The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1913-05-29

out of me, SAM" he said soberly. TITS
thinking of the girl out In all this
with those devils"
Likely as not she amt" returned
the other, tramping the snow under
his feet. I've been thinkin' bout tibet
too. Tibet outfit must hev had six
hours the start o. US, didn't they?"
Hamlin nodded.
well, then, they couldn't a ben far
from the Cimarron when the storm
come. They'd be safe enough under
the bluffs; have wood fer a fire, and
lay thar mighty comfortable. That's
whar them bucks are, all right. Why,
damn 1t, man, we've got to get,
through. 'Tain't just our fool lives
that's at stake. Brace up!"
How far have we Gomez"
"A good ten miles, an the compassi
has KEEP us straight"
They drew in closer together, and
munched a hard cracker apiece, occa-
~sionally exchanging a muttered word
or two, thrashing their limbs about
to keep UP circulation, and dampeningl
their lips with snow. They were but
dim, spectral shapes in the darkness,
the air filled with crystal pellets,
swept about by a merciless wind, the
horses standing tails to the storm and
heads dropping. In spite Of the light
refraction of the snow the eyes could
scarcely see two yards away through
the smother. Above, about. the cease
less wind howled, its icy breath chilli
ing to the bone. Carroll clambered
stiffly into his saddle, crying and
swearing from weakness and pain.
The others, stumbling about in the
deep snow, which had drifted around
them during the brief halt, stripped
the blanket from Wade's dead body,
and tucked 1t in about Carroll as best
they could.
Nov keep kicking and t~hrashing
about, George" ordered the Sergeant
sternly. For Gods sake, don't go
to sleep, or you'll be where Jim is.
Well haul you out OF this, old man.
Sam, you take the rear, and hit Car
roll a whack every few minutes; I'll
break trail. Forward! now"
They plunged into it, blowing a way
through the drifts, the reluctant
horses dragging back at first, and
drifting before the fierce sweep of the
wind, in spite Of every effort at guild
ance. 1t was an awful journey, every
step torture, but Hamlin bent to It.
clinging firmly to the bit Of his ami
nal, his other arm protecting his eyes
from the sting of the wind. Behind,
WATSON welded a quirt, careless
whether Its lash struck the horses
flank or Carroll. And across a thou.
sand miles OF s~now-covered plain, the
storm howled down upon them in re-
doubled fury, binding their eyes,
making them stagger h~elplessly be.
fore it's blasts.
They were still moving, now like
snails, when the pale sickly dawn
came, revealing inch by inch the dread
desolation, stretching white and ghast-
ly In a slowly widening circle. The
exhausted, struggling men, more near
ly dead than alive from their cease
less toll, had to break the film of ice
from their eyes to perceive their sur
roundings. Even then they saw moth
Ing but the bare, snow-draped plain,
the air full Of swirling flakes. There
was nothing to guide them, no mark
of Identification; merely lorn barren
ness In the midst of which they wan
dered, dragging their hslffrozen
horses. The dead body Of Wade had
stiffened into gr0tesque shape, head
and feet dangling, shrouded in cling
Ing o Carroll had fallen forward
across his saddle pommel. too weak