an 



the snow. Sharp pains in my left hand com- 

 pelled attention, and showed my left arm drawn 

 tightly against my breast, with fingers and 

 thumb spread to the fullest, and all their mus- 

 cles tense. 



The lower edge of the meadow was almost 

 blockaded with a dense growth of fire-killed 

 trees. Fortunately the easy slope here had so 

 checked my speed that I was able to dodge 

 safely through, but the heavy slide swept across 

 the meadow after me with undiminished speed, 

 and came crashing into the dead trees so close 

 to me that broken limbs were flung flying past 

 as I shot down off a steep moraine less than one 

 hundred feet ahead. 



All the way down I had hoped to find a side 

 canon into which I might dodge. I was going 

 too rapidly to enter the one I had seen. As I 

 coasted the moraine it flashed through my mind 

 that I had once heard a prospector say it was 

 only a quarter of a mile from Aspen Gulch up 

 to the meadows. Aspen Gulch came in on the 

 right, as the now slightly widening track seemed 

 to indicate. 



13 



