The Sacrament [antikvár]

THE SACRAMENT The last of their provisions, even the toothpaste, was gone. There was no sign of Norm, and by mid-week their hopes of his having fomid help and returning to them had faded. Hope of being spotted from the air, in spite of their brave talk of past rescues, was almost as faint. Without food, they could not last much longer. Now, on Saturday, their choice seemed clear to them: they would have to eat something or they would die. All that was left to satisfy their hunger was Don's body. Chapter One spring came late to the high country of the west-em American cordiUera in 1979, and on the afternoon of May 5, when a small white aircraft flew westward from the Montana prairie toward the mountains that reach into central Idaho, snow was gusting through the air. Darkness threatened. The snow scudded out of banks of cmnuliform clouds above the mountain ranges and blew stiffly into the aircraft's nose. It obscured the call letters set into the black racing stripes along the plane's fuselage—c (for Canada)-gyvp—^^and the proud gold trademark on its swept-back tail, the Skyhawk. The little plane was struggling. Ice was forming on the leading edges of its wings and on the fairings of its wheel assembly. The ice added to the Skyhawk's already heavy load and violated the aerodynamics of its design. Under gentler circumstances the plane would have soared easily above the peaks that lay ahead. The Sky-hawk was a Cessna 172, and the Cessna is the most popular single-engined aircraft in the world, a Volkswagen of the American air. One of the reasons for its popularity is its safety; it is strong and efficient, and manoeuvrable. If the Cessna 172 has a weakness, it is in its very dependability; pilots sometimes rely on it too much. The more familiar they become with the plane, the more confident they grow that it will make up for their mistakes and deliver them from their own errors in