The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1922-08-03

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he seemeds to consider and decide
something about her. There's a farp-
house about a mile back; I'm going TO
take you over there and leave you with
those people,"
81 will not go there! !"
He swore. It'll carry you, then 'G
She shrank back from him as ne
lurched toward her with hands opt
stretched 10 seize herr ne. ffollowAd
'llsr rand she awpiaaaShin4yNn If BIS
guilt Nad giveh Xer mental
ascendency over him, his physical
strength could still force her to Ais
will. and, realizing the impossibility
of evading, him or overcoming hpn,
she stopped. ~
Not that!" she cried. Don't touSh
me- !"
"Come whh me, either" he commah,t
ed; and heswent to the door and lald
his snowshoeS on | the snow Ma
stepped intp them, shopping and tight.
ening the ttr$psj NE stood by wife
she put onfhers. ) He did not attempt
again to put hands upon her as tRey
moved away frorh the little cabin 10
ward the woods back Of the clearing
but went ahead, breaking tie trail Hor
her with his 'snews,loes. He moved
forward slowly he eourd Nravel, If he
had wished, three feet t. every tRo
that she could cbvar, but he seerAed'
not wishing for speed bLt rather Sor'
delay. A deep, dull Mas
booming above the wood; 1t boon3ed
again and' ran unto a rhythm. no
longer was 1t above Cat least it was Apt
only above; it wasa all about theIHe-
here, there, to right and to left, before,
beh.nd-the booming of the Drtfm.
Doom was the substance Of that sotAld
9f the Drum beating the EQsl 81 fhe
dead. =.
Henry had stopped In front. Of her,
half turned her way his body swayed
and bent to the booming Of the Drum,
as his swollen lips counted its sound
ings. She could see him plainly in the
moonlight, yet she drew nearer TO him
as she followed his count. Twenty
one" he counted-'Twenty-twO" The
drum was still going on. Twenty
Observation-Disclosures! Would
he count another?
He did not and her pulses, "hiGh
had halted, leaped with relief. He
moved on again, descending the steep
side of a little ~ravine, and she fol-
lowed. One Of his snowshoes caughr
in q. PEatEudilsa zsaA INSTEAD Of
Shaving to- fr&ezE.KfEh=gt1g he pulled
it violently out, and she heard the dry;
seasoned wood crack. He;looked down.;
swore; saw that the who'd was not
broken thrdsghtand went on; but as
heTsasleaitte bottom ofHhe slope, she
leapea doAnIpatl from d. little height
behind him and crashed down upon his
trailing snowshoe hist behind the heel:
The ,reitaiipg I!s1sbsS the wood came
beneath her feet. Hadl she broken
thEQRghI4s~ sl,oe- or snarbed her own?
She sprang." back, as he tried out and
sWNuhgfn an attempt to grasp her; he
lunged. 70 follow her, aid she ran a
Few Steps awayAnd stopped. At his
ne&ts step aris'"f,ot entahgled in the.
: mesh .%pf.tfie .hjaken snoNshoe, and he
stopped ,cursi4G:, to strip it off and
hur4 it, from ihigES .hen he tore off the
one from Che. 9ther foot, and threw it
away, and lurcfet after Irer again but
now he sank above his knees and loun-
'defsd. .lnEthe Snow. She stood for a
mm6ffent while &rhe hgtf-mad, half
arunSen sigur~ Struggled toward her
'niong 5lie side of the ra1ine; then she
.rsh. to WHARF thu. tree Trunks hid her
from shim.: JHe., gained the top of the
.slope and tsilgned In the!' direction she
had. gone; assured thep, apparently,
that size bad fsWn in fear of him. he
started back more swiftly toward the
beach. she followed, keeping out of
his sigta, amopg the trees.
tsTo tMenty-slx,. he had counted-to
t~wenty-six, jeaoh. time! That told that
he knew one was living. among those
who had been upon the ferry! What
one? 1t could only be kne Of two to,
dismay him so; there HID been only
two on the ferry whose rescue he had
feared only two who, living, he would
have let lie upon this bench which he
had chosen and set aside for his pa
troll, while he. waited. for him to die!
She. fWdfd NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.,
as she saw Henry gain the shore and
as, believing himself alone, he hurried
%northward. She could not rest; she
could not let herself be exhausted.
Merciless minute after minute she
raced him thus A dark shape-a fig
nre hay Stretched upon the Ice ahead
Beyond and still farther out. some
thing which seemed the fragments OF
a lifeboat tossed up and down where
the waves Numbered and cleaned at
the edge of the foe.
Henry's pace quickened hers quick
ened desperately. too. She left the
shelter Of the treess-and scrambled
down the steep pitqt Of the bluff,
shouting, crying alcu9 HenriFturDed
about and saw her; N halted, tand she
passed, him with a Push andSgot be
tween him and the form upof the Zee.
before she turned and faced him.
Defeat-defeat Of whatever purpose
he had had--Eas his now that she WAS
there tdwimass whit fre'migbf do; and.
in his reayxaaon thai. he$bnrst OFF
in osthss against tAer.aHe Sdvat4eSx
she. stood. conffbnfing-he swayed
slightly in his walk and swung past
her and away; he went past those
things on the beach and kept on along
the Ice huminocks toward the north.