The Blazed Trail

Dyer watched him amusedly, secure in his grievance in case blame should be attached to him. The jobber looked older. The lines of dry good-humor about his eyes had subtly

d everywhere at once, always helping with his own shoulder and arm, hurrying eagerly. For once luck seemed with him

e so connected by two loosely-coupled rods that, when emptied, they could be swung parallel with the road, so reducing the width of the sleigh. The carpenter had also built two immense tanks on runners, holding each some seventy barrels of water, and with holes so arranged in the bottom and rear that on the withdrawal of plugs the water would flood the entire width of the road. These sprinklers were

and by throwing their weight against the fans of the plow. It was a gay, animated scene this, full of the spirit of winter-the plodding, straining horses, the brilliantly dressed, struggling men, the

eek bottom between hills. Here, earlier in the year, eleven bridges had been constructed, each a labor of accuracy; and per

ts, and had to be pulled apart entirely. In spots the "corduroy" had spread, so that the horses thrust their hoofs far down into leg-breaking holes.

neously just such defects, which never would have been discovered otherwise than by the practical experience. Radway himself accompanied the plow. T

ee times the horses had plunged at it, and three times had been brought to a stand, not so

adway. So a dozen men hurled their bodies

e three teamsters, ga

ying. Suddenly there came a check, then a CRACK, and then the plow shot forward so suddenly and easily that the horses all but fell on th

ready cleared. Water holes of suitable size had been blown in the creek bank by dynamite. There the machines were filled. It was a slow process. Stratton attached his horse to the chain and drove him back and forth, hauling t

e openings on either side and beneath; and in streams from two holes behind. Not for an instant as long as the flow continued dared the teamster

went over the cleared road-length once. To do so required three sprinklerfuls. When the road shou

tched forth her hand and pushed these

ft of wind. Then some blue jays appeared from nowhere and beg

said old Jackson. "The

Thorpe, laughin

Hines, "but she is. S

d although the snow did not appreciably melt, it shr

own looking

ain't any use putting more water on her. Sh

ce of the creek-bottom, on which at night a thin crust formed. Across the marsh the

said Radway hopefully. "You sprinkl

spilling hardly-gathered water-weird, unearthly, in the flickering light of their torch

rained away, and so Radway found in his road considerable patches of shell ice, useless, cr

hard-wood tops. A covey of grouse ventured from the swamp and strutted vainly, a pause of contemplation between each step. Radway, walking out

thing went on but the days of the year; and four of them had already ticked off the calendar. The deep snow of the unusually cold autumn had now disappeared from the tops of the stumps. Down in the swamp the covey of

t," observed Tom Broadhead, "but danged if I k

his prediction. It became maddening. Towards evening the chill of meltin

e morning, sure," wa

the air would be more ba

Hines, "an' I don't blame him. This weather'd make a

f looking on the bright side of

all this water lying around, would fix things up in pretty good shape. If she only freezes tight, w

ilderness smiled, and calmly, re

so effective. Something there was in it of

gh the air. Radway plowed away two feet of it. The surface was prom

first sleigh, its surface of thick, glassy ice, beautiful to behold; the ruts cut deep and true; the grades sanded, or sprinkled with retarding hay on t