The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1925-01-08

the TASK was an dl Uul lmpOcSlDle Ouc
But, added to this, the girl awakened
and began talking disjointedly, some
times crying out in fear. 1t was al
most impossible to quiet her.
She chung to him, moaning. For 9
whole hour he tried to assuage hei
terrors, until at last she dropped
asleep again from weakness and weari
ness.
Once more Lee took up his task.
Now the campfire came into view. The
four men were still visible about 1t,
shouting and quarreling; they were
drunk, but not drunk enough to rem
der escape without a fight possible.
Creeping, almost inch by inch, to the
extension Of raspberry brambles, Lee
followed it down to the waters edge
and laid the girl down. He looked at
her apprehensively for a moment, but
her eyes were closed in sleep and her
breathing was soft and regular.
Then coolly Lee stepped out into the
open space and made his way toward
the group.
He was within five and twenty yards
of them before they perceived him, and
then they seemed to take him for one
of their party. Lees impressions were
of confused shouting and challenging.
His GOODNESS disconnected and bewild-
cred them; he was almost upon them
before Pierre recognized him.
"By gar, it's dat d-n four
lusherl" he shouted.
And on the instant Lee was into the
thick of them. A tall ruffian grasped
a rifle and rushed 1t him. Lee fired.
The man, shot through the hand,
dropped the rifle, and, uttering a howl
of pain. took to his heels in the under
growth.
A second man was aiming at him.
Lee brought the butt of his pistol
down upOn his head, and the man,
collapsing in a mumbling heap, lay
face upward upon the ground. Shorty
was pulling desperately at a gun. Lee
swung at him, missed his skull, but
knocked him sidewise with a blow
that laid his cheek open to the bone.
Shorty dropped and lay still.
Pierre, who had made no movement
of aggression, was staring at Lee
stupidity.
Hands up, d-n your Lee shouted.
Pierre's arms went up to their full
height. Lee frisked him, took his
gun, took ShOrty's and the third mans,
and tossed them into the underground
as far as he could fling them. He
stopped and picked up the rifle that
the first man had dropped. And,
within a few seconds of the opening
melee, Lee found himself, by virtue
of the surprise, master of the situation.
But there was no time to be lost,
for the tall ruf1ian who had fed was
bowling somewhere along the shore,
and all depended upon the nearness of
the motor boat. Lee, covering Pierre,
backed quietly to the place where he
had laid the girl. He picked her UP
and ran toward the boat with her.
Instantly Pierre's figure was blotted
out in the darkness.
Lee had set down the rifle when he
picked up the girl he placed her in
the bottom Of the boat, ran back and
found it and threw it inside, together
with the pack from his shoulders. He
the heavy anchor. He threw all
his weight against the boat, which re
rpded in a trail of viscous mud until
It was afoat. Lee leaped in, seized
fhe oars, fired another shot in warn
ing. All the while the wounded man
was bowling along the shore.
Lee pushed desperately with the
oars till he was in deeper water. He
pulled furiously for mid-channel. As
he did so there came a sound that for
one instant almost unneryed him, what
With the psychological effect of that
alI-day listening to 1.-THE %chugging
Of the engine. Then, as he reached
open water, he saw by the light Of the
moon that issued for a moment
through the storm-clouds, the black
speck of the motor boat trailing the
second York boat dimly.
But suddenly the rafting Of the en-
CINE died in a splutter. The motor
boat was about a hundred yards dis
tant. The next instant the bang of a
rife confirmed Lees hopes. The en-
CINE had either run out of gasoline or
had become out of order.
Instantly Lee was pulling as he had
never pulled before. Again the rifle
sounded. Twice more. Now the
boat was almost invisible in the
darkness.
Then, simultaneously with another
discharge, something struck Lee a VIC
lent blow in the side that knocked him
his back.
He was up in a moment, and pulling
with all his might, though he knew he