The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1922-06-08

There was the one imprint, and no
more. And, as she looked at it, gust
OF wind drove a cloud OF SHOW over II.
obliterating it. Molly stood up. The
discovery. which seemed of no impor-
tance, passed from her mind. Again
she listened.
Then, with the uncomfortable feel
ing that she was being watched, she
started and peered into the under
brush. A pair of beady eyes watched
her. They were those of Jules, the
half-witted deaf-mute. For the mo-
ment Molly was startled. Then she
stepped forward, and the Muskegon
vanished soundlessly among The under
brush.
AS the girl stood there she thought
she heard the cry once more. AT once
she was running down to the edge Of
the swamp and, standing her ground
with difficulty in the fierce gale, she
peered out, sheltering her eyes with
her hand.
Then, dimly out of the whirling
snow, she saw figure stumbling to-
ward her, bearing on it's shoulder
something that looked like a railroad
sleeper.
Sometimes it vanished from her
sight in the circular whirl of sleet,
at others reappeared, stumbling into
the drifts, but ever nearing her. 1t
was within twenty-five feet of her
when it slipped, and there followed
the crash of the rotten ice beneath it's
feet. The figure broke through the
slushy layer into the muskeg below.
Thus Wilton Carruthers came to the
portage for the fourth time. And on
this occasion he was saved by the dead
man, for whose lifeless body he had
risked his own life. For, as he fell,
still clutching at what he bore, the
stiffened form slid out over the I'M
broken surface and held him head and
throat above the bog.
III moment Molly was running to-
ward Wilton. Once his head went I'M
der. and she cried out in despair, but
he reappeared. and seemed to cling
automatically TO his support, for his
eyes were closed and he was unc0n-
scious. His face was frozen white
it was only the contraction of the
frozen sinews of his fingers that gave
him his hold on JOes body.
1t was then that, in her horror,
Molly recognized Wilton. She crept
toward the break, and lay down on the
ice. cropping toward him with her
hands She shouted to him to hold fast
and, finding that he was already IN
conscious crept cautiously nearer over
the cracking surface.
Then she saw what it was that Will
ton had been carrying, and she recog-
nized Joe. Stunned momentarily by
the shock, she nerved herself to the
task Of rescuing the living. She still
crept forward until the upper part Of
her body extended across the break.
She placed her hands beneath Wilton's
shoulders and tried to lift him
1t was a task beyond her powers
AS she strained to it, suddenly the ice
broke all about her, and in a moment
she was f1oundering beside Wilton in
the water
At this place the underbed of the
portage was of peat mixed with sand
covered with water rather than slime
Molly's feet touched bottom. The wa
ter was only shoulder-deep. With
quick resource she managed to draw
her feet up from the swamp and to
drag Wilton forward a pace or two
| thus freeing him from the clutch OF
the muskeg. And now she felt firm
sand under her. She continued tC
drag him toward the shore and, as
they moved, Joe's body, still clutched
in the set Of Wilton's stiffened fingers
slid grotesquely over the surface OF
the ice beyond.
And somehow, breaking the rotten
ice in front Of her body as she moved
the girl succeeded in getting Wilton te
the shore. From that point, halt
dragging and half carrying him over
/ the snow, she reached the store al
last.
She pried the stiff hand from Joe's
body. That was the hardest of heI
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 of Wilton's socks, his
hood, mackinaw and sweater. His
face was not badly frozen, but his
hands and feet were marble white.
Suddenly the s.tI 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 a small but not dangerous wound
| The blood had long since ceased to
| flow and clotted the wound in a con
| gealed, frozen mass.
The danger from the frostbite was
the more immediate Molly took snow
| from the threshold and began to ruf
| his face, his feet and his fingers. Fol
nearly an hour the girl persisted neEel