Ridgway of Montana (Story of To-Day, in Which the Hero Is Also the Villain)

silhouette against the somber sky-line, h

rd," he muttered to himself, as h

guard had swept the sunlight from the earth, except for a flutter of it that still protested near the hori

-party to find the bodies of three miners frozen to death not fifty yards from their own cabin. He understood perfectly what it meant to be caught away from shelter when the driven white pall wiped out dista

dened, unable to penetrate the dense white wall through which he forced his way. The world narrowed to a space whose boundaries he could touch

a vehicle that blocked the road. Its blurred outlines presently resolved themselves

ided his horse close to the machine and reached down to snatch away the rug already heavy with snow. To his surprise,

implored, stretching

ifted her to his hor

down-before the storm," she sobbed. He had t

e was that in his voice pealed l

g to death,"

durance, that she was ready to sink into the last torpor. He ripped open his overcoat and shook the snow from it, then

ere's a miner's cabin ne

uggle so far, of finding it in the white swirl that clutched at them. Near and far are words not coined for a blizzard. He might stagger past with safety onl

and could not be coaxed to its feet again, he picked up the bundle of rugs and plowed forward blindly, soul and body racked, but teeth still set fast with the primal instinct never to give up. The intense cold of the air, thick with gray

e to his weight, and he buckled across the threshold like a man helpless with drink. He dropped to the floor, ready to sink into a stupor, but he shook sleep from him and dragged himself to his feet. Presently his numb fingers found a match, a newspaper, and some wood. As so

istence from which the cares of life had been excluded. The satin flesh he massaged, to renew the flow of the dammed blood, was soft and tender like a babe's. Quite surely she was an exotic, the last woman in the world fitted for the hardshi

nning to warm the cheeks that had been so deathly pallid. Already crimson

ning life wrung from her. Big tears coursed down her cheeks, and broken sobs caught

d, and in her distress stretched out her littl

t was said that he could follow an undeviating course without relenting at the ruin and misery wrought upon others by his operations. But the helpless loveliness of this exquisitely dainty child-

floor with her and cheering her as if she had indeed

pleaded between sobs, looking up in

very twinge is one less, and shows that you are gett

rs. "But I'm not brave. I'm a li

s dreadful. But just

d presently, simply as a lit

t his shoulder, nor that she should cling convulsively to him when the fierce pain tingled unbear

drowsy with warmth after the fatigue and pain. The big eyes shut, fluttered op

dent appeal, but they did not hide the dark rings underneath, born of the hardships she had endured. As he walked the floor with her, he lived once more the terrible struggle through which th

he gave back al

arm creeping round his neck for safety. He was a man not given to fine

had snatched her by a miracle. Beyond-a million miles away-the world whose claim had loosened on them was going through its routine of lies and love, of hypocrisies and heroisms. But here were just they two, flung back to the primordial type by the fierce battle for existence that had encompassed them-Adam and Eve in the garde

ad not found me?" she murmured, he

-no matter where you had bee

sure he had not meant to speak them, to voice so soon

r life, for love, of her starved soul had never been gratified. But he had come to her throu

big with faith, loo

hese drifting hearts. How should they know in that moment when their souls reache