Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1890-11-26

rupt1y-
She glanced up at him quickly.
''Who told that?" she asked.
The subject was spaaanly dropped at
this point. Ceph4 soe came riding
up and clustering dted them.
GLOOMY day, a (, Ellsworth" he
remarked. Hop won't snow afore
get back from thd Station. Coin down
to-day, John?"
ITO the station? Yes, this afternoon"
John answered, quietly.
''I'll see you there, mebbe."
'She didn't deny it," he muttered. ST
reckon it must be So"
That afternoon he went to Houston
station, which was a good eight miles
from Rose ranch, and when the train
from the north came there was Carrie,
as radiant and gladstone as of cd.
As the two started in the little spring
wagon for the ranch, John noticed Ce-
phas entering the stations liquor resort
in company with two young fellows who
were notorious ne'er-do-wells. 1t proved
that this was the beginning of great
Thanksgiving drunk on the part of the
three.
Seems like he's forgot his promise
to take the black pony fer JESSIE, John
thought.
Brother and sister were rejoiced at
meeting again after their long sepa-
ration, and the miles were travelled
quickly.
However, they had hardly left the
station when John noticed a peculiar
change in the atmosphere. 1t grew cold
and the sky was lowering. Evidently q
stern was near
He whipped up the horses and they
sped along rapidly.
Darker and darker grew the heavens.
John thought he had never known
storm to approach so swiftly.
1t became bitterly cold, and the wind
blew from the north. Suddenly the sleet
and snow began to fall, and John knew
that they were in the midst of one of
those terrible billiards. of the South
west
He made Carrie as comfortable as pos
sible with his big buffalo robe and her
shawls, and bundled up himself all he
could, but still they suffered from the
cold.
By the time they reached Sassafras
school-house there were two feet of
snow on the ground, and it was falling
in binding flood.
The building was deserted and locked.
John thought of Cephas in the saloon at
the station, and wondered if Jessie had
waited for the black pony.
They were still more than a mile from
Rose ranch. when human form, pros
trate in the snow, caused the horses to
shy and brought an exclamation from
John.
He drew the team to standstill, and,
passing the lines to his sister, leaped'
from his seat and bent over the storms
victim.
"Great Heavens, Carrier he cried,
| ''its Jessie-the school-ma'am o. Sassa-
| fras!'
Carrie did not hear him. Stung by the
| driving sleet and the biting cold, and
frightened perhaps by their masters
sudden spring from his seat, the spirited
horses had plunged forward, and finding
| no restraining band at the bits, for
| Carries hands were stiff and numb with
the cold, they dashed away over the
prairie, leaving John standing helpless
ly in the snow over the inanimate form
of the little teacher!
John lost not a moment in idle con-
temptation of the situation.
Gathering the little teacher in his
strong arms, and holding her close
against his breast, that she might alb
sorb some of the warmth from his own
person, he boldly struck through the
snow in the wake of the team, which
had now entirely disappeared in the
storm.
At last Rose ranch was reached and
there at the gate stood the runaway
team, with heads down and their bodies
qnivering with cold, and at the door
was Carrie, uninjured and half-warmed
by the fire which burned in the CRATE,
and in the act of dispatching Vasques,
the herder, to Johns relief
John did not tell her where Cephas
was, but he remarked that she could not
go to Galloway's now, and after all would
be their Thanksgiving guest. She was
| glad of it, she said.
The two had long talk the next day