A glitter of mischief gleamed from the cattleman"s eyes. "Meaning Harley, Waring?"
"You know who I mean. I tell you she"s an angel from heaven, pure as the driven snow."
"And I tell you that I"ll take your word for it without quarreling with you," was the goodhumored retort. "What"s up, anyhow? I never saw you so touchy before. You"re a regular pepper-box."
The rescuers had brought food with them, and the party ate lunch before starting back. The cow-punchers of the C B had now joined them, both of them, as well as their horses, very tired with the heavy travel.
"This here Marathon race business through three-foot snow ain"t for invalids like me and Husky," one of them said cheerfully, with his mouth full of sandwich. "We"re also rans, and don"t even show for place."
Yet though two of them had, temporarily at least, been rescued from imminent danger, and success beyond their expectations had met the others, it was a silent party. A blanket of depression seemed to rest upon it, which the good stories of Yesler and the genial nonsense of his man, Chinn, were unable to lift. Three of them, at least, were brooding over what the morning had brought forth, and trying to realize what it might mean for them.
"We"d best be going, I expect," said Yesler at last. "We"ve got a right heavy bit of work cut out for us, and the horses are through feeding.
We can"t get started any too soon for me."
Ridgway nodded silently. He knew that the stockman was dubious, as he himself was, about being able to make the return trip in safety. The horses were tired; so, too, were the men who had broken the heavy trail for so many miles, with the exception of Sam himself, who seemed built of whipcord and elastic. They would be greatly enc.u.mbered by the woman, for she would certainly give out during the journey. The one point in their favor was that they could follow a trail which had already been trodden down.
Simon Harley helped his wife into the boy"s saddle on the back of the animal they had led, but his inexperience had to give way to Yesler"s skill in fitting the stirrups to the proper length for her feet. To Ridgway, who had held himself aloof during this preparation, the stockman now turned with a wave of his hand toward his horse.
"You ride, Waring."
"No, I"m fresh."
"All right. We"ll take turns."
Ridgway led the party across the gulch, following the trail that had been swept by the slide. The cowboys followed him, next came Harley, his wife, and in the rear the cattleman. They descended the draw, and presently dipped over rolling ground to the plain beyond. The procession plowed steadily forward mile after mile, the pomes floundering through drifts after the man ahead.
Chinn, who had watched him breasting the soft heavy blanket that lay on the ground so deep and hemmed them in, turned to his companion.
"On the way coming I told you, Husky, we had the best man in Montana at our head. We got that beat now to a fare-you-well. We got the two best in this party, by crickey."
"He"s got the guts, all right, but there ain"t nothing on two legs can keep it up much longer," replied the other. "If you want to know, I"m about all in myself."
"Here, too," grunted the other. "And so"s the bronc."
It was not, however, until dusk was beginning to fall that the leader stopped. Yesler"s voice brought him up short in his tracks.
"Hold on, Waring. The lady"s down."
Ridgway strode back past the exhausted cowboys and Harley, the latter so beaten with fatigue that he could scarce cling to the pommel of his saddle.
"I saw it coming. She"s been done for a long time, but she hung on like a thoroughbred," explained Yesler from the snow-bank where Aline had fallen.
He had her in his arms and was trying to get at a flask of whisky in his hip-pocket.
"All right. I"ll take care of her, Sam. You go ahead with your horse and break trail. I don"t like the way this wind is rising. It"s wiping out the path you made when you broke through. How far"s the ranch now?"
"Close to five miles."
Both men had lowered their voices almost to a whisper.
"It"s going to be a near thing, Sam. Your men are played out. Harley will never make it without help. From now on every mile will be worse than the last."
Yesler nodded quietly. "Some one has got to go ahead for help. That"s the only way."
"It will have to be you, of course. You know the road best and can get back quickest. Better take her pony. It"s the fittest."
The owner of the C B hesitated an instant before he answered. He was the last man in the world to desert a comrade that was down, but his common sense told him his friend had spoken wisely. The only chance for the party was to get help to it from the ranch.
"All right. If anybody plays out beside her try to keep him going. If it comes to a showdown leave him for me to pick up. Don"t let him stop the whole outfit."
"Sure. Better leave me that bottle of whisky. So-long."
"You"re going to ride, I reckon?"
"Yes. I"ll have to."
"Get up on my horse and I"ll give her to you. That"s right Well, I"ll see you later."
And with that the stockman was gone. For long they could see him, plunging slowly forward through the drifts, getting always smaller and smaller, till distance and the growing darkness swallowed him.
Presently the girl in Ridgway"s arms opened her eyes.
"I heard what you and he said," she told him quietly.
"About what?" he smiled down into the white face that looked up into his.
"You know. About our danger. I"m not afraid, not the least little bit."
"You needn"t be. We"re coming through, all right. Sam will make it to the ranch. He"s a man in a million."
"I don"t mean that. I"m not afraid, anyway, whether we do or not."
"Why?" he asked, his heart beating wildly.
"I don"t know, but I"m not," she murmured with drowsy content.
But he knew if she did not. Her fear had pa.s.sed because he was there, holding her in his arms, fighting to the last ounce of power in him for her life. She felt he would never leave her, and that, if it came to the worst, she would pa.s.s from life with him close to her. Again he knew that wild exultant beat of blood no woman before this one had ever stirred in him.
Harley was the first to give up. He lurched forward and slipped from the saddle to the snow, and could not be cursed into rising. The man behind dismounted, put down his burden, and dragged the old man to his feet.
"Here! This won"t do. You"ve got to stick it out."
"I can"t. I"ve reached my limit." Then testily: ""Are not my days few?
Cease then, and let me alone,"" he added wearily, with his everready tag of Scripture.
The instant the other"s hold on him relaxed the old man sank back.
Ridgway dragged him up and cuffed him like a troublesome child. He knew this was no time for reasoning.