Year: 1869

l
almost overpowered him. To arouse
himself from the lethargy which he
| felt was the precursor Of death, he
stepped out of the sleigh and plodded
on beside it. For hours, it seemed to
him, he travelled. alternately walking
and riding, the animals he drove being
almost exhausted.


Suddenly, with snort of surprise
or alarm, his horses stopped and threw
up their heads, their eyes starting in
their sockets at something indistinet in
the gloom ahead. q


There is something injecting in the
alarm of an animal, and Russell felt
his cheeks pale as he moved slowly for
ward, leaving the horses standing
there.


A shudder like the first chill of an
impending doom, shook the young man
as he came npon cutter overturned
in the snow. He was close to it before
he could make out what it was. There
| were no horses attached-that he saw
at glance-but the tugs cut short off,
were fastened there. The snow had
blown away from one side of the sleigh,
while the other side was deeply imbed-
ded. He leaped upon the runner, and
hurriedly pulled the buffalo robes away;
a fear came upon him such as he had
never known before.


At last--it seemed to him so long,
though it was hardly moment-in
that snowy moonshine he saw the pallid
face of woman lying motionless
among her furs.


With suppressed cry he lifted that
beautiful form to his shoulder. and sat
down on the cutter, bending his lips
to the cold ones that could not respond
to his caress. And yet she was not
dead--a faint breath just sighed across
his cheek


Was it thus he had thought to greet
his promised wife? He could not think
he knew nothing but that he had
found Alice--and his whole being rose
to the resolve that he would save her
that neither snow, nor ice, nor cold
should take her from him. She was
his and he claimed her despite every
thing.


But he could not linger there; he
must be moving on, though ever so
slowly. He bore his burden to his own
cutter, taking with him the furs that
could not save her after that fearful
sleep had begun. His horses walked
ON again-they needed no guiding
they could find their way better than
man could direct.


Anything but intense love would have
despaired in that tempest of snow, with
that pitiless wind freezing across the
earth, raising no glow on the blue white
face against his own.


He roughly chafed with snow her
hands and face; but he soon saw that
severer measures must be tried; that
the lethargy was too deep. She dimly
felt the deep friction, for she moaned
and seemed to shrink from it-a word
less request to be left alone.


Russell had forgotten the cold for
himself, the snow swept by him un-
needed. Again he lifted her in his
arms and stepped out into the snow, let
ting her stand beside him, then trying
to make her fight her way on, knowing
that if she could once be reused she
was saved.


At first she fell down helplessly,
sank inanimately, with no wish to stir.
But in moment his ceaseless efforts
had some effect, and he could compel
her to use her muscles slightly, though
her head dropped in an unknowing
stupor.


Russell felt that he had never suf-
} fered before. He thought the pain and
sorrows of all his life were crowded
into that one night. By slow degrees,
almost hopelessly slow, consciousness
, and horrible suffering returned.
His face was pale and sick, as he
knew the agonies she endured. But
| pain was the signal of life, and not now
would he despair.


At last she looked at him with recog-
nizing eyes, and when everything else
: had failed, love reached the fountain of
crimson, and sent a wave of its red
} to her face.


Weak, suffering, she reclined upon
his arm, unable to move or to speak
Could he keep the life he had saved,
through much longer journey?


When he left the city there were a
few houses scattered by the roadside
for two or three miles. The dim glim-
mer of their lights he had seen; but
since then he had noticed nothing
,, was a waste through which he was
riding, with no lamp of hope held out
to him. And the delicate girl, but
half resuscitated, he thought-oh, how
many miles before safety?
! An half hour passed, and through
,, Russelrs brave soul had already darted
the first doubt. Human endurance
could not last forever, and it was more
than he could do to preserve the feeble
life he had recalled. In another halt
, hour ice and cold might conquer him.


He would die with her; he could not
live when that dear face was beneath


the sod.


A quarter of mile further on, and
he saw through the storm a dark OBJ
r iect by the roadside. 1t was a build
, ing of some kind, and it could shelter


them. He turned his horses heads
that way and plunged through the


snow IN the door. There was no door.
E 1t was a dismantled log hut, with its


door gone, and its one little window
4 broken out. But it was better than
the fury without, and in another five
. minutes Alice was sheltered from the
I, wind. With painful and patient fun
bling be succeeded in fastening the
!. buffalo skin in front of the doorway,
: thus forming an insufficient barrier


Then he drew from his pocket his ci-
9 gar-case and his matches, and lighting
! one of the latter, looked eagerly round
i the room in the Pickering light. That