ck upon the ground, nursing his injured limb, and then sought the
face of Wasson.

"What the hell can we do?"

"Go on; thet's all of it; go on till we drop, lad. Come, 'Brick,' my
boy," and the scout gripped the Sergeant's shoulder, "you 're not the
kind to lie down. We 've been in worse boxes than this and pulled out.
It 's up to you and me to make good. Let's crunch some hard-tack and
go on, afore the whole three of us freeze stiff."

The Sergeant thrust out his hand.

"That isn't what's taken the nerve out of me, Sam," he said soberly.
"It's thinking of the girl out in all this with those devils."

"Likely as not she ain't," returned the other, tramping the snow under
his feet. "I 've been thinkin' 'bout thet too. Thet outfit must hev
had six hours the start o' us, didn't they?"

Hamlin nodded.

"Well, then, they could n't a ben far from the Cimarron when the storm
come. They 'd be safe enough under the bluffs; have wood fer a fire,
and lay thar mighty comfortable. That's whar them bucks are, all
right. Why, damn it, man, we 've got to get through. 'T ain't just
our fool lives that's at stake. Brace up!"

"How far have we come?"

"A good ten miles, an' the compass has kep' us straight."

They drew in closer together, and munched a hard cracker apiece,
occasionally exchanging a muttered word or two, thrashing their limbs
about to keep up circulation, and dampening their lips with snow. They
were but dim, spectral shapes in the darkness, the air filled with
crystal pellets, swept about by a merciless wind, the horses standing
tails to the storm and heads drooping. In spite of the light
refraction of the snow the eyes could scarcely see two yards away
through the smother. Above, about, the ceaseless wind howled, its icy
breath chilling to the bone. Carroll clambered stiffly into his
saddle, crying and swearing from weakness and pain. The others,
stumbling about in the deep snow, which had drifted around them during
the brief halt, stripped the blanket from Wade's dead body, and tucked
it in about Carroll as best they could.

"Now keep kicking and thrashing around, George," ordered the Sergeant
sternly. "For God's sake, don't go to sleep, or you 'll be where Jim
is. We 'll haul you out of this, old man. Sam, you take the rear, and
hit Carroll a whack every few minutes; I'll break trail. Forward! now."

They plunged into it, ploughing a way through the drifts, the reluctant
horses draggin