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-PIONEER PEARL.
eo PIONEER PEARL;
< o How Fort Welltown Was Saved,
By ROBERT SHERMAN.
CHAPTER I,
RIDING FOR LIFE,
“Frank, whui sound is that?”
-“]T hear nothing, Pearl.’’
“Some animals are coming. If you
did not have that cold-in your head—’”’
“I hear them now, Pearl. Hark! It
is the wolves. Ride on, Pearl! Bob! Ride
for your very lives!”
* Oh, Frank, will they catch up to us?”
gasped pretty Pearl Wilbur as she looked
_ pleadingly at her big brother.
Frank Wilbur, Frank the Pioneer, as
he was often called, knit his brows.
‘Let us hope not, Pearl. On, Bob, on!”
“Iam doing my best,” burst from the
: white lips of Bob Wilbur, the youngest
} of the party of three. ‘‘ Forward, Leo,
old man!’ he added to the steed he rode.
With that awful sound ringing out
clear upon the frosty air, that half bark,
half yell drawing nearer and nearer, they
ride for their lives,
'Above the crash of broken sticks and
thud of horses’ hoofs, that distant angry
‘howl rises with a hideous pertinacity.
On they dash, performing marvelous
feats of horsemanship, darting In and
out between the mighty, graceful col-
umns of pine and more massive oak.
The mingled: howl and whine of: the
hungry wolf pack: are distinctly heard,
and now the horses have fully. caught
the alarm. :
. The flery speed of the horses rendered
the passage of their riders most difficult.
A -moment’s glance to the right or left cr
rear might cause a collision with some
tree trunk or bough, which would cost
them life or limb.
They ride in silence—a grim, resolute
allence.
Suddenly the voice of Frank, who rides
a little ahead, rings out again: ‘f Look
straight ahead! Mind the limbs!”
Here and there massive drooping
boughs stretch right across their track.
They are within a mile of home, yet even
as the young ploneer’s voice rings out its
warning the yells from that hungry pack
. draw gill lias 3 :
“amet ke $s Frank, as with :udden
like a
But Bob has fallen somewhat’ in the
rear, and does not hear the warning, or
perhaps it is that. those hideous, blood-
curdling yells behind have deafened him
to all else. Anyhow, the lad turns to
look backward, his horse swerves to clear
the trunk of a tree, and the boy’s head
comes with crushing force against the
treacherous limb; there is a_ sharp,
piercing cry of agony, a heavy fall upon
the ground, and the frightened horse
bounds forward riderless. The mad ring
of its hoofs, as it dashes ‘frantically on,
strikes the ear of Pearl; she half turns
and instinctively seizes the bridle of the
flying steed, while she shouts, ‘‘ Frank!
frank !”’
With the presence of mind that is born
amid a life of forest dangers, both broth-
er and sister realize at once what has
happened, turn their horses’ heads, and
in a few seconds are back at the side of
the moaning, insensible lad.
But in that moment of awful grtlef
Frank’s first thought is for his sister.
The bay of those ferocious beasts is mad-
dening! Every moment is precious. So
with a pent-up agony of soul, he cries,
‘*Pearl, for your mother’s sake, make
for home, and I will look to Bob!”
He sees her horse’s head-.turned, and
supposing her to have ridden on (for his
ears are fcr the wolves, his eyes for the
boy) he flings himself from his saddle.
For the first time in her life Pearl dis-
obeys her big brother. Her soothing
hand stills the impatient tugging of her
horse, and .sitting silently, but. a few
paces away upon her trembling steed,
she watches her brother, ready to assist.
The cabin is still a mile away. The
wolves ‘are not that distance behind.
Frank raises the helpless form of his
brother, lays him across his own horse,
and, mounting himself, he unhitches the
bridle of the runaway from his own
crupper, and in far less time than it
has taken to write it, he dashes on, urg-
ing the horses to their utmost speed.
The moans of his insensible brother
rise up into his ears, but those death
Ixnells behind sound clearer.and nearer.
The wood grows thicker and denser for
the next quarter mile, and he needs all
his watchfulness to escape the fate of
4
Bob. |
With set teeth and dogged determina- |
tion he dashes ahead faster and yet |
faster. Yet mingled with his concern for
Bob is:the glad thought that at least
Pearlissafe, One, it Is true, he thought
he detected the sound of a third horse's
hoofs, but he was too much occupied
with the danger to give it more than a
passing thought.
But those fe minutes’ delay, while
rescuing Bob, threaten to prove fatal to
his escape. The perspiration rolls down
his face as he realizes that the pack
are close behind..
One look ahead assures him that fora
hundred yards the tree limbs ore at a
safe helght, then he turns to look at his
bene AS PEL ots,
TAME: Sn or SUM peed IRR REE:
Be
