Page:Honore Willsie--Judith of the godless valley.djvu/332

 body. Shortly she was able to stand alone and to ask Doug where he had come from.

"My camp is up the mountain a ways. Why didn't you have a fire?"

"Lost my pack when I lost Buster. Lost my match-safe when I fell with the little wild mare this afternoon." "I'm going to take you back up to my camp, Judith." "I don't think I can make it, Doug. It would have to be a foot climb."

"You must make it. There is nothing at all here to keep us both from freezing to death. We'll start now, while I can still see the fire I left up there."

"I can't, Doug! You bring your camp down here."

"This is no shelter at all. I'm in the big cedars above here. You've got to have some hot food right off. We will leave the little wild mare here until morning."

With Wolf Cub hanging to their heels, they started the upward climb. Judith gave to the last ounce of her depleted strength. They reached the still glowing ashes of Doug's fire on their hands and knees, and lay beside it till the warning chill brought Douglas to his feet. He chopped more wood, rekindled the fire in the center of the camp, and established Judith beside it on some blankets. Then he prepared some coffee and bacon for her. She ate ravenously. Douglas watched her with satisfaction radiating from every line of his snow-burned face.

"Are you warm now, Jude?" he asked her when she had begun on her second cup of coffee.

"Well, not exactly warm, but I sure am thawing!"

"As soon as you are warm, I'll let you sleep. That's right, let old Wolf Cub snuggle up against you. He's better than a hot-water bottle. Are you surprised to see me, Judith?"