Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1878-03-21
and she began to hope they might reach
s,~

home in safety.
Tracy broke the silence by exclaimins
This is the best part of the ride, isn't il
Miss Maggiey' bending glance OF admire
ton on her fresh blonde beauty.
Startled from her reverie, she joined i
his merry conversation, while her thought
made an undue accompaniment to tn
sledge music in the words of her father
the evening previOus-''these clear, col
nights are just the ones for the wolves.
Suddenly to badinage and repartee came
fearful interlude, a long, low cry-at frs
a howl, then dying away into prolonge
mourning wail--a sound once heard, neve
forgotten.
Maggie had repeatedly heard it when til
wolves, pressed by sore hunger, ventures
within the limits of the settlement. A
such times she would cover her head, and
trembling with fear, pray that she, or an,
beloved one, might never be exposed t,
such death.
And now faint moan of anguish es
capped her lips. Tracy turned to her il
surprise.
"Why, what is the matter?'' he cried
seeing her pale and affrighted features.
She endeavOred to speak, but her voice
failed her. Then, as the death-cry aros,
again on the still night air, with the
strength of desperation she almost shrek
ed, Drive faster. faster! Don't you heal
them? The wolves -
But. as if in doubt, he reined in the
horses to listen.
''And that is the wolves, is it?'' he asked
quietly.
Maggie bowed slightly.
His face grew as white rs the snow about
him in an instant, and, grasping her arm
sternly. his pollteness vanishing, with only
the instinct of selfpreservation remaining.
he cried, ''And you knew of this danger
and yet persuaded Inc to remain so long in
that cursed village. Now listen," he con-
tinued with fiendish deliberation: Il will
drive tast-make every effort to escape;
but if it comes to the worst and it's i'm
possible for both to be saved, you shall go,
and rightly, too, for not warning me.''
He grasped the reins and urged the
horses on, and, as they sped rapidly over
the snow. Maggie sat dumb and motion
less with terror.
Only the sledge bells-a bitter mockery
how broke the stiffness. She began to
hope they had been deceived or the wolves
had lost the scent, when quick loud cry,
bursting from the whole pack, scarcely a
hundred yards away, reused her from her
apashy ana Grove Tracy into frenzy He
cast the reins violently from him and
sprang from the sledge, giving the horses
as he did so heavy lash with the whip
that sent them yards away from where he
was standing.
Maggie comprehended dimly that he
would take to q tree for safety. Then her
own dangerous situation required all her
She wound the reins tightly around her
slender hands and drew the horses in for a
brief and much needed rest, and to calcu-
late upon her chances for life, without Civ
ing another thought to her cowardly cav
alier.
A faint sound warned her that her time
was limited; with an encouraging word to
the horses she touched them with her
whip. Away they dashed with the speed
of the wind. Faster and faster through
the thick wood, thanking God for the
glimmer Of the moonbeams through the
dark trees which enabled her to keep a
straight road. A faint light ahead! She
bent forward to look, and once more they
dashed out on an open plain, the only one
that lay between herself and the village
and safety! The first house was passed
another and another. For the first time
her firm hold, she drew sigh of
relief, and ventured glance behind her.
A cry of horror bu st from her lips.
Never abating their speed in the least,
the whole pack of famished animals poured
into the road towards the village and sur
the sledge; she felt their hot
breath flaming her face, and with prayer
for mercy frozen on her lips, she sank life
less to the bottom of the vehicle.
Harry and Mr.. Martyn came out of the
village in time to see the danger, and the
poor girls terror had deafened her to the
shots fired in her defense. However, she
soon rallied sufficient to tell of her own
and of Tracy's desertion.
More than one brow grew dark at its re-
,ital, and hard hands were clenched in
rage.
This adventure effectually cleared the
lazzle OF gold from Maggie's eyes; and
when the roses over the little low house
opened their first buds in early summer,
Maggie became Mrs. Harry Nelson. And
f there is any person Of whom she thor
,ughly dislikes being reminded, it is the
,rave companion Of her ride tor life.