The Snowflake herald., 1918-05-03
Of a horse were almost lost In the
roar of the shrieking wind.
heluvatime ride

was so IalnC Within nor CnaC Sn0 ola
not greatly care whether she lived or
died. Her face was blue from the cold,
her vitality was sapped. 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.
"Got to stable the horses" he ex-
planned, and left them.
After time he came back and lit
fire in the sheet-irOn stove. AS the cir
culation that meant life flooded back
into her chilled veins Sheba endured a
half-hour of excruciating pain. She
had to clench her teeth to keep back
the groanS.
except for a homemade table, rough
stools, and the frame of 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 bliz-
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 frontiersmen,
saltwater Pete was diamond In the
raw. So far as could be he made
hopeless and impossible situation COM
Portable. His judgment told him that
they were caught in 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 worse off,"
eff we only had some food" Mrs.
Olson suggested.
"Food! I" Pete looked at her in as
sumed surprise. "HuhI What about
all that live stock / got In the stable?
I've heard tell, ma'am, that broncho
tenderloin is favorite dish with them
there French chiefs that do the cook
ing. They kinder trim 1t up SOS It's
most as good as frawgs' legs"
Sheba had never before slept on
bare boards with a sealskin coat for a
sleeping bag. But she was very tired
and dropped off almost instantly.
Twice she woke during the night, dis
turbed by the stiffness and the pain
of her body. When she awakened for
the third time it was morning.
It seemed to her that the hard, whip
sawed planks were pushing through
the soft flesh to the bones. She was
cold, too, and crept closer to the stout
Swedish woman lying beside her. Pres
emily she fell asleep again to the
sound of the blizzard bowling outside.
When she wakened for the third time
1t was morning.
In the afternoon the blizzard died
away. AS far as the eye could see,
Sheba looked out upon a waste Of
snow. Her eyes turned from the DESC
lation without to the bare and cheer
less room In which they had found
shelter. In spite of herself a little
shiver ran down the spine of the girl.
Had she come into this Arctic soli-
tude to find her tomb?
AS soon as the storm had moderated
enough to let him go out with safety,
saltwater Pete had taken one of the
horses for an attempt at trail break
ing.
ME, I'm after that plum pudding.
I gotta get feed of oats from the
stage for my bronchs too. The scenery
here is sure fine, but it ain't what
you would call nourishing. Huh
W3Lcn our smoke when me and old
Baldface git to bucking them drifts
He had been gone two hours and the
dusk was already descending over the
white waste when Sheba ventured out
to see what had become of the stage
driver. But the cold was so bitter
that she soon gave up the attempt to
fight her way through the drifts and
turned back to the cabin.
Some time later saltwater Pete
came stumbling into their temporary
home. He was tagged to exhaustion
but triumphant. Upon the table he
dropped from the crook Of his numbed
arm two packages.
1.-THE makings for a Christmas din
ner," he said with a grin.
Mrs. Olson thawed out the pudding
and the chocolates in the oven and
made kind Of mush out of some
oats Pete had saved from the horse
feed. They ate their one-sided meal
In high spirits. The freeze had saved |
Ig