Morris tribune., 1895-12-25

"The police will not be at any time SO
very far behind me should anything go
wrong. Now, go and do as have told
you. Let me sleep for an hour or so.
and shall be able for my work. You
can have the horses hitched up and
ready for nue. before you wake me. -
And then the girl lay down in the
warm tent--for tent with even the
tiniest stove in it is a very warm abode
in the coolest weather, contrary to what
some might think-and slept refresh
ing and safe sleep. AS for the two men,
they had no time to lose They put the
dutiable goods into one of the wagons,
and hitching up four of the best horses
into it Francois started off. Having
hunted the buffalo and the deer for years
in the country he had to travel over, it is
perhaps unnecessary to add that by
nightfall he had safely got rid of his
cargo alongside the main line of the
Canadian Pacific railway.
Gabriel watched the girl while she
slept, and now that Francois had gone
and he was alone with his own thoughts
he had bad time with them. He had
told himself over and over again that
all the illegal adventures he had beer
connected with, that all the money
which somehow he had lately got SO
fond of amassing, were all for the sake
of Marie, and that she would be bene-
flied in the end But now-and the
thought startled him with painful I'M
placability-what if this.last uncalled
for adventure had cost Marie her life,
what then had been his gain? Would
not all the money that he had been
striving after for years be so much dross
to him and hateful in his sight? Would
his case not be like that Of the man
who, in gaining the whole world, lost
his own soul? He pictured her as he had
seen her lying on that CHASTITY ridge
sleeping that sleep that might know no
waking Surely in his finding her then
there was the finger of Providence
pointing to a solemn warning. How
near, how terribly near, that dread re-
alization it had been! He could bear the
thought no longer and sprang to his
feet. Then he fell on his knees, and in
that tent and in the presence of his
sleeping daughter he groveled in an
agony OF shame.
He uttered few broken and imper-
feet words, but they died upon his lips.
How could a man like him dare to pray?
Was it not like mere blasphemous pre-
sumption on his part to thank God for
her deliverance? Not that he in his
heart had looked upon the traffic he was
engaged in as grievous sin, but what
right had he, as father, to risk the life
and happiness Of his child? IF he, in his
sense of what was right and what was
wrong, feared in his humiliation to ask
God for forgiveness, then perhaps there
was some virtue in his abnegation, for
he rose from his knees better man.
Then Gabriel hitched. the horses
into the wagon, and soon the girl awoke
of her own accord She drank some hot
tea and partook of some food, and, as
she herself declared, was ''fit for any
amount Of exposure and fatigue. But
she was adamant when she refused to al
low her father to accompany her.
"You must wrap newell up in the
robes, dad, and make your own way!
back to the ranch. I know every footAof
mine. Have I not driven on the prairie
scores and scores of times?' -
He wrapped her carefully up as he
was bid Then, with sad lnisgi yings,ehe
saw her drive Of. He watched as, with
skilled hand and practiced eyes, she
guided the horses by a ,ci1cuitous route
back toewhere she cut kerF tracks, /
and long after, when horses and wagon
had become a dark wavering speek, on
the prairie, he kept gazing after her.
He did not leave that elevated spot he
had climbed to until about an hour and
half fafterward, when he saw the APP
proach of the police party. When he OBJ
served them get upon her trail and fol- 4
low it up, he knew that she was safe, !
and now he could go on his way. He
slipped on the snowshoes she had left
with him and madeFa bee line back to
the ranch
Next day, when the police party
made back to Gabriel's place, they met
him on bis way to bring back the empty
wagon that Marie had driven off. But
they could not interfere with him. The
drifting snow in the night had obliter
ated ali tracks, and perhaps they knew
it was useless asking him questions.
Dick Townley AYERS that he saw the SER
geant take Gabriel out on the prairie,
and if the latter fever got a wigging in
all his life he got one them" The youth
full trooper also remarked that Gabriel
never lifted his head when Harry Yorke
was hotly declaiming, but kept it sunk
ON his breast as if he knew he were get
ting something that he deserved.
As for Marie, it has already been
shown how she led the police pretty
dance. It was a unique thing, truly,
for girl, who, only few hours before,
had been perilously near that bourne
from which no traveller returns, to be
guiding wagon over the prairie and
indulging in all sorts of speculations.
But such are the recuperatiye powers
of youth and sleep that, when one
comes to think Of the circumstances,
there was nothing SO very remarkable
in it after all. Truly, as the sage said,
woman is a MANY minded creature. IT |