The Kennewick courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1905-1914, 1906-11-16
CHAPTER XII.

CHAPTER XII.
We drew up swiftly-four hund,es
yards, three hundred yards, one hundred
AND then, with short, fierce bark
Of rage, the Pole dragged out his re-
voiver and fired. As he did so, the sharp
hum of bullet, like the buzz of an
angry bee, fed over us. ducked my
head at the sound; but 1 give myself the
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 saw
that the weapon In his own hand was
OF the common bulldog make. AT this
range caa do nothing against HIM"
he lashed his horses, and they plunged
CALAMITY forward. I'could see that Mar
nae had stopped his sleigh and was cud-
ding his weapon with a perfect cool
ness. Even at that distance I seemed
- feed the gogsling murder in his eyes.
Zip! sipI He had missed again!
Thuag! l saw one Of the gallopilg
Asrses stagger. and then his head and
shoulders seemed to fall away, as il he
had dropped forward into q hole. There
was q humping and q twisting wrench.
the snow by the roadside seemed to
spring up at me, and the next instant l
was struggling In cold. binding darkness
wriggled cut from the drift, gasp
ing, with the fakes in my mouth and
eyes. The sleigh was twisted across the
road, half covering the dead horse. The
ether two had scrambled to their feet
and new 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 hs saw, for presently be
turned and, flashing his team, trotted on
down the road.
/ don't suppose it was more than a
couple Of minutes before Reski came
round, though it seemed long enough to
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 q sling out of a neck wrap and
6xed him up as well as l was able. The
man had q remarkable vitality, besides
brute courage, for, the moment l had
finished, he walked over and examined
the sleigh.
1t looked hopeless enough. One Of the
sunners had been torn almost clean away,
and the central part was badly cracked.
The body Of the poor lad Ivan hay on its
back In the roadway, staring up at the
sky. l threw a rug ever It.
"Wen, We can't 20 On, that's certain"
said.
mot IN the sleigh. neiA Herr" he
answered calmly.
"And how else?"
There are the horses, enc for each
When you have freed them Of their har
ness, l will ask you to assist me to
mount"
There was no good arguing with him,
and was ashamed to seem less eager
than a man in his crippled condition
With his clasp knife l cut the twisted
traces away and freed them Of their
collars. At his direction l dragged the
body Of Ivan into the sleigh and left him
there decently covered.
Reski mounted from the stump of 4
tree, to which 1 led the stronger of the
pair. was a fairly good rider. but
was excessively stiff from my long drive,
and not q little shaken by my fall. My
beast seemed to have the sharpest knife
bone Of a back that Nature ever gave
to horsefesh. But. after all. there was
nothing to be gained by grumbling. Per
Aaps l was growing wiser by painful ex-
perience.
A curious pair We must have looked
that morning. Reski, with his arm in a
sling, and the butt Of his revolver peep
ing from his waist belt, would have made
as good a stage brigand as need be- For
myself, I was In too much of immediate
pain from the jolting trot of the brute
l rode to carry a formidable appearance.
I could never have imagined that a
horse lived with such adamantine fet-
locks as mine seemed to possess.
have no exact record of the time.
but l should imagine that it was about
half an hour later that we sighted Mar
nae again. He was then a good three
quarters of a mile ahead, but travelling
leisurely Also, was very glad to no
tice that we were free of the waste lands,
and that the spire of q church was pok-
ing out amongst some poplars ahead of
him. He would never dare to use his
revolver a second time when men were
about. Also, we might procure another
sleigh and team.
Reski sent his heels into his horse, and
we quickened our pace, though the poor
brutes were getting very done and drove
heavily along with hanging heads. 1t
was about then that l noticed a man be-
hind us.
We were topping a slight rise when |
looked round. He was then some dis
lance in our rear, but coming up fast. As
far as l could make out, he was in a sort
of uniform and well mounted. The pos
sibility of official help was very pleas
ant.
We were gaining on Marnac, who had
not yet noticed us.
With kicks and curses from Reski. and
the application of a hazel branch from
myself, we had squeezed numbering
GALLON out of our horses. The sleigh was
not more than one hundred yards away
Reski gripped his reins In his teeth and
drew his revolver.
stop, there! Stop. l say. in the name
of the law!"
It was the man from behind who hail
ed us, but we rode on.
stop, or 1 fire."
pulled up. 1 don't think it was very