Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1913-04-03

" M ltIEES cor
1 Carroll shrank hack like a whipped
child, his lips muttering something
endistinguishable. The sergeant, sat
as1ed. turned and .foundercd through
fhe drifts to the bank of the stream.
He was alert and fearful, yet deter.
mined. No matter what danger of
discovery might threaten, he must
build fire to save CAROLS life. The
raging storm was not over with
there was no apparent cessation of
violence in the blasts of the icy wind.
and the snow swept about him in
tbl1nding sheets. 1t would continue
Eal day. all another night. perhaps,
land they could never live through
without food and warmth. He real
azed the risk fully, his gloved hand
gripping the butt Of his revolver, as
he stared up and down the snow.
draped bluffs. He wished he had
picked up Wasson's rife. Who was
NJ that had shot them up, anyhow.
N,he very mystery added to the dread.
could 1t have been Dupont? There
was no other conception possible, yet
Ut seemed like a miracle that they
could have kept 80 close on the fell
lows trail all night long through the
storm. Yet who else would open fire
at sight? Who else, indeed, would be
"a this God-forsaken country? And
whoever it was, where had he gone?
How had he disappeared SO suddenly
and completely? He could not be far
away. that was certainty. No plains
Enan would attempt to ford that icy
stream. nor desert the shelter of these
blufs in face Of the storm. It would
be suicidal. And If Dupont and his
indians were close at hand, Miss Nc.
Donald would be with them. He had
mad no time in which to reason this
out before, but now the swift realiza-
don Of the close proximity of the girl
came to him like an electric shook
Whatever the immediate danger he
must thaw out Carroll, and thus be
tree himself.
He could look back to where the
weary horses huddled beneath the
bank, grouped about the man SO help
1essly swaddled in blankets on the
ground. They were dim, pitiable OBJ
pects. barely discernible through the
hying scud, yet Hamlin was quick to
perceive the advantage of their posi-
don-the overhanging blum was COM
plete protection from any attack ex-
-spt alolg the open bank OF the river.
Two armed men could defend the spot
against odds. And below, a hundred
yards away, perhaps-it was hard to
Judge through that smother-the bare
limbs Of several stunted cottonwoods
waved dismally against the gray sky.
Hesitating, his eyes searching the
barrenness above to where the stream
bent northward and disappeared. he
turned at last and tramped down
ward along the edge of the stream
ACROSS stretched the level, white prai-
Ffe, beaten and obscured by the storm.
while to his left rose the steep, bare
bluff. swept clear by the wind. reveal
ing Its ugliness through the haze of
snow. Not in all the expanse was
there visible a moving object nor
track Of any kind. He was alone. in
the midst of indescribable desolation
"a cold, dead, dreary landscape.
He came to the little patch of for
est growth, a dozen gaunt, naked trees
at the rivers edge, stunted, two of
them already topping over the bank,
apparently undermined by the water,
threatening to fall before each blast
that smote them. Hoping to discover
some splinters for fire, Hamlin
kicked clear space in the snow, yet
kept his face always toward the bluff,
his eyes vigilantly searching for any
skulking figure. Silent as those des.
ert surroundings appeared. the ser.
lgeant knew he was not alone. He had
q feeling that he was being watched,
spied upon; that somewhere near at
hand, crouching in that solitude, the
eyes of murder followed his every
movement. Suddenly he Strengthened
tup, staring at the bluff nearly op
,posite where he stood. Was it q