Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1918-06-14

turbed by the stiffness and the pain
Of her body. When she awakened for
the third time 1t 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 Weakened for the third time
II was morning.
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 soil
tude to find her tomb?
AS soon as the storm had moderated
enough to let him 60 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.
gotta get a feed Of oats from the
stage for my bronchs too. The scenery
here Is sure fine. but 1t 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
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.
"The markings for a 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 1t held clear till to
morrow they could reach Smiths
crossing on the crust of the snow.
saltwater broke up the chairs fol
fuel and demolished the legs Of the
table, after which he lay down before
the stove and fell at once into sod
den sleep.
Presently Mrs. Olson lay down or
the bed and began to snore regularly
Sheba could not sleep. The board!
tired her bones and she was cold
Sometimes she slipped into cat nap.
that were full of bad dreams. Wher
she Weakened with a start 1t was to fint
that the fire had died down. She wal
shivering from lack of cover. Out
city the girl replenished the fire and
lay down again.
When she wakened with a start 1
was morning. A faint light siftet
through the single window Of tn
shack. Sheba whispered to the olde
woman that she was going out for ,
little walk.
AS she worked her way down tn
gulch Sheba wondered whether tn
news Of their loss had reached Ku
siak. Were search parties out alread.
to rescue them? Colby Macdonald
had gone into the blizzard years ago t
save her father. Perhaps he nigh
have been out all night trying to saw
her fathers daughter. Peter would GO
of course-and Gordon Elliot. Tn
work in the mines would stop an,
men would volunteer by scores. Tha
was one fine thing about the North
It responded to the unwritten Law
that man must risk his own life I,
save others.
From a little knoll Sheba locke,
down upon the top Of the stage tire
hundred yards below her. and Will
she stood there the promise Of tn
new WuS DiuLOaCu Ou tuC bhys i
came with amazing beauty of gree
and primrose and amethyst, while tn
stars hickered out and the heaven
took on the blue of sunrise. She drew
q deep, slow breath Of alteration an,
turned away. AS she did so her eye
dilated and her body grew rigid.
Across the snow waste man wa
coming. He was moving toward tn
cabin and must cross the trench clos
to her. The heart Of the girl stopped
then beat wildly to make up the los
stroke. He had come through the bliz
card to save her.
At that very instant, as If the stag
had been set for 1t, the wonderful
Alaska sun pushed up into the crotc
Of the peaks and poured Its radianc
over the Arctic waste. The pink Clio,
swept in a tide of delicate color owe
the snow and transmitted it to mi
lions of sparkling diamonds. TIL
Great Magician's wand had recreate
the world instantaneously.
| ~nAnrco wv.