The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1918-04-25
dies were the only ones that let her

ears of the leaders. He was worried.
He would have liked to turn and run
for it. But the last roadhOuse was
| twenty-Seven miles back. If the biz
gard came bowling down the slope
they would have a sweet time Of it
reaching safety. Smiths Crossing was
on the other side of the divide, only
nine miles away. They would have to
worry through somehow.
Miss O'NeilI knew that saltwater
Pete was anxious, and though she was
not yet afraid, the girl understood the
reason for it. The road ran through
the heart of q vast SnOw-feld, the sur
face of which was being swept by q
screaming wind. The air was full of
sifted white dust, and the road furrow
was rapidly filling. Soon it would be
obliterated. Sheba tramped behind the
stage-driver and in her tracks walked
Mrs Olson, the other passenger.
Through the muffied scream of the
storm saltwater shouted back to
Sheba. you wanta keep close to me-"
She nodded her head. His order
needed no explanation. The world
was narrowing to u lane whose walls
she could almost touch with her fin
gers. A pail of white wrapped them.
Upon them beat a wind of singing
sleet. Nothing could be seen but the
blurred outlines of the stage and the
drivers figure.
The bitter cold searched through
Sheba's furs to her soft flesh and the
blast of powdered ice beat upon her
face. The snow was getting deeper
as the road filled. Once or twice she
stumbled and fell. Her strength ebbed,
and the hinges of her knees gave I'M
expectedly beneath her. How long
was it, she asked herself, that A1acdOn-
aid had said men could live in biz
gard?
Staggering blindly forward, Sheba
bumped into the driver. He had drawn
up to give the horses a moments rest
before sending them plunging at the
snow again.
mo chance" he called into the
young wOman's ear. Never make
Smiths in the world. Coin try for
miners cabin up gulch little way"
The team stuck in the drifts, fought
through, and was blocked again ten
horses gave up, answered the sting Of
the whip by diving head first at the
white banks, and were stopped by
fresh snOw-combs.
Pete gave up the fight. He began
unhitching the horses, while Sheba and
Mrs. Olson, clinging to each others
hands, stumbled forward to join him.
The words he shouted across the back
of a horse were almost lost in the
roar of the shrieking wind.
g. heluvatime ride
guIch," Sheba made out
He flung Mrs. Olson astride one of
the wheelers and helped Sheba to the
back of the right leader saltwater
clambered upon it's mate himself.
The girl paid no attention to where
they were going. The urge of life
was so faint within her that she did
not greatly care whether she lived or
died. Her face was blue from the cold,
her vitality was Slapped. She seemed
to herself to have turned TO ice be-
low the hips. Numb though her fin
gers were, she must keep them fas-
tened tightly in the frozen name of the
animal. She recited her lesson to her
self like a child. She must stick on
she muSt-She must.
Whether she lost consciousness or
not Sheba never knew. The next she
realized was that saltwater Pete was
pulling her from the horse. he dragged
her into a cabin where Mrs. Olson lay
crouched on the floor.
SCOT to stable the horses he ex-
planned, and left them.
After a time he came back and lit q
fire in the sheet-iron stove. AS the cir
culation that meant life flooded back
into her chilled veins Sheba endured a
ha1f-hOur of excruciating pain. She
had to cIench her teeth to keep back
the groans.
Tie cabin was empty of furniture
except for a homemade table, rough
stools. and the frame of a bed. The
last occupant had left little firewood
beside the stove, enough to last per-
haps for twenty-four hours Sheba
did not need to be told that if the biz
zard lasted long enough, they would
starve to death. In the handbag left
in the stage were box of candy and
an Irish plum pudding. She had
brought the latter from the old coun-
try with her and was taking it and the
chocolates to the Hustled children. But
just now the stage was as far from
them as Drogheda.
Like many rough frontfersmen,
saltwater Pete was a diamond in the
raw. So far as could be he made a
hopeless and impossible situation COM
Portable. His judgment told him that
they were caught in a trap from which
there was no escape, but for the sake
of the women he put cheerful face on
things.
Lucky we found this cabin" he
growled amiably. by this time we'd
"a been up Salt creek if we hadn't.
Seeing as our luck has stood up so far,
I reckon We'll be all right Mighty
kind of Mr.. Last Tenant to leave US
this f1rewoOd. We amt so verse Off"
IF we only had some food" Mrs.
Olson suggested.
''Foodl" Pete looked at her in as
sumed surprise. ''Huhi What about
all that live stock I got in the stable?
I've heard tell. ma'am, that broncho
tenderloin is a favorite dish with them
there French chiefs that do the cook
ing They kinder trim If mn so,s i+,s