The Tomahawk., 1918-04-04

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 a
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 firewood. We amt so worse on"
IF we only had some food" Mrs.
Olson suggested.
"Foodw Pete looked at her in as
sumed surprise. Huh! 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 it up sos It's
most as good as frawgs' legs"
Sheba had never before slept on
hare boards with q sealskin coat for
sleeping bag. But she was very tired
and dropped of almost instantly.
Twice she woke during the night, dis
turbed by the stiffness and the pain
of her body. When she awakened Tor
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 deso-
lation without to the bare and cheer
less room in which they had found
shelter. In spite of herself little
shiver ran down the spine OF the girl.
Had she come into this Arctic soil
tude to find her tomb?
AS soon as the storm had moderated
enough to let him 60 out with safety,
Swiftwater Pete had taken one Of the
horses for an attempt at trail break
ing.
"Me, I'm after that plum pudding.
I gotta get q feed of oats from the
stage for my bronchs too. The scenery
here is sure fine, but It amt what
you would call nourishing. Huh
Watch 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
flight her way through the drifts and
turned back to the cabin.
Some time later Swiftwater 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.
"The makings for Christmas din
ner," he said with grin.
Mrs. Olson thawed out the pudding
and the chocolates in the oven and
made a 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
their lives. If it held clear till to-
morrow they could reach Smiths
crossing on the crust of the snow.
saltwater broke up the chairs for
fuel and demolished the legs of the
table, after which he lay down before
the stove and fell at once into q sod
den sleep.
Presently Mrs. Olson lay down on
the bed and began to snore regularly.
Sheba could not sleep. The boards
tired her bones and she was cold.
Sometimes she slipped into cat maps
that were full of bad dreams. When
she wakened with start it was to find
that the fire had died down. She was
shivering from lack of cover. Qui-
city the girl replenished the fire and
lay down again.
When she wakened with a start 1t
was morning. A faint light sifted
through the single window of the
shack. Sheba whispered to the older
woman that she was going out for q
little walk.
AS she worked her way down the
gulch Sheba wondered whether the
news of their loss had reached Ku-
siak. Were search parties out already
to rescue them? Colby Macdonald
had gone into the blizzard years ago to
save her father. Perhaps he might
have been out all night trying to save
her fathers daughter. Peter would 60,
of course-and Gordon Elliot. The
work in the mines would stop and
men would volunteer by scores. That
was one fine thing about the North.
It responded to the unwritten law
A.