A little more exposure, and the
rheumatism will be grinding ye again. Ye will hurry, Jimmy?"
"Sure!" cried Jimmy, ducking under a snow slide, and breaking into
a whistle as he turned toward the road.
Dannie's gaze followed Jimmy's retreating figure until he climbed
the bank, and was lost in the woods, and the light in his eyes was
the light of love. He glanced at the sky, and hurried down the
river. First across to Jimmy's side to gather his rats and reset
his traps, then to his own. But luck seemed to have turned, for all
the rest of Dannie's were full, and all of Jimmy's were empty. But
as he was gone, it was not necessary for Dannie to slip across and
fill them, as was his custom when they worked together. He would
divide the rats at skinning time, so that Jimmy would have just
twice as many as he, because Jimmy had a wife to support. The last
trap of the line lay a little below the curve of Horseshoe Bend,
and there Dannie twisted the tops of the bags together, climbed the
bank, and struck across Rainbow Bottom. He settled his load to his
shoulders, and glanced ahead to choose the shortest route. He
stopped suddenly with a quick intake of breath.
"God!" he cried reverently. "Hoo beautifu' are Thy works."
The ice-covered Wabash circled Rainbow Bottom like a broad white
frame, and inside it was a perfect picture wrought in crystal white
and snow shadows. The blanket on the earth lay smoothly in even
places, rose with knolls, fell with valleys, curved over prostrate
logs, heaped in mounds where bushes grew thickly, and piled high in
drifts where the wind blew free.
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