Elk City mining news. (Elk City, Idaho) 1903-1913, 1907-03-30
CHAPTER XII.

or rage, the Pole dragged out his re-
volver and fired. AS he did so, the sharp
hum OF bullet, like the buzz of an
angry bee, fled over us. / ducked my
mead at the sound; but give myself the
credit of saying that poked it. up again
the next moment.
May the fend 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 l can do nothing against him."
He dashed his horses, and they plunged
calamity forward. 1 could see that Mar
nae had stopped his sleigh and was cud
ding his weapon with a perfect cool
ness. Even at that distance l seemed
to feel the goggling murder in his eyes.
Zip! zipl 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. 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 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 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.
i made sling out of a neck wrap and
fixed him up as well as l was able. The
man had a 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
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 it.
"Well, we can't go on, that's certain
/ said.
mot in the sleigh, mein Herr" he
answered calmly.
"And how else?"
'There are the horses, one for each
When you have freed them of their har
ness, 1 will ask you to assist me t.
mount"
There was no good arguing with him
and | was ashamed to seem less cage
than man in his crippled condition
With his clasp knife l cut the twisted
traces away and freed them of the
collars At his direction l dragged thu
body of Ivan into the sleigh and left hin
there decently covered.
Reski mounted from the stump of
tree. to which l led the stronger of tn
pair. 1 was a fairly good rider, but
was excessively stiff from my long drive
and not little shaken by my fall. M.
beast seemed to have the sharpest knife
bone of back that Nature ever CAV
to horsefesh But, after all, there wa
nothing to be gained by grumbling. Per
haps | was growing wiser by painful ex
perience.
A. curious pair we must have locke
that morning. Reski, with his arm in
sling, and the butt of his revolver peep
ing from his waist belt, would have mad
as good stage brigand as need be. Flo
myself, was in too much of immediat
pain from the jolting trot of the brut
rode to carry formidable appearance
/ could never have imagined that
horse lived with such adamantine fet
locks as mine seemed to possess.
have no exact record of the tim,
hut I should imagine that it was abou
half an hour later that we sighted Maj
nae again. He was then a good tire,
ouorters of a mile ahead, but travelin
leisurely. Also, / was very glad to NJ
+ica that we were free of the waste land
and that the spire of church was pol
ing out amongst some poplars ahead {
him. He would never dare to use h
revolver a second time when men wer
about. Also, we might procure anothe
sleigh and team.
Reski sent his heels into his horse, an
we ouickened our pace, though the poo
brutes were getting very done and droy
heavily along with hanging heads.
wos about then that l noticed a man b.
hind us.
We were topping a slight rise when
looked round. He was then some di
lance In our rear, but coming up fast. A
faras | could make out, he was in so
of uniform and well mounted. The pc
.ibilty of official help was very plea
ant.
NOT vet noticed us.
with kicks and curses from Reski, ar
the application of hazel branch fro
myself. we had squeezed a lumberir
tus