La Junta tribune., 1907-12-14

She looked at his face aId thca
stcpped out upon the Ice without q
word
lie irapcd into the sleigh and. whirI-
Ing the horse about. started ut gal
iop toward the American side, '-lon'd
better trot along home AMI patch nj
Bois head. IL needs IT," he called
over his shoulder. Then ss ercapr be
came almost certain he laughed his
old dcvil nay care laugh and began
to soothe the nne black roadster that
under happier circumstances had once
been his. Fifty rods more and he
would be ON American soil and within
half hours drive Of Ned Fletcher's
Then .nb Peterson and the c1tradi
ton treaty bc hanged.
Pop. pop. pop. pop, Al gave one look
uy,siresin ar the long white ridge that
was moving swiftly down upon him.
then s.iz.-d the whip and Insbcd the
horse Into n furious run. The freshet
from III. melting snow In the hills was
sweeping down the river, heaying up
the rotten lee in Jagged ridge as II
came.
Help. Help
the woman aud then as the commotion
drew nearer stood up in the sleigh and
drove the horse 10 the utmo-, limit of
its speed.
"Ai, oh. Ar came over the lee In
pltcous appeal.
Al started aud the hard lines abont
his mouth softened they had not
softened for years. She had called him
just like that when they We're children
PLAYING together aud the boat In which
she had hidden had gone adrift above
the fails
"A. AL
He looked hungrily at his promised
land" not ten rods away now. then
swung th. horse about and galloped
back toward the woman. The ridge OF
hcnvine. splitting ice drew nearer.
passed under him and left the horse
nonnherin: In the swift current among
crunching Ice cakes. He leaped from
the sleigh aud dashed on. leaving the
brute to Its fate. Out there where the
Ice was pounding. grinding. writhing,
sh. was crouching upon u rocking cake.
and he sped straight on over the heav-
fug mass toward her with n nimblcness
and siIr,.n.s- that had saved him Il
score of times from pursuing revenue
officers.
quick. Az And as lie ~nntch"d her
from her pcrilou% position she clun. fo
liin ~ though he w.r" Al Brock al i've
years before instead OF the most dan
gcrous outlaw ia the province.
The Ice wis now thoroughly broken
up 1t WIS as though the river were
fun of waliowing white monsters fight
Ing each other 10 the death. Even with
nothing 4" impede his flight his chances
of reaching land would be remote. He
knew that. II. had seen three different
men OF his gang try TO make the Amer
lean side Mt such time, and all three
had gone over the falls.
As he lenped upon II cake sank
under him TIL the water reached his
knees. and she grippe-i him convulsive-
ly. He looked at her as he had not
looked Mt any human being for years
and bounded on to the next cake. IT
turned over under his foot, and he
sank To- his armpits In water, scram-
bling out only moment before the ice
closed together with grinding crunch.
The Jagged Ice cut through his rotten
boots, and he left blood at every step.
He slipped to his knees agnin and
again. ciinging by his battered elbows
over the edge OF some tilted block,
straininS To keep his charge out of I'm
mediate danger. Al last he stumbled
and fell with n crash across n blue
black slab whose adhering gravel cut
like the teeth of n saw.
let me help myself, Al You're kill
ing Yourself And. scrambling to her
feet. she started away. but soon slipped
and fell with dull thud. lying still by
Il strip of swirling water into which she
had nearly plunged.
Al snatched her M aud lcap..d across
the widening channel, looking at the
falls and then ut the shore. still
quarter or mile away. Could hc
make IL: Reason and his battered bod.
said no, but the white, still face at
his shoulder with the ugly rut across
The forehead cried out above reason,
aud he rceled on ..+..s,
He was npon hands and knees now.
dragging her painfully from cake TO
filtiiig cake The one across which he
was, suuitming coliiled with another.
,iinning fast. the hnndcuh dangling at
his wrist He wrenched nj the iron uu
Ill Ii cut into his flesh. but could not
free hiniself He started TO his knees
and circlcd round and round in sudden
panic. still clinging to the unconscious
woman. Theu the mass on which they
toatcd struck something with force
that threw him over his fetter and
nearly wrenched the plnioned arm
from Its socket \ glance about him
revealed the truth. They were strand
ed upon a submerged ledge. and the
Ice was rapidly piling mp about them.
A cake Of Ice as large as a half bar
rel crashed down within II yard Of his