Glacier County chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1931-1940, 1939-06-23
BY ERNEST POOLE
copyright 1889: BY News Syndicate Co.. Inc
IN TWO PARTS-PART TWO

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IN TWO PARTS-PART TWO
But it will be warm, it's got to bel"
desperately he told himself. He re-
membered the little burst of flame that
came when he dropped that acid into
the powder and shavings on the iron
hearth below. From there it would
spread in the shavings he'd laid
through the open draft into the stove
to the kindling. and stout little logs
and soon the whole huge stove would
| roar!
Yes, but would it, would it, though?
Suppose through the chimney the
wind blew down through the stove and
the draft below and kept his fire from
puffs of air through the chinks and
crannies in the walls scattered his
shavingS during the night, the shaw
ings and the powder. too, so the acid
couldn't do its work?
No magic, no small burst of flame,
no chance of a fire, the stove still
cold and tomorrow the room an icy
tomb. Those desperate little boys and
girls, exhausted from long battling
hikes. would rush into the schoolhouse
and find it like that! The sweat came
out on Jimmy's forehead and he
gripped the sides of his chair.
Damn it, he thought. Even then
-
IL years oldl The fires all layedl
Can't one of them light itP Wait
minutel Wait a minute! Did I leave
any matches there?" He felt in his
pockets. No. they were hereI"
And bitterly he told himself: so
those kids will stand waiting, waiting
for me, wondering where the hell I
can be and what's become of that
promise I made?" Then at last nearly
dead with cold they'd start back for
their distant homes. How many would
get home alive?
All right. what's to be done about
this?" angrily he asked himself. Don't
Just sit here and think like a fool!
The chances are still 10 to l that my
plan will work o. K. If it shouldn't,
I'd meant to get over myself. How can
I get someone to go in my placer"
How could he reach the nearest
farmhouse? 1t was over a mile away.
Make that trip with a broken leg? No,
1t was impossible! Send Dan with a
note tied to his collar? No, the old
dog was too stiff with rheumatics and
deathly afraid of such arctic nights
But Jimmy remembered the team
in the barn. How about hitching the
mare to the bobsled? Then he might
make 1t! A desperate chance that
might cost him his life, but what else
under heaven could he do? He racked
his brain for other ways Of reaching
help of any kind. No, there was moth
ing, nothing but this! And his leg
was all on fire now and his mind SO
hot with fever that his thinking all
went wild.
The thought of those kids and the
howl of the wind filled him with such
blind fury that with teeth set tight on
his pain he got up on his crutch and
made for the door. He opened it, low
cred himself to the steps, slid down,
slung his well leg off one side and got
his crutch under his arm and slowly
started for the barn. Luckily the sky
had cleared and the stars and planets
gave some light.
But Jimmy found the great heavy
barn door frozen in so hard and tight
that all his efforts to open it failed.
In his last attempt to wrench it free,
his crutch slipped out and he pitched
down. Unconscious for a minute or
two from the binding agony of that
fall, he came to and felt both arms
and legs swiftly growing numb with
cold.
Get up! Get upl" he shouted. Five
minutes of this and you'll be like that
door!"
Struggling up on hands and knee,
on his two hands and that one knee
he crawled quickly back to the house,
dragged himself painting up the steps
and into the kitchen, showed to the
door with his last strength and fell
unconscious again on the floor. His
fiery leg soon brought him back and
he found himself shaking with chills,
for already the room was growing cold
and from his place near the stove old
Dan lay watching with eyes that
asked: Who's to make this fire now?"
Jimmy had left his crutch out by
nuy1yy ~1N
hard. he dragged himself across to the
woodbox, threw more wood into the
stove and lay close by till the chills
had died down, then worked his way
back onto the chair, where he had
been sitting before. He'd been safe
then, he wasn't now. His fever was
raging, his crutch was gone.
But Jimmy didn't think of that, for
the kitchen clock began to strike and
more till at daybreak through the win
dow near his seat he'd be able to see
his school and watch for the smoke
from that magic he'd planned.
ITS all up to magic now. There's
nothing can do but wait"
Wait and listen to the clock on the
wall and think of that other clock
at school, ticking, ticking. through the
night toward the time Of his miracle.
1T will work-it's got to! It's a
magic that never fails!"
Again he saw the children come,
but now he fiercely pictured the
schoolhouse warm as he had promised
them. And soon he could feel it was
like that, for in his delirium he mag
ined he was there. Warm? He was
positively hot and so were the chill
dren, He laughed at them, and they
laughed back, as he told of the miracle
he had worked.
Twice when blast Of wind outside
made him realize he must keep I'D the
fire, he dragged himself to the big
school stove and threw in more little
logs. Why did he have to drag himself?
What was the matter with his damned
| leg?
But still he fought against that wind
to keep his school safe for those small
kidSI He rnada I,icx c1annacc <,f