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Show GREEN RIVER DISPATCH, GREEN RIVER, UTAH eyes slowly turned to kla, and he zmI the touch of her surrendered lips. Nature had brought them together by (me of her resistless and unpremeditated Impulses. A stress of emotion had swept her into his arms. Now she drew sway from Him shyly. The conventions in which she had been brought up asserted themselves. An absurd little fear obtruded Itself into her happiness. Hgd she rushed into his arms like a lovesick girl, taking it for granted that he cared for her? You came to look for us? she asked, with the little shy stiffness of embarrassment For you yes." He could not take his eyes from her.. It seemed to him that a bird was singing in his heart the gladness he could not express. He bad for many hours-pushefrom his mind pictures of her lying white and rigid on the snow. Instead she stood beside him, her delicate beauty vivid as the flush of a An Alaskan Love Story XIX CHAPTER Bo far tbe mind of the Scotsman followed the probabilities logically, but at this point It made a Jump. There were at least Two robbers. He was morally sure of that, for this was not n Job. Now, If Ilolt had with a him a companion, who of all those In Kuslak was the most likely man? He was a friendless, crabbed old fellow. Since coming to KuSlak old Gideon had been seen constantly with one man. They had been with each other at dinner and had later left the hotel together. The name of the man who had been so friendly with old Holt was Gordon Elliot and Elliot not only was another enemy of Macdonald, but had very good reasons for getting out of the country Just now. The strong Jaw of the mine-ownstood out saliently as' he gave short, sharp orders to men In the crowd. One was to get the coroner, a second Wally Belfrldge, another the United States district attorney. He divided the rest Into squads to guard the roads leading out of town and to see that nobody passed for the present. The coroner took charge of the body and Wally of the bank. The mine-ownand the district attorney walked up to tbe hotel together. . As soon as they had explained what they wanted, the landlord got a passkey and took them to the room nolt had used. Apparently the bed had been slept in. In the waste-papbasket the district attorney found something which he held up In a significant silence. Macdonald stepped forward and took from him a small cloth sack. One of those we keep our gold In at the bank," said the Scotsman after a close examination. This definitely ties up Holt with the robbery. Now for Elliot." "He left the hotel with Holt about five this morning, the porter says." This was the contribution of the landlord. The room of Gordon Elliot was in great disorder. Garments had been ossed on the bed and on every chair find had been left to lie wherever they ad chanced to fall. Plainly their owner had been In great haste. Macdonald looked through the closet where clothes hung. His new fur coat Is hot here nor his trail boots. Looks to me as though Mr. Gordon had kit the trail with Ills friend Holt" All doubt of this was removed when a prospector reached town with the news that he had met Holt and Elliot traveling toward the divide as fast as they could drive the dogs. The big Scotsman ordered his team of Siberian made ready for the trail. As he donned his heavy furs, Colby Macdonald smiled with deep satisfaction. He had EUlot on the run at last. Just as he closed the door of his room, Macdonald heard the telephone bell ring. He hesitated, then shrugged his shoulders and strode out Into the storm. If he had answered the call he would have learned from Diane, who wus at the other end of the line, that the stage upon which Sheba had started for Katma had not reached the roadhouse at Smith's Crossing. Five minutes later the winners of the great Alaska sweepstakes were one-ma- er er er wolf-houn- Winners of the Great Alaska Down the Sweepstakes Were-Flyin- g The Street . . the street In the teeth of the storm. Anned with a rifle and a revolver, their ownr was mushing Into the hills to bring back the men who had robbed his bank and killed the cashier. lie traveled alone because he could go faster without a companion. It never occurred to him that he was not match for any two men he might fac flying down CHAPTER XX. ' In the Blizzard. SwL'Ywnter" Pete, the driver of a blizzard, looks like. Just now the stage was as far from turned away. As she did so her eyes if that wouldn't Jest be my them as Drogheda. dilated and her body grew rigid. Like many rough frontiersmen, Across the snow waste a man was luck," he murmured fretfully. Sheba hoped there would be one, not Swlftwater Pete was a diamond in the coming. He was moving toward the of course, a really, truly blizzard such raw. So far as could be he made a cabin and must cross the trench close as Macdonald had told her about but hopeless and impossible situation com- to her. The heart of the girl stopped, one, enough fortable. His Judgment told him that then beat wildly to make up' the lost the tail of a to send her glowing with exhilaration they were caught in a trap from which stroke. He had come through the blizinto the roadhouse with the happy there was no escape, but for the sake zard to save her. sense of an adventure achieved. The of the women he put a cheerful face on At that very instant, as if the stage had been set for It, the wonderful girl was buoyed up by a sense of free- things. dom. For a time, at least she was es"Lucky we found this cabin, he Alaska sun pushed up into the crotch caping Macdonalds driving energy, the growled amiably. By this time wed of the peaks and poured its radiance appeal of Gordon Elliot's warm friend- a been up Salt creek If we hadn't. over the Arctic waste. The ink glow liness, and the unvoiced urging of Seeing as our luck has stood up so far, swept in a tide of delicate color over Diane. Good old Peter and the kid- I reckon well be all right Mighty the snow and transmuted it to mildles were the only ones that let her kind of Mr. Last Tenant to leave us lions of sparkling diamonds. The alone. this firewood. We ain't so worse oft. Great Magicians wand had recreated If we only had some food, Mrs. the world instantaneously. She looked back at the horses laboring up the hill. Swlftwater had got Olson suggested. Food! Pete looked at her in asCHAPTER XXI.' down and was urging them, forward, 9 Huh I What about his long whip crackling about the sumed surprise. Two in the Trail. ears of the leaders. He was worried. all dhat live stock I got In the stable? Elliot and Holt left Kuslak In n He would have liked to turn and run Ive heard tell, maam, that broncho for It But the last roadhouse was tenderloin Is a favorite dish with them spume of whirling, blinding snow. twenty-seve-n miles back. If the bliz- there French chiefs that do the cook- They traveled light, not more than zard came howling down the slope ing. They kinder trim it up bo's ifs they would have a sweet time of It most as good as frawgs' legs. Sheba had never before Slept on reaching safety. Smiths Crossing was on the other side of the divide, only bare boards with a sealskin coat for a nine miles away. They would have to Sleeping bag. But she was very tired and dropped off almost instantly. worry through somehow. Miss O'Neill knew that Swlftwater Twice she woke during the night, disPete was anxious, and though she was turbed by the stiffness and the pain not yet afraid, the girl understood the of her body. When she awakened for reason for It The road ran through the third time it was morning. the sur- . It seemed to her that the hard, the heart of a vast plaaks were pushing through face of which was being swept by a screaming wind. The air was full of the soft flesh to the bones. She was sifted white dust and the road furrow cold, too, and crept closer to the stout Was rapidly, filling. Soon It would be Swedish woman lying beside her. Pne obliterated. Sheba tramped behind the ently she fell asleep again to tbs r and In her tracks walked sound of the blizzard howling outside. When she wakened for the third tlms Mrs. Olson, the other passenger. was morning. Through the muffled scream of the It In the afternoon the blizzard died storm Swlftwater shouted back to Sheba. "You wanta keep close to me. away. As far as the eye could see, She nodded her head. His order Sheba looked out upon a waste of desoneeded no explanation. The world snow. Her eyes turned from the cheerbare and to without lation the was narrowing to a lane whose walls room in which they had found she could almost touch with her fin- less shelter. In spite of herself a little A them. white of gers. wrapped pall shiver ran down the spine of the girl. Upon them beat a wind of stinging She come into this Arctic solisleet Nothing could be seen but the Had to find her tomb? blurred outlines of the stage and tbe tude soon as the storm had moderated As drivers figure. enough to let him go, out with safety, The bitter cold searched through Swlftwater Pete had taken one of the Sheba's furs to her soft flesh and the horses for an attempt at trail breakblast of powdered ice beat upon her ing. face. The snow was getting deeper Me, rm after that plum pudding. as the road filled. Once or twice she I gotta get a feed of oats from the stumbled and felt Her strength ebbed, stage for my bronchi too. The scenery, and the hinges of her knees gave un- here is sure fine,- bnt it ain't 'what Across the Snow' Waste a Man Was back up for Continued. -1- 1- the stage between Kuslak and Katma, .did not llks the look of the sky as his ponies di sauted the long uphill climb that ended sf tbe pass. "Glttlu her Doggone It, . make-believ- e snow-fiel- whip-sawe-d d, Stage-drive- - , expectedly beneath her. How long was It she asked herself, that Macdonald had said men could live In a blizzard? Staggering blindly forward, Sheba bumped Into the driver. He had drawn up to give the horses a moments rest before sending them plunging at the snow again. "No chance," he called into the young womans ear. "Never make Smith's in the world. Goln try for miners cabin up gulch little way. The team stuck In the drifts, fought through, and was blocked again ten yards beyond. A dozen times the horses gave up, answered tbe sting of the whip by diving head first at the white banks, and were stopped by fresh Pete gave up the fight lie began unhitching the horses, while Sheba and Mrs. Olson, dinging to each other's hands, stumbled forward to Join him. The words he shouted across tbe back of a horse were almost lost in the roar of the shrieking wind. ride . . . heluvatlme . . . . . gulch, Sheba made out He flung Mrs. Olson astride one of the wheelers and helped Sheba to the back of the right leader. Swlftwater clambered upon its mate himself. The girl paid no attention to where they were going. The urge of life was so faint within her that she did not greatly care whether She lived or died. Her face was blue from the cold, her vitality was sapped. She seemed to herself to have turned to ice below the hips. Numb though her fingers were, She must keep them fastened tightly in the frozen mane of the animal. She recited her lesson to herself like a child. She must stick on she must she must Whether She lost consciousness or not Sheba never knew. The next She realized was that Swlftwater Pete was pullfng her from the horse. He dragged her Into a cabin wl ere Mrs. Olson lay crouched on the floor... Got to stable the horses, he explained, and left them. t After a time he came back and lit a n sheet-iroAs stove. In the cirfire the culation that meant life flooded back into her chilled veins Sheba endured a hnlf-hou- r of excruciating pain. She had to clench her teeth to keep back the groans. The cabin was empty of furniture table, rough except for a home-mad- e stools, and the frame of n bed. The last occupant had left a little firewood s beside, the stove, enough to last hours. Sheba for twenty-fou- r did not need to be told that if the blizzard lasted long enough, they would starve to death. In the handbag left in the stage were a box of candy and She had an Irish plum pudng. brought the latter from the old country with her and was taking It and the chocolates to the Ilusted children. But snow-comb- s. per-hnp- call nourishing. Huh I you Watch our smoke when me and old Boldface git to bucking them drifts. He had been gone two hours and the dusk was already descending over the white waste when Sheba ventured out to see what bad become of the stage driver. But the cold was so bitter that she soon gave up the attempt to fight her way through the drifts and turned back to the cabin. Some time later Swlftwater Pete came stumbling into their temporary home. He was fagged to exhaustion but triumphant Upon the table he dropped from the crook of his numbed arm two packages. "The makings for a Christmas dinner, he said with a grin. Mrs. Olson thawed out the pudding and the chocolates in the oven and made a kind of mush out of some oats Pete had saved from the horse d meal feed. They ate their in high spirits. The freeze bad saved their lives. If it held clear till tomorrow they could reach Smiths crossing on the crust of the snow. Swlftwater broke up the chairs for fuel and demolished the legs of the table, after which he lay down before the stove and fell at once into a sodden Sleep. -Presently Mrs. Olson lay down on the bed and began to snore regularly. Sheba could not sleep. The boards tired her bones and She was cold. Sometimes she slipped Into cat naps that were full of bad dreams. When she wakened with a start It was to find that the fire had died down. She was shivering from lack of cover. Quietly the girl replenished the fire and lay down again. When she wakened with a start it was morning. ' A faint llghf sifted through the single window of the Shack. Sheba whispered to the older woman that she was going out for a would one-side- little walk. As she worked her way down the gulch Sheba wondered whether the news of their loss had reached Were search parties out already to rescue them? Colby Macdonald had gone Into the blizzard years ago to save her father. - Perhaps he might have been out all night trying to save her fathers daughter. Feter would go, of course and Gordon Elliot The work !h the mines would stop and men would volunteer by scores. That was one fine thing about the North. It responded to the unwritten law that a niun must risk his own life to save others. From a little knoll Sheba looked down upon the top of the stage three hundred yards below her, and while she stood there the promise of the new day was blazoned on the sky. It came with amazing beauty of green and primrose and amethyst, while the stars flickered out and the heavens took on the blue of sunrise. She drew a deep, Slow breath of adoration and Ku-sia- k. Coming. forty pounds to the dog, for they wanted to make speed. It was not cold for They packed their fur costs on the sled and wore mittens of moosehlde with duffel lining, on their feet mukluks above German socks. h miner too Holt had been a long to let his partner perspire from overmuch clothing. He knew the danger of pneumonia from a sudden cooling of the heat of the body. Old Gideon took seven of his dogs, driving them two abreast Six were huskies, rangy, muscular animals with thick, dense coats. They were In tbe best of spirits and carried their tails erect like their Malemute leader. Butch, though u Malemute, had a strong strain of collie In him. It gave him a sense of responsibility. His business was to see that the team kept strung out on the troll, and Butch was a in the matter of disciHis weight was 98 fighting pline, pounds, and he could thrash in shOrt order any dog in the team. The snow was wet and soft It dung to everything It touched. The dogs carried pounds of It in the tufts of hair that rose from their backs. An Icy pyramid had to be knocked from the sled every half-hou- r. The snow-showere heavy with white Slush. Densely laden spruce boughs brushed the faces of the men and showered them with unexpected little avalanches. They took turns in going ahead of the team and breaking trail. It was work. Before heavy, muscle-grindin- g noon they were both utterly fatigued. They dragged forward through the slush, lifting their laden feet sluggishly. They must keep going, and they did but it seemed to them that every step must be the last Shortly after noon the storm wore Itself out The temperature had been steadily falling and now it took a rapid drop. Tey were passing through timber, and on a little slope they built with a good deal of difficulty a fire. By careful nursing they soon had a great bonfire going, In front of which they put their wet socks, mukluks, scarfS and parkas to dry. The toes of the dogs had become packed with little Ice balls. Gordon and Holt had to go carefully over the feet of each animal to dig these out The thawed .out a slab of dried salmon till the fat begnnto frizzle and fed each husky a pound of the fish and a lump of tallow. He and Gordon made a pot of tea and ate some meat sandwiches they had brought with them, to save cooking until night When they took the trail again It was In moccasins Instead o' mukluks. The weather was growing steadily colder, and with each degree of fall in the thermometer the trail was easier. Mushing at fifty below zero Is an right when it is ail right explained sour-doug- past-mast- er es old-tim- er Holt in the words of the old prospers tor. But when it isnt all right Its h L It Is not fifty below yet is It? Nope. But shes on the way. When your breath makes a kinder crackling noise Shes fifty. There soon was a crust on the snow that held up the dogs and the sled so that trail breaking was not necessary. flame. The little party pounded steadily over Did telephone that we were the barren hills. There was no sign lost?" they with of life except what they brought Yes. I was troubled when the them Into the greater silence beyond. storm grew. I could not sleep. So I Each of the men wrapped a long called up the roadhouse by long disscarf around his mouth and nose for tance. They had not heard from the protection, and as the part In front of stage. Later I called again. When I his face became a sheet of Ice shifted could stand it no longer, I started. the muffler to another place. Not on foot?" Night fell In the middle of the aftNo, with Holts dog team. Hs Is ernoon, but they kept traveling. Not back there. His leg is broken. A till they were well up toward the sum- snow-slid- e crushed him this morning mit of the divide did they decide to where we camped. camp. They drove Into a little draw him to the cabin. I will tel and unharnessed the weary dogs.- It the Bring others you are coming. was bitterly cold, but they were forced Have you had any food?" he asked. to set up the tent and stove to keep A tired smile lit up the shadows of from freezing. Their numbed fingers weariness under her soft, dark eyes. made a slow Job of the camp preparaBoiled oats, plum pudding and chocotions. At last the stove was going, lates, " she told him. the dogs fed, and they themselves We have plenty of food on the sled. thawed out They fell asleep shortly I'll bring It at once. to tbe sound of the mournful howling She nodded, and turned to go to the of the dogs outside. cabin. He watched for a moment the Long before daybreak they were lilt in her walk. An expression from afoot again. Holt went .out to chop his reading Jumped to his mind. Mesome wood for the stove while Gordon lodious feet Some poet had said that; made breakfast preparations. The hadnt he? Surely it must have been little miner brought in an armful of Sheba of whom he was thinking; this wood and went out to get a second girl so virginal of body and of mind, d supply. A few moments, later Elliot free and as a cariboo on heard a cry. the hills. He stepped out of the tent and ran Gordon returned to the sled and to the spot where Holt was lying under drove the team up the draw to the a mass of ice and snow. The youpg cabin. The three who had been maman threw aside the broken blocks rooned came to meet their rescuer. that had plunged down from a ledge You must a come right through above. the storm llckltty split, Swlftwater Badly hurt, GldT he asked. said. I done bust my laig, son, the (fid Youre right we did. This side pard-ne- r man answered with a twisted grin. of mine was bent on wrestling with Ton mean that it is broken?" a blizzard, Holt answered dryly. "Tell you that in a minute. Sorry you broke your laig, GId. He felt his leg carefully and with Then there's two of us sorry, S' Elliots help tried to get up. Groan- water. Its (me of the best lalgs ing, he slid back to the snow. got" Yep. Shes busted, he announced. Sheba turned to the old miner Gordon carried him to the tent and pulslvely. If you could be knowln laid him down carefully. The Old what I am thinking of you, Mr. Holt miner swore softly. how full our hearts are of the gratiAint this a devil of n note, boy? tude She stopped, tears in her Youll have to get me to Smith's Cross- voice. Shol No need of that miss. Hs ing and leave me there. It was the only thing to be done. dragged me along. His thumb Jerked Elliot broke camp and packed the sled. toward the man who was driving. Tvs Upon the load he put hla companion, seen better dog punchers than Elliot wen wrapped up in fury. but hes got the world beat at routin out of bed and persuadin' Two miles up the road Gordon stopped his team sharply. He had turned a them to kick In with him and buck a bend in the trail and had come upon blizzard. Me, o' course, I'm an old fool for cornin " an empty stage burled in the snow. The dark eyes of the girl were like had been The fear that uppermost Then youre In Elliot's mind for twenty-fou- r hours stars in a frosty night clutched at his throat. Was it tragedy upon which he had come after his long Journey? Holt guessed the truth. They got stalled and cut loom the horses. Must have tried to ride the cayuses to shelter. To Smith's Crossing? asked Gordon. Expect so. Then, with a whoop, the man on the sled contradicted himself. No, by Moses, to Dick Fiddler's old cabin up the draw. Thats where Swlftwater would aim for till the blizzard was over. Where is It?" demanded his friend. Swing over to the right and follow the little gulch, m wait till you come back." and Gordon dropped the gee-polstarted on the instant Eagerness, anxiety, dread, fought in his heart He knew that any moment now he might stumble upon the evidence of the sad story which Is repeated in Alaska many times every winter. It rang in him like a bell that where tough, hardy miners succumbed a frail girl would have small chance. He cut across over the hill toward the draw, and at what he saw his pulse quickened. Smoke was pouring out of the chimney of a cabin and falling groundward, as It does in the Arctic during very cold weather. Had Sheba found safety there? . As he pushed forward the rising sun flooded the earth with pink and struck a million sparkles of color from the Hs Met ths Touch of Her Surrendered snow. The wonder of it drew the eyes Lips. of the young man for a moment toward the kind of a fool I love, Mr. Holt I the hills. think it was Just fine of you, and I'll A tumult of Joy flooded his veins. never forget It as long as I live. The girl who held in her soft hands Mrs. Olson hnd cooked too long In the happiness of his life stood looking lumber and mining camps not to know at him. It. seemed to him that she about bone setting. Under was the core of all that lovely tide of something her direction Gordon made splints and radiance. He moved townrd her and her bnndnge the broken leg. looked down Into the trench where she helped Sheba cooked an appetizing breakfast -waited. Swiftly he kicked off his The aroma of coffee and the smell of snowshoes and leaped down beside her, frying bacon stlmulated'appetltes that The gleam of tears was in her. eyes needed no tempting, as she held out both hands to him. Ilolt up by blankets, ate prqpped look the During they gave each with the others. For a good many long other something wonderful to both of years he had taken his luck as it cams them was born Into the world. with-endurance. Now he When he tried to speak his hoarse wastedphilosophic no time in mourning what I voice broke. Sheba little Sheba could not be helped. He was lucky ' Safe, after all. Thank God, you the ice slide had not hit him is ths He swallowed the lump In his head. A broken you leg would mend. throat and tried again. If you knew (TO BB CONTINUUDi) God, how I have suffered I I was afraid I dared not let myself think. Chaaga Bad Ways. A live pulse beat in her white throat Instead of trying to maid The tears brimmed over. Then, some-- ways some peoplp would save a Low, she was In his anna weeping, Her of time by getting new - 1 light-foote- old-time- rs e I . net i |