The Arvada enterprise., 1918-04-25

20 much a. Q drink Of water except
through pain and effort. Hours when
he cursed Buck Olney and thought he
had him bound to the chair in the cab
In. Hours when he watched for him,
gun In hand, through tie window BE-
side tho bunk.
He had made . fnal trip to Hardup
two weeks before and bad brought back
supplies for the winter. And because
his pay streak Of rravel bank had Yield
I'd q fair harvest b had not stinted
himself On the things he liked to eat
He lay looking over the piled boxes
against the further wall and wondered
II b could reach the box Of crackers
and drag It up beside the bunk. He
was weak, and to move his leg was
Pagony. Well. there was . dish Of prunes
o. the window sin.
Ward ate doosn q %. bat he want
Cd The crackerA He leaned - far a.
ho could from the bsd and the box was
still two fest from his outstretched I'm
gers. He lay and considsrod how he
might bring the box within reach.
At the head ol the bunk stood the
case Of peaches and beneath that the
case Of canned tomatoes, the two form
ing Q stand for his lantern. He eyed
them thoughtfully. chewing . corner of
his underlip. He did not want peaches
or tomatoes Just then-he wanted those
soda crackers.
He took Buck Olney's knife-he was
finding It most useful souvenir Of the
encounter-and pried Oh Q board from
the peach box. Two nails stuck out
through each end Of the board. He
leaned again from the bed, reached out
with the board and caught the nails In
crack on the upper edge Of the crack
e. box. He dragged the box toward
him until It caught against . ridge in
the rough board hoor. when the nails
bent outward and slipped away from
the crack. Ward lay back. exhausted
with the effort he had made and tor
mented with the pain In his leg.
After awhile he took the piece OF
boari and managed to slide It under
the box, lifting a corner Of Il over the
ridge. That was hard Woek, harder
than you would believe unless you tried
It yourself after lying three days fast.
ing with broker leg and fever. He
had to rest again before he took the
other end Of the board that had the
good nails and pulled tho box up be-
side the hunk.
In n few minutes b made another
effort and pried part Of the cover OF
the cracker box with the knife. Then
he v,,llasV <,s,t hale . Ix-.v o~~ ,L a.. 4. "a
ate them. drank half dipper Of water
and felt better.
He had held himself aloof from the
mso Of the country. He knew the Sea.
beck riders by sight: be had talked
little with Floyd Carson two or three
times and had met Seabeck himself.
He knew Charlie Fox In q purely cas-.
ual way. a. has been related, and Peter
Howlins Dog the same.
None Of these men were likely to ride
out Of their way TO 80 him. And now
that his mind worked nationally he had
NO fear Of Buck Olncy's venscful re-.
turn. Buck Olney. he guessed shrewd.
". was extremely busy Just now put.
ting a. many miles ~ possible between
himself and that part Of Idaho. Unless
Billy Louise would come or send for
him he would In all probability lic alone
there until b. WAS able to walk. Ward
did not tsy to comfort himself with any
oslusions Of hopA
A. the days passsd b settled himself
0inly b ~ bo1lnso q 0sttins through
tAs ordeal - eo0foehbly - possible.
10 had esod within his reach and .