Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1922-08-11

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Ice In front OF her body as she moved,
the girl succeeded In getting Wilton to
the shore. From that point, half
dragging and half carrying him over
the snow, she reached the store at
last.
She pried the stiff hand from Joe's
body. That was the hardest Of her
efforts. Molly left Joe's body upon the
threshold and got Wilton into her lit
tie room behind the store. She raised
him on the bed and laid him down, his
head upon her pillow.
| Her teeth were chattering from the
deadly cold that gripped her, and her
own hands were numb, but she man.
aged to strip off Wilton's socks, his
hood, mackinaw and sweater. His
face was not badly frozen, but his
hands and feet were marble white.
Suddenly the girl saw the blood that
discolored the sleeve Of Wilton's
shirt She ripped the sleeve from the
shoulder. She saw that the arm was
broken and that bullet, entering be-
hind, had passed obliquely out leav-
ing q small but not dangerous wound.
The blood had long since ceased to
flow and clotted the wound In con-
gealed, frozen mass.
The danger from the frostbite was
the more immediate Molly took snow
from the threshold and began to rub
his face, his feet and his fingers. For
nearly an hour the girl persisted, never
ceasing her efforts, In spite Of her
WEAKNESS, and the thawing, dripping
clothes about her. And at last the
white skin began to be suffused with
an angry red.
Then she washed away the clotted
blood from the arm and nerved her.
self to the task that must be per-
formed. At the Moose Lake mission
she had nursed an Indian with frac-
tured leg, set by the superintendent,
and this experience was all she had to
60 by. But the break was a simple
one. She brought the edges of the
bone together, made splints from
pieces Of packing case and wound the
whole tightly with cloth smeared with
bears fat Then she heated some
broth and poured 1t, drop by drop,
down Wilton's throat.
When she could do no more she took
her clothes out Of the room and changed
in another, kept for travellers, separat-
ed by thin partition Of pine planks.
She had just finished when she
heard her father shufling down the
stairs. 1t was the first time he had
left his bed. The girl ran to the door
in fear.
His eyes were suffused with red and
his face twisted with passion. 1t was
evident that he had seen the rescue
from his window above and had known
what Molly was doing.
He dragged himself past her with
out a word and looked in at Wilton,
lying unconscious on the bed.
81 saw We bring him in, Molly" he
mumbled thickly. eye can't fool me
with tricks like that. It's trick that
we've thocht Of between We. Yell cast
him out again, aye"-his voice vi
brated with fury-"yell cast him out
into the shaw, or ye're no longer daugh-
ter Of mine"
Molly caught at her fathers arm.
"You don't know what you are say
ing!" she cried. "He has been shot
And Joe Bostock is dead. He's lying
dead without. There's blood on his
breast. There has been a dreadful &C.
cident-"
He grasped her fiercely by the wrist.
"Joe Bostock deadw he shouted.
"Who killed him?"
II don't know. Mr.. Carruthers was
carrying his body and got trapped In
the muskeg I saved him."
"Aye, one can see that" answered
Mcdonald with slow malice. "Ye've
brought more trouble on me. The
body shall not lie in this house, nor
VIII Carruthers' neither. Mark me,
lass! YEN put him out in the shaw
to keep Joe BostOck company, or ye're
no daughter Of NINE"
you're madl" flashed Molly indig-
nantly. With a swift impulse she ran
to the door and opened it. A gust of
wind blew a whirl of snow into the
store. To MOlly's excited brain 1t
seemed to assume the momentary
form OF a fantasmal figure as 1t
wreathed itself about the factor. He
uttered a cry and staggered back,
clutching at the edge of the counter.
'Will you let a dead man lie there,
out In the snow?" cried Molly fiercely,
stretching out her hand toward Joe's
frozen body. "Do you think VIII Car
ruthers shall be flung out there to
freeze to death beside him? Why, it
would be murder-and on your head!"
Perhaps it was the remembrance of
the past that checked the factor in his
fury and brought back sanity to his
mind. For a moment he stared at
Joe's dead face, then raised his eyes
to Molly's. And then, mumbling and
clutching at the counter edge, he
turned and began to drag himself up
stairs.