The Grit-advocate., 1904-05-27

which looked questloningly back AZ
him. their heads dropping ,saIr
breath freezing upon their coats ii
spiculae of white.
Wait" cried Franklin. 81 tr1y
this hole. I've been here before The
teams come here for sheltc>-
oh, it's the White WonaA nr AXIS
why, sure" cried Sam in >7>-n.
Yes, that's where it is. We're -=ss
than half a mile from the house. wait.
now. and let me think. I've got TO
figure this out while"
It's on there" said Sam. po,r,.ng
across the coulee; but We cant get
there"
Yes, we can. old man: yes We
can!' insisted Franklin. I'll tell you.
Let me think. Good God, why can't
I think! Yes-see here, you 20 down
the bottom Of this gully to the mouth
of the coulee, and then we turn t. the
left-no, it's to the right-and you
bear up along the side of the draw
til you get to the ridge, and then the
house is right in front Of you. Listen
Il,
house Is west OF the head Of the cou.
lee; so the mouth is east of us and
that brings the wind on the left ceaek
at the mouth of the coulee. and it
comes more and nore on the right
cheek as we turn up the ridge and
it's on the front half OF the !ght
cheek when we face the house. I'm
hof i,Yb
out here in the snow. God, how cold
it is. 1t must be right. Come on;
come! We must try it, anyway.
I'VE may hit the house, Cap" said
Sam calmly, but if we miss it we'll
go God knows where! Anyhow. I'm
with you, an if we don't turn up. we
can't help it, an We done our best
Come" cried Franklin once more.
Lets get to the mouth of the cyulee.
l know this place perfectly
And so, advancing and calling and
waiting while Sam fought the stub
born horses with lash and rein out
of the shelter which they coveted,
Franklin led out of the fiat cOuIee,
into the wider draw, and edged up
peating to himself, over and over
again, the instructions he had laid
down, and which the dizzy whirl OF
the snow mingled ever confusedly in
his mind. At last they had the full
gale again in their faces as they
reached the level Of the prairies and
cast loose for what they thought vas
full hi H.,
age d quarter of mile, the danger
infinitely great; for beyond lay only
the cruel plains and the bitter storm
this double norther of vOeful
Christmastide.
Once again Providence aided them,
by agency of brute instinct. One OF
the horses threw up its head and
neighed, and then both pressed for
ward eagerly. The low moan of
penned cattle came down the wind.
They crashed into a fence of Iath.
They passed its end-a broken, rat
tling end, that trailed and swept back
and forth in the wind
It's the chicken corral" cried
Sam, "an' it's down! They've been
| burnin'-"
Go on! Go on-hurry." shouted
| Franklin, bending down his head so
that the gale might not quite rob him
| of his breath. and Sam urged on the
now willing horses.
They came to the sod barn. and
| here they left the team that had saw
| ed them, not pausing to take them
from the harness. They crept to the
| low and white-banked wall in which
| showed two windows, glazed with
| frost. They could see the chimney
| plainly, but it carried no smell OF
| smoke. The stairway leading down
| to the door of the dugout was miss
ing, the excavation which held it was
| drifted full of snow. and the snow
| bore no track of human foot All was
white and silent 1t might have been
vault far in the frozen northern
sea.
| Ito be continued)