The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-08-22
Bio Shows Au1th0r of 1.-The
 Danger 1Tra5g''


 stopped and waited.
 "Our dogs are so near exhaustion that we're afraid to take them any nearer" said voice.. They'd die like puppies under those packs!"
 The voice thrilled Jan. He advanced with his back to the fire, so that he could see the stranger.
 sYou come from Churchi11T' he asked.
 They were more of an excuse for him to draw nearer, and he turned little, so that for an instant the glowing fire flashed in his eyes. "Yes; we started from the Etawney just week ago today"
 Jan had come very near. The stran- ger interrupted himself to stare into the thin, fierce face that had grown like a white cameo almost within reach of him. With startled cry he l drew a step back, and Jan's violin dropped to the snow.
 For no longer than breath there was silence. The man wormed him. self back into the shadows inch by inch, followed by the white face of the boy. Then there came shril1y from X Jans lips the mad shrieking of name, and his knife flashed as he leaped at 1 the others breast.
 The stranger was quicker than he. With a sudden movement he cleared himself of the blow, and as Jan's arm went past him, the point of the knife ripping his coat sleeve, he shot out a powerful fist and sent the boy reeling ] to the ground.
 l Stunned and bleeding, Jan dragged l himself to his knees. He saw the dogs turning, heard low voice urging them I to the trail and saw the sIedge disap- pear into the forest. He staggered from his knees to his feet and stood swaying, in his weakness. Then he I followed.
 1 He forgot that he was leaving his knife in the snow. forgot that back there about the fire there were other l dogs and other men. He followed,
 sickened by the blow, but gaining strength as he pursued. Ahead of him he could hear the sound of the tobog- gan and the cautious flashing of whip l over the backs of the tired husldes. The sounds filed him with fierce strength. He wiped away the warm 1 trickle of blood that ran over his cheek and began to run, slowly at first, swinging in the easy wolf lope of the forest runner. with his elbows close to his sides.
 | A A -a H @0TI 1 for hours. losing when the pack took a spurt. gaining when they Jagged, an in- sistent Nemesis just behind when the l weighted dogs lay down in their traces.
 When he heard the cracking of the whip growing fainter he dropped his arms straight to his sides and ran more swiftly, his brain reeling with the l madness of his desire to reach the sledge, to drag from it the man who had struck him, to choke life from the face that haunted that mental picture of his, grinning at him and gloating al-
 ways from the shadow world, just be- 1 yond the pale, sweet loveliness of the woman who lived in it.
 He did not feel the soft, sun packed snow under the beat of his feet He received the lash of low hanging bush
 es without experiencing the sensation
 of their sting. Only he knew that he I wanted air-more and more air-and 1 to get it he ran with open mouth, struggling and gasping for it and yet
 not knowing that Jean de Gravois
 would have called him a fool for the
 manner in which he sought 1t. He heard more and more faintly the run of the sledge. Then he heard
 1t no longer. His heart swelled in a
 final bursting effort, and he plunged on until at last his legs crumpled l under him and he pitched face down.
 ward in the snow, like a thing stung l by sudden death.
 It was then. with his scratched and l bleeding face, lying in the snow. that l reason began to return to him. After l little while he dragged himself weak ly to his knees, still panting from the
 mad effort he had made to overtake 1 the sledge. From great distance he 1 heard faintly the noise of shouting, the
 whispering echo of half hundred l voices, and he knew that the sound
 came from the revelers at the post. It was proof to him that there had been no interruption to the carnival 1 and that the scene at the edge of the
 forest had been witnessed by none He
 turned again on the trail.
 Where the forest broke into an open. i lighted by the stars, he found blood
 in. the footprints of the leading dog.
 Halfway across the open he saw where
 the leader had swung out from the
 trail and the others of the pack had
 crowded about him, to be urged on
 by the lashings of the mans whip. | Other signs of the packs growing ex-
 haustion followed close
 The man now travelled beside the l sledge where the trail was rough and
 rode where it was smooth and hard.
 The deep imprints of his heeled boots
 in the soft snow showed that he ran for only a short distance at a time
 hundred yards or less-and that aft
 CT each running spell he brought the l pack to a~Walk. He was heavy and
 lacked endurance, and this discovery
 brought low cry of exultation to Jan's lips
 He fell into dog trot Mile after
 mile dropped behind him. Other miles
 were ahead of him. an endless wilder