The evening world. Newspaper, September 23, 1915, Page 17

T tlt te i He aff al { ttigii a aH ii iP i I Kowae's daugier baw. Week Matin dine ant Pert Wank, where they viet Keeeert Laem, couriing thw lovee bat bene quarvelie’ tt a 8 wee uantivase tor thirty days, ot ber tethers and Mutter's todwe Lemart Ww ened @ mee in te marteres Marian is reieeset. and ” s 3 teein which hes just been belt wy With Barer and Macliee mare Acrideotall Me { i ‘il = CHAPTER VII. (Coutinved.) What Happened at the Stone ELL,” I began, when I had negotiated that precarious succession of knobs and Rotches, and accumulated 8 fresh set of bruises, “why don’t you get busy? How much wiser are you now? Where's your gold dust?” Ho took a deliberate puff and @quinted up at the ledge again. “I'm sitting on it, as near as I can figure,” he calmly asserted. “Come off!” 1 feared. “Btand right behind me,” he eaid, “and look up at that stone you set for @ mark. Don't you see anything?” Getting behind him I looked up, In days gone by some warrior had stool on that selfsame ledge, and hewed with a flint chisel what he and his fellows doubtless considered a work of art. Uncanny-looking animals, and uncannier figures that I mentally classed as missing links, eavorted In a long line across that tribal picture- gallery, Between each group of fig- ures the rock was adorned with mys- terlous signs and rudely limned weap- ons, Right over the stone marker, and straight in Hine, @ long-shafted war-lanco was, carved—the blade pointing down, MucRae's seat, stone marker, and Aboriginal spearhead— the three lined up like the sights of a@ modern rifle, “It looks like you might have struck it,” 1 admitted. Mac threw away bis cigarette. “Here's where we find out,” he said, We wormed our fingers under the edge of the boulder, and lifted wito all the strength that was in us, For a second itt seemed that we could never budge it. Then it came up slowly; 80 slowly that | thought the muscles of my back would snap; and Mac's face, close by mine, grew red, and then purple, with the strain. But tt moved, and presently a great heave turned it over, Bedded in the soft wand underneath lay the slim buck- skin sacks, Our fingers, 1 remember, trembled a bit with eagerness as we stood one on end and loosened ite mouth to look at the treasure for which the blood of two good men had been ruthlessly spilled. “Here!” Mac hanued me his car bine. “You stay with the filthy lucre, From now on we keep our eyes on this atuff, and likewise have our guns handy. I'll go and make those fellows pack up and bring the horses here. ‘Then we'll load tils truck and pall for Walsh.” ‘His first move was to saddle his black horse and my dun. These he led to the fire; and thereafter stood a little to one . de, placidly smoking, while the other two packed the camp outit and saddied their own bourses, Thon they trailed across the flat to me. MacKae blandiy in the rear, He wasn't taking any chances, Half an hour later, with the sacks of gold lashed secretly on th. apar- jos of the packhorse, we climbed out of Writing Stone bottom and swung away across the silent table- lands, Within gunshot of the painted rock vs Meignificant thing, the long-aban- @oned burrow of @ worthless badger, betrayed us Into the hands of our enemy, We hasl contrived that Greg- ory should lead the packhorse, which gave Mac and me both hands fre in case of a hostile demonstration; that there would be such neither of ‘us doubted from the moment those two laid eyes on the bucks! In sacks. The sidelong glance that passed from “ona to the other bade us beware, And henceforth the four of us were 80 many open powder-casks, lacking only a tiny spark to explode, We broke into a trot on reaching the level upland, Gregory a little In the lead, and Hicks sandwiched between MarKae and me. We had them at a disadvantage— vntill Mac's horse planted his foreleg to the knee in an old badger hole, hid- den under a rank accumulation of grass, The black pitched forward so eo fdently that MacRae had no time to eving clear; and, as he went down under the horse, Gregory's agile brain ‘ ae he Evening fast enough aed hone es tw som | hh wee @ wllogy of gun-drewing Gregory pulled bis, and fred ot Mae ing Pattior, | drew with invent to eet Mr. Gregory; and Hicks drew bis, and slapped me over the head it, even as my finger crooked on the tgeer My gun weot off—i have 6 din recotieotion of « faint bang!—but whether the bullet went up into the blue, of buried taelf in the broad bosom of the Territory, | can't pay ‘Things ceased to happen, right then and there, eo far as | was concerned. Anal mt feured yet why Hicks struck instead of shootin had Jearned the frontier lesson that @ bullet in @ vital spot doesn’t always incapacitate a man for deadly gun- play, While a food whack on the head invariably does. It wasn't any scruple of mercy, for Hiche se cold- Diooded & brute as ever gianced down & gun barrel, When my powers of wizht and hear- ing returned, MacKae was standing over me, nowise harmed. The bisck horse w stretebed near-by. That was all; the two of us, and a dead hor lying on the sun-flooded prairie and me with @ rampant “morning after” ache in my head, I sat up, congratulating myrelf on being still in the flesh, but | mood, for all that, “Well ‘e lowe again!” Mac returned tmpassively, “wo lose again.” Then he saat down suddenly and buried his face in his hands. I of the mood he was In. For the second time he had, through no fault of his own, failed to live up to that tradition of the force which demands unqualified victory for a Mounted Policeman In a clash with the lawless. . in addition, he had let slip through his fingers a fortune that belonged to a girl for whom he cared a lot more than he was willing to admit. I felt pretty small and ashamed myself to think how easy they'd left us afoot on the bald prairies, after all our planning and precaution; and there was no responsibility on my shoulders—except for that ten thou- sand of La Pere's, which I was be- ginning to think I'd looked my last upon. Mac had not only the knowledge of personal failure—bitter enough in It- self—to consider, but the wrath of his domineering superior officers, It would have been a wonder if he hadn't felt blue. He straightened up, however, In a little while, and abstractedly got out papers and tobacco. “I suppose,” he finally sald, “that bunch will quit the country now. They've got their hands on a heap of money in the last ten days; all they'll have a chance at for some time. And, they've given themselves CHAPTER VIII. Outlawed. OR a time I kept my mouth shut, having a keen sense we know who they are, that’s a cinch," | commented. “We're that much ahead, If the Mounted Police are half as good man hunters as they're cracked up to be, they cought to round up that bunch In jig- time, Did the black hurt you any when he fell?” “Bruised my leg he re- turned laconically, Then In a min- ute: “If he hadn't caught me right under him, I'd have got action on those two. But the jar threw my six-shooter where I couldn't reach It, and the carbine was jammed under him, 1 guess Gregory thought he'd got me first shot. He would, too, only Crow threw up his head just as be fired, and got the bullet. They'd ducked into that coulee by the time 1 got clear, Hicks grabbed your horse and took him along. Blast them anyway!" "Same here, and more of it,” I fervently exclaimed, “Come on, let's get out of here,” Mac said abrupuy, “We'll have to head for Pend ‘Oreille, and send word to Walsh, It'll take the whole forea to catch them now,” My gun lay where it bad fallen when Hicks whacked me over the head. I picked it up, replaced the empty cartridge, and shoved it back into my scabbard, Mac swung the carbine over bls shoulder, and we started, we tramped silently ‘Thereafter acrowe nigh, dry beucoes, sid and ascraiablea W the bovtoms of un € loss successiol of coulees, and Wearl- ly climbed the heart breaking banks that jay beyond, ‘The col morning wind died away; f behind the easworn ridges the sun ree.ed up on ity appointed elrele, glaring meret lessly upon us, Underfoot, the dry sod grew warm, then hot, till the soles of our boots became ipstru- ments of torture to feet that were galled aforetime by fruitless plod- ding around the Stone, When you've grown up in the habit of mounting a horse for every dis- tance over @ hundred yards, a walk of forty undulating miles over a ni work of bald ridges and yawning cou- lees makes a man think that @ sul- World Da WHY NoT ANKLE NURSING Borrles For NURSE Maids D HAVE & Pi OF CAND ANKLE “ANDY Box phur and brimstone hereafter won't hold much discomfort that be hasn't sampled, A cow puncher in high-heeled rid- ing boots is handicapped for pedes- trianiam, both by training and incli- nation, and that scarred and wrinkled portion of the Northwest is a blamed poor strolling ground for anybody. But we kept on, for the sinpie reas son that Giere Was nothing cise we could do. Mac had little to say, the heat and the ungodly steepness of the hills and the sickly tasting water (hat ran lukewarm in the creek channels ruffled his temper he made complaint, onlv toward id d'C thought me capable of registering a kick for both of us; and if [ didn’t live up to the opportunity it was the fault of my limited vocabulary. I climbed each succeeding slope, oozing perspiration and profanity, and when the top was reached took fresh breath, and damned the North- west by sections in a large, fluent manner of speech, In time, however, the foolishness of this came home to me, and [ subsided into occasional krowlings, reserving my wind for the miles yet to cover. Well past noon we reached the summit of a saw-backed divide that overlooked the fantastic windings of the ancient, waterless bed of Lost River. The divide was studded with reat outcroppings of sandstone; and in the shadow of one giant rock we lay down to rest; a man can't walk on and on forever. The cool earth was good to stretch upon, and for upward of an hour we defied the glowing sun and eased our aching feet. Then we started again. As we stepped from behind the rock three riders came into sight on the opposite bank of Lost River, A mo- ment’s scrutiny made us sure that they were mounted policemen. From force of habit our eyes swept the hort- zon; and within a radius of six miles we observed three other groups of two and three mounted men, an equal distance apart, and all travelling in the same direction—like a round-up sweet ing a cow-country, ‘They're next to something, Sarge,” Mac asserted confidently. “And, see- ing this bunch ts heading right toward us, we micht as well sit here til they come up.” Returning to the cool shadow. we waited until they crossed the sandy ccurse of the dead and gone river and rode up the rid And when they came within shouting disance we stepped into the sunlight and hatled them. From the moment that they yanked up their horses ut Mac's call T had an odd sense of impending trouble, For an instant it seemed as if they were about to break for cover; and, when they did app there ‘wan a wariness in t r actions, a strained, expectant expression on each brown fa that didn't look tural to me. Komehow | felt kaved un for an emer- gency. I can't explain why; any more than I could analyze the sixth sense that warns a good night-herder of a stampede before his herd jumps off the bedground, But I felt that way, Just the same; and tt immediately transpired that there was a reason, They stood their horses within ten feet of us, and dismounted, all threo of them, a corporal and two privates, in the same breath that we said “Hello!” The corporal, ehalky-white under his tan, took two steps for- ward, and laid @ hand on MacRae's shoulder, "Gordon MacRae and Sarge Flood, in the queen's name, I arrest you for the robbery of Paymaster Ingstram on the MacLeod trail, and the murder DON'T CHECK YOUR. HAT, HOOK (TonYouR ANKLE. of two of his escort at the same time, and I warn you that anything you may say will be used against you.’ He poured it out without pause or inflection, like a lesson well learned, and the two troopers came @ iittle nearer, the right hand of each map stealing to the six-shooter that rested on his hip. When you come to think of it, they showed good nerve, If we had been guilty of that raid, it w doilars to doughnuts that we'd resis arrest; and according to Territorial law and the regulations of the force they had to take a long chance, A Mounted Policem can't use his gun except in self. se, He isn't sup. unit from the moment I made connec. tions with him. The other fellow and I went to the ground, and our strug- gle was of short duration, for Mac bought into the game, with his car- bine for a club, and under its soothing touch my wiry opponent ceased from troubling. I scrambled thankfully to my feet and looked around, The corporal Was spri.wied on the grass, his face to the sky. “We've burned our bridges, now, sure ‘* Mac broke out. ‘el I'll poel the guns off the bune'! you lead the horses up to the rock, out of sight of these other fellows, or ing over this way to posed to smoke up a fugitive unless sce the fugitive begins to throw lead his way—Which code of behavior gives a man on to the dodge a whole lot the best of it. The idea is that the majesty of the law is a sufficiently powerful weapon; and in the jain it is No outlaw ever yet successfully and syste: atically defied it. Men have gone to the bad up there; ropved, smuggled, murdered, killed a policeman or two, maybe, but in the end were gathered in by “the ridera of the plains,” and dealt with according to their just deserts. So that throughout the length and breadth of the North- west it has come to pass that “in the queen's name,” out of the mouth of & weaponless redcoat, with one hand Nghtly on your shoulder, carries more weight than a amoking gun. None of this occurred to me just then, The one thing that loomed big in my mind's eye Was the monstrous Injustice of the accusation, Coming right on top of what I'd lately suf- fered at the hands of the men who had really done that dirty job—for my head still tingled from the impact of Hick pistol—tt stirred up all the ugliness I was capable of, and a lot that I'd never suspected, No Fort Walsh guard-house for me! No lying behind barred windows, with my feet chain-hobbled like a stray~- ing horse, waiting for the slow-mov- Ing Canadian courts to establish my innocence! Not while I had the open Prairie underfoot and the summer sky above, and fingers to wield a club or puil a trigger. T think even If I'd been alone T was crazy enough, right then, to have gone single-handed againat the three of them. In which case I should probably have bidden a premature farewell to earthly interests—though T would doubtless have managed to take a policeman or two for company on the long trail, But the grim look that fiashed over MacRae's fnee, and & suggestive tightening of his mouth, gave me a hint that something of the same was in hla mind, and touched me off, T Jumped for the two buck troopers with a hazy fdea that I could put both of them out of business while MacRae attended to the corporal. The nee t permit runeniave , anyway, hot as 1 was, I didn't want to kill them If T could help it what T desired, ahove all else, was to wet away and a chance to burn pow- der with Hicks, Gregory & Co., If powder-burning was to be the order of the day, ‘They did try to pull thelr guns, but T heat them to It by kicking one with all the foree T could muster, and throwing my arma in a fervent embrace about the neck of the other. A number eleht, box-toed riding boot planted forcibly in the pit of your stomach is equivalent to being kicked by a vigorous Missourt mule, I should Imagine; anyway, that Mounted Po- iceman was eliminated as a fighting v ' ‘ I led the horses close to the boulder, and left them standing. By then the fellow I'd kicked bad so far recov- to wit up, and the look he a scorcher, Mac, with 8 stood, and I followed after, lugi the insensivle corporal to the same shady place. “Now, | want to know the how of Muc demanded of the trooper, “Who issued orders for our arrest on this d&mn' fool charge? And when?” “Lessard,” the policeman sui enly growled “E been out with a whole bloomin’ troop ever since the pay- master was stuck up. He's gol a com- missary along, an’ we had dinner about ten miles east of here, After dinner—about two or three hours ago he lined us up an’ sald as how he'd got word that one o’ the men that 8 shot up bad tn the paymaster row had come alive long enough to deseribe an’ identify two o' the hold- ups, an’ they wes you two, Said he had reason to believe you was some- where between Lost River an’ the Stone, an’ you was to be captured without fail. An’ that’s all I know about ti he concluded frankly, “ex- cept that you fellers are bloody fools to make a break like this. It'll Just go that much harder with you—there ain't a bloomin’ chance for you to get awa You might just as well giv ur aceable.” “Oh, don't preach,” MacRae pro- tested, “I know all that as well as anybody, You've known me, Burky, ever since I joined the force. Do you honestly belfeve I was In on that hold- up?” “Orders is orders," Burky senten- tiously observed. “Headquarters sex you're to be took in, an’ you'll be ok in, no matter what a feller’s pri- vate opinion may be. I aln't no bloom in’ judge an’ Jury to set on your case. You'll get a ‘square trial—you know that, But you ain't helpin’ yourself 8 way.” 6 to go Into detalis,” Mac calmly answered, “And [ don't suppose you'd believe me if I did. I've 4 blamed good reason for not wanting to put In six months or so in tho suardhouse, while the men that got the stuff get clear out of the country, We're going to take two of these ; because we need them in our we'll loave your guns at 1 don't business that ble and rock over yonder want to hurt you, Burky, but if you sturt making signals to the rest of your bunch before we get out of siht, you'll go back to Walsh feet first.” With the bridle-reins tp his band, Mac fired another question at Burky. “Say, did you see anything of Frank Hicks or Paul Gregory to-day?" “They was in camp when I come for dinner,” the trooper repied. "Or they were eh! Mac blazed “Well, you can tell your blasted officers, when you see them, that they'll find the men they want nearer home!" ‘We mounted the two best horses, wo es | and took the other along as a pre- cautionary measure. At the next boulder down the ridge we left him, together with thelr belts and guns, ay Mac had promised. For the next two hours we slunk Ike coyotes along coulee bottoms and deep washouts, until we saw the commissary wagon cross the ridge west of Lost River; w from a distance the brown ipecks, that were riders, casting In bend cirolea for sight of us or our trail. MacRae pulled up and started back at them a minute, leaning over the waddle-horn, “somewhere within twenty - five miles of us, said, more to himself here's a hundred and fifty thousand dollars of stolen money cached in the hills, And the men that put it there are hunting us like we were wild beasts.” He straightened up and regarded “We're outlawed, gg he said. “They fight fire with fire ti @ grass-country, Will you go througp with me?” “All the way and back again,” I vowed recklessly. I didn’t know what he had in mind, but | knew him, and we were in the same boat. “Good! We'll come out on top yet.” That was all he sald, then headed his horse due south for Stony Crossing. CHAPTER IX. An Unexpected Meeting. ITHOUT further speech we rode up hill and down, keep- ing « watobful eye for signs of being followed. The fur- ther we travelled the more curious did I become a@ to Mac's Ine of action, I'd just reached the point of asking outright, when he forestalled me, “This ts going to be risky business, Sarge,” he began abruptly, “But i the only way I can think of that we stand @ chance to play even. If we can get hold of Hicks or Gregory, Goodell or Bevans, any one of the four, we can make him tell us all we want to know. Once we get our hands on that plunder I'll guarantee it goes to Fort Walsh without any further monkey busin So it's up to us to hang on the flank of these man-huntera and waylay one of that red-handgd quartet. But frat thing ve got to have grub.” ‘Where'll you get it?” I wanted to know. “From Baker's freight outfit,” he returned hopefully, “I was talking with their wagon boss the day I left Walsh, and from what he told me, they ought to be camped to-night on the first water north of Stony Cross- ing. We can make their camp by sundown, I reckon, stay there over- night, and in the morning pull out with enough flour and coffee to hold us while we drift around on the trail of that troop." jounds good to me," I assented, “It isn't likely they'll know we're on the dodge; and if they did, they'd help us just the samo," Ans Mac had calculated the Baker freight twain was camped at a big ly Magazine, Thursday. September 23. 1915 Fe! = £ [Hi he | ret te them ;atickiy should any of Lassard’s | troop happen in camp—an. then pro- ceeded to attack the supper Naker's | accommodating cook prepared for us As we Giled our plates and equated under the canvas that sheltered tv ‘eook’s Dutch oven layout, a Ls propped himself « ~ ae hind end of the and shouted ereeting to us our friend of Viegan the whiskey kee episode, Ls be lo, thar, you fellers!” he bel- lowed. (Piogan always spoke & a man at his elbow as if he wore hundred yards away.) “Bay, y been to Benton an’ back again al- ready, have yub, Floud “Faith, no," 1 owned, between mouthfuls. “And {t's hard telling when I will get there. Have you ne into the freighting business, Piegan?” “Not “But not jatir up a ut excitement now an’ then to pass away the time till the “You better come with us, Plegan,” Mac put in dryly, “if exetiement is duce you to more different brands of It in the next few days than Benton “Maybe,” Piegan laughed. the brand I'm jookin’ for.” | when came @ most unexpected inter- ruption, I looked up at sound of a round African physog of Lyn Rowa: colored mammy,. But she had no eyes: just within the freight, a tin bucket in one hand, staring right over my Rae. wd a-m Ab ain't #ho'ly laid mah eyes on Is dat sho’ ‘nuff you’, wid yo’ red coat | “It sure is, mammy,” Mac answered. this way? I thought you were at Fort Wa Mies Lyn isn’t along, is she?” dis chile moseyin' ober dese yeah by huh lonesome,” Mammy dey done brought Miss Lyn's paw tn an’ planted him, she say dey ain't no coat country no longer; so we all acked up an’ stated fo’ de lan’ of de Mac hastily swallowed the coffees In his cup, and tossed his eating imp! “I'll go with you, mammy,” he told her, “I want to seo Miss Lyn my- “Jes’ a minute, Marse Go'don," a! sald, “Ah's got to git some The cook signalled her to help her- self from the kettle that bubbled over bucket and dinnnneared, chattering volubly, MacRae at her heels. ately. There was no occasion for m to gobble my food and rush off to # would be Inclined to monopolize her attention the rest of that evening. So ed under the wagon alongside Pieean Smith, and gave myself up to clmar- pipe Plegan expressed his unflattering opinion of the weather, Question; one that gave color to Ple- wan's prophecy that Milk Kiver would till morning, and 1 was duly thankful for the suciter Baker's camp af- wheel to wheel of the wagon shut oi the driving rain that flea in aheets Ugntoing piay was maden venind the aritung cioud bank, for no gunt of ernous Yhunder veuww rowrea inver- mittenuy, and @ fury of ruin drove Creaking Wagon tops. If (he neat two uuure were as long they seemed to me, they had Line to dissect and discuss the muiual hopes times, Piegan broke @ long alle: to re- jn all this time talking to that “yal. jer-headed gal" he was a plumb good “They're old friend: “She's mighty nice,” Piegan obs Jar loose myself, if she didn't ubject to my chmpany. But seein’ we ain't the covers, eh?” Piegan had a bulky roll of bedding width, It was ample for three ordi- nary men. We'd Just got out of our the blankets when Mac came al ping through the puddies that we headed for Benton to see if I kau fall buffalo run begins.” what you're looking for, We'll intro. could furnish in six month: was on the point of replying, startled exclamation to behold th: for me; ahe stood like a black statue head at Mac! i, she gulped out. “If Marse Go'don, “How does It happen you're travelling “She suttinily am. Yo’ doan catch Thom eneey. asserted, “After use fo’ huh to stay in dis yeah red- ree,” ments into the cook's washpan, welt.” tah f'om dia heah Mr, Cook. the evening fire; and she filled her I finished m+ supper more delther- Lyn Rowan, MacRae, I suspected, T ate leisurely, and when done, crawl- otters and meditation, while over a It was @ rollicking night, beyond be out of its banks if the storm heid forded. A tarpaulin stretehed from before the whooping wind. ‘The it penetrated the yioom; but tue cav- slaniwise gaint sodde. earth ana in passing to Mackae and Lyn as 4ud fears wad errore of several Lite- mark ly that if Mac was putting one, I told him. served. “I dunno's I'd know when to in on it, we might as weil get under under the wagon, Spread to its full boots and were snuggting between fast gathering in every depression, He crawled under the wagon, shed some of his clothing, end o Bar bo didn’t lie down unui! he'd made a ‘ette; and then, instead of gulng to sleep, began to talk to Plegan, ask- ing what seemed to me a lot of unim- portant questions, And so, Hatening to the monotonous patter of their vaces and the steady drum of falling rain, I fell asleep, In course of time IT wakened again; speaking truthfully, the gentle voice of Piegan Smith enunciating, “Well, I'l be damned! within twelve inches of my ear brought me out of dreamland with @ gullty start, Mac was sitting ap, and from his speech I gathered that he was re- counting to Piegan the tale of adven- a gil trom Sofla to the Havas In the Tooy ~*~ ~_- = i his record, he'd be hee willing ne & chance.” perfectly true, Old Pegg was s terous, rough-and- morta). but heart was in the He had the reputation, on of the line, of loving te ile a3 Qs 2. if time kept him two jong Walsh guard-house on suspicion ih is enough,” Mac assured me “Aside from the fact that aay white man would go out of hie to help a girl like Lyn, there's the certainty that the Government will be pretty generous to who helps round up that bunch and re- store the stolen money. Plegan snorted when I told him that we were on the do vaihat they tried to ar- ren ‘or ho wi yuener. That's the rotteneat part of the whole deal, | think—but thinking won't get Us out of this jackpot!’ re stopped abruptly, and went on eat Ky the time breakfast was over, the @ray light of @ morning revealed tiny lakes in every hollow, and each coules and washout ® boiling creek of mudy water, & promise of more to come murky cloud-drift that overcast the aky. The freight-train boss sent out and rer sind phlonapnicliy \t remari pl rain, more rest,” and ter, Hin drivers sought cover under the wi where spent the night, But, a follow | that would delay the filtting if they wad planned woman, your money, out It, But Sarge stands whole lot if we back up now; dodge unit its cleared up. ve dodge unt! ‘8 ol uD. it through, You woulds have me sneak out of this country would you? There's too an @0- count to settle with those I can't leave until the slate's “Oh, I know how you feel about tt,” nhe sighed “But even if it comes out all right, you're still ted here. know they won't let you go.” “Don't you worry about that.” comforted. “I'll cross that bridge fast enough when I come to It. You to Benton, like @ good girl. ft in my bones that we'll have better luck from now on, and if we do, youll ses waa etore lene 104, lexan was already mounted, watch ing us whimsically from under Se of ue hat. 1 ands yn ani into the saddle, And when Map followed an we crowded through a gap 1 cle of wagons, waved a last and rode away in the steadily rain, on F Baz 2 * s CHAPTER X. Jn the Camp of the Enemy. benches {t wasn't so bad, for the springy turf soaked up the mots- ture and held its Qrmness tolerably well. But every sloping bank meant & helterskelter stide to its bottom, and elther a bog hole or swimming water when we got there; and getting up the Opposite bill was like tackling @ kreased pole—except that there was no purse at the top to reward our per- severance, Across the the gumbo low- lands great gobs of mud hung to the feet of our horses like so much glue, or opened up under hoof pressure and swallowed them to the knees, so that our going was slow and wearisome, About midday the storm changed gradually from unceasing downpour to squally outbursts, followed by banks of impenetrable fog that would shut down on us @ few minutes, and then vanish like @ buach of good intentions; wind switched @ few points and settled to @ steady gale, which lashed the anent clouda inte hureying aby of the air, scudding full sail before the droning bi Ze, Before long little patches of blue be- fan to peep warily through narrow spaces above; the wind-blown rain- makers logt thelr leaden hue #94 be- came # soft pearl Brey, alt white en around the ed, of warm suns! Widening rifts, and the rain-wi land lay around Ua like's great oheeke erboard, I~ over prairies yellow with eee sun and green with fresh, erase. (To Be Continued.) at t ri i agai a a