Edison Marshall

“ She would always follow bravely where Ned led. Now both of them had passed through the little, narrow gap between lofty, snow-swept crags. Doomsdorf trudged just behind.
Then something sharp and calamitous as a lightning bolt seemed to strike the pass. There was a loud ring and clang of metal, the sharp crack of a snowshoe frame broken to kindling, and then, obliterating both, a wild bellow of human agony like that of a mighty grizzly wounded to the death. Ned and Bess had passed in safety, but Doomsdorf had stepped squarely into the great bear trap that Ned had set the evening before. ”

“ Doomsdorf had told him, once, that a good trapper must learn to mark his sets. Any square yard of territory must be so identified, in the mind's eye, that the trapper can return, days later, walk straight to it and know its every detail. Ned Cornet had learned his trade. He was a trapper; and he knew this snowy pass as an artist knows his canvas. He stepped boldly through.
Bess walked just behind, stepping exactly in his tracks. Her heart raced. ”

“ Bess leaped in, like a she-wolf in defense of her cubs, but one great sweep of Doomsdorf's arm hurled her unconscious in the snow. There were to be no outside forces influencing this battle. The trap at Doomsdorf's foot was Ned's only advantage; and he had decoyed his enemy into it by his own cunning. It was man to man at last: a cruel war settled for good and all.
It could endure but an instant more. Already those iron fingers were crushing out Ned's life. So closely matched were the two foes, so terrible their strength, that their bodies scarcely moved at all ”

“ Ned's response was to throw his arms immediately into the air in token of complete surrender. He was thinking coolly, his faculties in perfect control; and he knew he must not attempt resistance now. Only death lay that way; at that range Doomsdorf could shatter him lifeless to the ice with one shot from the heavy rifle. It wasn't enough just to die, thus taking a quick road out of Doomsdorf's power. Such a course would not aid Bess. And to Bess he owed his duty—to aid Bess, in every way he could, was his last dream. ”

“ The sounds of human voices were no more to be heard in the silences, and the wolf was no longer startled, fear and wonder at his heart, by the sight of a tall living form on the game trails. The traps were moss-covered and lost, and the wind might rage the night through at the cabin window, and no one would hear and no one would be afraid. ”

“ She had gone to decoy Doomsdorf from his trail.
She had chosen the direction that would give Doomsdorf the longest chase and take him farthest from Ned's trail. He couldn't follow them both. The morning light would show him that his two fugitives had separated; and she had reasoned soundly in thinking that their enemy would pursue her, rather than Ned. His lust for her was too commanding for him to take any other course. While he pursued her, Ned would have every chance to hurry on eastward to the safety of Tzar Island. ”