THE WANDERER 113 



and how they hated each other, and the battle 

 would begin afresh. Then, like the flute of Pan, 

 came the crooning call once more, full of strange 

 yearning pathos — longing, love, fire, feeling, passion, 

 and pain — a sound so thrilling, so moving, that it 

 tugged at Moosewa's heartstrings and left him 

 trembling. 



" Follow ! Follow r 



And at the imperious summons the red-eyed 

 suitors took up Delilah's trail again, drawing their 

 breath in short gusts, and warily watching each 

 other as the density momentarily separated them. 



Up and up, to higher ground, the cow led them 

 with her pied-piper lure. Over a high bluff where 

 the spruce trees and firs gave out, and the ground, 

 wind swept, curved upwards in an open track of 

 tundra. 



Far below on either side lay the great basins of 

 the Sushitna and Kuskoqwim Rivers — wide, open 

 valleys leading to the sea, and vast forested areas 

 and countless lakes intersected by lagoons. To the 

 north-east, some eighty miles away, the snow-clad 

 peak of Mount McKinley, highest and grandest of 

 Alaskan mountains, reared his towering hulk. 



To the hotly contested battle again, and so 



15 



