'No,' Papa said, 'it'd be easy to get lost in this storm.'
'I think they're more to the right of us,' I said.
'I do, too,' Papa said.
We trudged on. Old Dan bawled again. The sound of his voice seemed to be all around us.
'The way that wind is whipping the sound through this timber,' the judge said, 'we'd be lucky if we ever found them.'
Papa shouted over the roar of the wind, 'We can't take much more of this. We'll freeze to death.'
The men were giving up. I felt the knot again as it crawled up in my throat. Salt water froze on my eyelashes. Kneeling down, I put my ear close to the icy ground in hopes I could hear my dogs, but I couldn't hear anything above the roar of the blizzard.
Standing up, I peered this way and that. All I could see was a white wall of whirling sleet. I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer and hoped for a miracle.
We heard a sharp crack and a loud crashing noise. A large limb, torn from a tree by the strong wind, fell to the ground. The sharp crack of the limb gave me the idea. Shouting to my father, I said, 'Shoot the gun. If my dogs are close enough to hear it, maybe Little Ann will come to us.'
Papa didn't hesitate. Pointing the gun high over his head, he pulled the trigger. The sharp crack rang out into the teeth of the storm.
We waited.
Just when I had given up all hope and had sunk to the lowest depth of despair, out of the white wall of driving sleet, my little dog came to me. I knelt down and gathered her in my arms.
Taking one of the lead ropes from my pocket, I tied it to her collar. I said, 'Find him, little girl. Please find Old Dan.'
Right then I didn't care about coons, gold cups, or anything. All I wanted was my dogs.
I don't know how she did it. Straight into the face of the storm she led us. Time after time she would stop and turn her head this way and that. I knew she couldn't scent or see anything. Instinct alone was guiding her. Over a winding and twisting trail, we followed.
Coming out of the bottoms, she led us into a thick canebrake. The tall stalks sheltered us from the storm. The roaring of the wind didn't seem as loud. Like ghostly figures, large trees loomed out of the almost solid mass. Falling and stumbling, we kept pushing on.
Grandpa shouted, 'Hold up a minute. I'm just about all in.'
We stopped.
'Do you think that hound knows what she's doing?' the judge asked. 'Maybe we're just running around in circles.'
Looking at me, Papa said, 'I hope she does. Some of these canebrakes cover miles. If we get lost in here, we'll be in bad shape.'
Grandpa said, 'I think we've gone too far. The last time I heard Old Dan, he sounded quite close.'
'That was because the wind carried the sound,' I said.
The judge spoke up, 'Fellows, no dog is worth the lives of three men. Now let's do the smart thing and get out of here while we can. Our clothes are wet. If we keep on wandering around in this jungle, we'll freeze to death. It doesn't look like this blizzard is ever going to let up.'
I could hear the roar of the blizzard back in the thick timber of the bottoms. Two large limbs being rubbed together by the strong wind made a grinding creaking sound. The tall slender cane around us rattled and swayed.
I could feel the silence closing in. I knew the judge's cold logic had had its effect on my father and grandfather. The men had given up. There was no hope left for me.
Kneeling down, I put my arms around Little Ann. I felt the warm heat from her moist tongue caressing my ear. Closing my eyes, I said, 'Please, Dan, bawl one more time, just one more time.'
