The Angler's Story 51 



and that which carries when all else fails. Like 

 the skilled skee-rider he was, champion in a hun- 

 dred contests down mountainsides, he moved on 

 over the icy snow like the spirit of the wind, a 

 splendid human animal, rising over hummocks, 

 making tremendous leaps into the air, speeding 

 on to seeming destruction; now using his pole 

 to break the pace, again, in the exuberance of 

 his strength, holding it on high as he shot 

 through the freezing air. 



When he reached the bottom of the slide of 

 the mountain with such force that he shot fifty 

 feet up the opposite slope, he caught himself 

 with his pole and began killing the ascent, zig- 

 zagging slowly upward. He knew the immediate 

 country well and was following the general direc- 

 tions of the mail skee-man, who in times of less 

 snow made the passage across the mountains 

 once in two weeks. He followed the blazed trail, 

 and in hours of heart-breaking work reached 

 another summit and went whirling down, always 

 headed south, in the direction of the country 

 that, miles away, opened out into the level plains 

 where man lived. Once he struck a hidden limb 

 and was hurled into the air, but by splendid 

 action so twisted himself that he did not fall 

 on his little burden. The plaintive wail that 

 came as a result of the shock brought to him 

 the realization of the possible danger of such an 

 accident. He stopped, trembling with excite- 



