Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1904-07-27

and cheerfulness; combined, they seer
to give strength where it was lackin
before. At any rate, if Pete ha
stopped to think( which he die mott
he would have found himself travelin,
at a speed actually impossible previ
ously.
MEAN time to cross" commence,
the big man. Walking bad"
Had to-" explained Pete. 9Th
wife needed"
He half turned, with a sweep of or,
hand, toward the bundles on the sled
but Big Ben gave the sled rope {:
jerk that faced him to the front again
They were now moving as fast a.
was practicable under the circum
stances, the condition of the ice ant
the distance they had to cover bein,
considered; but far off to the nortl
the ice was beginning to break alon,
the east shore. Big Ben saw il. bur
the only effect was to make him tall
volubly. He kept Pete in a state a
dull wonderment. He joked and hi
cheered him on with complimentary
references and recalled familiar Incl
dents; he adopted every possible de.
vice to hold Pete's attention. And al
the time he was dragging the sled ant
half dragging Pete.
Nearer and nearer they approached
the shore, and nearer and nearer tina
widening crack approached the lin,
of their route home. 1t was irregular
uncertain-a long split, brief inter.
val and then another split-but it wa.
slowly moving to intercept the tive
on the bay. Big Ben could see it, anG
the watchers on the shore could SET
it. They made mental calculations a,
to the chances, and it seemed to be q
pretty even thing. Only a short dis.
lance to the north the ice was alread,
moving from the East bay out into
the big bay, but the two were only 8
short distance from safety. Then the
noise of the breaking ice smote Pete's
ears, and he looked up with startled
wild, frightened eyes.
Mercy" he calculated, and stopped
short.
Come on.' cried Big Ben. but
Pete's knees were shaking, and hi:
face showed that despair clutched al
his heart. He was pointing ahead
where there was already little lane
of clear water.
"Come!" Numbered Big Ben. and he
gripped the little man by the arm with
no gentle hand. The force of his will
even more than the strength of hi!
arm, put Pete in motion again, an(
they made slight swerve to tn.
south, where the ice was not We
broken.
They were running now Pete haC
dropped the sled rope, but Big Bel
still chung to it with one hand, Will,
the other gripped Pete's arm and fair
ly lifted him over the ice Under tn,
inspiration of strong man who acts
the little man was putting all his re
naming strength into the effort t.
reach safety, but the life seemed t,
go out of him when the ice again
broke in front of him. He held back
but only for an instant Big Bel
| jerked him up and forward.
Jump, you fool" he roared, and
still gripping the arm of the little man
he cleared the widening but still mar
row space that interviewed between
death and life. Then, with a quicl
and dexterous jerk of the rope, he lift
ed the sled into the air and brought i
| across also.
They were near enough to the shor
to be safe now. and the excited watch
ers were rushing out to them. Pet
had fallen when he made the jum
and was too exhausted to rise BIZ
Ben sat down on the sled and locke
at him, his face showing his contempt
BLAMED little shrimp!" he nut
| tered. Il wonder what did it for
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