and revers granted him ungrudged admiration for it liquor was his master on the trail here he was master of it

Starting point is 10:33:02 his treatment of joey and tammy in the morning had explained his attitude on that question too clearly to make it worth while to attempt to entice him into about it drinking moyer was boss here boss of himself and others and he always had his six-shooter handy to prove it tammy and joey wore knives at their hips but no guns moyer's thirty-forty rifle hung carelessly on a nail near the door of his dug-out this had puzzled reevers at first would a bad man like moyer be so simple as to leave his rifle where any one might lay hands on it and carry a six-shooter in a manner to provoke a gun-fight when he was ordered to carry a pail of water to the dug-out reevers managed to take a careful look at the rifle and the puzzle was explained the breech block had been taken out and the fine weapon was no more deadly than any club eight pounds in weight his respect for moyer had increased with this discovery evidently moyer was not so thick-headed after all he took no chances the only effective shooting iron in camp was his six-shooter and with this he was thoroughly master of the situation in the first hour revers had noticed that moyer had a system of guarding himself it was the system of the primitive fighting man and it consisted solely of let no man get at your back at no time whether in the mine at the washing pans in the open or in the dug-out did moir permit any one to get behind him he made no distinction

Starting point is 10:34:54 in the pit he stood with joey before him at the pans he worked behind tammy when the others grouped together he whirled as smoothly as a lynx if any one made to pass in his rear even when he sat at ease in the dug-out with tilly he placed his back against the bare stone wall at the rear of the room so much reavers had seen during his first day in the camp does he sleep soundly at night he asked suddenly who asked mcgregor moyer of course soundly the scotchman gritted his teeth ay as soundly as a lynx lying down by its kill in a wolf country reavers smiled a grim smile there was no chance then of rushing shanty moyer in his sleep it would be harder to get the gold and get away than he had expected in fact the difficulties of it presented quite a problem he liked problems did the snow-burner and his smile grew more grim as he rolled himself in his bowels of his bowels he rolled himself in his bowels blankets and lay down to wait, dream tortured by pictures of Hattie McGregor, for the coming of daylight of the day in which he had resolved to force the problem to solution. End of Chapter 43.

Starting point is 10:36:24 Recording by Roger Maline Chapter 44 of the Snow Burner by Henry Oyen This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline Chapter 44 The Madness of Hell Camp Revers The day opened as the day before had opened. A bellow from Chanty Moyer and Reaver strapped McGregor into his harness again, and they tumbled out to their rude morning meal.

Starting point is 10:37:03 Again Moyer stood a distance away, the big six-shooter balanced easily in his hand. But this morning Joey and Tammy, over by the peasant, pit mouth, also were awaiting the appearance of their two beasts of burden, and Revers instantly sensed something new and sinister afoot. At the sight of McGregor's decreptitude, as stiff and tottering, he made his way to his meal, Joey and Tammy strove vainly to conceal the wolfish grins that appeared on their ugly faces. Aye, shanty, aren't quite right, is worth his keep no longer, said Tammy. hast been a fair animal for a scotch jackass but does not thrive on his oats no more one fair day's work left in him said joey appraising mcgregor shrewdly

Starting point is 10:37:57 we'll knock off a little early eh shanty so's to have delight to see him swim would not miss the sight of that for a pound of dust replied shanty and the three roared fiendishly together you poor misbegotten spawn said mcgregor quietly beginning to eat eyeing them one after the other i'll live to spit on the shamed corpses of the lot of you as the day's work began reavers started to calculate each move that he and moyer made with a view to discovering the opportunity he was looking for all that he wished was a chance to rush shanty without giving the latter an opportunity to to use his gun. The odds of three to one against him, and Joey and Tammy armed with knives, he accepted as a matter of course. But a six-shooter in the hands of a man who could use one, as Shanty Moyer could, was a shade too much even for him to venture against. The manner in which Moyer had shot up the tin cup the morning before proved how alert and sure was his trigger finger. To make the suspicion of the suspicion of the

Starting point is 10:39:12 of a move toward him, with the gun in his hand, would have spelled instant ruin. As he watched now, Reaver saw that Moyer was more vigilant than ever. He kept far away from the pit mouth. The gun either was in his hand or hanging ready in the holster. And when Reaver saw the first load of sand, he understood why. The pay streak had paid out. They were winnowing the drippings of dust washed down from the pocket now and this job soon would be done moir was not taking any chances of losing at this stage of affairs the fortune was in his grasp he would break camp and be off in the same hour that the sand began to run low grade he took no part in the work to-day he merely stood and watched and reavers watched back and the hours passed and the short day began to draw to a close, and still not the slightest chance

Starting point is 10:40:16 to rush Shanty Moyer and Liv had presented itself. As the early twilight began to creep down into the cavern, the ugly grins with which Joey and Tammy regarded McGregor began to increase. Suddenly, Tammy, washing a pan of sand in the brook, threw up both hands. Not a trace in the last load, Shanty, he shouted.

Starting point is 10:40:42 All out, came Moyer's bellow, as if he had been waiting for the signal. Joey and Tammy threw down their tools and came over and stood behind Revers and McGregor, who came up dragging a loaded sledge behind them. Take that load down yonder, ordered Moyer, pointing to the black tunnel into which the creek disappeared in leaving the cavern. Tammy and Joey followed. grinning two paces behind the sledge moyer gun in hand walked ten feet behind them whoa he laughed when reavers and mcgregor had drawn up against the cliff beside the stream's exit you can unhitch the old jackass now my sons then over with it quick with a yelp tammy and joey tore loose mcgregor's traces they held him between them and in his bound and weakened

Starting point is 10:41:39 condition he was unable to struggle or turn around. Before Revers could move, they had hurled McGregor into the deep water in the tunnel. He sank like a stone, and the current sucked him in. Goodbye, McGregor of the big boasts, laughed Moyer, but he laughed a trifle too soon. In the instant that the current bore McGregor into the darkness of the tunnel, his face bobbed up above the waters. He looked up and looked straight into Reaver's eyes. It was not a look of appeal. It was the same look that had been in the eyes of Hattie McGregor the day when Revers had left her cabin. Then Hell Camp Revers felt himself going mad. He hit Tammy so hard and true that he flew through the air and struck against Moyer. The next instant, Revers was diving like a flash into the black water,

Starting point is 10:42:38 groping for McGregor, while the current swept him into the total darkness. He heard the bullet from Moyer's revolver strike the water behind him in the instant that his hands found McGregor, heard mocking laughter as he pulled the old man's head above water, then the current whirled him and his burden away. It whisked him downstream with a power irresistible. It threw him from side to side against the ragged rock walls, It sucked him and the load he bore down in deep whirlpools and spewed them up again.

Starting point is 10:43:15 He bumped his head against the stone roof of the tunnel and swore. The roof was a scant foot above the water. He put his hand up. The roof was getting closer to the water with every yard. Soon there was only room for their upturned faces above the water. Revers laughed heartily. so this was to be the end the joke was on him after all he had gone through he was to drown like a silly fool through a fool's impulse presently roof and water came together for a moment revers fought with his vast strength holding his own for an instant against the current hanging on to the last few seconds of life with a fury of effort

Starting point is 10:44:05 the current proved too strong it sucked them under the water closed above them they were whirled and buffeted to the last breath of life in them and then suddenly their heads slipped above water and they were looking straight up at the gray winter sky end of chapter forty four recording by roger maline chapter forty five of the snow-burner by henry oyen this librovoc's recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter forty five a surprise for shanty moyer reavers caught hold of a spear of rock the instant his head came out of water and held on he did not try to think or understand at first sufficient to know that he was alive and to pump his lungs full of the air they were crying for he held mcgregor under his left arm and he rather wondered that he hadn't let him go in that moment when he went under mcgregor was beginning to revive too reavers looked around there was not much to see they were in a tiny opening in the rocks a yard or two in length it was a duplicate of moyers cavern on a miniature scale except that here the rock walls were not high or impossible to climb for this space the brook showed itself once more to the sun then vanished again under the cliffs is it heaven gasped mcgregor only half conscious nearer hell laughed reavers he lifted himself and his burden out of the water to a resting-place on a shelf of rock for a minute or two he sat looking up at the rock walls and the gray sky above them he looked down at the water at the spot where they had been spewed from death back into life and then he leaped upright and then he leaped upright

Starting point is 10:46:21 and laughed, laughed so that the rocks rang with it, laughed so that McGregor's senses cleared, and he looked at his savior in consternation. His laughter was the uncontrollable, heart-free laughter of the man who suddenly sees a great joke upon his enemy. He smote McGregor between the shoulder-blades, so he gasped and coughed. He tore the straps and harness from his arms, body, and legs, tossed him up in the air shook him and set him down on the rock i've got him he said at last oh shanty moyer what a surprise you have coming to your own black self mcgregor with his senses cleared enough to realize that he was alive and to remember how the miracle had come about said quietly man that was the bravest thing i ever saw a man do what diving into that hole after me oh to hell with that that's past the past doesn't count not when the very immediate future is so full of juice and interest as happens to be the case just now

Starting point is 10:47:37 i've got shanty moyer old timer do you understand he's mine and all that he's got is mine and he's going to be surprised oh how surprised he's going to be McGregor looked down at the two yards of rushing water, up at the rock walls, and then at the jubilant Revers. I didn't see it, he said dryly. Really? Reaver suddenly became interested in him as if he presented a rare mental problem. Can't you make that simple mind of yours work out the simple solution of this problem? McGregor shook his head. What I see is this. We're alive, and that only for the present.

Starting point is 10:48:27 We're in a little hole in the deadlands. Happen we climb out of the hole, we have no dogs, food, or weapons. The nearest camp is two good days mushing with good fresh dogs. Too far. If I could manage to stagger five miles, I'd surprise myself. There is not so much as a dry match on us. No, I'm on say, lad. My simple mind does not see the solution of the problem.

Starting point is 10:48:58 Try again, Mack, urged Revers. Make your mind work. What do we need to make our condition blessed among men? What do men need to be well-fitted on the winter trail? You can make your mind do that some, can't you? we need replied mcgregor doggedly dogs and food and fire and weapons correct and now what's the next thought that your gray matter produces after that masterpiece that the nearest place where we may obtain these things is too far away for us to make unless happen we meet someone on the trail which is not likely pessimism laughed reavers too much caution stunts the possibility of the mind interesting demonstration of the fact with your mind as an example he turned and smote with the flat of his hand the stone wall from under which they had just emerged

Starting point is 10:50:03 what's the other side of those rocks mac shanty moyer and a six-shooter and dogs and food and matches and cartridges and dogs and food and matches and cartridges and gold everything everything to make us kings of the country mac and they're ours ours as surely as if we had em in our hands now i dinn't see it said mcgregor pessimism again how can moyer and his gang get out of their camp up stream by the creek of course any other way there's the way we came but they do not know that correct and when we've plugged up that single exit they can't get away from us mac and then we've got em mcgregor's eyes lighted up then he grew dower again we have got him if we plug up the river i see he admitted but when we have got them what good does it do us what are you going to do then that's the surprise mac i won't tell even you He looked swiftly for a way up the rock walls and found one. The first question is, Do you think you can climb after me up that crevice there?

Starting point is 10:51:30 I could climb through hell and back again if it would help in getting Shanty Moire. All right, I can't quite give you hell, but I'll give Shanty Moyer an imitation of it before he's much older. Come on, we've got some work to do before it gets dark. He led the way into the crevice he had marked for the climb up from the hole and boosted McGregor up before him. It was slow, hard work, but McGregor's weak hold slipped often, and he came slipping down upon Reaver's shoulders. In the end, Revers impatiently pulled him down, took him on his back and crawled up, and with a laugh rolled himself and his burden

Starting point is 10:52:14 in the snow on top of the cliffs. A few rods away, smoke was rising through the opening above Moyer's camp, and at the sight of it, McGregor's numbed faculties came to life. "'Let me go, man!' he pleaded as Revers caught him as he staggered toward the opening. "'It's my chance, man. I can kill the cur with a rock from up here.' "'Save your strength. I've got use for it,' said Revers. Can you walk? All right. Come on then, and don't try to get near that gap. Taking McGregor by the hand, he led the way carefully around the big opening

Starting point is 10:52:58 till they came to the opposite side of the mass of rocks, where the creek entered the tunnel by which Moyer reached his camp. Crawling and slipping, they made their way down until they stood beside the bed of the stream. Now to work, Mack, said Revers, and seizing a rock bore it to the tunnel's mouth and dropped it into the water. Aye, aye, chuckled McGregor, as he understood the significance of this move. We'll wall the cur's in! For half an hour they labored. Revers carried and rolled the heaviest rocks he could move into position across the tunnel,

Starting point is 10:53:40 and McGregor staggered beneath smaller pieces to fill up the chinks. When their work was finished, there was a rock wall across the mouth of the tunnel, which it would have been almost impossible to tear down, especially from the inside. It was growing dark when the task was completed, and Revers nodded in great satisfaction. That'll hold him long enough for my purpose, and we just made it in time, he said, now come on up the mountain again and then for the surprise the surprise man panted mcgregor as he toiled up the rocks what are you going to do tell me what's in your head hush hush laughed reivers pulling him up to the top your position is that of the onlooker it would spoil it for you if you knew what was going to happen an onlooker me when it's a case of getting shanty moyer don't say that lad don't leave me out he's mine you know that by all the rights of men and gods it's my right to get him give me my just share of revenge

Starting point is 10:54:57 shut up they were nearing the brink of the opening reever's hand covered mcgregor's mouth as they leaned over and looked down upon the unsuspecting men in the cavern below in the shut-in spot night had fallen on the sand before the dug-out tilly was cooking over a brisk fire going about her work as calmly as if nothing of moment had happened during the afternoon near by moyer and joey were packing the dog sledge and repairing harness evidently preparing to take the trail after the evening meal tammy sat by the fire holding together with both hands the pieces of his nose which reevers blow had smashed flat on his face reavers scarcely looked at the men but began to scan the walls for a way to get down the walls slanted inwardly from the top and at first it seemed impossible that a man could get safely into the cavern without the aid of a rope but presently revers saw that for thirty feet directly above the large dug-out the rocks were ragged enough to afford plenty of holds for hands and feet the walls were nearly fifty feet high if he could reach to the bottom of this rough space he would be hanging with his feet feet ten or twelve feet above the cavern floor good enough he said aloud it's a cinch a cinch it is breathed mcgregor softly we'll roll up a pile of rocks and kill em like rats in a pit but you mun leave shanty to me lad i shut up reavers thrust the scotchman back from the brink

Starting point is 10:56:51 do you want me to go after the harness for you i told you that your job was to be the onlooker i settle this thing with shanty moyer myself but man moyer kicked me do you understand he placed his dirty foot on me do you see why i'm going to do it by myself placed his foot on you god's blood what has he done to me robbed me made a animal of me, stabbed me with a prod. Who has the better right to his foul life?" "'It isn't a case of right, but of might, Mack,' chuckled Revers. "'I've got the better might. Therefore, will you give me your word that you'll refrain from interfering with my actions until I've paid my debt to Mr. Moyer, or must I go back after the harness and strap you up?' "'Cruel—'

Starting point is 10:57:49 promise i promise said mcgregor but it's wrong sore wrong i protest all right protest all you want to but do it silently not another word or sound out of you now until the job's done together they crawled back into the brink above the large dugout and peered down into the darkening cavern in a flash revers had his mackinaw and boots off the cooking fire was deserted no one was in sight moir and his men and tilly were at supper in the dugout and reaver's chance had come he swung himself silently over the brink and hung by a handhold on the rock don't interfere mac he said warningly not till i've paid shanty moyer for the touch of his foot end of chapter forty five recording by roger maline chapter forty six of the snow-burner by henry oyen this librovoc's recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter forty six a fight that was a fight with a twist of his body he threw his stockinged feet forward and caught toe-holds on the rough surface of the wall next he released his right hand and fumbled downward till he found a solid piece of protruding rock having tested it thoroughly he let go his holds with both feet and left hand and dropped his full weight into the grip of his right above him mcgregor with his face glued to the brink of the opening gasped twice once because he was shore Revers was dropping straight to the bottom, and again when his right hand took the shock

Starting point is 10:59:51 of his full weight without loosening its grip. Revers heard and looked up and smiled. Then he swung his feet inward again, secured another hold, lowered his right hand to another sure grip, and so made his startling way down the inwardly slanting cliff. At the third desperate drop, McGregor drew back, unable to stand the starboard. strain of watching. Had Revers been able to see on top of the cliff, he would have laughed, for the Scotchman was down on his knees in the snow, earnestly praying. Finally, McGregor summoned up courage to peer down once more. Then he knew his prayers had been answered. Revers was hanging easily by his hands, directly above the front of the large dugout,

Starting point is 11:00:40 and his feet were less than ten feet above the bottom of the cave. McGregor gave a whoop of thanksgiving and gathered to him an armful of stones. For a moment, Revers hung there, looking down and appraising the situation. He loosened his hold until his whole weight hung on the ends of his fingers. Come out and fight, shanty, he bellowed suddenly. Come out, you cheap cur and fight like a man. Nothing loathe Moyer came, responding like a wight. animal on the instant of the weird challenge from above.

Starting point is 11:01:18 Like a wild man he came, six-shooter in hand, tearing the front of the dugout away in his rush, and Revers dropped and struck him neatly the instant he appeared. It was a carefully aimed drop. Landing on Moyer's neck, Revers would have killed him. He had no wish to kill him, yet. He landed on Moyer's shoulders, and the six-shooter went flying away as the two-tubeer's.

Starting point is 11:01:44 two bodies crashed together and dropped on the sand with a thud. Revers was up first. It was well that he was. Tammy and Joey were only a step behind, Moyer. Like wildcats they clawed at Revers, and like wildcats they rolled on the ground when his fists met them. Then Moyer was up on his feet. His senses were a little dull, but he saw enough of the situation to satisfy him. Before him was something to fight, to rush, to annihilate, and he rushed. Up on the cliff, the maddened McGregor yelped joyously, a stone in each hand, as Revers leaped forward to meet the rush and struck. Shanty Moyer had expected a grapple, and Reaver's

Starting point is 11:02:32 fist caught him full in the mouth and threw him back on his shoulders a man's length away. When Moyer arose then, the lower part of his face had the appearance of crushed meat, but he growled through the blood and rushed again. Reaver struck, and Moyer's nose disappeared in a welter of blood and gristle. He struck again, but Moyer came on and locked him in his huge arms. Joey and Tammy were up now. Their knives were out. They saw their chance and leaped forward to strike at Reaver's back.

Starting point is 11:03:09 With his life depending upon it, the snowburner swung Moyer's great body around, and Joey and Tammy stayed their hands barely in time to save plunging their knives into the back of their chief. Growling a wild curse, McGregor dropped two stones the size of his head. One struck Joey on the shoulder and sent him shrieking with pain into the dugout. The other dropped at Reaver's feet. With a yell, he hurled Moyer from him and snatched up the stone. joey reading his doom in the snow-burner's eyes backed away into the brink of the brook the heavy stone caught him in the chest then he struck the water with a splash and was gone but moyer was up in the same instant and his arms licked around from behind and raised reavers off his feet the hold was broken as suddenly as it was clamped on they were face to face again and face to face they fought trampling the sand and the fire indiscriminately each blow from reavers now splashed blood from moyers's face as from a soaked sponge and at each blow mcgregor shouted wildly

Starting point is 11:04:25 that for the kick you gave him shanty that for the dirt you did me the dogs mad with terror fled up the brook met the stone wall and came whining back they cowered jammering in fright at the terrible combat which raged minute after minute before them out of the dugout softly came stealing tilly a knife dropped by joey or tammy gleamed in the light of the fire she picked it up with a smile of great contentment on her face she crept noiselessly toward the struggling men they were locked in a clinch now and with the smile widening she moved around behind moyers broad back the knife flashed above her head reaver saw it with an effort he wrenched an arm free and knocked the knife away keep away he roared springing out of the clinch this is a little bit this is between iron hair and me up on the cliff mcgregor groaned in freeing himself revers had hurled moyer to one side and moyer had dropped with his outstretched hands nearly touching his six-shooter where it had fallen when revers had dropped upon him like the stab of a snake his hand reached out and snapped it up your soul to the devil shanty moyer shrieked mcgregor and hurled another stone His aim was true this time. The stone struck Moyer squarely on his big head and drove his face into the sand.

Starting point is 11:06:05 He never moved after it. Revers looked up. On the brink of the cliff, McGregor on his knees was chanting his war cry, his thanks that vengeance had not been denied him. Revers smiled. That's a good song, Mack, whatever it is, he laughed. when the madden scotchman had grown quieter but the fact remains that you disobeyed my orders and interfered i i interfered i hurled a stone and sent the black soul of shanty moir back to his brother the devil chanted mcgregor but lad i did not interfere until you'd paid him in full until you'd paid double for the kicks he gave you three of them were there and they were armed and you with bare fists

Starting point is 11:06:57 god's blood never since men stood up with fist to fist has there been such fighting one disabled and two men dead dead you are you poor pups and i can tell by the way you lived where you're roasting now Ah, I have seen a man fight. I have seen what I shall never forget. And, poor stick that I am, compared to him, I have even had a hand in it myself. Man, man, would you grudge me a little bite after your belly's full of battle? Revers spoke quietly and coldly. Go down and tear out as much of the stone wall as you can. I'll take the heavy stones from this side. He turned to Tilly. Take the big belt from iron hair and give it to me, then make all ready for the trail. We march tonight. And Tilly, as she harnessed the dogs, spat upon iron hair, the beaten. End of Chapter 46. Recording by Roger Maline.

Starting point is 11:08:14 Chapter 47 of the Snowburner by Henry Oyen. Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 47 The Snowburner Pays And now the Snowburner has his gold. He has robbed the great iron hair in his own camp. Great is the snow burner. Now he has the gold which he longed for. Now he is rich. The white men will bow down to him. Great is the snow burner. tilly crouched beside reavers as an hour later he stood in the edge of the dead lands and triumphantly crooned the saga of his success

Starting point is 11:09:01 the gold belt of shanty moir hung heavily over his shoulder its great weight constantly reminding him of the fortune that it contained the dogs were held in leash eager to be quit of the harsh rock chasms through which they had just traveled and to strike their lope on a trail over the open country beyond. McGregor sat wearily on one side of the sledge. The exertions and excitement of the afternoon had exhausted him in his weakened condition. He sat slumped together, only half-conscious of what was going on. In a moment he would be sound asleep. And Revers had the gold. He had succeeded. He had the gold, and he had a supply of food and a strong, fresh team of dogs eager for the trail. All that was necessary was to turn the dogs toward the south. Two, three, four days traveling, and he would strike the railroad. And the railroad ran to tide water, and on the water, steamboats would carry him away to the

Starting point is 11:10:08 world he had planned to return to. It was very simple, as simple as had been Tilly's scheme for getting rid of Moyer. But he couldn't do it. He didn't want to do it. He didn't want to do it. it. He wanted to do just one thing now, above all others, and that was what he had set out to do. He stood down and strapped the belt of gold around McGregor's middle. McGregor was sound asleep now, so he placed him on the sledge and bound him carefully in place. Tilly's chant died down in astonishment. We take the old one with us, she asked. We do, said Reuette.

Starting point is 11:10:49 Revers. Heya! Together there! Mush! Mush up! To Tilly's joy he turned the dogs to the northwest, in the direction of the camp of her people. The snow-burner was lost to her. She knew that, when he had refused to help with Shanty Moyer.

Starting point is 11:11:09 But it was something to have him come back to the camp. Revers, driving hard and straight all night, brought his team up the riverbed to Tilly's camp in the morning. mcgregor was out of his head by then and for the day they stopped to rest and feed reavers sat in the big tepee alone with mcgregor and fed him soft food which the old squaws had prepared in the evening he again tied the old man and the belt of gold to the sledge and hitched up the dogs tilly had read her doom in his eyes but nevertheless she came out to the sledge prepared to follow you do not come any farther said reavers as he picked up the dog whip tilly nodded i know with gold the snow-barner can be a great man among the white women will the snow-burner come back some time i will never come back ah tilly's breath came fiercely so there is one white woman then if i had known but reavers was whipping and cursing the dogs and hurrying out of hearing mcgregor clear-headed from the rest and food but still weak lifted his head and looked around as the sledge sped over the frozen snow

Starting point is 11:12:35 a new trail to me lad he said where to now on a fool's trail laughed reavers bitterly and drove on next morning mcgregor recognized the land ahead. Straight for Dumont's camp we're heading, lad, he said. Is it there we go? Yes. They came to Dumont's camp as night fell.

Starting point is 11:13:04 Revers halted and made sundry inquiries. In a shack half-ways between here and fifty mile, was the substance of the replies. Ayah, mush, mush up! And they were on the trail again. at daylight the next day from a rise in the land he saw the shack that had been designated smoke was rising from the chimney and a small figure that he knew even at that distance came out filled a pail with snow and went in again revers stopped his dogs some distance from the shack he threw mcgregor gold belt and all over his shoulder and went up to the door and knocked for a second or two two seconds from the shack he threw mcgregor gold belt and all over his shoulder and went up to the door and knocked for a second or two

Starting point is 11:13:49 to he smiled triumphantly as hattie mcgregor opened the door and stood speechless at what she saw then he bowed low laid his burden on the floor and went out without a word the dogs shuddered as they heard him laugh coming back to them hayah mush he drove them furiously into a gully that shut out the sight of the shack and sat down on the sledge the dogs whined it was the time for the morning meal and the master was making no preparations to eat still you curs the whip fell mercilessly among them and they crouched in terror the time went by the sun began to climb upward in the sky still the man sat on the sledge making no preparations for the morning meal the memory of the whip cuts died in the dog's minds under the growing clamor of hunger they began to whine again still the master was on his feet but the whip had fallen from his hand down at the end of the gully a small figure was coming over the snow she was running and her red hair flowed back over her shoulders and she laughed aloud as she came up to him the pain was gone from hattie mcgregor's lips and her whole face beamed with a complete unreasoning happiness but the pride of her breed shone in her eyes even unto the end well well sneered reavers aren't you afraid to come so near anything that pollutes the air she laughed again she did not speak she only looked at him and smiled and by the eve wisdom in the smile

Starting point is 11:15:41 he knew that his secret was hers he felt himself weakening but the snow-burner died hard he tried to laugh his old cold laugh but the ice had been thawed in it what do you want he sneered i'm not a good enough man for you why did you come out here because i knew you would not go away again she said and because now i know you are good enough man for me. You red-haired troll! He raised his hand to strike her. She did not flinch. She merely smiled up at him confidently, contentedly. Suddenly she caught his clenched fist in her hands and kissed it.

Starting point is 11:16:31 With a curse, Reaver swung around on his dogs. Hey-ya, mush, mush out of here. Out of the gully into the open, he kicked and drove them. He did not look back. He knew that she was following. She followed patiently. She knew that there was nothing else for her to do. She had known it the first day she had looked into his eyes. He was her man, and she must follow him. So she trudged on behind her man as he forced the tired dogs to move? She smiled as she walked, and the wisdom of Eve was in her smile she had reason to smile for the snow-burner was driving straight toward the little shack the end of chapter forty seven end of the snow-burner by henry oyen

Classic Audiobook Collection - The Snow-Burner by Henry Oyen ~ Full Audiobook [folklore]

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