The Kevin review. [volume] (Kevin, Mont.) 1922-1929, 1924-05-01

can't thank you enough-not now
Get him, Sam! Get him p
Sam came back in five minutes
leading the horse. Winton knew II
very well. 1t was o 60 fast as De
Wits, but it had won prizes at the
local handicaps. 1t was in f1rst-class
condition.
Sam had put one foos into the stir
rup when Winton dragged him down
Let me go, Mr., Garrett. Let me-
go" he pleaded. you're not fit, sir :
Tn going, Sam. I'll be back with
Miss Sheila-or I'll not be back. No
use. Sam. Leave it to me. It's my
job, confound your
Sam took his foot out of the stir
rup with a sigh. The tears Were
streaming down his black face
You're right, sir" he said humbly
"I-I-"
But neither man could speak, and
Winton, w~ringing Sans hand, mount.
ed and rode away.
His burning anger gave him strength
The thought of Sheila's danger, Of DE
Wits trick at the end, nerved him
to desperation. Within two days the
wheel of his fortunes had made a com
plete revolution. Only the thought Of
Sheila in De Wits power enabled him
to maintain his mental equilibrium.
And for a while, as he rode wei the
lonely desert, touched here and there
with the green of the young grass,
he felt like a shadow moving in a
phantom world.
He tried to concentrate his attention
on the tracks Of the three horses,
which were distinct in the rain-soaked
ground. So long as these were plain
in sight he felt that he was nearing
Sheila every moment, in spite Of the
fact that he could see no one. He
discovered that what his horse lacked
in speed it made up in staying powers,
and hours passed without any slacken-
ing of the easy triple pace.
But the morning wore away, and it
became clear to Winton that De Witt
had at least maintained his lead. 1t
was almost midday when he discov-
cred that the tracks had disappeared.
For some time they had been grow
ing less distinct, for the sandy earth
of the desert had yielded to finty
ground. Winton went back, found
them, and discovered that the horses
had struck off at an angle leading far
away from the headquarters of the
tribe.
Hitherto the horses had been travel
ing almost Immediately toward the
hills. Yet it had seemed improbable
De Witt could have allied him
self with the Bechuanas. They would
have rejected overtures from any
white man; and De Witt, s~coundrel
though he was. would hardly have
made them. Winton's suspicious now
a certainty in his mind. The
Dutchman, who was well known
throughout the desert country, had
gathered about himself a few wander
ng Hottentots, probably old servants
or c~attlemen, by whose aid he hoped
% strike across the desert into an
other territory.
The tracks led due west, toward the
leart of the almost unknown Kala-
lari, the desert of salt pans, inhabited
,nly by a few wandering Bushmen and
he antelope on which they lived.
Winton knew that there was no set
lement of any kind, not even a native
me, for hundreds Of miles in this di-
IF ~ rn,,+ Co., -, 49,
,ver, and knew how to live on the
Wild melons that send their tap-roots
hundreds of feet into the ground and
lraw up water, one would enter Ger +,
nan territory, where the Herrera
ribesmen lived among the i%nfrequent
Thence one could strike the
shore.
And Winton suddenly began to think
hat Van Worst must have taken this
QUITE. Probably the same Hottentots
7ho had accompanied De Witt had
elped Van Worst across the desert.
hey might even have cached food and
later in some lonely spot.
WintOn's heart sank as he followed
he faint tracks mile after mile, often
educed to a slow walk in order not
lose them. Sometimes only a tuft {
downtrodden, withered grass, or a !
ew displaced pebbles showed him
is route. And Their even the wisps
f grass vanished, and the f1inty desert /
~ smooth before him. :
1t was early afternoon. Winton had :
cen guiding himself more by instinct
nd judgment than by any visible
aces. He realized now that he had
'st the trail, and lost it half an hour
afore, and had been deluding him
If with signs which were nonexist-
1T. Worse than that, it was impos-
Bile to pick up the spoor by going
His horse had gone gamely, but 1t
as gradually giving out. He dis
ounted, and the beast stood painting,
18th dropping head. 1t had ceased to
veat-an ominous sign. He left it
id began to cast about in a wide
ro1o IN +bo homo of bi++ipr tha - olru