Page:The trail of the golden horn.djvu/134

130 he noticed a slight movement in the snow near a mass of tangled trees. Cautiously advancing, he ere long saw something which thrilled his whole being. It was a moose, entrapped in the very forefront of the avalanche, and feebly threshing its great antlers in its death struggle. Drawing nearer, North saw that the animal’s hinder parts were caught and crushed beneath a heavy tree while the rest of its body was free. He knew now that what he had been told was no fiction, that moose, bear, deer, and lesser animals were sometimes overwhelmed as they sped before the terror of the mountains. This animal had evidently been caught off guard near where the snow-slide had stopped. That the brute had made a desperate fight was most apparent, and as North stood watching its now feeble efforts a feeling of pity welled up in his heart for this unfortunate creature. But what was death to one was life to others, so drawing forth his sheath-knife, he at once put the animal out of misery.

This sudden and unexpected incident filled North with renewed hope. There before him was food to last for several days. And the skin, which could be cut into long strips, what possibilities lay in that! He did not attempt to remove the tree from the body, knowing how useless that would be. But after the moose had bled freely, with his sharp knife he laid back a portion of the skin and cut off several slices of the warm, quivering flesh. This took him but a few minutes, and he then made his way back to his companions, his heart overflowing with joy and thankfulness.

This unexpected help in time of extremity seemed to Marion nothing else than providential.

“I was always interested in that story of Elijah in the wilderness,” she remarked as she watched the ser-