The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1917-05-26
CHAPTER Xxx.
Gambling With Death.

sen the Lady, not because she was
freSher for she was not, but because
he believed she possessed of the three
horses the clearest instinct to bring
her through the fight for the lives that
were at stake. He did not deceive him
self with the idea he could do anything
to help the beast find way to succor
tlfht instinct rested wholly In the la
dy's head, not in his. He only knew
that if she could not get back to help,
he could not. His own part in the
effort was quite outside any aid to the
Iady--it was no more than to reach
alive whatever aid she could find, that
he might direct it to where Nan and
her companion would endure a few
hours longer the fury Of the storm.
His own struggle for life, he real
lied, was with the wind-the roaring
wind that hurled it's broadsides OF fro
zen snow in monstrous waves across
the maddened sky, challenging every
living thing. 1t drove icy knives into
his face and ears, paralyzed In its
swift grasp his muscles and sinews,
fought the stout flow of blood through
his veins, and searched his very heart
to still it.
Encouraging the Lady with kind
words, and caressing her in her crop
ing efforts as she turned head and tail
from the binding sheets Of snow ana
ice, De Spain let her drift, hoping she
might bring them through, what he
confessed in his heart to be, the mar
rOWeSt of chances.
He bent low in his saddle under the
unending blasts. He buffeted his legs
| and arms to fight off the fatal cold. he
slipped more than once from his seat
and with a hand on the pommel
tramped beside the horse to revive his
failing circulation, there would COME
time, he realized, when he could no
longer climb up again, but he STAYED
| that issue off to the last possible mo-
ment of endurance, because the Lady
made better time when he was on her
back. When the struggle to remount
had been repeated until nature could
no longer by any staggering effort pc
made to respond to his will, until his
legs were no longer q part of his be-
miMbed being-until below his hips he
had no body answerable to his com
mands, but only two insenSible masses
OF lead that anchored him to the
ground--he still forced the frozen feet
to carry him, in feeble, monstrous
gait beside the Lady, while he dragged
with his hands on the saddle for her
patient aid. XII
/ One by one every thought, as II cdil-
gealed in their brain cells, deserted his
mind-save the thought that he must
not freeze to DEATH More than 0nde
he had hoped the insensate fury Of the
blizzard might abate. The Lady had
long since ceased to try to face It'll
like stripped vessel before hurr1-
cane, she was drifting under it. DE
; Spain realized that his helpless legs
would not carry him farther, HiE
hands, freezing to the pommel, nb
. longer supported him. They finally
, slipped from it and he fell PROSTATE In
the snow beside his horse. When he
, would cry out to her his frozen lips
. could humble no words. 1t was the
, fight no longer Of man against ma
: ture, but only of an indomitable SOU
against q cruel, hateful death. He
struggled to his feet only to fall again
/ more heavily. He pulled himself uI
| this time by the stirrup strap, got his
J hands and arms up to the pOmmel, anC
| chung to it for few PAGES more. But
1 he fell at last, and could no longer rise
from the ground. The storm swept un
/ ceasingly on.
!, The Lady, checked by the lines
t wrapped on his arm, stopped. d.
I Spain lay Il moment, then backed hel
t up step, pulled her head down by
- the bride, clasped his wooden arms
g around her neck, spoke to her, and
e lifting her head, the mare dragged hin
/ to his feet. Clumsily and helplcssly
= he loOSened the tugs and the whiffie
tree, beat his hands together with idi
/ otto effort, hooked the middle poin
i Of the whiffletree into the elbow of hi.
left arm, brought the forearm ant
+ hand against his shoulder, and will
/ the hitching strap dashed his forearm
and upper arm tightly together arount
e the whifIletree.
: He drew the tugs stillly over tn,
:. Lady's back, Embossed the cinches o
S the saddle, pushed it off the horse and
sinking into the snow behind her
{ struck with his free arm at her feet
!. Relieved of the saddle, the Lady ono,
), more started, dragging slowly benin,
t her through the snow a still breathin,
| human being. Less than an hour be
i fore it had been man. 1t was hardl,
G more now, as the Lady plodded on
t than an inSensate log. But not eyel
: death could part it again from tn
horse to which De Spain, alive, ha,
|. fastened it.
k The fearful pain from the torture,
!, arm, torn at times almost from it
socket, the gradual swapping of strain
f ing ligaments, the constant rupture o
c capillaries and veins sustained hi
: consciousness for while. Then tn
0 torturing pain abated, the rough drag
+ ging shattered the bruised body less
!, 1t was as if the Lady and the storr
y together were making easier for th
IL l..