The Bossier banner., 1881-03-31

| minute. Ready, all? Go, them"
And go 1t was, with nearly a mile ~
sloping road before them, and bevona
that the long glittering reach of the level
There was time for cheer or two
and they gave one and nearly hall Of
another; but that second cheer seemed
to be cut in two by sometnine. -r-S
Court Hoffman grasped his wheel ill
Ter with all the strength he had N 6;;n,
and looked straight ahead He had I
ridden on that sort OF machine before
and he knew what was coming the mo.
ment she gotherspeedon. But the other
ooys! Dan Varck' S grip on Jim Delany
would have brought a yell from him if
he had dared to open his mouth, Jim
was thinking, too. but he and al the
rest were think ng the same thourht
FencesP They're nothing but two
black streaks at the side of the road
Oh, dear! We'll 90 clean through tha
village. What if we should run into
somethingr'
They held on like good fellows and
made that ripperload of boys as nearly
as possible one solid mass, so that /.
was easier for Court Hoffman to steer
Even he, though, was beginning to
nave his doubts as to where they would
bring up, and whether he could steer
safely around the curve where the road
from the West Hill crossed the main
street and met the road from the east
that led over the bridge. - ''''
The speed was awful! No express
train ever went faster, and race. horse
would have been passed as if he were
standing still
Danger in it? Of course there was
and the lives of all of them depended
upon the nerve and pluck of Court
Hoffman and the skill he might show in
getting around the curve. Yes, and ON
whether or not there should be a clear
read. or stray team or COW or human
being to run against. III
1t was terrible risk to run, and alr
the boys left on the hill were glad they
had let somebody else try the first ride
on the ripper.
Before the beginning of that swift.
perilous dash, however, Rod Sanderson
and the East Side boys had completed
their preparations. Some of them had
to get off and push to get the old sleigh
started, and only one OF these managed
to get on again. Three more jumped
off before the "whopper," as Rodney
called her, had gone ten rods, and i
may have been because they had doubts
as to where she would fetch up. '.'''.i
"She just steers lovely" remarked
Put Willoughby, as he noticed how Rod
Sanderson was straining at the long
handle of his rudder.
"She's beginning to 60 fasterr'
"She's a-gainingm .Wft.1
"Don't she 90 it.''
"Hurrah h-ah-aw-aw!'
They all joined in that, but at Just
that moment the old sleigh showed her
goose-necks over the little roll at the
edge of the first really steep slope ofthe
East Hill road, and she seemed to give
a great jump.
'Rod, where's your rudderP"
"Gone! /"
There was no more to be said. II
had been jerked from him. through the
hole he had cut for it, the moment the
bent spike caught in an icy place, and
the old sleigh had things in her own
hands from that moment.
She seemed to know it, and to be
tickled half to death over the notion OF
doing her own running without span
OF horses in front of her. She was not
a ripper, indeed, but she was a whop-
per, and she had weight enough on
board to give her all the impetus she
needed down that hill.
How she did plunge and slip! and
how the loose snow and bits of ice did
fly! Still, she had been over that road
many a time, and seemed to know it
like book now; that is, the. ruts were
deep. and her runners kept in them as
surely as the wheels of street car keep
in the grooves of the track. Faster and
faster, with nobody to steer, and no
earthly chance OF stopping her! There
never was such coasting. nor so many
boys doing it on one big sled.
Rod Sanderson looked out ahead over
his crouching load, and the wind cut
by his face as if there had been hurri-
cane. A team on the bridge! What il
it should come on into the road? What
If the old sleigh should take notion to
90 on over the bridge and into the vii
lage, or anywhere? 'Ai5,'sl s.-9
"Oh dear! she's going fasterr'
The short stretch of level road at the
bottom of the East Hill was reached
ike flash, and it was now going by
like another flash-a little slower, to be
sure, but with no sign of stopping.
The driver of the team on the bridge
had halted his oxen, and the BOYS in the
sleigh seemed all at once to feel the
same impulse to dodge. They leaned
coward the right, and it may be some
Of them meant to jump; but the pres
sure helped clog of wood the runners
touched at that moment to turn the
'whopper" out of the ruts of the road,
md into the well-worn slide that led
1own the river bank. 1t was her last
plunge, and she was nearly out Of
breath when she took it, but it was well
or those boys the ice was so thick. 1t
bore them splendidly, sleigh and all,
md away they went, until their ride
lsed itself up, just half way over. just
IS they were all drawing their breath
or grand hurrah, something black
ind long shot down from the western
bank of the river. and out upon the very
ce that belonged to them. c y'mg
Coming right for us!''
Boys! boys! that's Court Hofmans
'ipperP' a: 4,
Court had done it. He had steered