The Washington times., 1938-01-28

| Nd1OOWdu Sdlu uOLLl1I1B, WAUGH
ing him. POGO reached under
his Sorrel's neck to sweep in the
reins which were trailing on the
offside, hanging over the trai,
edge.
And in that moment Cardowar
struck the three matches he hac
In his hand on the rock, and, wher
they were mounting into full flare
he jabbed them into the sorrel's
rump.
The sorrel yanked his head up
exploded ahead, smashing into
POGO, q squeal yelling in its
throat.
POGO made one frantic grab as
he felt himself off balance, and
then the sorrel rocketed by him
butting him with a terrific i'm
pact. And in that one brief hall
second of cold horror in which he
clawed at the air he heard Cardo
vans laugh rise on the wind.
And then he was over, the trail
whipping up out Of sight, the sky
and mountains wheeling crazily
past his vision, his muscles locking
in horror, his chest CONSTRUCTED and
strangling him. He felt the cold
slap Of snow, and still he was fall
ing, rolling now, aimlesS, helpless
and his great retching gaspS fo1
air were choked off by snow In
his mouth. All the failing of lis
arms, the clawing o: his hands
gathered only icy handfulS o1
snow as he turned over and over
rolled over and over, while the
very core Of his life was being
slammed out of him by these blows
that followed each other in light
ming succession. He was drowning
when he felt q vast and almost
painless shock on his head and
blacknesS seemed to finish the
work of Strangulation.
When he came to 1t was only
to open his eyes and let flinty
flakes of snow into them He
tried to move and found that If
he fought the pain enough he
could. He was almost buried in
a deep drift, and his hands were
locked into bloody and unfeeling
claws. The snow was spotted with
scarlet Smears.
The sun was past its zenith be-
hind the mountain. He struggled
unSteadily to his feet, the snow
waist deep about him, and some
thing in his head rolled around
like loose shot. He smeared hand
fuls Of snow on his face, and the
bite of its cold cleared his head.
BOTTOM OF A GORGE
Then he looked around him.
He was in the bottom Of a deep
gorge that was choked with snow.
Looking up, he saw the walls rise
sheer to the heavens. Turning,
he could see part Of the course
his fall had taken, great jagged
scars in the snow 40 feet apart.
Thirty feet above him the scar
dug deep and coursed in long
sweeping gully that ended where
he was standing.
He looked at it, wondering how
far he had fallen, when he saw
perhaps a dozen yards to the right
Of the scars his fall had made in
the snow. still bigger scars.
And then he understood. His
Sorrel had gone over, too. He
looked across the floor of the
gorge, which rose to a high snow
bank 40 yards to his left. He
could see nothing except the un.
broken white Of its surface, but
he knew the horse was there.
And now he began to stamp a
trail in the snow in that direction
packing it with his feet, breaking
down the crust, and in 10 minutes
he was exhausted. But for an
hour he worked doggedly, and as
he neared the snow bank he saw
where it was disturbed. Closer
now, he could see a dark spot OF
hide. When he reached it he saw
the sorrel was buried deep in the
snow. Duly, he scraped away the
loose drift around the head until
it was clear. One glance told him
the Sorrel was dead, its neck
broken.
It was still warm, and he sat
down on its side and put his head
in his hands. Something hurt
in his head, and the hand came
away bloody.
THINKS OF REVENGE
For a while he sat there staring
a hot and furious bitterness seeth
ing in his mind. Cardowan hao
won, and had won by a trick as
cruel as it was cunning. He hac
outguessed and outsmarted POGO
and now he had the gold, all ot
it-and he left POGO only his life
But had he? POGO wondered, look
ing around him. AS a last resort
he could eat horse meat to keer
him alive. His guns and rope
we're in his bed roll on the saddle
The body of the horse would warm
him for some hours yet.
He looked up the cliff. Up there
somewhere was the trail, and the
trail TUnt1ld leah him SnfnA daY