Pagina 61 van 439

They were quiet now beyond any chance of farther runaway, even

had it been possible. Margaret dropped the lines on the dashboard

and began to sob, at first in slow deep breaths and then in

quicker uneven ones. Plucky as she was, the girl had had about

all her nerves could stand for one day. The strain of her

preparation for flight, the long night drive, and the excitement

of the last two hours were telling on her in a hysterical

reaction.

She wept herself out, dried her eyes with dabs of her little

kerchief, and came back to a calm consideration of her situation.

She must get back to Fort Lincoln as soon as possible, and she

must do it without encountering the convict. For in the course of

the runaway the revolver had been jolted from the trap.