Page:The Cross Pull.pdf/95

 it held a man where the sharp hoofs and heavier weight of horses would break through. Flash waited until they were quite close before slipping on ahead.

He found the high country under a solid blanket of white. When he had been here with Moran there had been little evidence of man, but the hills had been teeming with all varieties of game. This condition was now reversed. He found no signs of game, but near Two Ocean Pass he crossed many trails that had been made by men.

Flash was not constituted to live happily alone. With Moran he had been content, and his life had been full when he traveled with Silver. Companionship he must have, either of his own kind or that of man.

Except for the big gray owls there were now no sounds to entertain him at night. The whole expanse of the hills seemed dead and frozen, and the hollow silence oppressed his spirit with a sense of world wide emptiness.

His memories were sooner dimmed than those of man. Every vivid instance, each great love and hate, had left its imprint and helped to shape his life, but these did not now reveal themselves in definite form. His love for Silver and Moran