Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1917-04-05


In an abandon Of gayety she chartered
back at a quarrelsone squirrel in the
thicket. She could rest later, and if
she could not go to him Immediately
at least every step the horse took was
bringing them for little while closer
/ together. And her tomorrow was only
one twilight and one dawn away. Her
tomorrow would be his as utterly as
was she herself.
Dusk came, and regretfully she told
herself that she must be turning back
home Two rife shots, sharp and star
tlingly close. whipped through the quiet
Of that lazy afternoon, but they meant
nothing to her, She had reached the
height of land, where he had found her
the day her roam mare strayed off while
she sat incoming on log. She was
holding out both arms toward the spot
where the valley of Thirty Mile must
lie when a team of heavy horses broke
! around a turn in the road, slowed to a
trot at the sight Of her and came to an
abrupt standstill. When the girl rode
nearer to them, merely surprised and
curious at first, they snorted and show
ed the whites of their eyes and SHE'D
back nervously.
/ Something chill clutched at Barbara's
heart while she spoke peremptorily
! to Ragtime who was dancing in SYM
pathetic panic There was nothing to
tell her, but she knew that these were
Big Louie's horses. And Big Louie
was a dreamy incompetent. He had
left them for a moment, that was all,
and they had become frightened and
bolted. But Big Louie never neglected
his team-they were not Wet-they
had not been running far And their
fright became less when she dismOunt-
ed and approached them. soothing them
with her voice until they let her touch
their sleek sides without rearing away
! Dusk had come and gone. for it was
growing dark. Uncertain. more and
more unnerved as she stood and gaZed
at the forbiGding, black Swallowed
ridges beyond her, the girl had to fight
! suddenly against an impulse to turn
| and race back to the lower country
! and Morrison and home. Even then
the rife shots meant nothing to her
and pride would not let her run. She
! remOUnted and rode on Il rod or two
and stopped to look back at the team
which was watching her. She pressed
on and rounded the curve. RagtimC
reared and sn0rted there, and she bare,
ly stifed the cry which his strange be-
haviOr brought to her lips. Because OF
her senseloss panic she punished him
the more severely and sent him on
And then she saw what the horse had
already seen.
/ A blue shirted figure lay half in the
road. half in the underground that
fringed it, one arm crooked under him
and his face prone in the dust A
bulkier mass was stretched wholly
within the trail-and she recognized
him too. Big Louie's face was up-
turned, and the explanation Of the two
rife reports and the driverless team
was here, for Big Louie's hand still
clutched the handle of a canvas pail
They had stopped to water the horses;
they had been shot down from behind.
And first of all, unable to move. while
horror parched her lips the girl re-
membered words which the limp one.
half in the road and half in the under
brush, had spoken to her in Il moment
of Sternness
He has fred upon me from cover"
the man who loved her had said. He
10
who was bent on beating me at any
price,
Blood sickens Incl" she Whimpered
aloud. Blood sickens me-" But she
managed to turn him over upon his
back With brown head against his
heart she listened-listened and would
not believe that her tomorrow might
come too late. And then she caught
! the slack pound Of his pulse.
From there on she was less panic
stricken. She gained control Of facul-
ties shocked for time into useless
ness Method marked her acts-deib-
GRAFTON mechanical, but sure She was
horribly afraid of Big Louie, but she
finally disentangled the handle of the
pan IlOu LuOSe loose myers ana ran
to the brook which babbled near at
hand. Returning, she drenched Steves
face with icy water. She lifted his
head and rropped it as comfortably as
she might upon one thigh and opened
his flannel shirt. The ball had passed
through, for back and front the shirt
became Immediately Wetter with fresh
blood. Blood sickened her, but she
whipped off the coat Of her boyish rid
ing habit and Wrenched the sleeves
from her linen blouse. They were Ges
perately scant, ye' they provided pads
with which to check that dreadful 00z
ing. And when they were in place
she turned again to bathing his fore
head.
folded sheet Of paper came to view
when she tried once to ease his heavy
body from the position which was
numbing her leg, and she seized upon
it tiercely. 1t was only brief line,