Morris tribune., 1895-12-11
eoayaloAr. laas. M rREDER!ckA STOKES comaANN
CHAPTER XII.

now low the thermometer Is. InOuSu
there was no warmth in his rays, still
they gave a feeling of life even to that
CHASTITY, featureless landscape. The
snow glowed and shimmered like bur-
nished silver; millionsof diamondlike
crystals scintillated and sparkled in a
dazzling fashion on its surface. 1t is
this painful glittering of the suns rays
upon the snow that causes snow blind
ness, which many jewellers in these re-
gions know to their cost.
For some hours the police party had
been following up the tracks Of the
wagon, but as yet had been unable to
oyertal1e it.
Mon Dieu!'' exclaimed the little
scout at length, chow they must have
travelled But Overtake them we shall
yet! For the Medicine Hat ranch they
will make, and surely their horses can
not travel farther-ours won t anyhow.
But here comes monsieur the inspector.
The sergeant stopped fearfully and
looked round, 1t was as the scout had
said, it was his superior officef-and
alone Harry Yorke experienced a
strange sinking at his heart-where was
the girl? And there rose before him
a vision of Marie St Denis upon some
ridge of that lonely prairie, looking
around wistfully for the succor that
came not, and striving bravely but vain
" to resist the spells of the king Of
dreams, whose realms border on that
land from which no wanderer may re-
trace his steps.
''Did you not find her, sir?'' the SER
geant asked the inspector with a tremor
in his voice that struck the officer as not
q little ominous
enc; 1 tried to follow up the tracks,
but the snow got so confoundedly deep
that couldn't. How is it you have not
oyerhauled the wagon by this timer"
Harry Yorke regarded his superior
almost stupidity for few seconds. The
gravity of the situation and the sense of
his own helplessness crushed down up
on him with sickening force Then Il
fit of anger and rebellion at his supe
rior's palpable inhumanity seized him
In another moment he would certainly
have forgotten himself-have said or
done something that would have given
his superior officer his much desired
hold upon him had not the private
pressed quietly toward him, and, with
a look of deep concern on his face, whis-
pered something to him,
''Let's hope it may be as you say,
Dick, he said in answer, 'and there's
,c& hot no
say, she is a strong girl and a sensible
one, and would not be likely to risk
walking farther south than she could
walk back again by daylight. But l
know what walking in this rare atmos-
phere means; one keeps on walking till
one discovers all at once that the limbs
are played out and it is impossible TO
go foot farther. .
''Look here, Harry" said his friend.
"we cannot be very far behind this
wagon now Let US hurry up and over
take tive may learn something. I've
a presentiment that everything is all
right. If MOTIVE can go back and find
out where the girl is; let Jamie call it
what he likes, rank characterization or
desertion, I'll go with you. We cannot
be more than a few miles from the
ranch now at the outside. :"
The private's advice, under the cir
cumstances, was the most sensible course
to take just then. The party pushed on
again over wind swept ridges and fro
zen sloughs The travelling was compar-
atively easy, for the person who had
driven the wagon must have had thor
ough knowledge of the prairie to have
chosen a route that was so free from
any distractions.
To be upon the unbroken, treeless
prairie in winter time is for all the
world like being at sea with the sun
shining on the water. There is the
blurred and seemingly boundless hori
zon, and there are the wavelike heights
and hollows in the nearer foreground,
the former foam crested and wonderful |
-ly natural. 1t is as realistic as any win
try northern sea ON which the sun has
deigned to smile for a brief space.
Now they loped along a frozen and
tufted rib Of land, and then they
plowed their way through slough |
where the long grass had caught and
held the drifting snow. 1t was clear.
cold day. At one time in the heavens
they saw that remarkable phenomenon
which is said to herald spell of unu-
sually hard weather, the mock sun with
a number of rings of light intersecting
one another. large and brilliant, and |
multiplied with kaleidoscope effect.
And now the country became more /
broken. They were descending the side
of couIee, when the little scout cried /
out and pointed to dark speck, which,
on closer observation, turned out to be
wagon far out on the plain.
That's it, That's It'll" cried Jamie
excitedly. "We've got him nowl |
hope it's decent whisky, for I can do a
drop, can tell you. "
"What ON earth are you doing?" cried
the sergeant aghast; for that officer had
made the private hand over his carbine
to him, had dismounted, and was fixing
the sight.
Why, going to stop that there wagon,
to be sure, = answered Jamie.
Before the sergeant could stop him,
1,o bod Ene1t down on tho snow and