A NAMELESS HERO.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4580, 28 February 1893, Page 1

A NAMELESS HERO.

(Naemillan's.)

(Concluded.)

Ch-ptbe HI. ' ' • i The morning broke with less snow fdßing.'bUt ' "with a wind asihi^h and even more' bitter than it j !iad been during the, previous twenty-four hours, I •and with the ptopheoy of further snow written in the low, leaden clouds at which 'the men took • cautious peeps through a halfropen --shutter. To attempt to ctobb th. frozen and drifting two miles - of cbaos" between them and Fort Fletcher remained , a more obvious and certain danger than to wait "where they were. y Breakfast, yet scantier than lest night's supper, ■waa quickly disposed of, and (hen tbe two who ''were at home made themselves such occupations as they could nnd in some small housekeeping. Their guest had managed to rise and dress witfe.out help, but he was manifestly, though silently, -"Buffering- greatly from yesterday's exposure and the bitter frostinesfl of the fireless room. When the others resumed their card-playing he rath&r

curtly refused to join 'in it, and continued to j£e in the 'Kg chair, wrapped in hia fur coat, either sleeping or' desiring to appear so.

The slow hungry hours passed, growing slower and hungrier as the transient lessening of the stotza

. vanished in a fresh accession of violence. The • clock had struck six when Brown brought out the 'last of the canned meat and a few biscuits, ana ■ bade the quiet figure in the chair to take his share.

'.'l'm not hungry,"*wa. -the reply without-even the lifting of the heavy eyelids.

v Oh, yes you are/*- Brown answered" roughly. 'He would do ' his dgty-oinflinobingly, but- the i grace to conceal its bitterness was not in ham. - "The mouthful you ate -this morning ain't enough to satisfy any man; let alone that you were. ■ famished before V

*.« How much food bave you in the housa'P" the stranger asked, sitting upright and looking '• with- imperious keenness ,at the old soldier. " As much again for breakfast." -"After thatP"

• " Not a crumb. The^jCompany provisions us • -by the week, and the week was out yesterday?' j - Their guest rose to bis feet and buttoned 'his • fur coat, while the others watched him silently; 'then he lifted bis cap from tbe dresser. ".-You have fed me and rested me, and I thank you," _.e*said gravely. " But' I cannot permit you <to - share your last crufct witlvme." . '» "What are you going-Ao do about it ? " Brown interrupted, folding _ia«nns on the table -beside the untested supper; sturdy frontiersman as- he ■ •was',' he trembled -rfsibjy. ' . - •'V.^r am going to see 'if my luck in finding •shelter will be as 'good •knight as it was last ;. nigiifc^and at leifi .ijßOat io^xajiiOßiil" Be .aid . „Bmi_flj£^ ,V;V.-'.'. ; p^t ; i^ V ; ; 'daSl«»g thefcapfrom his gra_p. ', "il?o j<w»4ake % ?■* üß'for.--murdeierß;? % "ite -cried. ' J " You, ; w_e kre - ?; . , m -Weak, that ibvL' can 'Bcaroely stand/ how far •do '.'."'. you think ybti could 'get^out -there? • Sit 'down ' ' ■! again, and if deaf& is«c_Mng'to us, let us meet it <'. wit,-.' clear consbienoes."' ! vfWith^whicb.' he himself . sank on. tt-e nearest -ban; and Woke into sudden •\56b5.,. ,-' . * y , : "j_. j ;• , , , *■/ ' .- .' m . \"J ;. ' V ,' . ' ,'..'!..,'.'',■"■ „ ;.", And my conscience? ",i_rmured'^e stouiger, hia glance lingering half w^tfuUv; lijalf doubtfilly ,• ,>-uJdnl "V"al's bowed. figure. Then acuripusl^ht ■-. flashed into his. eyes. "Bee'iherei.";he exclaimed ' with a tbrill in Mb, voice that wasi-got altoget3ier • emotrronj-nt^-yetr««trr-ly *' hieer;"^ Ifyour eenee' of duty will not permit you to send me away, and '! % mine will<not allow me to remain, there iB yet no need for heroics. Fair play -can settle the matter. We.will draw lots." '

Val lilted hiß' head, Brownrose to his feet, their guest confronted them— -tho&S brilliant eye's of hie . questioning their souls. " This blizzard may last sev>eral days longer," i he continued with the eag-rnesa .which had newly come to him. " There is barely food enough to keep life in two,- certainly not -enough to maintain three beyond to-inorrow, in such exhausting cold -as. this. < Shall not one die rather than three ? And Bhasll not chance decide •whieh.one of us P 1 " "• What you say has common sense in it, and the J-ordynot chance, will order the lot," Brown ■ . answered hoarsely. " But it is only my very last mouthful- that I can snatch from another starving-man. There are crackers to keep over to-morrow, -for' two j and we will alleat this bit • of supper 'before we ask the Loid'a pleasure for - - the three of us*." The meal., was eaten in silence. -Then the , stranger tore a couple of leaves from a- note-book v , into various'le. gths, putting them in .a- tobacco-s-pouch which was, hung on a corner of the dresser, ,-■ aud from which they agreed tbat . each man .r.should draw a lot in turn according to age. For a moment they paused; Brown and "Val pale 'through their -weather tan, the stranger with a • faint flush tinging his white face. -The three • (pair of eyeß met-each other steadfastly. "Lotus • :pray !" cried Brown, and dropped upon hia v knees; Val followed, and their guest, aftor an • (instant's hesitation^ bent his dark head. Was it life tbateach asked in rilence o-his God ? *Or among the three: did one soul utter a nobler - jpetition?

•Brown rose and -thrust a grim fist into tbe.pouch. Tho slip which-- -withdrew was so long that there p-ould be no doubt that his lot was to remain. His 11ipa> quivered under ibis, gray moustache, 'but he : neither spoke nor glanced at Mb companions, .while «t_e. stranger's slender fingers swiftly sought- their jfate, — the slip was much shorter. Then with.- a Ihand .ithat shook -visibly' Vol drow forth,— a tiny _orap! — tragioally brief, as the future, whiei'liad -tretehed bo far before his five-and- twenty years •was suddenly become!!

He aank into a choir 'beside him gazing up &t those two other--, fron_ whom a distance, too wide for clear sieeeing, seemed .suddenly to divide him,, ani smiled. "It is all 'right/' he heard himsel Bayingvfi?*h a dim sense of satisfaction that, what->

ever 'lamentations were clamouring in his heart, his lips jvese uttering words which bad the •.*emblapce,.of courage in "them. " I've a better *bope of getting through the snowdrifts to - Fletcher i than on old man -or a fejck man, in spite of my game J-sg." And he grasped his crutch. , "Yoai don't leave thiß house until daylight," Brown -mat out with a snort -that badly hid a -tsob, as he iflupg a stalwart arm over Yal's .shoulders.

" Tour pofoepocts — and the weather — may clear r before moriang,"')be stranger said, Withdrawing , a^glance which the young fellow felt 'had sounded rftho shallows pof ihia-cbeerinesß.

.With little snore t*lk thoy settled themselves fori the night, •tsh-ug_;by tacit agreement nobody fwenttobed. Brown indeed fidgeted for some ltime,, unbarring * shutter every few minut-3 for ans-ioua peepitst the .chaos outside; .thereby Admitting gustsof snow, and wind most unweleome iin s room wfcose 'temperature had been xeduced'below freezia^-point by forty-eight houra of t6relesaoeßS. -tut 'Val (presently ended 'these inv,-Bionß. "A wat-ebed pot never boils., old chap/' -he .exclaimed fltfectionately, looking up from a letter be had begun to iwrite ; and Brown with a grunt ,_ea ted himself .at the other side of the table, and disappeared into ithe collar of his jfur overeaat.

From tbe big Arm-chair, which itheir guest still; occupied, two dark eyes contemplated Val bending .•Offer his paper. That letter was a slow business, and chjlled fingers aad ice in the ink were not its only delajs. He was no eloquent seribe this ' youug telegraph-operator, whose de.ipato_eß had rarely reported more than the movements of trains' -jymd tbe news he hed to tell could not so disguise ijiself that his own misery, and tbe heart- 1 y break 'of her to whom he wrote, would hot i at h^frombetwoen the lines. I ljiht>n»i)fPtt!h.ibo tmtkwß (Siushed, those '

obsp-trvarj-fc -eyes saw _t«n raise his head -and listen to tbe shrieking of 'the Storm, which must have Bounded. as his own -sentence of doom, for there was nohiat of lessening in it. He took his crutch hurriedly and made a couple of steps toward one of the windows, paused with a glance at the quiet figures' of his companions, ."Best not w_ko dear old Brown ! y ' he muttereaT* "My going will be awfully hard for him when the time comes' ! "

He went back to his chair, lingeringly kissed the letter >he had -written, and, stretching his arms over the table, laid his head on them. For j-yet-a while longer he stirred occasionally with sighs which his watcher guessed, but at last he •lay motionless, asleep, as men, young and strong of nerve and health, bave slept the night before •a death whose certainty was more hopeless -than ' tbat for which Val waited .

[ The tempest outside seemed to grow louder, as the silence inside grew more still. The lamp rfli.kered low; softly the stranger rose, and, • lighting another which stood ready, reI turned as softly to his place.

It was not until the clock of the chimney-piece pointed to five, that he rose again. 81owly he -buttoned his fur coat— .then paused a moment, looking , about the shabby room, and -from the burly figure of Brown to Val outflung across the table. " Not much like apostles, either of them," he murmured. "Nor is this the proper background for the conversion of a sinner. And yet — " There came a light over the worn white face and the haggard dark eyes glorifying 'them wondrously. "As the- old fellow, said, — Let us pray !"

Six . hours later the bliz_ard was ended, and j before the sun, which had. Bhone radiantly all that afternoon, had sunk in .a, cloudless west, help had come to the imprisoned men at the station ;- help that, on its road from Fort Fletcher, had found in a snowdrift, of which his pale coldness seemed a part, tbe body of tbe stranger. The young officer in command of the rescue party, gazing down on the Btill beauty of the face, said gravely: " This is the man the sheriff "has been hunting ever since that last shooting row in .Zenith City; the 'Grand 'Duke ' they call him, and the moat reckless daredevil in Montana." -hen half to himself, he 'muttered, while his fingers went mechanically to his cap, ""'What a smile the poor chap has— as though he had won a battle!" •