New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1908-09-20

he'd fell on her ears like the tlnke OF bells. he
sound came from straight ahead, hundred yards:
She knew it was the five riders crossing White Mud
by the trail. Again she had lost the lead
Deiectedy Chris made for the trail and dipped
down into the Couee her mind stunned by the
failure of her race against crime. She almost
helpless now. 1t less than mile to the ford
of Bleeding River, and again on the farther side
only mile to the buffalo corral And the men
riding ahead, their passionate resentment probably
in1amed by liquor, would trap Preacher Black and
the policeman like foxes in the hollow OF the pound
Perhaps roped from its walls they sat talking,
they would be dragged to smother in the running
waters of Bleeding River
Tears of anguish and anger at her own helpless
ness coursed down the girls cheeks as Chinook
clambered over the stony bed of White Mud COulee
and climbed its steep side
Chris had almost determined to galOp on and
thrust herself among the men to declare that they
must abandon their erTand, when the horse, tot
lowing the trail, turned sharply to the right Like
an inspiration a thought flashed through the girl
mind that she had one more chance. In hve sec
onds it had detailed strong and vivid For mile
the trail ran parallel with the river TO the ford;
while the buffalo pound, on the opposite SIDE lay IN
a straight line from where she had now checked
Chinook 1t was not more than quarter of a mile,
and Chinook could swim the river More than once
he had carried her through waters swift
At any price, rang in the girls ears, as, drlv-
ing the chestnut straight on his gallOp carried her
in a few minutes to the river bank. From the
gloomy hollow hOated the drOnlng grOWI OF Red
Stone Rapids which reached from little lower down
to the ford as down the slOpng bank Chinook Crept
cautiously, his hoofs sliding in the red clay till they
ratified on the graveled bar. Then the girl slipping
from the saddle took off her skirt, and remountng
urged him forward
With an angry shake of his head and a rebellious
snort, Chinook sprang away from the water, and
fought his way dozen yards along the bar before
Chris could check him and, with wrench OF her
strong hand, turn him toward the stream He
obeyed the call this time.
HAZED in the mystic moonlight. the river, hun
IL bred yards wide, glided smooth and placid; bur
as Chinook waded its sOping bed the waters raised
white crest of anger against his strong limbs, and
Kissed Surliy the girthS dipped, and his broad
chest raised them in a foamng furrow like the Prov
of a boat. There gliding, CanOeike move
the horse swung off his feet. Spreading his
nostrils he answered with snort of defiance.
Chris familiar a she with the running rivers,
which still held the velocity of their mountain birth
realized that in her eagerness she had taken
the rivers power too care1essly. They angling
down stream at a swift rate and too far below
began the rapids. She should have gone hundred
yards higher She braved Chinook with a call of
encouragement, and drew his head little up stream
with the bit. The horse seemed to understand
His ears, which had priCked forward. swung
back and forth mpetuously, as though he gagged his
distance by the sulen call of the rapids which grew
louder as he
They halfway across, and Chris could see
the combng turmoil of the dashed waters where the
rocks churned them to foam. One glance a the
snowlike line, another the dark rim of the farther
bank, and, doubling her skirt across the high horn
of the Mexican saddle, she grasped the stirrup
leather with fingers of steel and slid her BODY into
the river down stream from Chinook.
The horse swan freer Left to his own ntelligenCe
he edged more into the current and fought stronger
Once the girls feet struck rock that Just broke
the surface OF the waters, sending Shiver of dread
TO her heart. If Chinook but legged a sunken
rock and faltered, they would sweep the seeth
ing caldron that seemed sucking them into its NAV
Ten yards more to the bank and half that distance
were the swirling, rock tortured rapids
/ here was a sudden lurCh of ChinoOk'S body that
almost yanked the st1rrup leather from the girl S