The Nezperce herald. (Nezperce, Idaho) 1900-1957, 1906-11-29
CHAPTER XII.

hum of a bullet. like the buzz Of al
angry bee. fled over US. l ducked m,
head at the sound: but l give myself thu
credit of saying that l poked il up agail
the next moment
May the fend grip him. but he Ia,
Mauser pistolr' cried Reski. and saw
that the weapon in his own hand wa:
of the common bulldog make. AT thi:
range l 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 eud
ding his weapon with a perfect cool
ness Even at that distance l seemed
to feel the goggsing murder in his eyes.
Zip. zip, He had missed again,
ThungI l saw one Of the galloping
horses stagger, and then his head and
shoulders seemed to fall away. as IL he
had dropped forward into hole There
was 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.
l wriggled out 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
other two had scrambled 20 their feet
end 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
bed with what he saw. for presently be
turned and. lashing his team. trotted on
down the road
1 doa't suppose it was more than
couple OF minutes before Reski came
round, though ii 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
l made a sling out Of neck wrap and
fixed him up as well as l was able. The
man had a remarkable vitality. besides
brute courage. for. the moment | had
finished. he walked over and examined |
the sleigh
1t looked hopeless enough. One of the |
runners had been torn almost clean away. |
and the central part was badly cracked /
The body Of the poor lad Ivan lay on its /
back In the roadway. staring up at the /
sky. l threw a rug over Ii.
well. we can't go on. that's certain"
I said
"NOt in the sleigh. mein Herr" he
answered calmly.
And how elssT
There are the horses, one for each.
When you have freed them of their har-
ness. l viii ask you to assist me TO
mount"
There was no good arguing with him.
and | was ashamed to seem less eager
i'm LII Il
With his clasp knife l cut the twisted
traces away and freed them Of their
collars At his direction | dragged the .
body of Ivan into the sleigh and left him ,
there decently covered
Reski mounted from the stump of Z
tree. to which led the stronger Of the Z
pair. l was a fairly good rider. but I | ,
was excessively stiff from my long drive. I
and not a little shaken By my fall. My r
beast seemed to have the sharpest knife
bone Of "a back that Nature ever gave b
10 horsehesh- But. after all, there was .
nothing to be gained by grumbling. Per v
haps | was growing wiser By painful ex- o
,erience. 4
A curious pair we must have looked 81
hat morning. Reski. with his arm in il
ling. and the butt Of his revolver peep p
ng from his waist belt. would have made Il
IS good stage brigand as need be. For Il
myself. | was in too much Of immediate I
'ain from the jolting trot Of the brute n
rode to carry a formidable appearance.
could never have imagined that a
orse lived with such adamantine fet-
ocks as mine seemed to possess
/ have no exact record Of the time. IA
ut | should ina CINE that 1t was about NJ
aft an hour later that we sighted Mar fir
ac again He was then a good three Of
uarters Of a mile ahead. but travelling pr
,isurely. Also / was very glad to no ia
ce that we were free Of the waste lands. tn
nd that the spire Of a church was pok- XII
ig out amongst some poplars ahead of err
i'm He would never dare to use his te,
svolver a second time when men were fO
bout Also, we might procure another DO
eigh and team sa
Resh sent his heels into his horse. and wa
e quickened our pace, though the Door sid
rutes were getting very done and drove of
cavity along with hanging heads. Ii /
as about then that noticed a man be- an
md US. my
We were topping a slight rise when I
oked round. He was then some dis gu
nee in our rear, but coming up fast. As ID.
IT as ! could make out, he was In a sort Of
uniform and well mounted. The Dos lie,
bility Of official help was very pleas CIR
IT. tina
We were gaining on Manac, who had far
Il yet noticed US. hae
With kicks and curses from Reski. and tha
e application Of a hazel branch from |
yseif, we had squeezed numbering Pr
Hop out Of our horses. The sleigh was ligi
t more than one hundred yards away. Gus
ssh gripped his reins In his teeth and gin
ew his revolver. fat
Stop. thereI Stop, say. In the name wa
the lawf' int
1t was the man from behind who hall the
US, but we rode on. new
Stop, or I frer sew
pulled up. I don't think 1t was very q
wsrdly when you think Of II. Besides, Re-
vas anxious to explain ven
Resh rode on sixr
The man who had shouted flashed By fati
. travelling at an easy gallop. He was obj.
ssed In a neat green uniform and A
risd . drawn revolver. vsrs
feski rode on. viii
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