The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1925-03-19
CHAPTER XXI
Retribution

The cold rage in Lees heart was
like an inexorable demon driving him.
Mile after mile they covered, urging
their foam-flecked horses along the
trail as remorselessly as the resolve in
their own hearts drove them.
1t was when they topped a bare ele-
walton among the pines that Leboeuf
touched his companions arm and
pointed.
In the distance Lee saw the motor
boat drawn up on the shore.
And with that, ONE instinct told
him that Railway could not escape
them, that he would never reach Lake
Misquash. Lee burned now with the
same faith that animated Leboeuf.
They drove their horses on, and saw
the motor boat depart, heard the chug
of its engine die away in the distance.
They neither quickened their pace
nor slackened it for that.
1t was about the middle of the after
noon that Leboeuf touched Lees arm
and pointed a second time. Again Lee
saw the motor boat. Again they heard
the rattle of the engine swell up and
die away.
But now. by the same faith, Lee
knew that Joyce's deliverance was
very near, although their horses were
wearfed almost to death.
Again they rode on through the
afternoon. The Indian, who had not
spoken a word since their departure,
touched Lees arm a third time.
And now Lee saw the rotor boat
again, but it was drifting, apparently
aimlessly, in the river, and moving
slowly toward the rapids. Joyce sat
in the middle of it, and Pathway was
at the engine. Lee and Leboeuf rode
cruelty, drawing cut their horses last
reserve of strength.
What was the mar doing? They
saw him rise and hurl something into
the water. He stood up in the boat
he shook his fist al them, and his
yells of defiance reached their ears
above the roar of the stream.
Then, Selling in oar, Railway be.
gan padding frantically, in the en-
deavor to get the boat bow on prepare
tory to guiding her down the narrow
course among the rocks.
Lee and Leboeuf were nearly
abreast of the boat now-and of a
sudden Lee knew that Joyce was his
His, in life and death, for evermore
She saw, she knew him, and theil
seemed to rush together acros
the waters.
Without hesitation Lee and the In.
dian put their horses into the river.
They drove the frightened beasts
through the ice-cold water, making d
course Immediately toward the boat
which was now being swirled by the
torrent toward that black chain Of
projecting rocks.
The horses yielded to the force OF
he stream. They were being carried
away. Lee felt the swift rush of the
water past him as he rode, submerged
the waist. He saw Leboeuf a little
n front of him. And a wild exhila
alton filed his heart, and his whole
personality seemed to rush out before
lin, anticipating his vengeance and
lis love.
The frightened, snorting beasts
we're now helpless in the rush of the
liver, which gathered force momen-
arily as it drove them toward the
'ocks. They were hardly a boats
ength from where Railway was
desperately to right the motor (!
raft.
He was too late. He had not cal j
ulated on the force of the current. /,
Slowed the heavy boat around.
n spite of Railways strongest eff
One moment of suspense and I
error-and the motor boat wedged !,
self fairly between two outstanding !
ocks beside the channels mouth. ,
Such was the velocity of the stream !
hat 1t drove into its place with q :
orce that fixed it as firmly as if il
5ere q part of the rocks themselves +,
chung there, with a swirl of white !,
around it, reaching almost t. :
he gunwales. !
In those last moments Lee saw .
pathway standing in the boat, drag :
oyce te her feet and clutch her t. q
i'm, as if resolved to be united with Z
al the last. His free hand ne {
xtended menacingly toward Lee as he e
pproached, himself spinning upon his S
mount like a straw in the
)rrent. b
Then Leboeuf had struggled from C
is horses back, poised himself upon t
ne gunwale of the motor boat, and. Ii
18th a below of rage, seized Rath- o
ay by the throat. b