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Show 128. He could hear Olaf's knife whittling, xrhittling. Weasel shouting, "Build up tbe.fire," came again and again from the lean-to. The yap, yap, yap and then the lonely hoxrl of a coyote a long ways axray and then Weasel's voice again, "I'm cold " " I ' l l " Olaf's boots hit the xrood en floor into the lean-to, hard and swift. Bill thought now i t ' s going to happen. Olaf's in a bad mood a f t e r his long drunk, but Weasel's s t i l l sick-maybe he xron't hit him. Olaf's voice low and brutal and the words "fire-xrood" reached Bill, but no violence followed, and Bill f e l t a great relief as Olaf came back through the door. The next time Bill woke up i t was quiet and dark. There xras just the flickering light from the coals at the end of the stove. Gradually as his eyes became accustomed to the shadoxrs he could see L i t t l e Bill asleep in his bed and Olaf s i t t i n g xrith his feet on the open oven door. He couldn't t e l l xrhether Olaf -was asleep or not. . His shoulders drooped and he didn't move. Bill lay there listening to the haunting sound of the xrind, and he couldn't keep back the feeling that none of them, or even anyone in Blue Burg, xras going to get through this winter. The thought of the baby outlasting them a l l pushed through to a constant feeling of f e a r - almost t e r r o r . It seemed in his mind that i t had been that xray a l l along-that he'd been fighting for something |
