The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1910-09-24
"she Is Gone, Then?" Gasped the BOY.

from the boy, and started on. Her
companion caught hold of the stirrup
leather and staggered forward by her
side. The going was now infinitely
harder for the remaining horse. The
woman Immediately realized that with
this almost dead weight plunging
through the deep drifts and dragging
heavily at the stirrup leather, tho
remaining bronco would soon be ex-
hausted
She had meant to play fair with
him but it could not be. And so for
a long time the trio plodded on in this
way, the woman nerving herself to a
frightful action as best she could She
hesitated to do 1t. She was reluc.
tant-
But no horse that ever lived could
stand such a strain. She knew that it
would be a matter of minutes now
when the animal she rode on would
also fall and lie when he had fallen
like his dead brother back on the
inevitably perish.
| Well. 1t was his life or hers! The
decision was forced upon her. And
perhaps after all it was just as we'll
to get rid of them both and have done
with it. She reached over, and be-
fore the boy realized what was hap
pening she caught his hand, tore his
fingers from the saddle strap and
thrust him violently backward. I'm
prepared, unsuspecting, half-dazed, he
could offer no adequate resistance. He
reeled and fell supine in a deep and
overwhelming drift. She struck the
horse heavily with the whip that hung
from the saddle bow, and the animal
plunged forward wildly. She knew
that she was safe unless he should
try to shoot her; for he was too weak
and too exhausted to catch hor
The boys senses were quickened in
to instant action by her conduct Aft
er the first moment of surpri:. he
knew at once that she was delberate-
ly abandoning him to die in the snow.
hot rush of blood. in spite of the
cold, swept over him. He thrust his
hand within his coat and dragged out
= weapon. He raised it and trained
1t on the wOmans back, and for the
moment his hand did not tremble.
Then there rose before him that other
CORY figure. Though he had lived
some months on the wild frontier and
had seen more than one man killed
| there, he had never been connected
with the murder before, even as an
| accessory after the fact, and the hor-
ror Of 1t was still upon him. He low
cred the pistol, though he could easily
have shot her dead
Such treachery on the part of
woman would have killed some men;
not so this boy. In that moment he
| became man. He saw himself
| fool; he determined that he would not
| also see himself coward Clenching
his fists and summoning his strength,
he followed southwark afoot in the
womans wake.
He walked--if that be the word for
his progress--with his head down and
his body bent lower and lower. He
| took long rests between the steps. BY
and by he fell forward on his face
The sensation of delicious rest and
drowsiness that swept over him wooed
him to lie still and die; but there were
still sparks and remnants of manhood
and courage in him. He shook off his
desire to sleep at last and strove fran
| tically to rise. Finding that he could
not, he crawled forward on his hands
and knees. slowly working himself
over the snow covered ground, round
the drifts like great animal.
There was no use. Humanity could
not stand the strain any longer. One
more movement he made, and just as
he was about to sink down forever he
heard long, deep hollow, mournful
sound. He stopped. Interested dimly
| wondering what it could be.
Whatever 1t was. it meant life Of
some kind. It came from directly
in front of him. 1t nerved him to fur
Their effort summoning the last YES