Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1874-06-04

ed the stranger, ''and I've only tried
to do as I'd be done by"
"Well, then," said Curt, "you go
into the house and go to bed. I'll
hitch up my team and see if I can make
out to keep the sleighing party from
mischief. There must be time enough
for that, yet, seeing the quilting comes
first"
ell stable my horses" replied the
philanthropic Jake, "but don't 60 into
no bed, so longs there's anybody likely
to be in danger. Drag out your sleigh.
Is that it Well, there's room into it
for more'n two, there is.
Curt Howland's movements were al
ways good deal more rapid and de-
cisive than they seemed, and it was
marvellous how quickly he aud Jake
were whirling down toward the GUS
tomary crossing. In one thing, how
ever, Curt had been wofully mistaken,
and that was in the probable hour for
the quilting to break up. Even while
he was putting the harness on his good
team, there were terrible perils gather
ing around the gay sleigh-riders. Not
only had the "bee" dispersed, but al
ready had dozen different sets of bells
rang fast and far on the frozen river,
and already the first symptoms of the
coming "rise were beginning to show
themselves in the ominous grooming of
the ice as the tide beneath it strained
and lifted at its frosty letters. Beyond
a doubt they would be broken erelong.
Hark T. exclaimed Curt, as he drove
out from the shore. "Did you hear
that ? We shall hardly have time to
get across, I'm afraid"
"Then they won't need no warnin', F"
coolly remarked Jake.
clark - again cried Curt Rowland,
but hoarsely this time, and with some
thing like pain in the intensity of his
utterance. 81 did hear it !. There's a
team coming down Che river at run %
Jake Robinson himself heard it now,
and exclaimed:
cit does sound mighty like q run
away, 1 declare. Just bark to them
bells p
Curtis breath would have come even
faster and his heart would have jumped
more fercely if he had known the whole
truth. The horses of the sleighing-
party had recognized the signs of ap-
preaching danger much more promptly
than had their masters, nor had it been
at all difficult, in most cases, for their
skillful drivers to head the frightened
but willing brutes toward safety and
the shore. The single exception had
been in the young and stylish but i'll
broken span over which Sile Herring
held the reins, for the gay young lawyer
was not only not "skillful driver" but
he had failed to understand the situation
at first, and had dashed his poor colts
mercilessly for their trembling refusal
to go forward. Even when he consent
ed to wheel them, he had not been able
to guide them landward, for a great
heave and grOan of the ice around him
had just then nearly scared the senses
out of both him and his quadrupeds.
In moment more the fright of the lat
ter was wild runaway right down
the river, and certainly had one good
result, for it bore the sleigh and its oc-
cupants swiftly away from what was
fast becoming an angry tumult of crack
ing, tossing, grinding fragments. All
this Curt Rowland did not know, but,
he drove straight forward,
instantly, with dim idea of giving help
to somebody. Well for him that he
did so, for, in less than half minute,
he found himself spinning along at al
most racing speed behind light sleigh,
in which there shortly arose a female
form, which he knew only too well,
while clear, firm voice exclaimed
90, Curt, the ice is breaking Drive
ashore right away!
And he had shouted in reply:
"Head 'em for the island, Sile; You
can bring 'em in there. I'll follow
right on. Don't be scared-Faith, /
won't leave you"
And then another form had risen in
the sleigh, and Faith Murray herself
caught the falling reins as Sile Herring
dropped them and sprang out upon the
ice. 1t was rash and foolish thing to
do, and Curt refined in just long enough
to say
"That's it, Jake Jump out and drag
him ashore while 1 go on after the run.
aways."
Jake obeyed heroically, and he
found that Sile Herring did indeed re.
quire dragging to get MIN ashore,
after that wild spring and thump upon
the ice.
Faith was alone in her sleigh now, and
but little sorry for that, to tell the truth
or even that she had the re;ns in hel
own hands, for she knew how to manage
them far better that the panic-stricker
youth who had deserted her, while the
colts themselves were getting the first
frenzy of their fright somewhat raced
out of them. The brave girl knew very
well what Curt meant by "the island ;
a low-lying bit of duck-marsh and drift
wood hardly above the waters edge, no
a great way farther downstream, but il
the very middle of the river. She thought
it strange stopping-p place, at first, un
til she recalled how bluff and steer
were the banks on either side of the
river for miles below the accustomed
crossing"
Straight for the island. then, and Cur
Howland's sleigh was close behind her
but, even as her wild young team spran,
up the low ACTIVITY, there came t,