Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1901-09-04

who was sitting in the back. or steer |
age" seat.
ooh. he be darned" said the driver
impatiently. "He is no account. He's |
only the laundryman from Rocky Can
yon. I'm talkin of the cody gang"
But here the conversation tagged,
and, the air growing keener, the flaps
of the leather side curtains We're bat
tened down. Masterton gave himself
up to conflicting reflections. The infor-
nation that he had gathered was mea-
ger and unsatisfactory, and he could
only trust to luck and circumstance to
adventure having passed, he was I'M
easily conscious that the mission was
not TO his taste. The pretty, flushed
but defiant face of Cissy that afternoon
haunted him. He had not known the
immediate cause of it, but made no
doubt that she had already heard the
news of her fathers disgrace when he
hadn't spoken to her, If only few
formal words of sympathy. lie had
always been half tenderly amused at
her frank conceit and her "airs"-the
innocent, undisguiscd pride of the
country belle, so different from the
hard aplomb of the city girl! And now
the foolish little moth, dancing in the
sunshine of prosperity, had felt the
chill of winter in its pretty wings.
The contempt he had for the father
had hitherto showed itself in tolerant
pity for the daughter, SO proud of her
fathers position and what it brought
her. In the revelation that his own
directors had availed themselves of
that fathers methods and the ignoble
character of his present mission, he
felt stirring Of self reproach. What
would become of her? OF course, frivo-
lous MS she was, she would not feel the
kcenness of this misfortune like anoth-
er nor yet rise superior to it. She would
succumb for the present, to revive an
other season in Il DINNER glory else
where. His critical, cynical observa-
tilial affection she might have would
be merged and lost in the greater de-
privation of her position.
A sudden darkening of the landscape
below and n singular opaque whitening
of the air around them aroused him
from his thoughts. The driver drew up
the collar of his overcoat and laid the
whip smartly over the backs of his cat
tie. The air grew gradually darker,
until suddenly it seemed to disintegrate
into invisible gritty particles that
swept through the wagon. Presently
these particles became heavier, more
perceptible and polished like small
shot, and keen wind drove them
stingingly into the faces of the passen-
gers or insidiously into their pockets,
collars or the folds of their clothes.
The leather curtains were battened
down, but the snow forced itself
through the smallest crevices.
"We'll get over this when once we've
passed the bend. The road seems to
dip beyond" said Masterton cheerfully
from his seat beside the driver.
The driver gave him single scornful
look and turned to the passenger who
occupied the seat on the other side of
him. 81 don't like the look Of things
| down there, but eff we are stuck Well
| have to strike out for the next station"
But" said Masterton as the wind
volleyed the sharp snow pellets in their
faces and the leaders were scarcely dis
charges, ait can't be worse than here"
The driver did not speak, but the 9TH
| er passenger craned over his back and
said eXplanatorily:
81 reckon you don't know these storms
| This kind of dry snow don't stick and
don't clog. Look"
| Indeed, between the volleys Master
ton could see that the road was per-
fectly bare and wind swept, and except
"lirht drifts and banks beside outlvno
bushes and shrubs-which even then
were again blown away before his eyes
the level landscape was unclothed
and unchanged. Where these mysterl-
GUS snow pellets went to puzzled and
confused him. They seemed to vanish
as they had appeared-into the air
about them.
"Fd make straight rush to the next
station" said the other passenger con-
fidently to the driver. "If we are stuck,
we are that much on the way; il we
turn back, We'll have to take the grade
anyway when the storms over, and
neither you nor know when thatll be.
1t may be only n squall just now, but
it's getting rather late in the season.
Just pitch in and drive all you know"
The driver laid his lash on the horses,
and for few moments the heavy We
hicle dashed forward in violent conflict
with the storm. AT times the elastic
hickory framework of its domed leath-
er roof swayed and bent like the ribs
of an umbrella. AT times it seemed as
il it would be lifted bodily off. At
times the whole interior of the vehicle
was filled with II thin smoke by drifts
through every Granny. But presently.
to MYSTERIOUS great relief, the inter-
minable level seemed to end, and be-
tween the whitened blasts he could see
that the road was descending. Again
the horses were urged forward. and Mt
last he could feel that the vehicle be-
gan to add the momentum of its de-
scent to its conflict with the storm.
The blasts grew less violent or became
only the natural resistance of the air
to their dominant rush. With the ces-
sation of the snow volleys and the
clearing of the atmosphere the road be-
came more strongly defined as it plung-
ed downward to n terrace on the noun
tain flank several hundred feet below.
Presently they came again upon q
thicker growth of bushes and here and
there solitary fir. The wind died
away; the cold seemed to be less bitter.
Masterton, in his relief, glanced smil-
ingly ut his companions on the box, but
the drivers mouth was compressed as
he urged his team forward, and the
other passengers looked hardly less
anxious. They were now upon the
level terrace and the storm apparently
spending Its fury high up and behind
them. But, in spite Of the clearing of
the air, he could not but notice that it
| WAS Sinplll1rly dark What was more