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

Leaving the girl where she had
fallen back into Inconsistencies. Lee
assembled one Of the spruce trees and
scanned the channel. The motor boat
was moving up the shore of the island
along the edge of the reeds. 1t on
tanned Railway and two other men.
Another York boat was coming from
the direction of the promontory,
This contained three men also.
Six on the trail and Lee guessed
that they would leave no nook I'M
searched in their determination to To-
cate himself and the girl.
The island appeared to be about a
mile in length by a third wide. Lee,
seeing that discovery was only a mat
ter of time, decided that it would be
better to abandon the boat and take
refuge somewhere in the underbrush.
If the York boat had not been found
by nightfall, he could return with the
girl and try to escape to the mainland,
If il were discovered, their situation
would be no worse.
He strapped n of the packs about
his back, picked up the girl, and, thus
encumbered, proceeded through the
thick brush, making for the opposite
shore, where he put the girl down in
a small declivity where the growth was
thickest. Removing the tin pannikin
from tile outside of the pack, he OBJ
tanned water and poured some down
the girls throat. He noted that the
swallowing reflex was present, a ia
vorable sign in unconsciousness. as he
had learned at the front.
Toward the middle of the afternoon
the sun, which had shone brilliantly
throughout the morning, went perma-
nently behind the clouds. Another
snowstorm was beating up. A few
soft flakes began to fall.
Suddenly a distant hubbub broke
out and continued. There was no mis-
taking what was meant. The York
board had been discovered.
The Free Traders began to beat
across the island, calling to m IN
other. Their voices gradually sounded
nearer. Crouching beside the girl in
the thick of the brush, Lee waited. At
a distance he saw two of them pass
through the trees and disappear. The
shouting died away.
AS soon as they had passed him,
leaving the girl where she lay, Lee
slipped softly through the under
growth, making his way back to the
sandy spit. His expectations were
confirmed. The York boat had dis
appeared.
R~eascending the spruce tree, he saw
the two York boats moOred to the
motor boat in mid-channel, a man with
a rifle seated in it on guard.
They were trapped on the island.
Lee made his way back, and waited
while the afternoon wore away The
snow fell thicker. He took off his
mackinaw and placed it over the girl
She was no longer in a coma, but
se-mi-conscious, and ava of her
surroundings. She muttered and
tossed sometimes it was all Lee could
do to quiet her, And the disjointed
fragments Of speech that fell from her
lips indicated the same mental an
guish that she had revealed to him
during their ride through the range.
He ~shuddered to think of her mental
agony if she had awakened to find
herself a prisoner in Railways power
at the promontory.
And ever in the darkness of their
desperate situation, he drew new hope
from his resolution. And gradually his
plans formed in his mind.
Then night began to fall, and Lee
breathed a vast sigh of relief. Tn
less his plans miscarried, they should
be safe upon the mainland well before
midnight.
These depended, Of course, upon his
being able to capture n of the boats
The best plan for the free Traders
would have been to have withdrawn
them to the promontory, knowing
that Lee could not swim with the girl
across that stretch of ice-cold water.
Lee felt sure that. in their eagerness,
feeling secure in their numbers, they
would encamp upon the shore, either
Bleaching the boats or leaving them
dICllOIeu uilu6I TIC olhSlC SudAQ II LHN
middle channel.
About half an hour after dark he
set out on his Investigations. He
moved through the brush as softly as
any Indian, and, booted though he was,
hardly a twig cracked under his feet
Making his way toward the central
portion, where the trees were sparser
and the ground undulating, he soon
discovered what he was looking for,
the distant glow of a camp fire.
Four men were seated around the
fire, drinking and conversing loudly.
1t was impossible to make out their
faces in the darkness, but Lee waited
patiently until the light of the fire
fell upon each, and ascertained that
none of them was bearded.
Railway, then, was either in charge
of the motor boat, with the sixth man,