The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1907-10-31

horse Into a furious run The frushe
from The n,eiiing snow IA The hills WA
! gweepiag down the river. hca wing VI
The rotten lee In Jagged ridge as q
! came
Help Help'"
The fleeing ou,law looked hack al
The woman and then m the comRotlou
drew nearer stood up IN The sleigh aud
drove the horse TO the utmost limit u
It's speed
"All oh. AIR came over the ice Ia
} piteous appeal.
. al started and the hard Hines about
his mouth softened az they had not
Sofiened for years. She had called him
Just like that when they were children
playing together and the boat IA which
she had hidden had gone adrift above
the falls
al. Az"
He looked hungriiy at his promised
land" not ten rods away now, then
swung the horse about aud galloped
back toward the womnn The ridge of
heaving, splitting ice drew nearer,
passed under him and left the horse
noundering In the swim current among
crunchlng ice cakes, He leaped from
the sleigh and dashed on leaving the
brute 10 It's fate. Out there where the
Ice was pounding. grinding, writhing.
she was crouchlng upon rocking cake.
and he sped straight on over the heav-
ing mass toward her with nimbleness
and snrencss that had saved him
score OF times from pursuing revenue
officers
Quick. All" And as he snatched her
from her perilous position she clung TO
him as though he were Al Brock OF Ave
years before instead Of the most dan
gerous outlaw In the province.
The ice was now thoroughly broken
up. II was as though the river were
full Of wallowing white monsters fight
Ing each other to the death. Even with
nothing TO Impede his aght his chances
OF reaching land would be remote, IIe
knew that He had seen three different
men OF his gang try to make the Amer
lean side ut such n time, and all three
had gone over the falls.
As he leaped upon It cake sank
under him till the water reached his
knees, and she gripped him convulslve-
ly. He looked Mt her as he had not
looked at any human being for years
and bounded on to the next cake. II
turned over under bis foot, and he
sank to his armplts In water, scram-
bling out only moment before the Ice |
closed together with a grinding crunch. |
The Jagged Ice cut through his rotten |
boots, and he left blood at every step. |
He slipped to his knees again and
again, cllnging by his battered elbows
over the edge OF some tilted block.
stralDlng to keep his charge out of i'm
mediate danger. At last he stumbled
black slab whose adherlng gravel cut
like the teeth of 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
a strip OF swirIias water into which she
had nearly plunged,
AL snatched her UP and leaped across
the widening channel, looking at the
falls and then at the shore, still a
make III Reason and his battered body
said no, but the white, still face at
his shoulder with the ugly cut across
The forehead cried out above reason,
md he reeled on.
He was upon hands and knees now,
her painfully from cake to
lifting cake. The one across which he
was squirming collided with another,
,inning fast the handcuff dangling at
lis wrist. He wrenched at the iron un-
II 1t cut into his flesh, but could not
rec himself. He started to his knees
md circlcd round aud round In sudden
,anic, still clinglng TO the unconscious
Then the mass on which they
loated struck something with force :
hat threw him over his fetter and
nearly wrenched the pinioned arm
rom It's socket, A glance about him
eycaled the truth. They were strand
d upon a submerged ledge, and III
&c was rapidly pling up about them.
cake OF ice as large Ms "A half bar.
el crashed down within yard OF his
ompanion's head, and he tugeed at bis
ianacle until his wrist bled In anotb-
+ desperate attempt to free himself
hen he crouched and waited. Behind
m the Jagged white wall rose stead
" higher, now ominousy still, now
loudly MS the whole mass
Tipped forward few feet upon the
edge. They might lle there IN this 9
heltering half circle which screened
hem from view and perish from the
old that would set IN with the night. !
no mass might topple over and crush !
hem at any moment 2
He put his free arm under her head c
nd raised II from the wet ice. The I
wv sun illumlned the tumbled mass u
reddish brown hair and revealed
Tith startling clearness the premature g
mes about her eyes and mouth. He r
new that he had helped to put them v
iere: that n he had gone straight and r.
larried her fve years ago she would
ave been different woman. And yet +
, had begun smuggling n order to U
alse money enough TO start home an {
'ood as Bob could give her. Z
A prolonged growl came from the
vail of Ice, something snapped, and n
hen the entire mass moved shud.ter, y
nely forward, The cake on which Ii
hey lay began to settle. The water
rept steadily up the sides, ran into K
be crcvices about the edge and reach II
d his shackled hand. lie drew hef
loser to him and with Infinite difiicur q
placed her upon his back. one iaip. G
ear curled like the petals Of rose
fas within few inches of his mouth "
nd be remembered as from nnotaer d
'orld the first time he had kissed If. b
The chilly water was covering bis 81
best now, and be rose upon his elbow. Il
H. "A. a. - Al