The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1925-11-20

ed back. II made a knot In less than
ten minutes"
But for all Of Spoof's urging our
oxen plOdded stOlidly along the
wintry trail, now barely distinguish
able from the gray whiteness of the
plains. Flakes of snow were falling,
and on every side the pail Of night
surrounded us, drawing it's circle clos
er and closer. The trail was firm.
but the surrounding snow was loose
and deep, and to pass us Jake would
have TO plunge his horses through IT,
at considerable risk of upsetting his
cutter. The old land guide, however,
hesitated not a moment for such a
consideration as that. Swinging his
horses from the trail he cut out at
them with his whip, and they rushed
by us, throwing a snowy spray like a
torpedo boat passing a liner.
But as it is so often the occasion
that makes the man, so now was 1t
the occasion hat proved Spoof's re-
sourcefulness. Climbing over the
dashboard Of the jumper he ran along
the tongue and threw himself upon
Bucks ample back, which immediate
ly began TO heave and gyrate with an
entirely new motion. Whether 1t was
a protest against the liberty which
Spool had taken. or whether 1t was
that the legs about his sides brought
back memories of youthful days when
Snma haralaUoad nrobip on a Mani
toba farm rode him in wild triumph
through pasture field of the parental
herd, matters not; the fact is that
Buck presently broke into a most I'M
~precedented gallop, and his mate, will
ly-nilly, followed suit. They were
just in time to prevent Jake's party
getting on the trail ahead of US, end
in great glee we careered by them.
Forced draught! !" shouted Spool.
Fourteen knots!"
But our triumph was short lived.
Unaccustomed to such speed, the oxen
presently began to wobble in their
course and suddenly f1oundered off the
trail.
Hard a-pOrt, hard a-port!" Spool
shouted. But he was too late, or his
directions were misunderstood. Over
went the jumper, finging it's freshly
married and other contents into the
snow. The speed of the oxen
wrenched the tongue from the wreck,
and they continued homeward in great
er haste than before.
Spool jumped free and barely es-
capped a defiant flourish of Bucks heels
as they Tipped by him. Ruefully he
gazed upon the w~reckage.
Il told the bally bullocks to swing
hard a-pOrt," he explained, land in,
stead of that they slithered off to
~starboard."
At last the shack on Fourteen came
into view, and, to III great surprise,
a light shone from the window. When
we came up close we saw a number
Of Jumpers and bobsleighs about, and
the tracks of many feet in the snow.
The scene inside was an animated
and amazing one. In the principal
room a table had been built and now
groaned beneath a load such as l had
not thought the countryside could
supply. 1t was covered with snowy
linen, and an assortment of chinaware
Of several varieties of pattern threw
back the yellow CLINT of two great oil
lamps, one of which I recognized as
having recently decorated a shelf in
a corne Of Spoof's shack on section
Two. l had just time to catch a
glimpse Of a frosted wedding cake In
the center of the table and a steam
ing turkey at one end when Jean
brought me out of my trance.
isn't it wonderful, Frank-wonder-
full Ito think of it, and all of them
so poorl Why, even, there's Mr..
Sneezit! !"
1t was true. The whole community
was present. They had swarmed to
our premises in our absence, bringing
the necessaries of the wedding dinner
with them, and they were lined
up around the walls, guilty-faced but
delighted.
/ said the whole community was
present, but l was wrong. Mrs. Alton
and the little boy, Jerry, were not
there. I mentioned their absence to
Spool when 1 had an opportunity.
"They must not have known about
it," was his explanation. But Spool
had evidently been at pains to make
sure that all the others in the district
should know. Why had he omitted
Mrs. Alton? 1t was one more tangle
in the puzzle of Spoof's peculiar at
titude toward the widow on Eighteen.
When we were settled Mr.. Locke
arose and asked a blessing. The Sc
rious words sobered us for a minute,
but it was only a minute. The stimu-
lus of turkey with cranberry sauce
and scalloped potatoes and boiled tur-
nips and creamed carrots would have
stirred to gayety hearts much heavier
than ours, and 1t 500 developed into
a noisy and frolicsome meal. The tur-
key was an enormous bird; the at
tack of all our hungry party left the
skeleton not entirely stripped. / re-
member that one of the little Han
sens, %venturing up like Oliver Twist
with a demand for more, was soundly
raped on his yellow head by a drum
stick in the heavy hand Of Ole, but
the children as a whole were well be-
haved, allowing for the example set
them by their elders. Then we had
plum pudding and sauce and apple
pie and cheese, and nuts and candy
for everybody. Jean and l mentally
ricochetted between amazement at the
generosity of the meal and specula-
ton as to whence it had come. No
one ever told us the secret, but we
did learn that Spool had a fat check
from England just before Christmas.
and that Mrs. Burke's cooking Of tur-