News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1893-08-31
CHAPTER XII.

"a i'm lCcll, men, but fire HUely"
Before quitting the ambulance and its
precious freight Ellis had made such ex-
animation of the neighborhood as was
possible in the thick darkness, and dis
covered that they were close to the edge
of narrow, winding ravine with alb
ruptly sloping banks, and it was in here
that those sagacious mules had sought
shelter from the force of the blast. The
ambulance was standing ON a yeritable
ridge, exposed to the full fury of the
gale, the slope to the rapid running
Wolf just in front, the ravine to the
right rear. Shouting to the ladies to
fear nothing, he had no difficulty, when
aided by the driver, in starting the
wheels, and the instant the vehicle was
partially turned into the track of the
storm it was blown backward down into
the soft bed of snow, already thick and
deep. Here, under the lee of the banks,
the stout wagon was comparatively shell
tered, for the top of the canvas cover
was just trifie below the general level
of the prairie. The mules, startled from
their fancied security by the rattle of
wheels and canvas as the ambulance
was run down the slope into their midst,
seized with one of their unaccountable
panics tore blindly away up the farther
bank and out upon the storm swept
level beyond.
Then in the whirling cloud of snow
Ellis had remounted, shouted again
few encouraging words to the ladies
within, assuring them he and his sturdy
troop horse would have no difficulty in
reaching camp and bringing aid, urging
them meantime to keep snugly bundled
in their robes, and with Mrs. Berrien's
brave voice and CHEEKY "God speed you,
sergeantw ringing in his ears, he rode
gallantly away, forded the shallow
Etream at the mouth of the coulee and
then, facing the gale, spurred forth upon
his perilous mission. The driver and
the already somnolent Pete, with what
was left of the contents of the depleted
flask, crawled into the snowbed beneath
the wagon body, rolled themselves into
their joint stock of robes and blankets
and prepared to spend comfortable
night 1t was an old story to both.
But, despite all the drivers efforts on
the way, the gale had forced them far
to the right of the main road and those
which paralleled it, the only ones at all
familiar to the Twelfth, and when
Brewster and his little squad reached
the ford, along toward two o'clock in the
morning, they sought in vain in every
ravine and break-shouted, fired their
carbines and sounded their trumpet, all
to no purpose. Not an answering cry
rewarded their efforts. From Ellis de-
scription Brewster knew that the ladies
were so muffied in furs that within their
canvas shelter they could hardly suffer
greatly from the cold. He was assured
that the driver and Pete were with them,
also well provided with robes and blank
cts, and that they were in no immediate
Ianger of freezing; but he could not
bear the thought of the long, weary
waiting, the dread anxiety, the dark
ness, the isolation in all that bowling
wilderness. He could picture Winifred
nestled in her mothers arms, wonder
ing, wondering, as the hours dragged
by, when, if ever, human aid would
come to their relief. At four o'clock
he and his party had searched and
secuted for half a dozen miles up and
down the valley. Some of his best and
stanchest men We're giving out, and
these, with Sergeant Brooks, he ordered
to push along with the gale and seek
news and shelter at the station.
Three others he posted near the main
crossing of the Wolf, under the lee of a
little bluff, where T. ey and their horses
sOppUilN Stnmnp1 a hnla in tba SnOw-
drifts around the hospital ambulance
and huddled for warmth-fres they
could not light. even had there been
vestigc of fEel-and then, with three un-
daunted campaigncrs at his back, he
had once again turned down stream, fol-
lowing its wanderings in the darkness