Troy weekly news. (Troy, Idaho) 1897-1933, 1906-11-16
CHAPTER XII.


of rage. the Pole dragged out his re-
volver and fred. AS he did so, the sharp
hum of a bullet like the buzz of an
angry bee, fed over us. l ducked my
head at the sound; but l give myself Ithe
credit of saying that l poked it up again
the next moment.
MAY the fiend grip him, but he has
q Mauser pistol!' cried Reski and l saw
that the weapon in his own hand was
of the common bulldog make. "At this
range 1 can do nothing against him."
He dashed his horses, and they plunged
CALAMITY forward l could see that Mar
nae had stopped his sleigh and was cud-
ding his weapon with perfect cool
ness. Even at that distance l seemed
to feel the goggling murder in his eyes.
Zip! zip! He had missed again
Thung! l saw one of the galloping
horses stagger, and then his head and
shoulders seemed to fall away, as if he
had dropped forward into hole. Their.
was a humping and a twisting wrench,
the snow by the roadside seemed to
spring up at me, and the next instant
was struggling in cold, binding darkness
/ wriggled out from the drift, gasp
ing, with the flakes in my mouth and
eyes. The sleigh was twisted across the
road, half covering the dead horse. The
other two had scrambled to their feet
and now stood shivering, with dropping
heads. The fall had knocked the heart
clean out of them. Reski lay beside
them huddled where he had fallen.
Eighty yards away Marnac had stopped
and was watching us. He seemed salts
fed with what he saw, for presently he
turned and, flashing his team, trotted on
down the road
l don't suppose it was more than a
couple of minutes before Reski came
round, though it seemed long enough tC
me. He had got a nasty thump on the
head, but as a matter of fact his wrist
turned out to be the more serious bust
ness, being very badly sprained indeed
made a sling out of a neck wrap anC
fixed him up as we'll as l was able. Th'
man had q remarkable vitality, besides
brute courage, for, the moment l haC
finished, he walked over and examined
the sleigh.
1t looked hopeless enough. One of tn
runners had been torn almost clean away
and the central part was badly cracked
The body of the poor lad Ivan lay on it
back in the roadway, staring up at tn
sky. l threw rug over 1t.
''Well, we can't go on, that's certain,
/ said.
mot In the sleigh, mein Herr" h
answered calmly.
"And how else?'
"There are the horses, one for eacl
When you have freed them of their hal
ness. 1 will ask you to assist me
mount"
There was no good arguing with hin
and | was ashamed to seem less cage
than a man in his crippled condition
With his clasp knife l cut the twiste
traces away and freed them of the
collars. At his direction | dragged Il
body of Ivan into the sleigh and left HI
there decently covered.
Reski mounted from the stump OF
tree. TO which | led the stronger Of Il
pair. l was a fairly good rider, but
was excessively stiff from my long driy
and not little shaken by my fall N
beast seemed to have the sharpest knii
bone of a back that Nature ever ga
to horsefesh. But after all, there W
nothing to be gained by grumbling. re
haps | was growing wiser by painful e
perience.
A curious pair we must have look
that morning. Reski, with his arm in
sling. and the butt of his revolver pee
ing from his waist belt, would have ma
as good a stage brigand as need be-
myself, was in too much OF immedia
pain from the jolting trot of the brt
| rode to carry a formidable appearan
could never have imagined that
horse lived with such adamantlne L
locks as mine seemed to possess.
have no exact record of the tin
but | should imagine that it was aoC
half an hour later that we sighted NJ
nae again. He was then a good thr
quarters of mile ahead, but trayeh
leisurely. Also, l was very glad to
tica that we were free of the waste Ian
and that the spire of a church was p
inc ont amongst some poplars ahead
him He would never dare to use
revolver a second time when men J"
about Also, we might procure ANU
sleigh and team.
Reslxi sent his heels into his horse'
we quickened our pace, though tne p
brutes were getting very done ana ui'
heavily along with hanging heaus'
was about then that noticed man
hind us.
We were topping a slight rise wnel
looked round. He was then some
lance in our rear, but coming up fast'
far as could make out, he was IN IN
of uniform and well mounted. Inc
sibility of official help was very pie
ant
We were gaining on Marnac' who
not yet noticed US. nj,
With kicks and curses from hesKi'
the application of a hazel brancn u
myself, we had squeezed Jumper
gallon out of our horses. The slelgn
- "a hnndrad wards NV